It all seemed like a Hollywood fairy tale: around midnight, a few hundred young men spread across the city, aiming towards governmental buildings and the army barracks. They were untrained, and most of them never held a gun before. Some of their rifles didn't even have bullets. Their target, no less, was to take over the city and neutralize the entire French army.
The date is November 1942 and the location is Algiers, where the American army is about to disembark in order to fight the German armies in North Africa. In the city itself, a coup d'état takes place by a Gaullist underground, comprised mostly of Jews, who tries to facilitate the American takeover of the city. In one of the more surreal chapters of World War II, a tiny and unorganized army of volunteers managed to fool 20, 000 French and Axis soldiers.
Imperial War Museum/Wikipedia
This allowed hundreds of underground members to take over the post office, the commissariat, the communications room and the commissioner's house, and the bewildered Vichy soldiers simply made way for them. Their commanders, including Vichy leader Philippe Petain's deputy, were taken into captivity without a single shot being fired. The chain of stunning events included a Jewish man impersonating a French general and ordering through the radio the entire army to surrender. Eventually, as day broke out, the Americans arrived and took over the city.
This untold drama is recounted in the film "Night of Fools," to be aired on Thursday in Israel during Holocaust Remembrance Day. The story remained practically unknown since nobody was interested in including it in the historical narrative: the Americans had no desire to share their victory, and the Vichy French were reluctant to be embarrassed by this episode. Historians, on the other hand, devoted most of their time and energy to studying the Holocaust in Europe.
Read article in full
Story of unsung Algiers heroes shown on Israeli TV
Aperture (computer memory)
|This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2009)|
In computing, an aperture is a portion of memory physical address space which is persistently[clarification needed] associated with a particular peripheral device or a memory unit. Apertures may reach external devices such as ROM or RAM chips, or internal memory on the CPU itself.
Typically a memory device attached to a computer accepts addresses starting at zero, and so a system with more than one such device would have ambiguous addressing. To resolve this, the memory logic will contain several aperture selectors, each containing a range selector and an interface to one of the memory devices. The set of selector address ranges of the apertures are disjoint. When the CPU presents a physical address within the range recognized by an aperture, the aperture unit routes the request (with the address remapped to a zero base) to the attached device. Thus apertures form a layer of address translation below the level of the usual virtual-to-physical mapping.
|This computer hardware article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
(image from Wikipedia)
By Mike Cronin
During the days of the USSR, Ukraine was one of the many Soviet Socialists Republics. Ukraine is an energy producer, breadbasket (third largest food exporter in the world), and industrial power, similar to the US Midwest. Ukraine has Europe’s 2nd largest military (and for a little over five years, it was a significant nuclear power: Ukraine inherited nearly 2000 nuclear weapons during the dissolution of the USSR; it returned all of them to Russia for dismantling by 1996), and it hosts the Russian Navy’s Black Sea/Mediterranean fleet at Sevastopol.
Russian rulers have always felt the need for buffers between Russia and its potential adversaries. During the Soviet days, that buffer was made up of the various Soviet “republics,” such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine. When the Soviet Union fell, such republics became independent countries. Since Vladimir Putin came to power, Russia has been steadily trying to reassert itself in those countries that were once part of the USSR – including Ukraine.
Current events in Kiev matter because Ukraine is the northern edge (Turkey is the southern edge) of the intersection between the Russian, European and, to some extent, Muslim spheres of influence. In fact, the name Ukraine literally translates to “on the edge.” None of these factions wants to see a prize like the Ukraine fall into another’s orbit. Ukrainians themselves understand this, and want to be independent while playing all sides off each other – a risky, but profitable, strategy. This is not new. Ukraine has been invaded many times over the course of Eurasian history; and it sits at the historical intersection of the Christian, Islamic and Eastern Orthodox spheres of influence. In the early 20th Century, World War I ended the Ottoman Empire, to which the southern portions of Ukraine belonged. Soon after, the Soviet Union was formed – with Ukraine as a founding member.
Expect periodic drama and conflict regarding Ukraine to continue for decades, if not centuries – it’s the normal pattern of life for valuable territory on the geopolitical fault lines between civilizations.
Norbert, the founder of the Premonstratensian Order, was born in Germany and lived during the years of 1085–1134. He came from a rich family and enjoyed the pleasures of the world. Similarly to St. Paul, he turned to faith after lightening struck his horse. He worked as a secretary of Emperor Henry V, then as a preacher in France, Belgium and the Rein Valley. In 1120, in the village Prémontré, he founded a community that later on became the basis for the Premonstratensian Order. He was appointed the archbishop of Magdeburg. Norbert was canonized by Gregory XIII in 1582. In the year of 1627, Norbert’s relics were moved to the Premonstratensian Monastery at Strahov; in the same year, Prague Archbishop Arnošt of Harrach proclaimed Norbert a Czech patron. His attributes are a monstrance, book and chalice with a spider.
This was originally written for Voices for the Library as part of their showcase of a wide range of library services and information professionals showing how different and how vital we all are. They have also included a specialist research librarian, a school librarian, an assistant librarian at the Royal Academy of Dance, and a children’s librarian.
Health libraries and librarians are vital to the support of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and evidence-based practice (EBP). EBM and EBP is
the process of systematically reviewing, appraising and using clinical research findings to aid the delivery of optimum clinical care to patients (from What is Evidence-Based Medicine?)
I work as an Assistant Librarian in an NHS library. My job is to ensure health professionals have access to the best available information so that patients receive evidence-based treatments and care. Health libraries are essential to this provision and without them health professionals would have another burden on their shoulders; how to find the best information fast?
So, what do health librarians and health libraries do that is so important?
