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Detail study of bullet being fired from gun
Published: Last Edited:
Recoil of a Gun
When a bullet is fired from a gun, the gases produced in the barrel exert a tremendous force on the bullet (action force). As a result, the bullet moves forward with a great velocity called the muzzle velocity. The bullet at the same time exerts an equal force on the gun in the opposite direction (reaction force). Due to this the gun moves backwards. This backward motion of the gun is called the recoil of the gun. The velocity with which the gun moves backwards is called the recoil velocity.
Recoil of Gun Let 'M' be the mass of the gun and m that of the bullet. Before firing both are at rest. After firing let 'V' be the velocity of the gun and 'v' that of the bullet. By law of conservation of linear momentum,
Initial momentum of gun and bullet = final momentum of gun and bullet.
The initial momentum of the gun and the bullet is equal to zero since they are initially at rest.
Final momentum after firing = M*V + m*v = 0
[The negative sign indicates that the gun is recoiling]
Long recoil operation
Key for recoil operation diagrams.
Block diagram of long recoil operation cycle.
Long recoil operation is found primarily in shotguns, particularly ones based on John Browning Auto-5 action. In a long recoil action, the barrel and bolt remain locked together during recoil, compressing the recoil spring or springs. Following this rearward movement, the bolt locks to the rear and the barrel is forced forward by the spring. The bolt is held in position until the barrel returns completely forward during which time the spent cartridge has been extracted and ejected, and a new shell has been positioned from the magazine. The bolt is released and forced closed by its recoil spring, chambering a fresh round.
The long recoil system is over a century old and dominated the automatic shotgun market for more than half that century before it was supplanted by new gas-operated designs. While Browning halted production of the Auto-5 design in 1999, Franchi still makes a long recoil operated shotgun line, the AL-48, which shares both the original Browning action design, and the "humpbacked" appearance of the original Auto-5. Other weapons based on the Browning system were the Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle (1906), the Frommer Stop line of pistols (1907) and the Chauchat machine rifle (1915).
Cycle diagram explanation
1. Ready to fire position. Bolt is locked to barrel, both are fully forward.
2. Recoil of firing forces bolt and barrel fully to the rear, compressing the return springs for both.
3. Bolt is held to rear, while barrel unlocks and returns to battery under spring force. Fired round is ejected.
4. Bolt returns under spring force, loads new round. Barrel locks in place as it returns to battery.
Short recoil operation
The barrel from a Para Ordnance P12.45, a M1911-derived design which uses short recoil operation. Under recoil, the barrel moves back in the frame, rotating the link (shown in the unlocked position), which causes the rear of the barrel to tip down and disengage from the slide.
The short recoil action dominates the world of centerfire automatic pistols, being found in nearly all such weapons chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum or greater caliber (smaller calibers, .380ACP and below, generally use the blow-back method of operation). Short recoil operation differs from long recoil operation in that the barrel and slide recoil only a short distance before they unlock and separate. The barrel stops quickly, and the slide continues rearward, compressing the recoil spring and performing the automated extraction and feeding process. During the last portion of its forward travel, the slide locks into the barrel and pushes the barrel back into battery.
The exact method of locking and unlocking the barrel is the primary differentiating factor in the wide array of short recoil designs. Most common are the John Browning tilting barrel designs, based either on the swinging link and locking lugs as used in the M1911 pistol, or the linkless cam design used in the Hi Power. Other common designs are the locking block design found in the Beretta 92, rollers in the MG42, or a rotating barrel used in the Steyr TMP among others. Perhaps the most unusual is the 1890 toggle bolt design of Hugo Borchardt, most used in the German Luger pistol.
Cycle diagram explanation
Block diagram of short recoil operation cycle.
2. Upon firing, bolt and barrel recoil backwards a short distance while locked together, until the barrel is stopped.
3. The bolt unlocks from the barrel and continues to move to the rear, ejecting the fired round and compressing the recoil spring.
4. The bolt returns forward under spring force, loading a new round into the barrel.
5. Bolt locks into barrel, and forces barrel to return to battery.
Muzzle booster
Main article: Muzzle booster
Some short-recoil operated firearms, such as the German MG42 machine gun, use a mechanism at the muzzle to extract some energy from the escaping powder gases to push the barrel backwards, in addition to the recoil energy. This boost provides higher rates of fire and/or more reliable operation. This type of mechanism is also found in some suppressors used on short recoil firearms, under the name gas assist or Nielsen device, where it is used to compensate for the extra mass the suppressor adds to the recoiling parts both by providing a boost and decoupling some of the suppressor's mass from the firearm's recoiling parts.
Inertia operation
The newest design in recoil operated firearms is the inertia operated system. In a reversal of the other designs, the inertia system uses nearly the entire firearm as the recoiling component, with only the bolt remaining stationary during firing. Because of this, the inertia system is only applied to heavily recoiling firearms, particularly shotguns. Currently the only inertia operated firearms are either made by Benelli, or use a design licensed from Benelli, such as Franchi. In the Benelli implementation, a two part, rotating locking bolt, similar to that in many gas-operated firearms, is used as basis of the action.
Before firing, the bolt body is separated from the locked bolt head by a stiff spring. As the shotgun recoils after firing, inertia causes the bolt body to remain stationary while the recoiling gun and locked bolt head move rearward. This movement compresses the spring between the bolt head and bolt body, storing the energy required to cycle the action. Since the spring can only be compressed a certain amount, this limits the amount of force the spring can absorb, and provides an inherent level of self-regulation to the action, allowing a wide range of shotshells to be used, from standard to magnum loads, as long as they provide the minimum recoil level to compress the spring. Note that the shotgun must be free to recoil for this to work--the compressibility of the shooter's body is sufficient to allow this movement, but firing the shotgun from a secure position in a rest or with the stock against the ground will not allow it to recoil sufficiently to operate the mechanism.
Block diagram of inertia operation cycle.
As the recoil spring returns to its uncompressed state, it pushes the bolt body backward with sufficient force to cycle the action. The bolt body unlocks and retracts the bolt head, extracts and ejects the cartridge, cocks the hammer, and compresses the return spring. Once the bolt reaches the end of its travel, the return spring provides the force to chamber the next round from the magazine, and lock the bolt closed.
Cycle diagram explanation
2. Upon firing, the firearm recoils backwards into the shooter's body. The inertial mass remains stationary, compressing a spring. The bolt remains locked to the barrel, which in turn is rigidly attached to the frame.
3. The compressed spring forces the inertial mass rearwards until it transfers its momentum to the bolt.
4. The bolt unlocks and moves to the rear, ejecting the fired round and compressing the return spring.
5. The bolt returns to battery under spring force, loading a new round and locking into place.
6. The shooter recovers from the shot, moving the firearm forward into position for the next shot.
Recoil is the 'kick' given by a gun when it is fired. In technical terms, this kick is caused by the gun's backward momentum, which exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile. In most small arms, the momentum is transferred to the ground through the body of the shooter; while in heavier guns such as mounted machine guns or cannons, the momentum is transferred to the ground through a mounting system.
The change in momentum results in a force which, according to Newton's second law is equal to the time_derivative of the backward momentum of the gun. The backward momentum is equal to the mass of the gun multiplied by its reverse velocity. This backward momentum is equal, by the law of conservation of momentum, to the forward momentum of the ejecta of the gun (the projectile(s), wad, sabot, propellant gases, and so on). Provided that the mass and velocity of the ejecta are known, it is possible to calculate its momentum and thus the recoil. In practice, however, it is often easier simply to measure the recoil force directly, as with a ballistic pendulum.
* 1 Recoil momentum and recoil energy
* 2 Perception of recoil
* 3 Dealing with recoil in mounted guns
* 4 Misconceptions about recoil
Recoil momentum and recoil energy
The recoil of a firearm, whether large or small, is a result of the law of conservation of momentum. Assuming that the firearm and projectile are both at rest before firing, then their total momentum is zero. Immediately after firing, conservation of momentum requires that the total momentum of the firearm and projectile is the same as before, namely zero. Stating this mathematically:
pf + pp = 0
Where pf is the momentum of the firearm and pp is the momentum of the projectile. In other words, immediately after firing, the momentum of the firearm is equal and opposite to the momentum of the projectile.
mf is the mass of the firearm
vf is the velocity of the firearm immediately after firing
mp is the mass of the projectile
vp is the velocity of the projectile immediately after firing
m is the mass of the firearm system, or ejecta and projectile after leaving the barrel
v is its velocity
This equation is known as the "classic statement" and yields a measurement of energy in joules (or foot-pound force in non-SI units). Et is the amount of work that can be done by the recoiling firearm, firearm system, or projectile because of its motion, and is also called the translational kinetic energy. In the firearms lexicon, the energy of a recoiling firearm is called felt recoil, free recoil, and recoil energy. This same energy from a projectile in motion is called: muzzle energy, bullet energy, remaining energy, down range energy, and impact energy.
There is a difference between these two equations and events. The momentum equations describe conditions immediately after firing, before the projectile has left the barrel, while the energy equation describes conditions after the projectile has left the barrel.
The recoil impulse Ir of a small arm can be roughly described as:
V0 is the muzzle velocity
mp is the mass of the projectile
c is the mass of the propellant charge
This equation is an approximation. The constant of 1.75 varies for differing propellants.
See physics of firearms for a more detailed discussion.
Perception of recoil
Recoil while firing is shown above:-
• In a Glock 22 frame, using the empty weight of 1.43lb (0.65kg), the following was obtained:
• 9 mm Luger: Recoil Impulse of .78 ms; Recoil Velocity of 17.55ft/s (5.3m/s); Recoil Energy of 6.84ft·lbf (9.3J)
• .357 SIG: Recoil Impulse of 1.06 ms; Recoil Velocity of 23.78ft/s (7.2m/s); Recoil Energy of 12.56ft·lbf (17.0J)
• .40 S&W: Recoil Impulse of .88 ms; Recoil Velocity of 19.73ft/s (6.0m/s); Recoil Energy of 8.64ft·lbf (11.7J)
• In a Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum with 7.5-inch barrel, with an empty weight of 3.125lb (1.417kg), the following was obtained:
• .44 Remington Magnum: Recoil Impulse of 1.91 ms; Recoil Velocity of 19.69ft/s (6.0m/s); Recoil Energy of 18.81ft·lbf (25.5J)
• In a Smith and Wesson 460 7.5-inch barrel, with an empty weight of 3.5lb (1.6kg), the following was obtained:
• .460 S&W Magnum: Recoil Impulse of 3.14 ms; Recoil Velocity of 28.91ft/s (8.8m/s); Recoil Energy of 45.43ft·lbf (61.6J)
• In a Smith and Wesson 500 4.5-inch barrel, with an empty weight of 3.5lb (1.6kg), the following was obtained:
• .500 S&W Magnum: Recoil Impulse of 3.76 ms; Recoil Velocity of 34.63ft/s (10.6m/s); Recoil Energy of 65.17ft·lbf (88.4J)
In addition to the overall mass of the gun, reciprocating parts of the gun will effect how the shooter perceives recoil. While these parts are not part of the ejecta, and do not alter the overall momentum of the system, they do involve moving masses during the operation of firing. For example, gas operated shotguns are widely held to have a "softer" recoil than fixed breech or recoil operated guns. In a gas operated gun, the bolt is accelerated rearwards by propellant gases during firing, which results in a forward force on the body of the gun. This is countered by a rearward force as the bolt reaches the limit of travel and moves forwards, resulting in a zero sum, but to the shooter, the recoil has been spread out over a longer period of time, resulting in the "softer" feel.
PROJECTILE MOTION -an important 2-dimensional movement.
This is very common movement - every time a ball is hit or thrown through the air. It occurs in a vertically aligned plane (an up-down plane ) instead of on the flat plane.
Whenever a stone is thrown, it moves forward and up and down. It does not move sideways ( if we ignore affects due to the air ) so it remains in a vertical plane.
The arrows represent the velocity at three instances; the beginning, the centre and the finish.
Let's look at the velocity at the beginning of its motion - the initial motion.
From sideways on, it is moving at an angle to the flat ground. We can think of this true initial velocity as being made of two velocities just as the ant had two velocities when on the conveyor belt.
We can split the true initial velocity into the two parts either algebraically or geometrically because we have selected a very simple angle between the parts - 900 ! Whenever we split a vector back into right angled parts we say we are finding the components of the vector.
We use the simple trig functions of sine, cosine and tangent together with Pythagoras' Theorem to find the components of the initial velocity.
Let vo be the true initial velocity
sin θ = upwards initial velocity, voy ( sin θ = opp/hyp )
So voy = vo sin θ
cos θ = forwards initial velocity, vx ( cos θ = adj/hyp )
So vx = vo cos θ
The value of this is that we can now work out what is happening when something is thrown.
Remember that the acceleration of gravity only acts downwards locally towards the centre of the Earth. That means that the acceleration only affects the verticalcomponent of the motion! The forward part, vx does not change throughout the flight (provided we ignore the air).
Fundamentals Of Physics
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Pronouncing T varies between languages. For example, where the tongue makes contact with the top of the mouth varies, as does the angle of the tongue and the air expelled. In this poem, the T sounds are primarily made at the beginning of the words. In this case, the T is aspirated, meaning we release a touch of air. This is true for any T which begins a stressed syllable. Seeing the movement and location of contact is easier than explaining it. You can go to this link to see a diagram and video of how the T is made in English, as well as other sounds. T falls into the STOP category, so click on the word STOP and then on the letter T.
Please note that some languages make their T with the flat part of the tip of the tongue and rest that against the teeth (Spanish, for example.) Many Indian languages make the contact further back, behind the ridge, which creates quite a different quality of sound. Experiment with where and how you make contact in order to replicate the English T as much as possible. The poem and audio are copied below. The audio recording allows you time to repeat after each phrase.
By the way, a toad is similar to a frog but generally is bumpy and often lives on dry land. A tree-toad lives in trees and a she-toad is the female. Good luck!
A tree-toad loved a she-toad
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree-toad,
But a three-toed toad was she.
The two-toed tree-toad tried to win
The three-toed she-toad’s heart,
For the two-toed tree-toad loved the ground
That the three-toed tree-toad trod.
But the two-toed tree-toad tried in vain;
He couldn’t please her whim.
From her tree-toad bower, with her three-toed power,
The she-toad vetoed him.
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Alaska Mammals: Shrews
Alaska Marine Highway
Alaska has a bounty of beautiful waterways. The Alaskan waterways play an integral role in the state.. Check out Alaska's Coastline, Alaska's Lakes, and Alaska's Rivers. Some of Alaska's great lakes include: Aleknagik LakeBecharof Lake, Clark Lakeliamna Lake, and Minchumina Lake
Both shrews and moles are insectivores, whereas mice are rodents. Food habit studies have revealed that shrews eat beetles, grasshoppers, butterfly and moth larvae, crickets, spiders, snails, earthworms, slugs, centipedes, and millipedes. Shrews also eat small birds, mice, small snakes, and even other shrews when the opportunity presents itself. Seeds, roots, and other vegetable matter are also eaten by some species of shrews.
Shrews need to consume 200-300% of their body weight each day in order to survive. A shrew must eat every two to three hours to achieve this goal. This means that a shrew may starve if it finds no food for as little as 5 hours. They do not hibernate in the winter months because their bodies are too small to hold sufficient fat reserves.
The common shrew is one of the two most widespread species of shrew in Alaska (the other being the dusky shrew). It is found from the Brooks Range to Southeast Alaska. The common shrew has a long, flexible snout, tiny ears and small eyes typical of most shrews. The fur is dark brown on the back, with paler brown flanks and a pale belly. Juveniles have lighter fur until they undergo their first molt, after which their winter coat grows. The shrew's carnivorous and insectivorous diet consists mostly of insects, slugs, spiders, small mice and worms.
The Glacier Bay Water Shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Alaska..The Glacier Bay Water Shrew can swim underwater, and when it stops swimming, air trapped in its fur lets it float back up to the surface. Due to small hairs on its feet, the water shrew can actually run across the water. Its fur is water resistant, although if it does get wet it returns to shore to dry itself with its hind feet. It eats aquatic fly nymphs and terrestrial invertebrates.
The Dusky Shrew is found from Alaska, south through Canada and the western U.S. to Mexico. This shrew is rust brown dorsally and lighter below and it has a pointed nose (like all shrews). The tail is not distinctly bi-colored. It is sometimes called the montane shrew, and once was thought to be the same species as the vagrant shrew. All shrews are small; the dusky shrew is 3.7 to 4.7 inches (95 to 119 mm) in total length, its tail is 1.5 to 1.9 inches (39 to 48 mm) and it weighs only 0.25 ounce (7 grams). Accurate identification of this shrew depends on an examination of the teeth in order to differentiate it from several other shrew species.
The Pribilof Island Shrew lives in maritime tundra on St. Paul Island, and almost nothing is known about its biology. A small shrew was collected by Russian explorers in 1840. They said it came from "Unalaska," which may have meant Unalaska Island, Alaska. However, none have been found there since. A species similar to the one the Russians described (and named) was later found on St. Paul Island, one of the Pribilof Islands, now part of Alaska, and given a different name; it occurs in relative abundance there.
The St. Lawrence Island Shrew is named for the only geographic location in which it has been found, St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Siberia. It is the only shrew on the island, and it is common there. It has a brown back and paler sides, and is closely related to the Cinereus Shrew and the Pribilof Island Shrew. Details of the biology of the St. Lawrence Island shrew are not known.
The Tundra Shrew is common, though limited, in distribution in Alaska and extreme northwestern Canada, where it inhabits hillsides and other well-drained areas with dense vegetation. Many shrews have such uniformly grayish coats that separate species cannot easily be distinguished, but both the summer and winter coats of the Tundra Shrew are highly distinctive. Its summer pelage is tricolored, dark brown on the back, pale gray on the underparts, and brownish-gray or pale brown in between. Its longer winter fur is brown on the back and grayish on the sides and underparts.
alaskan shrew
common shrew in the ice and snow of Alaska
Alaska Mammals:
With 112 mammal species, Alaska ranks 12th of the 50 U.S. states in mammalian diversity.
Learn more about Alaskan mammals
Shrewss Bats Cats
Canines Bears Weasels
Ungulates Rabbits Rodents
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Biology (11th Edition)
Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 1-25918-813-2
ISBN 13: 978-1-25918-813-8
Chapter 31 - Seed Plants - Figure 31.13 - Inquiry Question: 1
The seedlings of flowering plants are very successful in large part due to the store of food in the endosperm. If the endosperm failed to develop, then the seedling would be in a very weak position, would grow slowly, and might not survive. If it did survive, it would be at a competitive disadvantage. All of these would reduce the fitness of that embryo.
Work Step by Step
To get to this answer, first consider the great role of the endosperm in making flowering plants the dominant group on Earth today: how it nourishes the seedling/embryo, speeding its growth and helping it compete. Then, if that were taken away, the embryo should have greatly reduced fitness/ability to contribute fertile descendants to the next generation.
Update this answer!
Update this answer
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Fourt meeting
Main idea of first paragraph is the explanation of the adult insect body.
Main idea of second paragraph is classify the types of inrect based on the features of the mouth.
Main idea of third paragraph is the characteristic of insect
1. What is the best title for this passage?
A. An insect’s Environment
B. The Structure of an Insect
C. Grasshoppers and Beetles
D. The Stages of Life of an Insect
2. How are insect classified?
A. By the environment in which they live
B. By the food they eat
C. By the structure of the mouth
D. By the number and type of wings
3. The word common in paragraph 2 is closet in meaning to?
A. Normal
B. Rare
C. Import
D. Necessary
4. The author compares labrum and labium to?
A. an upper and lower lip
B. mandibles
C. maxillae
D. jaws
5. What is the proboscis?
A. Nectar
B. A tube constructed of modified maxillae
C. A kind of butterfly
D. A kind of flower
6. Which of the following have mandibles and maxillae that have been modified to sharp stylets?
A. Grasshoppers
B. Butterflies
C. Mosquitoes
D. Houseflies
7. The phrase drill throughin paragraph 2 could best be replaced by?
A. penetrate
B. saturate
C. explore
8.The word it in paragraph 2 refers to?
A. pad
B. food
C. Housefly
D. Mouth
9. What is the purpose of this passage?
A. To complain
B. To persuade
C. To entertain
D. To inform
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2011년 11월 22일 화요일
Dic: unearned increment
■ unearned increment:
The amount by which land increases in value because of generally improving conditions in the area,not because of any particular efforts by the property owner.The concept is important to a social theory made popular in the late 1800s by American journalist Henry George, but which still maintains broad appeal.Proponents,often called “Georgists”support the return of the unearned increment to society,in the form of large taxes on that portion of the increase in value of real estate.The concept is diametrically opposed to the current system of long-term capital gains tax breaks,which allow a property owner to retain more of the unearned increment,not less.
■ unearned increment:
Unearned increment is an increase in the value of land or any property without expenditure of any kind on the part of the proprietor; it is a early statement of the notion of unearned income. It was coined by John Stuart Mill, who proposed taxing it. Mill's concept was refined and developed by nineteenth-century economist Henry George in his book Progress and Poverty (1879).[1]
■ Unearned increment, Fabian Tract No. 30 (1895)
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On This Date in Latin America – January 13, 1825: The Execution of Frei Caneca
One hundred and eighty-eight years ago today, Joaquim da Silva Rabelo, a leader of multiple revolts in the early Brazilian Empire better known as “Frei Caneca” (“Father Mug”), was executed by firing squad.
Born in 1779 to Portuguese parents, Rabelo entered the clergy early on, joining the Carmelites at the age of 17 and becoming an ordained priest in 1801. While working at the seminary in Olinda in the early-1800s, he spent much time at libraries and in salons, where he read and discussed Enlightenment ideas and the events of the French Revolution. Embracing republicanism and liberal thought, Frei Caneca became increasingly critical of the Portuguese Crown and its control over Brazil. The Napoleonic invasion of Portugal led to the royal family’s exile to Brazil in 1808 [the only time in history that a European monarch took up permanent residence in a colony], leading to Brazil gaining new stature, and in 1815, Emperor João VI, hesitant to return to Portugal in the face of British pressure after the Napoleonic wars, declared he was now the king of the Kingdom of Brazil and Portugal, providing a justification for remaining in Brazil and making the colony the equal of its former metropole.
While many in Brazil were thrilled at the declaration, some who looked to the liberal ideas of the French Revolution (and the independence struggles taking place throughout Spanish America) felt that the declaration was not enough. They did not want a monarch; they wanted a republic. As a result, in 1817, a revolt broke out in Recife, which had previously been one of the key economic centers of the early colonial era and a major sugar producer. Intellectuals, including clergy, began discussing plots to establish popular sovereignty in the northeast. Before the plans could coagulate into anything concrete, however, the royal governor of Pernambuco (of which Recife was the capital) heard of these discussions, and decided to preemptively arrest the participants. His plan backfired, however, as a liberal army officer involved in the discussions killed the royal official who tried to kill him and raised the cry for revolution, with his troops following him. The elites, intellectuals, merchants, plantation owners, and clergy who had embraced liberalism, including Frei Caneca, quickly rallied to the clause, proclaiming an independent republic of Pernambuco. The new republic announced citizens would refer to one another as “patriot” and that class distinctions (but not slavery) would be abolished. They also lowered taxes, increased military pay, emphasized anti-Portuguese rhetoric to build a sense of unity, and destroyed images of João VI, not unlike their Spanish-American counterparts. Unfortunately for them, since Brazil was now a kingdom, João VI was far closer to the revolt than Spanish monarck Fernando VII, and the Portuguese king rapidly suppressed the movement, sending troops throughout the new kingdom to discourage similar movements. In the aftermath, several leaders were arrested, including Frei Caneca, who was sentenced to four years in prison in the former colonial capital of Salvador, Bahia.
After his release in 1821, he returned to Pernambuco, where he continued to work towards republicanism. He supported the creation of a junta that pushed for greater autonomy and freedom from the monarch in 1821-1822, akin to movements that had established a constitutional monarchy in Portugal in 1820. However, in September 1822, Pedro I, the son of João VI (who had been forced to return to Portugal the previous year) proclaimed Brazilian independence, establishing the Brazilian empire. The movement in Pernambuco began to establish a greater degree of self-rule, but Pedro I unilaterally issued the Constitution of 1824, which dissolved the elected assembly and seemed to assert a degree of monarchical absolutism (though in practice, Brazil’s empire would come to resemble a constitutional monarchy for much of the nineteenth century).
However, the absolutist tenor of the proclamation of the constitution led to anger and concern in the Northeast, which had been seeking autonomy and advocating liberalism and republicanism for nearly a decade. Indeed, even before the new constitution, Frei Caneca had published a newspaper critical of Pedro I in 1823 and 1824. In the wake of the new constitution, Frei Caneca and others of a like mind rose up again, and in July 1824, Pernambuco once again declared its independence from Brazil. Other provinces in the Northeast were quick to follow suit, leading to the temporary establishment of the Confederation of the Equator. Unsurprisingly, like his father before him, Pedro I was not interested in the republican ideals coming from the Northeast, and quickly mobilized the military to suppress the revolt, even hiring English and French mercenaries and ships to help suppress the revolt. At the same time, internal divisions tore apart the Confederation itself; while some leaders called for the abolition of slavery, many others were hesitant to embrace total equality; as had been the case in Spanish American Independence movements a decade earlier, many of the intellectual and economic elites of the Confederation were fearful of the lower classes mobilizing for greater equality and social justice than the elites were willing to concede. With external military pressure and internal divisions, the movement fell apart by October 1824, with several leaders dying in battle or being assassinated by their own supporters. Frei Caneca himself was arrested and a military court tried him for sedition, proclaiming him one of the leaders of the movement. He was quickly found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, one of eleven leaders sentenced to death. Although he was set to be hanged, three hangmen refused to hang a priest (even though the church had stripped him of his orders); as a result, he was hastily executed by firing squad on January 13, 1825, with his body quickly being taken away and buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Recife.
Though the public executions of Frei Caneca and his co-conspirators were intended to prevent further such revolts and to make an example of the rebels, the Confederation of the Equator was far from the last movement to resist imperial rule. Nearly twenty more regional and local rebellions would erupt throughout the remainder of the Brazilian Empire, which finally ended in 1889; even during the First Republic (1889-1930), regionalism and federalism were the dominant trends, and Brazil’s nation-state would only see successful concerted efforts towards centralization and consolidation during the government of Getúlio Vargas. As for Frei Caneca himself, his leadership in one of the earlier and larger regional rebellions ultimately led to him becoming a symbol for independence and republicanism in Brazil, and his name is found on streets and in public settings, including Frei Caneca street and Frei Caneca Shopping Mall in São Paulo, an LGBT-friendly area of the city (itself an ironic fact when one remembers Frei Caneca was a Catholic priest and considers the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality).
About Colin M. Snider
This entry was posted in Brazil, Catholicism in the Americas, Latin American History, LGBT Rights & Issues, On This Date in Latin America, São Paulo. Bookmark the permalink.
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Mrs. Elphinstone and Miss Elphinstone
Character Analysis
During his adventures, the narrator's brother meets Mrs. Elphinstone (who is married to Dr. Elphinstone, who isn't around) and Miss Elphinstone (who is Dr. Elphinstone's sister). They are a good example of how two characters can be used to contrast each other. Let's take a look. Mrs. Elphinstone is short and dressed in white; Miss Elphinstone is tall and dark-colored. (You probably noticed this isn't a perfect reversal in terms of colors – Mrs. is dressed in white while Miss has a dark complexion (which probably means black hair) – but you can see how they seem like contrasts of each other.)
Even more notable, Mrs. Elphinstone spends her time being nervous and calling for her husband, while Miss Elphinstone is calm and brave. Instead of crying out for an absent husband (which is what Mrs. does), Miss E fights back when people attack them.
As much as we enjoy the Elphinstones, there's some question as to why they're in the book. Are they here just to give the brother someone to talk to or help? That doesn't entirely seem right. After all, if that were true, why would we need both of them? We're not sure about this, but it seems like the two Elphinstones are meant to show two different responses to the Martian invasion from women. And – surprise, surprise – different women react differently to a Martian invasion. Some women might react nervously while some of them might be brave. Now, this might be surprising to the Victorians who read this originally, but it turns out that women are people, too. (To be honest, we're somewhat influenced by Wells' later book Ann Veronica, which is all about the problems that women faced in late Victorian times. Whereas some other Victorians might not have cared about what women thought, Wells clearly did.)
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View: list | calendar
Calendar - September
Rosh Hashanah
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Rosh Hashanah (2014-09-25 - 2014-09-26)
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. It is described in the Torah as "Zikaron Terua" ("remembrance of the blowing of the horn").
Rosh Hashanah marks the start of a new year in the Hebrew calendar (one of four "new year" observances that define various legal "years" for different purposes as explained in the Mishnah and Talmud). It is the new year for people, animals, and legal contracts. The Mishnah also sets this day aside as the new year for calculating calendar years and sabbatical (shmita) and jubilee (yovel) years. Jews believe Rosh Hashanah represents either analogically or literally the creation of the World, or Universe. However, according to one view in the Talmud, that of R. Eleazar, Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of man, which entails that five days earlier, the 25 of Elul, was the first day of creation of the Universe.
The Mishnah, the core text of Judaism's oral Torah, contains the first known reference to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of judgment." In the Talmud tractate on Rosh Hashanah it states that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, wherein the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those of an intermediate class are recorded. The names of the righteous are immediately inscribed in the book of life, and they are sealed "to live." The middle class are allowed a respite of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to repent and become righteous; the wicked are "blotted out of the book of the living forever."
The Talmud provides three central ideas behind the day:
Choose from thousands Rosh Hashanah greetings, Rosh Hashanah cards, ecards, wishes, poems, quotes, invitations and send beautiful cards to your friends and family.
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Rosh Hashanah - ecards
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Article Free Pass
group, in chemistry, a set of chemical elements in the same vertical column of the periodic table. The elements in a group have similarities in the electronic configuration of their atoms, and thus they exhibit somewhat related physical and chemical properties.
The periodic table has eight main groups: 1, 2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 (previously numbered Ia, IIa, IIIa, IVa, Va, VIa, VIIa, and 0, respectively). Each group consists of elements that have similar electronic structures characterized by completely filled inner electron shells and by a number of electrons in their outermost shells equal to the group number. Ten other groups—3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 (previously numbered IIIb, IVb, Vb, VIb, VIIb, VIII, Ib, and IIb, with group VIII comprising groups 8, 9, and 10)—found only in Periods 4 to 7 of the table, are composed of elements of the transition series. With these elements the number of outermost electrons does not necessarily correspond to the group number.
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Idionycteris phyllotis (Allen's Big-eared Bat)
Weight: 8-16 grams
Wingspan: 31-35 centimeters
Southwestern United States to central Mexico.
[Call File1] [Call File2] [Call File3] [Call File4] [Call File5] [Call File6]
[Call File7] [Call File8] [Call File9] [Call File10] [Call File11] [Call File12]
[Spectrograph1] [Spectrograph2]
Ecology and Behavior:
A rather large bat with enormous ears and a unique pair of lappets projecting from the median bases of the ears over the top of the snout. When at rest, the huge ears lie along the back, often curled into the shape of a ram's horn. Allen's big-eared bat usually inhabits forested areas of the mountainous Southwest, and is relatively common in pine-oak forested canyons and coniferous forests, but it also may occur in non-forested, arid habitats. At most sites where this species occurs, cliffs, outcroppings, boulder piles, or lava flows are nearby. Day roosts may include rock shelters, caves, and mines. It leaves the roost only after complete darkness, and usually flies about 10 meters (33 feet) above ground. It emits loud calls at about 1-second intervals. Flight is slower than the free-tailed bats, but swifter than most other bats. In close quarters, this species flies slowly, is highly maneuverable, able to hover, and can fly vertically. In more open situations, it uses fast, direct flight. The sexes segregate geographically during summer months, with females gathering into maternity colonies and males possibly remaining solitary, roosting elsewhere. Seasonal movements and winter whereabouts and activities are unknown.
Food Habits:
Primarily small moths, but soldier beetles, dung beetles, leaf beetles, roaches, and flying ants also are eaten.
Reproduction and Longevity:
One baby is born in June or July.
Status of Populations:
Locally common, but rare over most of range.
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History: The Ohlone People
Condensed History of Fremont
This condensed history was compiled by Phil Holmes
The modern city of Fremont has been built on beautiful land with a long, interesting history. This rich, historical heritage fits readily into time periods that had their own specific influences on the history of Fremont.
The Ohlone People
Ancestors of the Ohlone people wandered into this land of great abundance several thousand years ago. They lived a simple life in harmony with nature and the land. They followed the cycles of the seasons as they hunted, fished, and gathered their food. They burned certain areas to encourage the growth of favored plants and improve grazing areas for animals that they hunted.
The Ohlones gathered a variety of plants, seeds, berries, roots, and nuts for food. They ground and leached acorns and made mush or bread. They caught rabbits, squirrels, birds, fish, and other small animals and gathered shellfish from the bay. Hunters stalked larger animals such as deer and antelope.
Ohlone Indian Ceremonial Dance at Mission San Jose in 1806
Ohlone Indian Ceremonial Dance at Mission San Jose in 1806.
Permanent villages were located on higher ground near marshes, streams, or springs where drinking water was available. They built domed huts with a frame of poles thatched with grass or tules. They crafted baskets, clothes, decorations, tools, nets, beads, and weapons. They navigated the bay in remarkable reed boats and traded materials or products with other tribes.
Religion and ceremony were important in daily life activities, and special rituals were observed at important events such as birth, puberty, and death. The Ohlones maintained their culture by passing on stories, songs, dances, and tribal laws from parents to children. The Ohlone way of life minimized warfare and ensured the health of the land. Life was ordered and in tune with nature and the will of the creator.
Next Chapter: Mission San Jose 1797 - 1836
Ohlone Mission Era Rancho Era Pioneer Era Town Era Post War
Return To History Page
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History 333 (Hi 24) Europe since 1945
Description of the Course: Devastated and impoverished in 1945, Europe lay in the shadow of the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the last sixty years have presented terrible challenges, the European people have experienced a remarkable regeneration during this period. Europeans have had to adjust to new realities that have seemingly emerged overnight. To adapt to a changed world, they had to assume new roles. This course will study issues concerning European identity and devote itself to the following questions: How have different European nations reconstructed themselves and changed their identity? To what extent has a single European identity emerged? In what ways has Europe's relationship with the rest of the world changed? Topics covered include: the Cold War, the postwar "economic miracle," Communist rule in Eastern Europe, European unification, immigration, and the Revolutions of 1989.
This course fulfills a requirement for: International Relations majors
This course is taught by: Professor Hugh Dubrulle
Saint Anselm College, a Benedictine, Catholic, Liberal Arts College
100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester, New Hampshire 03102
Copyrighted by the History Department, Saint Anselm College, 2006.
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See the nearest stars (within 16 light years) to the Solar System in 3D
Monday, May 31, 2010
You can see them here, though you'll need to have Silverlight installed. The reason for the 16 light year boundary is that's when parallax begins to become inaccurate and distances become much more approximate, and the list of stars nearest to the Earth on Wikipedia also states this. The 3D graph also shows the colours of the nearby stars, which makes it easy to note just how many red dwarfs there are compared to the rest, and since theory dictates that smaller objects are more common there are certainly even more brown dwarfs than that, possibly even closer to us than Alpha Centauri (closest but also almost directly south in comparison to the Earth).
It would have been nice to also have the radial velocity (the velocity that shows whether a star is approaching or moving away from the Earth), but no big deal.
And now that we're on the subject of parallax I can finally share this link I've been meaning to show for quite some time, on some of the immediate benefits an interstellar probe would bring. Parallax in astronomy basically means the ability to accurately judge the distance from one object to another by comparing views from different locations, and the farther out a probe gets the more accurate parallax becomes.
What a pan-Turkic auxiliary language might look like
There are probably two reasons why a pan-Turkic auxiliary language hasn't been created:
1) Independent and stable Turkic-speaking countries are a relatively recent phenomenon in modern times. Incorporation in the Soviet Union, very short periods of independence etc. didn't bode well for the fostering of a pan-Turkic language, and
2) Turkey has a much, much larger population and cultural influence than the rest of the Turkic languages put together. Compared to this, Slavic and Romance languages in particular are on a much more equal footing.
But let's say a pan-Turkic language were to be created. The general concept behind these types of languages is that they should be 1) immediately comprehensible to native speakers of the source languages, but also 2) fairly easy for others to learn as well. They would also rely on vocabulary common to as many of these languages as possible. Siberian Turkic languages would have to be removed from this as they are very different from the others...except for perhaps the odd time when reference to one could serve to break a stalemate over which word to use. Persian could also be referenced from time to time given the vocabulary they share. Grammar would probably resemble a mix between Turkish and Uzbek, and since the latter has no vowel harmony that could be taken out of the pan-Turkic IAL as well.
So here's a quick and very incomplete overview (basically thinking out loud) what one might look like. It's a pretty bare outline but if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to do some more thinking out loud and perhaps fill it out a bit.
First of all, pronouns are pretty easy:
men - I
sen - you
on - he/she/it
biz - we
siz - you (plural/polite)
onlar - they
Plural would always be -lar, as in Uzbek.
A lot of Turkish words with v would become b as this is seen often in Turkic languages and b is easier to pronounce for most than v. Var thus becomes bar.
Ready for the first sentence? Here it is:
Bu yerda su bar mi? - Is there water here? In Turkish this is burada su var mı? Burada (here) is bu yerdä / bu yärdá / bū yerde in Uzbek/Uyghur/Turkmen, and using a construction with yer (place) makes it easier to understand as it literally means "in this place".
Da means in. Now we're on that subject, let's look at the other cases.
ni - accusative
da - locative
ga - dative (showing movement towards)
dan - "from"
i vs. ni will be explained in a bit, but first let's show how to show possession. In Turkish you can indicate it with just a suffix, or with a pronoun plus the suffix, so it's redundant. In this IAL it would probably be either or. For example:
Turkish araba + m = arabam, but ben + im also means mine, so benim arabam just means my car, and benim araba is wrong. In this language it would be:
my = menim (noun) or noun + im
your = senin (noun) or noun + in
his/her/its = onin (noun) or noun + i/si
our = bizim (noun) or noun + imiz
your = sizin (noun) or noun + iniz
their = onlarin (noun) or noun + ilar / silar
Some examples:
dost = friend
dostim or menim dost = my friend
Onin dost bar mi? - does he/she/it have a friend?
Dostiniz yok. - You don't have a friend.
Sizin dost yok. - You don't have a friend.
Dostlarinizga ket - (imperative) go to your friends. To go might be getmek or ketmek, not sure.
The i/si there depends on whether it ends with a vowel or not. Araba (car) would then become arabasi (his/her/its car).
Examples of the accusative mentioned above:
Bu yerda su bar. - There is water here.
Bu yerda dost bar. - There is a friend here.
Menga suni ber. - Give me water.
Menga sunizni ber. - Give me your water.
Onga dosti ber. - Give him/her/it a friend.
Onga dostinni ber. - Give him/her/it your friend.
Present tense would be the verb minus -mek and then the following endings added:
So ketmek (or getmek), to go, would be:
getirim - I go, getirin, you go, getir - he/she/it goes, etc.
Progressive would be:
So "they are going" is getiyorlar. Dostlarimiz getiyorlar mi? - Are our friends going?
Future tense would be a bit different from these (pretty much just vowel harmony-free Turkish) as Turkish has the acak/ecek suffix where the k turns into ğ (unpronounced, just lengthens the preceding vowel) and an IAL shouldn't have that complication. Luckily Uzbek has a nice system so it would look like this:
Nice and easy. So Dostlari getadilar means "their friends will go". Okulima getasan? - Will you go to my school?
This word for school (okul, same as Turkish) shows where a lot of difficulty might be in this language, as the word for school in other Turkic languages sounds like the Turkish word for letter (a letter you send through the mail), mektup, and okul is a more 'international' word. The biggest area of contention might end up being whether this is a Turkic-based international language, or a pure Turkic constructed language.
Suggestion: rename the Large Zenith Telescope
Sunday, May 30, 2010
WISE has discovered two brown dwarfs and 11,000 new asteroids so far
Slowly spoken news (Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten) on Deutsche Welle now available in two speeds
This may not exactly be news as I haven't checked Deutsche Welle's Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten page for a while now (half a year, perhaps?) but I noticed yesterday that the daily news one can hear in German there while reading the transcript is now available in two languages: slow (langsam) and normal (Echtzeit). This is a nice addition as sometimes the slow speed can be a bit too slow unless you are getting used to reading and hearing German for the very first time, and the more normal (but still relatively slow) speed is more similar to what one hears when listening to actual news. It was always possible to take the slowly spoken podcasts and lower the frequency then play them at a higher speed, but that takes a bit of time and always comes out sounding a bit unnatural.
Norway's Klar Tale has the same thing but only at slow speed, and so do a number of other languages like Finnish with Selkouutiset.
Latin Wikipedia should reach 40,000 articles in about a week
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Current article count is 39665:
Sofia airplane-mounted near-infrared telescope achieves first light
I first wrote about Sofia here last month, and just a few days ago the flying near-infrared telescope achieved first light. The best way to explain how the telescope works is to just view this:
Sofia is a joint US-German collaboration, with Germany investing 80 million euros and the US 700 million, and the telescope itself is German-built. For an article in English see here, which shows the first image it took of Jupiter on the right:
And for a photo gallery with 13 images see here.
More Afghanistan nostalgia, this time from Foreign Policy magazine
A few months back I wrote here on a picture of Pahgman Gardens in Kabul in the 1960s compared to today (it's now a wasteland), and Foreign Policy has something similar to that today here in a set of 24 images of Afghanistan in the 1950s and 1960, such as this one from Kabul University:
Similar images of Iran in the 1970s can be seen here, though the situation in Iran is quite different: Iran forcibly removed a bad government it had at the time and ended up with a worse one and then was invaded by Iraq but began to improve after the war had ended, whereas Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviets in the 1970s, then had a long civil war, then the Taliban, and finally the current ongoing conflict.
What we knew about the Moon in March 1958
Friday, May 28, 2010
This is what we knew about the Moon in 1958:
No burka and nikab ban for Norway
From NRK here: Parliament today voted down a proposal from the Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party) to ban the full burka in public areas as was done last month in Belgium. The actual proposal was that people wearing them should be denied public services, so not a bill that would ban them from being out in public. There doesn't seem to be anything new to the debate here either: one side says that it separates women from the rest of society while the other said that enacting a ban would simply shift the burden to the weakest party, the women who have to wear them.
One big difference between Belgium and Norway in this is that in Norway the Muslim population is still just in the 3-4% range, while Belgium is at 5 - 10% so in Norway it's still more of an academic issue.
On Japan's plans to create a robot-operated moon base by 2020
Today's news here in English and here in Japanese relates to what I've been saying about how the US should eventually have no choice but to begin concentrating on the Moon again (though the manned asteroid visit should be no problem), simply because the Moon is at just the right location whereby other nations (Japan, China, Russia, India) and private industry are able to explore it and I doubt that the US will be content to simply sit by and wait an extra 15 years for a single manned Mars flyby while the rest of the world is constructing and operating bases on the Moon. Wait for it...
As for the plan itself, it would involve sending robots to the south pole where solar energy is plentiful (24 days of light followed by 4 days of darkness) whereby they would then begin constructing a base. Recent experiences with the Mars rovers may lead one to believe that robots are incapable of doing work with any haste, but that is simply due to the large communication delay between here and Mars. On the Moon there is almost no delay at all (about 2.5 seconds there and back) so robots can easily be controlled from Earth, and in fact the Lunokhod rover drove a total of 37 km on the Moon back in 1973.
According to the proposal, the first robots would begin in 2015 by landing on the Moon, investigating and sending high-res images of the surface, as well as using seismometers to determine the interior composition of the Moon. After that in 2020 it would involve setting up a self-sufficient base through these robots which could move about in a 100 km radius, as well as sending back lunar rocks to Earth for analysis.
None of this is actually that difficult to accomplish, since the entire operation would be done robotically and these robots are extremely easy to control from Earth. Not only that, but setting up in the first place is not too difficult either. The rovers sent to Mars for example landed by using an interesting air bag system (inflate to encompass the rover, bounce bounce bounce bounce...then come to a stop, deflate and let the rover out) that would be impossible to use for humans due to the g-forces involved. Also note that since the Moon has (pretty much) no atmosphere any construction done on the Moon by these robots would be permanent. If part of setting up the base involved construction of a flat area for future landings, it would then remain as a permanent structure that anyone could use later on. Construct a habitation suitable for protecting humans from radiation and that would be there forever too.
Expected cost for the base: $2 billion, or less than one-eighth NASA's yearly budget. Or Canada's pitiful CSA budget (double it and I'll stop calling it pitiful) over 6 years.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Price of the Nissan Leaf and other electric cars in Europe
Here are a few numbers from an article here in Norwegian a week ago on the price of the upcoming Nissan Lief in various European countries, compared to some other electric vehicles.
Nissan International SA announced Tuesday that its fully electric Nissan Leaf will be priced under 30,000 euros after incentives in most markets in Europe where the Leaf will first be launched, putting pressure on Mitsubishi which announced that the price of their electric i-Miev would be 33,699 pounds in the UK, before incentives. The Think City in Norway costs 285,000 krone, including batteries.
Converting to USD:
Nissan Leaf $36,000 after incentives
Mitsubishi i-Miev $48,600 before incentives
Think City $43,480
The price of the Leaf in the UK after incentives would be 27,471 euros ($33,500), 32,839 euros ($40,000) in the Netherlands, and somewhere under 30,000 euros in Portugal and Ireland. All these prices include batteries.
Compared to this, the most expensive version of the Toyota Prius is 22,000 pounds ($31,700).
Sales of the Nissan Leaf in the UK should start in February 2011, so just eight months and a bit from now.
And in other news from today, the Nissan Leaf is already sold out for 2011. That was quick.
A range of 160 km per charge looks something like this:
View Larger Map
Looks a bit small on a map like that but for daily commuting it's more than enough, and sales are pretty clear that there is a huge interest in them. But the final victory for electric cars should come when the average range reaches something around 300 - 600 km, after which they will become usable for everything but the longest road trips, and people begin seeing cars like they do their cellphones - something you use during the day and plug in at night.
George W. Bush says his grandchildren will be driving electric cars powered by renewable energy
George W. Bush was a fairly decent governor, a terrible president, and has been quite a good ex-president. Since leaving office he has not only been low-key and quite classy, and yesterday gave a talk about why the US needs to diversify away from oil and that he believes his grandchildren will be driving electric cars powered by renewable energy. Since one of his daughters is now married (both of them are 28) the timeframe he's talking about is probably about 20 years.
The article also mentions that Texas leads the US in wind energy, though this is in terms of total capacity and not energy per capita or compared to other sources of energy, and so in this case Texas is a bit like China whereas Iowa would be Denmark, where the former generates more energy in total but the latter much more per capita. Personally I prefer the latter number as using the former countries like Iceland could never hope to compete, with countries with massive populations producing much more than them even if they rely 99% on fossil fuels.
Somebody else thinks Papiamentu would make a good world language
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
I often write posts on subjects that I may not entirely support or be currently working towards, but would like to elaborate upon for others to view and comment on. Such was this post from last year on why Papiamentu might be a good solution as a worldwide auxlang. Slightly more difficult than a constructed IAL but still fairly simple, and with a population large enough that there is a body of speakers that can aid new students, but not large enough that it gives a huge group of people an advantage who use it as their L1. That was the general gist of that post.
A year later, it turns out that a group of people have had the same idea. Written in German, this page talks about how Papiamentu would make a good world language, and even gets a dig in at Esperanto (something most new IAL projects just don't see to be able to resist). It alternates between calling it Papiamentu and Papiamundu, but they seem to be the same thing and Papiamundu is just the name for this project here where the language is supposed to be promoted through some method I don't quite follow using four dice over three months, but no information beyond the first page.
So spite of the disorderly and scant presentation on the page it's still interesting to see Papiamentu presented as an IAL in this way.
Ion engine lifetime could be doubled thanks to genetic algorithm
25 May 2010: Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Kazakhstan
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Turkish President Abdullah Gül is in Kazakhstan today and the two leaders of their respective companies opened a few new buildings at Ahmet Yesevi University. This article has some information worth translating on these two Turkic-speaking countries, so here it is.
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that "Turkey and Kazakhstan are brothers with a single origin" at a press conference, after welcoming President Abdullah Gül to the presidential palace.
Regarding the opening of the new departments of Hoca Ahmet Yesevi University, Nazarbayev said "We opened the new department of this university together. This is an important university, opened under the initiative of Kazakhstan and Turkey, where over 20,000 students study. Here we have not only Kazakh and Turkish students, but students from over 20 Turkic countries as well."
(Note: that doesn't mean 20 independent countries, but both countries and autonomous regions such as Gagauzia, Tatarstan, etc.)
Nazarbayev mentioned that trade between the two countries had dropped slightly as a result of the worldwide economic crisis, but said that "In spite of these negatives we have a trade volume of 3 billion dollars between Turkey and Kazakhstan, which we hope to increase to 10 billion."
(No mention of the time frame for this)
Nazarbayev said that the businesspeople that had come to Kazakhstan with President Abdullah Gül had signed $300 million worth of short-term economic protocols, and that "These negotiations will end up with a total value of $1 billion, which is the most concrete benefit of this visit."
The university mentioned in the article is this one, the home page of which is in Turkish, Kazakh, English, and Russian.
First update to the Idiom Neutral - English dictionary
I've been writing some content in Idiom Neutral over the past few days (more about that when I'm done) and have been updating the dictionary as I go along. Some of the updates are really easy such as updating salon by adding the term living room to the existing drawing-room, others are just about as easy as they are just obvious derivations (-ar to -asion), and one I've added tentatively as I needed a word and would like to see some input from the community before proceeding. The new and certain words are marked with (N), and the tentative ones are marked with (P) - proposed.
The proposed word is marvel, and the derivative marvelos. IN already has mirakl and miraklos under marvelous and wonderful, but spanning three words (miraculous, wonderful, marvelous) seems like too much of a responsibility for one word, and miraculous seems a little out of place anyway considering how often the word wondrous is used in daily conversation. Miraklos! Vo et av album nov? Miraklos? Ist kaf et es miraklos!
I also missed two pages from the dictionary for some reason (Lance let me know about that), so that was about another 100 - 200 free words in one go. Total word count is probably now about 7600.
Download the latest version of the dictionary here.
Uh no, Google, that isn't what I meant.
This is by far Google's most annoying attempt at interpreting a search request I've seen for a while.
Saturn transiting the Sun as seen from Neptune in 2061, and David Letterman's first Shuttle launch
Monday, May 24, 2010
Crazy cat day here is finally over (MB's hurt toe is a bit gangrenous but the vets think they should be able to keep him from losing half of it by keeping him there for a week and Windy is back to normal after freaking out at the new cat in the apartment), so let's wrap it up with a quick two videos to share.
The first is this one, showing Saturn transiting the Sun in 2061 as seen from Neptune. Transits are opportunities that you never want to miss since they're free data about the atmospheric makeup of a planet or body as the Sun begins to become obscured by the atmosphere first, but not so valuable that one would want to send a probe to somewhere like Neptune just because of it. But if we have a probe around Neptune at the time, this is what we'll see:
A much sooner transit is the 2012 transit of Venus, as seen from Earth.
And in This Week in Space for this week (which I haven't watched yet), the most interesting parts seem to be David Letterman recounting his first Shuttle launch watched in person, and an interview with Elon Musk.
Secrat X-37B shuttle-like spaceplane was easy to spot
Well, that was easy, and also answers the question I had about how the U.S. military intended to keep the mission secret, given how easy the ISS, satellites and just about everything else are to spot. It's beginning to look like making the mission a classified one was just a decision based on convenience than anything particularly secret it might be doing. Well, except for what it has in the cargo hold. That can't be spotted by amateur astronomers.
The group that spotted it is pretty impressive, however: apparently they've spotted every single object launched by anyone over the past five years, including this one. Not bad at all.
24 May 2010: Bulgarian Wikipedia should reach 100,000 articles today or tomorrow
Probably today, as right now they are already at 99,936 articles:
The best source to learn Bulgarian is probably this one, certainly a bit dated (it's from the 1960s) but very thorough and I doubt there is a more detailed course that can be obtained for free. And of course Bulgarian continues to do a phenomenal job on with a whopping 536 videos for a language only spoken by 10 million people, more than any language except for Spanish.
Idiom Neutral output may slow in the next few days due to cats
Sunday, May 23, 2010
When I went to the temple today it turned out that MB had cut his foot somehow and was limping about, so off we went to the animal hospital for a checkup. He'll be going back tomorrow and in the meantime is at the apartment, and since Windy (the cat that lives here) doesn't like anybody he hides under the bed, comes out and hisses, goes back under the bed, etc. Last time MB was here he got bored at night and began yowling at 2 am, and if the same thing happens this time all the cat commotion will make it tough to write much in Idiom Neutral and/or work on the Idiom Neutral - German dictionary. Depending on the cat situation (whether they get along, MB hates the apartment or not, and how long it'll take for his leg to heal) the next few days might be a bit sparse in terms of Idiom Neutral content.
Turkish Ministry of Education adds Arabic to foreign languages
Read more...'s The Big Picture this week is on Saturn has decided to make Saturn the subject of this week's The Big Picture, and as always the images are phenomenal. And not only that, but also in hi-res and on one page as well, unlike many sites that require a reload for each image and usually quite low resolution as well (you know who you are).
Dawn is now closer to Vesta than Mars
I missed the exact date on this one, but it was probably about five or so days ago. Looking at Dawn's current position, it's finally now closer to Vesta than to Mars. Dawn made a flyby of Mars over a year ago (February 2009) and since it's using an ion engine it has an extremely gentle trajectory where it simply matches its orbit over time with the object it intends to approach as opposed to a regular probe that will go directly to an object, fire its engines at full blast and drastically change its trajectory in order to go into orbit and not go flying by.
So here's where it is now:
Vesta is now 0.4272 AU away, and Mars 0.4556 AU. Dawn is now the first probe to be closer to Vesta than any other major object...unless by chance it's Rosetta, as you can see here. It's a bit hard to tell as Vesta being an asteroid isn't quite as aligned to the orbital plane as the rest of the planets, and thus is off by seven degrees. With every major planet (IOW not Ceres or Pluto) you can more or less calculate their orbits as if they were on a two-dimensional surface, but since Vesta looks like this:
and thus Dawn is actually moving to go under the orbital plane a bit, as that area on the right in darker blue is where Vesta will be when they meet:
Anyway, it's now just 64 million km away, or 166 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. In contrast, Earth is 317 million km away from Vesta now which is 825 times.
New efficiency standards in the US for medium- and heavy-duty trucks
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Yesterday's political news seemed to be all about Rand Paul, so you'd be forgiven for not noticing that the White House adopted a new fuel efficiency standard yesterday for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
Info from the speech:
Previous recently enacted efficiency memorandum:
Increases efficiency for cars and light trucks to 35.5 mpg over five years
Saves $3000 over life of vehicle
Reduces dependence by 1.8 billion barrels
Equivalent of taking 50 million cars off the road
Today's announced memorandum:
Will apply to medium and heavy-duty trucks
Starts in 2014
First time to have such a standard
Standard from before goes until 2016, today's announcement goes from 2017 and beyond
Eventual goal: to have vehicles use half the fuel in 20 years compared to today
This article has a lot of info on what yesterday's announcement means, including the fact that Canada will be following along, important because not only is it essential to have a national standard in order to avoid differing rules by state but also one between the US and Canada as well. The more unified the standard, the easier it is for car manufacturers to comply.
It also mentioned a bit about improving infrastructure for electric cars, but details are a bit short on that. More interesting in the electric car world is probably this announcement that Toyota will invest $50 million in Tesla.
Link roundup for 22 May, 2010: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Nynorsk, giant liquid telescopes, parallax, etc.