I conduct literature searches for staff which involves searching online for guidelines, published research and systematic reviews (which are generally considered the strongest form of evidence-based medicine) on many different topics. Staff then go on to use this information to develop guidelines and policies; treat patients directly; research rare illnesses; or publish their own work. Many of the results of a literature search are not fully and freely available to staff because, although health library services try to make as much online content available by buying access to journals and databases, budgets will only stretch so far. When staff are faced with information that they can’t access the library will make an inter-library loan request to places such as the British Medical Association (BMA) or the British Library. Without the expert help of health libraries many health professionals would be unable to access this wealth of information either through lack of time or skills.
I quality check all new and updated clinical guidelines and policies. This involves making sure authors use up to date, relevant references; write full and complete information; use accurate spelling and grammar; and that each document complies with the Trust’s formatting standards. These documents are then ratified by relevant groups and committees and come back to me for publishing on the Trust intranet. During publishing I re-check the documents, add keywords to the publication page and ensure that each document is added to its relevant specialty’s Intranet page. All of this is essential to patient care because my accurate checking and publishing ensures that all staff have access to well-written, up to date information about treatments, patient care and patient safety.
Often health staff are very enthusiastic about learning how to find relevant evidence-based information themselves. Again the library is essential in providing this training and as part of my job I conduct regular information skills sessions. I show staff the range of online resources available to them, how to search them effectively, how to access the results and how to appraise basic health information. My colleague takes staff through more advanced critical appraisal training which equips them with the skills to assess the credibility and relevance of different kinds of clinical research. Developing a health workforce that is information literate is essential to excellent patient care and one which health libraries are experts in.
I hope this short introduction to some of the work health librarians do emphasises how vital health libraries are to all aspects of health care provision and patient care in both the NHS and the wider health sector.
If you’re interested in reading more about the different things health librarians do I highly recommend the following blogs:
Victoria Treadway is an NHS clinical librarian who has recently presented at a medical conference in New Delhi
Michael Cook writes about being a public health librarian and has recently created “Useful resources for health library folk” and “What health librarians do” pages
Eli Bastin is an outreach librarian who often includes links to useful library-related articles as well as writing about her job for the Bodleian healthcare libraries
As the authors write, “Many of us ‘see red,’ ‘feel blue,’ or ‘turn green with envy.'” Are such color-emotion associations, they wonder, fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture? Or are they cultural creations that we learn through our languages and traditions?
To find out, they surveyed about 4,600 people from 30 countries across six continents.
Co-author Daniel Oberfeld-Twistel of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz said this study is the largest of its kind to date. “It allowed us to obtain a comprehensive overview and establish that color-emotion associations are surprisingly similar around the world,” he said.
The psychology of color has the most to say about red
The study, published earlier this week in the journal Psychological Science, asked participants to assign up to 20 emotions to twelve different colors. The survey also asked them to specify how intensely they associate a certain color with a certain emotion.
The researchers found a significant global consensus. For example, red is the only color that people strongly associate with both a positive feeling (love) and a negative one (anger).
And around the world, the color that triggers the least emotions is brown.
Sadness: white or purple?
Regional differences also emerged. People in China, for example, more closely associate the color white with sadness than people in other countries. This also applies to the color purple in Greece.
“This may be because in China, white clothing is worn at funerals. And the color dark purple is used in the Greek Orthodox Church during periods of mourning,” said Oberfeld-Twistel.
In addition to such cultural idiosyncrasies, the local climate may also play a role. Previous studies have found that countries with less sunshine more frequently associate yellow with joy. The association is weaker in areas that have more sunshine. “Yellow is more joyful in colder and rainier countries,” as the authors put it.
Many fundamental questions about the mechanisms behind these color-emotion associations have yet to be clarified. But by using a self-learning AI system developed by Oberfeld-Twistel, scientists have already discovered that the similarities are greater when nations are linguistically or geographically close.
“The world is with you”
“Given our current knowledge,” the authors conclude, “we suggest that color-emotion associations represent a human psychological universal that likely contributes to shared communication and comprehension.”
“Thus, the next time you feel blue or see red,” they write, “know that the world is with you.”
Study: “Universal patterns in color-emotion associations are further shaped by linguistic and geographic proximity”
Authors: D. Jonauskaite et al.
Published in: Psychological Science
Publication date: September 8, 2020
Photo: by Sharon McCutcheon from Pexels
P30: Reflection as a process skill
One characteristic of a professional is their ability to be reflective. Looking critically at one’s own work allows the professional to adjust and grow. However, many teachers do not take the time or make the effort to be reflective. Why is that? I will discuss three types of professional reflection and give specific examples from my 20 years of teaching. These will include reflecting on my own professional practice as a classroom teacher, reflecting on how I might help others become better teachers and be more involved in their profession, and reflecting on how I might help others become more reflective themselves in their professional practice. Engaging in reflection is not possible without a professional network. Helpful suggestions for colleagues seeking such networks will be presented.
Last time it was your refrigerator's ice maker, and we wondered what the media would come with next. They have outdone themselves. The latest climate culprit: Internet search engines.
The Vancouver Sun calculated in an article last week that each search engine submission emits a minuscule one to 10 grams of carbon dioxide via a small amount of electricity usage. Add up the hundreds of millions of daily submissions, the Sun wrote, "and you're making a serious dent in some Greenland glaciers" (h/t Hot Air headlines).
It's Saturday night, and you want to catch the latest summer blockbuster. You do a quick Google search to find the venue and right time, and off you go to enjoy some mindless fun.
Meanwhile, your Internet search has just helped kill the planet. Depending on how long you took and what sites you visited, your search caused the emission of one to 10 grams of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Sure, it's not a lot on its own — but add up all of the more than one billion daily Google searches, throw in 60 million Facebook status updates each day, 50 million daily tweets and 250 billion emails per day, and you're making a serious dent in some Greenland glaciers.