Time to get rid of some tabs that have been open for a long while but have never been turned into full-fledged posts. Here goes:
An article here in Norwegian on how Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (Norwegian writer, composer of the national anthem) hated Nynorsk. The director of the språkrådet thinks Nynorsk would have been in a much stronger position today if it wasn't for him.
Giant liquid telescopes: apparently the two methods whereby a liquid telescope could be tilted a bit would be either through a fake tilt simply involving moving the collecting area to a different spot (effectively reducing the size of the collecting area but still not too bad a technique), as well as using magnets (and probably a more viscous liquid too) to actually tilt it.
On parallax, one of the first benefits in an interstellar mission as it speeds away from the Solar System. In essence, the farther away a mission is the more accurate our estimates of the distance, location etc. to other stars become.
Robot blimps on other worlds - comparing the challenges involved in sending a blimp to Venus, Titan, and Mars. One on Venus would be easy to fly and the only issue would be avoiding corrosion and the high wind speeds, on Titan it would need to be protected against the extreme cold, and on Mars with the thin atmosphere you'd need a much larger blimp, and even then it would only be able to carry a much smaller payload than the others.
High speed rail in Canada and the United States, and the irony of a high-speed rail company (Bombardier) being located in a country that doesn't have it.
This person doesn't like French immersion, in a largely fact-free op-ed.
Offshore energy in the UK could result in the equivalent of a billion barrels of oil annually, matching that produced in the North Sea.
How was French pronounced in 1583?
Friday, May 21, 2010
I'm glad you asked, because I have just the book for you if you can read Latin. This book will tell you all you want to know about that subject.
A few more examples of Idiom Neutral from the original grammar
Ist kaval - this horse.
El kaval - that horse.
El sem polka. - The same polka.
Yuste el sem polka. - Just the same polka.
El sem pulvr. - The same powder.
Yuste el sem pulvr. - Just the same powder.
Ki av fasied it? - Who has done it?
Kekos il dik? - What is he saying?
Kel dom? - Which house?
21 May 2010: Successful launch for Japan's Akatsuki and Ikaros
Awesome, it looks like the launch (50 minutes ago as I write this) went off without a hitch and now it's time to get excited about the two probes launched this morning, Akatsuki (heading to Venus) and Icarus, a solar sail.
Akatsuki costs $157 million (about a third or quarter what a similar probe from NASA would likely cost) and will be arriving at Venus December 7th this year, so a total of six months and two weeks from now. Venus has a probe orbiting it at the moment, the impressive but nearly completely silent to the media Venus Express from Europe, and having the two orbiting the planet will enable some pretty impressive observations that couldn't happen otherwise. Hopefully Akatsuki will be able to determine the origin of the superrotation in the high atmosphere of Venus, which is the part of the planet where humans could conceivably live (breathable air floats on Venus, and the temperature and atmospheric pressure there is similar to Earth at sea level).
More interesting in the short term will be Ikaros, as its mission is interesting from a technological standpoint due to being the first solar sail successfully launched, and after a few weeks will unfurl and begin showing results. It's similar to Deep Space 1 in being more interesting from a technological standpoint than any expected scientific return from its destination. It will be passing by Venus but its real goal is to just fly around and demonstrate how a solar sail works. For some reason solar sails up to now have been cursed with failure, from Cosmos 1 lost in 2005 to NanoSail-D lost in 2008 on a failed Falcon 1 flight, so Ikaros will be testing out a technology that we should have been able to test a number of times before now if it wasn't for such bad luck.
Idiom Neutral - English dictionary now finished
Thursday, May 20, 2010
* provokar = v., to challenge; to provoke.
rapiator - thief
bas-bot - shoe, literally "under-boot"
sepult --> grave.
veras, verase --> true, truly.
vigilesk(ar) --> (to) wake.
Idiom Neutral grammar and dictionary available in Dutch as well
I just noticed that the Idiom Neutral grammar and dictionary from 1903 is also available in Dutch in addition to German and English. Here it is at Google Books, as well as here at So that' s one less translation that needs to be done, and an Afrikaans version will be that much easier to do as well.
It's a tiny bit different from the other versions in a few areas, such as this portion written in IN:
Resolusion 11.
Tel radik es leplu bon, kel eksist kuale parol nasional u kuale parol eksotik in lingui prinsipal leplu mult de Europ.
That's the IN version of this:
"That word is most suitable for an international language, which already exists as a national word or as a foreign word in most of the leading languages of Europe."
Resolusion 84.
a) Adyektivi es plased sempre po substantiv, p.e. dom grand, lingu universal.
b) Pronomi, adyunkted a substantivi, es plased sempre ante substantiv, p.e. mie dom, ist sirkular, kel tabl? kuant homi? kelk paroli, omni lingui.
c) Numerativi kardinal e fraksioni es plased sempre ante substantiv, p.e. du kavali, mil oktsent anui, tri kuarti metr.
d) Numerativi ordinal, multiplikativ e iterativ es plased sempre po substantiv, p.e. paragraf sekund, pagin trisent dudeskuinkim, plesir dupl.
e) Adverbi determinant verb es plased sempre po verb, ekseptu adverb ne, kel es plased sempre ante verb, p.e. skribar korekte, mi skrib korekte, mi no skrib. Adverbi determinant parol parol de otr parolsort es plased ante it, p.e. multe grand, no ankor, yuste ist.
That's the IN version of this:
"An adverb used to modify a verb is always placed after it, e.g. skribar korekte to write correctly, mi skrib korekte I write correctly. The adverb no forms an exception to this rule and is always placed before the verb, e.g. mi no skrib I do not write. -- An adverb used to modify any other part of speech than the verb is placed before this word, e.g. multe grand very great, no ankor not yet, yuste ist just this."
Cassini has just flown by Enceladus; on its way to Titan
As mentioned before, Cassini is now in the process of completing its double flyby of the two most interesting moons in the Saturn system (and possibly the Solar System as well). Right now it's 2:00 am UTC, and you can see Cassini's current position here. You'll notice an area in the url that says hour=02, so depending on the time when you view it you can change it to the current UTC time to see Cassini's position at the time you check out the link for yourself too. The second flyby will occur in just about 24 hours from now.
Idiom Neutral needs a flag...and now might already have one
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Every major IAL has a flag or logo, a symbol by which it can be recognized in an instant. Esperanto has its trademark green flag:
Ido has a blue one:
Interlingua is a bit of an exception in just having a kind of logo which is clearly not a flag as flags should ideally be able to be drawn in a short time:
Lingua Franca Nova has a flag:
which is based on the flag of the Seychelles,
a nice match because a creole is spoken in the Seychelles, the flag is quite colourful reflecting its light and somewhat exotic nature, and has five rays which represent each of the source languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Italian).
Idiom Neutral, as far as I know, never had a flag. On the front of the Idiom Neutral grammar is this:
But that's Volapük, and it's not the symbol or flag of the language either.
So Idiom Neutral needs a flag, and I mentioned that the other day. I also mentioned that I've found it easy to explain the language here in Korea as it can be easily translated as 중립어 (literally Neutral Language or Neutralese) and Japan and China use the same construction too: 中立語 and 中立语. The first character (中) is one of the first kanji/hanja/hanzi students ever learn, and it is seen everywhere. It can mean China (middle kingdom), but the meaning of the character itself is middle, and that's where the word for neutrality comes from, using the characters for middle and stand. So after writing that post I scribbled out a few ideas of a possible flag, but didn't try all that hard to come up with one.
A few hours later, lo and behold Lance sent me a design for the language that I think is perfect. It's strong but very easy to remember and copy, incorporates the I and N in Idiom Neutral, and also the neutrality symbol just mentioned.
Here it is:
The two with the bars are flag designs, and the two without are simple logos. The very last one for example would be best to go on a t-shirt, a good way to show one's support without being too obvious, as most people aren't comfortable with being a walking ad but don't mind something that isn't too obvious but may be asked about by anyone you have a conversation with.
If it were a tiny t-shirt logo it would actually look almost like the Chinese symbol, as you can see when you zoom out.
I would wear a polo shirt with that symbol embroidered on the left breast. Oh yeah.
The black is, of course, because black is the colour of neutrality.
So I'm a big fan of the symbol and will certainly begin using it here and there. Whether others like it we'll find out soon enough, but I certainly don't see any downside to it.
Edit: ha! If you look at the comments below it looks like most people think the symbol resembles the swastika or Iron Cross. I still think it just looks like 中, but then again I've been in Asia for ten years and see swastikas at the temple all the time so the symbol doesn't really mean all that much to me unless it's obviously one from Nazi Germany. Some have said that a simple change in coloring might do the trick, so Lance has obliged with the following:
And shrunk down, as it might be seen on a polo shirt or side of a book:
So what's the verdict now?
German police in Kreuzberg and Neukölln learning Turkish
From here on Deutsche Welle in Turkish. A summary of the article:
Some police in the neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Neukölln, areas with a large Turkish population, have begun learning Turkish. There are 14 police enrolled in the Turkish courses organized by the Berlin Turkish Community (Türkische Gemeinde zu Berlin, Berlin Türk Cemaati in Turkish).
Then a bit about the people taking the courses, still quite basic but they can give their names and say where they work...then mentions that there are about 450,000 immigrants in Berlin, and that police who take courses like this often do so in order to give the message that "we want to understand you" to them.
One of the policemen interviewed said that the opportunity to learn the language was given to him by the police authority itself, and that he thought it would be interesting and decided to start learning it. Another policeman said that he wanted to learn it for personal reasons first as he has Turkish friends and visits Turkey quite often, so when the police announced that they were looking for people who wanted to learn the language he jumped at the opportunity. A third policeman works in Neukölln taking care of incidents such as traffic accidents and theft, and believes knowing Turkish would be a help to his work.
Difficulty: according to the article Turkish is a difficult language for them, not so much grammar as pronunciation, but doesn't go into too much detail. For a beginning student Turkish is actually quite easy to pronounce, except for when you get into words that seem to go on forever and don't resemble anything familiar, like değerlendirdiğimizden, arkadaşlarınızla, or kullanamayacağım, so I assume it's these intimidating words that are difficult to pronounce moreso than the language itself being particularly difficult in that area, as pretty much every sound in Turkish is present in German. The ö and ü that English speakers often have difficulty with are no problem at all for Germans.
Learn German through astronomy podcasts
Get ready for more flyby photos of both Enceladus and Titan
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Cassini will be making a flyby of Saturn's two most interesting moons today and tomorrow, and possibly the most interesting moons in the Solar System as well (whether that's true or not really depends on what's inside Enceladus vs. Europa around Jupiter), so getting both of them together like this is about as good as it gets. First Cassini will fly by Enceladus:
Then it will move away and toward Titan:
which it will then fly by at this point:
Apparently the trajectory is so perfect there won't even be a need for a course correction in between the two. Flyby distance: 435 km from Enceladus, 1400 km from Titan.
By the way, Japan's probe to Venus (Akatsuki) will be launching on Friday (Thursday in North America). Today's launch attempt was cancelled due to bad weather just a few minutes before it was scheduled to go ahead.
Hear what Idiom Neutral sounds like sung
Now that you've heard what Idiom Neutral sounds like when spoken (also here):
you can also hear what it sounds like when sung:
Lord of the Rings fans should recognize the song right away. The translation is more of a faithful than a literal translation, so it differs in some areas but is probably more like something Pippin would have composed himself if he had been fluent in Idiom Neutral.
Dictionary progress: now that I have an English scan without errors I've changed the order again. It will go like this:
1) Finish Idiom Neutral - English part
2) Type up Idiom Neutral - German part, without formatting. There are some obvious areas where the German spelling differs from that of today but since it's not by mother tongue I'll just leave it alone and once I'm done let those that speak German do whatever they want with it.
3) Type up English - Idiom Neutral part
4) Type up grammar in German.
5) Type up German - Idiom Neutral part
I might go with step 4 before 3 as the most important material to have is a grammar and dictionary, though admittedly a dictionary is much more crucial as searching takes a long time when using a pdf whereas a grammar is more for slower and more thoughtful perusal.
How Michael Collins felt as he circled the Moon out of radio contact with Earth
Today's quote of the day comes from here, the Wikipedia page on Michael Collins (the third astronaut on Apollo 11 who went with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
During his day of solo flying around the Moon, Collins never felt lonely. Although it has been said that "not since Adam has any human known such solitude", Collins felt very much a part of the mission...During the 48 minutes of each orbit that he was out of radio contact with Earth, the feeling he reported was not loneliness, but rather "awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation".
At the time when the US was just beginning to take its first steps on the Moon it probably felt almost as if one were founding something akin to the United Federation of Planets (not in scope, but coolness) and if there's one part of the White House's new plan for space that needs to be criticized it's that not only does it ignore the Moon but also is a bit too nuanced and uninspirational to give astronauts and supporters of space exploration that kind of feeling.
Mind you, I've said before that I don't think the US will seriously be able to ignore the Moon for too long, as nations from Russia to China and others begin to explore the Moon and NASA's mission for just a flyby to Mars is still two decades away. One event that could serve as a wake up call for this would be a launch by China of astronauts to the Moon and back (i.e. to the Moon, one or more orbits around it and then back home), which would be a distance the US hasn't achieved since the early 1970s, in spite of the fact that technically missions like that have been done before. Eventually the US will have no choice but to make a decision to either continue toward a path that will eventually lead to a Mars flyby (20 years away), or join with the rest of the world in exploring the Moon.
An op-ed from yesterday here talks about the same subject.
Slight change in plans for the Idiom Neutral dictionaries
Monday, May 17, 2010
I'm up to O right now in the Idiom Neutral - English dictionary and after this part I'll be typing up the remaining dictionaries in a bit of a different manner than I said before. The reason for this is the quality of the scans on the English side compared to the German - the English scans are pretty bad with parts cut off here and there, and since the IN - English and IN - German parts are in more or less the same order, supplementing the missing parts with the corresponding German pages hasn't been too hard. On the other hand, after I reach the English - IN part I'll be dealing with pages that look like this:
Some words there are pretty easy to guess at: diurnal is journal, voyaj is journey, voyajar is journey (verb), yovial is juvial, etc. But yok...well, before that is yunkte which seems to be joined, so yok is...maybe joke? Go a bit above and there's yokos and yukund, hmm...maksil inferior and superior I recognize from the other part, and they mean lower and upper jawbone.
And even after that there are some scans that look like this:
Hmm, no Idiom Neutral terms at all on the right column there. But page 241 I think is my favourite. Ready for the best one?
Argh...have fun deciphering that. I love Google for scanning the book and putting it up for free, but they could have done a bit better job with the scan of the English version.
So due to this I think it'll be best to use the English - IN part of the dictionary as a supplement to the IN - English part, where I'll go through the words one by one and check to see if they are in the IN - English part, and if not then add them. The IN - English dictionary alone looks like it'll end up being around 7000 entries, and then these will be added.
Before that though I think I'll type up the German pdf as I intend to do that without any formatting (like nopudik), as the IN - English dictionary already indicates the derivation, and the work goes much, much faster when I don't have to change from italics and back then to bold and back and then to italics and back and then finally type up the word and then bold and back, my Dvorak-trained fingers are longing for a big swath of straight typing without formatting and squinting at badly scanned pdfs, and with the bit of German practice it'll give me on top of everything it'll be a nice break before I begin going through the English - IN part of the dictionary for extra terms. And in the meantime the IN - English dictionary is certainly large enough for me and others to begin writing some real content in the language.
And of course it will give German speakers a much quicker dictionary to work with when writing content in Idiom Neutral.
If tomorrow's session at Starbucks is productive enough I should have the IN - English part finished in about two or three days, and then I'll announce it here and on auxlang and send them out to anyone I believe to be interested (Igor, Lance, nov_ialist, Olivier, etc., etc.).
Latin, Idiom Neutral and English companed: Latona et Ranae
Two years ago I compared a number of IALs to Latin using a very simply told fable from a textbook about Latona who turned a group of farmers into frogs. The comparisons I made were: Ido and Latin, Interlingua and Latin, Latino sine Flexione and Latin, and Occidental and Latin. The point was to be able to show Latin revivalists that these IALs resemble Latin more than the current status quo auxiliary language (English) and that thus they should give IALs at least moral support, since a stronger IAL community = more indirect knowledge of the language they like the most and want to see revived.
So now that the dictionary is over half done (finished N yesterday) it's not so hard to look up words and it's time for my first Idiom Neutral translation. Out of the four above Latino sine Flexione is naturally the most similar to Latin (since it's basically just modified Latin), but Idiom Neutral is interesting compared to the other three as those use articles but IN doesn't, and so it feels structurally more like Latin. IN doesn't have a flag yet, so I just snuck in a quick 中 symbol into the picture there (can you find it?). Which reminds me, here's what I think will happen with Idiom Neutral:
- English and other speakers will call it Idiom Neutral but will often refer to it just as Idiom, kind of in the same way that Bahasa Indonesia is often called Bahasa even though technically that just means 'language', not necessarily Indonesian. But take a long term and people will almost always prefer brevity to perfect accuracy.
- In Japanese, Korean and Chinese it may begin to be called 中立語 / 중립어 / 中立语, which just means neutral language. When explaining the language to some people I know here I've actually found it easier to just call it 중립어 as saying Idiom Neutral once again is a bit too long. But then again it could easily be called Idiom over here too, as that doesn't sound too bad and idiom is a fairly well-known English word.
And now the translation:
Latin Idiom Neutral
In nostr skol noi aprend lingu latin. Sitempe noi aprend di rani in fabl latin.
Incolae Graeciae saepe deās vident, quod deae saepe in silvīs Graeciae ambulant. Interdum Lātōna in silvīs ambulat. Fēminae Graeciae Lātōnam, deam pulchram, amant, quod Lātōna est fēminīs benigna. Habitanti gres frekuente vis deai, kause deai frekuente ambul in foresti gres. Kelkfoa Latona ambul in forest. Femini gres am Latona, dea bel, kause Latona es belevolent a femini.
Nunc Lātōna in silvā ambulat. Cum Lātōnā sunt īnfantēs Diāna et Apollō.Sitempe Latona ambul in forest. Ko Latona es infanti Diana e Apollo.
Now Latona walks in the forest. With Latona are the infants Diana and Apollo.
Agricolae Látōnam et īnfantēs spectant; deam timent. Dea agricolās videt; itaque agricolās vocat. Aquam ōrat. Lātōna aquam nōn dēsīderat; sed īnfantēs aquam dēsīderant.Farmeri vis Latona e infanti; ili tim dea. Dea vis farmeri; ergo ila vok farmeri. Ila preg akua. Latona no desir akua; ma infanti desir akua.
Est aqua in lacūnā, sed agricolae Lātōnae aquam dare nōn dēsīderant. Itaque in lacūnā ambulant; nunc aqua nōn est bona. Lātōna est īrāta quod agricolae sunt in aquā.Es akua in lag, ma farmeri no desir donar akua a Latona. Ergo ili ambul in akua; sitempe akua no es bon. Latona es furios kause farmeri es in akua.
Dea īrāta clāmat.Dea furios klam.
The angry goddess shouts.
Nunc agricolae sunt rānae. Nunc agricolae in casīs nōn habitant; in lacūnā habitant, quod sunt rānae.Sitempe farmeri es rani. Sitempe ili no habit in domi; ili habit in lag, kause ili es rani.
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Throughout history, battles and wars have been lost due to typhus epidemics that spread among soldiers fighting in unsanitary conditions. After World WarI, 25 million people in the Soviet Union alone were infected with the disease. People forced to live in crowded, filthy, rodent-infested neighborhoods also suffered untimely deaths from the disease.
Howard Taylor Ricketts, an American pathologist born in Findlay, Ohio in 1871, is credited with discovering the genus Rickettsia, the cause of the disease, during his studies of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which he noticed resembled typhus. In 1910, Ricketts traveled to Mexico City to study typhus, whichhe found was transmitted by a body louse. But his research had tragic results. Before he could return to the United States where he had accepted a position at the University of Pennsylvania, Ricketts died of typhus, the very disease he was studying.
At the same time, the curiosity of French physician Charles-Jean-Henri Nicolle's (1866-1936) was aroused by the contagious aspects of typhus, which he hadwitnessed while working at the Pasteur Institute in Tunis, Tunisia. Outsidethe hospital, the disease was caught on contact. Hospital admission employeesalso caught it, but once inside the hospital, the patient no longer seemed contagious.
He began to suspect body lice as the carriers when he realized the patients were stripped and scrubbed down when they entered the hospital. His work withanimals proved his suspicions. Nicolle won the 1928 Nobel Prize in physiologyor medicine for his work on typhus. Nicolle, the son of a Rouen physician, was born in 1866 and practiced medicine in Paris and Rouen until deafness began to interfere with his effectiveness in treating patients. In 1903, he movedto Tunis where he remained until his death in 1936.
Epidemic typhus is carried by lice. This disease, caused by R. prowazekii, was responsible for millions of deaths in eastern Europe and the Balkancountries after World War I and World War II. It devastated military troops during World War I, but during World War II, DDT was used to kill the lice carrying the disease. R. prowazekii also causes recrudescent epidemic typhus, a disease which is reactivated years after an initial bout of epidemic typhus.
After an incubation period of about one week, a person infected with typhus develops a headache, chills, prostration, and fever up to 104° F. Other symptoms include a rash, conjunctivitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the inner surface of the eyelids and covers the forepart of the eyeball), and a dry cough. In severe cases, there is renal failure and mental confusion. Death occurs in 10 to 50 percent of the cases, and the mortality rateincreases if the victim is over 60 years old. However, under medical supervision, drug therapy can be very effective.
Murine endemic typhus is caused by R. typhi, a microorganism carried by a rat flea. It occurs worldwide and was once common in the southeastern United States. When the rat flea cannot find a natural host, it feeds on humans.During the feeding, it drops infected feces which, when rubbed into a breakin the skin, give rise to the disease.
The incubation period of murine endemic typhus is one to two weeks. The infected person initially develops a headache, malaise, backache, and chills. Later, typhus causes shaking, chills, fever up to 103° F, severe headache, vomiting, and nausea. Eventually a rash appears in the armpits and inner surface of the upper arms and moves to the trunk, thighs and lower arms. After therash disappears, a dry cough develops. Murine endemic typhus is fairly mild compared to other diseases caused by rickettsia. It can be treated withtetracyclines, but even untreated, death rarely results.
The typhus vaccine, developed by Hans Zinsser in 1932, is based on dead microorganisms which stimulate the body's immune system to produce antibodies to the antigens carried on the surfaces of the dead cells. The immune system alsoproduces "memory cells" which remain in the body to trigger a rapid responsein the event of reinfection. Since the vaccine uses dead organisms, the reaction is mild and there is no risk of the patient contracting the disease. Inoculation, antibiotics and control of rats and lice have combined to greatly reduce the incidence of typhus throughout the world.
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Arts & Culture » Book Feature
A Thankless Task
'Migra!' places the U.S. Border Patrol in context
If you had to choose one book as a starting place for an intelligent discussion about immigration issues, you would do well to begin with Migra! by UCLA assistant professor of history Kelly Lytle Hernandez. Hernandez has written the first critical history of the United States Border Patrol—and it's eye-opening.
A vast mythology hangs over the Border Patrol—some manufactured by the agency itself, some created by its detractors, and some by its supporters. Migra! strips away the murk and presents a portrait of a perennially struggling federal law-enforcement agency that has never really had a clear mission regarding how it was supposed to do its job.
The origins of the Border Patrol lay at the darkest intersections of race, immigration, economics, politics and labor in the United States. Established in May 1924, the agency's beginnings were inauspicious. With little money and a broad, poorly defined mandate, the Border Patrol originally had no statutory authority to act. The first officers were on station by July 1924, but it wasn't until more than a year after it was established that the Border Patrol was finally vested with any sort of police powers.
Prior to Prohibition, there was little in the way of law enforcement on a federal level. Much of this was due to the opposition of Southerners to any kind of federal authority. This legacy of the Civil War (racism, rejection of government authority) has undercurrents that echo through to the present day and is exemplified by current debates in Arizona about state versus federal enforcement authority over immigration.
Mexican immigration in the early 20th century was mostly an informal back-and-forth economy that arose out of the failed promises of the Mexican Revolution. As the Mexican elite focused on rebuilding the country after years of horrific bloodshed, the poor and the unskilled remained disenfranchised. Manuel Gamio, an anthropologist and adviser to the Mexican government, observed that the emigration of poor campesinos to work in the north created three benefits for Mexico.
First, economic reality was that the average Mexican family needed roughly $123.75 a month to be above the "misery line." Workers actually made something more like $17.67 a month. Those who went to work in the U. S. could make around $105 a month. Doing the numbers, it was a no-brainer that labor emigration benefited those Mexicans who otherwise wouldn't have an economic chance in hell.
Next, Gamio also saw emigration as a prudent political strategy. It functioned as a safety valve for poverty-stricken people who otherwise might be tempted to engage in violence.
Third, emigration could be a way to remake and modernize Mexico socially and culturally through Mexican workers who gained North American sensibilities and material goods while laboring in el Norte, and ostensibly returned, bringing those values and goods with them.
American farmers and ranchers took advantage of and benefited from this situation, drawing on this convenient pool of cheap labor.
The Border Patrol, birthed from a past that included the violent and racist Texas Rangers, had little direction from the federal government in its early days. The agency quickly became regionalized, and policies and personnel were drawn from the local area. The Border Patrol became a tool of local farmers and ranchers for keeping poor Mexican immigrants in line, often through violence.
Migra! charts the evolution of the Border Patrol into a regional policing force that utilized violence, various social controls and eventually technology to keep unsanctioned Mexicans in line. Mass labor migration was over time transformed into mass illegal immigration, criminalizing poor brown people. This created the market for an immigrant-smuggling industry early on. The later Bracero Program was an attempt to legitimize certain workers demanded by American agribusiness, but the program ultimately failed and created a whole new raft of problems.
While direct violence declined somewhat, new enforcement strategies forced immigrants into more isolated regions, allowing nature to exact a human toll of death and misery.
The story that emerges in Migra! is surprisingly complex and nuanced. It was enlightening to learn that we have been doing the same dance around these issues for almost 100 years.
The Border Patrol was handed a thankless, impossible task, and they are literally trapped in the middle by the forces of history. Hernández has done a great service by exploring this previously unknown facet of border history and putting it square in the middle of its cultural, historical and human context.
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On July 17, 1897, the steamship Portland tied up to the Schwabacher Wharf in Seattle with 68 miners and the first load of gold from the Klondike on board. This event set off a rush to Alaska, with an estimated 100,000 stampeders heading north to find their fortunes.
The majority of those gold seekers chose to climb the now-famous Chilkoot Trail in Southeast Alaska to reach Canada and the rich Klondike fields. And most had no idea of how difficult that trip would be, nor how long it would take to reach Dawson City, the epicenter for the region.
Canadians demanded each gold seeker have a year’s supply of provisions, so stampeders had to drag about 2,000 pounds of supplies with them. Most outfits consisted of 1,200 pounds of food and 800 pounds of clothes and equipment.
Their northern journey started at Skagway, where steamers from the West Coast landed. They then had to carry their supplies several miles to Dyea, which was the beginning of the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail that traditionally had been a Tlingit trade route.
Men, women and children had to reach the 3,739-foot summit of the Chilkoot Pass Trail by climbing what became known as the “Golden Staircase,” 1,200 steps carved into the steepest part of the trail, before reaching the Canadian border. Many had to climb that staircase 30 to 40 times to get all their provisions to the top.
After they passed inspection by the North West Mounted Police, stampeders trekked on to Lake Bennett or Lake Lindemann. By the time they reached the water’s edge, the gold seekers had relayed their ton of supplies about 2,500 miles with all the trips they had to make. They then had to build boats to carry them and their supplies another 500 miles along the Yukon River.
And they had to hope that they built their watercraft sturdy enough to traverse through canyons, winding waters and treacherous rapids on their way to Dawson City. Many did not make it.
It could take many months for the stampeders to finally reach Dawson. And those that did found the cost of living high and most of the good land claimed, so many sold the supplies they had spent months dragging to get the money to go back home.
Only about 30,000 of the estimated 100,000 stampeders who started out for the Klondike made it to the gold fields. Around 4,000 actually found gold. Even less kept their fortunes.
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College papers academic writing service
A history of florence city in italy
Landscape City site Florence was founded to control the only practicable north-south crossing of the Arno River to and from the three passes through the Apennines: Two thin streams, the Mugnone and the Affrico, come down through town to meet the Arno.
Arno RiverArno River at Florence. Its hills offered some protection, but the citizens nonetheless felt compelled to erect imposing walls during the period 1285—1340; although the walls were largely torn down during urban expansion in the 1860s, their former presence remains clearly visible in a girdle of roads around the original city.
Moreover, because the hillier south bank of the Arno has prevented urban growth, segments of the walls are preserved. Beyond the historic centre of Florence, the city has expanded over the past century to accommodate waves of migration. Vast housing projects have been constructed, such as those at Isolotto 1954—55.
Huge satellite towns such as Scandicci have grown to rival the centre of Florence itself. Summers tend to be extremely hot and humid, and winters are cool and wet. Winters tend to be short-lived, ending generally in mid-March, and bring rain rather than snow. Unpleasantly cold showers can persist into April, however, much to the discomfort of the throng of Easter tourists. The most delightful seasons in which to visit Florence are late spring and fall, when the sky becomes an azure vault and the sun warms but does not scorch.
The skyline, however, is dominated by two imposing structures of later centuries. It housed the legislative and executive branches of the local civic government the priors and even today functions as the town hall of Florence. Palazzo VecchioPalazzo Vecchio, Florence. Wknight94 From behind the loggia and from the flank of the palazzo, the tall, colonnaded twin wings of a later building, the Uffizistretch down to the Arno.
An elegant edifice designed by Giorgio Vasariit was begun in 1560 to house the grand ducal offices.
A history of Florence in 12 buildings
East right and west left wings of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, with the Palazzo Vecchio in the background. The building itself, located due north of the Piazza della Signoria, was begun by the sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. Numerous local artists continued to work on it during the following century and a half.
1. The business skills of the Italians are enhanced by their invention of double-entry book-keeping. The vague neo-platonic and evasive ideology had now been replaced by Machiavelli's harsh empirical conception of the modern state.
2. The mid-century brings the successful struggle to be free of Austrian rule and the establishment of the independent kingdom of Italy - of which Florence is the provisional capital, from 1865, until Rome is captured in 1870. These expansionist tendencies are mirrored by similar appetites in powerful neighbours to the north, Milan and Venice.
3. These sixth, and last, city walls were the greatest financial commitment ever undertaken by the Florentine Commune.
4. The Allied soldiers who died driving the Germans from Tuscany are buried in cemeteries outside the city, Americans about 9 kilometers 5.
The painter Giotto designed its sturdy bell tower campanile in 1334. Yet the massive octagonal cupola 1420—36 that truly dominates both the church and the city was the proud achievement of Filippo Brunelleschimaster architect and sculptor. Opposite the cathedral stands the Baptistery ; the building dates from the 11th century but was believed by Florentines to be a surviving Roman monument when they commissioned for it a series of bronze doors with relief sculptures 1330; 1401—52.
The third pair of these doors, by Lorenzo Ghibertiwere of such rare beauty that Michelangelo christened them the Gates of Paradise. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore: Each of these churches is a monument of Renaissance art in its decoration. Alongside Santa Croce, Brunelleschi appended the Pazzi Chapel, designed geometrically around the motif of a circle within a square. Inside Santa Croce one finds major fresco cycles by the most famous early Florentine painter, Giotto.
Paradoxically, the patrons of this church were among the richest families of Florence, despite or perhaps because of the vows of poverty sworn by the Franciscan order.
Santa Croce has historical significance as well, because it became a kind of pantheon containing the tombs of famous Florentine scholars, writers, artists, and patriots. Across the Arno lies the modest Carmelite church of Santa Maria del Carminewhose Brancacci Chapel displays some of the most powerful early 15th-century frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino c.
The best works produced include bronzes a history of florence city in italy St. John the Baptist patron saint of the city and of the powerful Calimala guild [bankers and international traders in cloth] and St. Matthew for the Cambio, or bankers by Ghiberti and marbles of St. Mark linen drapers and St. George armourers by Donatello. North of the cathedral lay the province of the eventual rulers of Florence, the Medicia family of bankers.
On the square behind the house of the Medici stands the Augustinian church of San Lorenzofor which Brunelleschi made an austerely simple geometric Renaissance design based on his study of early Christian basilicas in Rome 1421. Medici patronage led to decisive artistic decorative additions. Donatello provided a bronze pulpit, and Brunelleschi added a sacristy the Old Sacristy ; about one century later Michelangelo balanced it with the New Sacristy, which contains his famous Medici Tombs.
Michelangelo also designed the Laurentian Librarynext to San Lorenzo, to house the great library assembled by the Medici family. Inside, a chapel contains a fresco by Benozzo Gozzolithe Procession of the Magi 1459in which the followers of the Magi are given features of the Medici.
Its enormous scale deliberately surpassed that of the Medici Palace. Noteworthy within the Strozzi Palace is a spacious courtyard, which by its use of arches and a loggia achieves a feeling of openness and simplicity. The hills behind this massive palace were transformed into magnificent gardens, the Boboli Gardensfilled with fountains, statues, and an amphitheatre; there operas and concerts for the Medici rulers betokened their courtly existence as the absolute rulers of the city.
Economy Industry, commerce, and services Thousands of Florentines work in industrial suburbs, where they are engaged in the production of furniture, rubber goods, chemicals, and food.
Yet the city lives primarily from tourism and the money brought in by foreign mainly American students. Traditional handicrafts—glassware and ceramics, wrought ironleatherwork, wares of precious metals, art reproductions, and the like—are still of some importance, along with some high-fashion clothing and shoe production.
Key fashion companies operating in the city include Gucci and Ferragamo. In the 1970s, however, Milan began to dominate a history of florence city in italy fashion sector.
• The population began to grow again and commerce prospered;
• After unification in 1861, Tuscany became a province of the Kingdom of Italy;
• But due to internal divergent interests and an incapacity to govern, these guilds were unable to withstand the reaction of the large merchant middle classes which soon once more took over power;
• These expansionist tendencies are mirrored by similar appetites in powerful neighbours to the north, Milan and Venice;
• In 1492 Lorenzo died.
Of special appeal are the traditional festivals, many of them resplendent with the trappings of medieval pageantry and procession. Visitors can watch the fireworks on June 24 St. Craftwork is sold throughout the city, but several traditional marketplaces still exist. The vendors of straw objects—from tiny figurines to full-sized dresses—have their stalls in the Loggia of the Mercato Nuovo New Market; built 1547—51.
Ponte VecchioPonte Vecchio, Florence. Traditional heavy industry is still important in the area. Major employers include Nuovo Pignone now part of the U. The city is now part of a huge industrial district running northwest to Prato and Pistoia.
However, the environment suffered, as the beautiful Tuscan countryside was slowly urbanized and motor vehicle traffic threatened to suffocate not just the city but the entire region. Transportation In the central area of Florence a solid pair of walking shoes is the best mode of transportation, especially since the historic section has been closed to motor vehicles.
History of Florence
The Eurostar connects Florence with Milan in less than three hours and with Rome in less than two. In addition, Florence has its own airport, Amerigo Vespucci formerly Peretolaonly 3 miles 5 km from the city centre. Cultural life Florence has numerous museums, mostly devoted to painting and sculpture. The National Central Library Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale has been the Italian library of deposit since 1870, receiving a copy of every book published in the country.
Other specialized learned institutions include an observatory; academies of fine arts, science, letters, and agrarian economics; and institutes of Etruscan and Italian studies, of the history of art, and of the history of optics. An increasing number of foreign countries and universities maintain institutes of study in Florence and its environs, attracting many historians and writers.
The various research institutes and faculties attached to the University of Florence are among the most important in Italy. The club has won the Italian championship on only two occasions in 1956 and 1969but it continues to inspire fanatical support from a history of florence city in italy followers.
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There are certain people in history that have changed things forever by virtue of being the first to do something of significance. Yuri Gagarin was one of those people. For centuries pundits, scientists and philosophers alike have formulated theories of what the world must look like from space. Until the 6th Century BC every civilization accepted a model of the Earth as a flat disc. In India the disc balanced on the back of a great elephant while Asian cultures were resolve that it was a sea turtle swimming in the vast ocean of space.
Greek astronomer Pythagoras developed the paradigm of a spherical Earth, although most Pre-Socratics virulently retained the flat Earth model. Aristotle accepted the spherical shape of the Earth on empirical grounds around 330 BC, and knowledge of the spherical Earth gradually began to spread beyond the Hellenistic world. One common element remained – the Earth, be it flat disc or spheroid, was floating in a vast space. While theories of how the Earth looked from this space had sharpened a bit, alas no man had see the Earth from space.
It took many centuries, more than a millennium, for there to be a first-hand account of what the Earth looked like from space. In the late fifties, at the height of the cold war, the U.S. and Russia became embroiled in a prideful race to put a man into space; to have a man safely return to Earth with a first hand account of what the world looked like.
Yuri Gagarin grew up on a small communal farm behind the Iron Curtain. He saw more than a little adversity. Like millions of people in the Soviet Union, the Gagarin family suffered during Nazi occupation in World War II. His village was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow, and an officer took over the Gagarin residence. The family was allowed to live in a 10’ x 10’ mud hut on the property, although his two older siblings were deported to Poland as slave labor.
After the war Yuri became an apprentice and studied foundry work. His extremely high intelligence was noticed at a vocational school in what would be the equivalent of 7th grade so he was selected to attend a technical college where he studied tractor engineering. He also volunteered as a Soviet air cadet and learned to fly a biplane, then later other types of aircraft. After graduating from the technical school in 1955, the Soviet Army drafted Gagarin. He was sent to Air Force Pilot’s School in Orenburg, where he excelled in aeronautics, flying planes like the MiG-15. It was during this time that he met Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva. They were married on the same day Yuri graduated in 1957.
Yuri ultimately became one of 20 possible candidates for Russia’s race to space. The 20 were submitted to rigorous testing and scrutiny. In the final test a psychiatrist recommended Yuri for the almost certainly fatal mission describing him thusly:
High degree of intellectual development; fantastic memory; distinguished from colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering.
Gagarin was also a favored candidate by his peers. When the 20 candidates were asked to anonymously vote for which other candidate they would like to see as the first to fly, all but three chose him. Yuri had conquered adversity, met the woman he loved, climbed to the top of intellectualism, achieved the admiration of his peers and was chosen over all others in his country. He spoke in glowing terms of his appreciation and happiness.
The United States felt they could beat the Russians to the punch by launching a man into space without an orbit. They were preparing Alan Shepard, a man who became the fifth to walk on the moon and the first to hit a golf ball there, for that mission. The phrase “failure is not an option” was coined as the motto for “Freedom 7”. Although originally planned for October of 1960 the mission did not fly until May 5, 1961.
Three weeks earlier, on April 12, 1961 Yuri climbed into a tiny round capsule fitted to a large rocket and blasted off toward the sky. Blue turned to black; the roaring sound of rocket engines gave way to the deafening silence heretofore never encountered by human ears. He pressed his face to the only opening in the capsule, a 10” round porthole and saw what no man had seen, the Earth, a blue marble floating in the vastness of space. He not only became the first man in space but also the first man to orbit the globe. He saw the clouds, mountains, and oceans as no man had ever seen them.
Upon Yuri’s return to Earth he did something unexpected. He emerged from the capsule in silence and maintained that silence until he saw his beloved wife, Valentina and for a brief day only two people on Earth knew what it was like to see the world from space. From there forward Yuri was replete and verbose in his description of the world from space. He became an international celebrity and as a dutiful steward of the State, he engaged in a long and ambitious international tour to proselytize Russia’s accomplishment. At each stop Yuri talked of weightlessness and described each detail of his flight. But when he came to the portion about how the world looked from space his pace ebbed, his voice lowered as he reached for superlatives to describe the beauty of what he, and he only had seen.
The beauty was so blinding that Yuri, in a microcosm of his journey, began a fall from grace. Back in ordinary perspective his world appeared gray; his world was flat. Yuri began drinking excessively. He betrayed his wife and took the company of a young nurse named Anna. His wife walked in, mid assignation on he and Anna at a resort on the Black Sea. Yuri tried to escape notice by jumping from the second story window. He fell face first into a curb leaving a large scar above his eyebrow.
In the following seven years Yuri thirsted to return to space but the Russians, afraid that they’d lose their poster child in an accident, kept him grounded working on designs for a reusable spaceship. Gagarin was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov in the Soyuz 1 flight, which was launched despite Gagarin’s protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.When Komarov’s flight ended in a fatal crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.
Yuri left the program and tried to become re-qualified as a fighter pilot. On March 28, 1968, seven years after his historic first space flight, while on a routine instructional flight, Yuri’s MiG-15 fell to earth. The cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is not entirely certain, and has been subject to speculation over the ensuing decades.
It’s a challenging thing to see beauty around us. For unique beauty the task is overwhelming to some. Of the descriptors of Yuri, one sticks out in my mind –
…sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings
We all see beauty everyday; it surrounds us. Some of us have even seen unique beauty, a beauty that only we have beheld and held. The challenge is to savor it as opposed to letting it begin our decline. The world never was flat. Yuri knew that, but lost sight of it.
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Monday, January 21, 2008
Stars in the night sky are grouped into galaxies based on their proximity to other stars and other groups of stars. Although astronomers don't seem to have too much trouble identifying galaxies, the problem of clustering data points is a challenging algorithmic equivalent, and finding better algorithms is an import pursuit, because clustering algorithms have broad applications in areas ranging from computer vision to process optimization to movie recommendations.
One simple and effective clustering algorithm is known as k-means. The 'k' implies the number of groups needs to be specified beforehand. The algorithm doesn't try to figure out how many groups exist; rather, given a set of data points and the number of groups (k), the k-means algorithm does its best to sensibly divide the data points into k distinct groups, or clusters.
I'll stick with the star analogy in explaining how it works. Suppose there are a finite number of stars in some volume of space (data points). And also suppose k spaceships suddenly appear at random positions within this volume of space.
Step 1. For each star, find the nearest spaceship and declare it a member of the nearest spaceship's galaxy (cluster). Step 2. After assigning stars to spaceship, move each spaceship to the center of its galaxy (based on averaging all of the locations of the the stars in the galaxy). 3. Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 over and over until the spaceships stop moving.
That's it.
Here's a link to a little demo applet I wrote:
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In the ocean, size doesn’t always matter.
Bigger is better is not true if you are a copepod. Copepods live the idiom “small is beautiful.” They are crustaceans, usually only one or two millimeters or less, that play a giant role in the well being of the sea.
Often called the baby food of the ocean, copepods feed just about everyone, especially baby everyones since the young of many species consume them. And why not? Copepods are so plentiful that collectively they might be the largest biomass and single most abundant species on the earth! This rich biomass has been referred to as the plankton pasture of the sea.
Plankton is just a term for organisms that can’t swim against the current. Floaters like copepods qualify, as do diatoms, some jellyfish, other crustaceans, and the larvae of many other marine life forms. Two types of plankton include phytoplankton, or plant plankton, and zooplankton, or animal plankton, of which copepods are examples.
You have likely seen these little loafers. They can be found in most wet places, including the ocean, fresh water, wetlands, and even underground in watery caves and sinkholes. While there are over 13,000 known species of copepods, many of them can be similarly described as translucent, with a tear-shaped body and a large pair of antennae. They have an armored exoskeleton, and a single median bright red compound eye.
While life as a copepod may be adrift, don’t think for a minute that their lives are inconsequential. British businesswoman Anita Roddick knew the power of petite when she quipped, “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”
The significant role of copepods is at least twofold, if not more. Being impressive eaters, copepods feed on both types of plankton, and a single copepod can consume up to 373,000 phytoplanktons per day.
The flip side of this is what goes in must come out. And it does, which is fortunately to our advantage, since copepod droppings play a vital role in sequestering carbon on the ocean floor. This carbon can be locked in and isolated for years, good news for all of us worried about carbon’s role in climate change.
Even more interesting, and the reason why these diminutive drifters are on my mind, is their role in the plight of right whales. Many of us have heard the bad news about the decline of the populations of these whales — and copepods may be playing an unintended role.
Copepods are a primary food source for right whales, which can filter and consume about 2,625 pounds (1.3 tons) of copepods per day. This feeding frenzy makes copepods a small but important collective cog in a big whale digestive machine.
Female whales bulk up on copepods before migrating south to give birth. Scientists believe that if there isn’t enough copepod biomass for the whales to consume, females may postpone or even forgo reproduction. And this delay is a problem for a species that can only breed every third year.
And in another climate-related effect, the warming of the water is changing the habitat of the copepods that the whales prefer. The masses of copepods are moving north and taking the whales with them, unfortunately into areas where the likelihood of entanglements and ship strikes are greater.
Perhaps the fate of the largest animal in the ocean might just depend on the smallest. As basketball coach John Wooden once noted, “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
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Linflower Seeds
This Linflower Seeds assessment also includes:
How does your garden grow? Use proportions to help Tim answer that question. By using their understanding of proportional relationships, pupils determine the number of seeds that will sprout. They create their own linear relationships for other seed sprout rates to complete the third performance task in a series of eight.
3 Views 4 Downloads
CCSS: Designed
Instructional Ideas
• Ask the class to determine how many seeds to plant to provide a given number of flowers
• Provide the tables for struggling learners in part three
Classroom Considerations
• The class should understand the direr emcee between proportional and non-proportional relationships
• Includes a rubric that explains the distribution of points
• Provides a table to organize the information
• None
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Mylonite is a fine-grained, compact metamorphic rock produced by dynamic recrystallization of the constituent minerals resulting in a reduction of the grain size of the rock. Mylonites can have many different mineralogical compositions; it is a classification based on the textural appearance of the rock.
Garnet porphyroblast
An amphibolitic mylonite showing a number of (rotated) porphyroclasts: a clear red garnet left in the picture while smaller white feldspar porphyroclasts can be found all over. Location: the tectonic contact between the (autochthonous) Western Gneiss Region and rocks of the (allochthonous) Blåhø nappe on Otrøy, Caledonides, Central Norway.
Mylonite Strona
A mylonite (through a petrographic microscope) showing rotated so-called δ-clasts. The clasts show that the shear was dextral in this particular cut. Strona-Cenery zone, Southern Alps, Italy.
Mylonites are ductilely deformed rocks formed by the accumulation of large shear strain, in ductile fault zones. There are many different views on the formation of mylonites, but it is generally agreed that crystal-plastic deformation must have occurred, and that fracturing and cataclastic flow are secondary processes in the formation of mylonites. Mechanical abrasion of grains by milling does not occur, although this was originally thought to be the process that formed mylonites, which were named from the Greek μύλος mylos, meaning mill.[1] Mylonites form at depths of no less than 4 km.[2]
There are many different mechanisms that accommodate crystal-plastic deformation. In crustal rocks the most important processes are dislocation creep and diffusion creep. Dislocation generation acts to increase the internal energy of crystals. This effect is compensated through grain-boundary-migration recrystallization which reduces the internal energy by increasing the grain boundary area and reducing the grain volume, storing energy at the mineral grain surface. This process tends to organize dislocations into subgrain boundaries. As more dislocations are added to subgrain boundaries, the misorientation across that subgrain boundary will increase until the boundary becomes a high-angle boundary and the subgrain effectively becomes a new grain. This process, sometimes referred to as subgrain rotation recrystallization,[3]acts to reduce the mean grain size. Volume and grain-boundary diffusion, the critical mechanisms in diffusion creep, become important at high temperatures and small grain sizes. Thus some researchers have argued that as mylonites are formed by dislocation creep and dynamic recrystallization, a transition to diffusion creep can occur once the grain size is reduced sufficiently.
Peridotitic Mylonite
Periodotitic mylonite in a petrographic microscope
Mylonites generally develop in ductile shear zones where high rates of strain are focused. They are the deep crustal counterparts to cataclastic brittle faults that create fault breccias.[4]
• Blastomylonites are coarse grained, often sugary in appearance without distinct tectonic banding.
• Ultramylonites usually have undergone extreme grainsize reduction. In structural geology, ultramylonite is a kind of mylonite defined by modal percentage of matrix grains more than 90%.[4] Ultramylonite is often hard, dark, cherty to flinty in appearance and sometimes resemble pseudotachylite and obsidian. In reverse, ultramylonite-like rocks are sometimes "deformed pseudotachylyte".[5][6][7][8]
• Mesomylonites have undergone an appreciable amount of grainsize reduction, and are defined by their modal percentage of matrix grains being between 50 and 90%.[9][10]
• Protomylonites are mylonites which have experienced limited grainsize reduction, and are defined by their modal percentage of matrix grains being less than 50%. Because mylonitisation is incomplete in these rocks, relict grains and textures are apparent, and some protomylonites can resemble foliated cataclasite or even some schists.
• Phyllonites are phyllosilicate(e.g. chlorite or mica)-rich mylonites. They typically have a well-developed secondary shear (C') fabric.
Determining the displacements that occur in mylonite zones depends on correctly determining the orientations of the finite strain axis and inferring how those orientations change with respect to the incremental strain axis. This is referred to as determining the shear sense. It is common practice to assume that the deformation is plane strain simple shear deformation. This type of strain field assumes that deformation occurs in a tabular zone where displacement is parallel to the shear zone boundary. Furthermore, during deformation the incremental strain axis maintains a 45 degree angle to the shear zone boundary. The finite strain axes are initially parallel to the incremental axis, but rotate away during progressive deformation.
Kinematic indicators are structures in mylonites that allow the sense of shear to be determined. Most kinematic indicators are based on deformation in simple shear and infer sense of rotation of the finite strain axes with respect to the incremental strain axes. Because of the constraints imposed by simple shear, displacement is assumed to occur in the foliation plane in a direction parallel to the mineral stretching lineation. Therefore, a plane parallel to the lineation and perpendicular to the foliation is viewed to determine the shear sense.
The most common shear sense indicators are C/S fabrics, asymmetric porphyroclasts, vein and dike arrays, mantled porphyroclasts and mineral fibers. All of these indicators have a monoclinic symmetry which is directly related to the orientations of the finite strain axes. Although structures like asymmetric folds and boudinages are also related to the orientations of the finite strain axes, these structures can form from distinct strain paths and are not reliable kinematic indicators.
1. ^ Lapworth, C. (1885). "The highland controversy in British geology; its causes, course and consequence". Nature. 32: 558–559.
2. ^ Mylone,
3. ^ Urai J.L.; Means W.D.; Lister G.S. "Dynamic recrystallization of minerals". Retrieved 9 July 2016.
4. ^ a b Sibson R.H. (1977). "Fault rocks and fault mechanisms" (PDF). Journal of the Geological Society of London. 133: 191–213. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.133.3.0191.
5. ^ Passchier C.W. (1982). "Pseudotachylyte and the development of ultramylonite bands in the Saint-Barthelemy Massif, French Pyrenees" (PDF). Journal of Structural Geology. 4 (1): 69–79. doi:10.1016/0191-8141(82)90008-6.
6. ^ White J.C. (1996). "Transient discontinuities revisited: pseudotachylyte, plastic instability and the influence of low pore fluid pressure on deformation processes in the mid-crust". Journal of Structural Geology. 18 (12): 1471–1486. doi:10.1016/S0191-8141(96)00059-4.
7. ^ Takagi H.; Goto K.; Shigematsu N. (2000). "Ultramylonite bands derived from cataclasite and pseudotachylyte in granites, northeast Japan" (PDF). Journal of Structural Geology. 22 (9): 1325–1339. doi:10.1016/S0191-8141(00)00034-1.
8. ^ Ueda T.; Obata M.; Di Toro G.; Kanagawa K.; Ozawa K. (2008). "Mantle earthquakes frozen in mylonitized ultramafic pseudotachylytes of spinel-lherzolite facies" (PDF). Geology. 36 (8): 607–610. doi:10.1130/G24739A.1.
9. ^ Passchier C.W.; Trouw R.A.J. (2013). Microtectonics. Springer. p. 106. ISBN 978-3-662-08734-3.
10. ^ Trouw R.A.J.; Passchier C.W.; Wiersma D.J. (2009). Atlas of Mylonites- and related microstructures. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-03607-1.
External links
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
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Home / Uses / Why Assess Quantitative Reasoning (Numeracy) / Example: Engage Numeracy Skills to Analyze TV News
Example: Engage Numeracy Skills to Analyze TV News
Is it a crisis or good news?
The dinner time TV news often features stories that include quantitative information. A person with strong numeracy skills may find those stories interesting enough to engage their analytical and interpretive abilities.
Here is one example.
The news story began with the headline, “Home Buying Crisis.” The tease was, “dramatic rise in families renting rather than buying homes.” The news anchor said something like, “As compared to last year, rental units were up 10% while the number of purchased homes dropped by almost 5000.”
The numerically precise language gave the story an initial patina of credibility. But that tarnished immediately when the announcer added, “There are now 16, 550 rentals and 3,102,300 purchased homes in the city.” Then came the human-interest “face-on-the-story” interview with a renter who was having trouble putting together a down payment to buy a home.
A person with strong numeracy skills may analyze those numbers and then wonder whether the interpretative word “Crisis” really should apply.
Let’s walk through the analysis first. To make it easier, let’s use round numbers.
• Assume we start with 15,000 rentals.
• A 10% jump in rentals would add 1500. That gives us 16,500 rentals, close enough to the 16,550 mentioned in the story. If that is all we knew, then it might be reasonable to regard the growth as a newsworthy “jump.”
• But, look at the roughly 3,000,000 purchased homes. 16,500 rentals is a tiny percentage of all the homes in the city. If those numbers are accurate, then 99.5% of homes are purchased and only .5% are rentals. A reduction of 6000 from over 3,000,000 would be a 2% drop, and the story said that the actual reduction was less than 6000. Is a 2% drop a “crisis”?
The news story included the interview with the renter who wanted to become a buyer. If anything, that interview is evidence that home ownership remains a goal. The increase in rentals could have been interpreted as good news. People who want to live in the city, but who cannot afford to buy, now have more opportunities because more rentals are available. Maybe the news should have interviewed someone who needed to find a place closer to work or to the kids’ school and was happy to have found one of those 1500 additional rentals.
People with strong numeracy skills apply their critical thinking to solve quantitative reasoning problems.
Being better able to analyze and interpret quantitative information, they can draw more accurate conclusions. They can explain how they reached those judgments. And, considering what the quantitative information tells us, they can better evaluate the claims others may make.
Insight Assessment critical thinking skills testing tools for students and employees provide measures of core components of good thinking including analysis, inference, evaluation, induction, deduction, numeracy and Overall Reasoning.
Contact us to learn more.
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North Carolina Pioneers
Home of 8 Genealogy Websites! Ancestor databases Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia!
The Chowanoac Indians
Chowanoacindians When the Europeans were settling the colonies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Chowanoac Indians occupied both banks of the Chowan River in Northeastern North Carolina. They spoke the Algonquian language which is said to mean " people at the south." Their villages and lands covered Gates, Hertford, Bertie and Chowan Counties. Their neighbors were the Iroquoian Mongoak (later Tuscarora) to the south and west of Salmon Creek in Bertie County, the Algonquian Weapemeoc were neighbors east of Rockyhock Creek in Chowan County. When Sir Walter Raleigh was colonizing from 1584 to 1590, the Chowanoac were probably the most powerful of the Carolina Algonquians. The Chowanoac took offense to English encroachment during 1666 when and violence broke out upon the settlers occupying the western side of the Chowan River. Eventually, however, as the English continued their settlements, the Chowanoac abandoned their lands west of the river. The Chowanoac were one of the tribes which ignited the rebellion of Nathaniel Bacon in 1676 but who were subdued in 1677. There were less than 200 Indians left and the Chowanoac were placed on a reservation of 12 square miles in Gates County. At the onset of the Tuscarora War of 1711 to 1713, the Chowanoac could muster only fifteen warriors to fight with the English against their historic Iroquoian neighbors to the west. It was during this era that the tribe suffered both at the hands of their enemies as well as the English which prompted the chief (John Hoyter) to petition the colonial government for protection. The result was that the tribe was reduced to six square miles, losing some of its best lands. After about a year they did not have enough people to farm the land and the tribal leaders asked the colonial government to sell 2,050 acres. They continued selling their lands during the next twenty years. By 1751 the tribe had ceased to exist. The Exiled Indians from Qualla Town Guarding the Catawba River Against the Cherokees A Trail of Tears from Murphy, NC Yeopim Indians Sold the Chowan River to the English Tuscarora Indians Wiped Out Town Creek Indian Mound Indian Troubles
The Obituary is not always published in the State where the Deceased Resided!
From The Evening State Journal in Richmond, Virginia on January 5, 1871.
" Captain Samuel Holder Hikes. Yesterday Richmond paid civic honors worthy of the occasion to the remains of one who did more than this, for he lost his own life in a daring and devoted but vain effort to rescue a friend from death when every chance was against him. The story of Capt. Samuel Holder Hikes deserves to be written in letters of gold, and perpetuated in a monument of time-enduring brass. It is brief, but all tho move brilliant on that account. Young Ross was in the same apartment with him in the Spotswood. Captain Hikes did not awake till the smoke had almost filled and choked up the narrow passages and stairways of the hotel. Of course, his first thought was to save himself; and he had forced his way through the suffocating smoke, and reached (he open air of the street, and safety; when he suddenly bethought himself of his friend who was in the same room with him in a helpless condition. He endeavored to get assistance to go back for him, but failing, despite the entreaties of those outside, who felt it to be certain death, he rushed back into the burning building to save young Ross or die with him. The Rev. Mr. Edwards, in his oration over tho dead body of this brave young man at the church yesterday evening, truthfully aud eloquently said: He has woven the garlands of immortality around less heroic deeds than that performed by our brave and noble brother. The church on Broad street was crowded, while the streets without were filled with tho people, and the funeral procession was one of the largest and most imposing of the kind that we have witnessed in this city. It was composed in the main of his brothers of that noble order, the Knights of Pythias, in carrying out one of the cardinal principles of which worthy order, their heroic brother had fallen. The funeral cortege passed down Main street, to tho solemn music of the Death March, as the shades of the evening gathered over the cily, on its way to the depot; and the people were gathered on either side of the street, and attested their grief by their respectful silence am] the sorrow fulness of their demeanor. His remains were taken by the Danville cars to the little town of Milton, in Caswell county, North Carolina, where he first saw the light, and whose history he has so brilliantly illustrated by his death. There, in its simple cemetery, will he rest, and his people will be proud to know that there is at least one hero buried in their village churchyard." Bartlett Yancey House
Poteat House
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Ask "why?"
1886 buggyride Genealogy research is a rolling vehicle searching for facts. Because it is items such as birth, death and marriage dates which drive the integrity of the search. Another essential element to the vehicle is a clear understanding of how wars and other events were affected communities and everyday family life. Here is a good example. During the Revolutionary War, soldiers only signed up for three month periods. Now, let us ask "why?" Well, here we go. The British soldiers had landed in the port cities and were engaging at every opportunity. Frequently, it was the militia companies which assembled on a moment's notice to engage the British. The Continental Army consisted of those who enlisted for three month terms so that they could return home during planting and harvesting. Sometimes, they sent a servant or friend in their place for the three months, themselves enlisting later. These short terms added up and by 1780, most rebels had served at least one year. The longer the term, the more acreage was involved in the land grant. Applications for pensions were replete with stories of their adventures, including the names of officers and battles. Many histories are available online of the officers who served in the Revolutionary War. That information also provides a historical accounting of battles in which our ancestors participated. Likewise, one can read the pensions of Civil War Soldiers which are usually found in the State and County of enlistment. The names of officers may seem like minor details, however, they go a long way in describing the struggles of the war. A perusal of the civil war pensions for the Confederate States reveal the sad results of devastation of crops, burning of homes, and a distinct poverty within the conquered South which was still in play in 1903 when most pensions were issued. Thus, pension records are one source to learn "why." And understand.
Map of Caswell County
Caswell County Wills and Estates
Dongola Plantation Caswell County was established in 1777 and was the first county in the State. It was carved out of Orange County and was named after Richard Caswell, the first governor of the new State of North Carolina.
Caswell County Wills, Estates, Deeds 1783 to 1792
Allen, Robert | Allison, John Jr. | Anthony, John | Atkinson, John | Atkinson, Robert | Austin, William | Barker, George | Barker, James | Bass, Stephen | Baxter, Thomas | Beale, Sarah | Berry, William | Black, George | Black, Henry | Bomar, Royal | Bowles, Sarah | Brackin, Samuel | Bradley, James | Brooks, Richard | Brooks, Thomas | Brown, Samuel | Browning, Jacob | Browning, Nicholas | Bryant, Edward | Bryant, John | Buhsnoro, John | Bumpass, Edward | Bumpass, Samuel | Burch, John | Burton, Charles | Burton, Robert | Butler, Nancy | Campbell, John | Carmichal, Duncan | Carnal, Patrick | Cate, John Jr. | Cate, Joshua to William Person | Chambers, Josiah | Chambers, William | Christenbury, Aaron | Clayton, John Sr. | Clayton, Thomas | Coleman, Spillsby | Colman, John | Cooper, John | Corbin, David | Crisp, John | Crumpton, James | Culbertson, Robert | Cummins, William | Currie, John
Dalton, Isham | Davey, Gabriel | Dean, Jane | Deekins, Robert | Delahay, Arthur Dickins, Robert | Dickson, Michael | Dobbin, Hugh | Dollarhide, Ezekiel | Donaldson, Hannah | Douglass, John | Douglass, Thomas | Dowell, John | Duly, Mathew | Duncan, Daniel | Duncan, Jesse | Duncan, Miles
Enoch, Andrus | Estes, Reubin | Farley, Elizabeth | Farley, Josiah | Farley, Moses | Farley, Nathaniel | Farley, Stuart| Farqueher, James | Ferrell, Charles | Fletcher, J. A. | Fletcher, James | Flynn, Patrick | Frazier, Catherine | Fuller, Henry Sr. | Fury, Martha | Gardner, Edwin | Gerton, Benjamiin | Gibson, Mary Cooper (alias Gibson) | Glenn, William | Gold, Daniel | Goodman, Benjamin | Graves, James | Graves, John | Greene, Shadrack | Greer, Samuel Gulling, Elizabeth
Hall, David | Haman, Bazilla | Hamblin, Stephen | Haralson, Elkanah | Haralson, Ezekiel | Harris, Christopher | Harris, Tyree | Harrison, Samuel | Harrison, Thomas | Henly, Darby | Hewlett, Sarah | Hightower, Tavener to John Dobbin | Hill, James | Hissom, Thomas | Hodge, John | Holman, Richard | Howard, Francis | Hugh, Gabriel
Jamison, William | Johnson, Thomas | Johnston, Francis | Johnston, Robert | Johnston, Samuell | Jouett, Mathew Kersey, John | Landman, James | Lea, James | Lea, John | Lea, Mary | Lea, William | Leath, Freeman | Ledbetter, Joel | Lewis, Fielding | Lewis, John | Long, Ambrose | Long, Benjamin | Long, Reubin | Lowe, John Sr. | Lyons, John
Man, Davidl | Mann, John | Mann, William F. | Mann, William | Mann to Rankin | Marshall, John | Mastin, Tarpley | McIntosh, Alexander | McKeen, Hugh | Miles, Alexander | Miles, Hannah | Miles, Jacob | Miller, Alexander | Mincey, John | Mincey, Richard | Mitchell, John | Montgomery, Mary Moore, John | Moore, Moses | Moore, Stephen | Moore, William | Morris, Samuell | Morrison, Alexander | Motheral, John | Mun, William | Murphey, Archibald
Neeley, Thomas | Nipper, William | Ogletree, John | Paine, James | Paine, Robert | Palmer, Thomas Sr. | Parker, Aaron | Parker, Jonas | Parr, William | Paschal, William | Patterson, Gideon | Perkins, John | Phelps, James | Plyea, Laughlin | Pogue, Joseph | Poteete, John | Prescod, Spencer | Pryor, Elizabeth | Quiney, William
Ragsdale, John | Rainey, William | Rankin, William | Ray, Robert | Reece, James | Rice, Thomas | Richmond, John | Roberts, John | Robertson, Jacob | Robertson, John | Robertson, Samuell | Robertson, Thomas | Rose, Alexander | Rosebrough, George | Rowark, David and Elisha | Rowark, Elisha
Sanders, Daniel | Sanders, James | Sawyer, William | Scott, John | Shackleford, Francis | Shearman, James | Shelton, Benjamin | Shelton, Davidl | Shy, John | Simpson, Richard | Smith, Anne | Smith, John | Smithurst, John | Stafford, Adam | Stansbury, Solomon | Stone, William
Tate, Waddy | Taylor, Mary | Taylor, Reubin | Terry, Ollioe | Thomas, Anne to William Tunks | Thomas, Davidl | Tunks, Thomas | Turley, Moses | Van Hook, Davidl | Van Hook, Loyd | Van Hook, Thomas
Wallington, Armistead | Ward, Richard | Webb, Robert | Williams, Henry | Williams, Lewis | Williams, William | Williamson, Benjamin and Henry | Williamson, Jeremiah | Williamson, Joseph | Williamson, Stephen | Willingham, Thomas | Willison, Henry | Winstead, Ailsey Womack, John | Woody, John | Wynne, Thomas | Young, Bartlett
Caswell County Wills, Estates, Deeds 1792 to 1800
Abel, William | Adams, John | Allen, Charles | Anglin, Cornelius | Anthony, Jonathan | Anthony, Sally | Anthony, Usley
Baldwin, Henry | Barker, James | Baker, William | Barrons, Mary | Beasley, Thomas | Bolen, Isaac | Boman, Royal | Booker, William | Boulson, Thomas | Boulter, Charles Jr. | Bowers, Bartholomew | Boyd, William Sr. | Brooks, Christopher Williams | Brooks, Richard | Brooks, Thomas | Brown, John | Brown, Joseph | Brown, Sarah | Bruce, Robert | Bullis, Samuell | Burch, William | Burford, Benjamin | Burris, Mary | Burton, Andrew | Burton, James | Burton, John | Burton, orphans | Burton, Robert
Campbell, John | Carlos, Archibald | Carrol, William | Carter, Jesse | Cochran, Alexander | Connally, John and Charles | Crisp, John | Croset, John
Davis, George Allen | Davis, Henry | Dickey, Daniel | Dixon, Charles | Dixon, Henry | Dixon, Martha Dixon, Robert | Dixon, Roger | Dixon, Tilman | Dobbin, Ann | Dobbin, Hugh | Dobbin, Rachael | Duncan, Daniel | Durham, Nathaniel
Elam, Barkley | Enoch, Andrew | Enoch, Benjamin | Enoch, Davidl | Enoch, Elizabeth | Enoch, Mary | Fanning, Hezekiah | Farley, Catharine | Farley, George | Farley, John J. | Farley, Stewart
Gelaspy, Ann | Gibson, Mary | Gillespie, William | Glashy, William | Grant, John | Grant, Neely | Graves, Azariah | Graves, Thomas | Green, Samuell | Gunn, Thomas
Haggard, Edmond | Hall, Judith, mother of Champness Hall | Hamblett, Richard | Haralson, Elkanah, orphans | Haralson, Nathaniel | Harrilson, Elijah | Harrison, John | Harrison, Thomas | Harriss, Christopher | Harris, Robert | Harris, Tyree | Hart, Davidl | Hart, Nathaniel | Hart, orphans | Hatcher, William | Hensler, William | Hepworth, John | Hightower, Charnal Hodge, John | Hogg, Gideon | Hornbuckle, Thomas | Hughes, John
Ingram, James | Ingram, Parnall Israel, Matthew | Johnston, John | Johnston, Samuell | Jouette, Elizabeth | Jouette, Washington | Kincher, Peggy | Knight, Joseph W.
Lay, Martha | Lay, Peter | Lay, Widdow | Lea, Gabriel | Lea, James | Leath, Charles | Leath, Freeman | Long, James
Mains, Matthew | Maler, Jacob Jr. | Mallory, John Sr. | Martin, James | Mason, Davidl | McIntosh, William | Meliar, John | Merrett, James Miles, Alexander | Mills, Edward | Mills, Jane | Mitchell, William | Montgomery, Michael | Moore, orphans | Moore, Elizabeth | Moore, John, estate | Moore, Mary, orphan | Moore, Mary Anderson | Moore, William | Morgan, William | Morton, Mesheck | Mullins, Jean | Mullins, John
Nicholson, Michael | Norman, Elizabeth | Otwell, William | Parks, Robert | Perkins, Abram | Perkins, John Jr. | Perkins, Pleasant | Perkins, Sally | Poole, Micajah | Porter, Davidl | Poston, Jeremiah Powell, John Quine, William
Rainey, William | Randolph, James | Ray, James | Reed, George | Rice, Hezekiah Rice, John | Rice, Thomas | Richardson, Moses | Richmond, Matthew | Roan, James | Rose, Alexander
Samuel, Anthony | Samuel, Archibald | Sanders, Abram | Scott, John | Seddall, John | Shackelford, Francis | Shearman, John | Shelton, Benjamin | Shy, John | Simmons, Thomas | Simpson, Mary | Slade, Thomas | Smith, James | Smith, Peter | Stephens, Boler | Summers, John
Tate, Ann | Tate, Waddy | Thomas, John | Thomas, William | Thornton, Peter | Van Hook, Thomas
Walker, Samuel | Wall, Buckner | Ware, William | Waters, Joseph | Wattington, Paul | Williams, Duke | Williams, Henry | Williams, Joseph | Williamson, James | Willson, William to Adam Landers | Wilson, Thomas | Windsor, John | Wisdom, Latkin | Womack, Abraham | Womack, John | Yates, James | Yates, John
Caswell County Wills, Estates, Deeds 1777 to 1783
Atkinson, John | Barnett, Robert | Brooks, Christopher | Brown, Isaac | Bumpass, Edward | Bumpass, Robert | Burton, Charles | Burton, Noel
Carman, John | Carter, Benjamin | Cartin, Richard | Cate, John | Clarke, Robert | Cochran, Abraham | Coleman, Alexander | Corder, William | Currie, James
Deweese, Jonathan | Dickson, Michael | Dix, James | Dixon, Charles | Dixon, Henry | Dixon, Henry, Lt. Colonel | Dobbin, Alexander | Dobbin, Hugh | Donaldson, Humphrey | Douglass, Thomas | Duncan, Daniel | Duty, Matthew
Edwell, Henry | Farley, Josiah | Farley, Moses | Farmer, Samuel | Frazer, John | Fuller, Nehemiah
Gatewood, Ambrose | Galseby, Alexander | Garrett, John | George, Sarah | Gibson, Andrew | Gibson, Anthony | Gold, Ephraim | Goodman, Benjamin | Grayham, James | Grayham, Robert | Gunn, John
Hamilton, Stephen | Haralson, Elkanah | Haralson, Ezekiel | Haralson, Nathaniel | Harris, John | Harrison, Elling | Hatchet, Timothy | Hayne, Richard | Hays, John | Hopper, Thomas | Huston, Robert
Irvin, John | Jesse, Henry | Johnston, John | Jones, Jesse | Jouett, Jonathan | Jouett, Mathew | Kellow, William | Kimbrow, Thomas | Lea, John | Logue, Ephraim
Mabery, Joseph | Mains, Mathew | Mawell, Mary | McDonald, Duncan | McFarland, Robert | Mitchel, David | Moore, Alexander | Moore, John | Moore, Robert | Moore, William | Moore, William to Robert Payne | Morris, Mathew | Muirhead, Claude
Neeley, William | Neill, Thomas | Nowell, Joel | Rainey, George | Rider, Benjamin | Robertson, Jacob | Robertson, Thomas | Robinson, David | Robinson, James Sr.| Robinson, Thomas
Samuel, Anthony | Sanders, James | Sargent, Joseph | Scott, John | Smith, George | Smith, John | Smith, Robert to William Glenn | Smithey, Nancy | Spencer, Thomas | Stansbury, Samuel | Starkey, Jonathan | Stinson, Alexander | Stokes, Susannah | Stringer, Edward | Stuart, James
Tapley, Hosea | Terry, James | West, James | Wilkerson, Douglass | Wilkinson, Samuel | Williams, Daniel | Williams, James | Winstead, Irwin | Winstead, Samuel | Womack, John | Yates, John
Caswell County Wills and other Records Available to Members of North Carolina Pioneers
Indexes to Wills, Estates, Deeds
• 1777 to 1783
• 1783 to 1791
• 1792 to 1800
Taxable Property
• 1783 (Inhabitants)
• 1787 to 1789
• 1790 (and Fines)
• 1792 to 1793
• 1794 (and Accounting)
• 1795
• 1797
Accountings of Estates
• Oct 1796 Court
• Jan and July 1799 Court
• Jan and July 1800 Court
Miscellaneous Records
• Caswell County Deeds (trancribed)
• Browning, John, 1782 deed from the State of North Carolina Plat of Yanceyville (1839)
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5 Characteristics of Life
5 Characteristics of Life
More Options: Make a Folding Card
Storyboard Description
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Storyboard Text
• They both are, son
• Hey, are those flowers alive? What about that rabbit over there?
• So what makes something "alive?"
• Well, there are 5 characters of life. 1. It needs the energy to carry out its life processes. Those flowers need energy from the sun to grow.
• 2. It is composed of one or more cells. Now, imagine if all of those boxes are little cells making up a part of that cow. That cow is a multi-celled organism. There are also single-celled organisms with only one cell but those are alive too!
• 3. It responds to its environment. If Sabrina shoves Mike, he will respond by being mad.
• 4. It grows and reproduces. Living things grow and reproduce to make offspring. Then they grow up and have children themselves. For example, your mother and I grew from children to adults and had you and your sisters. So we grew and reproduced ourselves.
• 5. It maintains a stable internal environment. Terry in in the savannah where it is very hot so his body will regulate his temperature and heart rate etc. to maintain his internal environment to be safe for himself in his conditions. It's the same with Emily but instead, she is in a cold environment so her body will keep her warm.
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Belugas down under AVDM
Nearly a quarter, 57,000, of the worlds beluga population estimated at 200,000 migrate to the Western Hudson Bay estuaries of the Seal, Nelson and Churchill Rivers. The province of Manitoba is hoping the liberal government keeps promises made during the 2015 election to protect five per cent of Canada’s more than 200,000 kilometer coastline by 2017 and include this region. Manitoba government is pushing hard for protection of these estuaries as part of their new Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan.If the plan goes through and is implemented it would protect moulting, feeding and calving areas for the nearly 60,000 belugas along the Hudson Bay coast in the Churchill region. This area comprises the largest sub – population in the world …a quite healthy population indeed. Nearly half the other populations, including the St. Lawrence River group in eastern Canada, are not doing as well. Increased development has deployed carcinogens through harmful chemicals into these waters.The proposal from Manitoba province will also include requests to amend federal legislation regulating pollution in Arctic waters south of the 60 degrees lattitiude so to cover the fragile ecosysystems in the estuaries frequented by the belugas. Although the current status of these creatures is healthy, rapid change in the Arctic could affect the species adversely in the near future.
beluga-map-hudson-bayDevelopment along the rivers directly related to reduced ice formation in the Arctic was listed as potential threat to the belugas of Manitoba. The difference between these river sanctuaries and the St. Lawrence where massive development has caused negative effects and subsequent “threatened” classification of that beluga whale population is vast. However a future change in commerce due to global warming could change things for Hudson Bay belugas in a hurry.A direct consequence of arctic ice melt would be increased shipping leading to extensive noise pollution that would harm the belugas ability to echo-locate and communicate with one another. Warming trends also have implications on the beluga’s winter feeding grounds in the Hudson Strait in the northeast. The ice harbors algae that sustain fish that belugas prey upon as well serving as a safe haven for the belugas hiding from killer whales. These predators are quite common in the bay in recent years due to more access from longer ice free periods.A key consideration in Churchill, and more specifically the Churchill River, is the long term strategy of the Port of Churchill, currently in the process of changing ownership. The relationship and interactions between the port and the belugas to date have been very good. With new owners and possible new directions in shipping from the facility it is important to cover all the angles with regards to water contamination and shipping routes and frequency.
With belugas coming to Churchill each summer there has been an increase in tourism as a result. The economic benefits from this would be adversely affected if protection was not placed on the estuary.
Beluga whales in the Churchill River under the watchful eyes of Natural Habitat travelers.
Beluga whale watching near the port of Churchill. Natural Habitat photo
Because of these current and impending threats, advocates and researchers are intent on protecting the clean estuaries now before the need becomes dire. Once development ensues to a higher degree as a result of environmental change it could be too late Thinking ahead and protecting these areas now is crucial!
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Explore BrainMass
Polarization is the property of waves that allows them to oscillate in more than one direction. The polarization of light is described by the position of the wave’s electric field at a point in space over the time of one oscillation. Polarization is perpendicular to the wave’s direction of travel. The electric field may be positioned in a single direction or it may rotate as the wave travels.
Many sources of electromagnetic radiation have many molecules that will emit light. Light is only polarized if there is a relationship between the emitters of light. Light can be described by the degree of polarization. It may also be described by the conditions of the polarization ellipse.
© BrainMass Inc. brainmass.com October 16, 2018, 2:33 pm ad1c9bdddf
Intensity of light passing through series of polarizers
Unpolarized light is passing through three successive polarizers placed one after the other. Polarizing axis of Polarizer 1 is vertically arranged i.e. polarizing axis is making 0 degree angle with vertical axis. Next polarizers, Polarizer 2 and Polarizer 3 are placed in such a way that their polarizing axis are making 30 and 90
Discussing Polarization Mechanisms
Why do polarization mechanisms increase with frequency in the following order: Space charge/interfacial polarization (low frequency) Dipole polarization Ionic polarization Electronic polarization.
Polarization, Relaxation and Loss
Concepts of relaxation, polarization, and dielectric loss. Why (not a mathematical argument) does a polarization following (in phase with) a field generate the highest loss? Why wouldn't slow polarization mechanisms lead to loss (is this because they're too slow to polarize in the first place)?
Electrostatic potential
3. (a) Four point charges are placed at the vertices of a square as shown in the diagram. The charges are of equal magnitude, Q, the sign of each charge is given in this diagram (attached). (i) What is the value of V x E at all spatial points in this configuration of charges (note that the charges are stationary)? What is t
Volume Charge Density and Non-Uniform Polarization
Obtain an expression for the volume charge density ρ(r) associated with a non-uniform polarization P(r) in a dielectric material. The polarization in a spherical region of radius a is: P(r) = (P0)r(a-r)R, where P0 is a constant and R is a unit vector in the outward direction from the center of the sphere. The sphere has
Model of dielectric with frequency dependent dielectric constant
(See attached file for full problem description) --- Frequency dependent dielectric constant The polarization of a dielectricum P(r,t) is given by calculating the mean of the induced dipole moment of the bound charge in a small volume V(r) in the neighbourhood of r, i.e P(r,t) = (1/V(r))j pj(t) In a simple model fo
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Movement in the Viewer Space
The user has a view into the imaginary three-dimensional space that contains the timelines. The view is composed by setting a viewpoint, a view direction, and the scale of the axes. The viewpoint is where the user's eye is located in the imaginary space, and the view direction is where the user is looking. Moving the viewpoint is broken down into movements along the three axes in the space: x, y and time. Although the user could look in any direction from the viewpoint, the view directions have been limited to the four most useful. These are towards the past and future along the time axis, and towards the left and right down the x axis.
In the standard mode the axes of the controller correspond to the axes in the imaginary space. These do not change when the user changes view direction. In first person mode the axes of the controller change to match the view direction. For example, movement in the x axis controller will always move left and right across the screen even in the left or right view when this produces movement in the time axis. This mode can be enabled in the user preference window.
x and y
The values of x and y are the location of the viewpoint in the two axes of the category plane. The x and y axes correspond the the left/right and up/down directions when the user is looking towards the past or future along the time axis. (Left and right are defined by the direction to the future when facing that direction.)
time (z)
The time axis (by convention, the z axis) runs from the distant past to the distant future. Movement of the viewpoint along this axis changes the display time of the QViewer forward or backward in time. The display time is printed in the datetime box on the display.
The display time forms the front clipping plane of the display when the view direction is either towards the past or future. When looking towards the future, no events or parts of events before the display time are visible. When looking towards the past, no events or parts of events after the display time are visible.
When the view direction is towards the left or right, the display time is indicated by a thin gray line running from top to bottom at the center of the display area. This line represents the plane of the display time turned sideways.
real-time mode
Normally, the user directly controls movement of the QViewer's display time. There is a command that turns real time mode off and on. When this mode is on, the display time updates automatically, then redraws the display area. This allows the QViewer to be used as a clock, a calendar, a player for a set of songs, or a viewer for a set of images.
Real-time mode can be started from any display time and will count forward from that time. If the user intends for real-time mode to be synchronous with clock time, the set time to clock time command will set the display time to the current clock time. This command can be used while real time mode is running. but any other change to the display time by typing a new value in the datetime box, or by using one of the movement input devices, will turn off real-time mode.
A display with many complex events might take more than a second to redraw the display area. In this case, the datetime box may not show the new time at regular intervals.
x/y scale
The x/y scale is a number that is multiplied by the position and size values along the x and y axes to cause events to appear larger or smaller in those dimensions. This is important because the ability of the QViewer to nest categories inside other categories means that at a certain level of nesting the categories will be very small. Scaling the x and y axes allows the user to expand the events in categories at the center of the display area.
The x and y axes are always scaled together. This means that the width and height of events maintain the same proportion.
time scale
The time scale is a number that is multiplied by the time values along the time axis to make the durations they represent larger or smaller on the display. The ability to continuously scale the time axis means that the QViewer can show events lasting billions of years as well as the shortest events ever physically measured.
Changing the time scale affects the widths of the divisions of the time ruler. It also determines when the divisions change to represent different time increments.
Changing the time scale affects how much detail is printed with the date and time in the datetime box.
Changing the time scale can change the automatic level of detail in categories that have time scale mappings. Changing the level of detail may change which events are drawn on the display area.
view direction
The QViewer supports only four view directions: facing the future, facing the past, facing left and facing right. The current view direction is always indicated by the compass rose in the lower left corner of the viewer. The four arms of the compass are buttons that can be hit to change the direction.
The limitation to four directions is arbitrary. The four directions were chosen for simplicity and because they are the most useful for the purpose of visualizing time relationships.
© 2011 Quotidian Incorporated
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pelagic zone
(redirected from Benthopelagic)
Also found in: Dictionary.
pelagic zone:
see oceanocean,
..... Click the link for more information.
Pelagic Zone
that part of a lake, sea, or ocean that is the habitat of pelagic organisms—plankton, necton, and pleuston. The pelagic zone is opposed to the benthic zone, that is, the bottom of the body of water, which is inhabited by benthos.
In oceans and seas, the pelagic zone is divided horizontally into two regions: the neritic (water above the shelf) and the oceanic (all the remaining water). Vertically the zone is divided, usually depending on the degree of illumination, into three regions: the euphotic (well illuminated), the dysphotic (feebly illuminated), and the aphotic (lightless). The zone is also broken down according to the distribution of life into the epipelagic, mesopelagic, and deep-water regions. In freshwaters, the pelagic zone is divided horizontally into two regions: the shore region (the water near the shore) and the pelagic region proper (all the remaining water). Vertically three regions are distinguished according to the rate of temperature drop: the epilimnion, the metalimnion, and the hypolimnion.
References in periodicals archive ?
Habitat: Benthopelagic (Parin, 1991; Froese & Pauly, 2015)
Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833, is commonly known as oilfish, escolar, escolar clavo or escolar rasposo, and is a benthopelagic species occurring in coastal marine waters at depths of 100-700 m in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean south of Bay of Biscay, commonly found near Madeira and the Canaries (Grey, 1953).
Lipids in selected abyssal benthopelagic animals links to the epipelagic zone?
lurida plays an important ecological role via benthopelagic coupling (Newell 2004), and because of the unique physical structure it provides for many other organisms such as larval fish and small invertebrates (Baker 1995).
Siliceous sponges as a silicon sink: an overlooked aspect of benthopelagic coupling in the marine silicon cycle.
The blurred lanternshark is both mesopelagic and benthopelagic, occurring over the outer continental shelves and slopes at depths ranging from 100 m to below 1,000 m.
Bathypelagic fish undergo even more profound changes than the benthopelagic fish, which are much more related to the seafloor.
The species is a benthopelagic fish with a long lifespan and is widely distributed along the southern Chilean coast, Patagonian shelf, and sub-Antarctic islands and seamounts at depths of 1000-2000 m (Appleyard et al.
It is a benthopelagic and amphidromous fish (Riede, 2004) found in tropical waters (Nakamura and Parin, 1993) along the coastal waters of Indo-west Pacific and Indian Ocean (Bianchi, 1985; Nakamura and Parin, 1993).
Oyster harvesting appeared to have decreased the number of large oysters and to have increased the percentage of reefs that were nonliving by decreasing water column filtration and benthopelagic coupling.
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When Did The Anasazi Vanish
The Anasazi civilization belonged towards the Native American descent that thrived during the U.S. Southwest concerning 750 and 1150 C.E. For the duration of their existence, they uncovered how you can grasp pottery, astronomy and architecture. Lots of the tribes discovered tips on how to build complex irrigation programs which fed massive fields of beans, maize and squash.
The Anasazi also designed intricate metropolitan areas of earth and stone that perched superior over the bottom Within the faces on the cliff. Other constructions had been sprawled on desert-ground places and have been thoroughly arranged in accordance with the formation of your heavens.
The Collapse
Quickly, the Highly developed Culture of the Anasazi started to break down towards the top in the 12th century. At the peak of its “golden age†period, the individuals “ran away†from their ancestral habitations in one sweeping and inexplicable exodus.
One notable detail with the motion is the Idea which the Anasazi remaining at the rear of their belongings which include their pottery and resources. Some of them even went in terms of burning their households such as their ceremonial buildings.
This abrupt migration of the Anasazi introduced several scientists to a long time of comprehension and acquiring the reasons that will explain the phenomenon. Several theories have since been formulated as researchers attempt to fill the unsolved gap which includes haunted the globe of anthropology till the current.
Cataclysmic Party
A cataclysmic occasion was considered to obtain occurred towards the tip of the 13th century which may have forced the Anasazi to leave their cliff houses and their homeland in an effort to go east and south toward the Minor Colorado River and the Rio Grande. Archaeologists have noticed the occasion as the greatest puzzle of historic lifestyle that should be solved. The Pueblo Indians of nowadays have their own Variation of oral record that concentrates on their men and women’s migration. On the other hand, the small print surrounding the tales have remained as major strategies.
Terrible Drought
Specialists also centered on environmental explanations and chose to use the info from tree rings to uncover solutions. They discovered that from 1276 to 1299, a awful drought had strike the Southwest. Possibly, certain spots have almost no rain for 23 many years. Moreover, the Anasazi could possibly have Nearly deforested the location introduced by chopping down the trees for firewood and for use as roof beams.
Having said that, it was also figured out that the Anasazi, all over the generations, are already able to climate similar crises. One instance could be the drought that transpired among 1130 and 1180 which was extended and more extreme. All through this era, the Anasazi didn't operate with the cliffs nor abandon their homeland.
Lengthy-lasting Violence
Aside from local weather troubles, the Anasazi had to endure prolonged-lasting violence which tore apart their tradition. Modest archaeological evidence of genuine warfare was recorded during the eleventh and early Element of the twelfth century. Researchers have mentioned in regards to the executions that transpired inside the time period. Goon squads have existed. There were executions and functions of cannibalism that were committed via the governing composition. Due to check here this fact, a Culture-vast paranoia was produced. The Anasazi people lived in regular anxiety.
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Posted by on Mar 7, 2016 in Tell Me Why Numerous Questions and Answers |
How Do Frogs Croak?
How Do Frogs Croak?
If you happen to live near a pond, then you’ve probably wondered about the croaking of frogs. It is only the male frog that croaks, or sings. His throaty song is a mating call to the female frog, they also croak to protect their territory from other male frogs.
Frogs are able to make their croaking noises because they have simple vocal cords that have two slits in the bottom of the mouth.
These slits open into what is called a vocal pouch. When a frog calls, he fills his vocal pouch with air until it puffs out like a balloon. The air is then forced back and forth several times between the lungs and the vocal pouch.
Each time, the air passes over the vocal cords in the frog’s throat and we hear a loud CROAK!
The inflating and deflating vocal pouch makes the sound louder or quieter. That sound changes depending on the kind of frog—there are as many different kinds of croaks as there are frogs!
Content for this question contributed by Jonna Bevak, resident of Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, USA
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Washington Tower in 1905Washington Tower in 1905Washington's historical 1900 weather signal tower is again displaying flags notifying passers-by of what to expect for the day's weather. Before the existence of daily weather radio broadcasts, the public would check the local weather flags to know what kind of weather to expect for the day. This system of signal flags was established in 1887 by the U. S. Army Signal Corp and was continued by the U. S. Weather Bureau into the 1920's.
The Washington tower is displaying the old signal flags, which are fairly easy to understand. A white flag means fair weather, a blue flag means rain or snow, and a white over blue flag means "local rain," what we know today as scattered showers. A fourth flag, a black pennant, flown with one of the previous three flags indicates a temperature change from the previous day. Black pennant above any flag indicates that the temperature will be noticeably "above" what it was the previous day. Flown below, the temperature will be below yesterday. No black pennant, the temperature will be close to the previous day's temperature.
In addition, the Washington tower will be displaying coastal warning flags. Many people are familiar with the hurricane warning flags, two square red flags each with a middle black square. Additional warning signals are small craft advisory (single red pennant), gale warning (two red pennants), and storm warning (one square red flag with a middle black square). Flags will be displayed according to the marine zone forecast issued by the National Weather Service for the Pamlico River, the river being in the same zone as Pamlico Sound.
The displays of weather signal flags on the Washington tower are a representation of a historical method of communicating weather related information and should not be used for planning purposes. The public is urged to tune to National Weather Service radio broadcasts or check on-line for the latest weather forecast.
Weather Signal Flag GuideWeather Signal Flag Guide
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Antithesis means
Antithesis is a good way to illustrate conflict or contrast in literature. It has been augmented with four relations defined more recently (means, antithesis, on n: w has positive regard for n, n and s are in contrast (see the. Antithesis is a noun, and generally means a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else antithesis literally means opposite, and is. Definition of antithesis the total opposite of an object or person examples of antithesis in a sentence in the movie, robert's character of an abusive husband is. Definition and a list of examples of antithesis antithesis is the use of contrasting concepts, words, or sentences within parallel grammatical structures.
Define antithesis antithesis synonyms, antithesis pronunciation, antithesis translation, english dictionary definition of antithesis n pl an ith es 1. Antithesis vladimir putin the new stalin: impulsive, unpredictable police state autocrat by means of his fsb cronies posted on august 19,. Antithesis, which literally means “opposite,” is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. Allusion means making an indirect reference to a person, event, or literature that helps with the purpose of antithesis means creating opposition and contrast.
The word rhetoric which means public speaking develops from the antithesis can be defined as a figure of speech involving a seeming. In the text analysis section, tier 2 vocabulary words are defined in antithesis means to put two ideas together in order to contrast them,. Antithesis is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect antithesis can be defined as a figure of speech involving a seeming. Antithesis: antithesis essentially means 'opposite' for example, that's the antithesis of what i'm saying, you idiot disparate: this is just a.
Antithesis definition, opposition contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong see more. Antithesis is a literary device designed to highlight the difference/s of two irreconcilable opposites download our 5 ready-to-use antithesis. In rhetoric and grammar, antithesis is the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. Device: antithesis origin: from the greek ἀντί (anti) meaning against and θέσις (thesis) meaning position in plain english: contrasting two. Your use of to is correct however, one would take issue with your use of the article, 'an' the word 'antithesis' is to mean the exact opposite of something.
Antithesis - meaning in telugu, what is meaning of antithesis in telugu dictionary, audio pronunciation, synonyms and definitions of antithesis in telugu and. Antithesis noun definition: 1 the exact opposite of something or someone 2 a use of words or phrases that contrast with each other to create a balanced effect. The noun antithesis comes from a greek root meaning opposition and set against it's often used today when describing two ideas or terms that are placed in. Antithesis meaning in urdu: متضاد - mutazad meaning, definition synonyms at english to urdu dictionary gives you the best and accurate urdu translation and.
Antithesis means
This paper attempts to give a linguistic characterization of antithesis, ta task by contrast according to the concise oxford dictionary, antithesis is defined as. There are many different ways for interpreting and expanding the golden mean through “neutrosophic tetrad” (thesis-antithesis-neutrothesis-neutrosynthesis. Antithesis meaning: 1 the exact opposite: 2 a contrast between two things: 3 the exact opposite, or opposition: learn more.
Antithesis means opposite and is used as a literary device to put two contrasting ideas together this emphasizes the difference between the two ideas and adds . Anacoluthon anadiplosis anaphora anastrophe antistrophe antithesis aporia expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant. Antithesis can be defined as a figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical. Here's an ambiguous sentence for you: “because of the agency's oversight, the corporation's behavior was sanctioned” does that mean, because the agency.
Antithesis definition is - the direct opposite how to use antithesis in a sentence did you know.
antithesis means Others may be saying something more mean-spirited that can't be i thought that perhaps putting it in terms of thesis/antithesis, we might come.
Antithesis means
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Create your own at Storyboard That BACKGROUND BEFORE CONDITIONING BEFORE CONDITIONING DURING CONDITIONING AFTER CONDITIONING GENERALISATION 9 month old Albert was used in a study to test Pavlov's theory. The study was conducted by two psychologists, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner. The UCS is the noise produced from the hammer hitting the metal bar and the UCR is Little Albert's crying (his fear response) The NS is the white rat and the NR is Little Albert's neutral response. Due to the white rat (NS) being associated with the loud noise (UCS), Albert became scared of the white rat due to his previous fear of the loud noise. The CS is now the white rat and the CR is now fear. This means that Albert is now scared of the white rat. Albert showed the same CR (fear) to similar objects that were furry. Like rabbits, Santa Claus masks, fur coats and Watson's (researcher) beard.
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Tiny shrimplike creatures called diporeia have plodded about Lake Michigan for thousands of years. As late as the 1980s, they swarmed 10,000 strong in every square yard of lake bottom.
They're an important link in the lake's food chain.
And they're disappearing.
Scientists don't yet know the reason for the decline, but they suspect it has something to do with zebra mussels--the foreign species that arrived in this part of the world in the late 1980s and began causing havoc almost immediately.
Whatever the cause, experts say the consequences of diporeia's disappearance could be grave.
A type of crustacean, or amphipod, diporeia are half made up of fat. That makes the quarter-inch creatures an important food energy source for many kinds of fish, from sculpin to whitefish.
"The loss of this amphipod is going to have cascading effects," said Tom Nalepa, a research biologist. "We may not know the full effect for several years."
The biologist called diporeia a keystone species in the lake's food web, a part of the diet of many fish during at least some stage in their life. And fish that don't feed directly on diporeia feed on fish that do. Trout and salmon, for example, prey on bloater, alewife and sculpin, all of which eat diporeia. Or did.
"There's all kinds of implications for the food web," said Nalepa, who works for the federal Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich. The lab is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Nalepa has watched for 10 years as diporeia disappeared from their haunts at depths of 100 feet to 180 feet, ringing the southern end of the lake from Chicago to Grand Haven, Mich. Today, diporeia are almost gone from the southern end of the lake, Nalepa said.
This year Nalepa's team of scientists conducted the most extensive search yet for the crustaceans, sampling 170 sites around the entire lake to see how scarce the once abundant species has become. The researchers sampled 70 more sites in Lake Huron.
Now begins the laborious analysis of those samples.
Meanwhile, another study is under way to assess the effect on fish whose diet has consisted largely of the shrimpy crustaceans.
"It's definitely a concern, given that these things were just tremendously abundant," said Darryl Hondorp, a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan taking part in that study. "For an animal to decline to zero in some areas, that's a major event."
Fishermen have reported that whitefish are having a particularly rough time of it, said Steve Pothoven, the biologist heading the diet study for the environmental research lab.
"Their condition is pretty bad," Pothoven said. "For a given length, they don't weigh as much as they used to. There's a number of reasons--but one of them is definitely the loss of diporeia."
Pothoven's research is showing that some fish that fed on diporeia are shifting to another crustacean--mysis--as an alternative food. But there have never been as many mysis around as diporeia, Pothoven said.
"There's some concern whether the lake will be able to support as many prey fish--alewife, bloater, smelt--and that affects the big-money fish, salmon and lake trout" that feed on them, Pothoven said.
Nalepa is mystified by the scenarios under which diporeia have disappeared from areas of the lake.
Samples taken near St. Joseph, Mich., for example, revealed a die-off over six months in 1992. Populations dropped from 5,000 diporeia per square meter in the spring to none in the fall.
"Here was a species that had been around the Great Lakes since the glaciers receded," Nalepa said. "For them to decline to zero in six months--I was astounded."
The decline was much slower near Grand Haven, Mich., however--spread over five years.
Near Muskegon, Mich., diporeia numbers declined slowly in 1997, then rebounded in 1998. The species had disappeared from the area by the time samples were taken in October of this year.
Nalepa has studied diporeia since 1980. Although strange things began happening to diporeia populations about the time that zebra mussels showed up in the late 1980s, he can't say for certain how the two are linked. Zebra mussels came to the Great Lakes in the ballast of cargo ships from Europe.
Nalepa is certain the zebra mussel's arrival is linked to diporeia's decline. The timing can't be a mere coincidence, he said.
Nalepa originally suspected that zebra mussels were devouring all the microscopic plants that diporeia otherwise would have eaten. But in some cases, the plants are still plentiful in areas where diporeia have vanished without a trace.
Zebra mussels gulp in water to eat, filtering out all the tiny particles. They eat what is suitable and spit out the rest. Scientists call the rejected stuff pseudofeces.
"Perhaps something associated with this pseudofeces is toxic to amphipods," Nalepa suggested.
But in the complex underwater world of the lake, cause can be separated from effect by a lot of murkiness.
"The more data we collect," Nalepa said, "the more inconsistent a lot of these theories are."
Copyright © 2018, Chicago Tribune
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Whole regions of Texas, especially the High Plains, would be practically unpopulated were it not for three men—two well drillers and a banker—whose tinkerings gave rise to the modern irrigation system that made farming profitable on the High Plains. Irrigation rigs are composed of three parts—motor, gear-head, and pump—and though motors have always come from the industrial North, the pump and the gear-head are thoroughly Texan inventions, rooted in oil and sprouted in agriculture.
Mahlon E. Layne was a Midwestern water-well driller in 1901, when he pulled up stakes in South Dakota and headed for the excitement of the Spindletop oil boom. After briefly experimenting with oil field rigs, he went to work as a driller and mechanic for rice growers on the Texas coast. In those days, irrigation pumps were mounted at the bottom of pits dug by hand thirty to forty feet deep, and maintaining the rigs required dangerous descents into those pits. Fright and fatigue motivated Layne to try something better. One afternoon in 1902, on the wall of a farmhouse near El Campo, he sketched the design for a pitless pump. His invention allowed pump mechanisms to be lowered through a pipe to the water table.
Layne’s pitless pumps could work as far as two hundred feet beneath the surface, deep enough to tap the Ogallala Aquifer, then thought to be an underground river that flowed under the arid High Plains. By 1910 Layne pumps were widely available, and speculators and farmers alike were possessed of a new optimism. They thought they could pour underground rain onto the sandy plains.
Aquifer irrigation was an expensive and troublesome proposition, however. Motors were connected to pumps by wide leather belts. The belts went slack in the heat and drew taut in the cold, and the friction they created deprived the pumps of power. Another Midwestern driller who had moved to Texas, George Green of Plainview, solved the problem by means of a powerfully simple insight. Green noticed that in an automobile a drive shaft transferred power across a right angle to the axles by means of a differential gear. In 1914 he made drawings of a pump with what was essentially a Model T Ford differential mounted at its top. His creation, the right-angle gear-head, did away with troublesome belts and laid the basis for the third, economically critical move in evolving the modern irrigation rig.
When the dry winds of the Depression began blowing farmers down the route to California, Artemus “Artie” Baker, a Lockney banker, decided to make irrigation available to everyone. Though irrigation motors were costly, auto motors were cheap and plentiful. Baker wanted to couple V-8’s to pumps, but a technical problem stood in the way: Auto engines produced more revolutions per minute than existing gear-heads could handle. In 1934 Baker asked designers at the Amarillo Machine Shop to turn out a gear-head compatible with Ford and Chevy motors. Before the Depression ended, he and his bank were saving plains farmers from the stinginess of both nature and economics.
Today, irrigation rigs are as much a part of the rural Texas landscape as natural gas wells, oil pumps, and storage tanks for crude. Pumps give water to vegetables in the Rio Grande Valley and flood rice fields along the coast, and perhaps they always will. But on the plains—with 70,000 wells, an Eden of cotton and grains—farmland is drying out, the victim of irrigation’s evolutionary success. The number of new wells drilled has declined over the past decade because the accessible depths have been plumbed, and fewer gallons flow from existing wells because water levels are dropping. Within forty years—sooner in some regions—the Ogallala’s reserves will again be physically or financially out of reach. That is, unless a Layne, a Green, or a Baker comes along with a new answer to the problem of water.
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Wednesday, September 14, 2016
The Battle of Bayan, Lanao Province
At the start of the 20th century during the American occupation of the Philippines which was then an unincorporated territory of the United States, the Americans were able to bring stability and order to Luzon and the Visayas Islands. But in some parts of the island of Mindanao, the Moros, its indigenous Muslim inhabitants, were not about to submit to the American regime, and preferred to live according to their own traditions, religious belief and tribal rule. The Moros’ distrust and animosity to outsiders came to a head in the Lanao Province when Maranao Moros killed two US soldiers from the 27th Infantry Regiment and stole their Krag-Jorgensen rifles. Lieutenant General Adna Chaffee, the American military governor of the Philippines, gave ultimatum to the Sultan of Bayan to surrender the perpetrators along with the stolen rifles or face adverse consequences.
With an order from Brigadier General George Davis, the commander of Philippine Department, Colonel Frank D. Baldwin, the Commanding Officer of the 27th Infantry Regiment prepared a force to launch a punitive expedition on the strongholds of recalcitrant Moros. He organized his troops numbering 1,025 infantry from his own unit and 65 men from 25th Field Artillery Battery. This was augmented by 10 six-mule teams, 40 packs mule ran by civilian packers, and 300 hired Maguindanao Moro porters to help carry some of troops’ supplies and equipment. Six hundred men from the 10th and 17th regiments were temporarily moved to Malabang, to occupy the base left behind by the 27th Infantry and to act as reserve of the operating troops. It was an arduous trek for the operating troops from their base in Fort Corcuera in Malabang, Lanao to their objective in the southern shores of Lake Lanao. They had to cut through thick forests, waded seemingly bottomless mud and endured the bites of malaria causing mosquitoes.
Along the way they lost their Maguindanao porters because they refused to carry food provisions containing pork and they were replaced with 40 pack mules. On May 1, 1902, the Americans reached their objective after a trek of 17 days that covered a distance of about 32 miles. Col Baldwin then put up a camp. Beyond their location at the lake, they saw on the high ridge two cottas, one at Binadayan and the other at Pandapatan with red battle flags signifying that their occupants were ready to do battles. They could also see figures of combatants carrying rifles on the wall.
On May 2, 1902, Colonel Baldwin sent an ultimatum to the Sultan of Bayan who he believed to be at Cotta Binadayan to surrender before 12 noon. But the ultimatum fall on deaf ears as the Sultan did not reply to the ultimatum until it expired at the specific hour, and an armed confrontation was inevitable. The Americans first attacked Cotta Binadayan which was pounded by artillery fires followed by infantry assault. The cotta’s weak defense enabled the Americans to easily overcome the few defenders manning it with only one killed on their side. They later found out that the Sultan of Bayan and his main force of about 600 men including 150 sent by other datus had moved to the other cotta for their ultimate fight.
At around 4 PM of that day, the Americans made a siege on Cotta Pandapatan. After passing through a valley, they had to overcome obstacles of layered trenches and some concealed pits filled with sharpened bamboo sticks. Advancing with support of artillery fires, the Americans cut down some Moro defenders at the wall. Their lack of scaling ladders prevented them from penetrating the cotta. When they attempted to breach the main entrance, the Moros launched a counter attack. A close up hand-to-hand combat ensued between the two opposing sides. The creeping darkness, the thick fog and the heavy rain made the situation difficult for the Americans and they had to retreat. Although they were beaten back, the Americans inflected heavy damage to the cotta as well as to the morale of the Moros defending it.
Amid darkness, rain and flashes of thunder, the Americans reconsolidated their forces at the cotta in Binadayan to prepare for the next attack. In the meantime, the troops of the Field Artillery Battery took the task of retrieving the dead and the wounded soldiers.
In the morning of the following day as the Americans prepared for their final assault, they noticed that the red battle flags of Cotta Pandapatan were replaced by four white flags indicating that the Moros were now willing to negotiate peacefully with the Americans instead of fighting it out with them till the end. But the Americans attacked the cotta anyway. Their superiority in armaments was brought to bear against their enemies. In the fight they killed the Sultan of Bayan and his brother. They also captured 83 remaining Moros. However, they reported that of Moros who surrendered only 9 were left because the rest were killed while attempting to escape. The cottas were dismantled by the American soldiers and they took with them kampilans and kris as souvenirs of the battle. At the site of the battle, Camp Vicar was established by the Americans the next day. The name of the camp was in honor to Lieutenant Thomas A. Vicars who was one of the American soldiers that was killed in the battle. Captain John J. Pershing was designated as the commander of the camp.
The result of the battle was a lopsided win for the Americans. The Moros took a heavy casualty of about 400-500 killed, 9 captured and 39 escaped combatants. Total casualties of the Americans were 11 dead and 42 wounded soldiers.
When report of the battle reached President Theodore Roosevelt Jr., he sent a message congratulating the troops for their combat achievement. Behind the scene, however, he was mad at Lieutenant General Adna Chaffee, the military governor of the Philippines for opening up a new front of an armed conflict in the south when he was about to declare that the Philippines was already pacified.
On the part of General Chaffee, he thought that Colonel Frank Baldwin was impetuous, somewhat insubordinate and incompetent. He thought that had Captain John Pershing not developed friendly and cooperative relations with the Datus on the northern shore of the lake, they could have made a grand coalition to fight the Americans in Bayan. In fact, they stayed neutral and stood down during the battle. Not long thereafter, Col Baldwin was promoted but General Chaffee saw to it that he should be shipped out from the Moro land. Captain John Pershing took over Baldwin’s command.
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Chapter 21 Part 2 The French Revolution.
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Presentation on theme: "Chapter 21 Part 2 The French Revolution."— Presentation transcript:
1 Chapter 21 Part 2 The French Revolution
2 July 5, 1788 The King called for a meeting of the Estates General for the following spring The king asked that all parties study the tax situation and make proposals to fix the economy and pay off debt.
3 The Estates General May, 1789
Had only met twice before: (its inception) & 1614 (called by Marie de Medici while regent for her son, Louis XIII for support against pretenders) Much excitement throughout France
4 Cahiers de doleances The king requested that each estate come up with a list of suggestions and grievances to be presented to the king
5 Common Agreements of All Three Estates
France should have a constitutional monarchy Individual liberties must be guaranteed by law Position of Parish Clergy had to be improved Abolition of internal trade barriers
6 The Main Divisive Issue:
How the Three Estates should vote Traditionally, each estate had one vote (and Clergy and Nobility voted together…so, THEY were exempt of taxes and the Third Estate carried the burden)
7 Louis XVI Doubled the # of the representatives of the third estate as a gesture to its size BUT…still had only one vote among the Estates General Representatives of each estate were elected Almost all male commoners 25 or older could vote Most reps were well-educated and prosperous members of the middle class No peasant or artisan delegates
8 The Paris Parlement Ruled that voting in the Estates General would follow the tradition of each estate voting separately and each estate having one vote Was not acceptable to the Third estate
9 Abbe Sieyes The most influential writer of the Third Estate
Wrote What is the Third Estate? Claimed that the Third Estate should have the power in France That the Nobility should be abolished Said that the Third Estate represented the majority of French society Cited Rousseau’s Social Contract
10 May 5, 1789 Each estate was ordered to meet and vote separately
The Third Estate insisted that they meet and all vote together Led to a six-week deadlock By this time some parish priests joined with the Third Estate
11 The Age of Montesquieu June 17, The Third Estate declared itself the true National Assembly of France Then Louis XVI locked them out of their meeting place The Third Estate met in an indoor tennis court
12 The Tennis Court Oath The Third Estate swore an oath to continue to meet until it gave France a constitution So…the Third Estate assumed sovereign power on behalf of the nation Louis XVI called for 18,000 troops (from Paris to come to Versailles)
13 More Defections from the First and Second Estates
Caused Louis XVI to recognize the National Assembly (June 27) after dissolving the Estates General The National Assembly was dominated by the bourgeoisie Now the king was allied with the nobility against the Third Estate and the Third Estate feared the nobles more than ever
14 July 14, 1789 The Storming of the Bastille
Revolutionaries in Paris began to respond to food shortages and soaring (25%) bread prices Also unemployment Also fear of military repression (the 18,000 troops called to Versailles were mobilizing in Paris and Paris mobs believed the troops were getting ready to move against them
15 A Very Real Fear Of subjugation by aristocratic landowners and grain speculators Grain prices were so high that there was no $ left to purchase manufactured goods Caused industrial collapse 150,000 of 600,000 workers in Paris were out of work
16 Workers and tradesmen Began to arm themselves in response to the troop mobilization July 14th an angry mob stormed the Bastille in search of gunpowder and weapons The heads of the mayor and Prison’s governor were put on pikes and paraded through the streets
17 Marquis de Lafayette Was appointed commander of the city’s armed forces by the mob Paris was lost to the king So…the storming of the Bastille saved the National Assembly (from the 18,000 troops)
18 The Great Fear (1789) The spirit of the rebellion in Paris spread to the countryside and sparked much violence Peasants attacked manor houses trying to destroy legal records of their feudal obligations Middle-class landowners were also attacked
19 A National Guard Militia
Was created by the middle class to protect their property
20 August 4, 1789 The National Assembly voted to abolish feudalism in France and declared equality of taxation for all classes This was an attempt to stop the violence Amounted to a peaceful social revolution Ended existing serfdom, exclusive hunting rights for nobles, fees for justice, village monopolies, the corvee, and other dues
21 The Peasants Realized great benefits
22 The Constitution Ending feudalism was one of the two great social changes of the Revolution as feudal society was gone The other was the abolition of guilds (later)
23 The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (8-26-89)
Was influenced by American constitutional ideas Guaranteed due process of law; a citizen was innocent until proven guilty Sovereignty of the people
24 Enlightenment Philosophy of the Constitution
“Men are born and remain free and equal in their rights.” Natural rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression (Locke) Law is expressed by the General Will (Rousseau) Freedom of expression and religion
25 The Constitution Liberty was defined as freedom to do anything not injurious to others, which was to be determined only by law Taxes to be raised only with common consent All public servants were accountable for their conduct while in office
26 The Constitution Separation of powers through separate branches
Confiscation of property from private citizens had to be done with fair compensation “Citizen” applied to all French people regardless of class
27 The Question of the Monarch’s Power
Was responsible for the unraveling of the National Assembly’s unity This happened AFTER the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
28 Women did not share equal rights
Women could not vote or hold office Males had the advantage in family law, property rights and education Very few believed in gender equality Condorcet was one who DID support gender equality
29 Olympe de Gouges Wrote Rights of Women (1791)
She followed the 17 articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and applied each to women She also supported a woman’s right to divorce, to control property in marriage, equal access to education and civilian careers and public employment
30 Mary Wollstonecraft (English)
1792 wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women Her ideas were similar to those of Gouges Madame de Stael: ran a salon, read and wrote widely Deplored the subordination of women to men and the fact that the Revolution did nothing to change it
31 The Women’s March to Versailles
October 1789 Due to shortages of Bread Jean-Paul Marat incited 7,000 women with the Paris National Guard marched 12 miles from Paris to Versailles and demanded that the King address their economic problems
32 Part of the problem Was that the price of bread was so high it resulted in a reduced demand for garments which devastated women in the French putting-out system…unemployment was very high Marie Antoinette also played a part Women invaded the royal apartments at Versailles and slaughtered body guards while searching for the royal family
33 The Women’s March to Versailles
The King and Queen were forced to move to the Tuleries (royal palace) in Paris Louis XVI signed decrees guaranteeing that bread in Paris would be sold at reasonable prices The National Assembly also moved to Paris and, like the King, was intimidated by the Parisians
34 The King AND the National Assembly
Made certain that bread was available for reasonable cost Many of the more conservative members of the Assembly began to drop out of the government as they were disillusioned by mob violence
35 Secularization of Religion
Church property was confiscated and sold to peasants….the money was used to pay off the National Debt BUT the schools and religious orders who had their land taken now had no way to pay for feeding the poor in their parishes
36 1790 The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Created a national church with 83 bishops and dioceses Was the biggest mistake of the National Assembly Convents and monasteries were abolished All clergymen were to be paid by the state and elected (based on citizenship and property qualifications)
37 The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Clergy were elected by everyone (males)…Protestants, Jews, agnostics, etc. Clergy was forbidden to accept the authority of the Pope The Clergy was forced to take an oath of loyalty to the state (new government) since the Pope had condemned the Revolution
38 Result France was deeply divided over religion
The Pope condemned the act as a way to undermine the Church ½ of the French Priests refused to take the oath They were called The Refractory Clergy and were supported by the King, aristocrats, peasants and working class (and they were jailed)
39 Government Reform France became a Constitutional Monarchy with a unicameral legislative assembly The Middle Class controlled the government through an indirect method of voting ( property qualifications for voting = middle class voters) ½ of all males over 25 were eligible to vote The Nobility was abolished
40 Government Reform The National Assembly divided France into 83 departments governed by elected officials Replaced the old provincial boundary lines A new system of law courts gave France a uniform administrative structure (83 dioceses, departments, and judicial districts)
41 Government Reform Weakness: Local communities enforced national law at their own discretion…proved to be ruinous
42 Economic Reform Tended to favor the middle class rather than the lowest classes The Metric System replaced a sloppy system of weights and measures La Chapelier Law: outlawed strikes, workers coalitions and assemblies of workers
43 Economic Reform Assignats: became the new paper currency
Former Church property was used to guarantee the value of the Assignats Much of the land was sold to peasants and $ was used to pay the national debt Eventually assignats became worthless
44 The Flight to Varennes June 1791 The Royals tried to escape France
Louis was trying to avoid being forced to support the new constitution Louis intended to raise a counter-revolutionary army with émigré noblemen and get help from foreign powers (Austrian HRE , Leopold II, was Marie Antoinette's brother)
45 They were captured And forced to return to Paris
Became true prisoners of the Paris mob King was forced to accept the constitutional monarchy
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The first type of fallacy of Composition arises when a person reasons from the characteristics of individual members of a class or group to a conclusion regarding the characteristics of the entire class or group (taken as a whole). More formally, the "reasoning" would look something like this.