The lesson here, of course, is that technology uses energy (and widely used technologies use lots of energy). If we're going to take up print space rattling off all the modern conveniences that emit carbon dioxide, well, let's just say there aren't enough trees in the rainforest.
A person dies from suicide somewhere in the world every 40 seconds.
In Australia, six men on average die from suicide every day. That’s nearly double the national road toll.
Those alarming statistics show the problem of men’s mental health is universal, and it’s only getting worse, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). There are now more countries that have instigated national suicide prevention strategies than five years ago, when WHO published its first global report on suicide, but that number is only 38, which, the organisation says, is still far too few.
Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a media statement recently, “Despite progress, one person still dies every 40 seconds from suicide. Every death is a tragedy for family, friends and colleagues. Yet suicides are preventable. We call on all countries to incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programs in a sustainable way.”
Perhaps surprisingly, WHO found that suicide rates are higher in high-income countries, and is the second leading cause of death among young people. Suicide rates varied from five per 100,000 people to over 30 per 100,000 people, and nearly three times as many men die from suicide in high-income countries, as opposed to a more equal rate among genders in low-income countries, although 79% of suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries. However, the highest rate of suicides is in high-income countries, at 11.5 per 100,000.
Making a difference to mental health and suicide
A young man in London has made strides in helping men overcome mental health issues by launching a clothing brand, Boys Get Sad Too, designed to encourage men to talk about their problems and seek help before it’s too late. Just over a year ago, Kyle Stanger printed T-shirts with the words ‘Boys get sad too’ on them, and started selling them after he generated some interest on a Facebook page. Now he has a full-time clothing brand with more than 35 products, and has developed an online community battling the stigma of mental health and the predilection for men to take their own lives rather than seek help.
“The brand is building into a community of people sharing the same goal – putting an end to the stigma of talking about mental health,” he told London’s Evening Standard.
According to Australian mental health organisation Beyond Blue, up to 45% of people in Australia will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, while about one million Australian adults suffer from depression, and over two million from anxiety. During their lives, one in eight men will experience depression, on average, while one in five men will experience anxiety at some stage.
On 1 November 2019, the Productivity Commission released its draft ‘Mental Health’ report for public comment. Mental health organisation Black Dog Institute hopes the report is a start towards a world-leading mental health system that could provide both individuals and communities with access to mental health treatment and prevention programs.
Men are, on average, involved in six of every eight suicides in Australia every day.
Director and Chief Scientist at Black Dog Institute, Scientia Professor Helen Christensen said in a media statement, “We know that addressing our country’s mental health concerns will come at great costs to government, the mental health sector and those on the frontline in our local communities. However, given the Productivity Commission’s finding that mental illness and suicide is now costing Australia $500 million a day, continuing to do the same things is no longer an option.”
The highest proportion of suicide deaths occurs among young and middle-aged people, but the rate decreases among older people. More than half (54.8%) of all suicide deaths in 2018 were people aged from 30 to 59. Alarmingly, in 2018, suicide was responsible for 38.4% of deaths among people aged 15–24 and 29.4% of deaths among people aged 25–34.
Even more alarmingly, the suicide rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is more than double the national rate. In 2015, suicide accounted for 5.2% of all Indigenous deaths, compared to 1.8% for non-Indigenous people.
If you need someone to talk to, contact BeyondBlue: 1300 22 4636, MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78 or Lifeline: 13 11 14
An appropriate driver-assistance in order to use regenerative braking effectively is significant as a feasible method of a smart power management for energy-saving and economical solutions in sustainable electric railway operation. It is substantially significant to suppress braking force in high speed so that the braking force is less than corresponding traction force in the field-weakening speed region so that the whole braking force can be supplied by the regenerative electric brakes without active use of ordinary mechanical brakes. This power limitation in high speed is also beneficial to reduce the probability of regenerative braking cancellation caused by occasional high voltage at pantographs. If one limit the braking force, the total traveling time is increased, but this supplemental running time is relatively small, when the limitation of the deceleration is only applied in high speed and this supplemental time can be absorbed in realistic time margin, which is the difference of the initially scheduled conservative running time and actual one. Authors propose this type of the fully used electric braking pattern as 'constant-power braking'or 'power-limiting braking'and for realistic application to existing rolling stocks, they also propose a minor variation called as discrete approximate constant-power electric braking. The train driver must start braking operation considerably earlier than conventional ordinary train operation, and the braking force must be precisely controlled depending on the actual train speed timely. Since this driving method is, therefore, inherently more complicated than conventional one, a smart onboard driver-assistance or automatic train stopping control is requested for the realization.
Things you can do to increase the amount of dead wood
- Veteranise, if there are suitable trees. See chapter on veteranisation.
- Ring-bark trees, partially or fully, and preferably at a tree’s distance to paths and roads.
- Identify locations for dead wood piles, and place dead wood from trees felled locally there. For endangered species reliant on fallen trees, it may be necessary to enrich a protected area with really large dead oak wood, which can last for centuries.
- If necessary, standing dead trees can be created by an arborist or woodland harvester. But remember that a tree that has died and remains in place contains many more habitats.
- If deciduous trees have been felled in an area containing stag beetles, it might be a good idea to create a stag beetle pile. See the chapter on stag beetle piles.
- It is much better to create small amounts of dead wood continuously, than a large amount on one occasion.
- Piles of branches and tops can become deathtraps for wood-living insects, if the piles remain over the summer: female beetles can lay their eggs in the wood, which later gets chipped. So, plan your management such that felling and clea- ring is done after August 1, and chipping is done before April 1st.
In restoration and ongoing management, by always being mindful of the wood that is dead but very full of life, it is possible to create a large variation in habitat, and consequently also a landscape very rich in species.
Your baby is now making regular deep breathing movements. These have been present for some weeks, but not in a sustained and co-ordinated fashion. These breathing movements are critical for the development and expansion of your baby’s lungs.