1. Individual F things have characteristics A, B, C, etc.
2. Therefore, the (whole) class of F things has characteristics A, B, C, etc.
This line of reasoning is fallacious because the mere fact that individuals have certain characteristics does not, in itself, guarantee that the class (taken as a whole) has those characteristics.
It is important to note that drawing an inference about the characteristics of a class based on the characteristics of its individual members is not always fallacious. In some cases, sufficient justification can be provided to warrant the conclusion. For example, it is true that an individual rich person has more wealth than an individual poor person. In some nations (such as the US) it is true that the class of wealthy people has more wealth as a whole than does the class of poor people. In this case, the evidence used would warrant the inference and the fallacy of Composition would not be committed.
1. The parts of the whole X have characteristics A, B, C, etc.
2. Therefore the whole X must have characteristics A, B, C.
Examples of Composition
1. A main battle tank uses more fuel than a car. Therefore, the main battle tanks use up more of the available fuel in the world than do all the cars.
2. A tiger eats more food than a human being. Therefore, tigers, as a group, eat more food than do all the humans on the earth.
3. Atoms are colorless. Cats are made of atoms, so cats are colorless.
4. "Every player on the team is a superstar and a great player, so the team is a great team." This is fallacious since the superstars might not be able to play together very well and hence they could be a lousy team.
5. "Each part of the show, from the special effects to the acting is a masterpiece. So, the whole show is a masterpiece." This is fallacious since a show could have great acting, great special effects and such, yet still fail to "come together" to make a masterpiece.
6. "Come on, you like beef, potatoes, and green beens, so you will like this beef, potato, and green been casserole." This is fallacious for the same reason that the following is fallacious: "You like eggs, icecream, pizza, cake, fish, jello, chicken, taco sauce, soda, oranges, milk, egg rolls, and yogurt so you must like this yummy dish made out of all of them."
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(Order Anura)
Most living frogs arose from lineages originating at the time of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction 66mya (Feng, 2017). Their closest relatives are salamanders. Frogs are an order within the class of amphibia comprising over 7,000 species. Despite the name, only a minority of frogs are truly amphibious after they cease to be tadpoles. The majority are wholly terrestrial, and a few are wholly aquatic. Wholly aquatic anurans such as aglossal toads, never develop eyelids (Walls, 1943). No taxonomic distinction is made between frogs and toads. Tadpoles, the larval stage of frogs, have no eyelids. Frogs have slit-shaped pupils elongated in the horizontal axis.
Examples of blinking in adult frogs follow:
Family Pelodryadidae
White-lipped tree frog (Nyctimystes nitrogenates)
Blink: Globe retraction with elevation of ‘lower lid nictitating membrane’
Blink played at 30% speed.
Picture 3.png
Blink during a slight head turn: a) Pre-blink b) Globe retraction, slight elevation of lower lid (white arrow) and elevation of nictitating membrane arising as a fold from inside the lower lid (grey arrow) c) Maximal blink d) Eyeballs start to unretract e) Nictitating membranes descend f) Post-blink
Family Pelodryadidae
Green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea)
Blink type: Globe retraction with elevation of ‘lower lid nictitating membrane’
Blink played at 20% speed
Litoria area.png
Blink seen from the left side. a) At rest. Horizontally elongated pupils. b) Eyeballs start to retract. At this time the left palpebral fissure narrows and the ‘rims’ around its edge become more prominent. c) The pale green semi-translucent left lower lid rises to partially cover the pupil (arrow). What is harder to see is that a translucent nictitating membrane has covered the eye d) The top edge of the left nictitating membrane, marked by arrows, here and in e) and f), is seen descending down the cornea.
Family Pelodryadidae
Magnificent or splendid tree frog (Ranoidea splendida)
Blink: Persistent elevation of lower lid and ‘lower lid nictitating membrane’ in sleep
The edge of the lower lid has reached the pupil and the nictitating membrane has fully covered the cornea.
Family Pelodryadidae
Yellow spotted tree frog (Litoria castanea)
Yellow spotted.png
a) Pre-blink b) Elevation of lower lid (white arrow) and 'lower lid nictitating membrane (grey arrow) c) Lower lid has descended leaving just the nictitating membrane (arrow)
Family Phyllomedusidae
Red-eyed tree frog (Litoria chloris)
Blink played at 20% speed.
Red eyed tree frog.png
a) Pre-blink. Horizontally elongated pupils. b) Both globes retract causing narrowing of the palpebral fissures. c) The eyes retract further. d) and e) A semi-translucent lower lid (white arrow) is seen rising in the right eye and the edge (grey arrow) of a translucent nictitating membrane is seen rising in the left eye. f) Post-blink.
As with mudskippers, frog’s eyes sit on the dorsum of the skull and in some species are elevated above the skull allowing aerial vision for the detection of prey and predators, while the rest of the animal remains submerged in water. And, as with mudskippers, blinking involves retraction of the globes into the skull. Frogs have upper and lower eyelids, although the upper one appears to have no movement independent of the eyeball – sinking a little as the eyeball retracts. The lower lid rises a little on globe retraction but the nictitating membrane, which is a fold arising from the inner surface of the lower lid (Figure 1), rises to fully cover the cornea in a full blink and during sleep. The membrane is usually semi-transparent, preventing complete loss of vision during a blink, an advantage in the presence of predators or prey. Winking has a similar benefit. The nictitating membrane moistens the surface of the cornea by spreading oily secretions from a gland present in all vertebrates with a nictitating membrane, the Harderian gland, which fills most of the orbit (while also providing cushioning behind the eye). There is a circulation of secretions from the gland into the conjunctival space and then into the nasal cavity via the naso-lacrimal duct (Figure 2). The nictitating membrane probably also protects the cornea from floating debris when the eye is open. Retraction of the globe into the skull protects the eye from mechanical injury from pressure or from a blow, an important function as frogs lack a neck and can jump but cannot turn their heads to avoid injury. Uniquely, blinking in frogs also aids in swallowing as the retracted eyes project into the throat.
According to Walls (Walls, 1943): ‘The thickened rim of the lower eyelid continues round the posterior part of the globe as a cord (tendon to nictitans) and passes through retractor bulbi (Figure 3). When this muscle contracts, the eyeball is pulled into the head and the transparent fold of the lower eyelid is pulled up over the cornea to meet the upper eyelid which is motionless. A broad hammock-like muscle, the levator bulbi, raises the globe to its normal elevated position and the lower lid slips back into its folded position. The eye can close without complete retraction. The tendon of the nictitating membrane (n) is pulled by the globe when the retractor bulbi muscle (Rb) contracts.’
According to Ecker (Ecker, 1889): ‘The pigmented free border of the nictitating membrane passes, at the inner and outer angles of the eye, into a tendon which passes for some distance to fibrous tissue then descends to the under surface of the eyeball and joins that the opposite side, so that the free border of the eyelid, together with this tendon form a complete ring (Figure 4). The tendinous part of the ring, which is thin and threadlike, is found on the under surface of the eyeball and lies under the m. retractor bulbi and is bound to this muscle. The m. retractor pulls the eyeball into the cavity backwards and downwards, while the levator raises it. There is less agreement about the movements of the eyelids, or rather of the lower eyelid, for the upper has no independent movements. Duges says that the two muscles which he considers to be levatores palpebrae inferiores, and which according to him are connected with the m. retractor bulbi, draw up the lid as it is being drawn backwards and downwards by the latter muscle. The depression of the lid on the relaxation of the retractor and projection of the eyeball is due simply to elasticity. Manz on the contrary has shown that the sinking of the eyeball by the contraction of the retractor must necessarily cause a rising of the nictitating membrane as its tendons are attached to that muscle and so must follow its movements. Depression of the lower lid occurs simultaneously with the raising of the eyeball by means of m. levator bulbi, through the contraction of the m. depressor palpebrae inferioris, which proceeds from that muscle; this is easily understood, as they are but parts of the same muscle’.
In summary, frogs have the following features of blinking which are additional to those seen in mudskippers: a mobile lower lid, a semi-transparent nictitating membrane and a gland which lubricates the cornea. Blinking in frogs is initiated by retraction of the globe by the retractor bulbi muscle. This causes elevation of the nictitating membrane by pulling on its tendon, which circles the globe. The nictitating membrane is an extension of the lower eyelid. There is no muscle pulling on the nictitating membrane tendon other than the
retractor bulbi muscle to which it is attached, so movement of the nictitating membrane/lower eyelid and retraction of the globe cannot occur independently of each other. The upper eyelid has no muscles or tendons attached to it. Any movement of the upper eyelid which occurs is therefore passive, caused by the eyeball on which it rests, retracting into the skull and then protruding at the end of the blink. Depression of the lower lid at the end of the blink is done by contraction of depressor palpebrae inferioris, a branch of the levator bulbi muscle which raises the globe. In frogs, all blinks involve the same structures.
Innervation of the muscles involved in blinking is as follows:
Retractor bulbi: Abducens nerve (VIth cranial nerve)
Levator bulbi: Trigeminal nerve (Vth cranial nerve)
Depressor bulbi inferioris: Trigeminal nerve
Amphibia have only ten pairs of cranial nerves; mammals have twelve pairs.
Figure 5.png
Figure 1
Drawing of a section of the lower eyelid based on Rana pipiens. The nictitating membrane (nm) is shown to be attached to and folded under the lower eyelid (ll), (Walls 1943).
Frog nasolacrimal system.png
Figure 2
Nasolacrimal duct (nld) connecting the conjunctival space with the nasal cavity (Hillenius, Watrobski, & Rehorek, 2001)
Figure 6.jpg
Figure 3
In the Figure above, the muscles which move the nictitating membrane in various vertebrates are shown. Diagram 'a' shows the posterior aspect of a frog’s eye with the tendon of the nictitating membrane (n) circling the globe and overlying the retractor bulbi muscle (R.b).
Figure 7.png
Figure 4
Coronal view of the tendon of the nictitating membrane (n) of the frog (Ecker 1889).
Ecker, A (Translated by Haslam, G). 1889. The anatomy of the frog. Oxford: OUP.
Feng, Y.-J. e. (2017). Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. PNAS, 114 (29) E5864-E5870.
Walls, G. (1943). The vertebrate eye and its adaptive radiation. Bloomfield Hills, Mich.: Cranbrook Institute of Science. Cranbrook Press. Bulletin no 19.
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Scientific Name:
Xiphias Gladius
The swordfish can grown to over 1,200 lbs. and up to 14.5 ft. long. The females can be much larger. Their dorsal fin cannot fold down, unlike that of the tuna or marlin.
Swordfish Words
At one point in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, Ishmael spins a yarn about a mutiny aboard a ship that is sinking. The men fight each other while they desperately work the pumps to keep afloat. “They supposed a sword-fish had stabbed her.”
A swordfish sinking a ship?
Swordfish CartoonIf you thought that was one of Ishmael’s jokes, it wasn’t a joke for Herman Melville. Swordfish poking holes in ship hulls had been on the author’s mind two years earlier in 1849 when he published another novel called Mardi. In this story, Melville devotes an entire chapter to extolling the valor and skill of this “true warrior” fish in the Indian Ocean. Melville writes: “He takes umbrage at the cut of some ship’s keel crossing his road; and straightway runs a tilt at it; with one mad [lunge] thrusting his Andrea Ferrara [a famous Scottish broad sword] clean through and through; not seldom breaking it short off at the haft, like a bravo leaving his poignard in the vitals of his foe.”
Melville goes on to tell the true story of the English ship Foxhound, which returned to London in 1836
with a swordfish bill lodged in its hull. The hunk of wood was removed and preserved with the fish’s sword stuck in it. Melville also spins a tale of a swordfish that stabbed the whaler Rousseau in the South Pacific, forcing the ship to make an unscheduled run to Tahiti before she sank to “have her wound dressed by a ship-surgeon with tar and oakum.”
Swordfish Anatomy
Swordfish Hull Penny Mag 1835 Gudger Rev
An illustration in The Penny Magazine, 1835, of a billfish’s rostrum piercing the inner and outer timbers of ship’s hull, a hunk of which is still held by the British Museum (This might’ve been the one Melville wrote about.).
Up until the 1940s researchers thought it was stabbed by a swordfish, but recent analysis of the piece of wood shows it was a marlin. Note the copper sheathing at the far right!
Foxhound crewman Frederick Bennett described how a swordfish’s bill pierced his ship’s hull—even through its protective copper sheathing—and broke off, much like what happens to a bee’s stinger. The swordfish bill remained lodged in the ship’s planks, from the South Seas all the way home to England. Bennett’s narrative was published in 1840. Regarding Melville’s story about the Rousseau, historians have found no record of its sinking by swordfish in the logbook of the Rousseau. Melville made this part up.
Before the regular production of steel hulls in the early 1900s, several mariners reported swordfish “attacks” on their boats and ships—going back to the Greeks and Romans—although it’s possible sailors confused the swordfish with marlin or sailfish, which have bills that are more narrow and cylindrical but have similar behaviors and appearance. Dorymen out fishing on the North Atlantic also reported swordfish stabbing through their boats with their bills, sometimes in seeming retaliation for being hooked.
More recently, swordfish have even entangled themselves with steel hulls and manmade underwater structures. In 1967 off Savannah, Georgia, the pilots of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s submersible Alvin, at some 2,000 feet below the surface, reported that an eight-foot swordfish stabbed at their little submarine and got itself stuck. Technicians got a rope around the tail when the ship surfaced, but the sword broke off. (And for a riveting video of a swordfish stuck in a deep-sea drilling platform, go to YouTube and search for “Swordfish Stuck in Oil Rig.”)
So—are these swordfish actually trying to sink ships? Mariners and biologists have never had a good understanding of how swordfish actually use their bills, which can grow up to a third of their total length. Perhaps they use their gigantic rostrums to defend themselves against sharks. Earlier naturalists thought that swordfish stabbed their prey, which are mostly smaller fish. But this doesn’t make much sense: how would they get the meat off the tip? Swordfish also have relatively small mouths and no teeth. From the deck of his ship back in 1840, Frederick Bennett observed that swordfish tended to slash back and forth through a school of smaller fish. Modern underwater footage confirms that swordfish kill their prey with the sharp edges of their bill, cutting fish into smaller pieces that they can then can gulp whole.
Alvin swordfish
Alvin back at the surface with a swordfish stuck in its side.
A reasonable explanation as to why they might stab the hull of a boat might also be that they are slashing through the schools of fish that often congregate under a slow moving hull in the open ocean. But that doesn’t seem to explain the interaction with Alvin or several other submersibles. Even in the prophetic science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, published two decades after Mardi, Jules Verne had his Captain Arronax report swordfish stabbing at his submarine’s glass. Perhaps indeed there might be some sort of aggressive or defense response to large manmade hulls, mistaking them for sharks or killer whales? Author Richard Ellis records that Alvin pilots wonder if it is the light from the submersible, a reflection of the fish in the acrylic portholes, or even a sub-
mersible’s similarity to a deep-sea squid.
Herman Melville would surely be pleased with our current uncertainty, even if we know of no actual sinkings by swordfish spikes. Maybe that’s why the author turned to a white whale instead. In the next issue: the forgotten art of swordfish painting?
Did You Know?
Powder Monkey
What were these kids doing on board sailing ships?
Learn more at Kids as Crew
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The word hypertrichosis is formed by Greek roots (hyper-, ʽexcessʼ; trikhos, hair and -osis, ʽformationʼ) and refers to a disorder that causes excessive hair growth over the body. Medieval sources do not use this term, but prefer hairy men and women instead. These men and women are often mistaken for savages, who also have excessive hair, but hairy and savage individuals belong to different categories, since savagery is associated with social or religious isolation and with exceptional strength, and deemed closer to the animal than to the human plane. On the contrary, hairy men and women are not necessarily isolated and they often live in courts as entertainers, together with other monster-like subjects.
Although the creation of “monsters” is very complex and derives from different reasons in the cultural history of a certain context, hypertrichosis is an example of how the monstrous imaginary fed on real diseases. Along this interpretative line, modern science explains that hair starts growing as from week 18 of pregnancy, first on the face and scalp, followed by eyebrows. Facial hair growth then ceases, but a deficiency in the inhibition of this process leads to an anomaly: Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa. It is an atavistic feature, developed by mammals for survival, which has been lost through evolution. Hypertrichosis may also result from an endocrine or hormonal imbalance.
Related terms
Puella pilosa
Mulier sylvatica
Mulier aulica
In his History of Animals, Aristotle mentions hair as a distinctive feature of animals, and distinguishes it from human hair. He divides animals whose bodies are completely covered in hair from those that have a mane or only have hair in a specific part of their bodies (Aristotle, History of Animals, ii, 1, 488b). Isidore of Seville states that “Capilli vocati quasi capitis pili, facti ut et decorem praestent et cerebrum adversus frigius muniant atque a sole defendant” (Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, xi, 1: 848) and differentiates male from female hair. Isidore’s text uses the term caesaries (head of hair) exclusively for men, since “Virum enim tonsum decet, mulierem non decet” (Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, xi, 1: 849), and prefers mane for female hair. Hair length is, then, an early gender feature: men should cut their hair, unlike women, who should wear it long. Cutting rites (depilation, hair removal, tonsure and related practices, circumcision, dental mutilation) speak of humans’ will to differentiate themselves from animals (Durand, 2012: 176).
Ambroise Paré, after warning against the power of a woman’s imagination to create monsters, focuses on a pilose lady:
Damascene, a serious author, attests to having seen a girl as furry as a bear, whom the mother had bred thus deformed and hideous, for having looked too intently at the image of Saint John [the Baptist] dressed in skins, along with his [own] body hair and beard, which picture was attached to the foot of her bed while she was conceiving. (…) As a result, it is necessary that women—at the hour of conception and when the child is not yet formed (which takes from thirty to thirty-five days for males and forty or forty-two, as Hippocrates says, for females)—not be forced to look at or to imagine monstrous things; but once the formation of the child is complete, even though the woman should look at or imagine monstrous thing with intensity, nevertheless the imagination will not then play any role, because no transformation occurs at all, since the child is completely formed. (Paré, On Monsters and Marvels: 38-40. Emphasis added.)
The first studied case of hypertrichosis in Europe was that of a Canarian man, Petrus Gonsalvus, who, as a teenager, was invited by Henry II to join his court, where he had children who inherited his condition, including a girl called Antonietta. Ulisse Aldrovandi refers to them in his work Monstrorum historia, and recounts the following about the girl:
Erat facies puellae vnà cum fronte piloſa, praeter nares, & lábia circaos. Pili frontis lõgiores, & hiſpidiores erant in comparatione ad illos, qui genas tegebant, cum hi tactu eſſent molliores reliqua pars corporis, & potiſſimũ dorſi hiſpida erat, & flauis ſcatens pilis ad lumborum vfq. Principium. Gula pectus manus, & brachia pilis erant nudata Ceterae cor poris partes aſperae, & cutim auium nondum plumeſcentium aemulabantur. Neo quis hoc neceſſsarium ſibi perſuadere debet, vt totũ corpus generis ſylueſtrium hominum pilis ſcatere debeat; ſiquidem (teſte Euſebio Ieſuita) viſi sũt ſyluestres homines Tam in Orientali, quàm in Occidentali Plaga, ſiuè in Regione America egredientes ex materna aluo candidi, nitidi, & leues veluti noſtrates infantes. Sin tractu temporis poſtea Pili in aliqua corporis parte valdè excreſcant, non tamen dicendum et totos hirſutos eſſe debere (Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia, i: 18).
The image of the puella pilosa focuses on hair as a feature of female monstrousness. Thus, hair, a traditional symbol of female beauty and eroticism, is re-semanticized towards the teratological realm. Excessive pilosity, seen as a problem of both men and women due to its closeness to the zoological/monstrous sphere, is exacerbated in women on account of the agreed archetypes for each gender.
Evidence and Images
Fig. 1: Ambroise Paré, On Monsters and Marvels. “Furry girl conceived because of imagination”.
Fig. 2: Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia. “Puella pilosa annorum octo alterius soror”.
Fig. 3a: Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of Antonietta Gonsalvus
Fig. 3b: Joris Hoefnagel, Petrus Gonzalez and his wife Animalia Rationalia et Insecta (Ignis), Plate I , c. 1575/1580. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Fig. 3c: Joris Hoefnagel, Animalia Rationalia et Insecta (Ignis) Plate II, c. 1575/1580. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Fig. 4: Juan Sánchez Cotán, Brígida del Río. The Bearded Lady of Peñaranda, 1590. Prado Museum, Madrid.
Fig. 5: Sebastián de Covarrubias, Moral Emblems, Centuria ii, Emblema 67
Fig. 6: José de Ribera, The Bearded Woman, 1631. Oil on canvas. Hospital Tavera, Toledo.
Fig. 7: Francisco Goya, This woman was painted in Naples by José Ribera Lo Spagnoletto around the 1640s. Album E. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fig. 8 and ff.: Julia Pastrana. Documented picture and posters of world exhibitions, where she is presented as a nondescript wonder, monkey woman, bear woman and hybrid Indian woman respectively.
Further Reading
Aldrovandi, Vlyssis. Monstrorvm historia. Bononiae Typis Nicolai Tebaldini, mdcxlii (facsimile edition)
Aristotle. Historia de los animales [History of Animals]. Edited by José Vara Donado. Madrid, Akal, 1990.
Berg, Charles. The unconscious significance of hair. London, G. Allen & Unwind Ltd, 1951.
Biddle-Perry, Geraldine & Cheang, Sarah (eds.). Hair. Styling, culture and fashion. UK,
Covarrubias, Sebastián de. Emblemas morales [Moral Emblems] (last retrieved: 26/07/18).
Da Silva, Jean. “«Hair Studies»: une bibliographie”,. Apparence(s) 5 (2014).
Durand, Gilbert. Las estructuras antropológicas del imaginario. Introducción a la arquetipología general [The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary. Introduction to General Archetypology] . México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2012.
Isidore of Seville. Etimologías [Etymologies]. Madrid, BAC. Edited by Luis Cortés y Góngora, and Santiago Montero Díaz, 1991.
Orsanic, Lucía. “Mujeres velludas. La imagen de la puella pilosa como signo de monstruosidad en fuentes medievales y renacentistas, y su proyección en los siglos posteriores” [Hairy women. The image of the puella pilosa as a sign of monstrousness in medieval and Renaissance sources, and its projection in subsequent centuries]. Lemir 19 (2015): 217-242.
Paré, Ambroise. On Monsters and Marvels. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Weisner-Hanks, Merry. “The wild and hairy Gonzales family”. Apparence(s) 5 (2014).
Weisner-Hanks, Merry. The Marvelous Hairy Girls: The Gonzales Sisters and their Worlds. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2009.
Lucía Orsanic, Universidad Católica Argentina
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Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh's dream
Joseph in Egypt
In the Bible is a story about a Pharaoh having bad dreams that his advisors could not explain. He dreamt about seven fat cows eaten. Then came seven lean cows who ate the fat cows. And then came seven full ears of grain. Seven thin and blasted ears devoured them. Joseph explained those dreams. He told the Pharaoh that seven years with good harvests would come, followed by seven lean years with crop failures. Joseph advised the Egyptians to store food. They followed his advice and built storehouses for grain. In this way, Egypt survived the seven years of scarcity.1
There is something that the Bible does not tell us. The Egyptians used this grain storage as a financial system. The historian Friedrich Preisigke discovered that the Egyptians used grain receipts for money.2 Farmers bringing in the grain received these vouchers. Bakers brought them back in and exchanged them for grain to make bread. In the meantime, these receipts circulated as money. The vouchers had value because you could exchange them for grain. According to the Bible, Joseph took all the money from the Egyptians.3 And so the Egyptians may have started to use the vouchers as money instead.
When you exchanged the receipts for the grain, you had to pay the storage cost. In this way, these vouchers gradually lost value over time. It worked like a negative interest rate. It may have helped to keep the money circulating and may have prevented financial crises caused by interest charges that prompted the Sumerians to cancel debts from time to time. During the reign of Ramesses the Great, Egypt became a leading power again. Some historians suggested that the Pharao’s wealth at the time came from grain money.
The money remained in circulation after the introduction of coins around 400 BC until the Romans conquered Egypt around 40 BC. The grain money survived for more than a thousand years. A holding fee on money and negative interest rates can create a stable financial system that lasts forever. It contrasts with the Sumerian interest-bearing debts that had to be cancelled from time to time to prevent permanent debt-slavery of the masses.
The Bible provides an explanation as to how the Egyptian grain storage financial system might have come to be even though the story probably is fiction. The Bible and the Quran also condemn charging interest. There appears to be a link between interest-free money with a holding fee and the Abrahamic religions.
Featured image: Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh’s dream. Illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours. Gustave Doré (1866). Public Domain.
1. Genesis 41 [link]
2. A Strategy for a Convertible Currency. Bernard A. Lietaer, ICIS Forum, Vol. 20, No.3, 1990 [link]
3. Genesis 47:15 [link]
Earth from space
The sacredness of Creation
Thus spoke Chief Seattle
In 1854, the native American Chief Seattle gave a speech when the United States government wanted to buy the land of his tribe. You can read it by clicking on the above link.
Different versions of Seattle’s speech are circulating. In 1971, a screenwriter wrote the text you just read. It subsequently became a religious creed within the environmentalist movement. It differs significantly from the first published text compiled from memories and notes of one of the attendants. As is often the case with religion, historicity is not of the essence. It is an inspiring speech.
The message strikes at the heart of the matter. Nothing is sacred anymore. The pursuit of money destroys our planet and our humanity. The white man may think he owns the land, but he does not. He may think he controls his destiny, but he does not. We share a common destiny. Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth.
As long as production and consumption increase, new problems emerge faster than we can solve old ones with laws, technology, targets and other solutions. Most of us believe that structural changes are impossible, but acknowledging a problem is the beginning of a solution. Our belief that nothing will help can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We need a new starting point, a new foundation for our culture, our beliefs and thinking and our place in the universe. Small steps cannot save us. We need to completely change the way we live. God gave us this planet on loan. As long as we do not change our ways, our societies will not become more humane and respectful of Creation.
People within the environmentalist movement tried to make the planet and everything on it sacred and claimed that everything is interconnected. In 1991, the environmentalist group Strohalm issued a booklet named Towards a Philosophy of Connectedness.1 It lays out Strohalm’s vision for a sustainable and humane society.
The principal founder of Strohalm is Henk van Arkel, a dedicated individual who remained its driving force for many decades. His views mask that Van Arkel is a moderate man who does not blame anyone in particular for our current predicament. In 1993, I became familiar with Strohalm when I joined the environmentalist movement.
I knew that the people from Strohalm were right, but I also believed they were naive dreamers. People will not change their lifestyles out of their free will. And we cannot do without energy. But as we are heading for an apocalypse, we cannot allow a false sense of realism to stand in the way of what we should do. Things have to change dramatically. Perhaps, there is a way out, but it will not be easy.
Featured image: Earth from space. NASA. Public Domain.
1. Naar een filosofie van verbondenheid. Guus Peterse, Henk van Arkel, Hans Radder, Seattle, Pieter Schroever and Margrit Kennedy (1990). Aktie Strohalm.
Venus of Willendorf
Reconstructing the Garden of Eden
In archaeological excavations, female figurines have turned up that could depict mother goddesses. The most famous one is the Venus of Willendorf from around 23,000 BC. In ancient cultures, mother goddesses represented fertility. Women give birth, and early humans may not have understood fatherhood and believed that women create life. The ability of women to produce offspring could have been the essence of mother goddess worship. The virgin birth is the miracle of the mother goddess. One of the best-known mother goddesses was Isis in ancient Egypt.
Women can be sure that their children are their own, but for men, this is different. When the fathers of children are unknown, families are matrilineal, which means that family lines depend on motherhood. The worship of mother goddesses may have disappeared because men desired to control women and their sexuality. The transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture may have played a role in this development.
Hunter-gatherers were wanderers. They had fewer territorial conflicts than farmers because population density was low, and their disputes were less intense because hunter-gatherers had no property and could move on.1 That changed with the advent of agriculture. Farmers had to defend their property and family, otherwise, they would starve and lose their offspring. Men are willing to defend women and children they consider their own. Men can also walk out when they doubt their fatherhood. That may have given them a position of power so patriarchy emerged.
The Garden of Eden was in Mesopotamia. The biblical story probably was an ancient Mesopotamian myth that Jewish scribes tailored to their theological agenda. The Jews had been exiled to Babylon when their priests compiled their scriptures. In the original tale, Eve probably was Adam’s mother. That makes more sense than Eve coming from Adam’s rib. She is the Mother of All the Living (Genesis 3:20), and we are the woman’s offspring (Genesis 3:15). Elsewhere in the Bible, a child is called the father’s offspring, so this is noteworthy. Eve apparently gave birth without the intervention of a man, a virgin birth.
Eve is the mythical mother of humanity. Scientific evidence suggests that everyone descends from one woman called Mitochondrial Eve. This universe could be a simulation created by an advanced humanoid civilisation to entertain a post-human individual we call God. And so it may be part of the script. In other words, in the real world, all humans may not descend from one woman.
The purpose of the man probably was to be a companion for the woman and perhaps to fulfil her desires. The Bible says that God created the woman as a mate for the man (Genesis 2:18), but the tale only mentions the woman’s desire for her husband (Genesis 3:16). In the original story, Eve may have desired a mate and then gave birth to Adam. Eve probably was the leading character in the original tale as she discussed eating the fruit with the serpent and made Adam eat from it (Genesis 3:1-6).
A man left his father and mother and became united with his wife (Genesis 2:24). In patrilineal and patriarchal societies, women join their husband’s families. And so, Paradise might have been matrilineal or even matriarchal. The title Mother of all the Living refers to the mother goddess,2 but nothing suggests that Eve was a goddess in the original tale. It remains unclear who created the woman, but it could be the Mesopotamian gods.
The Fall reflects the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The life of hunter-gatherers was more agreeable than the plight of farmers who came later on. The Agricultural Revolution was a curse for humanity.1 The Garden of Eden provided for everything. Eve and Adam were naked (Genesis 2:25) like hunter-gatherers in the jungle today. Adam was banished from the garden to work the ground and condemned to a life of toil (Genesis 3:17-19). Women had to obey their husbands from then on (Genesis 3:16).
Any explanation of the Fall is speculative, but the following plausibly elucidates the main elements. In ancient cultures, people worshipped snakes for their wisdom or knowledge. Hence, the serpent may have given counsel to Eve. The tree of knowledge relates to the sacred tree, which may explain why it was forbidden to eat from it. The prominent role of Eve may reflect the part women played in shifting from gathering to planting crops that condemned men to a life of property and warfare.
Farmers have to protect their crops from thieves. Otherwise, they face starvation. Perhaps, Cain murdered Abel because Abel’s flocks ate Cain’s crops, so he had only meagre offerings for the gods, while Abel could please the gods by offering well-nourished animals. The first murder happened just after the Fall and was a conflict between a cattle herder and a crop planter. Knowledge of agriculture and animal husbandry did not work out well. And so, Paradise was lost.
The first Christians may have believed that Eve was God and the Mother of all the Living, that Mary Magdalene was Eve, and that Jesus was Adam. And Eve did not come from Adam’s rib but that Adam was born as Eve’s son so Adam, and, therefore, Jesus were the Son of God. Humanity descends from Eve so we are God’s children (John 1:13). Tribes exist by the idea that they share common ancestors. Usually, these ancestors are mythical people who lived long ago. The myth of Eve and Adam has the potential to turn all of humanity into a single tribe. And, God’s plan may work like so. Paul of Tarsus may have realised that this message was meant for humankind rather than Jews alone.
Featured image: Venus of Willendorf. Don Hitchcock (2008). Wikimedia Commons.
1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Yuval Noah Harari (2014). Harvil Secker.
2. Asherah – Wikipedia: Some scholars have found an early link between Asherah and Eve, based upon the coincidence of their common title as “the mother of all living” in Genesis 3:20 through the identification with the Hurrian mother goddess Hebat. Asherah was also given the title Chawat from which the name Hawwah in Aramaic and the biblical name Eve are derived.
The Spider’s Web
The Spider’s Web is an informative documentary about the hidden world of offshore finance.
This is a documentary that everyone should watch to understand what is going on behind the scenes.
If you have Netflix, you can also watch it there.
The only known photograph of Chief Seattle
Thus spoke Chief Seattle
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him since we know he has little need for our friendship in return.
The red man has always retreated before the advancing white man, as the mist of the mountain runs before the morning sun. But the ashes of our fathers are sacred. The graves are holy ground, and so these hills, these trees, this portion of the earth is consecrated to us.
The earth is not his brother but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father’s graves behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children. He does not care.
He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, or sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.
There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. What is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever, happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the children of the earth.
All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
We may be brothers after all; we shall see. One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover―our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land, but you cannot.
God gave you dominion over the beasts, the woods, and the red man, and for some special purpose, but that destiny is a mystery to the red man. We might understand if we knew what it was that the white man dreams―what hopes he describes to his children on long winter nights―what visions he burns onto their minds so that they will wish for tomorrow.
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Fort Jesus
Mombasa, Kenya
Prior to the construction of Fort Jesus, the Portuguese colonial headquarters was an unfortified factory at Malindi, located at the mouth of the Galana River and the Indian Ocean, about 120 km northeast of Mombasa. The main objective behind the fort was to prevent the Turks from creating a base in East Africa along the Africa-India trade route. Between 1585 and 1588, Turkish raids reinforced this political sentiment; in 1593, after nearly a century in East Africa, the Portuguese initiated the planning and construction of a military fort in Mombasa.
Fort Jesus is built on top of a coral ridge that extends east-west from the mouth of the Mombasa harbor. The siting of the fort was determined principally by two factors: one, that any ship entering the harbor should come within point blank range of the fort guns and artillery; and two, that the fort be situated where small boats could land supplies in the bay area during an emergency or siege. At the present, the Old Town of Mombasa is located north of the fort, and the modern city is to the south. The fort itself is sited along a northeast-southwest axis, with its seaward face to the northeast.
The medieval design of the fort emphasizes symmetry and a schematic resemblance to the human body, and its layout reflects Portugese fortification tactics. However, many historians also note that the fort's design demonstrates an affinity with Indian fortresses rather than with other similar colonial Portuguese constructions in Africa. It is also noteworthy that the fort's original plan is stylistically similar to English fortifications built ca. 1540, as well as to Italian sixteen-century fortresses.
Quadrilateral in plan, the fort has four wide bastions at each corner (Sao Matias and Sao Mateus to the sea, Sao Filipe and Sao Alberto to land) and a rectangular projection between the two seaward bastions. Its overall dimensions are 130 meters across the northeastern harbor front (not including the outwork) and 99 meters across the bastions on the landward side. The fort is built around a rock core on rock foundations; two-thirds of the ramparts are solid coral, forming a nearly vertical face on the fort's seaward side. This has rendered the fort impervious to many siege scenarios.
Access and perimeter:
The fort's main gate was reached from land by a wooden gangway across the dry ditch (a drawbridge was never added to the fort) located in the lee of S. Matias. Two subsidiary gates in the east wall of the rectangular projection allowed supplies to reach the fort by sea. The fort's outwork, a series of walled structures with two gates and entry points, lies closest to the coastline. Above the outwork is the fort's rectangular projection. Moving clockwise along the perimeter of the site from the bastion of Sao Mateus, the ground level rises dramatically and then descends into a ditch. Continuing clockwise, this ditch leads to the fort counterscarp (a stone walling lining the earth down to the foot of the ditch). This counterscarp leads into the first corner of the fort, where the bastion of S. Alberto is located. Here, a cavalier faces the bastion's longwall. Below this bastion lie the fort caves, which have yet to be fully investigated. Between S. Alberto and the adjacent bastion of S. Filipe, the ground level rises and the counterscarp of the ditch continues. Another cavalier is located at S. Felipe. Completing the exterior circuit along the perimeter of the fort, the ditch from S. Felipe leads down into to a depression and a flattened area that is the modern-day car park and causeway at the fort site. This is also the location of the outer and inner gates, and a procession that leads into the gatehouse and an open space flanked on either side by guardrooms. The fort's dry ditch, ten feet wide on the east and thirty feet wide on the west, was never completed and also constitutes the fort's most defective design element. The eastern end of the ditch was left relatively open; the southeastern end of the ditch becomes open ground, exposing the S. Mateus bastion to direct ground-level assault.
The fort's construction occurred over different periods: while construction began in 1593, it was hampered by poor planning and misallocated funds. Following the 1631 invasion by Sultan Yusif and the subsequent Swahili occupation of the fort until the Portuguese retook it in 1632, construction proceeded swiftly between 1633-1639, including a renovation completed in 1635 under the direction of fort captain Cabreira. The renovation included adding a new outer gate with protective elliptical projection housed under the bastion of S. Matias, an extra gun-platform directed beyond S. Mateus' seaward face that doubled the canon firepower facing the city's harbor entrance, adding gun-embrasures (angled openings cut into the parapet from which cannons could be fired) to the flanks of S. Mateus and S. Filipe, building two angled towers at the junction of the seaward rectangular projection, and fortifying the central seaward rectangular projecting by adding outwork between the projection and the water. This outwork served as a landing leading to the "Passage of Steps," and provided covering from the small sandy cove 90 meters to the south. Several gun-embrasures with a canon barrel pointing seawards were built into the outwork, and other arms could also be mounted here for additional defense. Under a special envoy of the Viceroy, Baltazar Marinho, the existing fort plans were altered and the walls became thicker and taller. Marinho also designed an additional entrance and gatehouse to create a double-entrance system with an antechamber space, so that on entering the first gate, one could not access the fort's interior directly. Marinho extended the construction to include lookouts on the four bastions and deepening the moat on the south side to make the S. Mateus bastion taller.
Omani Arabs besieged Fort Jesus between 1696-1698, and although the Portuguese reoccupied the fort briefly in 1728, it remained in Arab hands, passing first from the Omani to the Mazrui in 1741. Subsequently, the Mazrui and the Omani fought intermittently over the fort until the Omani Sultan regained it in 1837. Major changes were made in the 18th century: upper storys were added, S. Mateus was filled in, a guard room door leading to the main court was blocked, a small well with an open cistern and a washing place was added behind the great cistern, the portico behind the Captain's house was converted into a baraza (audience hall), and new houses were built atop the cavaliers on the south end of the fort. Over time, the barracks continued to be overcrowded, and the central courtyard space was filled with adobe structures for the soldiers and their dependents.
In the 19th century, the fort was mainly used as a barracks, and a small mosque was built against the south wall of the guardroom in S. Mateus. Later 19th century additions included six round watchtowers, one at each end of the rectangular projections that form the base of the fort's bastions. The source for their design is unknown, although their typology does resembles Portuguese turrets on the cavaliers. These watchtowers were used by the soldiers of the Omani Sultan to keep watch over the nearby countryside, where threats came mostly from the local Swahili population. Small details suggests that the watchtowers may have been built at different times: four have entrances with square lintels, while two (presumably older) towers had rounded lintels. These towers exhibited two roof types, one with a shallow cupola and one with a tall canonical cap.
In 1895 the British proclaimed a protectorate over the East African coast and subsequently occupied the fort as a prison. The Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon funded restorations to the fort in 1958, removing most traces of the British invasion, and so the contemporary condition of the restored fort shows no evidence of the period when it was used as a prison.
The gateway to the fort is located on the flank of S. Matias on the western side of the site, under cover of the oreillons ("little ears," or the angled projections of the fort bastions). The gatehouse of the fort is housed in one of the oreillons, and is approached from the west. From the gatehouse, one passed under a round arch over a flight of stairs. The the decorative elements of the gatehouse suggest that it was a later addition: its crenellations are smaller and more irregular than those found in the rest of the fort.
The present inner gate was the original entrance to the fort had no voussoirs, unlike the gates to the Passage of Steps and the bastion of S. Mateus. This gate was built of plastered rubble and was situated in the angle of the north wall. A black stone inscription plaque above the gate records the dedication of the fort in the name of Jesus of Mombasa.
The original ramparts were 4.2 m thick, surmounted by a parapet 1.35 meters high and 2.4 meters thick. The wall assembly was rubble and earth, faced with coursed coral blocks measuring roughly 33 by 23 cm. The detailing of the parapet included an outer face sloping downwards at a 75 degree angle. The parapet itself was 2.66 m thick. Access to the parapet was limited to flights of steps in the middle of the west and north parapet walks. The intermediary rampart walls between the bastions contain structures overlooking the main court. Beginning in the east and moving clockwise, these include the modern-day museum (formerly the barracks) along the southern wall, the priest's residence, more barracks, the church, the cistern and the well along the western wall, and the barracks and toilets along the northern wall.
The seaward bastion of Sao Mateus today holds the main gun-platform facing seawards, a guard room and a landing space flanked by a retaining wall. The seaward bastion of Sao Matias now houses the main entrance with double gates and an antechamber space, an elliptical projection, the gatehouse and guardrooms, the ticket office and the "L-shaped" room of the Captain's house. Rounded turrets link both S. Matias and S. Mateus to the projecting seaward wall. The fort parapet was designed with an outer, sharply angled vertical scarp leading down into a firestep and the parapet walkway below. These rose an average of one meter above the ground level in the main court of the fort.
The two landward bastions (S. Filipe and S. Alberto) were designed symmetrically, with deep re-entrant angles where they faced each other to provide screened gun positions and an effective field of crossfire. The two bastions also display characteristic oreillons. S. Alberto today holds an Arab-period house, a hangman's drop and the Warden's house, which now function as offices. Sao Filipe now houses an Arab-period house and the kitchens, formerly a guard room.
The fort had a total of 59 gun-embrasures; S. Felipe contained the most, at 14. 260 loopholes, most of which were located in the seaward-facing rectangular projection, were included in the fort, as were 9 sentry boxes and watchtowers set in coral. Of these boxes, two and a half were created by the Portuguese, and six and a half were added during the Arab period. These sentry boxes were located at intervals along the perimeter of the ramparts; the Portuguese sentry boxes are housed in the bastions of S. Filipe and S. Alberto on the landward side of the fort.
Rectangular seaward projection:
The rectangular projection comprises the eastern perimeter of the main court, and holds the Passage of the Arches, the Passage of the Steps, the main part of the Captain's house, the Mazrui-period house, and the ammunition store. This projection overlooks the sea and is separated from the immediate coastline by the fort outwork.
Located in the north end of the rectangular projection facing the harbor, the three arches in the Passage of the Arches were built to support the weight of the Captain's residence. The passage measures 4.27 m at its widest point and 2.13 m at its narrowest point. The three arches divide the east-west passageway into sections measuring 4.27 meters, 7.31 meters, and 5.18 meters long. The middle (longest) section of the passage stood open to the sky.
The Passage of the Steps is found at the south end of the central rectangular projection, and consisted of over 22 steps (3.9 cm wide) cut into coral and descending towards an arched doorway. This doorway measured 1.45 meters high and 1.75 meters wide, with tapered voussoirs. The passage was bounded on the south by the south wall of the rectangular projection and on the north by a plaster retaining wall that culminated in a rounded top. This north wall had a niche that archaeologists believe housed a statue. The Passage of the Steps was originally open to the sky and later covered when the Captain's house was extended over to its south wall.
The Captain's house was built overlooking the harbor on top of the rectangular projection's platform above the fort's outworks. As such, the Captain's house had no protective parapet and was exposed to enemy fire from the harbor. Parts of the house were destroyed during the Arab siege of 1696-8, and were never restored. The decorative elements of the Captain's house were the most elaborate in the entire fort complex. Decorative elements included Swahili kidaka (plastered wall niches) that ran along the east wall at a height of 1.75 meters from the floor. The northeast corner of the structure housed a 91 cm high masonry pedestal where utensils could be washed. Recent archaeological excavations uncovered a red and black diamond decorative section on the plastered south wall of the south chamber. One of the main rooms in the Captain's house was the "L"-shaped room approached by two doorways in the west wall. This room, the largest in the house, is believed to have contained the greatest quantity of decorative elements and detailing. This room has also been described by the historian and cartographer Guillain as possibly functioning as a storeroom at some point during the history of the fort.
Later additions to this part of the fort included porticos with rounded arches topping two pillars projecting from the wall. Horizontal moldings capped by a slight cavetto wrapped the pillars. Each spandrel was coral, intricately carved with a marigold or sunflowers. In front of these pillars was a masonry bench. Walls on the south and west sides were painted with a dado of lotus tendrils in red and green. The lime concrete roof was supported by squared timbers carved with Arabic texts. Archaeologists have interpreted these texts as poetry and Koranic verses. This portico addition, known as the "lamp room" in earlier plans, became the Audience Room of the Mazrui.
Main court:
The main, central courtyard measures two acres (0.8 ha) and is accessed via the main gate. The contemporary layout of the fort also incorporates new structures built under the Gulbenkian Foundation: a museum, the former curator's house (now the site offices), a ticket office, toilets, a refreshment room, and a shop.
Within the central court lay the residence and offices of the Captains of Mombasa. The garrison church lay situated close to the western rampart, and fort historians believe that it was, at various times over the fort's history, open to the public. Lines of soldiers' barracks lay along the north and south ramparts. The foundations of the northernmost line of buildings are still extant. On the western edge of the courtyard was the cistern (constructed in 1601), measuring 4.3 by 6 meters and about 12.2 meters deep. A well, 3.05 meters square, was later added between 1698 and 1728 behind the cistern during the Arab renovations of the fort.
The barrack blocks were built of coral blocks and culminated in pent-roofs. The northern block ran behind the north parapet walk and comprised 8 rooms divided in the middle by a flight of 3 steps leading up to the parapet walk. Little archaeological evidence has been found of the exact layout of the southern blocks, and this part of the site exists today as the museum building constructed under the Gulbenkian Foundation restorations.
The church was entered through the eastern end of the main court; its altar was located on the western end. The nave measured 13.87 by 7.16 meters and culminated in a flat roof supported by pilasters interspersed at intervals of 3.8, 4.5 and 3.5 meters down the long sides. The church nave comprised four low platforms, 1.5 meters long and 11 cm high. The sanctuary itself was 4 meters long and 5.3 meters wide and on the south side of the building was a baptistery. The interior of the sanctuary is believed to have been painted entirely in red ochre.
Decoration and materials:
The entire fort was built out of large hewn coral blocks measuring roughly 13 inches by 89 inches. The walls were made of plastered earth and sometimes rubble. Decorative elements in the fort are largely confined to the Captain's house. In the Hall of the Mazrui, crafted stone benches and 18th century inscriptions were discovered during an archaeological excavation; however, modern graffiti also mars the walls of the hall. Literary and iconographic material was uncovered by archaeological exploration. To date, the most important finding has been that of the yellow ochre carbon wall paintings on the face of the platform in the S. Mateus bastion. This mural includes carved images of dhows, animals, churches, fish, chameleon and grotesque human figures. The fort also contains several commemorative coats of arms, including the Arms of Archduke of Hapsburg, the Arms of Mateus Mendes de Vasconcelos, and the Arms of King Philip II of Spain, for whom the bastions were named.
Consistent with Swahili architectural typology, the fort doors are intricately carved and exquisitely decorated, with sunken panels and palm-leaf decorations. One such door found by the modern ticket office near the inner entrance of the original gatehouse. This double door has a swinging center post; three layers of wood make up its laminate structure, which add to its weight and strength. It is studded with rows of brass spikes, and a Koranic text appears above it. Its decorative carvings resemble those of most Arab Swahili doors in Mombasa, with geometric and foliate decorative motifs.
The complex, once an icon of military strength and political power, now separates the Old Town and the modern city of Mombasa. Within the fort museum, displayed artifacts link the story of the Portuguese presence on the East African coast to the larger history of the region: the collection includes ceramics of Chinese, Persian, Arab and Portuguese origin, as well as a collection of East African earthenware, weaponry, and instruments.
Boxer, Charles Ralph. 1960. Fort Jesus and the Portuguese in Mombasa, 1593-1729. London: Hollis & Carter.
Kirkman, James S. 1981. Fort Jesus, Mombasa. Mombasa: National Museum of Kenya.
Kirkman, James. 1974. Fort Jesus: A Portuguese Fortress on the East African Coast. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Nelson, William A. 1994. Fort Jesus of Mombasa. Edinburgh: Canongate Press.
Wilding, Richard. 1988. Panels, Pillars, and Posterity: Ancient Tombs on the North Kenyan Coast: a preliminary study. Mombasa [Kenya : s.n.].
"Fort Jesus Museum". National Museums of Kenya Website. [Accessed October 23, 2006]
"Fort Jesus, Kenya: Explanation, Facts And History." African Mecca Website. [Accessed February 13, 2007]
"Floor plan of Fort Jesus." Diani Info Website. [Accessed February 13, 2007]
Nkrumah Road, Old Town, Mombasa, Kenya
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Fort Jesus
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Lexicon of Names
Common name elements in Tolkien's works
-y (English) a word-ending used to create adjectives from nouns, denoting an important association or characterisation (as, for example, where the noun luck transforms into the adjective lucky). In a few cases, this adjectival form was converted back into a noun to create a name. This is seen most commonly among names used in the Shire and the Bree-land, where notable examples include Ferny and Tunnelly. The modern English use of -y in names like this evolved from Old English -ig of the same meaning (so the month-name Frery derived from Old English Frēorig, meaning 'freezing' or 'chilly'). Éomer's surname Éadig has the same construction (Old English éad meant 'fortune' or 'luck', hence Éadig meant 'fortunate' or 'lucky'. Note that the suffix -y has numerous different meanings in English, and many names ending in -y have other origins (for example, it forms familiar nicknames in Gammidgy or Old Rory).
ya 1 (Quenya) used as an affix to create possessive nouns, so for example the names of the Three Rings of the Elves, Narya, Nenya and Vilya literally meant 'of fire', 'of water' and 'of air' respectively. In this case the fact that these were Rings of Power was implied, so the more usual translations would be 'Ring of Fire', 'Ring of Water' and 'Ring of Air'. A similar logic applied to the days of the week in Quenya, so for example the day named Elenya literally meant 'of the stars', but was more fully translated as 'day of the stars'. The names of the weekdays in Quenya all follow this pattern: Elenya '(day) of the Stars', Anarya '(day) of the Sun', Isilya '(day) of the Moon', Aldúya '(day) of the Two Trees', Menelya '(day) of the Heavens', Eärenya '(day) of the Sea' and Valanya '(day) of the Powers'. A High Elf was sometimes described as 'of Aman' (Amanya), a word more commonly seen in the plural Amanyar, and occasionally in the negative Úmanyar ('not of Aman') for the Dark Elves. Note that the -ya element had several different meanings in Quenya, so (for example) the word Quenya itself does not use -ya in the possessive sense described here, but rather as an adjective-forming suffix.
ya 2 (Quenya) a suffix used to turn a noun or verb into an adjective. The word Quenya itself is an example of this usage, deriving from a verb meaning 'speak with words' modified to create an adjectival form. In this case the word ultimately came to be used as a noun once again, signifying the 'speech' of the Elves (and the word is sometimes translated more loosely as 'Elvish', though strictly Quenya was only one among several Elvish tongues).
yale (perhaps Welsh) as used in modern names, Yale derives from Welsh iâl, 'fertile land', used especially of fertile uplands or hill country. There is some reason to doubt that this applies to the place known as 'the Yale' in the Shire (primarily because it is described as a lowland or valley), and so the name used by the Hobbits potentially has some other intended etymology. It might, for example, derive from Old English ealh, 'place of shelter'. It may even represent an untranslated name anglicised from the original form used by the Shire-hobbits (the Boffins, a family closely associated with the Yale, had such a name, so an origin of this kind is far from impossible).
yav (Quenya) derived from yávë, 'fruit', and by extension 'harvest'. It occurs in the name of the Vala Yavanna, 'Giver of Fruits', and in derivatives such as Yavannamírë, 'jewel of Yavanna'. Because of its association with the harvest and with the Vala of bountiful nature, the Elves used Yávië as a name for the season of late summer and early autumn. The same connection gave rise to Yavannië, the harvest month in the calendars of the Dúnedain, and to Yáviérë, the harvest feast-day of the Stewards' Reckoning.
yávië (Quenya) 'autumn', especially early autumn or harvest time, a name related to the root yávë, 'fruit'. Yávië (or its Sindarin equivalent Iavas) was used as the name of one of the six seasons of the Elves, and the Stewards' Reckoning of Gondor included a holiday named Yáviérë ('harvest day'). Yávië possibly also appears in the name of Yávien, a descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur. Different interpretations of her name are possible, but one reading would be 'of the harvest', perhaps implying that she was born at this time of year.
(Adûnaic) 'gift'. In Yôzâyan, this combines with zâyan, 'land', to form 'Land of Gift', a name used by the Númenóreans for their own homeland, directly equivalent to Elvish Andor.
yule (English) a time of festival falling near the end of the year, from Old English géol, probably meaning 'rebirth' (that is, it marked the ending of one year and the beginning of the next). In the Shire Calendar the two days that marked the turning of the year were known as the Yuledays, or together simply as Yule. The six-day period around Yule was known as Yuletide ('Yule time'), and the months before and after Yule were named Foreyule and Afteryule respectively. In Bree, and parts of the Eastfarthing, Foreyule was instead known as Yulemath, 'Yule month'.
For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.
Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2010, 2020-2022. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.
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Taiga Biomes Facts
Published: 08 Sep 2022
River Flowing Through a Valley in Boreal Forest, Alaska, USA
Taiga biomes are found across the globe on three separate continents. Many different species make their home in the biome. The taiga also plays various other roles in the Earth’s ecosystem. Learn more about those roles and the threats facing the taiga with these 50 facts about taiga biomes.
1. The taiga includes an estimated 17 million km² or 11.5% of the Earth’s land area.
2. The taiga’s average daily temperature typically varies between -5 and 5°C.
3. In winter, temperatures in the taiga can drop as low as -50°C.
4. Growing seasons in the taiga only average around 130 days per year.
5. The Finnish and Scandinavian taiga have some of the longer growing seasons, averaging at most 150 days per year.
1. Scientists think that the taiga biome has only recently developed in geological terms, over the last 12,000 years of the Holocene Epoch.
2. The term “taiga” originally referred to the forest regions of Siberia and Northern Russia.
3. It also has similar meanings in the Mongolian and Turkish languages.
4. Most sources have since applied the term to the biome between the tundra and the temperate forest.
5. American and Canadian sources alternatively refer to this biome as the boreal forest or snow forest.
6. Scientists describe it as the world’s largest land biome.
7. In North America, the taiga includes most of Alaska, Canada, and parts of the Northern USA.
8. In Europe, the taiga includes most of Sweden and Finland, along with large parts of Russia, Norway, and Estonia.
9. The European taiga also includes parts of Scotland and even Iceland.
10. In Asia, the taiga includes Northern Kazakhstan, Northern Mongolia, and the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
1. Larches, pines, and spruces make up most of the forests in the Russian taiga.
2. Larches, however, dominate the forests in the East Siberian taiga.
3. Spruces similarly dominate the forests in the North American taiga.
4. Pines and spruces coexist with birches in the Finnish and Scandinavian taiga.
5. The taiga today covers land considered mammoth steppe during the last Ice Age.
Table of Contents
The taiga forms one of the world’s Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs).
Scientists define IFLs as places where forest ecosystems and their habitat plant community forms an unbroken natural landscape. They also lack major forms of human development or habitat fragmentation. The latter, in particular, allows IFLs to contain and support a vast diversity of plant and animal species.
IFLs also play very important roles in Earth’s environment, such as air and water purification, carbon sequestration, erosion and flood control, as well as nutrient cycling. Scientists first began mapping IFLs in the 1990s, with Greenpeace Russia issuing the first regional maps in 2001. The release of complete global maps of the world’s IFLs followed between 2005 and 2006. This allows conservation groups to accurately track and record the health of the world’s IFLs over time. Currently, the taiga forms an estimated 44% of the world’s IFLs, with tropical and subtropical forests forming the rest.
The permafrost varies in the taiga around the world.
Permafrost refers to a phenomenon where soil remains either completely or partially frozen all year round. Scientists further divide this into continuous and discontinuous permafrost. In the case of the former, this means the permafrost never melts. This usually results from a climate where the average temperature constantly remains below zero.
In contrast, discontinuous permafrost means the ground only stays frozen in sheltered areas. This too, similarly, is because of climates where the average temperature slightly rises above zero at certain times of the year. Most of the Russian taiga experiences continuous permafrost, although parts of it have discontinuous permafrost. Similarly, the rest of the world’s taiga experiences discontinuous permafrost.
Parts of the taiga experience both the midnight sun and polar night phenomena.
The midnight sun refers to a phenomenon where the Sun never sets during the summer. Similarly, the polar night refers to a phenomenon where the Sun never rises during winter. In both cases, the phenomena only take place near the poles, as a result of the planet’s tilt affecting the way the Sun’s light reaches those regions during summer and winter.
Parts of the taiga that experience both phenomena mostly lie north of the Arctic Circle, or 63°30’ N latitude. These include Arkhangelsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. That said, some parts of the taiga south of the Arctic Circle also experience both the midnight sun as well as the polar night. These include North Ostrobothnia, as well as Lapland in Finland, among other places.
The taiga generally receives only low precipitation.
In fact, it is one of the driest places on Earth, with only the world’s deserts receiving even less rainfall. On average, the taiga only receives at most 1 meter of precipitation per year, with rain only falling in summer. Otherwise, moisture comes to the biome in the form of fog or snow, with the latter falling for 9 months per year.
That said, the taiga also enjoys very low temperatures. This means that it also has even lower rates of evaporation. This ironically gives the taiga plenty of water to support its biodiversity, in contrast to places like the steppe.
Glaciers once covered parts of the modern taiga.
In fact, during the last Ice Age, ice sheets covered most of the land that now includes the taiga biome. In some places, the ice formed glaciers, massive formations of ice so heavy they plowed away the soil in front of them down to the bedrock. Even then, the weight of the ice fractured and depressed the rock, forming deep channels.
When the Ice Age ended, the glaciers and ice sheets melted, forming lakes and various other water bodies in what became the taiga. These prove especially common in North America, with the Great Lakes as the most prominent example. Finland’s Lakeland has similar origins, as do Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega in Russia.
It also has bogs and peatlands.
These similarly developed from the taiga’s past as frozen over with ice during the last Ice Age. When the ice melted in places without easy drainage, it soaked into the soil, forming wetlands. Plants then grew in the warming climate, but when they died, they sank into the watery ground. Relatively-low temperatures meant decomposition happened only slowly, with the bacteria causing the decomposition to produce small amounts of heat in the rotting plant matter. These worked together to turn it into peat, a precursor to coal, lacking only geological pressure to continue the coal formation process.
Bogs refer to water bodies with large amounts of peat on the underwater floor. This makes the water acidic, making it difficult for plants to grow in it. In contrast, peatlands refer to drier if still moist areas surrounding bogs, which may become submerged depending on the area’s water level.
Facts About Taiga Biomes, Russian Bog
Image from Wikipedia
The taiga generally has poor soil.
This primarily results from how evergreen trees make up the taiga’s forests. Unlike temperate and other forests, evergreen trees do not regularly drop their leaves to the ground. And when they do, the cold temperatures in the taiga mean it takes a long time for any fallen leaves to rot. This, in turn, means nutrients take a very long time to return to the soil from trees and other plant life. And when they do rot, evergreen leaves tend to leave acidic byproducts, which remain in the soil and reduce their quality further.
The rarity of grazing animals in the taiga is also another factor in the biome’s poor soil. In other biomes, grazing animals return nutrients to the soil in the form of droppings, which helps form manure to enrich the soil. That said, some parts of the taiga support deciduous trees and plants, which develop richer soil in parts of the biome.
It also has surprisingly rich plant life.
This is a surprise because of the poor quality of the taiga’s soil. Scientists divide most of the taiga into two parts, the closed canopy forest and the lichen woodland. Closed canopy forests typically grow in the southern regions of the taiga. They feature closely-spaced tree cover, as well as moss-covered grounds. Shrubs and wildflowers also wildly grow in clearings in the closed canopy forest.
Lichen woodlands, though, typically grow in the northern parts of the taiga. Trees here have wider spaces between them, and lichen instead of moss covers the ground. The Canadian, Finnish, and Scandinavian taiga, though, have their own separate divisions compared to the rest of the world’s taiga. Specifically, the high boreal, located in the far north of the biome, the southern boreal, in its southern regions, and the middle boreal between them.
The southern boreal in particular mixes with the temperate forests, featuring deciduous trees like elm, maple, and oak among the dominant evergreens. The middle boreal, though, has the same features as the closed canopy forest, and the high boreal similarly has the same features as the lichen woodland.
A lot of animals live in the taiga.
The Canadian taiga alone features 85 mammal species, 130 fish species, and an estimated 32,000 insect species. Caribou, moose, and reindeer are some of the most successful species to live in the taiga. Moose and reindeer, in particular, have become iconic animals for cultures that live in the biome. Some cultures have even domesticated reindeer in similar ways to horses, such as in Finland.
Various birds also live in the taiga, from predators like the golden eagle to migratory birds like the Siberian thrush. Cold-blooded animals like amphibians and reptiles prove a rarity in the taiga, as their metabolism makes it difficult for them to adapt to the local temperatures. That said, some amphibians and reptiles have adapted to the taiga, such as the blue-spotted salamander, the red-sided garter snake, and the Siberian salamander.
Brown bears are one of the animals who successfully thrived in the taiga.
Much of the global population of brown bears are living in the biome. In fact, this makes up one reason why bears have unofficially become synonymous with Russia. It’s also similar to why the brown bear has become the official national animal of Finland. That said, brown bears don’t just live in the Finnish and Russian taiga, they’re also widespread in the Scandinavian and North American taiga.
Despite the bear’s general reputation, brown bears aren’t actually carnivores, but omnivores. Flowers, fruits, leaves, and even mushrooms actually make up an estimated 90% of their diet. However, even if meat forms only a small part of their diet, it doesn’t mean that the brown bear’s reputation as a predator isn’t well-founded. Brown bears prey on animals like caribou, elk, moose, mountain goats, and sheep, as well as wild boars. Salmon, though, are the brown bears’ preferred source of animal proteins in their diet.
Polar bears also sometimes live in the taiga.
This mostly happens in Canada and Alaska. Unlike brown bears, though, polar bears tend to be more aggressive. Since humans are very alien to them, they’re more likely to attack them, thinking they are a threat.
Polar bears also have a hypercarnivorous diet, meaning even if they’re biologically omnivorous, meat forms over 70% of their diet. Seals make up their preferred prey, although polar bears sometimes attack beluga whales and narwhals. Also, while cases exist where polar bears have successfully attacked walruses, scientists have since discovered that this happens rarely. More often than not, a walrus would not only succeed in forcing a polar bear to run but inflict serious injuries on it.
Facts About Taiga Biomes, Polar Bears
Image from Wikipedia
Wood bison are the largest animals to live in a taiga.
While they are commonly called mountain bison, wood buffalo, or mountain buffalo, scientists actually consider these alternative names inaccurate. The wood bison’s genetics prove it a very distant cousin to what scientists call true bison. Specifically, the African and Asian buffalo.
Name aside, the wood bison live in Alaska and Canada, in both the taiga and temperate biomes. They can grow up to 3.35 meters tall at the shoulder and can grow as long as 95 cm long from head to tail. Similarly, their weight can reach up to 1,179 kg, making them not just the largest animals in the taiga, but in North America as a whole.
That said, a combination of disease, habitat loss, and hybridization with domesticated cattle varieties has put the species’ future in danger. Today, scientists estimate the wood bison’s population at 2,500 animals, making them a Threatened Species.
Wildfires naturally occur in the taiga.
Strange as it might sound, wildfires actually have a renewing function in the taiga, burning down old growth and allowing new growth to replace it. Scientists have noted that wildfires naturally erupt in intervals of between 70 and 100 years.
The wildfire not only burns down preexisting vegetation but accumulated biomatter on the ground. The resulting ashes help fertilize the soil, with shrubs and lichen usually the first to recover. Trees take longer to sprout and regrow the forest, but they do, usually from seeds left in the ground and protected from fire.
For this reason, firefighters usually only go on standby when a wildfire erupts in the taiga. They wait and watch, letting the wildfire do what nature intends for it to do, and only take action when the wildfire threatens areas with human habitations nearby.
A recent wildfire in the taiga took place in 2014, the Funny River Fire.
It began on May 14 of that year, near the city of Soldotna in Alaska, in the Kenai National Wildlife Reserve. Over the following days, the wildfire grew to consume an estimated 271 km² of the surrounding landscape by May 23. Containment efforts began on that day, but the wildfire continued to grow, before consuming a total of 631 km² of the surrounding landscape.
Firefighters reported no visible flames by July 10, however, authorities did not officially declare the wildfire put out until December 8. An investigation later discovered that human activities may have started the wildfire, at the Funny River Horse Trail. Two people lost their lives in the fire. Thankfully, an early and organized evacuation of the Kasilof, Sterling, and Lower Skilak Lake areas was enforced.
A similar wildfire previously took place in 2009, the Shanta Creek Wildfire.
It began on June 29 that year, also in the Kenai National Wildlife Reserve. Unlike the later Funny River Fire, the Shanta Creek Wildfire had a natural origin, specifically, a lightning strike. Firefighters began to take action on July 9, when the wildfire began spreading in the direction of Kasilof and Soldotna. By then, the wildfire had grown to cover an area of 40 km² and would continue spreading over the following days. Sustained rain fell on July 18, which greatly helped the firefighting efforts. The wildfire finally stopped growing on July 21. It ultimately consumed an estimated area of 54 km². Thankfully, no one lost their lives as a result of the wildfire.
Facts About Taiga Biomes, Shanta Creek Fire
Image from Wikipedia
The Caribou Hills Fire in 2007 required immediate action.
It started on June 19 of that year, near Ninilchik in Alaska. Unlike other wildfires, the Caribou Hills Fire quickly grew out of control, and in the direction of Ninilchik. This, in turn, forced firefighters to quickly take action.
The wildfire also had a human origin, which is ignited by dry grass caused by a shovel being sharpened. Even worse, the wildfire raged in Alaska, limiting the firefighters’ response. Evacuation orders became the first priority given the quick spread of the wildfire. By June 21, smoke from the wildfire had reached Anchorage, and the government had to declare a no-fly zone over the region.
The wildfire would not come under control until the first week of July, and by then it had consumed over 400 km² of the surrounding landscape. It has also destroyed at least 197 buildings, but thankfully, no one died as a result of the wildfire.
Firefighters have various ways to fight wildfires in the taiga.
In fact, they’re usually quite simple and aren’t particularly different from ways used to fight ordinary fires. For starters, they spray jets of high-pressure water to try and put the fire out. In the case of wildfires, though, spraying water isn’t enough to put it out, thanks to the large area that’s on fire. Instead, spraying water works to help keep the fire under control and stop it from spreading.
Firefighters also use helicopters or special aircraft to dump water in midair over the heart of a wildfire. They may also dump sand, which can put out wildfires by burying any unburnt fuel, cutting it off from the oxygen it needs to burn.
However, the simplest method to put out wildfires involves letting them burn themselves out on their own. Firefighters simply need to keep it from spreading, whether by dousing the edges of the wildfire or digging trenches called firebreaks. These trenches have no fuel in them, and with nothing to burn, the wildfire can’t grow past them.
The Scandinavian and Russian taiga form a separate ecoregion of their own.
It stretches from Norway in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic in the north to Northwestern Russia in the south. This gives it an estimated total area of 2.17 million km², making it the largest ecoregion in Europe.
Scots pine dominates the forests of the Scandinavian and Russian taiga, with various trees making up their understories. These include the common juniper, the Norway spruce, and the Siberian spruce. The eastern parts of the ecoregion also feature large numbers of the Siberian larch. Similarly, the southern parts of the ecoregion also have a number of elm, maple, and oak trees.
In addition to trees, the ecoregion also features at least 368 vertebrate species alone. These include the European mink, the garden dormouse, the pond bat, and the Russian desman. The countries, which make up the ecoregion, also maintain various protected areas within their borders. These include the Femundsmarka National Park in Norway, the Bjornlandet National Park in Sweden, the Helvetinjarvi National Park in Finland, and the Paanajarvi National Park in Russia.
The North Canadian Shield taiga forms another separate ecoregion of its own.
As its name indicates, this ecoregion lies in Northern Canada, stretching from the Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories to Hudson Bay on the Atlantic coast. This gives it a total area of an estimated 600,000 km², spread out over six Canadian provinces.
Black spruce and tamarack make up the dominant trees in the ecoregion, with white spruce competing closely with them. The North Canadian Shield taiga almost has no human presence, with up to 95% of the ecoregion remaining untouched wilderness. This becomes even more remarkable given how only 8% of the ecoregion enjoys official protection. Protected areas in the ecoregion include the Baralzon Lake Ecological Reserve, the Numaykoos Lake Provincial Park, the Sand Lakes Provincial Park, and the Wood Buffalo National Park, among others.
Other parts of the taiga around the world have their own ecoregions.
These include the East Siberian taiga, which covers an estimated area of 3.8 million km². It stands out among the world’s taiga for its lack of bogs and peatlands. There are also the Iceland boreal birch forests and alpine taiga. It’s one of the smallest taigas in the world, with an estimated area of only 92,000 km², thanks to the small size of Iceland. It’s also the most threatened, with only 1% left of the taiga untouched by human development.
There’s also the Alaska Peninsula montane taiga, covering an estimated area of 47,000 km². This taiga stands out thanks to its large bear populations, sustained by the annual salmon runs of the region’s many rivers. There’s also the Yukon Interior dry forests taiga, with an estimated area of 62,000 km². This taiga currently has 75% of its wilderness untouched by human development, mostly in the uplands. In contrast, the lowlands of the ecoregion have seen widespread human development.
Facts About Taiga Biomes, East Siberian Taiga
Image from Wikipedia
Agafia Lykova has become especially famous for living in the taiga.
Born in 1944 to Karp Osipovich Lykov and Akulina Lykova, Agafia has spent her whole life in the Abakan Range of Siberia, around 240 km from the nearest town. It wasn’t even until 1978 that she was discovered by four geologists during an aerial survey. They initially thought she was feral but went on to get in touch with her.
According to the geologists, she spoke a very old dialect of Russian and lived in a small, pre-industrial home. She soon became a minor celebrity, with the Soviet government paying for her to tour the Union in 1980. She returned to her countryside home right afterward, however, and continues to live there to this day. One of the geologists who first met her, Yerofei Sedov, later settled down nearby and became her next-door neighbor. Sedov died on May 3, 2015, leaving Agafia alone once again in her home in the taiga.
Many cities stand in the taiga.
These include Murmansk, located in the oblast of the same name in Northwestern Russia. It’s one of the most important places in the country, as one of Russia’s few ports with an ice-free status all year round.
There’s also Arkhangelsk, again in the oblast of the same name in Northern Russia. While only ice-free for around six months of the year, it’s still very important, as it’s Russia’s main port on the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean beyond.
Anchorage in Alaska also stands in the taiga, with the city the largest in the state, as well as its main port. Similarly, Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories stands in the taiga, serving as the region’s capital and only city.
The Plesetsk Cosmodrome also stands in the taiga.
As its name indicates, it’s a spaceport, from which Russian spacecraft come and go between Earth and space. It stands near Mirny, a town in Arkhangelsk Oblast, which has a “closed” status for security purposes because of its proximity to Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
Built in 1957, the spaceport originally served as a missile base for the Soviet Union, but eventually became expanded to support the Soviets’ main spaceport at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Following the Fall of the Soviet Union, however, Russia expanded the modernized Plesetsk Cosmodrome. While they still have access to Baikonur Cosmodrome, the expensive rent Kazakhstan levies on Russia for such has led them to divert space traffic to Plesetsk Cosmodrome for financial reasons.
Lumber industries heavily exploit the taiga.
The Siberian taiga, in particular, has become increasingly tapped for lumber and lumber-based products. Ironically, the Soviet Union had strictly banned the exploitation of the Siberian taiga, but with the Fall of the Soviet Union, the ban lapsed. Chinese companies proved especially quick to make trade deals with the new Russian Federation. Decades of industrial development had depleted China’s own native forests, and the Siberian taiga has drawn interest for its vast forests. This, in turn, caused widespread protests from local residents, as well as from international organizations.
Outside of Russia, the Canadian taiga has similarly seen heavy exploitation for lumber-based products. The Canadian government officially balances this out with large-scale replanting efforts. That said, scientists have criticized said efforts, pointing out that the long growth periods mean it wouldn’t truly repair the damage for decades. They also argue that many saplings include those of non-native trees, which could have unforeseen side effects on the local ecosystem in the future.
Climate change makes up one of the biggest threats to the taiga today.
Ironically, this works both ways, first in that it makes winters colder, with some nights seeing temperatures drop to as low as -20°C. Second, frost-free seasons have increased in length, with Alaska in particular now having 120 days in summer compared to between 60 and 90 days a century ago. This has increased water stress for local vegetation and even stunted plant growth in drier areas of the taiga.
Precipitation has also increased, which together with warmer temperatures has scientists worried. They fear that the taiga might actually shrink, with the southern regions merging with the temperate forest or even grassland biomes.
Scientists have also noticed how local species have begun to shift in response to the changing climate. Siberia, for example, has seen needle-shedding larches become outcompeted by evergreen conifers. Scientists think this might also have the side-effect of increasing local global warming, as the evergreen conifers absorb more sunlight than the larches.
Drunken trees stand as one of the most visible effects of climate change on the taiga.
The drunken trees phenomenon refers to places where trees seem to have staggered or spun in an out-of-control fashion from the ground up. This is a result of trees that grew in permafrost suddenly finding their roots dislodged by said permafrost melting. This can actually cause entire groves or forests to die, as their roots find themselves unable to sustain the rest of the tree. That, or the unstable tree simply uproots itself as gravity tears it out of the ground.
That said, it’s not impossible for a tree to adapt. Its roots could adjust to the newly-melted ground and its trunk could grow in a twisted upwards direction. However, this doesn’t happen very often, with the tree instead more likely to wither. Scientists predict this phenomenon will only become more widespread over the course of the 21st century unless the world adopts efforts to reverse climate change.
Various invasive insect species also threaten the taiga today.
Scientists have even connected it to climate change, in particular, the longer summers in the taiga. The specific pests themselves sometimes vary from one region of the taiga to another, for instance, the spruce-bark beetle that primarily afflicts the Alaskan and Yukon taiga. Neighboring British Columbia similarly finds itself primarily plagued by the mountain pine beetle.
Other invasive insect species in the taiga today include the aspen-leaf miner, the larch sawfly, the spruce budworm, and the spruce coneworm. These pests typically destroy forests by having their larvae feed on the trees’ leaves while they’re still shoots. This, in turn, results in the trees failing to develop complete foliage during the summer. While trees have significant resistance to such massive defoliation, repeated infestations by said pests will ultimately starve entire forests to death over a period of years.
Facts About Taiga Biomes, Larch Sawfly Larvae
Image from Wikipedia
Pollution also presents a threat to the taiga today.
Sulfur dioxide emissions, such as those produced by coal plants and diesel engines, have a negative effect on a tree’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide. In fact, as early as 1984, scientists discovered the Canadian taiga had already reached the maximum limit of exposure to sulfur dioxide, specifically, 0.34 ppm.
Exposure to waste material from oil sand development in the taiga has caused even bigger losses in the region’s trees’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Sulfur dioxide can also mix with water vapor in the air to form sulfuric acid. The same goes for nitrogen oxide, also produced by coal plants, and on mixing with water vapor, forms nitric acid. The resulting acid rain has seen dropping chlorophyll levels for white spruces in the taiga as far back as 1987.
Governments worldwide have struggled to protect the taiga.
As early as 2008, Canadian leaders have made calls to ban oil and gas exploration and drilling in the taiga. They’ve also made efforts to tighten restrictions on logging operations in the biome. The taiga in Russia is also protected by similar efforts. That said, all these efforts run into established interests, leading to a heated debate between the economy and the environment.
In Canada, for example, efforts to limit oil and gas development in the taiga have met heavy opposition. And not just from global oil and gas companies, but from local communities, who see these companies as sources of income, as well. Russian efforts to protect their taiga have also met opposition from corporate interests. Not only does this risk compromising the profitable export of lumber and lumber-based products to China, but it also risks the growing tourist industry of the Russian Far East.
NGOs once formed the Taiga Rescue Network (TRN) to coordinate conservation efforts for the taiga.
NGOs formed the TRN in 1992 with the goal of coordinating worldwide efforts to protect the taiga. These included lobbying for conservation programs from governments, extending public awareness programs, and raising funds.
They also conducted research into finding ways to balance economic needs and environmental welfare. In particular, the TRN promoted the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC’s) proposed guidelines for responsible management of forest resources. The TRN also pushed for cooperation with indigenous peoples in the taiga and cited their rich cultural heritage as another factor in preserving the taiga.
However, the TRN slowly faded into irrelevance over the decades, with the organization holding its last conference in 2010. The organization attempted to maintain a presence on the internet, but with the shutdown of its site in 2013, the TRN has been completely defunct.
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Etcher (1720 -1778)
Architect, draughtsman, theorist, and engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi was an influential figure in the development of Neoclassicism.
Giambattista’s initial pursuits were in architecture, for which he was apprenticed to his uncle Matteo Lucchesi. He later turned to etching and studied with Carlo Zucchi before traveling to Rome in 1740. It was in Rome that Piranesi produced his first popular etchings, and became famous for his depictions of ancient ruins and imaginary reconstructions of Roman architecture. One of his earliest collections, “Carceri d’Invenzione,” was published in 1745 and featured depictions of imaginary prisons based on existing Roman ruins. Though he was known as an engraver during his life, Piranesi also supported himself by dealing and restoring Roman antiquities.
Piranesi had a lifelong interest in archaeology, and published treatises on the subject such as, “Trofei di Archi Trionfali” (1748) and, “Antichita Romane de ‘tempi della Republica’ primi Imperatori Ottaviano” (1756). Near the end of his life, he traveled to southern Italy to pursue of his archaeological interests, and began producing images of Greek architecture.
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The Pharisees and Sadducees were political parties during the New Testament period. The Pharisees main purpose was to preserve and teach traditional Judaism. They insisted on a literal interpretation of the law and in following the traditions of the elders. The Sadducees were the social elite in Israel and rejected the oral law and were skeptical of the supernatural. They controlled the priesthood during the time of Jesus.
The first century writer Josephus says that
“the Sadducees have the support of the rich only but no following among the masses; the Pharisees, on the other hand, enjoy popular support. (Jos.Ant. 13.298)
As political parties, the Pharisees and Sadducees would have included a wide range of people of different occupations. It has been argued (Saldarini, 2001, p.284) that many of the Pharisees were probably bureaucrats, judges and teachers. Some were professional scribes; that is, they were copyists of the Law and probably of other documents also.
The Sadducees were an aristocratic group, concerned with running the temple and controlling a majority on the Sanhedrin (the Jewish parliament). Presumably they were paid for this work. Those who were priests were also able to receive part of the taxation based on the principle of tithing.
Further reading: Saldarini, A.J. (2001) Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian society: a sociological approach, Eerdmans.
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Reptiles: Classification Study Guide
Many different species constitute the Reptilia class, divided into four living orders.
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The four classes of reptilia are:
1. Crocodilia (crocodiles and alligators),
2. Sphenodontia (tuataras),
3. Squamata (lizards and snakes), and
4. Testudines.
• Crocodilia has 25 species, Sphenodontia has two species, Squamata has roughly 9,200 species, and Testudines has about 325 species.
1. Crocodilia
• Crocodilia emerged as a separate lineage during the middle Triassic, with alligators, crocodiles, gharials, and caimans as living species.
• Crocodilians may be found in Africa, South America, Southern Florida, Asia, and Australia's tropics and subtropics.
• They live in freshwater, saltwater, and brackish ecosystems, including rivers and lakes, and spend most of their life in water.
• Crocodiles are derived from terrestrial reptiles. Therefore they can still walk and sprint.
class crocodilia Source
• They frequently move swimming on their bellies, pushed by alternate leg motions. On the other hand, some animals can raise their bodies off the ground by bringing their legs beneath them and rotating their feet to face front. This style of mobility consumes a lot of energy and appears to be employed largely to remove obstructions on the ground.
• Some crocodiles can even gallop, propelling themselves forward with their hind legs and moving their rear and forelegs in pairs. Galloping crocodiles have been observed at speeds of over 17 kph.
• They are, however, short-distance runners that aren't interested in a protracted chase.
2. Sphenodontia
class Sphenodontia Source
• Sphenodontia developed during the early Mesozoic epoch, with considerable radiation, but only two live species remain, Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri, both located on offshore islands in New Zealand.
• The term "tuatara" is derived from a Maori word that describes the crest on its back.
• Tuataras have biconcave vertebrae and a rudimentary diapsid skull.
• They may reach 80 centimeters in length and weigh around a kilogram.
• Despite their apparent resemblance to an iguanid lizard, the skull and jaws have significant distinguishing traits that set them apart from the Squamata.
• Tuataras have a third (parietal) eye in the center of their forehead with a lens, retina, and cornea. Only extremely young animals have visible eyes, quickly covered by skin. Parietal eyes can detect light, although color differentiation is restricted.
• Other lizards have light-sensing systems that are similar to this one.
• Tuataras have two rows of teeth in their upper jaw that bracket a single row of teeth in the lower jaw. These teeth are essentially projections from the jawbones, and when they wear down, they are not replaced.
3. Squamata
• Extant species include lizards and snakes, and the Squamata ("scaly or possessing scales") evolved in the late Permian.
• Except for Antarctica, both are present on every continent.
• Unlike snakes, most lizards have four limbs, although they have been deleted or drastically reduced in at least 60 lineages.
• Snakes do not have eyelids or external ears, seen in lizards.
• There are around 6,000 different kinds of lizards, ranging in size from tiny chameleons and geckos that are just a few centimeters long to the 3-meter long Komodo dragon.
• Chameleons and other lizards may alter their skin color by dispersing pigment inside their chromatophores. Chameleons alter their color for concealment as well as social signaling.
• Lizards' retinal cells contain a variety of colored oil droplets, allowing them to see a wide spectrum of colors.
class squamata Source
• Unlike snakes, lizards may change the shape of their lens to focus their eyes, and Chameleons' eyes may move independently.
• Both lizards and snakes use their tongues to sample the environment, and Jacobson's organ, a pit in the roof of the mouth, is used to analyze the sample gathered.
• Most lizards eat meat. However, some big species, such as iguanas, eat plants.
• The skulls of most snakes are extremely flexible, including eight rotating joints.
• They also vary from other squamates in that their mandibles (lower jaws) lack anterior bony or ligamentous attachment.
• The majority of snakes are non venomous, and they swallow their prey whole or constrict it before swallowing it. Snakes with venom use it to kill or immobilize their prey, as well as to aid digestion.
• Snakes do not have eyelids, but a transparent scale protects their eyes. Their retinas include both rods and cones, and unlike many mammals, they lack red light receptor pigments.
4. Testudines
• The clade Testudines includes turtles, terrapins, and tortoises.
• Turtles' shells are more than simply an epidermal covering; they are also part of their skeletal structure.
• The carapace is the dorsal shell, which contains the backbone and ribs, whereas the plastron is the ventral shell.
• Pleurodira and Cryptodira, the two extant families of turtles, have substantial structural variations that are most clearly distinguished by how they retract their necks.
• Crocodiles, lizards, and snakes were preyed upon by the Testudines, who appeared some 200 million years ago.
• Turtles and tortoises are found in around 325 different species.
• Turtles, like other reptiles, are ectotherms.
• Although many species dwell in or near water, all turtles are oviparous, meaning they lay their eggs on land.
Crocodilia (crocodiles and alligators), Sphenodontia (tuataras), Squamata (lizards and snakes), and Testudines (Testudines) are the four living orders that make up the class of reptilia.
1. What classification level is a reptile?
The classification level of reptiles is 'class.' It's also termed "class Reptilia."
2. How many orders of reptiles are there?
• Crocodilia (crocodiles and alligators),
• Sphenodontia (tuataras),
• Squamata (lizards and snakes), and
• Testudines
3. What are the 5 characteristics of reptiles?
• Reptiles are four-legged vertebrate animals.
• The majority of them lay eggs. (oviparous)
• Reptiles have scales (or scutes) covering their skin.
• Reptiles have cold-blooded metabolisms.
• They need their lungs to breathe.
4. What are the main features of reptiles?
The 7 main characteristics of reptiles include:
• Dry skin with scales but no feathers (as in birds) or hair (as in mammals)
• internal fertilisation
• a three- or four-chambered heart
• cold-bloodedness
• the presence of lungs
• direct development, without larval forms as in amphibians
• an amniote egg
5. Why are reptiles classified together?
Reptiles were formerly classed based on their physical characteristics (morphology): they are ectothermic, have leathery or hard-shelled eggs, scale-covered skin, and are amniotes. Reptiles, like other vertebrates, have a bone skeleton to support their body.
6. What best describes a reptile?
Cold-blooded animals are reptiles, and they have scales on their dry skin. And Reptiles are distinguished from other animals by their dry, rough skin. Reptiles include snakes, turtles, and crocodiles, to name a few.
8. What are 3 facts about reptiles?
• Most reptiles are cold-blooded animals.
• Crocodiles are known for sweating through their mouths.
• Not all reptiles lay shelled eggs, although the majority do.
9. How do you describe a reptile?
Reptiles are air-breathing animals with scales, bony plates, or a mix of both on their skin. Crocodiles, snakes, lizards, turtles, and tortoises are among them. Reptiles are cold-blooded due to their sluggish metabolism and heat-seeking habit.
We hope you enjoyed studying this lesson and learned something cool about Reptiles: Classification! Join our Discord community to get any questions you may have answered and to engage with other students just like you! Don't forget to download our App to experience our fun, VR classrooms - we promise, it makes studying much more fun!😎
1. Reptile Classification. https://flexbooks.ck12.org/cbook/ck-12-biology-flexbook-2.0/section/12.16/primary/lesson/reptile-classification-bio/. Accessed on 6 Dec 2021.
2. Reptilia. https://byjus.com/biology/reptilia/. Accessed on 6 Dec 2021.
3. Reptile. https://www.britannica.com/animal/reptile. Accessed on 6 Dec 2021.
4. Reptile Classification. https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/12%3A_Vertebrates/12.18%3A_Reptile_Classification. Accessed on 6 Dec 2021.
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Newton's Laws - Mission NL12 Detailed Help
After missing a lay-up, Johnny expresses his anger by hitting the wall. The reaction force to the force of Johnny's palm hitting the wallis ...
(The part of the question which is italicized is picked at random from a list of eight possibilities.)
Newton's Third Law:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Forces are the result of the mutual interaction between two objects. If you hit the desk with your hand, the desk hits you hand back. The harder you hit the desk, the harder the desk hits your hand back. The force on your hand was applied by the desk and is the result of the your hand hitting the desk. You can't put a push on an object without being pushed back. Forces always come in pairs - they are the result of a mutual interaction between two objects.
To identify the reaction force in the force pair, one must first identify the two objects involved in the interaction. If the palm hits the wall is the action force; then it is the palm and the wall which are mutually interacting. Next, switch the places of these two objects in the sentence describing the action force. So the palm hits the wall (action) would become the wall hits the palm (reaction).
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Education About Asia: Online Archives
From the Nisshin to the Musashi: The Military Career of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku
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Detail from Shugaku Homma’s painting of Yamamoto, 1943. Source: Wikipedia at
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) aircraft set out on one of the most famous operations in military history: a surprise air attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai`i. The attack was devised and fashioned by Admiral Yamamoto, whose entire military career seems to have been leading to this very moment. Yamamoto was a naval officer who appreciated and understood the strategic and technological advantages of naval aviation. This essay will explore Yamamoto’s military career in the context of Imperial Japan’s aggressive expansion into Asia beginning in the 1890s and abruptly ending with Japan’s formal surrender on September 2, 1945, to the US and its Allies.
Early Career (1904–1922)
Portrait of Yamamoto just prior to the Russo- Japanese War, 1905. Source: World War II Database at
Yamamoto Isoroku was born in 1884 to a samurai family. Early in life, the boy, thanks to missionaries, was exposed to American and Western culture. In 1901, he passed the Imperial Naval Academy entrance exams with the objective of becoming a naval officer. Yamamoto genuinely respected the West—an attitude not shared by his academy peers. The IJN was significantly influenced by the British Royal Navy (RN), but for utilitarian reasons: mastery of technology, strategy, and tactics. Japanese military disdain for the West was probably because France, Germany, and Russia successfully demanded that Japan return to China a strategic peninsula in southern Manchuria it had seized after its victory in the 1894–1895 Sino-Japanese War. Despite allegations he was pro-Western, Yamamoto worked hard to understand Western technological, political, and military superiority.
Yamamoto graduated in spring 1904 and was appointed gunnery specialist. He was soon on the cruiser Nisshin, fighting in the Russo-Japanese War, and was a combatant in the decisive naval battle of the Tsushima Straits, where he was seriouslywounded but retained command of his ship’s cannon batteries. Officially commended for bravery, Yamamoto began his ascent through naval ranks.
The Nisshin after the Russo-Japanese war. Source: World War II Database at
In 1913, Yamamoto entered the Naval Staff College, a prerequisite for IJN promotion. Upon graduation, he received further promotions, and by 1919, Lieutenant Commander Yamamoto was sent to study at Harvard. Japanese officers in the West were expected to bring back information on their host countries, so Yamamoto spent much of his free time touring the US and studying its industry and resources, especially oil. He quickly realized that Japan’s lack of resources, raw materials, and a vast industrial complex would be grave disadvantages if war occurred with the US.
(Left to right) Captain Yamamoto Isoroku, Japanese naval attaché in Washington, DC; US Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur; another Japanese Naval officer; and Admiral Edward W. Eberle, chief of US Naval operations, February 17, 1926. Source: Library of Congress, Washington, DC (digital. id. npcc 27504).
Meanwhile in Japan, a fundamental debate on geopolitical strategy had begun in reaction to the 1922 Washington Naval Conference and ensuing Five-Power Treaty, which limited Japan’s Naval power relative to the USN and RN. The dominant IJN and Imperial Army view was that Japan must always be prepared for a war against the West. Japan was responsible for delivering the peoples of Asia from Western oppression, and Imperial territorial expansion was a prerequisite. Yamamoto favored a different strategy; a US war would be a dire mistake and Japan should work for international collaboration and to end imperialism. This debate culminated with civilians and proponents of international collaboration losing control of the nation.
Yamamoto’s 1925–1928 tenure as attaché reinforced his conviction that because of US military capability and strength, an American war should be avoided at all costs.
The Formative Years (1922–1939): Embracing Naval Aviation
Yamamoto’s career was unscathed by the controversy. In 1922, he was promoted to captain and was assigned command of the cruiser Fuji. Yamamoto developed a career-changing interest in naval aviation, which he viewed as the IJN’s future; completed his pilot training; and in 1925 returned to the US as naval attaché for the Japanese Embassy. Yamamoto visited naval bases and shipyards, assessing USN strength and capabilities, and used social occasions like bridge matches to study American naval officers’ thoughts and decision-making. Yamamoto’s 1925–1928 tenure as attaché reinforced his conviction that because of US military capability and strength, an American war should be avoided at all costs. Upon returning to Japan, he was appointed commander of the new aircraft carrier Akagi, flagship of the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet.
A stern view of Akagi off Osaka on October 15, 1934. On deck are Mitsubishi B1M and B2M bombers. Source: Wikimedia Commons at
In the 1920s, Japan acquiesced to Western arms limitation agreements but increased its aggression toward China. Building upon its earlier annexation of Korea, Japan pressured Manchuria and northern China until they succumbed. The China-oriented aggression took a turn for the worse as the effects of the global financial crisis increased and damaged Japan’s agriculture and industry. The subsequent depression, particularly in Japan’s agricultural sector, increased civilian and military resentment toward politicians and the zaibatsu, the vast industrial and financial business conglomerates that appeared to care for money but not ordinary people. Even before the financial crisis, most military personnel opposed Western-style parliamentary government, and budget limitations on military expenditures, and felt Western lifestyles were an affront to traditional Japanese values.
In January 1930, the London Naval Conference met to negotiate a disarmament treaty, with Yamamoto attending as a military adviser. Japan opposed the terms set in Washington (a ratio of five battleships or carriers each for the USN and the RN to every three ships allowed for the IJN) and demanded it be raised to 10:10:7, a ratio that would grant it security but not threaten the US or UK. US Secretary of State Henry Stimson was eventually persuaded that this new ratio should be implemented for destroyers and cruisers with submarine ratios being equal for the three powers. In the case of large ships, the 5:3 ratio remained. Japan’s diplomats accepted the compromise, but it was bitterly opposed by the naval command who claimed it posed great risks to national security. Japanese military leaders quickly escalated their attacks on civilian politicians during the 1930s. Despite the emperor’s and his advisers’ support for policies that would not antagonize the West, military leaders increasingly sought ways to promote their own expansionist objectives; anti-Japanese sentiments in Manchuria and northern China provided military planners with new opportunities.
Yamamoto developed, a decade before the West, an air fleet concept, based on establishing an aerial force capable of operating from land bases against naval targets that could be placed on carriers if needed.
On the night of September 18, 1931, Japanese army officers alleged that Chinese soldiers had blown up a small section of the Japanese railway in southern Manchuria. The Japanese army stationed in Manchuria used this accusation to quickly take all of Manchuria. The civilian politicians were helpless in the face of support for the action in Manchuria supported by the Tokyo high command.
Yamamoto, now a rear admiral, could not ignore these events. But, in his new position, he was not actively commanding any naval forces. His biographers even note that “Yamamoto welcomed an appointment that removed him from the political sphere.” 1 He now was in charge of the Navy’s Aeronautics Department, which planned and developed aerial weapons for the IJN; thanks to Yamamoto’s leadership, naval aircraft upgrades created the Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” fighter, the twin-engine Mitsubishi G4M bomber, and the Nakajima B5N torpedo attack plane that later gave Japan military supremacy during the first years of World War II in the Pacific. Yamamoto developed, a decade before the West, an air fleet concept, based on establishing an aerial force capable of operating from land bases against naval targets, that could be placed on carriers if needed.
In 1933, Yamamoto was appointed commander of the First Carrier Division, overseeing two carriers and several battleships. This reinforced his belief that the aircraft carrier and its aerial forces must be the central source of power, for Japan’s naval force was again strengthened but still unpopular with many military officers. His fellow IJN officer—just like their Western counterparts—still considered the battleship the primary naval weapon. Undaunted, Yamamoto demanded that six carriers must be employed in order to achieve a decisive tactical effect. Preparing his forces for war but not hoping for one, despite threats, Yamamoto stuck to his opinions that war against the economically powerful US would be suicide for Japan.
Rear Admiral Yamamoto (center) arriving at Southampton, England, United Kingdom, for the Second London Naval Conference, October 16, 1934. Source: World War II Database at
In 1934, Yamamoto was appointed vice admiral and was an adviser in another naval conference in London. Displeased with Japan’s aggression toward China, the US and Britain refused to grant any of its demands, fearing that concessions would only encourage similar further behavior. Recognizing that more discussions were fruitless, Yamamoto left England to tour Europe but refused to meet with Hitler and disapproved of a possible Japanese pact with the dictator. Still, he kept his opinions to himself, and leading naval commanders believed they controlled Yamamoto. Naval commanders appreciated Yamamoto’s technological knowledge and involvement in promoting naval aviation, which landed him another promotion; in 1935, he was appointed chief of Naval Air Forces and continued his now decade-long buildup of aerial forces.
Another promotion occurred in August 1939, when Yamamoto was appointed head of the recently established permanent Combined Fleet. As the Pacific campaign began, the Combined Fleet became synonymous with the IJN because of its large numbers of battleships, aircraft carriers, and aerial forces. Yamamoto now commanded the majority of Japan’s fleet and began prepping it for war. In November 1940, he was promoted to admiral.
World War II
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, tensions with the West escalated. In July 1941, the US, UK, and the Netherlands embargoed Japan because of the Japanese occupation of China and Indochina. Allied actions included an embargo on oil and metal exports, closing the Panama Canal to Japanese vessels and freezing assets, but the sanctions caused Japanese military leaders to plan an escape from dependency on the West through the capture of resource-rich European colonies in Southeast Asia. Japanese leaders now felt that a war with the US, perceived as the main obstacle to Imperial ambitions, was inevitable. Overtaking the Southeast Asian oil reserves became a crucial factor in shaping Japanese strategy and a first step in the upcoming war. The two bodies entrusted with shaping Japanese naval strategy—the IJN General Staff and the Combined Fleet—agreed that the oil reserves must be taken quickly, but were divided regarding the best strategy.
Teaching About World War II in the Pacific
Recommended Resources
It is important for history students to learn about World War II in the Pacific. Haruko and Theodore Cook’s Japan at War: An Oral History (The New Press, 1992; reprint 2008) contains the accounts of sixty-eight men and women about their experiences in World War II. The book, which was published four years before the inaugural issue of Education About Asia, offers a balanced examination of highly readable stories about the war by Japanese (and Korean subjects of Imperial Japan), which will appeal to students.
A number of articles and essays about World War II in the Pacific have appeared in Education About Asia throughout the years. Michael A. Schneider’s “Pearl Harbor and Pan-Asianism: Teaching Ideology as History” assists students to understand the interplay between ideology and military action. Daniel A. Metraux’s “Teaching Pearl Harbor: A New Japanese Perspective” makes key insights of Japanese scholar Takeo Iguchi (“Demystifying Pearl Harbor: A New Japanese Perspective”) accessible to instructors and students. Military historian Eric Bergerud in “Japan, the US, and the Asian-Pacific War” provides an accurate description of the objectives of Japanese Imperial forces in World War II and dispels widespread but erroneous stereotypes about the Asia-Pacific Theater. Bergerud also includes a short but compelling description of the war in China, which is often overlooked in history classes. Yasuko Sato in “Pacific Heart of Darkness: Remembering World War II Combat Experiences” utilizes American and Japanese memoirs and film, all of which can be used in class to portray vivid and accurate impressions for students of what life was like for both sides. All four of these articles appeared in the winter 2012 issue (17, no. 3). Richard Rice’s “Thank God for the Atom Bomb?” and George P. Brown’s “Learning from Truman’s Decision: The Atomic Bomb and Japan’s Surrender” offer perspectives on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that differ on crucial points but accurately describe scholarly arguments for and against the American decision to use atomic weapons. The two articles appeared in the spring 2006 issue (11, no.1).
The EAA articles described here as well as many more World War II-related articles and essays, including interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Herbert Bix and John Dower, are available in the online EAA archives at http://www.asian-studies. org/EAA/TOC/index.asp.
The IJN General Staff, headed by Admiral Nagano Osami, promoted a strategy of maximal force centralization for a direct invasion of Southeast Asia. Proponents of this strategy assumed Japanese forces could completely dominate the region before US forces could effectively intervene, and if the Americans moved toward Southeast Asia, the IJN would destroy them as it did the Russians at Tsushima. Yamamoto, concerned by the strength of the USN, found this strategy to be too conservative and worried that the American fleet might attack in the Western Pacific before the Japanese could regroup, especially given the heavy commitment of Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. In order to avert disaster, the Southeast Asian campaigns should occur simultaneously with an attack on American naval forces. A preliminary surprise attack on American forces could damage the US fleet and pave the way for seizure of Southeast Asia.
Yamamoto needed to demonstrate the age of the battleship was over and the aircraft carrier was the future . . .
Yamamoto ordered his staff to plan a carrier-based aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, where the majority of the US Pacific fleet was anchored. Yamamoto acquired this idea through studying the November 11–12, 1940 RN raids on the Italian fleet in Taranto, where approximately twenty airplanes from the HMS Illustrious sank several Italian battleships—thus proving that even in shallow waters ships can be sunk using plane-launched torpedoes. Yamamoto needed to demonstrate the age of the battleship was over and the aircraft carrier was the future of naval warfare. During summer 1941, Japan developed the Mark 95 torpedo, capable of hitting crafts docked in shallow waters—the very scenario expected at Pearl Harbor.
(Left to right) Chief of Staff Matome Ugaki, Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, Liaison Staff Officer Shigero Fujii, and Administrative Officer Yasuji Watanabe aboard battleship Nagato, early 1940s. Source: World War II Database at
Fleet Forces Command took USN capabilities seriously, but still objected to Yamamoto’s plan as too risky. If the element of surprise was not achieved, the attack would fail and the plan for Southeast Asian domination would be endangered. But Yamamoto persisted, despite his continued resistance to a US war. Once the decision was made to fight the Americans, he gave his best effort to preparing and implementing a successful plan. When the Fleet Forces Command objected to his approach, Yamamoto threatened to resign as Combined Fleet commander. His ultimatum worked, and on November 3, 1941, the Fleet Forces Command’s chief of staff approved Yamamoto’s plan.
On November 22, the Japanese task force gathered at Tankan Bay in the Kuril Islands and on the 26th began its long journey toward a waiting area and stopped until further instructions. On December 1, they received the attack order. The task force embarked on its secretive course toward Pearl Harbor. Before dawn on December 7, 1941, the six aircraft carriers arrived at a point some 200 miles north of Pearl Harbor. At 6:00 a.m., the first wave took off. The order was hailed at 7:49 a.m.: tora tora tora, the code for commencing attack. It was an impressive tactical success. Two battleships were sunk; five others were badly damaged, and many smaller crafts were hit or sunk. Hundreds of aircraft were destroyed, and 2,402 American soldiers and sailors were killed. None of the US aircraft carriers were damaged because they were not anchored in the harbor. The IJN lost several submarines and twenty-nine aircraft.
The attack did not end with the annihilation of the American Pacific fleet and resulted in massive US preparations for war with Japan. Yamamoto’s predictions were fully realized.
Public domain chart from Reports of General MacArthur, Prepared by His General Staff. This book was printed by the GPO (Government Printing Office). The chart shows the routes of the Japanese attack force to and from Pearl Harbor. The fine line routes at the bottom indicate the locations of the USS Enterprise and USS Lexington during the same time. Source: Wikimedia Commons at
The Pearl Harbor surprise attack completely incapacitated US Pacific naval forces and weakened its maritime domination enough that the Japanese could seize control of the Central and Western Pacific. However, the Japanese victory was fleeting. The attack did not end with the annihilation of the American Pacific fleet and resulted in massive US preparations for war with Japan. Yamamoto’s predictions were fully realized. The American public, divided in its opinion toward American involvement in the European war, was united in vengeance by the shock of the Japanese attack.
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, the task force dispersed to assist Japanese operations from the Western Pacific to the Indian Ocean and south toward Australia. The attack was a prelude to Japanese conquests of Guam, Wake, Hong Kong, Siam, the Philippines, Malaya, Indonesia, and Burma. Japanese forces also sank two British flagships, the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, in an encounter that enabled their occupation of Singapore. Within five months, Japan was able to overtake the “Southern Resource Area,” landing harsh blows to both US and Britain. 2 The Japanese military high command was already investigating various offensive options, including invasions of India and Australia, but Yamamoto pointed out a major obstacle to these ideas—the USN aircraft carriers.
December 7, 1941. US Navy sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor from the water alongside the sunken battleship USS West Virginia, with the USS Tennessee engulfed in smoke on the left. US Navy photograph C-5904 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command. Source: Wikimedia Commons at http://
US aircraft carriers were tasked with disrupting Japanese operations in the Western Pacific. A high-profile early success, at least symbolically, occurred on April 18, 1942, when Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led sixteen B-25 bombers that took off from the USS Hornet carrier and bombed military and industrial targets in Tokyo and several other cities across Japan. The Doolittle Raid, although doing little real damage, put an end to the Japanese debate on aircraft carrier or battleship; all were united in support of sinking the American Pacific carriers. Yamamoto set out to devise the operation.
He planned to send a massive naval task force toward the Midway Islands. These islands, known as the “Pearl Harbor Gatekeepers,” were of utmost importance to the USN and the Americans would surely rise to defend them. Yamamoto expected US aircraft carriers to help defend the area and be destroyed by IJN superior firepower, and his plan involved nearly the entire Japanese fleet. USN Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Chester Nimitz learned of the attack thanks to a successful breaking of the Japanese naval code D and sent his forces to ambush the Japanese. The Japanese High Command had modified the original Yamamoto plan by including two additional operations: a diversion in the Northern Pacific and the occupation of Port Moresby, New Guinea, as a prelude to invading Australia. Yamamoto was left with fewer forces to execute the plan.
As part of their diversion, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands. Knowledgeable because of code decryption, the Americans refrained from sending forces, leaving the Japanese to idly waste precious military resources on the diversion. Yamamoto allocated three out of ten aircraft carriers for the New Guinea operation. During the earlier May 1942 battle of Coral Sea, one Japanese carrier was sunk and two others damaged and out of commission for the decisive Midway battle. Yamamoto was also mistaken in dividing the attack force into four separate units hundreds of miles apart. His plan called for a level of cooperation hard to achieve using the technology of the time, and coordination between the forces was difficult.
The Japanese perceived the Midway defeat as so bad that they forbade all participants to recount what happened.
The plan had several flaws, and Yamamoto made things more difficult by making a few key mistakes. His assessment of American strength was incorrect: the Japanese navy sunk only one US aircraft carrier in the battle of Coral Sea, not two as he had believed. Yamamoto failed to locate the remaining two US carriers, which could have been easy if he had used intelligence-gathering techniques at his disposal, such as air patrol or monitoring; thus, he wrongly assumed the US ships were at Pearl Harbor.
Battle of Midway, 1942. The Japanese carrier Hiryū, shortly before sinking. This photo was taken by Special Service Ensign Kiyoshi Ōniwa from a Yokosuka B4Y off the carrier Hōshō. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The Battle of Midway, which began on June 4, 1942, was one of the most monumental naval campaigns of WWII. The IJN suffered a severe blow when four of its aircraft carriers were sunk. Japan lost its momentum, and the offensive initiative gradually began to shift in favor of the US. The Midway defeat marked the end of the period of the most widespread Japanese expansion. Japanese industry could not match the rate of American manufacturing, and the IJN quickly found itself at a quantitative disadvantage in both aircrafts and ships. Worse than the loss of the aircraft carriers was the loss of pilots. The Japanese program for fighter pilot training could not train enough new pilots to make up for the losses in such a short time.
The Japanese perceived the Midway defeat as so bad that they forbade all participants to recount what happened. Only in the early 1950s did the Japanese public learn of the battle in which the empire lost its offensive edge through a major defeat. After Midway, Yamamoto was allowed to remain Combined Fleet commander, mostly to maintain morale among his men. Also, if Yamamoto were fired, the shameful loss would have been revealed. The defeat, however, cost him his status, and Fleet Forces Command could no longer afford to take any risks.
Faced with an Allied offensive advantage, Yamamoto shifted to the defensive strategy of attempting to wear out the US forces. The Japanese navy could only confront the Americans at night or when assisted by land-based aerial reinforcement. While the American victory was critical, the Battle of Midway did not mark the end of the war. The Imperial fleet was badly damaged but still had hundreds of vessels at its disposal, and Japanese forces fought ferociously until the war’s final days. Yet despite achieving several tactical victories, the IJN could not defeat the Americans. Yamamoto’s attrition strategy damaged the American fleet but was also costly to the Japanese, and no other IJN-initiated decisive battled occurred. The attrition strategy critically dwindled Japan’s naval strength.
At the dawn of 1943, Yamamoto confided to a friend that he did not think he would live to see the war’s end. After the February 1943 Guadalcanal defeat, Yamamoto sought to raise the morale of his troops by visiting the Southern Pacific bases. On April 14, 1943, US intelligence intercepted a Japanese transmission containing details of Yamamoto’s planned visit. Yamamoto was scheduled to fly from Rabaul to the Solomon Islands’ Ballale Airfield the morning of April 18, but never made it. On April 17, Admiral Nimitz initiated Operation Vengeance with the objective of downing Yamamoto’s plane. A P-38 Lightning squadron was assigned the task, as these were the only aircrafts with sufficient flight range and interception capabilities. The eighteen meticulously chosen pilots of three units were told their target was a high-ranking senior officer, but the name “Yamamoto” was never mentioned.