Although the lungs are the last of your baby’s organs to be fully functional, they are undergoing rapid development now.
At this stage, your baby’s lungs are starting to mature, as the barrier between the bloodstream and what will become air-containing sacs gradually starts to thin. The thinner this barrier, the more easily oxygen and carbon dioxide will transfer into and out of the baby’s bloodstream.
The lungs remain filled with fluid during your pregnancy and when your baby practises breathing, the fluid moves out of her lungs into the amniotic fluid.
At 23 weeks, cells begin to line the smallest branches within the lung and start to produce surfactant, a substance that greatly assists lung function. This substance enables the smallest air sacs to remain open when the newborn baby breathes in and out so that gas transfer can continually take place. Without it, the tiny air sacs would collapse after each breath and it would take much more effort to move air in and out of the lungs. The cells that produce surfactant are not, however, fully functional yet.
Is it true that playing music to my unborn baby will enhance her development?
Some research into this claim finds that playing music to an unborn baby will lead to a shorter labour and easier birth, and to the newborn baby crying less, being more relaxed, and, overall, being in better health. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be any significant research to suggest that babies who listen to music in the uterus are more intelligent, or develop at a greater speed.
The jury is still out on these findings, but there is anecdotal evidence from pregnant women that their babies move to the rhythm of music. It makes sense that as you relax to gentle music or are invigorated by livelier music, your baby will respond in kind. Many mums say that music played frequently during pregnancy seems to be familiar to their newborns, and soothes them.
So whether your baby is simply experiencing the benefits of your happy state as you listen, or responding to the rhythm, playing music is a good idea.
There’s no harm in introducing music to your baby at this early stage. If the music helps you to relax, it will benefit you and your baby.
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Parkinson’s disease is a slowly progressive disorder that affects movement, muscle control, and balance. Part of the disease process develops as cells are destroyed in certain parts of the brain stem, particularly the crescent-shaped cell mass known as the substantia nigra. Nerve cells in the substantia nigra send out fibers to tissue located in both sides of the brain. There the cells release essential neurotransmitters that help control movement and coordination.
Substantia nigra and Parkinson's disease
The phrase “printing money” is loaded with all kinds of negative connotations. It’s something we associate with Robert Mugabe, destroying the value of Zimbabwe’s currency. But now “quantitative easing” is about to begin. How does that work, and is it really the same as printing money?
Most of the money in circulation is not in the form of banknotes, but in the form of currency balances held electronically by the banks. That doesn’t alter the essence of what’s happening, because the banks are free to go to the central bank at any time and exchange their currency balance for crisp fresh banknotes. A central bank can “print money” without literally firing up the printing presses.
When a central bank such as the Bank of England undertakes quantitative easing, it means they are creating fresh money and buying stuff with it. So the central bank runs its software and credits an amount to its balance. Yep, just out of nowhere. Central banks are the only banks that can “magic up” a bank balance, just like that.
But the central bank funds have no effect on the economy until they get “out there”. So the central bank uses those funds to buy stuff. The central bank gets the stuff, and the seller gets the money transferred into their bank balance, from which they can spend or lend it just like any other money. The effect is to get more money into circulation.
So what is this “stuff” that the central bank buys? Some economists would say that the bank is buying “assets”, but economists have a broader notion of “assets” than the “man in the street” does. The bank might buy government bonds (which is really just lending money to the government). Or the bank might buy corporate bonds (which is really just lending money to a company). Or the bank might buy debentures from retail banks (which is really just lending money to the retail banks).
Of course the central bank could buy real assets like gold bars or houses, but that doesn’t seem to be the current plan. They’d prefer to use the money in a way that will cause it to slosh around the financial system a bit. That will lower lower the interest rates on retail money, and make it easier for banks to lend money to their customers more freely.
Is it a good idea? Quantitative easing was used after the Japanese banking crisis of the 1990s, but didn’t solve the problem. Japan is still in the economic doldrums. And is it really a wise thing to try to solve the problems caused by the bursting of a credit bubble, by attempting to reflate the bubble?
At best this will have little effect, because anyone who can use money for productive purposes is still able to borrow plenty – only speculative uses are currently hard to borrow for. At worst, this will leave so much money sloshing around that when the economy picks up there will be a burst of high inflation.
There is one way in which quantitative easing is not like printing money and throwing it around the street. It’s possible to reverse the easing at any time by selling off the things that were bought. That will raise the cost of new borrowing, making life harder for those with mortgaged property, and making it very expensive for the government to borrow money to fund the debt that is currently increasing rapidly, so it may not be politically acceptable for the easing to be reversed quickly.
So, to answer the original question, quantitative easing is not exactly the same thing as printing money, but it shares most of the same downsides.
Need research? Quezi's researchers can answer your questions at uclue.com
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its Environmental Outlook to 2050 report, and the predictions are grim.
According to the OECD, global greenhouse gas emissions could rise by a staggering 50% by 2050 unless more ambitious climate policies curb them, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix.
"Unless the global energy mix changes, fossil fuels will supply about 85% of energy demand in 2050, implying a 50% increase in greenhouse gas emissions and worsening urban air pollution," the OECD said in a statement.
The global economy in 2050 will be four times larger than it is today and the world will use around 80% more energy, the report said.
But the global energy mix is not predicted to be very different from that of today: Fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas will make up 85% of energy sources, while renewable energy sources, including biofuels, are forecast to make up 10% and nuclear energy will make up the rest.
Due to such dependence on fossils, carbon dioxide emissions from energy use are expected to grow by 70%, the OECD hedged.
This, however, will help drive up the average global temperature by 3 to 6 degrees Celsius by 2100 - exceeding the internationally agreed warming limit of within 2 degrees.
The purpose of the book of Romans was to introduce Paul to the Believers in Roman and to give a sample of his message before his arrival in Rome.