On the morning of April 18, despite warnings of an ambush, two transport planes and accompanying Zeroes took off from Rabaul. A short while later, the P-38s took off from Guadalcanal. At 9:34 a.m., the two forces engaged in an air battle. Yamamoto’s plane was hit and crashed into the jungles of Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea. The next day, a Japanese rescue force found the crash site and Yamamoto’s body. Reportedly, the late admiral was found seated outside his craft, his white-gloved hand tightly gripping the hilt of his traditional samurai sword.
Yamamoto’s death devastated the Japanese people, who learned of the event a little over a month later. Yamamoto’s demise was a huge psychological blow to a people accustomed to stories of grand success, victories, and heroism, even after the Battle of Midway and the loss of Guadalcanal. The Japanese government was forced to admit that the Americans had quickly recovered from Pearl Harbor and were engaged in counterattacks.
Approximate routes taken by the Japanese and Americans on the morning of April 18, 1943. Source: Don Hollway, “Death by P-38,” Aviation History magazine, May 2013 at qeufnc9.
Yamamoto was cremated at the crash site and his ashes sent home to Tokyo aboard the Musashi battleship, Yamamoto’s last flagship. A state funeral occurred on June 5, 1943, and Yamamoto was posthumously awarded the rank of Marshal Admiral and the Order of the Chrysanthemum decoration, as well as Nazi Germany’s Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords decoration. A portion of his ashes was buried in the public Tama Cemetery in Tokyo, the remainder buried alongside those of his ancestors in Chūkōji temple in Nagaoka.
The ashes of Admiral Yamamoto arriving at Kisarazu, Japan, aboard battleship Musashi, May 23, 1943. Source: World War II Database at
The forty years Yamamoto served in the IJN were among the most eventful decades in modern Japanese history. Although he held many important positions, Yamamoto was not a high-level decision-maker throughout the majority of his career, but an operational-level strategist. The latter point is not included to minimize his mark on history as one of the greatest military minds of WWII and modern military history, but Yamamoto possessed extraordinary knowledge, vision, and prescience.
Particularly in the prewar period, Yamamoto was ahead of his time in realizing the age of the battleship was coming to an end and the throne belonged to a new queen: the aircraft carrier. Beginning in the 1920s, Yamamoto articulated this critical maritime warfare change and is now considered to be one of the pioneers of naval aviation. Today, all major powers, and especially the US, consider the aircraft carrier to be a vital national security tool and either have carriers or plan to acquire them.
Yamamoto did not wish for war. He knew that war against the US would end in Japanese defeat due to America’s military and economic strength. Being a samurai devoted to serve his emperor, he nevertheless prepared his forces for battle in a most meticulous and efficient manner. The success of the operations during the first few months is evidence of his single-minded determination. But from the moment the US began employing all of its material and human resources, the fate of Japan—and Yamamoto—was sealed.
1. See, for instance, Edwin P. Hoyt, Three Military Leaders: Heihachiro Togo, Isoroku Yamamoto, Tomoyuki Yamashita (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1993), 90.
2. For a review of Japanese operations during the first six months of the war, see Haruo Tohmatsu and H.P. Willmott, A Gathering Darkness: The Coming of War to the Far East and the Pacific, 1921–1942 (London: SR Books, 2004), 105–138.
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Emperor Heraclius’ Victorious Marriage
In the years before he became emperor of Constantinople, Heraclius (or Herakleios) was stationed around Carthage with his father, who served as the governor of Constantinople’s territory in North Africa. Heraclius’ family continued to hold this governorship, with its significant military and institutional power, during the troubled reign of Emperor Phokas (r. 602-610)—a vulnerable ruler who was perceived by many as an illegitimate usurper and a tyrant. Although some other governors and generals rebelled against Phokas from the beginning of his reign, Heraclius’ family in Africa delayed their decision. It was as late as around 607 or 608 when Heraclius and his powerful father finally became openly hostile to Emperor Phokas. By that time, they had cultivated a relationship with an important man named Priskos, who was the commander of the Excubitors (guards of the emperor and defenders of the capital). With this insider on their side, Heraclius obtained a fleet from his father and set off to usurp power from the unpopular Emperor Phokas. It was a risky move, because although Heraclius and his father had been safe in Africa, they still had family inside Constantinople. In particular, Heraclius’ mother and fiancée were still within the walls of the capital.
Emperor Phokas eventually learned that the governor of Africa had rebelled, and that the governor’s son, Heraclius, was coming to take the throne. When the identities of these men were revealed, their family members inside Constantinople were rounded up by Phokas’ dwindling loyalists. Heraclius’ mother, Epiphaneia, was successfully captured by Phokas, as was Heraclius’ fiancée, Eudokia. The two women were reportedly imprisoned in a monastery or convent, called New Repentance, which was located near the city. Epiphaneia and Eudokia likely felt their situation was hopeless, as Emperor Phokas had executed many rebels and their families (including women and children) in the years prior to Heraclius’ bid for the throne. This time, however, Phokas delayed bringing out the executioners, perhaps hoping to use his prisoners to pressure or negotiate with Heraclius when his fleet arrived.
Whatever the emperor’s decision might have been, when Heraclius did indeed arrive at Constantinople, it was too late for Emperor Phokas—the capital quickly revolted and Heraclius was proclaimed the new emperor. Epiphaneia and Eudokia were freed from their captivity and it was instead Phokas who faced the executioner. When victorious Heraclius came face to face with his freed fiancée, he liked what he saw and they quickly arranged for their wedding to occur on the same day that Heraclius would formally be crowned as emperor. The chronicler, Theophanes (c. 750s-818), wrote of this in his Chronographia, stating “Herakleios entered the palaces and was crowned by Sergios in the oratory of St. Stephen there. On the same day as his fiancée Eudokia was crowned Augusta, and they both received the crowns of marriage from the patriarch Sergios. Herakleios was revealed as autokrator and bridegroom on the same day” (entry for Annus Mundi 6102 (610-611 CE)). Unfortunately, Empress Eudokia died around the year 612, not long after giving birth to her second child.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Belt ornament featuring a married couple, dated to the 4th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the MET).
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Canada became a nation in 1867 and like all new countries faced several important challenges. Wilfrid Laurier became Prime Minister in 1896 and stayed in office until 1911, so he had to take responsibility for many of those challenges.
In 1900, Canada was mostly a rural society. People worked as
• farmers, fishers, loggers, fur trappers.
Cities were growing:
• Immigrants settled mostly in cities
• New jobs in manufacturing lured people away from rural areas
How Canada Benefits from Globalization
City Life:
• Rich: leisure, comfortable, big homes, could spend time doing things they liked
• Poor: barely made enough to live, homes were shabby, in poor neighborhoods, poor conditions, worked very hard.
Laurier and his Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton campaigned for more immigrants.
• Offered free land in the West for settlement
• Recruited immigrants from Europe, especially Northern Europe and Russia because they were used to cold, harsh conditions.
• Also wanted Europeans because the Canadian government thought they would ASSIMILATE better than other immigrants.
The British Empire & the Victorian Era
Social Problems:
• Workers had very few rights, poor pay, and worked in unsafe conditions
• Women had very few rights, wanted to make alcohol illegal, and wanted the right to vote.
• Children had access to basic education, but many families needed children to work, so many children as young as 6 worked long, hard hours, with very little pay, and very unsafe conditions.
Political Problems:
Laurier had to deal with many political issues causing problems between Canada and the US:
• Alaska Boundary Dispute
Between Canada and Britain
• Alaska Boundary Dispute
• Boer War
• Naval Issue
Between Canadians, French and English
• Boer War
• Naval Issue
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How to Identify Foxtail Grass
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A close-up of dwarf foxtail grass.
Image Credit: SweetCrisis/iStock/Getty Images
Foxtails are annual summer grasses. Three species are common in the United States: yellow foxtail (Setaria pumila or Setaria glauca), green foxtail (Setaria viridis) and giant foxtail (Setaria faberi). These grasses have many structural similarities and share a characteristic brush-like seed head that resembles the tail of a fox. Foxtails often are serious weed problems in lawns, gardens, cropland and orchards. They multiply rapidly because they produce a lot of seeds. To identify and differentiate foxtail grasses from other grasses, note where they grow and examine their stems, blades and seed heads.
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Habitat and Distribution
Foxtail grasses usually grow in clumps, and green and yellow foxtails grow 1 to 3 feet tall, while giant foxtail ranges between 3 and 7 feet in height. The habitat for foxtails is in disturbed areas, such as croplands, gravelly areas along roads, and cracks in sidewalks and parking lots that expose bare soil. Foxtails prefer fertile soil, but will sometimes grow in poor soil. The grasses are less likely to grow in natural undisturbed areas. You can find yellow and green foxtails all across the United States, while giant foxtail predominates in the southeast.
Collar Region
Examination of the collar region helps you identify and distinguish different types of grasses. The stems of grasses are enclosed by a sheath and the collar region is the juncture where the sheath meets the grass blade. The juncture contains a thin membranous projection, called a ligule, that characterizes and can differentiate grasses. Pull the grass blade slightly back to get a good look at the ligule. The ligule of foxtail grasses contains a distinguishing fringe of short dense hairs.
Grass Blades
Foxtail blades are flat and range from a width of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in green and yellow foxtails. The blades of giant foxtail are 1/2 inch wide or wider. Both yellow and giant foxtails have hairs on the upper surfaces of their blades, while green foxtail has a smooth blade surface.
The seeds in foxtails develop from small flower heads that are attached to bristles. Yellow foxtails have seedheads up to 3 inches long and have short, coarse bristles. Green foxtails have soft, nodding seedheads up to 6 inches long, while giant foxtails have 3- to 7-inch seedheads that tend to droop. Bristles on green and giant foxtails are longer than on yellow foxtails. The flowers of foxtails are pollinated by wind, and when the seeds develop, they drop to the ground and are spread to other areas by wildlife after the animals ingest the seeds.
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Transportation in Animals and Plants NCERT Solutions – Class 7 Science
Chapter 7 - Transportation in Animals and Plants teaches students about the different modes of circulation in animals and transportation in plants. The chapter has practise questions at the end so that students can revise the concepts and prepare better for exams. To help students in solving the NCERT questions accurately, Extramarks offers NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science Chapter 11. The solutions are excellent study material for students for revision and exam preparation leaving nothing for the last minute.
NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science Chapter 11
Access NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science Chapter 11 – Transportation in Animals and Plants
NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science
With the help of NCERT Solutions, students can answer the textbook questions in a better way. The answers are written in a simple language and step-by-step manner so that students do not find any difficulty in understanding and it encourages the students in mastering the concept and increases their confidence in achieving a higher grade.
Chapter 11 – Transportation in Animals and Plants
In Chapter 11 of Class 7, students get to learn about various modes of circulation and transportation in animals and plants.
NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science Chapters
Extramarks provides NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science for the following chapters:
• Chapter 1 - Nutrition in Plants
• Chapter 2 - Nutrition in Animals
• Chapter 3 - Fibre to Fabric
• Chapter 4 - Heat
• Chapter 5 - Acids
• Chapter 6 - Physical and Chemical Changes
• Chapter 7 - Weather
• Chapter 8 - Winds
• Chapter 9 - Soil
• Chapter 10 - Respiration in Organisms
• Chapter 11 - Transportation in Animals and Plants
• Chapter 12 - Reproduction in Plants
• Chapter 13 - Motion and Time
• Chapter 14 - Electric Current and Its Effects
• Chapter 15 - Light
• Chapter 16 - Water: A Precious Resource
• Chapter 17 - Forests: Our Lifeline
• Chapter 18 - Wastewater Story
Here’s an overview of the topics covered in Chapter 11:
11.1 Circulatory System
We know the blood flows out if we get a cut on our skin. Blood is a fluid that flows through the blood vessels. It carries oxygen from the lungs to many parts of the body. It is also the means of conveying waste material from various body parts to the excretory system. Blood contains many types of cells. The fluid element of blood is named plasma.
Types of Cells in Blood
Red Blood Cells
Amongst the various types of cells existing in the blood, red blood cells or RBCs, form the main part. RBC contains haemoglobin, due to which the colour of blood is red. The fundamental function of haemoglobin is to carry oxygen to various body parts. Without haemoglobin, oxygen cannot be transported efficiently.
White Blood Cells
Blood also comprises white blood cells. The primary purpose of white blood is to preserve immunity against germs that can enter our bodies through various sources.
Veins and Arteries
There are two types of vessels present in the human body. They are veins and arteries. Arteries mainly transmit blood to various parts of the body. Veins transmit blood from multiple parts of the body to the heart. When we inhale, the lung is filled with oxygen taken up from the lungs by the veins and transferred to the heart. The heart pumps the oxygenated blood to various body parts via the arteries.
Likewise, several body cells use this oxygen and release carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is taken up by the veins and is returned to the heart. Another group of arteries transmits the deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.
The heart is an essential organ of the body that continuously pumps blood to various parts of the body. It is located in the centre of the chest cavity. However, you can feel your heartbeat on the left side of the chest. It is because its lower tip is tilted towards the left.
There are four chambers of the heart. The upper two chambers are named the auricles, and the lower two chambers are known as the ventricles. These chambers work together to avoid mixing the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood by providing a partition between the chambers.
The walls of the four chambers relax and contract rhythmically. This process of contraction and relaxation in a rhythm constructs the heartbeat. You can realise the heartbeat by positioning your hand on the left side of your heart. Doctors listen to the heartbeat with the help of a stethoscope. By hearing the amplified heartbeat, physicians can recognize any change in the heartbeat pattern associated with any disease.
11.2 Excretion in Animals
The trash products of the body are transported into the blood. However, a mechanism for filtering the blood to eliminate the trash product is necessary. Blood filtering is done by the blood capillaries existing in the kidneys.
The blood going to the kidneys includes both beneficial and waste materials. The valuable items are filtered out into the blood, while the wastes are dissolved in water and eliminated as urine. The urine is transmitted from the kidneys into the tubular ureters, which pour it into the urinary bladder. The urine is then passed out from the bladder via an opening at the mouth of a muscular tube called the urethra. The excretory system contains the ureters, kidneys, urinary bladder, and urethra.
Sweating is another form of excretion. Sweating consists of water and salts of the body. The round patches in our clothes' underarm are usually formed due to the salt present in the sweat. It is a way to cool off the body.
Aquatic animals such as several fishes excrete waste products in the form of ammonia. Some animals, such as lizards, birds, etc., eliminate waste in the form of uric acid. Humans mainly excrete waste in the form of urea.
11.3 Transport of Substances in Plants
We know that plants take water, nutrients, and minerals from the soil through roots and transmit it to the leaves. The leaves generate the food of the plant in the presence of sunlight and carbon dioxide, which is called photosynthesis. Every cell in a living being creates energy by the breakdown of glucose received from their food.
Plants absorb water and minerals through root hairs present on the roots. The root hairs provide expanded surface area for more absorption of water, minerals, and nutrients by being in contact with them. Plants have vascular tissue to transfer water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves called xylem.
The leaves synthesise food which is transferred to various parts of the plant by vascular tissue called the phloem. Both xylem and phloem are used for the transportation of substances in plants.
11.4 What Do We Breathe Out?
The water-soaked from the plants is not entirely utilised in the food-making procedure. A large fraction of the absorbed water is given out by the plants by transpiration. Transpiration takes place through the stomata of the leaves. This water evaporation from the leaves creates a strong suction pull to pull water up the xylem through considerable heights. Transpiration also plays a part in the cooling of plants.
Key Features of NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Science Chapter 11
The key features of NCERT Solutions Class 7 Science Chapter 11 are:
• Solutions provide concise reference material with answers written in simple language, and explained with relevant diagrams.
• They are easily accessible on Extramarks website and mobile app.
• The subject matter experts have prepared these solutions and it has all the answers to the textbook questions.
Q.1 Match the structures given in Column I with functions given in Column II.
Column I Column II
(i) Stomata (a) Absorption of water
(ii) Xylem (b) Transpiration
(iii) Root hairs (c) Transport of food
(iv) Phloem (d) Transport of water
(e) Synthesis of carbohydrates
Column I Column II
(i) Stomata (b) Transpiration
(ii) Xylem (d) Transport of water
(iii) Root hairs (a) Absorption of water
(iv) Phloem (c) Transport of food
Q.2 Fill in the blanks.
(i) The blood from the heart is transported to all parts of the body by the ___________.
(ii) Haemoglobin is present in __________ cells.
(iii) Arteries and veins are joined by a network of ________.
(iv) The rhythmic expansion and contraction of the heart is called ___________.
(v) The main excretory product in human beings is _________.
(vi) Sweat contains water and _________.
(vii) Kidneys eliminate the waste materials in the liquid form called __________.
(viii) Water reaches great heights in the trees because of suction pull caused by ____________.
(i) arteries
(ii) red blood
(iii) capillaries
(iv) Heartbeat
(v) urea
(vi) salts
(vii) urine
(viii) transpiration
Q.3 Choose the correct option:
(a) In plants, water is transported through
(i) xylem
(ii) phloem
(iii) stomata
(iv) root hair
(b) Water absorption through roots can be increased by keeping the plants
(i) in the shade
(ii) in dim light
(iii) under the fan
(iv) covered with a polythene bag
(a) In plants, water is transported through (i) xylem
(b) Water absorption through roots can be increased by keeping the plants (iii) under the fan
Q.4 Why is transport of materials necessary in a plant or in an animal? Explain.
The transport of materials is necessary in all organisms because it allows exchange of gases, supply of nutrients and removal of waste materials. All plants and animals have well developed transport systems to ensure continuous supply of oxygen, water and food to all parts of the body. Also, the toxic waste materials generated due to various activities is removed from the body by means of transport system only.
Q.5 What will happen if there are no platelets in the blood?
In the absence of platelets, clot formation will not take place that will result in severe blood loss in case of injury. When a blood vessel is injured, platelets form blood clot that covers the wound protecting it from disease causing microorganisms and preventing blood loss.
Q.6 What are stomata? Give two functions of stomata.
Stomata are small pores present on the surface of the leaves forming an opening for exchange of materials. Two important functions of stomata are as follows:
1. Stomata allow exchange of gases, that is, intake of carbon dioxide and release of oxygen through it.
2. Stomata regulate rate of evaporation of water from the leaf surface, which is called transpiration.
Q.7 Does transpiration serve any useful function in the plants? Explain.
Transpiration is the loss of water molecules from stomata that causes a suction pull on the water column in xylem. Due to this suction pressure, water is transported to a great height in large trees through the xylem.
Q.8 What are the components of blood?
There are four major components of blood:
1. Plasma
2. Red blood cells
3. White blood cells
4. Platelets
Q.9 Why is blood needed by all the parts of a body?
Blood is the only means of supplying oxygen and nutrients derived from digested food to all parts of the body and removing waste products from them. As blood is the sole means of transport of materials, it is needed by all parts of the body.
Q.10 What makes the blood look red?
Blood appears red because of the presence of a red-coloured pigment in red blood cells called haemoglobin. This pigment binds with oxygen and carries it to all parts of body.
Q.11 Describe the function of the heart.
Heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood to each and every organ of the body. It helps in pumping the blood to lungs for oxygenation. Pumping action of heart keeps blood circulating in the vessels through which various important substances, like respiratory gases and nutrients, are transported. Heart consists of two atria and two ventricles, which contract and relax rhythmically to give rise to the pumping action.
Q.12 Why is it necessary to excrete waste products?
Waste products need to be excreted because these are toxic in nature and their circulation or presence in body cause damage to various organs of the body.
Q.13 Draw a diagram of the human excretory system and label the various parts.
A well-labelled diagram of human excretory system is as follows:
For viewing question paper please click here
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
1. What is meant by animal transportation? What is the importance of transportation in animals?
Animal transportation is the combined effort of the circulatory system and the excretory system. Animals need food, water and oxygen for survival and they need to transport to different parts of their body. Further, animals need to transport waste to parts where it can be removed.
Importance of Transportation in Animals
Transportation is vital in animals because without it, they cannot perform normal body functions without it. Food particles are carried to the digestive organs through transportation, where they undergo digestion and the digested food reaches different parts of the body. Different organs release waste material, which is transported to the excretory organs before being finally removed from the body.
2. What makes the blood look red?
The presence of pigment called haemoglobin in the red blood cells makes the blood appear red. Haemoglobin is a protein complex that contains iron, which helps in transportation of oxygen in the body. Our blood contains iron in abundance. Iron has the tendency of reflecting red light, as a result our blood looks red.
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"url": "https://www.extramarks.com/studymaterials/ncert-solutions/ncert-solutions-class-7-science-chapter-11/"
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What does the term acoustic means?
1 : of or relating to the sense or organs of hearing, to sound, or to the science of sounds acoustic apparatus of the ear acoustic energy : such as. a : deadening or absorbing sound acoustic tile.
What does the word proportionally refers to?
: having a size, number, or amount that is directly related to or appropriate for something. : having parts that are the correct or appropriate size in relation to each other. proportional. adjective. pro·por·tion·al | \ prə-ˈpȯr-shə-nəl \
What do you mean by the term basicity?
(bay-SIH-sih-tee) In chemistry, the quality of being a base (not an acid). A base is a substance that can accept hydrogen ions in water and can neutralize an acid. Basicity is measured on a scale called the pH scale.
What does the word disadvantaged mean?
: lacking in the basic resources or conditions (such as standard housing, medical and educational facilities, and civil rights) believed to be necessary for an equal position in society. Other Words from disadvantaged Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More About disadvantaged.
What is acoustic and examples?
The definition of acoustic is music that is played without the use of electronic amplification equipment. An example of the word acoustic is a song in which only a flute is used. Acoustic is defined as the sense of hearing. An example of the word acoustic is to refer to your ability to hear sound.
What does it mean when a song is acoustic?
Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. Acoustic string instrumentations had long been a subset of popular music, particularly in folk.
Does proportional mean equal?
When something is proportional to something else, it does not mean the values are equal, just that they change with respect to eachother. The constant of proportionality serves as a multiplier.
What is the best definition of proportion?
1 : harmonious relation of parts to each other or to the whole : balance, symmetry. 2a : proper or equal share each did her proportion of the work. b : quota, percentage. 3 : the relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree : ratio.
What is pH stand for?
potential hydrogen
The abbreviation pH stands for potential hydrogen, and it tells us how much hydrogen is in liquids—and how active the hydrogen ion is.
What is basicity and example?
The definition of basicity is the condition of being a base, or the difficulty for an acid to react with a base determined by the number of hydrogen atoms that can be replaced in the acid. An example of something with basicity is sodium hydrochloride. An example of something that has basicity is water. noun.
What does it mean to take disadvantage of someone?
: in a way that is causes loss, damage or harm to someone The deal worked to their disadvantage.
Which is the best synonym for the word necessities?
Synonyms & Antonyms of necessities. something necessary, indispensable, or unavoidable. on any road trip, accurate maps are a necessity. Synonyms for necessities. conditions, demands, essentials, must-haves, musts,
What is the definition of necessity in Merriam Webster?
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/necessity. Accessed 18 Jul. 2021. 1 : the state of things that forces certain actions The necessity of eating forced her to work. 2 : very great need Call us for help in case of necessity.
Which is the best definition of the necessities of life?
Something necessary: The necessities of life include food, clothing, and shelter. 2. a. Something dictated by invariable physical laws. b. The force exerted by circumstance. 3. The state or fact of being in need. 4. Pressing or urgent need, especially that arising from poverty. As an inevitable consequence; necessarily.
What does religion mean in relation to necessities?
Religion is an attempt to get control over the sensory world, in which we are placed, by means of the wish-world which we have developed inside us as a result of biological and psychological necessities. Ingratitude is thinking nothing of what has been done or given to you by someone else i.e. not feeling bound to show gratitude.
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"edu_int_score": 4,
"edu_score": 3.703125,
"fasttext_score": 0.8633284568786621,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9307772517204285,
"url": "https://hacktivateed.org/what-does-the-term-acoustic-means/"
}
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This history of medicine and health care in the United States is rooted in systemic racism. These historical structures are unfortunately woven into modern medicine and their impacts are still felt today. Addressing racism, discrimination, and other systemic barriers within the medical and health care system must happen to effectively promote health equity for all Americans. In this section of the Lived Experience, we will look at historical and contemporary issues that impact the physical and mental health of people who have been racialized by those systems.
From 1619 when the first enslaved people were brought to the British Colony of Virginia until June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved Black person was emancipated in the USA, Black people, and especially Black women, endured violent medical treatment and experimentation against their will. Enslaved Black people’s bodies were exploited for the development of some aspects of US medical education in the 19th century. Medical schools relied on enslaved Black bodies as “anatomical material” and recruited students in southern states by advertising its abundance. This practice was widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries. American medical education relied on the theft, dissection, and display of bodies, many of whom were Black. The Virginia Medical College, for example, employed a Black man named Chris Baker as its “resurrectionist” to steal freshly buried Black bodies to use for dissection. Baker was the resurrectionist from the 1880s until his death in 1919.
The history of medicine and health care in the USA is marked by racial injustice and myriad forms of violence: unequal access to health care, the segregation of medical facilities, and the exclusion of African Americans and other BIPOC people from medical education are some of the most obvious examples. These, together with inequalities in housing, employment opportunities, wealth, and social service provision, produce disproportionate health disparities by race. The medical community needs to confront these painful histories of structural violence to develop more effective anti-racist and benevolent medical and public health responses to entrenched medical and health inequalities, as well as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
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"url": "https://understandingrace.org/lived-experience/health-and-medicine/"
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Where is the Air?
by Nancy Casey
You can get by without a lot of things, but air is not one of them. Fortunately, there’s air just about everywhere a person is likely to go. There are also ways to carry air with you if you happen to be going somewhere like outer space or the bottom of the sea. Without it, you couldn’t go there—or if you did, you couldn’t stay very long.
Yet air can be hard to notice. You don’t even have to pay attention to it to breathe.
Today in your writing, describe some of the ways that you perceive air.
Set up your page by marking off a space for a title and space for an illustration. As you do so, ask yourself how air could possibly figure in to doing that.
Consider each of your senses. What do your eyes, ears and nose tell you about air? Can you taste it? What are some of the ways that you can feel air on your skin? What does air do in a storm?
Sometimes we notice air because of the way it changes things around. What moves on a windy day? What happens when you put your face in front of a fan? What are some of the other signs of moving air?
Many things can be carried to you on the air. Some of them are pleasant and some are downright harmful. What has air brought to you lately? Did it float in or arrive in a blast?
There are many machines that don’t work without air. A vacuum cleaner, for instance, or a car engine. Why do some machines have fans in them?
What is the relationship between air and fire? Wind can whip up flames and make a fire grow, yet it can also blow a candle out. Why is that?
Fill up a page today by telling a story from your life—or several different stories—that have something to do with air.
When you have finished the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.
Write the title at the top of the page. Write the date on the page too, along with a signature or your initials.
Here is an example of what someone could write.
Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.
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Cricket outbreaks are one of the most predictable pest events of the year in most areas of Texas. Late summer and fall are when adult crickets become especially abundant around homes and commercial buildings. Although the cricket species associated with outbreaks in Texas have not been well-studied, most belong to the Gryllus assimilis complex, and are collectively referred to as black field crickets, or field crickets.
Biology. Field cricket eggs are laid in the fall, approximately two weeks after females mature and develop wings. Firm, bare soil sites are preferred for egg-laying. A single female cricket may lay from 150-400 eggs. Eggs remain in the soil throughout the winter and hatch the following spring.
Cricket nymphs can be identified by the incomplete development of the wings. Immature crickets require approximately three months to complete their development and become adults. Once the cricket reaches the adult stage it is capable of flight and mating. Cricket outbreaks occur when large numbers of nymphs complete their development and embark on nighttime mating flights.
The largest cricket outbreaks seem to occur during years of dry springs and summers. The reason for cricket outbreaks under such conditions is not fully understood; however, less fungal disease among eggs and cricket nymphs may provide a partial explanation. Although crickets can be locally abundant in any year, numbers appear to be highest in August and September when a summer drought is broken by rainfall and cooler weather.
Control. Outdoor lighting is the most important single cause of severe cricket infestations around homes and commercial buildings. Buildings that are brightly lit at night are most likely to attract the largest numbers of crickets during the fall mating season. Reducing outdoor lights is the first, and most important, step in a cricket control program.
During cricket swarming season, outdoor lights should be turned off as early in the evening as practical, or should be replaced with lamps that are less attractive to insects. Low-pressure sodium vapor lamps and yellow incandescent “bug lights” are less attractive to crickets than standard incandescent, fluorescent, mercury vapor or halogen lights. Floodlights that illuminate homes or buildings, and which are not necessary for security purposes, should be turned off; or the lighting schedule should be restricted to a few hours each night.
All potential points of entry for crickets should be tightly sealed. Such sites include weep holes, soffits along the eaves of homes, windows, garage doors, etc. Crickets are especially likely to enter cracks and openings around outdoor lights, so check these areas carefully. Steel or brass wool may be stuffed in weep holes as temporary insect barriers, while allowing continued air circulation.
And of course, we can offer our eco-friendly solutions. So don’t hesitate to call us.
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"url": "http://www.ecofriendspestcontrol.com/portfolio/crickets-3/"
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<span class="mw-page-title-main">equity</span> | Definition of <span class="mw-page-title-main">equity</span> in English with examples - infoAnew equity | Definition of equity in English with examples - infoAnew" /> equity" /> equity" /> equity definition" /> equity in a sentence" />
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equity definition
This page has 11 definitions of equity in English. Equity is a noun. Examples of how to use equity in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .
Alternative forms
From Middle English equitee, equytee, from Old French equité, from Latin aequitās (uniformity; impartiality; fairness). Doublet of equality. Displaced native Middle English evenhede ("equity, equality"; > modern English evenhood).
equity (countable and uncountable, plural equities)
1. Fairness, impartiality, or justice as determined in light of "natural law" or "natural right".
2. (law) Various related senses originating with the Court of Chancery in late Medieval England
1. (law) The power of a court of law having extra-statutory discretion, to decide legal matters and to provide legal relief apart from, though not in violation of, the prevailing legal code; in some cases, a court "sitting in equity" may provide relief to a complainant should the code be found either inapplicable or insufficient to do so.
• 1800, Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon in Mayor, &c. of Southampton v. Graves (1800), 8 T. R. 592.
A Court of equity knows its own province.
• 1851, Edward Sugden, 1st Baron St Leonards in Birch v. Joy (1851), 3 H. L. C. 598:
"A Court of equity interposes only according to conscience."
• 1848-55, Thomas Babington Macaulay, History of England, Chapter IX:
2. (law) A right which accrues to a party in a transaction because of the nature of the transaction itself, and which is exercisable upon a change of circumstances or conditions; in other words, an equitable claim.
• 1999, In Re Fitzgerald, 237 B.R. 252, 261 (Bkrtcy. D.Conn. 1999):
"...the mortgagor retains ‘equitable title’ or the ‘equity of redemption’….The equity of redemption permits the mortgagor to regain legal title to the mortgaged property upon satisfying the conditions of the mortgage..."
• 1826, James Kent, Commentaries on American Law
3. (law, England) The body of law which was developed in the English Court of Chancery, which Court had extra-statutory discretion, and is now administered alongside the common law of Britain.
3. (finance) Various senses related to net value
1. (law, finance) Value of property minus liens or other encumbrances.
I have a lot of equity in my house.
2. (business) Ownership, especially in terms of net monetary value of some business.
3. (accounting) Ownership interest in a company as determined by subtracting liabilities from assets.
4. (poker) A player's expected share of the pot.
4. (nonstandard) Equality
• 2020 July 22, Ben Bradley, “Low-income Families: Equity of Opportunity”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons)[1], column 2139:
What steps the Government are taking to help ensure equity of opportunity for people from low-income families.
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"url": "https://infoanew.com/dictionary/equity"
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Why do some cats have half a tail?
The Manx cat’s lack of tail is the result of a genetic mutation possibly caused by inbreeding among the small population of British Shorthairs on the Isle of Man. The true or ‘rumpy’ Manx has only a small hollow where the tail would have been, although cats with residual tails are born.
What kind of cat has a half tail?
Manx cat
Other namesManks
Common nicknamesStubbin, rumpy
OriginIsle of Man
Breed standards
Why are some cats born with broken tails?
Kinked or broken tails are very common in cats and kittens. The tail may be traumatized during the birthing process. Myriad injuries are possible after birth as well. Broken tails almost never require treatment.
Why does my kitten have a nub tail?
Both breeds are from the Isle of Man, a small island in an isolated area where inbreeding in the feline population gave rise to a lack of tail becoming a common trait. The mutation occurs so that kittens are born without the vertebrae of a normal tail, resulting in a small hollow where the tail is supposed to be.
What does the size of a cat’s tail mean?
The length of a cat’s tail is mainly dependent on its breed. Of course, there are other considerations, such as genetics, most notably the cat’s size. A cat’s tail size is relative to its body length. However, some breeds have longer tails, including the Maine Coon, Egyptian Mau, and Chartreux.
What cats have shorter tails?
Cat Breeds With Short Tails
• American Bobtail.
• Pixie bob.
• Japanese Bobtail.
• Highlander.
• Mekong bobtail.
• Manx.
• Kurilian Bobtail.
Are kittens born with short tails?
Some cats are born without tails or little stumpy tails, these are manx cats and it’s a mutation that came about because the breeding pool was very small (small island off the UK mainland). Others have only a short tail some have very long tails and that is quite normal.
Can cats live without a tail?
Cats can live without tails. Even though cats use their tails for balance, if a cat’s tail needs to be amputated due to an injury, the cat will soon learn to compensate for the loss of their tail. In fact, Manx cats are born without tails and are not any less agile than their tailed friends.
Can a cat be Down syndrome?
While it’s not possible for cats to have Down syndrome, they can exhibit Down syndrome-like symptoms, including: Behaviour different or strange compared to that of other cats. Unusually small or oddly shaped ears. Problems with vision.
What big cat has a short tail?
The lynx is known by the tuft of black hair on the tips of its ears and its short or bobbed tail. In fact, one species of lynx is called a bobcat!
Can cats have two tails?
Polycaudal Cats. Known as polycaudal (poly = many, caudal = tailed) cats, they should really be called “bi-caudal” (bi = two) as they only have two tails. Since cat lovers were already familiar with polydactyl (many toed) cats, the name polycaudal stuck.
What is a naturally bobbed tail?
Natural bobtail (NBT) is a naturally occurring mutation in the T-box transcription factor T gene that results in a shortened tail. The mutation, a single nucleotide variant (c. 189C>G), is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion with both sexes equally affected.
What is cat Down syndrome?
A so-called “Down syndrome cat” typically manifests some distinctive characteristics, including: Broad noses. Upturned eyes (which may be set widely apart) Small or unusual ears. Low muscle tone.
Are GREY cats smart?
This particular breed of grey cat can be a very loving animal and is ideal to mix with other pets, including dogs. They are extremely intelligent cats and require a lot of attention from their owners, despite being independent as is true of most cat breeds.
Why is my cat’s tail short and crooked?
One of the most common reasons that a cat will have a kinked tail is due to an accidental break of some kind. This can be caused by a person accidentally stepping on the tail or other types of physical stress to the tail bones.
Can cats be autistic?
In a nutshell, cats can’t get autism, but they can be diagnosed with other conditions, and like humans and other animals, some cats have special needs. Keep in mind, though, that most of these needs stem from physical disabilities or old age.
Can cats have mental retardation?
If your cat’s behavior seems off, it could be ill or could have a more serious problem with its nervous system. “Slowness” can be the result of brain damage due to injury, infections, environmental toxins, seizure disorders, genetic mutations, and even cognitive dysfunction in older cats.
Can cats have mental illness?
Like people, cats can suffer from mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. Find out how you can tell if your cat is struggling emotionally and what you can do about it.
Can cats be depressed?
Cats are emotional and can get stressed or depressed. The most common signs of an unhappy cat are cowering, hissing, and fleeing. But sometimes your cat may not show obvious signs of stress. This is why as a pet owner you should have knowledge of how cats behave when they’re depressed.
Can cats have chocolate?
Can cats be schizophrenic?
Like schizophrenia, feline hyperesthesia syndrome affects males and females equally and usually begins in early adult life. Cats with FHS sometimes appear irritable or tense and, as mentioned, sometimes display explosive aggression, as do schizophrenics.
Do cats get jealous?
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Codecademy Logo
What is Open Source
Print Cheatsheet
Free Software Movement
The free software movement was created to address the problem of the tech industry moving towards only creating proprietary software.
Open Source Origins
The open source movement has its origins in the free software movement of the 1980s.
Contributing to Open Source
It is now possible to contribute to millions of open source repositories on sites like GitHub, which provides tools to help maintain open source projects.
Open Source: Industry Tools
Many of the standard tools of the software industry are open source projects.
Two pie charts. One showing that 97% of code uses open source components and 78% of code is open source.
Open Source: Project Longevity
One benefit of open source projects is their longevity.
This is because the community can continue developing a project even if it is abandoned by its original maintainers, unlike proprietary software.
Open Source: Stability & Quality
One benefit of standard open source projects is that their code is often stable and high quality.
Because popular open source projects are so widely adopted, many people all over the world can contribute ideas, improvements, and fixes to these projects.
What is Open Source?
Open source software is software whose code is free to view, modify, and distribute.
To truly be “open source” software must have all three of those components.
Open Source: Improving Communication
One benefit of open source projects is that they help developers improve their coding and communication skills by collaborating with other developers from all over the world.
Proprietary Software
Proprietary software is software whose code is only visible to a select few (e.g. people who work at the company that create the software).
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"url": "https://www.codecademy.com/learn/introduction-to-open-source/modules/what-is-open-source/cheatsheet"
}
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Causes, Effects and Solutions to Global Dimming
Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the surface of the earth. It is a concept that has been observed since systematic measurements began in the 1950s. It was coined by an English scientist working in Israel, known as Gerry Stanhill, who first spotted these effects.
He compared Israeli sunlight records from the 50s with the current ones and was astonished to find a 22% drop in the sunlight. Intrigued by the records, he investigated the phenomenon further and found the same story almost everywhere he looked, with sunlight falling by about 10% over the US, 16% in parts of the British Isles and by up to 30% in parts of the Soviet Union.
Measurements taken between the 1960s and the early 1990s, in collaboration with a wide range of data and independent studies, have shown that there was a substantial decline in the amount of the sun’s energy reaching the surface of the earth, hence global dimming. According to Gerry Stanhill, although global dimming effects varied from place to place, overall, the decline amounted to between 1% and 2% globally per decade between the 1950s and the 1990s. Global dimming is believed to be caused by the increase in particulates like sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere, all of which are attributed to human actions.
Global dimming, surprisingly, has an opposite effect to global warming as it produces cooling effects, so in essence, global dimming is beneficial to the environment, although it brings about elements of literal darkness on earth. The effects of global dimming vary by location, with some areas being badly affected than others.
For instance, the northern hemisphere saw much more significant declines with reductions of between 4% and 8% between 1961 and 1990. Since then, Europe and North America have seen partial recovery, or global brightening, with China and India seeing further, although regionally mixed declines.
The critical issue of Global Dimming was first raised through a documentary called Horizon by BBC on 15 January 2005.
Various regions observe different levels of global dimming. Till now, the Southern Hemisphere has seen very small amounts of global dimming while Northern Hemisphere has witnessed more significant reductions, to the tune of 4-8%. Regions such as parts of Europe and North America have observed partial recovery from dimming while parts of China and India have experienced an increase in global dimming.
Various Causes of Global Dimming
1. Aerosols
They are a colloid of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in the air and other gases, which are believed to be the major cause of global dimming. Most aerosols in the atmosphere, only scatter light from the sun, sending back to space some of the sun’s radiant energy as well as exerting a cooling influence on the earth’s climate. Sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere are due to human activities and they have interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas.
See also 21 Impressive and Easy Ways to Save Electricity at Home
2. Particulate matter
These include sulfur dioxide, ash and soot, which are by-products of burning fossil fuels as well as internal combustion engines. Once they enter the atmosphere, they directly absorb solar energy and reflect back into the space radiation from the sun, before it reaches the surface of the earth. By reflecting the radiation from the sun back, they cause a dimming in the energy and light from the sun that reaches parts of the earth.
3. Water droplets
Water droplets in the atmosphere may contain airborne particulates like sulfur dioxide, soot and ash, which form polluted clouds. These polluted clouds contain a heavier and larger number of droplets than normal clouds, which change the properties of a cloud, resulting in ‘brown clouds’. These clouds reflect light and energy from the sun back into space, resulting in global dimming.
4. Vapours
Vapour in the atmosphere could result from numerous sources such as evaporation from bodies of water. However, the vapor in question is that from planes flying high in the sky, called contrails. They reflect heat from the sun back into space, causing global dimming.
5. Wildfires
Over the last few years, wildfires have been more vicious than ever and in 2020 alone, wildfires have burnt more than a million acres in Oregon and more than 4 million acres in California. The wildfires have become so severe that entire cities are literally staying in some sort of dim light for days due to the amount of smoke in the atmosphere. Although the smoke will eventually clear, it adds to the causes of global dimming like particulate matter and the fine solid particles that cause global warming and global dimming
Effects of Global Dimming
1. Effects on water
As a result of the reflection of solar energy away from the surface of the earth, the water in the northern hemisphere is becoming colder. This is resulting in slow evaporation and the generation of far lesser water droplets. As a result of these, there is a reduction in the amount of rain reaching these areas of the globe causing drought and famine situations. The tragic consequences of these are miserable lives, disturbed marine life and deaths due to starvation
2. Drought in sub-Saharan Africa
It has been established that the drought and famine of The Sahel, which killed thousands in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1970s was largely due to global dimming. The profound drought was first blamed on farmers in the region for degradation of the land and desertification but that idea has since been disproved and global dimming is understood as the leading cause.
See also Is Nail Polish Bad For the Environment?
3. Change in overall land temperatures
Again, as a result of global dimming which reflects solar energy and heat that was meant for the planet’s surface, the overall temperature on land goes down. Global dimming means there is a blanket in the atmosphere which prevents all the heat from the sun from reaching us. This results in colder days and an overall change in global temperatures.
4. Effects on plants
Plants depend on light for photosynthesis. A decrease in sunlight or solar radiation will negatively affect photosynthesis in plants. The process in green plants uses light energy and converts water, carbon dioxide and minerals into oxygen and energy-rich organic compounds. Humans rely on the oxygen for survival, and so do other animals as well as bodies of water
5. It counters global warming
Global dimming is believed to be counteracting the actual effects of carbon emissions on global warming. This creates a catch-22 situation from which in defeating one evil against the environment, means exposing ourselves to another. If efforts are made to reduce particulate emission causing global dimming, it will enhance global warming and increase the global temperatures to more than double, making the planet uninhabitable.
On the other hand, if we fight global warming by clearing the matter that causes global warming, will cause global brightening, which considering the damage done to the atmosphere, might be disastrous to us all. To prevent such a paradox, it is important that the emission of particulate matter and greenhouse gases, be reduced simultaneously, balancing out the phenomena.
Ways to Reduce Global Dimming
1. Switching to alternative sources of energy: Many nations that have or had high levels of global dimming can be characterized by the fact that they produce or produced their energy through the burning of fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. At the same time, these gases also produce aerosols as a by-product of burning fossil fuels such as coal. These aerosols account for global dimming and in switching to alternative sources of energy, will reduce these aerosols and global dimming
2. Reducing levels of pollution: Since the 1980s there have been campaigns and controls that have substantially reduced air pollution, a contributing factor to global dimming. Reducing pollution can control the amount of particulate matter and pollutants in the atmosphere which might bring about global dimming. Still, more needs to be done because airplane contrails are still providing some dimming
3. Controlling wildfires: Wildfires have an effect on the atmosphere by causing regional dimming, even if it is for some time. Wildfires occur all over the world throughout the year and minimizing or at least controlling them, will reduce dimming
See also Researchers Have Made a Massive Breakthrough in Coral Reef Restoration
4. Switching to nuclear energy: Nuclear energy is a much better alternative to fossil energy as it is free from producing outputs of carbon, yet it produces more electricity than wind and solar power. It is the best alternative in highly industrialized countries like the US and China. In China and India, for instance, they are shutting down coal plants and building more nuclear energy plants, which will see them lower their levels of dimming.
5. Driving less: Vehicles produce a lot of emissions that are harmful to the environment. These particles are highly attributed to both global warming and global dimming. If we drive less, we might clear the environment and reduce dimming. The ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic has had a positive effect on the environment by increasing air quality all over the world as most nations instituted lockdown measures. Factories were shut down and people were forced off the roads, reducing emissions.
Difference Between Global Dimming and Global Warming
1. Causes: Global warming is caused by the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide as a result of the burning of fossil fuels. On the other hand, global dimming is mainly the result of aerosols produced as a by-product of burning fossil fuels. On a comparative front, both global warming and dimming are related to the burning of fossil fuels by industry and internal combustion engines and will continue to impact human societies if they continue unabated.
2. Effects on global temperature: Global warming, as the name suggests, results in warmer temperatures on earth because of the effect of the greenhouse gases. In contrast, global dimming results in lower temperatures as the sun’s heat, rays and energy is reflected away and does not reach the surface of the earth
3. Effects on rainfall: Global warming means the oceans evaporate more and as a result, it leads to more rainfall. Global dimming does the opposite as it reduces such evaporation, meaning there is less rainfall.
4. Effects on the weather: Global warming results in more severe weather such as prolonged droughts, severe rainfall and floods, melting ice caps, rising ocean levels and strong winds which could bring about more typhoons and hurricanes. Global dimming leads to calmer weather as there is less energy in the water cycle, meaning fewer storms. However, both phenomena have been documented to ring about similar changes to the weather like droughts
5. Tackling the phenomena: Global dimming was identified several decades ago and has since been slowed, stopped or possibly been reversed in the 1980s. Unfortunately, global warming is a continuing problem and no efforts to stall, slow or end it have since been successful.
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About Rinkesh
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pluv-, pluvio-, pluvi-
(Latin: rain, raining, rain water, rainy; rain fall; heavy showers)
compluvium (s) (noun), compluvia (pl)
An open space over the atrium of a Roman house through which the rain flew into the impluvium or cistern (Roman antiquity): The little girl sat down on a bench in the garden of her home in Rome looking up at the stars through the compluvium, dreaming of her future husband.
impluvium (s) (noun), impluvia (pl)
A rainwater tank in the atrium of an ancient Roman house: The household maid was told to get water from the impluvium in the middle of the garden for her mistress.
isopluvial (s) (noun), isopluvials (pl)
A line on a chart drawn through geographical points having the same rain or precipitation: Gerhard studied the isopluvials on the map, preparing his geography lesson about rainfall in central and southern Europe.
Jupiter Pluvius (s) (proper noun) (no plural)
The supreme god of the Romans: Jupiter Pluvius was, among other things, the Rain god.
Jupiter was also said to be the god of the sky and lightning.
pluvial (adjective), more pluvial, most pluvial
1. A descriptive term for an abundance of precipitation or heavy rain: Why is it that some parts of the country have more pluvial conditions, even with floods; while other sections are suffering from drought or not even any light rain for weeks or months?
2. Etymology: from French pluvial (12c.), "pertaining to rain"; from Latin pluvialis, "a reference to rain, rainy, rain-bringing"; from pluvia, "rain (water)"; from pluvius, "rainy"; and from plovere, "to rain".
A reference to rain or characterized by abundant rain.
© ALL rights are reserved.
A reference to a lot of rain or an excessive amount of rain.
© ALL rights are reserved.
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.
pluvial period (s) (noun), pluvial periods (pl)
Heavy and prolonged precipitation during the Ice Age in a normally dry or semi-arid area of land with little evaporation: In her biology class at school, Linda learned that the extreme rainfall during the Pleistocene epoch was known as the pluvial period, which caused an expansion of vegetation and created lakes: for example, Lake Lahonta in Nevada, USA, and Lake Bonneville in Utah, USA.
pluvialphobe (s) (noun), plluvialphobes (pl)
A person or people who have a feeling of impending danger regarding downpours of rain: There were many pluvialphobes who were justified in being very concerned about the forecasts that more cloudbursts were coming which would intensify the flooding that had already destroyed so many homes, crops, and lives during the last two weeks of overwhelming deluges.
pluvialphobous (adjective), more pluvialphobous, most pluvialphobous
1. A reference to an abnormal fear of rain or of being rained on: Susan had a pluvialphobous reaction when she saw that it was drizzling outside and so she decided not to go out at all, dreading to get wet.
2. Pertaining to herbs and other living species that cannot survive with excessive rains: Robert loved his cacti and since he knew them to be pluvialphbous plants, he didn’t water them very often.
pluviofluvial (adjective), more pluviofluvial, most pluviofluvial
Referring to the combined action or results of rainfall and the flow of streams or rivers: There was a sudden cloudburst causing a deluge of water which resulted in a pluviofluvial overflowing of the creek in the village.
pluviograph (s) (noun), pluviographs (pl)
1. A self-registering rain gauge: Because little Timmy was so interested in measuring things and keeping the data, his parents gave him a pluviograph, not only to keep track of how much it rained during the day, but also to save the information over a period of time.
2. A branch of meteorology dealing with the automatic registration of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.: The official weather reporters for radio and TV stations; as well as, for newspapers, rely on pluviographs for their information and weather forecasts in order to tell and to show the viewers if there will be downpours or just drizzles on specific days.
pluviographic (adjective), more pluviographic, most pluviographic
Descriptive of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.; and the presentation of such data: The current pluviographic measurements shown on the TV weather broadcast didn’t match up with the torrent of rain Jack and Susan were watching outside through their living room window!
pluviographical (adjective), more pluviographical, most pluviographical
Relating to the descriptions of showers, snowfall, etc. and their recorded data: Linda and the other biology students had to collect pluviographical statistics every day for six months for their report on the weather conditions in their home town.
pluviography (s) (noun), pluviographies (pl)
The division of meteorology concerned with the mechanical tabulation of sleet, hail, etc. and the details involving them: After learning a great deal about weather in his biology class at school and what caused the extreme weather changes, Tom decided to do his internship in pluviography before beginning his studies in geography at the university.
pluviometer (s) (noun), pluviometers (pl)
An instrument that measures rainfall which is also known as a rain gauge: The Hillman family in California used to have a pluviometer attached to a post in their backyard which measured the amount of precipitation whenever there was any.
pluviometric (adjective), more pluviometric, most pluviometric
Referring to a device which assesses the amount of condensation in the atmosphere: The pluviometric results of snow that Cindy wrote down for her meteorolology class matched up significantly with those that the weather forecaster presented on TV for that day.
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Florida’s flamingos disappeared decades ago. That may soon change.
As conditions improve in the Everglades, habitat configurations are almost exactly right for a resurgence of the American flamingo.
When a wild flamingo showed up between two air strips at the Naval Air Station Key West on the southern tip of Florida in 2015, pilots feared a collision every day the bird stuck around.
Flamingos usually choose habitats as far from humans as possible. But not this one. Nothing airport employees did could spook the light-pink bird into leaving its unusual choice of habitat. It eventually took a team of experts to capture and remove the animal, which they dubbed Conchy. The male American, or Caribbean, flamingo was taken to Zoo Miami, where researchers discovered he was seriously ill, inflicted with liver damage from feeding in a polluted body of water near a restaurant.
Of the six species of flamingo worldwide, only the American flamingo is native to North America. Populations of the four-foot-tall birds are not in danger of extinction, with an increasing population of 200,000 throughout the Caribbean, South America, and Mexico, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Conchy fully recovered. But when researchers attempted to release him, he stirred up more controversy: Florida initially blocked his release on the grounds that flamingos are not native to the state, as the species hasn’t had a breeding population there since the late 1800s. (Read more about the surprising origin of Florida’s flamingos.)
Scientists then presented evidence of two flamingos that had previously turned up in Florida Bay after being banded as chicks in Mexico—showing that, though rare, flamingos still naturally migrate to Florida from the Caribbean. The state reversed its decision, allowing for Conchy’s release in 2015. Researchers attached a GPS tracker to the bird, excited to track his movements.
Conchy defied their predictions: For more than two years, the bird didn’t leave Florida. To Zoo Miami wildlife biologist Steven Whitfield, Conchy’s decision to stay in the state provided evidence that Florida’s wading bird habitat—where flamingos have been considered only temporary residents for the past hundred years—could actually sustain wild American flamingos year-round.
“We were enormously surprised,” Whitfield says. “That was a good sign that there's food out there, at least for small groups, for a long time.”
Over the past decade, Florida flamingo sightings have steadily increased, and there are thought to be fewer than a thousand in the state, all presumably temporary visitors. That data, combined with Conchy’s decision to stay put, suggest that the stage is set for the return of permanent flamingo populations in Florida, he says.
In 2018, Florida updated the flamingo’s status to native. Yet in May 2021, Florida wildlife agencies declined to grant the state’s flamingos certain protections, such as management and monitoring, with the rationale that existing conservation efforts in South Florida, particularly in the Everglades, is sufficient.
Felicity Arengo, the Americas coordinator for the IUCN’s Flamingo Specialist Group, who advised Florida on its decision, told National Geographic that agencies could change their mind if enough permanent flamingos are documented in the state.
“It wasn't necessarily a death sentence,” says Arengo, associate director at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. “Things are evolving.”
Setting the stage for a return
By the end of the late 19th century, overhunting for meat, eggs, and the feather industry had virtually wiped out the thousands of American flamingos that once lived in Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.
Nonetheless, flamingos have remained a celebrated species in the state. Tourists flock through the Flamingo Visitor Center when visiting Everglades National Park, and anyone buying a Florida Lottery ticket is greeted by the state lotto’s grinning cartoon flamingo logo.
Whitfield and other flamingo enthusiasts are determined to do everything they can to encourage the bird to return to its native habitat. That includes collaring Florida flamingos and tracking them on their migratory routes, exploring how habitat alterations have impacted flamingo nesting opportunities, and using satellite imagery to detect habitat conditions and potential nesting sites.
Whitfield also formed a Florida Flamingo Working Group with local and international experts, hoping to gather as much missing data as possible so that if conditions change and Florida does gain a new breeding population, their research can inform future state decisions.
And there are a few reasons why he thinks they’ll be back.
For one, Florida—at the most northern extent of the American flamingo’s range—might become increasingly more attractive to flamingos looking for foraging and breeding grounds due to habitat loss and predicted sea-level rise in the Caribbean, Whitfield says.
Secondly, conservation efforts in the Everglades have already improved habitat quality for wading birds, and may encourage flamingos to settle once more in South Florida, he adds.
In January, the Biden administration announced a billion-dollar Everglades restoration project, which brings the total to $2.5 billion being invested in the 1.5-million-acre wetland between 2019 and 2023.
Healing the Everglades
Flamingos gobble tiny crustaceans by sloshing their beaks into shallow waters, a behavior that also benefits the ecosystem by filtering out nutrients and microorganisms and oxygenating the water. Like all wetland creatures, flamingos need well-aerated, clean water to thrive, and their presence indicates a healthy environment.
However, agricultural runoff has polluted much of South Florida’s ecosystems with harmful nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which promote the growth of algae that in turn consume oxygen from the water.
Legislation to limit water pollution seems to be working, Whitfield says. In the past 30 years, more than 6,000 metric tons of phosphorus have been blocked from entering the Everglades, due to a state mandate that Florida farms reduce the nutrient runoff by 25 percent, Whitfield notes.
Scientists’ long-term goal is to restore the ecosystem’s hydrology, so that fresh water continually flows throughout the Everglades year-round. That will boost prey populations, such as shrimp and small fish, and plant life, which could in turn draw flamingos in large enough numbers to nest. American flamingos can travel up to 400 miles a day and as far as 2,000 miles from their winter breeding sites in search of food.
There are anecdotal signs of wildlife returning to South Florida, too. In 2021, scientists observed noteworthy increases in American crocodile and American alligator nests, says Mark Cook, lead scientist for the South Florida Water Management District, which manages water resources in 16 counties, from Orlando to the Florida Keys.
His team counted nearly 90,000 nests of various wading bird species in the southern Everglades in 2021, which he called an “absolutely incredible” number and one of the “most successful nesting years since the 1940s.” (See National Geographic’s photos of wading birds.)
If flamingos do come back, Whitfield and colleagues expect the state would consider listing the American flamingo as a protected species.
“Flamingo recovery is entirely possible,” Whitfield says. “Because it's been done before, and that's in countries with a lot less resources than the U.S.”
Arengo, who now also advises Whitfield’s flamingo working group, agrees that restoring hydrology, protecting habitat, and eliminating human disturbance have been successful strategies for bringing American flamingos back in areas where they were historically driven out.
In Conchy’s footsteps
The working group also has eyes on the ground in several citizen scientists, such as Garl Harrold, who operates Garl’s Coastal Kayaking in Homestead, Florida, and was the first to spot a flamingo banded in Mexico, in Everglades National Park in 2002. He has possibly racked up the most Florida flamingo sightings in recent years, going from reporting a few flamingo sightings annually, to now near-monthly encounters.
“When I first saw them, people told me that I was seeing roseate spoonbills,” Harrold says. “I'm like, No, I know the difference.” (Read how flamingos make friends for life.)
Typically, he sees the birds in pairs, but once he saw a flamboyance of 16.
“I am out nearly every day, so I’m the most likely to see flamingos when they are around,” Harrold says. (Read about Flamingo Bob, a poster bird for conservation.)
Such public sightings, often posted online and on citizen-science apps, will help Whitfield and colleagues track how many Florida flamingos stick around. Whitfield also hopes to take blood and feather samples of some of the birds to determine their origins.
As for Conchy, his signal was lost in 2017 during Hurricane Irma. It’s possible he survived—American flamingos can live up to 50 years—and either finally left the state or else is hiding in remote parts of South Florida, Whitfield says. Satellite imagery could help locate these potentially undercounted wild populations, he adds.
“Either the number of flamingos in Florida is increasing, or there's been a lot more here all along,” he says, “and they've just been under our radar.”
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The Life of Richard Wagner
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It was during the mid-1830s that Richard Wagner first visited Europe. The Austrian opera house he visited was the first major European opera house. Its renowned stage director, Giacomo Meyerbeer, introduced him to the heads of the Paris Opera. Meyerbeer also helped Wagner to find a new theater to accept his Liebesverbot. The production goes under because the theater went bankrupt before the performance, but Meyerbeer managed to persuade a third theater to accept Liebesverbot, which Wagner finished in 1840. After several failed productions, Wagner makes his living by making arrangements and writing music criticism. His last opera, Rienzi, is finished in September 1840, and he faces imprisonment for debt. Meyerbeer, however, helps him to accept the work in Dresden.
His influence on European nationalist movements
The 19th century was a time when Wagner's art was becoming influential and his legacy was spreading to other parts of the world. As an independent German state, Wagner embraced the growing nationalist movement, which called for constitutional freedoms and the unification of the weak princely states. As an enthusiastic member of the nationalist circle, Wagner hosted the radical left-wing paper Volksblatter editor August Rockel, as well as the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin.
As the twentieth century wore on, Wagner's influence on nationalist movements was increasingly sinister. The Nazis made full use of Wagner's music and mythology, playing it at state occasions and on propaganda newsreels. Hitler even made frequent trips to Bayreuth, the home of Wagner's operas. In addition, his "Siegfried's Funeral Music" became a popular choice of music for national mourning, and Goebbels commissioned a propaganda film depicting Jews as evil and inhumane.
His anti-Semitism
Despite the infamous Nazi era, some scholars argue that Richard Wagner's anti-Semitism was unintentional. It is possible to read Wagner's operas as repulsive attacks on Jews. The composer used the title Jewishness in Music to publish influential essays that criticized Jews. Despite these errors, some commentators have defended Wagner's music. Nevertheless, Wagner's anti-Semitism remains a controversial topic.
Despite his many critics, Wagner isn't the cause of Hitler's anti-Semitism. Thousands of Israelis view Wagner as an icon of Nazi ideology. These views are rooted in the artist's complex view of life. Although Wagner's anti-Semitism isn't a direct result of his politics, his music helped to make certain views into Nazi ideology.
His music
The complexity of Richard Wagner's music is due to the cadential content. As such, his music defies both formal and perceptual segmentation. This makes it difficult to interpret his music for someone with no previous knowledge of the composer's works. However, it is important to note that the composer did not create his operas to please his audience. His operas are based on historical events and are, as such, rich in historical references.
The inspiration for Tristan und Isolde came in 1854. A friend of Wagner, Georg Herwegh, introduced Wagner to philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who had a deeply pessimistic view of the human condition. Both men remained committed to this philosophy throughout their lives. This explains the pessimistic undertones of Wagner's music. Despite his lack of formal training in music, Wagner nevertheless became an expert in this field.
His life
The life of Richard Wagner is often cited as one of the most interesting and influential in history. Not only was the composer a genius when it came to opera, but his artistic talents extended far beyond music. His literary contributions include numerous books, articles, and poems, all of which are highly regarded in the arts. Moreover, his idea of a Gesamtkunstwerk, or a synthesis of the visual, poetic, and musical arts, revolutionized the world of opera. Today, his output stands at 133 works of art and culture.
Born in Leipzig, Saxony, Wagner began studying music and literature in Dresden, and eventually became a choir-conductor in Wurzburg. His family then moved to Magdeberg, Konigsberg, and Bad Lauchstadt. He then married Minna Planer, who had debts. The marriage was short-lived and Wagner fled to Paris, where he married an actress. The following year, he attended the Festival in Leipzig and began taking lessons in harmony with Christian Gottlieb Muller.
His autobiography
This biography was published in 1968 and was reprinted in paperback in 1971. Sometimes it is found as part of a boxed set by Time Life Books. The book was reviewed by Patrick J. Smith and contains a lot of misinformation and misconceptions. Regardless, this book deserves a place on your reading list. While Treadwell's writing is insightful and cares about the translations, some portions of it are derivative and may raise questions.
The reprints of his life have led some critics to take advantage of the opportunity and have reprinted many of their sharp accusations against his character and music. The criticism of his first wife, Minna, has multiplied. Wagner's Autobiography focuses on his life in general, presenting a broad perspective on his times and his operas. The translation is from the complete edition published in Munich in 1963 and is based on a manuscript at the Wagner Archives in Bayreuth.
July 07, 2022
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Blood Is Thicker Than Water (Origin)
by Craig Shrives
What Is the Origin of the Saying "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"?
The term "blood is thicker than water" means the family bond is stronger than other bonds. In other words, it means that your commitment to your family members is greater than the commitment to your friends and colleagues. (Interestingly, the word "blood" did not originally mean "family members," as you might expect. In the original version of this saying, "water" was the word that represented family members.)
Blood Is Thicker Than Water (Origin)
Examples of Use:
• Simon, please don't pester my brother. It won't end well between us. Don't forget that blood is thicker than water.
• I can't attend the presentation on Thursday evening. My sister is singing in the school play. Blood is thicker than water. Sorry.
• When I lost all my money, it was my family who came to my rescue, not my friends. It just proves that blood is thicker than water.
Nowadays, the word "blood" is taken as a metonym for family members (i.e., those with whom you share the same blood), while "water" refers to those with whom you don't share the same blood (i.e., people outside your family). However, the original saying was "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," and this had a very different interpretation of the words "blood" and "water."
Why blood? In ancient covenant making (i.e., forming an agreement or an alliance), the two people involved would stand in the blood of a slaughtered animal with their right hands joined as they swore an oath of allegiance to each other. Such covenants were also made by people cutting their palms and holding hands, allowing their blood to mingle. With such rituals, the two covenant makers would become "blood brothers."
Why water? In the original saying, "water" refers to the water of the womb. In other words, it refers to people who came from the same womb (literal brothers as opposed to "blood brothers").
So, the saying "blood is thicker than water" means that a bond made during a blood ritual is stronger than a familial bond, which is the opposite of today's commonly held interpretation.
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aps were once one of the most prized possessions of a navigator. Going back to the time of the Romans, having a map of your surroundings or your enemies’ holdings was vital in gaining an upper hand. As we progressed, trade became more important, and therefore it was crucial for countries with sea access to be able to efficiently and safely navigate the waters of the world. Many maps made at the time held their country’s capital as its center, something we would later call the “Prime Meridian.”
Many if not all modern maps are now centered around the Prime Greenwich Meridian, sometimes referred to as simply the Greenwich Meridian. This line splits up our world, passing through the Royal Observatory of Greenwich in London, England. Using this point of reference as the Prime Meridian goes back to the 19th century when it was established as the central point of all maps made by the 22 biggest world powers in 1884. This begs the question, why was this decision made?
The Need to Standardise
Colonialism was in full swing throughout the 1800s, something which led to the demand for maps to skyrocket. Maps became the central tool for many institutions during this century, especially traders who took advantage of the new colonial holdings of the European powers to make themselves rich. England was at the head of the colonialism push of the 1800s being at the peak of their power with India, Canada, Australia, and South Africa being under their control.
Comparative timetable showing the time across the US compared to Washington DC before standardization. Source: Wikimedia Commons
For traders within the empire, exchanges were easy. Most maps held by British navigators were centered around London, which meant that collaboration was easily achieved. This meant that exact locations using coordinates could be used to set up for exchanges between traders with the decreased risk of any confusion arising. This was much more complicated when trading outside of the empire.
Timekeeping was also now more important than ever. Due to the industrial revolution, commercial trains started to be used almost daily by commuters or travelers. Making sure that these trains would get to their destination on time was crucial.
This posed many problems, especially in the USA, where tens of time zones existed, making timekeeping nearly impossible. Standardizing the time would change this forever.
The International Meridian Conference
The International Meridian Conference members in Washington DC. Source: Wikimedia Commons
This need for standardization culminated in October 1884 when the International Meridian Conference was held in Washington D.C. Here 25 of the world’s most influential countries were invited to send their delegates over to resolve the problem of a Universal Prime Meridian as well as other problems which concerned the standardization of time.
On October 22, after 22 days of long debate, several decisions were made, the most important being on the placement of the Universal Prime Meridian.
This decision passed with 22 out of the 25 countries agreeing to it. The only country to disagree with the decision was the Dominican Republic, with France and Brazil abstaining from voting (for anyone who knows French history, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the French not agreeing with a decision that favored the English).
One main reason for the French abstaining from voting for Greenwich to become the Prime Meridian was because they believed that the Prime Meridian should be put in a place of neutrality.
Many suggestions were given for such a place, the two most famous examples being the Bering Straits (the northern part of the Pacific which splits the USA from Russia) and the Azores (a Portuguese island chain roughly 1,500km west of Lisbon) but this proved to be unpopular with the other members of the conference.
A satellite image of the Bering Straits. Source: Wikimedia Commons
This decision made just over 100 years ago still has an impact on us today. We still use Greenwich as our prime meridian, and many satellite systems rely on this universal system to function properly. If this standardization never took place, having such advanced systems of navigation would be nearly impossible.
This is a prime example of how history impacts us every day. The deeper we dig, the more connections we can make between our everyday lives and the decisions of our ancestors. It is best to look back ever so often and learn from what our ancestors did.
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Abstract Expressionism Art Movement – History, Artists and Artwork
What is Abstract Expressionism?
Abstract Expressionism is a modern art movement that developed in New York City after World War II and was initially popular during the 1940s and 1950s. Abstract Expressionism is recognized for its large-scale paintings consisting of large blocks of color and non-traditional treatment of materials and processes. Abstract Expressionist artists avoided grouping themselves by a cohesive artistic style but shared an interest in expressing intense emotion and abstract subject matter through their art.
Notable Abstract Expressionism Artwork
Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952, National Gallery of Art, Washington. https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/audio/collection-highlights-east-building-english/mountains-and-sea-frankenthaler.html
A tangerine-colored rectangle and a butter yellow rectangle float against a golden yellow field in this abstract, vertical painting. At the top, the tangerine rectangle extends nearly the width of the painting and goes from near the top edge to just short of halfway down the painting. Below it, a larger rectangle in glowing yellow tones anchors the bottom three-fifths of the painting. The yellow of the bottom rectangle varies from sunshine yellow to tan. The warm, ochre-colored background is painted in a flat, uniform way, and it creates a border around and between the rectangles. The brushstrokes within the rectangles have soft, indistinct edges, with a blurred effect. The tangerine-colored rectangle is formed with upward vertical strokes made with a wide brush that are denser at the bottom and end in a wispy edge at the top. The bottom yellow rectangle has varied brushwork that forms soft, and indistinct cloud-like shapes within the geometric form. At the bottom right edge of the upper, tangerine rectangle, a hint of a vertical, blue-green stroke of paint emerges from beneath the ochre background. Around the edges of the lower, yellow rectangle are subtle hints of tangerine and sometimes blue-green bleeding from around all four edges.
Mark Rothko, Orange and Tan, 1954, National Gallery of Art, Washington. https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.56350.html
Arshile Gorky, ‘Waterfall’ 1943
Arshile Gorky, Waterfall, 1943, Tate Modern, London. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gorky-waterfall-t01319
Willem de Kooning, ‘The Visit’ 1966–7
Willem de Kooning, The Visit, 1966-7, Tate Modern, London. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kooning-the-visit-t01108
Jackson Pollock, ‘Yellow Islands’ 1952
Jackson Pollock, Yellow Islands, 1952, Tate Modern, London. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/pollock-yellow-islands-t00436
History of Abstract Expressionism
Around the time of World War II, many artists fled from Europe to the United States to escape the violence and destruction caused by this war and left behind by World War I. Many of these artists settled in and around New York City and began to cultivate their artistic practices in this new space. In light of the destruction that many European cities faced along with the influx of European artists to the United States, New York City soon replaced Paris as the center of the Western art world.
The term Abstract Expressionism was first used to describe the American art movement in 1946 by art critic Robert Coates. However, abstract Expressionism was used as early as 1919 by art writers to describe German Expressionism and later the works of Wassily Kandinsky [1]. This earlier term referred to the form of Expressionist art that was moving towards abstraction; an abstract form of Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism, on the other hand, became the name of the American art movement, specifically, and by the 1940s, American painting was elevated to the level of European modernism.
American Abstract Expressionism was influenced by existing modernist movements such as Surrealism, Fauvism and Synthetic Cubism which emerged throughout the early twentieth century in France and Germany. Surrealism profoundly influenced Abstract Expressionist paintings, as Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist paintings share a common interest in automatic or subconscious creation.
Abstract Expressionism did not have a cohesive style. Instead it had techniques and concepts that unified artists under the umbrella of Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism broke from the accepted conventions of modernist painting by favoring an all-over composition and near-total abstraction of subject matter. Action painting and color field painting were two techniques that Abstract Expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Arshile Gorky used to manifest intense emotional energy.
Much of the artwork produced during the interwar period, especially the early 1940s, was heavily political. Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Expressionism, Abstractionism and Surrealism were among the movements cited by United States Senator Joseph McCarthy for their transgressive and “destructive” qualities [2]. Abstract Expression seemed to fall under the radar, likely due to it lacking any identifiable subject matter. Because of its total abstraction and radical new directions, Abstract Expressionist painting could convey social and political critiques without being immediately recognizable, which boosted its popularity rather than earning it widespread censorship.
Action Painting
Action painting was one of the artistic techniques that influential Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, James Brooks and related artists used to convey powerful emotions through the process of creating their art. Artists had been using the technique of action painting since the 1940s and art critic Harold Rosenberg coined the term Action Painting in 1952 [3]. Action painting shifted the focus away from the significance of the chosen subject matter and instead valued the process used to document the artists’ emotions.
Action painting involves the spontaneous application of paint to a canvas that results in thick paint application, unpredictable brushstrokes and painterly gestures. Action painting’s characteristic abstraction is the result of the artist throwing, splashing, dripping and smearing paint onto the canvas. Abstract Expressionist painters often applied paint using a large paint brush but sometimes abandoned traditional painting tools crucial to Western European painting altogether and threw paint onto the canvas directly from the container.
The almost automatic gestures of action painting are closely aligned with the automatism and subconscious movement favored by the Surrealists. With action painting, the paint was seen to be a direct link to the artist’s subconscious mind, their mental state and their emotions. Through random movement and physical application of paint the artist was able to translate the subconscious mind into a dynamic and abstract work of art.
At the time, German Expressionists were also focused on expressing emotions over illusions or rationalizations for destabilizing events in modern life. However, German Expressionist paintings still had recognizable subject matter despite their turn toward abstraction. Action painting, on the other hand, existed in stark contrast to the carefully planned paintings of previous art movements and was anti-figurative. The goal of Abstract Expressionism was to capture the overall feeling of a scene or subject, rather than all of its intricate visual details.
Jackson Pollock, though criticized at the time, became one of the most famous action painters in modern art history. There are many factors influencing Pollock’s monumental status but his radical approach to painting is what made him so influential. Pollock often used house paint instead of traditional oil paint and laid his enormous canvases on the ground rather than mounting them on the wall or on an easel. This made the technique of action painting all the more impactful.
Color Field Painting
Color field painting is most recognizable in the work of American painters Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still, where large, flat areas of unbroken color were central to their paintings rather than the gestural abstraction achieved through action painting. While color field painting and action painting are distinct styles, they both achieve the overall goal of Abstract Expressionism, which was to be deeply expressive of intense emotion.
Armenian-American painter Arshile Gorky brought his history as a Surrealist painter into his Abstract Expressionist paintings. Gorky is widely considered to be a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, especially color field painting. His paintings are regarded for their use of raw canvas and a technique called staining. Staining involves diluting oil paint so that it drips and runs down the canvas, creating a loose and organic composition. Helen Frankenthaler’s Mountains and Sea from 1952 is one of the most famous and perhaps earliest paintings to use the staining technique.
Abstract and biomorphic shapes were popular in color field painting and appear in the works of Abstract Expressionist artists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Hans Hofmann. Hans Hoffman immigrated to the United States in the 1930s and trained artists to work with abstraction and color.
Hoffman was influenced by Cubist painters Robert Delaunay and Pablo Picasso, but it was French painter Henri Matisse’s work that helped Hofmann develop color field painting in theory and practice. Matisse’s work spanned across several modernist movements, including Fauvism, post-Impressionism and Expressionism, where many of his paintings contain abstracted subject matter and large blocks of uninterrupted color. As a result, the Color Field movement became a subgenre of Abstract Expressionist painting.
Influence of Abstract Expressionism on Contemporary Art
In the 1960s, other forms of abstract painting emerged in reaction to the Abstract Expressionist movement. Geometric abstraction and hard-edge painting contrasted the organic and biomorphic shapes that define Abstract Expressionist style.
Minimalism was especially critical of art such as Abstract Expressionism. Though Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism may appear to be similar, Minimalism rejected every last bit of painterly technique and subjective meaning that was central to Abstract Expressionism. Minimalism was not meant for self-expression and many Minimalist artists sought to convey the essence of an object or form. Pop Art was also a reaction to Abstract Expressionism and encouraged the ongoing upward trajectory of New York City as a cultural center and art hub incited by Abstract Expressionism.
Though at first criticized, American Abstract Expressionism influenced many artists and art movements that followed. American painter Joan Mitchell, for example, was one of many Abstract Expressionists who continued to paint in this style for years to come. Though painting was originally the most popular medium to work with, Abstract Expressionism was also a popular style for many collage artists and sculptors, who pushed the boundaries of representation alongside their painter counterparts.
Notable Abstract Expressionism Artists
• Lee Krasner, 1908-1984, American
• Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American, 1904-1948
• Joan Mitchell, 1925-1992, American
• James Brooks, 1906-1992, American
• Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956, American
• Willem de Kooning, 1904-1997, Dutch-American
• Mark Rothko, 1903-1970, American
• Ruth Asawa, 1926-2013, American
• Franz Kline, 1910-1962, American
• Hans Hoffman, 1880-1996, German-American
• Adolph Gottlieb, 1903-1974, American
• Clyfford Still, 1904-1980, American
• Louise Bourgeois, 1911-2010, French-American
• Alexander Calder, 1898-1976, American
• Helen Frankenthaler, 1928-2011, American
• Alma Thomas, 1891-1978, American
• Mercedes Matter, 1913-2001, American
• Jean-Paul Riopelle, 1923-2002, Canadian
[1] Hess, Barbara. Abstract Expressionism. Taschen, 2016.
[2] Hauptman, William. “The Suppression of Art in the McCarthy Decade.” The Online Edition of Artforum International Magazine, 1 Oct. 1973, https://www.artforum.com/print/197308/the-suppression-of-art-in-the-mccarthy-decade-37985.
[3] Rosenberg, Harold. The American Action Painters. poetrymagazines.org.uk. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
Related Art Terms
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Stage 1 Mesothelioma
Stage 1 is the earliest stage of mesothelioma. Patients whose cancer is found when it’s in stage 1 generally have the best prognosis and the most treatment options.
What is Stage 1 Mesothelioma?
Cancer is usually described using four stages. These are reported using numbers, with stage 1 being the earliest and stage 4 representing the most advanced cancer. (The stages are sometimes written using Roman numerals, from stage I to stage IV. This doesn’t change the meaning.)
A cancer’s stage is determined using a variety of factors, including the size and extent of the original tumor as well as whether it has spread to lymph nodes or to more distant parts of the body. Some cancers, including pleural mesothelioma, have specific and clearly defined staging systems. For others, including peritoneal mesothelioma, this has not yet been developed, and the stage may be described in different ways by different doctors or cancer centers.
In general, stage 1 cancers are localized to the area where they first developed. For mesothelioma, this is the membrane where it first arises (usually the pleura or peritoneum) and the tissues that immediately surround it. A cancer found in stage 1 has not yet spread to the lymph nodes, nor to other parts of the body.
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Stage 1 Pleural Mesothelioma
Pleural mesothelioma is the only type of mesothelioma that has a formal staging system, which is known as the TNM system. It uses three characteristics of the cancer to determine the stage: the size and location of the original tumor (T), whether it has spread to lymph nodes (N) and whether it has undergone metastasis, which is spread to more distant organs (M).
The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer has published a set of very specific criteria for staging of pleural mesothelioma. For stage 1, the tumor is localized to the pleura and the immediately surrounding area. This stage is further subdivided into two:
• Stage 1A pleural mesothelioma involves only the pleura itself, on just one side of the body. An older version of the staging system distinguished between tumors that affected just one layer of the pleura and those that affected both layers. The current version has eliminated that distinction, because research has shown that it doesn’t affect patient outcomes. Any patient with mesothelioma affecting only the pleura is in stage 1A.
• Stage 1B pleural mesothelioma involves other tissues that are immediately adjacent to the pleura, such as the lung, the chest wall, the diaphragm, the pericardium (the membrane that covers the heart) and/or fat or connective tissue in the center of the chest.
Patients in stage 1A or stage 1B have no evidence of spread to lymph nodes, nor is there spread to more distant parts of the body.
Stage 1 Peritoneal Mesothelioma
There is no formal staging system for stage 1 peritoneal mesothelioma, and the staging of this cancer may be reported differently by different doctors.
One commonly used system is known as the modified TNM system. This system uses the peritoneal cancer index, or PCI. The abdomen is divided into 13 regions, and the amount of tumor tissue present in each region is scored from 0 to 3. The numbers are then added together to create a final PCI between 0 and 39. In patients with stage 1 peritoneal mesothelioma, the PCI is between 1 and 10, and there is also no evidence of spread to lymph nodes or outside of the abdominal cavity.
Diagnosis of Stage 1 Mesothelioma
A cancer’s stage is determined as part of the diagnostic process. A number of different factors may be used to classify a particular cancer as stage 1. These may include:
Imaging studies. Using the results of studies like CT scans and/or MRIs, doctors look for evidence of tumors in various parts of the body.
• A positron emission tomography scan (PET scan) is a specialized type of imaging study that uses a tracer to look for cancer cells throughout the body. This is helpful in finding very small metastatic tumors.
Biopsy results. The definitive diagnosis of mesothelioma requires a biopsy, which is a sample of tissue that’s examined under a microscope by a pathologist. In addition to determining the type of cancer cells present, the pathologist will look for evidence that the cancer cells have penetrated through certain membranes into other body structures, which would indicate that the cancer has spread.
The stage of a cancer determined by these factors is known as the clinical stage. However, in some cases, the stage of a cancer may change after a patient undergoes surgery. This updated stage is known as the pathological stage.
For example, a patient may be believed to be in stage 1 before surgery. During the procedure, biopsies of lymph nodes are taken. On examination by the pathologist, there is cancer found in these lymph nodes. The patient’s stage would then be increased to stage 2 or 3, depending on which lymph nodes had cancer. This is called upstaging and has been found to occur in up to 80 percent of cases of early-stage pleural mesothelioma.
Stage 1 Mesothelioma Life Expectancy
In general, patients whose cancer is found in stage 1 have the most favorable prognosis. When considering all patients with stage 1 pleural mesothelioma, the average life expectancy is about 21 months. Some studies have found that for patients who are treated using surgery with curative intent, the life expectancy is around 30 months.
For stage 1 peritoneal mesothelioma, the five-year survival rates have been reported to be as high as 87 percent. This is largely due to the use of a highly effective treatment modality called CRS-HIPEC, which combines surgery with chemotherapy. Patients in stage 1 are generally eligible for this treatment.
Treatment for Stage 1 Mesothelioma
Because stage 1 mesothelioma has not yet spread widely throughout the body, it’s generally considered resectable, meaning that it could be removed by surgery. Most commonly, patients in stage 1 undergo a surgical procedure with curative intent, meaning that the surgery is intended to eliminate the cancer and extend the patient’s life. Despite the name, the surgery rarely removes the cancer entirely, but some patients gain a significant amount of additional life expectancy. Surgery is usually combined with other treatment modalities, such as chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.
Stage is not the only factor that will be taken into account when forming a treatment plan. The cell type of the cancer, the patient’s age and physical condition, and the patient’s preference are also important and can influence the specific treatments that are chosen.
Stage 1 Pleural Mesothelioma Treatment Options
The treatment plan for a patient with stage 1 pleural mesothelioma may include:
Surgery. Surgical options for patients in stage 1 include extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) or pleurectomy/decortication (P/D). In EPP, the surgeon removes the pleura, the lung and other tissues on the affected side; in P/D, the surgeon removes the pleura along with as much tumor tissue as possible, while leaving the lung itself and other healthy tissues in place.
Chemotherapy. There are a few options for the use of chemotherapy in stage 1 mesothelioma patients:
• Intraoperative chemotherapyalso known as hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy (HITHOC). This involves infusing the chemotherapy drugs into the thoracic cavity during surgery. This is a newer option that has shown promise for treating pleural mesothelioma.
• Adjuvant chemotherapyin which the chemotherapy drugs are given after surgery to target any cancer cells that may have been left behind.
• Neoadjuvant chemotherapyin which chemotherapy is given before surgery in order to shrink a tumor and make it easier to remove.
Radiation therapy. This is commonly used after surgery to target any cancer cells that were left behind and reduce the chances of the tumor growing back.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a newer treatment option that’s still considered experimental in mesothelioma patients, although it’s already been approved for use in other cancers. PDT uses a drug called a photosensitizer, which is activated by exposure to certain wavelengths of light. This is given by IV about two days before the surgery, and it accumulates in cancer cells. During surgery, after removing as much cancer tissue as possible, the surgeon shines a light of the correct wavelength into the thoracic cavity to activate the drug inside of any remaining cancer cells. When activated, the photosensitizer becomes toxic, so it destroys the cancer cells.
There are some additional treatment options that are approved for use in certain mesothelioma patients, including immunotherapy and tumor treating fields. Patients with resectable cancers are not considered candidates for these options. If surgery is an option, then surgery is generally the preferred treatment. However, if the initial treatment plan is not effective at treating the cancer, then these alternative treatments may be considered. Patients with the sarcomatoid cell type are typically not considered good candidates for surgery, even in stage 1. These patients are usually treated using the same options available in stage 3 or stage 4, with systemic chemotherapy usually being the primary treatment modality. Similarly, some patients aren’t healthy enough to withstand an invasive surgical procedure due to advanced age or other medical conditions. They may be treated using chemotherapy and/or other options.
Stage 1 Peritoneal Mesothelioma Treatment Options
Most patients with stage 1 peritoneal mesothelioma are treated using a procedure known as CRS-HIPEC. This procedure is highly effective at extending life in these patients.
• Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) uses a warmed solution of chemotherapy drugs. After the surgeon has removed as much cancer tissue as possible, the solution is infused into the abdomen and left there for a period of time. The drugs are then washed out, and the incisions are closed. This procedure delivers the chemotherapy drugs directly to the areas where the cancer cells are present, and has been shown to be highly effective.
In general, CRS-HIPEC is highly effective in treating stage 1 peritoneal mesothelioma. The details of the surgical technique are important, and may influence the final outcome. Choosing a surgeon with extensive experience in performing this specific procedure is most likely to lead to the best possible outcome.
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Lead is produced mainly from its sulphide, known as galena. The smelting of this ore is complicated by the presence of arsenic, copper, iron, zinc, or silver, and like the smelting of copper sulphides, the process is one of desulphurization. The blast furnace, usually of rectangular cross-section, is now generally used for smelting lead, though if the ore is rich in sulphur, it is first roasted in a reverberatory furnace to drive off sulphur and oxidize some of the ore. A flux of iron oxide and limestone assist in reducing the ore, and the impure metal is drawn off through an opening in the base of the furnace leading outward and upward from the bottom of the hearth.
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The origins of the Marimba
The birth of the marimba
According to oral history, the story of the marimba began a long, long time ago in Africa, where holes were dug in the ground, wooden bars were made to cross over this hole, and the bars were struck to produce sound. That is, a sort of xylophone arose that worked by having the sound produced by wooden bars resonate within holes. Subsequently, gourds were attached to the undersides of the wooden bars. Now it was the gourds that served as resonating chambers for the sound. Instruments like this are still familiar as traditional folk instruments. Interestingly, the Zulu tribe of South Africa is said to have legends of a goddess named Marimba who created a xylophone with gourds attached.
The instrument that was the ancestor of the marimba crossed the sea with African people and arrived in Central and South America. The gourds were swapped with resonator pipes made of wood. Eventually, still in the Americas, the resonator pipes that were attached started to be made of metal, resulting in the modern marimba.
The ranges of modern marimbas vary: Typical instruments used even in elementary and middle schools cover four octaves, but the standard range of marimbas used in music colleges and the professional world is between four-and-a-half and five octaves. These instruments are extended so that notes in lower ranges can be played. The timbre of the low notes on marimbas have considerable warmth, and this is what makes the instruments attractive. The greater number of notes also increases a player's musical repertoire.
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History of Islam
This can be divided into four periods as:
1. The rule of the four Caliphs
2. Caliphs of Abbasids
3. Caliphs of Ummayads
4. Caliphs of Uthmanids
In Islam the formation of government is based on council or on nomination. It is not based on any alleged Divine power held by the rulers. After the Prophet (PBUH), the companions elected Hadrat Abu Bakr (RA) as the first Caliph, and he ruled for two and a half years. On his deathbed he nominated Umar (RA) the second Caliph who ruled for about 10 years. Hadrat Umar (RA) appointed a six-man committee for the selection of the third Caliph. Uthman (RA) was then elected out of these six; he ruled for 12 years. After him, Ali (RA) was elected as the fourth Caliph, he ruled for nearly 4 years. The period of these four Rightly guided Caliphs is called Khilafat-e-Rashidah.
Then the Ummayads, a line of the family of Abdul Munaf came to power. The first of these was Muawiyah (RA); his seat of governance was Damascus, Syria. This dynasty ruled for nearly a century. Then the Abbasids, a line of the family of Abdul Muttalib took power and their center of power was Baghdad, Iraq. Then the caliphate of central governance ended and the power transferred to the provincial rulers. Subsequently Turkey became the center of the Muslim political power and the reign of the Uthmanids commenced. This caliphate came to an end following the defeat of the Germans in the First World War; the Turks were allied with Germany. Since then the political power of Muslims is with independent Muslim states.
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Galveston Bay
Galveston Bay is a large inlet of the Gulf of Mexico that is situated on the southeastern shores of Texas, United States. Covering an area of 1,600 sq. km, the Galveston Bay is considered the seventh-largest estuary in the United States and the largest among the seven major estuaries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. In 1785, the Spanish explorer José Antonio de Evia named the bay as ‘Gálvezton’ in the honor of the Spanish Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez.
Galveston Bay
Galveston Bay during sunset.
The Galveston Bay has a length of about 48km and a maximum width of 27km. Compared to its size, the bay is relatively shallow and has an average depth of 2m while reaching a maximum depth of 3m. The Galveston Bay system is made up of four main water bodies. These include the East Bay, West Bay, Trinity Bay, and the Galveston Bay proper. Each of these four water bodies receives its supply of fresh water from various sources. The Galveston Bay receives its freshwater flow from the San Jacinto River and the local drainage from the city of Houston via the Houston Ship Channel and the Buffalo Bayou. Trinity Bay receives its main fresh water supply from the Trinity River. The West Bay receives its freshwater supply from the Chocolate Bayou, Mustang Bayou, and other local streams. The East Bay receives its fresh water from the Oyster Bayou and runoff water from the Chambers County. The Trinity River accounts for about 54% of the Bay's freshwater inflow, followed by the San Jacinto River basin which accounts for 28%, and the local watershed that accounts for about 18%.
Galveston Bay
Sailing on Galveston Bay.
The Galveston Bay empties into the Gulf of Mexico via three outlets. These include the Bolivar Roads that is located between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula; the San Luis Pass located at the western end of the Galveston Island and the Rollover Pass located across the Bolivar Peninsula. Many smaller bays and lakes such as Moses Lake, Christmas Bay, Clear Lake, Dickinson Bay, San Jacinto Bay, Black Duck Bay, and Ash Lake are connected to the principal Galveston Bay system. An inland waterway known as the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which is made up of several man-made canals and natural watercourses, runs through the southeastern part of Galveston Bay. The Galveston Bay is surrounded by the counties of Brazoria, Liberty, Harris, Chambers, and Galveston. Some of the major cities that are situated around the bay include Texas City, Anahuac, Baytown, Houston, League City, Pasadena, La Porte, Galveston, and Seabrook. The significant ports in the bay include the Port of Galveston, the Port of Texas City, and the Port of Houston. The Galveston Bay serves as a major tourist destination providing for many recreational activities like boating, birdwatching, ecotourism, and waterfowl hunting.
According to the Köppen climate classification system, the Galveston Bay region experiences a humid subtropical climate. The prevailing winds which blow from the south and southeast bring moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and heat from the deserts of Mexico. The summer temperatures exceed 32°C, with the area’s humidity making the heat index even higher. The winter temperatures are comparatively milder, with maximum temperature being 16°C and minimum temperatures about 4°C. The bay region receives an average annual rainfall of 1,000mm, while some areas may receive over 1,300mm of annual rainfall. Hurricanes are quite common during the fall season with the Bolivar Peninsula and the Galveston Island being at greater risks. The shoreline of the bay also faces much danger from storm surge.
Galveston Bay
The tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) fishing in the Galveston Bay.
The water in Galveston Bay is a complex mixture of fresh water and seawater that provides nursery and spawning grounds for a variety of marine life including fishes, crabs, oysters, and shrimps. The deeper navigation channels of the bay provide suitable habitats for bottlenose dolphins that feed on the abundant varieties of fish. Besides, the rivers, bayous, and marshes that surround the bay support their own ecosystems that contain diverse wildlife and provide support for the freshwater farming of crawfish. The wetlands surrounding the bay support several faunal species including a bobcat and American alligator, as well as many avian species like the white-faced ibis, snowy egret, mottled duck, roseate spoonbill, etc.
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The Purpose of Dolphins’ Mysterious Brain Net May Finally Be Understood
When dolphins swim through the ocean, it looks effortless. By whipping their tail up and down, the sleek marine mammals propel themselves forward in a seamless glide that could make any human swimmer jealous. But this up-down tail motion puts a lot of stress on a dolphin’s body, compressing its organs and sending pulses of blood pressure to its brain.
Now researchers in Canada have a theory as to how cetaceans—dolphins, whales and porpoises—manage to protect their brain from these swimming-induced blood pressure pulses. As described in a new paper published in Science, it’s all thanks to specialized networks of blood vessels known as “retia mirabilia.”
Scientists have long known that many animals have retia mirabilia. Greek physician Galen described the structures in the second century C.E. and gave them their name, which translates to “wonderful nets.” Indeed, retia mirabilia resemble complex stringy nets made up of thin veins and thick arteries. They can be found in a variety of mammals, birds and fish—but rarely humans.
In most animals that have them, retia mirabilia serve as a mechanism for temperature regulation, and they have a unique structure. “You can almost imagine drawing a flower with a really big center—like a sunflower, for example—and think of it as one large central tube surrounded by several smaller tubes around that circle,” says Sarah Kienle, a biologist at Baylor University, who was not involved in the recent study. “That’s essentially what we’re talking about.”
That big central artery carries warm blood from the body’s heart to its extremities, while the surrounding veins carry cold blood in the opposite direction, Kienle explains. And because they’re situated right next to each other, heat transfers between the artery and the veins to ensure that neither ends up too cold or hot.
Flamingos are a classic example of animals that benefit from retia mirabilia, Kienle says. “Because they stand in water overnight, [retia mirabilia] in their lower legs help prevent all the cool water from causing their body temperature to become too cold,” she adds. Similar retia mirabilia have been found in marine mammals, helping to regulate the temperature of their flippers, tongue and testicles.
Dolphins and other cetaceans possess additional retia mirabilia snaking around their lungs, up their spine and into their brain. These particular networks are quite different from those found in other animals. For one thing, the blood vessels involved are much larger, resembling a writhing mass of worms. For another, they don’t seem to function as a temperature regulator.
Resin cast showing aorta and arteries in the retia of a beluga whale.
Resin cast showing aorta and arteries in the retia of a beluga whale. Credit: Wayne Vogl
“This area—this thoracic cavity region leading to the brain—is much less studied and identified among mammals and especially among marine mammals,” Kienle says. She adds that there have been a number of hypotheses about the function of structures in this area, but no explanation had been well tested or widely accepted. The authors of the new Science paper believe they have found the answer.
The researchers looked at the internal biological structure of 11 different cetacean species, including fin whales and bottlenose dolphins. Some of the animals were dissected by these scientists, whereas others had been analyzed by other biologists as part of prior research. “All were animals that had already died,” most by beaching themselves, says Robert Shadwick, a biomechanics researcher at the University of British Columbia, who co-authored the paper.
Analyzing the innards of all these cetaceans took some time. “It’s taken about 10 years for this study to come to fruition—more than 10 years, actually,” says Wayne Vogl, a biologist at the University of British Columbia, who also took part in the study.
Based on their analysis, the researchers now believe that one of these previously perplexing retia mirabilia that is present around the brains of cetaceans likely developed as an adaptation to protect against the physical demands of swimming.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises evolved from mammals that once lived on land. Tens of millions of years ago, cetaceans’ ancestors rejected terrestrial life in favor of the open ocean. Transitioning to an aquatic existence was no small feat for these mammals; it required a number of specialized adaptations.
One challenge these creatures had to overcome was the stress swimming creates on the body. As previously noted, dolphins propel themselves forward by pushing their large tail up and down, which causes such stress. This is the case for other cetaceans today as well. “The body cavity is all below the spine, so on the downstroke, everything below the spine is being squeezed,” Shadwick says. “And on the upstroke, it’s being unsqueezed.”
That constriction and relaxation, Shadwick explains, is the source of a tremendous amount of pressure—not just on cetaceans’ organs but also on the surrounding blood vessels. Eric Ekdale, a biologist and paleontologist at San Diego State University, who was not involved in the study, compares this process to sit-ups. “When we’re doing crunches or sit-ups, we’re compressing our abdominal cavity,” he says. “We take a breath, and then when we do the sit-up, we exhale, and that relieves some of the pressure.”
But marine mammals don’t have the luxury of exhaling. With the exception of the moments when they surface for air, cetaceans have to hold their breaths while they swim. How, then, do cetaceans manage the internal pressures caused by their tail whips? In particular, how do they ensure that the pulses of blood pressure generated by each downward stroke won’t result in brain damage when they reach the cranium?
That’s where the retia mirabilia come in. Shadwick and his colleagues hypothesize that one of these spongy networks that sits next to cetaceans’ brain mitigates pressure pulses as the blood passes through. Specifically, the researchers propose that this rete mirabile (the singular form of “retia mirabilia”) transfers pulses from veins to adjoining arteries in a way that protects the brain from damage.
To test this claim, the researchers developed a computer model based on the internal biological structures of the 11 species they observed. And indeed, they found that their hypothetical pressure-transfer system worked: it was able to protect the animals’ brain from 97 percent of pressure pulses. They are now confident they have found the long-sought-after secret purpose of the cetaceans’ “wonderful nets.”
Vogl also points out that seals—which belong to a different marine mammal group—don’t have a rete mirabile around their brain. This further supports the team’s hypothesis about the network’s function. While cetaceans swing their tails up and down, compressing their organs against their spine, seals swing their tail left and right, which doesn’t cause the same internal pressure. Seals don’t need to regulate swimming-related blood pulses—and if that’s what a cranial rete mirabile is for, it explains why seals don’t have one.
Vogl speculates that the ancestors of cetaceans probably had retia mirabilia leading to the brain before they ever took to the oceans—but that this network served a different purpose on land. “I suspect that it was at one time probably thermoregulatory and that the function changed,” Vogl says.
But Ekdale, who studies mammals’ evolutionary transition to the ocean, isn’t sure about that. He suspects that cetaceans’ terrestrial ancestors didn’t have retia mirabilia leading up the spine to the brain and that this network only developed after those mammals took to the oceans and had to adapt to breathless swimming. “It’s probably a novel structure—a novel adaptation for life in water,” he says. But he admits that it’s impossible to know exactly when this structure developed because soft tissues such as blood vessels aren’t preserved in the fossil record.
Despite taking a different stance on its origins, Ekdale says he finds the new paper to be a plausible explanation for the function of the once mysterious, undeniably wonderful network of blood vessels around whales’ and dolphins’ brain. “I think it’s kind of a neat solution to the specific problem of a fully aquatic mammal,” Ekdale says.
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Exercise: Crying
In this Chapter, we covered the conventions for transcribing crying sounds. Let’s practice using these conventions!
Question 1
Transcribe the clip below, using both the conventions covered in the Chapter, and the following six elements of sound characteristic of crying:
1. Elevated pitch: preceding (1 word) “↑Yeah” or enclosing (more than one): “↑Yeah I am↑”
2. Tremulous or wobbly delivery, enclose in tildes (~): preceding (1 word) “~THAt” or enclosing (more than one word) “~THAt wasn’~”
3. Aspiration particles in words: parenthesis (h) represents plosive outbreath; h represents ‘breathy’ delivery.
4. Creaky delivery: preceding (1 word) “#ma” or enclosing (more than one word) “#ma best.#”
5. Tut: “.tch” or “.TCH”
6. Sobbing: can be breathy and done as inbreath “.hihh” or outbreath “huhh” or sharply inhaled or exhaled; if the latter, enclose in greater/less than symbols: “>huh huh<” “>.hihh<“
1.UI3: uptight 13.00
Call: The police don’t take any notice of me and they
misunderstand the things I say and I
CT: Mm
Call: I mean I get very uptight when I’m talking about it and I’m
probably saying all the wrong things
Clip 1: Uptight
Question 2
Transcribe the sob and sniff in the following fragment
Clip 2: Sob and Sniff
Question 3
The following fragment contains talk that may be hard to hear through the crying. Try to represents all the words and sounds you can hear:
Clip 3: Nobody Else
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The Enterobacteriaceae is a family of non-spore-forming Gram-negative bacilli. They are widely distributed in soil, water and plants. The bacteria belonging to this family are normally present in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals and are among the most significant pathogens. The family includes some important genera like Escherichia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Salmonella, Shigella, Citrobacter and Yersinia.
The IMViC tests are a group of biochemical tests used to identify the members of the Enterobacteriaceae family. IMViC is an abbreviation for the four tests, namely;
I: Indole test
M: Methyl red test.
V: Voges- Proskauer test
i (added for the ease of pronounciation)
C: Citrate test.
Let’s discuss about each of these test:
• Indole test:
In this test, the pure culture of the test bacteria is incubated for 24 hrs at 37°C into Tryptophan broth medium. This media contains tryptophan as a source of protein. The bacterial cells which are able to produce tryptophanase enzyme, can convert tryptophan to indole and other byproducts.
Fig 1: A represents positive indole test result and B negative result.
Hence if the bacteria can utilize tryptophan, the broth will contain indole. Indole dissolves in xylene, therefore on addition of xylene to the broth indole gets extracted and concentrates in the form of a immiscible ring as a top layer in the test tube (fig 1). Then the broth is treated with Kovac’s reagent or Ehrlich’s reagent, which contains para-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (p-DMAB), in presence of heat. Indole reacts with these reagents to give a pink or red colouration.
Therefore, if the broth containing the pure culture of certain bacteria turns the red or pink ring, it confirms that the bacteria can utilize tryptophan and the test is said to be positive (fig 1A). No ring or a yellow ring formation means the test is negative and the bacteria is unable to utilize tryptophan (fig 1B).
E. coli is indole positive and Enterobacter aerogenes (also known as Klebsiella aerogenes) is indole negative (fig 5)
• Methyl Red Test:
The micro-organisms from Enterobacteriaceae family carry out fermentation of the sugars in the media, of two different types. One type of fermentation called as ‘mixed acid fermentation‘ produces acidic products and the the other type known as butanediol fermentation produces butanediol and other neutral products.
Fig 2: A. represents methyl red negative result and B. methyl red positive.
The media used in this test is glucose phosphate broth, which contains buffered peptone water. The bacteria carrying out mixed acid fermentation will utilise glucose and convert it into pyruvate, and later to acids like lactate, acetate, succinate, formate, ethanol and the gases H2 and CO2. These acids make the broth acidic. The ratio of each acid may vary among the different bacterial species.
For this test the pure culture of test organism is incubated in the glucose phosphate broth for 24 hours at 37°C. This incubated broth can be divided into two parts and used for both the methyl red test and Voges-Proskauer (V-P) test.
In case of methyl red test, the pH indicator, methyl red is added to the broth, which turns red at acidic conditions (pH 4.4) and yellow at around pH 6.2.
Hence if the test bacteria is capable of carrying out mixed acid fermentation, the broth becomes acidic and turns red, that is the methyl red test is positive (fig 2B). If the test bacteria unable to carry out mixed acid fermentation, the broth will remain yellow, that is negative (fig 2A).
E. coli is methyl red positive, that it carries out mixed acid fermentation, and Enterobacter aerogenes (also known as Klebsiella aerogenes) is methyl red negative (fig 5)
Voges-Proskauer (V-P) Test:
As already mentioned the members of Enterbacteriaceace family can carry out mixed acid fermentation or butanediol fermentation. Methyl red is used to detect the mixed acid fermentation, wherein the broth turns very acidic. Voges-Proskauer test is used to detect the butanediol fermentation, having neutral products. The Voges-Proskauer test is also carried using the glucose phosphate broth. Alpha-naphthol and potassium hydroxide added to the broth incubated with the pure culture of the test organism.
Fig 3: A represents Voges-Proskauer positive and B. Voges-Proskauer negative.
During the butanediol fermentation, one of the intermediate compound formed is acetoin. Acetoin is converted to diacetyl on addition of alpha-naphthol and KOH solution. The diacetyl produced then reacts with the guanidine nucleus of arginine present in the peptone from the broth to give a pink colouration.
Fig 4: The flowchart for VP test.
Thus the formation of pink colour indicates the presence of acetoin and confirms bacterial Butanediol fermentation and indicates VP test as positive (fig 3A). The absence of the pink colouration (fig 3B) signifies that the test bacteria is unable to carry out butanediol fermentation.
E. coli is VP test negative and Enterobacter aerogenes (also known as Klebsiella aerogenes) is VP test positive (fig 5).
Citrate Utilization Test:
Some members of the Enterobacteriaceae family can utilize citrate as source of carbon and thus energy. This characteristic is used to identify these organisms using Simmons’ citrate agar. Simmons’ citrate agar contains citrate as a sole source of carbon. This media also contains, ammonium phosphate as a source of nitrogen and bromothymol blue as a pH indicator which is yellow at acidic pH and turns blue at alkaline pH.
Fig 5: The positive and negative Citrate test results.
When the bacteria utilizes citrate, it liberates CO2, which in turn reacts with water and sodium to form sodium carbonate. Also as mentioned earlier, the media also contains ammonium salt as sole nitrogen source, which is metabolised by the bacteria to release ammonia gas. The production of both sodium carbonate and ammonia causes the pH of the media to increase. As the media turns alkaline, bromothymol blue present in the media turns blue.
Hence if the bacteria turns the Simmons’ citrate agar blue from green, it is able to bring about butanediol fermentation and helps identify the organism.
E. coli is citrate test negative and Enterobacter aerogenes (also known as Klebsiella aerogenes) is citrate test positive (fig 5).
The cumulative results of these four tests along with other tests can help identify bacteria, depending on their ability to utilize tryptophan, citrate and carry out fermentation. The table (adapted) below shows the results of IMViC tests carried out in few bacteria belonging to Enterobacteraceae family. Other tests like Motility Test, Triple Sugar Iron (TSI) Agar Test, Urease Test should also be performed to give more information.
Table 1: List of test results of few members of Enterobacteriaceae family
(Just for info: Have a look at this paper which involves isolation and identification of bacteria form fish sample)
This is all for this post. Hope u like this post, if yes please comment, like and share!!
Have a nice day!
Thank you!!
Read more posts by The Biotech Notes:
Neurons: Introduction
Clinical trials (Part 1)
2-Dimensional PAGE
Krieg & Padgett (2011) 3 – Phenotypic and Physiological Characterization Methods. Methods in Microbiology 38: 15-60.
Fig 1:
Fig 2:
Fig 3:
Fig 5: Malviya (2012). Ecofriendly treatment of axons dyes: biodecorization using bacterial strains isolated from textile wastewater. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3214.6083.
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ENGR338 Digital Electronics Laboratory
Lab 3 The Inverter
Be able to layout and simulate an inverter in Electric.
Lab Tasks:
** Task 1: Create the schematic of the inverter. (20 points)
Note that the bigger size of the number denotes the 'drain' side. Please a PMOS and an NMOS in the schematic view, rotate/mirror the PMOS to let the drain oriented to the NMOS. The PMOS is 20/2, the NMOS is 10/2.
Use the vdd and gnd symbols (they are global exports by default so don't export them again). Export the 'in' and 'out' ports for the inverter. Build create an icon view of it.
Run the DRC check to ensure it is error free.
Next, run a simulation to ensure that it inverts the input. Do not forget to set Spice models by selecting the PMOS or the NMOS one at a time and follow Tools - Simulation (Spice) - Set Spice Model. Name them as PMOS and NMOS respectively.
Next, run a transient simulation use a PULSE() input. The spice code is not provided here. Design it one your own.
The results looks like this:
** Task 2: Create the layout of the inverter. (20 points)
Build the layout of the inverter by following the tutorial here. Run DRC and LVS check before you move forward. Also, do not forget to set the Spice models for the PMOS and the NMOS.
** Task 3: Use the multiplier to build a larger inverter.
(20 points)
The inverter you just built is 20/5 and 10/5. In this section, let's built a 100/2 and 50/2 inverter using the multiplier function in Electric.
First, duplicate the inverter cell and rename it as 'Inverter_100_50'. Click the new cell and select the PMOS. Then press tools --> Simulation (spice) --> add Multiplier to set the M=5 adding 5 parallel PMOS. Do the same to NMOS. Others are kept the same as before. We can get the following circuit.
In the layout view, copy/paste the existing PMOS, delete the metal contacts on the left side of the duplicate, then make the connection to the left. Make sure that the connection is built by the green wire (the active field) not the metal (blue).
After you done with the first duplicate, run a DRC check instantly before you moving forward. The gap size indicated in the following figure must be evenly spaced.
Get 5 of the PMOS and the NMOS in parallel and make them 5 times wider. Run DRC/LVS after this is done.
** Task 4: Run simulations to verify the driving capability of these two different inverters.
(20 points)
First, create a simulation schematic view for the 20/10 inverter:
Run 3 simulations to let it drive 100 fF, 1 pF, and 10 pF caps respectively.
Cload = 100 fF
Cload = 1 pF (start having some difficulties to drive the cap).
Cload = 10 pF (can't drive it to the full voltage).
Next, let's grab the wider inverter and see how it goes. (you can directly replace the 20/10 one with the 100/50 one).
Cload = 100 fF
Cload = 1 pF
Cload = 10 pF
Now, you can tell the difference. The 100/50 inverter can drive bigger caps compare to the smaller one.
Lab reports grading rubric:
Task 1: 25 points.
Task 2: 25 points.
Task 3: 25 points.
Task 4: 20 points.
Writing/formatting: 5 points.
The end of the lab.
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Culture is of the order Philidota,
from the Ancient Greek.
Culture usually lives in hollow trees
or burrows.
Generally nocturnal,
culture tends to be solitary,
only meeting other cultures to mate.
A number of extinct cultures have been identified
and it is greatly feared
that existing cultures,
due to extensive poaching,
could soon all be things of the past.
Culture has poor vision and is toothless,
however this does not mean culture is defenseless.
Culture is covered with protective scales.
Culture can emit
a highly noxious-smelling chemical
from glands near the anus,
and will use this method of defense
when threatened.
Culture has sticky saliva and often picks up unwanted tidbits.
We must all do what we can to protect culture, for our world would be a much poorer place without it.
Day Twenty-Four
Prompt: Find a factual article about an animal. A Wikipedia article or something from National Geographic would do nicely – just make sure it repeats the name of the animal a lot. Now, go back through the text and replace the name of the animal with something else – it could be something very abstract.
Guess my wonderful animal.
(I am on holiday [yay!] and have to use my phone to publish, so it might look a bit different .)
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: An Analysis
Coleridge is one of the major poets of the Romantic Movement. He is considered the founder of the Romantic Movement in England. He is best known for his The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christabel, Kubla Khan and Biographia Literaria. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of the most famous poems in the English language. It was first published in 1798.
Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem about a man on a voyage by ship. This poem shows that this man killed an innocent albatross on the way. It was a heinous crime and disregard for a creature of nature. This single crime changes the course of his life and death. He has to face a terrible inner struggle. He spends the rest of his life trying to atone for his sin. Sin and repentance are the central themes of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 'One should respect God and all of his creations.’ Through this beautiful poem, this significant moral message has been conveyed.
Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner recounts the experiences of an old grey-bearded sailor, the Mariner. It is he who has returned from a long sea voyage. He detains one of three young men on their way to a wedding feast to narrate a story of his youthful experience at sea. The Wedding-Guest is at first reluctant to listen because the ceremony is about to begin. But the mariner's glittering eyes captivate him. He listens to the story of his slaughter of an albatross, the deaths of his fellow sailors, his suffering, and his eventual redemption.
The mariner's tale begins with the starting of his journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven to the south by a storm. It reaches the icy waters of the Antarctic. In the mean time an albatross appears. It leads the ship out of the ice. The crew members are grateful to the bird. They feed and praise the albatross. But unexpectedly the mariner shoots the bird with his cross-bow. In the words of the mariner:
With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.
At this ungratefulness the crew members are angry with the mariner. But when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears the crew members change their mind. They start supporting the mariner’s crime:
'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
That bring the fog and mist.