The Faith of Abraham
4 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”[a]
4 When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. 5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. 6 David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:
7 “Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sins are put out of sight.
8 Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”[b]
9 Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles?[c] Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith. 10 But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!
11 Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. 12 And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.
13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. 14 If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. 15 For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
16 So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”[d] This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”[e] 19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.
4:3 Gen 15:6.
4:7-8 Ps 32:1-2 (Greek version).
4:9 Greek is this blessing only for the circumcised, or is it also for the uncircumcised?
4:17 Gen 17:5.
4:18 Gen 15:5.
The Codex Zouche-Nuttall or Codex Tonindeye is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian document of Mixtec pictography, now in the collections of the British Museum. It is one of about 16 manuscripts from Mexico that are entirely pre-Columbian in origin. The codex derives its name from Zelia Nuttall, who first published it in 1902, and Baroness Zouche, its donor.
Detail of page 20 from the codex
|Size||11.35 metres in length|
|Created||14th-15th Centuries AD|
|Present location||British Museum, London|
The Codex Zouche-Nuttall was probably made in the 14th century and is composed of fourteen sections of animal skin with dimensions of 19 cm by 23.5 cm. The codex folds together like a screen and is vividly painted on both sides, and the condition of the document is by and large excellent. It is one of three codices that record the genealogies, alliances and conquests of several 11th and 12th century rulers of a small Mixtec city-state in highland Oaxaca, the Tilantongo kingdom, especially under the leadership of the warrior Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw (who died in the early twelfth century at the age of fifty-two).
The codex probably reached Spain in the 16th century. It was first identified at the Monastery of San Marco, Florence, in 1854 and was sold in 1859 to John Temple Leader who sent it to his friend Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche. A facsimile was published while it was in the collection of Baron Zouche by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard in 1902, with an introduction by Zelia Nuttall (1857–1933). The British Museum was loaned the manuscript in 1876 and acquired it in 1917.
- Codex Waecker-Gotter, also in the British Museum
- E.H. Boone, Stories in red and black: pict (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2000)
- Z. Nuttall, Codex Nuttall: facsimile of an (Cambridge, Mass., Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 1902)
- G. Brotherstone, Painted books of Mexico (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
- C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)
- F. Anders, M. Jansen and G. A. Pérez Jiménez, Códice Zouche-Nuttall, facsimile with commentary and line drawing (Madrid, Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario; Graz, Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt; Mexico City, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992) Online pdf copy.
- Fewkes, J. Walter (April–June 1902). "Codex Nuttall. Facsimile of an Ancient Mexican Codex Belonging to Lord Zouche of Harynworth,[sic] England [review]" (online text reproduction). American Anthropologist New Series. Washington, DC: Anthropological Society of Washington, American Ethnological Society. 4 (2): 298–301. ISSN 0002-7294. OCLC 1479294. doi:10.1525/aa.1902.4.2.02a00100.
- Tozzer, Alfred M. (July–September 1933). "Zelia Nuttall" (PDF online reproduction). American Anthropologist New Series. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association and affiliated societies. 35 (3): 475–482. ISSN 0002-7294. OCLC 1479294. doi:10.1525/aa.1933.35.3.02a00070.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Codex Zouche-Nuttall.|
Tooth marks found on the 500,000-year-old femur of an early hominin show that humans haven’t always been top of the food chain…
In Ice Age North Africa, our prehistoric ancestors had a lot to contend with. The modern day predators that we know today, had bigger, badder older brothers, who could make life for our predecessors pretty tough. Sabre-tooth cats, giant baboons and cave hyenas all roamed the land, along with prehistoric species of bears, leopards, and other wild cats.
Although our Pleistocene ancestors were skilled at hunting and protecting their habitats from these large carnivores, they were by no means top dog! The animals they encountered were killers, and, at a famous cave site in Morocco, archaeologists have now found evidence to prove that humans could be a tasty treat for these prehistoric predators.
In the Hyena’s den
The human femur was found inside the Grotte à Hominidés, an important archaeological site known to have been used as a den by both large and small carnivores during the Ice Age. The bone’s location within the carnivores’ refuse assemblage, along with the fractures and tooth marks on the bone, indicate that the individual had fallen prey to one of these creatures.
The most likely culprits, in this case, are hyenas, as feline or ursid (bears) teeth are less efficient at cracking into the bone. The femur shows distinctive pits and tooth marks, along with severe cracks at either end of the bone, leading to the conclusion that they were caused by a canine.
Carian or prey?
The tooth-marks on the bone alone, though, aren’t necessarily enough to demonstrate predation, there’s also the possibility that they could have resulted from post-mortem consumption by scavengers; but the sheer amount of human remains found scattered amongst the carnivores’ other food waste does strongly support the idea that they were hunted. Whichever is the case, the evidence shows that humans were a feasible resource for prehistoric carnivores.
A competitive environment
During the Pleistocene period the human diet changed, seeing a rise in the amount of fat and meat consumed. This increase would have resulted in more frequent interaction with large carnivores, as the humans either preyed on the predators themselves, or directly competed with them for food and living space. The discovery of the gnawed human bone represents the first piece of evidence for direct conflict between the two, and for the consumption of human remains by carnivores in this cave.
Significantly, the finding shows that our ancestors’ status on the food chain wasn’t as certain as it is today, and that humans could easily alternate between being ‘the hunter’ or ‘the hunted’.
H/T: PLOS ONE
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We may enjoy a distilled beverage from time to time, but how much do we actually know about the process of distillation? Many fables and myths surround its inception and even current operations, and while many of these tales are harmless, some invite danger into production and consumption.
Let’s set the record straight--here are some common myths around distilling your favorite spirits, debunked. Now, go pour yourself a glass of some Palmetto whiskey and keep reading for the facts on distillation:
Myth #1: Whiskey stones are a superior method of cooling
Fact: Adding frozen stones to your whiskey might cool it better, but some still prefer to have the beverage over ice. Ice is actually the more efficient way to cool, as the chemical process of liquifying the ice sucks the heat out of the whiskey. Certain “whiskey experts” also attest that water can add depth of flavor to the drink, too. Leave the stones outdoors, where they are intended to stay.
Myth #2: Knocks and dents do make a difference
Fact: When we speak of knocks and dents here, we refer to the surface area inside the distilling chamber used to process the spirit. While some agree that knocks and dents alter the quality of a spirit, the fact of the matter is that there are many variables and challenges that a distiller encounters when brewing up a batch. It is almost impossible to determine which is the most influential in creating the taste and flavor profile that we prefer.
Myth #3: Longer is better
Fact: The age of a whiskey is not the only determining factor in taste. Technically, whiskey only takes a few days to brew, and then it’s ready for consumption, although most of us wouldn’t gravitate toward a glass of malted barley mixed with rubbing alcohol. We prefer the smoky golden flavor that comes with being stored in temperature-controlled aging barrels. A magical process ensues by which the less drinkable portions of whiskey are drawn to the inner walls of the barrel, taking on sweet and aromatic qualities of the wood, making it into the warm, spicy elixir that we’ve come to know and love. However, we must be careful not to overage as certain woods can cause the whiskey to take on an overpowering flavor.
Myth #4: Drinking moonshine will make you go blind.
Fact: This is partially true. If moonshine is produced correctly, under the strict guidelines of distillation law and process, then you’re fine. If you are drinking Grandpa’s homemade hooch that he distilled through lead pipes in his backyard, then you are at risk for taking on additional toxins that could lead to blindness and even death. You are better off imbibing the good stuff than trying to save a few bucks and doing it on your own. Improper techniques, faulty equipment, and overconsumption can lead to serious health consequences.
Myth #5: Only certain spirits are gluten-free
Fact: Gluten-free folks are taught from their first diagnosis to be wary of anything grain-based, and with good reason. Gluten allergies can cause digestive issues, headaches, and other unsavory health conditions that can be avoided by adopting a gluten-free diet. Thanks to the science behind the distillation process, distilled liquor is considered gluten-free by the National Celiac Association. This is because distilling the beverage helps to remove the proteins that provide starch and sugar – the culprits that can cause those uncomfortable symptoms. While our pure, distilled beverages have the thumbs up from the National Celiac Association, we encourage those with gluten sensitivity to double-check with their doctors for added precaution.
Myth #6: More distillation means better spirit taste
Fact: This is partially true. In general, the more you distill a spirit, the fewer impurities it contains. Does this mean that it tastes better, though? Not necessarily. It is possible to over-distill a spirit, leaving it with a burned and stripped flavor that no amount of aging can overcome. If a brand is bragging about the hundreds of times that it distills its spirits, they could be trying to mask poor quality ingredients or poor flavor with this guarantee. Taste and see for yourself where your preferences lie.
Palmetto: Superior distillation, superior spirits
Palmetto Distillery has award-winning whiskey, moonshine, and merchandise for all who are lucky enough to enter their historic facility. Using time tested distillation methods, family-owned recipes passed down by generations, and a commitment to quality that is superior to all others, you can be sure that you are getting a superior product at an exceptional price. Come taste for yourself; visit www.palmettodistillery.com to place your order today!
Gastrointestinal bleeding or gastrointestinal haemorrhage explains every form of hemorrhage (loss of blood) in the gastrointestinal tract, from the pharynx to the rectum. It has diverse causes, and a medical history, as well as physical examination, generally distinguishes between the main forms. The degree of bleeding ranges from undetectable to acute, massive and life-threatening bleeding. Initial emphasis is on resuscitation by infusion of intravenous fluids and blood transfusion. Treatment with proton pump inhibitors, octreotide, and antibiotics may be considered in some cases. Upper endoscopy or Colonoscopy is generally considered appropriate to identify the source of bleeding and carry out treatment.
Bus Architectures for the A+ Certification Exams
Another term for the expansion slots on a computer’s motherboard is bus slots. A number of different bus architectures have been developed over time. For the A+ exams, you need to be able to identify the differences between each of these bus architectures and know which ones are more popular today.
|Architecture||Bus Width (In Bits)||Speed|
|VLB||32||Speed of local bus|
|AGP||32||66 MHz (1x), 133 MHz (2x), 266 MHz (4x), 533 MHz (8x)|
|PCMCIA (laptops)||16||33 MHz|
|PCIe||Serial||Uses multiple lanes, with each lane carrying 250 Mbps. As an example, a PCIe x1 slot can carry data at 250 Mbps, while a PCIe x4 slot can carry data at 1 Gbps. PCIe version 2 doubles those transfer rates.|
House Joint Resolution 20 History
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 20
(By Delegates Overington, Ellington, R. Phillips, Sobonya, C.
Miller, Walters, Storch and Gearheart)
[Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the Committee on
Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending article VIII thereof, by adding thereto a
new section, designated section 16, relating to imposition of
capital punishment; numbering and designating such proposed
amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose
of such proposed amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of
the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment
to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to
the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in
the year 2014, which proposed amendment is that article VIII
thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section 16, to read as follows:
ARTICLE VIII. JUDICIAL POWER.
§16. Imposition of capital punishment.