They soon realised their mistake. The support of the crime of mariner arouses the wrath of spirits. They pursue the ship from the land of mist and snow. The south wind that had initially blown them north now sends the ship into uncharted waters near the equator. The sailors suffer a lot. The narrator explains:
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
At this juncture the sailors change their minds once again. They blame the mariner for the torment of their thirst. They are so angry that they force the mariner to wear the dead albatross about his neck. It is done to express the regret for the crime committed against albatross.
Very soon the ship encounters a ghostly effect. One by one all of the crew members die. But the mariner does not die because he has to suffer a lot.
Eventually, the mariner begins to appreciate the sea creatures that were swimming in the water. He sees their true beauty. He blesses them. The mariner now manages to pray. The albatross falls from his neck. It seems that his guilt is partially forgiven. It then starts to rain. The dead bodies of the crew rise again and help steer the ship. In a trance, the mariner hears two spirits discussing his voyage and penance. He comes to know that the ship is being powered supernaturally.
Finally the mariner wakes from his trance. He comes in sight of his homeland. But initially he is uncertain as to whether or not he is hallucinating. Finally the mariner wakes from his trance. He finds himself in his homeland. Initially the mariner does not believe at this. But it was a reality. The mariner exclaimes:
Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?
Leaving only the mariner behind, the ship sinks in a whirlpool. A hermit then comes to meet him. A pilot and his boy are also there. When they pull the mariner from the water, they think he is dead. But when he opens his mouth, the pilot shrieks with fright. The hermit prays. When the mariner becomes normal he narrates his story to the hermit.
Driven by the agony of his guilt, the mariner is now forced to wander the earth. He is narrating his story over and over and teaching a lesson to those he meets. After finishing his story, the mariner leaves. The wedding-guest returns home. The next morning he wakes up as a sadder and a wiser man.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is written in a folk ballad style and is divided into seven parts. It has 143 stanzas. Most stanzas have four-lines. The rhyme scheme is abcb. Throughout the poem Coleridge uses narrative techniques like personification and repetition. The entire poem is an extended metaphor for a supernatural theme. The living albatross is a symbol of God's creation and of innocence. The dead albatross is a symbol of sin. In short, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a fantastic poem. It has left indelible mark on the pages of the history of English literature.
1. Es realmente un blog útil para encontrar alguna fuente diferente para agregar mis conocimientos.
Famille d Accueil Irlande
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What is Vascular Bundle?
What is Vascular Bundle?
The vascular bundle is a kind of bundle that consists of xylem and phloem tissues. The phloem transports sugar and any other photosynthetic products to the parts of that plant that need it. It is a strand of the particular vascular tissue of higher plants consisting mostly of xylem and phloem. These strands during the course of time distinguish into xylem and phloem and organize into vascular bundles.
• To carry water and dissolved food materials from root to stem and leaf. The prime function vascular bundle is the conduction of water and food materials in the primary growth stage of plants.
• To carry prepared food material from leaf to different parts. Phloem transport food materials form leaves (photosynthetic products) to all parts of the plants including roots.
• To give mechanical support to plant. They also provide mechanical support (a mechanical tissue) to the plant.
There are three types of the vascular bundle:
1. Collateral Bundle,
2. Bicollateral Bundle,
3. Concentric Bundle,
4. Radial Vascular Bundle.
Vascular Bundle 1
Collateral Bundle: A vascular bundle in which a strand of phloem is present peripheral to the strand of xylem on the same radius side by side is known as a collateral bundle. Two types:
• Closed collateral bundle: In this type cambium is absent in between xylem and phloem. Ex. Monocotyledonous stem.
• Open collateral bundle: An open collateral vascular bundle has a cambium called fascicular cambium between xylem and phloem. Ex. Dicotyledonous stem.
Bicollateral Bundle: A vascular bundle with a phloem situated on the peripheral and inner side of xylem is known as bicollateral bundle. Ex. Cucurbita stem.
Concentric Bundle: The bundle in which one type of vascular tissue surrounds the other is known as a concentric bundle. Two types:
• Amphivasal bundle: xylem encircles the central strand of phloem is known as amphivasal bundle, also called leptocentric bundle. Ex. Dracaena, Yucca.
• Amphicribral bundle: phloem encircles the central strand of xylem is called an amphicribral bundle, also known as hadrocentric bundle. Ex. Selaginella.
Radial Vascular Bundle: The primary xylem and primary phloem strands are separated from each other by nonvascular tissues and they are situated on alternate radii of an axis, is known as radial vascular bundle or radial bundle.
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Prado Wetlands Sunset.JPG
This program emphasizes the watershed and water cycle. Students will learn where our water comes from and ways to conserve this precious resource.
San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (SBVMWD) was formed in 1954 as a regional agency to plan a long-range water supply for the San Bernardino Valley. They import water into the service area through participation in the State Water Project and manage groundwater storage within their boundaries. SBVMWD does not deliver water directly to retail water customers.
SBVMWD service covers around 353 square miles in southwestern San Bernardino County, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, and has a population of around 698,000. It spans the eastern two-thirds of the San Bernardino Valley, the Crafton Hills, and a portion of the Yucaipa Valley, and includes the cities and communities of Bloomington, Colton, East Highland, Grand Terrace, Highland, Loma Linda, Mentone, Redlands, Rialto, San Bernardino, and Yucaipa.
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A closer look at sea lamprey mating systems.
Sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus L. 1758) are parasitic organisms in marine water, but they use freshwater for reproduction. They dig easy detectable nests on spawning grounds. Nest counts can provide a relative estimate of population abundance (Kynard and Horgan, 2019) and, based on the average number of individuals per nest between 2 and 2.5 (Applegate, 1950; Manion and Hanson, 1980), some authors proposed to multiply the number of nests on a river by this factor to estimate the number of spawners (Gracia et al., 2016; Migradour, 2010).
Sea lampreys during mating in the River Nive (copyright INRAE_GLISE).
But sea lamprey mating systems are in fact poorly documented: they are mostly considered as monogamous throughout the literature, and little is known about sexual differences in morphology, behaviour, and about sexual selection. With that in mind, we aimed at investigating the relationship between individuals and nesting activity by combining mark–recapture and nest survey of a sea lamprey spawning ground throughout a breeding season. How many lampreys are actually using a given nest? Do each of them visit one or several nests? Does behaviour vary between females and males? And what is the real population size on a spawning ground?
The site chosen for the study is the 1 km long bypass reach of the Halsou hydroelectric power plant on the River Nive, monitored during the sea lamprey spawning period, from 6 May to 24 June 2019. Each newly captured individual was marked using two T-bar tags allowing individual recognition from resight without actual recapture.
During the studied period, we observed 202 nests built. Average number of mates per nest was about 2.3 (close to expectation from literature), with no effect of sex. The classical estimate for population size using such numbers would therefore have been about 497 individuals.
Number of nests visited per individual as a function of sex. A null number of nests corresponds to individuals only found outside of nests.
Using individual tagging on 56 males and 58 females, we were however able to go beyond these average estimates per nest. For instance, each individual visited on average more than one nest (1.65 for females, 2.26 for males). And in fact, a lot of variation between individuals could be observed. Some individuals would only visit one nest, while some other could be seen on more than 5 nests. This clearly indicates that the sea lamprey mating system may be more polygynandrous than the monogamous/polygynous system suggested from a mere observation of individuals per nest. We also found that the higher the number of nest visited, the higher the number of mates encountered. This hints at a potential role of visiting behaviour on sexual selection.
Number of nests visited and number of mates encountered for (a) male and (b) female sea lamprey. The size of the point relates to the number of individuals.
Finally, using a dynamic multistate occupancy model with augmented population (Kery and Schaub, 2011), we found that the total population size on the considered spawning ground was 177 [154; 219], a result way below the 497 individuals expected using the classic management estimation methods. More results and data can be found in the paper by Marius Dhamelincourt and colleagues.
These first results open intriguing options: why do females visit several nests ? How much each individual, male or female, invest in nest building? Are they cooperating? And how strong is sexual selection in this species ?
Applegate, V.C., 1950. Natural history of the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, in Michigan (Federal Government Series No. 55), Special Scientific Report – Fisheries. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Library.
ECP, 2018. Ecology and Fish Population Biology Facility. https://doi.org/10.15454/1.5572402068944548E12
Gracia, S., Caut, I., Carry, L., 2016. Suivi de la lamproie marine sur la Dordogne et la Garonne. MIGADO.
Kery, M., Schaub, M., 2011. Bayesian Population Analysis using WinBUGS: A Hierarchical Perspective. Academic Press.
Kynard, B., Horgan, M., 2019. Long-term studies on restoration of Connecticut River anadromous sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus 1758: Trend in annual adult runs, abundance cycle, and nesting. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 35, 1154–1163. https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.13967
Manion, P.J., Hanson, L.H., 1980. Spawning Behavior and Fecundity of Lampreys from the Upper Three Great Lakes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37, 1635–1640. https://doi.org/10.1139/f80-211
Migradour, 2010. Suivi de la reproduction de la Lamproie marine sur le bassin de l’Adour – Tranche 1/3, gaves et nives.
Royle, J. andrew, Dorazio, R., 2012. Parameter-expanded data augmentation for Bayesian analysis of capture-recapture models. Journal of Ornithology 152, 521–537. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0619-4
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Questions And Answers
More Tutorials
Raspberry Playing Basic Notes
First, let's try to control the buzzer to play seven basic notes: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si.
Hardware Connection
In this project, the electronic hardware we need to use is as follows:
• Raspberry Pi Pico
• Shield for Pi Pico
• Grove - Passive Buzzer
Attach the Pico and the Shield, and use a Grove data cable to connect the buzzer to A1.
Write a Program
If we want to use the buzzer to play music, we need to learn to control the two dimensions of the sound emitted by the buzzer: volume and tone.
For the volume, like adjusting the brightness of the LED, we can control it by changing the duty cycle of the PWM signal as well. On the other hand, since the tone of a sound is determined by its frequency, we can control it by just modifying the frequency of the PWM signal.
Let's write a program to let the buzzer send out seven notes: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si.
In this program, we need to define pins and use the “sleep()" function to control the duration of each note. As usual, we need to declare the function library at the beginning of the program:
from machine import Pin, PWM
from time import sleep
Next, define the pin:
buzzer = PWM(Pin(27))
Next, we need to use “freq()" and “duty_u16()" to define the tone and volume:
1 buzzer.freq(1046) #DO
2 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
4 buzzer.freq(1175) #RE
5 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
7 buzzer.freq(1318) #MI
8 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
10 buzzer.freq(1397) #FA
11 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
13 buzzer.freq(1568) #SO
14 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
16 buzzer.freq(1760) #LA
17 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
19 buzzer.freq(1967) #SI
20 buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
Finally, use “sleep()" to specify the duration of each note, and complete the program. The complete program is as follows:
1 from machine import Pin, PWM
2 from time import sleep
4 buzzer = PWM(Pin(27))
5 while True:
7 buzzer.freq(1046) #DO buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
8 sleep(1) buzzer.freq(1175) #RE buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
9 sleep(1) buzzer.freq(1318) #MI buzzer.duty_u16(1000)
Use a USB cable to connect Pico to the computer, click the “run" button to save the program to any location. Now, you can hear the buzzer play seven basic notes.
In this page (written and validated by ) you learned about Raspberry Playing Basic Notes . What's Next? If you are interested in completing Raspberry tutorial, your next topic will be learning about: Raspberry Two Tigers.
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Elecrtic Forces
Charge Shuttle
Q1: Sketch how the charged can attracts the pith ball in the first place.
The neutral pith ball polarizes in the presence of the charged can. The positive charges being repelled to the right side of the ball, the left, negatively charged side of the ball is attracted to the positively charged can.
Q2: Sketch what happens when the charge can and the pith ball contact one and other.
In contact with the charged can, the pith ball is charged positively by contact.
Q3: Why the ball begins to oscillate between the two cans. Recall conventional current as well as the displacement of negative charges.
Both can A and the ball being positive, the pith ball is repelled to the right. When it contacts can B, the relatively negative can takes-up the ball's excess positive charge. Now repelled by can B, the ball swings back to can A picking up more positive charges when the two come into contact. The ball oscillates in this fashion, shuttling charges from can A to can B while being alternately repelled be each can.
Advanced Question: Will the oscillating stop? Explain why the pith ball will or will not stop.
The pith ball will stop oscillating. At the point when both can A and can B have an equal amount of positive charge the alternating repulsion that pushed the pith ball back and forth between the cans will cease. The result will be for the pith ball to come to rest in between the cans once again.
Seat Activities
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"url": "http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/SeatExpts/EandM/charshut/solution.htm"
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Buckley: A Sudbury teen's long march in captivity
James J. Buckley
The Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth in 1620 had no idea that they would encounter a hostile and often deadly reception from the natives who had inhabited New England lands for hundreds of years. Somehow these intrepid settlers were able to cope with this situation. They expressed in letters sent to relatives back home the hope and expectation that such hostility would disappear soon.
Alas, over 100 years later, the Indians were still anxious to rid their lands of the colonists and to that end pursued a relentless course of action to achieve that goal. Indeed, by the 1740s, Indian tribes had made an alliance with the French settlers in Canada, causing the colonists' situation far more perilous than anything the Pilgrims had encountered.
As a result, towns such as Sudbury were expected to provide assistance to settlements situated in even more remote localities. One of the leaders of the Sudbury community was Captain Phineas Stevens.
While no one knew how, when or where the joint French and Indian forces would strike, it was clear to the settlers of the Sudbury region that attacks could occur at any time. So it became imperative to construct a fort on the perimeter of the frontier. As a result, in 1740, Stevens began the process of building what become known as Fort #4, a designation whose plainness was characteristic of the colonists' no-nonsense approach to survival.
Although his action and that of those who helped him design and construct the fort were applauded by one and all, authorities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts refused to help protect it. New Hampshire liked the idea of its existence but felt it as too far away from any of its settlements and therefore could provide no immediate help to its settlers. And Massachusetts felt it had no obligation to protect it since it was deemed outside its limits. And so, yet again, the settlers were left on their own by their colonial governments.
Stevens was not satisfied with this reaction and took steps to change the minds of the authorities in Boston. It took a long time to achieve his goal but by the time the fort was completed in 1744, the leaders of the colony had concluded that the Commonwealth would offer some protection to the colony's settlement in the south. This change of heart was made official when, in tacit recognition of the successful completion of the fort and Stevens' persistence, Governor Shirley commissioned Stevens to be in charge of the volunteers who defended the frontier.
It is clear that Stevens was a determined and fiercely competitive leader of men whose power of persuasion was exceptional. He acquired these traits as a result of experiencing firsthand the cruelty of the colonists' enemies.
When he was 16, he and his three younger brothers were in the field helping their father gather hay. Suddenly, a band of Indians swooped down on them. Two of his brothers were immediately slain. For some reason known only to the Indians, they decided not to kill Phineas. Perhaps they concluded that he was the only brother strong enough to perform the manual labor they expected of their captives.
Although he was relieved that he had somehow been spared, he was dismayed when it became abundantly clear to him that they were about to kill his four-year-old brother. Thinking quickly and using signs to convey his thoughts, Phineas persuaded the Indians to allow him to carry the four-year-old on his back during the anticipated journey back to the Indians' encampment. The Indians concurred and Phineas began carrying his brother northward, all the while trying to think of how to escape.
He soon discovered he was going to be too exhausted to run away. Instead of returning to a camp nearby his Indian captives decided to walk to Canada.
The Indians gave Phineas no quarter. They expected him to keep up with their fast-paced march northward and they refused to allow him to remove his brother from his shoulders during the march.
When they finally reached their destination, Phineas and his brother were treated shabbily by the Indians. They were expected to perform the most menial tasks and the Squaws taunted them and made them the object of scorn and derision. More than once they were molested by the Squaws to the amusement of the Braves.
Phineas endured this harsh and cruel treatment because he knew the only alternative was death. At nighttime when they were given a short time to rest, he whispered to his brother not to give up. He was certain that the colonists in Sudbury had long since discovered the bodies of their father and brothers and were taking whatever steps were necessary to gain their release.
After what seemed to be an infinity of time, the two boys were redeemed by the colonists and returned to their home where their mourning family became a family filled with joy.
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"url": "https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/opinion/columns/2006/01/24/buckley-sudbury-teen-s-long/41247968007/"
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Pioneering NASA mathematician : Katherine Johnson
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Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician who assumed a key job in various NASA missions during the Space Race, maybe most eminently ascertaining the direction expected to get the Apollo 11 crucial the moon and back. As a dark lady working for NASA during the 1950s and ’60s, Johnson defeated social limits and racial segregation. Their great vocation was the subject of the 2016 book and film “Hidden Figures.”
Johnson’s street to NASA
Johnson was conceived in 1918 in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, the most youthful of four youngsters. From a youthful age, they had an interest with numbers, which would lead their to resist all desires for an incredible duration. “I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did,” Johnson said in a meeting with NASA in 2015.
Johnson’s old neighborhood didn’t offer open tutoring for dark youngsters past eighth grade, so their family moved 120 miles (193 kilometers) away with the goal that they could go to secondary school. They graduated secondary school at only 14 and school at 18, making sure about degrees in both arithmetic and French from the generally dark West Virginia State College.
While in school, their latent capacity was obvious to their educators. One of their educators, William Schieffelin Claytor, urged Johnson to turn into an examination mathematician and made a geometry class only for their. In the wake of instructing for a couple of years, Johnson was acknowledged to West Virginia University’s alumni math program, and in 1939, they turned into the primary dark lady to go to the school.
A year into their coursework, they left to bring up their three little girls. At that point, in 1952, a relative educated their regarding an energizing new chance: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the antecedent to NASA, was employing dark ladies to take care of math issues. Johnson applied immediately. They was before long procured as a “PC” at the Langley Research Center, entrusted with performing and checking figurings for flight tests.
Notwithstanding exceeding expectations at their work, Johnson was particularly inquisitive and decisive, continually scrutinizing their partners and requesting to be remembered for significant gatherings. At the point when they began at NACA, Johnson and their dark partners were required to work, eat and use bathrooms independently from the white representatives. Be that as it may, Johnson disregarded the racial and sexual orientation hindrances of the time and turned into the primary lady in the Flight Research Division to be credited as a creator on an examination report.
Sending space travelers into space and to the moon
In 1958, NACA became NASA, and the Space Race started. Johnson’s energy was geometry, which was valuable for figuring the directions of shuttle. For NASA’s 1961 Mercury strategic, realized that the direction would be a parabola, a kind of balanced bend. So when NASA needed the case to descend at a specific spot, they was not hindered.
“You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I’ll do it backwards and tell you when to take off,” Johnson said. Resulting orbital missions were progressively entangled, with more factors including the position and revolution of the Earth, so Johnson utilized a heavenly preparing gadget to play out their figurings.
Johnson was entrusted with ascertaining the direction for Alan Shepard’s notable flight, during which they turned into the primary American to arrive at space. They additionally affirmed the direction to send the principal American into space around the Earth. At this point, NASA had started utilizing electronic PCs to play out these errands, however the machines could be somewhat unpredictable. Prior to their Friendship 7 crucial, John Glenn mentioned that Johnson actually reevaluate the figurings by hand. “On the off chance that she says they’re acceptable, at that point I’m all set,” Glenn said.
The following test was to send people to the moon, and Johnson’s computations matched up the Apollo 11 lunar lander with the moon-circling order and administration module to recover the space travelers to Earth. They likewise demonstrated important on the Apollo 13 crucial, reinforcement systems that guaranteed the team’s sheltered return after their art broke down. They later assisted with building up the space transport program and Earth assets satellite, and they co-wrote 26 research reports before resigning in 1986.
Johnson’s inheritance
Johnson spent the next years addressing understudies about their remarkable vocation, urging them to seek after STEM instruction. “A few things will drop out of the open eye and will leave,” they said. “There will consistently be science, building and innovation. Also, there will consistently, consistently be science. Everything is material science and math.”
In 2015, President Barack Obama granted Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s most elevated regular citizen respect. What’s more, in 2016, the NASA Langley office at which Johnson worked renamed a structure in their respect: the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility.
In 2019, Johnson revealed to her own story for youthful perusers in a book called “Going after the Moon” (Atheneum Books for Young Readers).
“Each time designers would give me their conditions to assess, I would accomplish more than what they’d inquired. I’d attempt to think past their conditions. To guarantee that I’d find the solution right, I expected to comprehend the deduction behind their decisions and choices,” they composed.
“I didn’t allow their side-eyes and annoyed looks to intimidate or stop me. I also would persist even if I thought I was being ignored. If I encountered something I didn’t understand, I’d just ask. … I just ignored the social customs that told me to stay in my place.”
Johnson kicked the bucket Feb. 24, 2020, at age 101. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine declared their demise and guaranteed that their heritage would be recalled.
“At NASA, we will never forget her courage and leadership and the milestones we could not have reached without her,” Bridenstine said. “We will continue building on her legacy.”
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UACES Facebook Poison Ivy Identification & Treatment in Arkansas
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Plant of the Week: Poison Ivy Identification & Treatment in Arkansas
Plant of the Week
Poison Ivy
Latin: Rhusradicans
Picture of Poison Ivy plants.
As society becomes increasingly urbanized, a valuable bit of botanical knowledge is being lost and people all over the state are paying the price for this loss of knowledge.
Being able to identify poison ivy is an important bit of information that every person who leaves the black top parking lot should know. Poison ivy is found in every county of Arkansas and in almost all states except for the driest part of the desert Southwest. Being readily spread by birds, it's as common in flower beds and the woods.
How do I identify poison ivy?
Poison Ivy
LEAVES OF THREE, LET IT BE — Poison ivy growing on the side of a stump. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo.)
Poison ivy (Rhusradicans), a member of the Anacardhaceae (Cashew) family, grows as a vine with root-like tendrils that aid in climbing. It has yellow-green leaves that are borne in a compound leaf with three leaflets. The old adage of "leaflets three – let it be" should be taught to all children. Leaflets are usually 3 to 5 inches long and ovate in outline with an entire margin. In the fall, the leaves turn shades of orange or red and may produce open clusters of buckshot size white berries on old vines
It's the only common vine plant with three leaflets other than clematis, but clematis climbs by twisting its petioles around the support and lacks the root-like tendrils. Immature shoots of box-elder maple often have three leaflets on their leaves, but it grows as a tree, not a vine. Poison ivy is equally at home in sun or shade but is more common in fertile soils than poor soils. Poison oak (Rhustoxicarium) is similar to poison ivy except it does not climb but instead forms small bushes 2 to 3 feet tall. The leaves are deeply lobed but still produced with three leaflets.
About half of the population is allergic to the toxins found in poison ivy with light-skinned individuals and young people the most susceptible groups. The non-volatile oil causing the allergic reaction is called urushiol, which is actually composed of four separate toxins. Urushiol is stable and will remain active after being stored as dried plant specimens for over 200 years.
These toxins, apparently an adaptation to prevent foliage feeding by grazing animals and insects, are released when the foliage is brushed and the epidermis broken. Also, contact with the roots or even smoke from logs containing poison ivy vines can cause dermatitis. Because this is a true allergic reaction, a person does not develop symptoms on the first exposure to the plant. However, subsequent exposures result in an allergic reaction due to the activation of our body’s immune response system.
How do I treat a poison ivy reaction?
Symptoms, usually expressed as raised, red, itching rashes, usually appear 24 to 48 hours after exposure. Thorough washing with soap and water, even several hours after exposure, will often prevent symptom development. Several over-the-counter products are available for relieving the itch. Prescription medication is also available which will make short work of the irritating rash.
How do I get rid of poison ivy?
Ridding the garden of this pest is imperative. Several companies sell aerosol products for use as poison ivy killers that are effective if used according to direction. Contact herbicides such as Roundup are not as effective against this pest and repeat sprays may be required.
Grubbing out the roots is probably the most effective means of eradication but is not recommended for people with hyper sensitivity skin. Winter time grubbing is less likely to cause dermatitis as long as long-sleeved clothing is worn and gloves used.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist - Ornamentals
Extension News - July 18, 2003
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Life finds a way in the driest desert on Earth
Earth 8 July 2006
THE arid heart of the Atacama desert in Chile is the only completely lifeless place on Earth – at least it was until the discovery of a new form of microbe living there. It survives in a unique way, using moisture sucked from the air by salty rocks.
All other desert life we know of requires at least occasional rain or fog to supply water, but this region of the Atacama has neither. It is the driest part of the driest desert on Earth, and its almost total lack of water seemed to be an insuperable barrier to life.
However, Jacek Wierzchos of Lleida University in Spain has found a form of cyanobacteria living inside halite rock samples that he picked up in the Atacama last year (Astrobiology, vol 6, p 415). They belong to the genus Chroococcidiopsis, and may include more than one new species.
Wierzchos made the discovery using a laser scanning microscope which he has adapted to image microbes without having to extract them from the rock.
“The bacteria survive because the halite rocks can extract moisture from moderately humid night air”
He believes that the new organisms survive because these rocks can extract moisture directly from moderately humid air. They are almost pure halite, a form of sodium chloride, and when the humidity is above 70 per cent small pores in the rock fill with a liquid salt solution which the hardy bacteria can exploit.
“It’s a completely different way of getting water. And in this environment, that’s what it takes to live,” says Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California and a co-author of the paper.
The mineral also lets enough sunlight through for the bacteria to carry out photosynthesis, while protecting them from destructive ultraviolet radiation – just as some other desert cyanobacteria survive inside translucent quartz. McKay thinks that the Atacama bacteria must photosynthesise during a brief interval in the morning, after the rocks have collected water from the relatively moist night air.
McKay suggests that this way of harnessing minute amounts of moisture might also have allowed microbial life to survive in the arid conditions on Mars. Halite and similar rocks have been found on Mars by the rover Opportunity.
The microbes could almost certainly have survived early in Mars’s history, when the atmosphere was thicker, warmer and wetter, and perhaps they would have outlasted other life as Mars dried out. They might still be clinging on in niches somewhere on the planet, but they would have to cope with even drier conditions than the Atacama, more intense ultraviolet radiation, lower temperatures and, worst of all, a near vacuum.
Wierzchos returned to the Atacama last week to collect more samples in the hope of understanding these organisms better, and to see whether their remains might be detected long after they have died off. If so, traces of them might be found on Mars some day.
More on these topics:
Bacteria picture
Bacteria could survive just under Mars's surface for 280 million years
meteorite on Mars
Meteorites on Mars may preserve evidence of ancient alien life
Perseverance rover measures speed of sound on Mars for the first time
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This page was reviewed under our medical and editorial policy by
Henry Krebs, MD, Interventional and Diagnostic Radiologist, CTCA Atlanta.
This page was reviewed on December 2, 2022.
Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP)
What is MRCP?
Cholangiopancreatography (CP) is a type of imaging technology that allows doctors to examine the pancreatic duct and common bile duct (into which the liver and gallbladder drain) using images instead of surgery. The scan helps doctors determine whether the ducts are blocked, narrowed or dilated.
There are three types of CP:
• Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP)
• Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
• Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC)
MRCP is a noninvasive CP scan, meaning doctors don’t need to place anything inside the patient to gather the images.
How does MRCP work?
MRCP is a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. MRIs use strong magnets and radio waves to produce images of thin layers of tissue until the full target area is captured—for MRCP, that area is the bile and pancreatic ducts.
A computer then groups the images together to show the whole duct system from different angles. Though not required, doctors may inject a dye (also called a contrast) to help improve the imaging results.
How do ERCP and PTC work?
The other two forms of CP are ERCP and PTC. Unlike MRCP, ERCP and PTC are considered invasive procedures.
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
ERCP uses X-rays to gather images of the bile and pancreatic ducts. The doctor views the ducts using an endoscope (a flexible tube with a light and video camera at the end), inserting the device through the mouth and down to the duodenum, where the ducts empty into the small intestine.
The doctor then passes a catheter (a thin tube) through the endoscope to inject dye into the ducts so they’ll show up in X-rays. The doctor may also remove small tissue or fluid samples (biopsies) or, if needed, place a stent to keep a section of a duct open.
Because this procedure is invasive, doctors generally sedate patients (giving them medicine to help them relax or make them sleepy) before an ERCP.
Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC)
PTC also uses X-rays to view the bile and pancreatic ducts. It’s more invasive than ERCP and comes with more discomfort and risk. Doctors mainly use PTC if they’ve already tried or can’t perform an ERCP.
Before the PTC, the doctor will numb the abdomen and give the patient a sedative or general anesthesia to render him or her unconscious. Next, guided by X-rays or ultrasound, the doctor inserts a needle through the skin and into the liver to inject dye into the bile ducts. The doctor then takes X-rays of the ducts while the dye passes through them. The doctor may also take biopsies, drain excess bile and place a stent during the procedure.
How does MRCP differ from ERCP or PTC?
MRCP differs from ERCP and PTC in several ways:
• MRCP is noninvasive. ERCP and PTC are invasive.
• Because MRCP is noninvasive, there’s no way to collect biopsies or place stents, which may be performed during ERCP or PTC.
• MRCP uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field to gather images. ERCP and PTC use X-rays, which is a type of radiation.
• MRCP doesn’t require numbing, sedatives or anesthesia, unlike ERCP and PTC.
• MRCP comes with minimal risk, while ERCP or PTC may cause perforating (a hole in) the ducts or intestine, pancreatitis and possible sedation-related side effects.
What is the purpose of MRCP?
Doctors use MRCP scans as noninvasive alternatives to ERCP scans. These scans provide information on diseases and conditions affecting the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreatic ducts and pancreas—including bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) and pancreatic cancer, infection, inflammation (pain, heat, redness, swelling and loss of function), and gallstones and bile duct stones.
For example, if someone has pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), an MRCP scan may help show the pancreas’ healthy tissue, scarring and functionality. A doctor may also perform an MRCP scan to try to determine the source of abdominal pain.
What are steps to prepare for an MRCP?
A care team may provide information on how to prepare for an MRCP before the appointment. Generally, patients:
• Can’t eat and drink for several hours before the procedure
• Provide information about their allergies, as the dye (gadolinium) may cause reactions in some patients
• Provide information about their health history, health conditions and medications
• Should let the care team know if they’re pregnant, as pregnant people should avoid gadolinium
• Should let the care team know if they’re claustrophobic (have a fear of confined spaces), since these patients may benefit from a sedative during the procedure
• Leave jewelry, watches, body piercing art, hairpins, removable dental devices, pens, glasses, cell phones or similar items outside the scanning area
• Should let the care team know if they have metal in their bodies (like shrapnel or bullets) or implanted medical devices—such as stents, cardiac defibrillators, pacemakers, vagal nerve stimulators and some cochlear (hearing) implants—since MRI scans use magnets
People who have metal in their bodies should stay away from the MRI scanning area until the care team determines it’s safe. Objects containing metal or electronics may interfere with the scan and cause burns, or they may move during the procedure. Additionally, an MRI may cause blindness if there are metal fragments, like shrapnel or bullets, near or in the eyes. In rare instances, some tattoo dyes contain iron that may get hot during the procedure.
What happens during an MRCP?
If given dye for an MRCP scan, the patient will receive the substance through an intravenous (IV) line (a soft tube placed in a vein) or orally (by mouth). IV lines may cause some discomfort and a small bruise. The oral dye may have an unpleasant taste and make the stomach feel full.
The patient will lie on a narrow table that slides into the MRI scanner, and the technician will go to an adjoining control room and communicate with the patient via an intercom. During the scan, the technician will take several series of images with breaks in between each series. The patient will need to stay still and in the proper position while the technician takes the images.
While it takes images, the machine will make repetitive banging and thumping sounds. This happens when the coils that generate the radio waves activate. The patient may be able to listen to music or wear headphones to help block out the noise during the scan.
MRCP scans last about 15 minutes. If paired with abdominal scans, they may take another 30 minutes. Afterward, patients may leave and resume their usual diet and activities. Those who were sedated will need a ride home.
A few people experience allergic reactions to the dye, such as a rash or itchy eyes. If this happens, patients should let their care team know immediately.
What are the benefits of an MRCP?
MRCP is designed to have these benefits:
• It’s noninvasive.
• It doesn’t use ionizing radiation.
• It provides detailed images of soft tissue, including areas that may be blocked by bones when using other imaging techniques.
• It uses gadolinium, a contrast dye that is less likely to cause allergic reactions than the iodine-based dye used for X-rays.
What are the risks of an MRCP?
MRCP risks include:
• Possible allergic reactions to the dye: Most allergic reactions are mild. However, people with serious kidney disease could have a rare reaction to gadolinium, called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis.
• Too much sedative: During the scan, the MRI team will monitor the patient’s vital signs to safeguard against this risk.
• Disruptions to medical implants: The powerful magnetic field of the MRI machine may cause implanted medical devices to malfunction.
• Claustrophobia: People with severe claustrophobia may require medicine to relax.
What are the limitations of an MRCP?
MRCP limitations include:
• Requiring patients to stay still for the scan to get clear images
• Avoiding interference from metallic implants or objects
• Difficulty getting clear images for patients with seriously irregular heartbeats: Some MRCPs use the heart’s electrical activity to time the procedure, so a seriously irregular heartbeat may prevent them from getting clear images.
• Needing to avoid gadolinium while pregnant: Although MRI hasn’t been shown to harm a fetus, doctors may delay the procedure until after delivery.
Expert cancer care
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Eurasian pygmy owl
The Eurasian pygmy owl (Glaucidium passerinum) is the smallest owl in Europe. It is a dark reddish to greyish-brown, with spotted sides and half of a white ring around the back of the neck.[3] This species is found in the boreal forests of Northern and Central Europe to Siberia.[3]
Eurasian pygmy owl
Glaucidium passerinum 20110413.jpg
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Glaucidium
G. passerinum
Binomial name
Glaucidium passerinum
Range of G. passerinum
Strix passerina Linnaeus, 1758
This is a sedentary species, meaning that adults are resident throughout the year in its range. The exception may be during harsh winters, when the adults may move south. Young of the species usually move in autumn or winter.[3]
The Eurasian pygmy owl was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Strix passerina.[4] The type locality is Sweden.[5] The specific epithet is from Latin passerinus meaning "sparrow-like" implying "sparrow sized".[6] This owl is now placed in the genus Glaucidium that was introduced in 1826 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie.[7][8]
Two subspecies are recognised:[8]
• G. p. passerinum (Linnaeus, 1758) – central, north Europe to southwest Siberia
• G. p. orientale Taczanowski, 1891 – central, east Siberia, Mongolia and northeast China
The Eurasian pygmy owl is usually red-tinged to a greyish-brown with dots on its back. The tail is generally darker than the body with five narrow, whitish bars. It has a small, short head with white to grey eyebrows and yellow eyes. It lacks the ear tufts that many other owls have. There is a white half-collar on the back of the neck. The belly is mostly white with brown speckles. The beak is a greyish-yellow and hook-shaped.
In order to be able to carry larger vertebrate prey, it has evolved disproportionately large feet. The legs and toes are a brownish-yellow with black talons. Females are 17.4 to 19 cm (6.9 to 7.5 in) long, and males are generally smaller, measuring 15.2 to 17 cm (6.0 to 6.7 in) in length. Females are about 67 to 77 g (2.4 to 2.7 oz), and males are 50 to 65 g (1.8 to 2.3 oz) in weight.
The call of the Eurasian pygmy owl is much higher in pitch than what is generally perceived as a normal owl "hoot". The call of the male is a monotonous chain of clear, fluted notes spaced by about two seconds. The call of the female is similar, but higher in pitch. Before and after the mating season, both males and females make a five to seven note rise on the pitch scale.
Distribution and habitatEdit
This owl can be found primarily in coniferous forests of the taiga and higher mountainous regions with coniferous and mixed forests. These areas generally have cooler temperatures and higher rainfall than nearby lowland regions. The owl usually lives along the edges of clearings surrounded by moist or swampy land, generally with a water source nearby. It nests in old woodpecker holes, often those of the great spotted woodpecker.
Behaviour and ecologyEdit
This owl is crepuscular, being active during the daylight hours near sunrise and sunset.[3]
Chicks in a nest box
This owl nests in tree cavities, often in old woodpecker holes. It prefers conifers but will occupy birches and beeches. Pairs form in autumn through early spring. During courtship the male leads the female through his territory. If he has obtained a nest hole, he leads her to it. The male will also feed the female.
This species is serially monogamous, forming bonded pairs for one or more breeding seasons. The male is territorial and may use the same nesting territory for up to seven years. The female lays about four to seven eggs, generally in April. They are incubated for four weeks, starting when the third egg is laid. They hatch nearly simultaneously and the female remains with them for nine to ten days, being fed by the male.
After three weeks the young are active and the female returns to the nest only to feed them and clean out waste. Fledging occurs at 30 to 34 days. The chicks remain close to the nest for a few days before departing.
Food and feedingEdit
The diet of the Eurasian pygmy owl includes mostly small mammals, such as voles, lemmings, bats, and mice, and small birds such as thrushes, crossbills, chaffinches, and leaf-warblers. They are able to catch birds in flight. Other prey items may include lizards, fish, and insects. Pygmy owls store large quantities of small mammals and birds in the food stores they collect in the autumn and that will be used throughout the winter to supplement their diet.[9] Their food hoarding behaviour is deeply influenced by weather conditions,[10] making them susceptible to climatic changes.
1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Glaucidium passerinum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22689194A86868363. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22689194A86868363.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
3. ^ a b c d "Eurasian Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum)". The Owl Pages. 2006.
4. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 93.
5. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 127.
6. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
7. ^ Boie, Friedrich (1826). "Generalübersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen". Isis von Oken (in German and Latin). 19. cols 969–981 [970].
8. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Owls". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
9. ^ Masoero, Giulia; Morosinotto, Chiara; Laaksonen, Toni; Korpimäki, Erkki (14 September 2018). "Food hoarding of an avian predator: sex- and age-related differences under fluctuating food conditions". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 72 (10): 159. doi:10.1007/s00265-018-2571-x. S2CID 52277348.
10. ^ Masoero, Giulia; Laaksonen, Toni; Morosinotto, Chiara; Korpimäki, Erkki (2020). "Climate change and perishable food hoards of an avian predator: Is the freezer still working?". Global Change Biology. 26 (10): 5414–5430. Bibcode:2020GCBio..26.5414M. doi:10.1111/gcb.15250. PMID 32738026.
• Sparks, J. and T. Soper. Owls. New York: Facts On File, 1989.
• Wardhaugh, A. A. Owls of Britain and Europe. Dorset: Blandford Press, 1983.
External linksEdit
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Fleas are the insects forming the order Siphonaptera, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals (including bats and humans) and birds as external parasites. They are wingless insects (1/16 to 1/8-inch (1.5 to 3.3 mm) long), usually dark colored, with tube-like mouth-parts adapted to feeding on the blood of their hosts.
Their legs are long, the hind pair well adapted for jumping: a flea can jump vertically up to 18 cm and horizontally up to 33 cm. This is around 200 times their own body length, making the flea one of the best jumpers of all known animals (relative to body size), second only to the froghopper.
In their larval stages they avoid light and will survive off feathers, adult flea feces, hair and skin. Only the adult flea requires blood to survive. Rather than commuting to and from a host like mosquitoes or bedbugs, fleas often just hang out in its fur. Fleas have a sense organ on their bodies which is very sensitive to vibration and air currents.
Fleas have multiple stages of complete metamorphosis, moving from eggs, to larvae, to pupa and then to adult.
Over 2,000 species have been described worldwide. Some flea species include:
• Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis)
• Dog flea (Ctenocephalides canis)
• Human flea (Pulex irritans)
• Moorhen flea (Dasypsyllus gallinulae)
• Northern rat flea (Nosopsyllus fasciatus)
• Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis)
Fleas are a nuisance to their hosts, causing an itching sensation which in turn may result in the host attempting to remove the pest by biting, pecking, scratching, etc. They take small meals of blood and can pass disease in the process.
This is the way rat fleas spread bubonic plague around Europe during the Middle Ages, and still do in some parts of the world. Many people who have had flea bites (which look like several small mosquito bites) get an allergic reaction to the saliva of the flea, and in some cases can catch tapeworms among other diseases.
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Rare mouse-deer spotted in Vietnam for the first time in 30 years
Living on Earth
Silver-backed chevrotain caught on camera
Courtesy of SIE/GWC / Leibniz-IZW/NCNP
Andrew Tilker, the Asian species officer for Global Wildlife Conservation, says local knowledge helped locate the rare and tiny mouse-deer, which is also known as the silver-backed chevrotain.
There had been no scientifically validated records of this species of chevrotain for more than 25 years, and scientists were unsure whether or not it still existed in the wilds in Vietnam, Tilker said. But now, camera traps have identified at least one population of the elusive creature. The chevrotain is the first species found as part of Global Wildlife Conservation’s hunt for 25 "most wanted" species they think may be lost.
Related: A UN report says Earth faces 'unprecedented' threat to biodiversity
“The silverback chevrotain was first discovered in the early 1900s. ... After that, the species went unrecorded until 1990. It's only known from a small part of Vietnam. So, it's not very widespread. It really occurs in a sliver of habitat in a small part of a fairly small country.”
Andrew Tilker, Asian species officer, Global Wildlife Conservation
“The silverback chevrotain was first discovered in the early 1900s,” Tilker said. “After that, the species went unrecorded until 1990. It's only known from a small part of Vietnam. So, it's not very widespread. It really occurs in a sliver of habitat in a small part of a fairly small country.”
The chevrotain looks like a tiny deer and is about the size of a rabbit, Tilker said. “It looks like a small deer that somebody had dipped halfway into a bucket of silver paint and then pulled it out again. It's a really unique animal. There's nothing else like it.”
Tilker and the entire team were “overjoyed” when they got the first photos from the camera traps. They had felt confident they had a good chance of getting photographs of the species because local people had told them they had seen an animal that couldn't be anything else.
“But we didn't expect to get so many photos on our first try,” he said. “That was really something special and…it highlights the importance of working with local people and local ecological knowledge.”
Locals were familiar with the silver-backed chevrotain and could clearly distinguish it from the more common, lesser chevrotain, Tilker said. They conducted surveys across several provinces in Vietnam, talking to local people who spent a lot of time in the forest, In two different locations, locals described seeing a gray-colored chevrotain.
“So, the species wasn't lost to local people — which is why we try to be very careful to say that the silver-backed chevrotain was lost [only] to science,” Tilker said.
Related: Biodiversity loss has an enormous impact on humans, according to a UN report
The discovery of this particular species doesn’t necessarily mean that it is safe from extinction. Vietnam has enormous biodiversity, but it also has huge conservation challenges, including a thriving bushmeat trade. “The species is — without a doubt — heavily threatened by rampant, indiscriminate snaring because every mammal species in Vietnam is threatened by snaring,” Tilker said.
"In Vietnam, and in other parts of Southeast Asia, bushmeat is something of a status symbol,” he said. “If you're upper-middle class and you want to show off to your friends, an easy way to do that is to…go to a bushmeat market and buy bushmeat rather than domestic meat.”
This so-called “luxury meat industry” is fueling the snaring crisis in Vietnam that is catching chevrotain and many other species, he said. So Tilker and his team are intentionally not releasing the name or location of the site where they captured their photos, so no poachers who might want to hunt something different or novel know where to look.
“We know that the species is threatened by poaching. There’s no question about it,” Tilker said. “The question is, how severe is that threat? Is it pushing the species to extinction or do we still have a small window of time?”
For Tilker, the work is just beginning. The first step, he said, is securing this single, known population. The second step is try to figure out where else the species occurs. “If we lose this species from Vietnam — because they're only found in this country — then that equates to global extinction," he said. "We don't have backup populations, as far as we know.”
Tilker is happy to be able to tell a positive story about Vietnam, which “has incredible biodiversity and is losing that biodiversity at an unsustainable rate.”
“The fact that we're able to tell a positive story, I think, gives much-needed momentum for a positive outlook to conservation in Vietnam,” he said. “I've seen that in my interactions with local stakeholders, both from NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and also from the Vietnamese government. It's nice to be part of a story that has such a positive direction because I think that's often needed when you're working in such a difficult field.”
This article is based on an interview with Aynsley O’Neill that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.
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Kubla Khan by S. T. Coleridge (An Analysis)
Kubla Khan Poem By S.T. Coleridge Analysis Explanation Summary
In the poem, “Kublai Khan” S.T. Coleridge has described his dream of a magnificent palace. The surrounding of this extraordinary place is quite romantic and mysterious. As rivers, forests, hills, flowers, sea, gardens, rocks, chasm, caves, and domes, etc have been presented with tremendous qualities. The poet has tried to depict his conception of the fantastic and supernatural. The elements of fantasy and imagination are clear when he tells about the grandeur of Kubla Khan’s palace. Once again within a dream, the poet dreams of the same palace and describes the reaction of the people. The poem is magical and dream-like written under the influence of opium. It indicates the trance of the atmosphere of the poem. So the effect of the both dreams has been welle explained.
Once, Kubla Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, ordered a splendid pleasure house to be built at a place called Xanadu. Consequently, ten miles of fertile ground were surrounded by walls and towers. There were gardens in that land and streams passed through them. The gardens had many trees bearing sweet-smelling flowers. There were very old forests, encircling many green spots. There was a deep loverly chasm out of which a fountain gushed forth. It assumed the form of a river called Alph. So, it flowed up to five miles in a winding course. It passed through deep caves and fell into a lifeless ocean. The shadow of the pleasure house fell on the river water. The noise from the fountain and the caves could be heard there. It was in this noise that Kubla Khan heard the voices of his ancestors’ foretelling him that war was imminent.
Once, the poet saw an Abyssinian maid in a dream. She played on her dulcimer and sang of Mount Abora. He says that if he could recall to his mind her harmony and sound, he would be able to rebuild the pleasure houses of Kubla Khan in his imagination. All the spectators would then cry aloud that he had an uncanny (seeming to have a supernatural character-mysterious) and weird (relating to supernatural) appearance.
Extra: There is also a Netflix TV Series by the name of “Marco Polo” explaining the history of the Mongolian ruling era in the lead of Kubla Khan (also pronounced as Kublai Khan).
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Baldachin Explained
A baldachin, or baldaquin (from Italian: baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure is more correctly called a ciborium when it is sufficiently architectural in form. Baldachins are often supported on columns, especially when they are disconnected from an enclosing wall.[1] A cloth of honour is a simpler cloth hanging vertically behind the throne, usually continuing to form a canopy. It can also be used for similar canopies in interior design, for example above beds, and for processional canopies used in formal state ceremonies such as coronations, held up by four or more men with poles attached to the corners of the cloth.
"Baldachin" was originally a luxurious type of cloth from Baghdad, from which name the word is ultimately derived, appearing in English as "baudekin" and other spellings. Matthew Paris records that Henry III of England wore a robe "de preciosissimo baldekino" at a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 1247.[2] The word for the cloth became the word for the ceremonial canopies made from the cloth.
Canopies of state
In the Middle Ages, a hieratic canopy of state (or "estate"), cloth of honour, or cloth of state was hung above the seat of a personage of sufficient standing, as a symbol of authority. The seat under such a canopy of state would normally be raised on a dais. The cloth above a seat generally continued vertically down to the ground behind the seat. Emperors and kings, reigning dukes and bishops were accorded this honour. In a 15th-century manuscript illumination the sovereign Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Rhodes sits in state to receive a presentation copy of the author's book. His seat is raised on a carpet-covered dais and backed with a richly embroidered dosser (French, "dos"). Under his feet is a cushion, such as protected the feet of the King of France when he presided at a lit de justice. The King of France was also covered by a mobile canopy during his Coronation, held up on poles by several Peers of France. The Virgin Mary in particular, is very often shown sitting under a cloth of honour in medieval and Renaissance paintings where she is shown enthroned with saints.
The cloth was often simply a luxurious textile, often imported and with rich patterns, as in brocades, but might have heraldic elements. French kings are often shown with blue cloths patterned with the gold fleur-de-lys. Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII in her portrait by an anonymous artist, c. 1500 prays under a canopy of estate; one can see the dosser against the gilded leather wall-covering and the tester above her head (the Tudor rose at its center) supported on cords from the ceiling. The coats-of-arms embroidered or woven into the tapestry are of England (parted as usual with France) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts.
Sometimes, as in the presentation miniature Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good by Rogier van der Weyden, the cloth continues over the seat, and then to the floor. In the summer of 1520, a meeting was staged between Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, where the ostentatious display of wealth and power earned the meeting-place the name of The Field of Cloth of Gold. The canopy of estate may still be seen in most formal throne rooms.
State bed
The state bed, intended for receiving important visitors and producing heirs before a select public, but not intended for sleeping in,[3] evolved during the second half of the seventeenth century, developing the medieval tradition of receiving visitors in the bedroom, which had become the last and most private room of the standard suite of rooms in a Baroque apartment. Louis XIV developed the rituals of receptions in his state bedchamber, the petit lever to which only a handful of his court élite might expect to be invited. The other monarchs of Europe soon imitated his practice; even his staunchest enemy, William III of England, had his "grooms of the bedchamber", a signal honour.
The state bed, a lit à la duchesse - its canopy supported without visible posts - was delivered for the use of Queen Marie Leszczyńska at Versailles, as the centrepiece of a new decor realized for the Queen in 1730 - 35. Its tester is quickly recognizable as a baldachin, serving its time-honoured function; the bedding might easily be replaced by a gilded throne. The queens of France spent a great deal of time in their chambre, where they received the ladies of the court at the morning lever and granted private audiences. By the time Marie Antoinette escaped the mob from this bedroom, such state beds, with the elaborate etiquette they embodied, were already falling out of use. A state bed with a domed tester designed in 1775-76 by Robert Adam for Lady Child at Osterley Park and another domed state bed, delivered by Thomas Chippendale for Sir Edwin Lascelles at Harewood House, Yorkshire in 1773[4] are two of the last English state beds intended for a main floor State Bedroom in a non-royal residence.
St. Peter's Basilica
See main article: St. Peter's baldachin. Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design and construct a large structure that would be placed over the main altar, believed to be above the tomb of Saint Peter, in the new St. Peter's Basilica. The canopy imitated cloth in bronze, as did many subsequent imitations. This famous and spectacular feature is generally called the "Baldacchino", though strictly it is a ciborium.
All of these combine to create a feeling of upward movement.
Processional canopy
Francisco Franco, the ruler of Spain from 1939 to 1975, frequently walked under a baldachin after formally proclaiming Spain a monarchy—a privilege he appropriated as de facto regent for life.
Surname Baldacchino
See also
Further reading
External links
Notes and References
1. Web site: Baldachin architecture. 2020-08-12. Encyclopedia Britannica. en.
4. Annabel Westman and Aasha Tyrrell, "The Restoration of the Harewood State Bed" (on-line)
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Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino
Cultures > Arid North > Inka in Chile
Early historians recount that around 1471, the Inka ruler Topa Inka Yupanki sought to expand his rule over Kollasuyu south of the Aconcagua River. Later his son, Wayna Kapac, extended Tawantinsuyu to its southernmost frontier, just south of the Maipo River in Central Chile. As the Inka conquered what is now Chilean territory, they came up against a variety of local cultures, which archeologists have named as follows (from north to south): Arica, Tarapacá, Atacameño, Copiapoe, Diaguita and Aconcagua. The Inka maintained their rule by making effective use of the principle of Andean reciprocity, although the conquest was not without armed conflicts. In the northern semi-desert, the Empire found close allies in the Diaguita, who helped the Inka to expand into neighboring areas, thereby extending the reach of their own culture over a vast region. In the mid-16th Century, indigenous groups witnessed the arrival of a host of new colonizers who came from Europe and would eventually destroy these ancient cultures.
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How does the short story "Thank you, M'am" have allegory?
Expert Answers
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles
Thank You, M'am by Langston Hughes is a short story which contains a powerful message. Mrs. Jones is not about to miss this opportunity to teach Roger a lesson. She does not behave as Roger expects, by punishing him or taking him to the police. She shows him a kindness and understanding which confuses him but which has a profound effect on him to the point that he no longer feels the urge to run away from her and even offers to run an errand for her because he recognizes her goodwill and her personal interest in him.
Allegory has a hidden meaning and aims to reveal a point of view without direct reference to that point of view. It can share a message that has a moral intent or even a political one. Famous allegorical novels include Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies. Aesop's fables are well-loved allegories with The Tortoise and the Hare being a prime example where the over-confident (and over-bearing) hare wastes his talents whereas the tortoise's honest hard work and perseverance ensure that ultimately he wins the race and proves that life is not just about being the best or getting what you want but is about doing your best and making the most of what you have, using your skills wisely. This is exactly the message that Mrs. Jones is trying to share with Roger. She even admits to him that she "wanted things I could not get." It is apparent that it is her hard work, honesty and sense of fairness that have served her well and that ensure that she shares her positive message with Roger.
Approved by eNotes Editorial Team
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Figureheads: Stalwart Faces of the Galley
In antiquity, Greek and Phoenician shipbuilders would attach sculpted eyes to their galleys. They believed that these depictions, the first figureheads in what would become a centuries-long tradition, would protect them while they were at sea. The Romans extended this tradition, choosing instead to depict their deities and turning figureheads into a religious practice. From one civilization to the next, the thinking behind figureheads would change, but it was only recently that they seemed to fall out of use altogether.
The Vikings carried on the practice, opting to feature sculptures of ghouls and trolls with exaggerated eyes and teeth to adorn their ships, chosen for their perceived ability to ward off troublesome spirits. This continued throughout their dominance of Europe. Over the half-millennium that followed the Norman conquest and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, events that are used to mark the end of the Viking Age, figureheads persisted, but the style changed once again. Menacing eyes that had given way to menacing gods that had given way to menacing monsters gave way to creatures less menacing.
During the early modern and modern eras, from the 16th
century to the 20th century, the dolphins lost out. Shipbuilders began to favor mermaids and half-clothed maidens, and at the same time, figureheads became larger than ever before. 17th-century figureheads sometimes weighed upwards of 6,000 pounds. Although this weight negatively affected sailing ships’ balance, form often won out over function since rich shipowners and rich navy officials viewed large figureheads as signs of their prodigious wealth.
Figureheads were not merely for posturing, though. Throughout each of these eras, there was evidence as well that figureheads served as a form of language, signifying ships to their crews, the majority of whom were illiterate. Instead of reading a ship’s name on its hull, the thinking went, the crews could point to the figurehead, telling which was which without ever learning how to read and write.
As navies worldwide abandoned their sailing ships in favor of steam-powered battleships, figureheads fell out of fashion. One theory is that there was no longer an obvious spot on modern battleships for anything so ostentatious. Yet, thinking of figureheads as emblems or as a form of language, we can point to ships’ badges or crests as their latest incarnation.
After World War II, the US Navy made a point of encouraging creativity among their ships’ commanding officers, whom it tasked with designing unique crests before they took charge of new ships. These crests today frequently depict bald eagles, the national bird of the United States of America. These are less conspicuous than the multi-ton maidens of the 1600s or the bug-eyed goblins of the 900s, but in them there is still a nod toward the same artistic tradition passed down from age to age.
Top banner image: "Recouvrance proue face", author Hervé Cozanet, used under theCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License,
Trireme mosaic, author wikipedia user Mathiasrex used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License , "Oseberg figurehead" courtesy of the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License ,
"Figure head - Europa ( tall ship - 1911) - 10 Aug , 2012" , author Jose Luis Cernadas Iglesias , used courtesy of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
"Eagle Figurehead of the USS Lancaster", author wikipedia user Mytwocents, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
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Home » Verbal Ability » Ordering of Sentences » Question
Direction: In the following questions, the first and the last part of the sentences are numbered 1 and 6. The rest of the sentences are split into four parts and named P, Q, R and S. These four parts are not given in their proper order. Read the sentence and find out which of the four combinations is correct. Then find the correct answer.
1. 1. A jackal fell into a dyer’s tub.
P. He ordered that he should be respected.
Q. Meanwhile a lion arrived on the scene.
R. He posed as the King of the forest.
S. The dyed jackal ran away.
6. Other jackals ran after him and tore him to pieces.
1. PQRS
2. QPRS
3. SQRP
4. RPQS
Correct Option: D
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