_____The Legislature shall provide by general law the procedure for
the imposition of capital punishment.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment
No. 1" and designated as the "Capital Punishment Amendment" and the
purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "The
purpose of this amendment is to require the Legislature to approve
by general law capital punishment."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to require the
Legislature to approve by general law capital punishment.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present Constitution, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
Pavement Ant Extermination
Pavement ants are small about 1/8 inch long and are brown to black in color. They are a common problem in buildings that are built on a slab. Many commercial buildings like warehouses, schools, daycare, offices, retail, and manufacturing facilities have slab construction. The ants are usually seen around the baseboards or coming out of expansion cracks on the floor. The worker ants will climb onto desks or counter tops looking for food. These ants are difficult for you to control because only a few of them actually leave the colony in search of food. It is common to see 10 to 30 ants but the rest of the colony is under the floor slab and may contain 10,000 to 30,000 individuals.
The experts at Kwik Kill have a treatment plan that will eliminate the entire colony and prevent them from returning. We use the foraging worker ants to introduce a non-repellent toxin into the colony that will kill all the ants including the queen. This material will only kill ants and will not affect non target organisms. After eliminating the ants under the slab, it is necessary to treat around the outside to prevent the ants from re infesting the building. Large colonies can be present under sidewalks, rocks, or air conditioning slabs. We will apply a non-repellent, transferable material that the ants take back into the colony, and eliminate the entire colony, including the queens.
Free thought embraced reason and anticlericalism, and freethinkers formed their ideas about religion independently of tradition, authority, and established belief. A product of the Enlightenment, free thought was deist, not atheist. In nineteenth-century Chicago, freethinkers, many of them immigrants from Europe, institutionalized irreligion.
Within Bohemian ( Czech ) Pilsen, on the city's Southwest Side, the irreligious might have outnumbered the religious six to one, and they built an elaborate social network. The Congregation of Bohemian Freethinkers of Chicago, Svobodna obec Chicagu, founded in 1870, became a central community institution. That congregation published the largest Czech-language newspaper in the city. These freethinkers set up building and benevolent societies, maintained a school and a library, organized children's programs and adult lectures, and sponsored musical and dramatic programs. Their congregation offered secular baptisms for their children and secular funerals, in the Bohemian National Cemetery, for their dead.
The Scandinavian Freethinker's Society, Skandinavisk Fritænkere Forening, founded in 1869, commemorated Tom Paine's birthday throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Native-born freethinkers formed the Liberal League in 1880; its members joined the Scandinavians as they celebrated Paine and his Age of Reason. Free thought appeared even within Polonia, where the irreligious formed a society in the late 1880s and issued their own newspapers in the 1890s.
Free thought became disreputable in the minds of native-born elites, as it increasingly attracted a working-class audience after 1875. By the end of the century, free thinkers were becoming socialists, and institutionalized free thought barely survived into the twentieth century.
Goldberg, Bettina. “Deutsche-amerikanische Freidenker in Milwaukee, 1877–1890.” M.A. thesis, Rühr-Universität Bochum. 1982.
Leiren, Terje I. Marcus Thrane: A Norwegian Radical in America. 1987.
Schneirov, Richard. “Freethought and Socialism in the Czech Community in Chicago.” In “Struggle a Hard Battle”: Essays on Working-Class Immigrants, ed. Dirk Hoerder, 1986, 121–142.
The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2005 Chicago Historical Society.
The Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2004 The Newberry Library. All Rights Reserved. Portions are copyrighted by other institutions and individuals. Additional information on copyright and permissions.
There were not many good emperors in Rome. There have not been many good kings since. In fact, there haven’t been many good leaders ever—there is something about power that seems to bring out the worst in people. All one has to do is read Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars to see this played out. Josiah Osgood, professor of Classics at Georgetown University recently translated an edition of Suetonius, entitled How To Be A Bad Emperor which looks at some of the worst Roman Emperors. In our interview with Josiah below, he explains more about what power does to people, what leaders today can learn from the fall of the Roman Republic, why Stoicism thrives amid trying times, and much more. Please enjoy our interview with Josiah Osgood and check out his latest book, How To Be A Bad Emperor!
Before we get into it, can you tell us about how your interest in Roman History, and specifically the fall of the Roman Republic, began?
As a sophomore in high school I signed up for Latin and had a wonderfully charismatic teacher. She had been brought out of retirement just to keep Latin afloat but within a few years over a hundred students were enrolled. We read Cicero’s speeches against Catiline and she told us that Cicero’s rhetoric was so powerful she had nightmares about Catiline. I fell in love with the language and majored in Latin literature in college. In graduate school I became fascinated with how Vergil in his earliest poetry mourned land confiscations in Italy carried out by the future emperor Augustus. To find out more, I read Ronald Syme’s Roman Revolution, one of the best books ever written about ancient Rome. It’s both a somber account of Augustus’ rise to power and a very juicy exposé of Rome’s ruling class. I was so enthralled by Syme’s account of Roman politics I’ve been studying the subject compulsively for twenty years since.
For your new book How To Be A Bad Emperor, you translated Suetonius’ biographies of the Roman emperors Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. You’ve been researching and teaching this period for decades. What new insights did translating Suetonius give you into the various Caesars?
Suetonius has the reputation of being a rather gossipy writer, and in some ways he was. He took great pleasure in digging up the worst dirt he could find on the emperors and sharing it with his readers. Modern scholars have tended to view his biographies as a collection of anecdotal material, not always very reliable. Working closely with Suetonius’ Latin made me see that his portraits of the emperors are coherent and convincing, even if some of his material may be more caricature than literal truth. Suetonius believed that power unmasks the true identity of leaders. It brings to light weaknesses that were there all along but might have been overlooked. For Julius Caesar this was arrogance; for Tiberius, a willingness to indulge his proclivity for personal pleasure; for Caligula, a fondness of cruelly taunting others; for Nero, an obsession with being the center of attention. After translating Suetonius, I now understand the psychology of all of these men better. Passion rules many of us more than reason, a truth academic historians prefer to ignore.
How much personal interpretation goes into translating ancient texts? What was your goal in preparing this work?
As a translator, you have to come to grips with what you think the original text means. That can mean study of how the author you’re translating uses particular words and phrases, or how other authors do. Then you have to think about how you best capture the meaning you have in mind in English. What do you think a contemporary audience will understand? If you feel the original text is somewhat hard to follow, do you want to reproduce that for your reader? Fortunately, Suetonius wrote a clear Latin and so I tried to make my translation lucid too. This meant breaking up some longer sentences into shorter ones, since in English we don’t pile up the clauses as the Romans did. Suetonius also has a wonderfully dry sense of humor and I tried to capture that.
You talk about how Suetonius somewhat humanizes the figures he wrote about by including smaller observations like their daily habits. Could you elaborate on some of those habits—good and bad—that may be more important or revealing than one might initially think?
The best example of this in Suetonius comes in one of the lives I did not translate, Domitian. In his early days in power, Domitian would spend hours at a time locked up in a room trying to catch flies and stab them with his writing stylus. Someone asked if anyone was in with Caesar, and the witty reply came: “Not even a fly.” It all seems like a joke, but Domitian was revealing how obsessively he removed threats – and it was not so funny when he decided members of the Senate were out to get him. In the four lives I translate there are plenty more examples. Julius Caesar was irritated by the premature loss of his hair and tried to cover it up with a comb-over. This might just seem like regular vanity, but Suetonius tells us what really bothered Caesar was how he was mocked for being bald. This was a man who could not take a joke, much less an insult.
There are many interwoven elements between the period that you cover in the book and today, so if you had the opportunity to speak with senators and other political leaders today, what would you warn them about?
In his lives of the Caesars, Suetonius charts the fall of the Roman Republic, a period from which the writers of the US Constitution learned a lot and we can too. Probably the clearest warning is the dangers of excessive partisanship. While many factors contributed to the rise of imperial government in Rome, it was a quarrel between Julius Caesar and his political enemies that irrevocably tipped the balance. Each side stretched laws and norms to the breaking point and could barely recognize the other as fellow Romans. I also would say that while in many ways Caesar looks the more aggressive to us, he was right to point out that his opponents neglected the interests of ordinary Romans. It was precisely that circumstance that made his rise to dictatorial power possible. Politicians must stay in touch with regular Americans and not spend all their time courting the media or wealthy donors.
Most of the more famous Stoics fall outside the timeline you write about, but it would be fascinating if you could provide any insight into what the philosophers were thinking and saying during the reigns of emperors like Augustus, Caligula, and Tiberius. What can we learn from them about living well even under a terrible leader?
It is no coincidence that Stoicism blossomed under the Roman emperors. It’s the perfect philosophy for helping you carry on under trying conditions, whether it be illness, imprisonment, or a constant sense of danger. A bad emperor, the Stoics would tell you, can never truly harm you. It is within your control whether you suffer, or not. You must not collaborate with a corrupt leader – and to resist him is an opportunity to grow stronger. Roman Senators, who were almost hard-wired to seek glory, even saw an opportunity to win fame by defying a bad emperor like Nero. They could set an example for posterity.
Emperors, it is worth noting, also found Stoicism a helpful guide for thinking about how to fulfill their own duties. Augustus studied with the Stoic Areus of Alexandria. And according to Suetonius, Augustus on his deathbed called in his friends and asked if he had played his part in the comedy of life well. The question has a Stoic ring to it.
I would also point out that even those without philosophical training had another good coping mechanism for dealing with autocracy – humor. Political jokes are common in repressive regimes, allowing individuals quietly to mock their rulers and retain at least a shred of sanity. Suetonius reports many jokes about bad emperors. After Tiberius moved full-time to the isle of Capri, people started calling his resort there “the old goat’s home,” punning on the Latin word for goat, caper.
Cato was such a towering figure to Seneca and Marcus Aurelius and generations of Stoics, but he wasn’t without his flaws. Examining Julius Caesar’s reign and Cato’s impassioned resistance, what are your thoughts on Cato? Could or should he have done anything differently?
The historian Sallust thought that Caesar and Cato were the two greatest Romans of his day – and Sallust was a former officer of Caesar. This should tell us that Cato is not to be dismissed lightly. While Caesar saw that Roman government was failing ordinary citizens, Cato grasped a great truth too: money was dominating politics excessively. To win ever-more competitive elections, candidates resorted to bribery and they then ripped off provincials in the empire to cover the costs. All of this destabilized the empire as well as the electoral system itself. Cato also saw just how dangerous it could be to resort to violence to settle a political dispute. Cato’s basic view was that Rome should be governed by disinterested statesmen and citizens should emulate their example. This has inspired a rich republican tradition, including our own in the United States. But Cato failed to build a coalition of enough Romans and Italians to take on Caesar successfully.
We’d love to hear from you on one of the “Five Good Emperors,” Marcus Aurelius. We’d be curious to hear your assessment of his rule in the grand scheme of things. What of his philosophy do you find most fascinating?
In their classic History of Rome the British historians M. Cary and H. H. Scullard quipped that Marcus was “better suited to the part of Hamlet than to that of Caesar.” There is some truth to this. Marcus had little military training in his youth, and this proved a challenge during his time in power. That said, his Meditations, along with the record of his rule, haunts me. To think that a Roman emperor, who could have been dressed in purple robes and served the finest foods by the most beautiful staff, preferred to sit up alone at night and contemplate his own insignificance in the vast cosmos, or to think that he would spend days and days on a single judicial hearing if that was necessary to see justice done: this is a powerful summons not to put ourselves and our own desires first. If you or I became Caesar, would we live up to that example?
Last, any book recommendations?
Well I would recommend all of Suetonius (there are good translations by Donna Hurley and Catharine Edwards among others). Tom Holland’s Dynasty is a colorful account of the figures I treat in How to Be a Bad Emperor. I always enjoying reading Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on bad emperors and much more. Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler is a brilliant combination of intelligence work and history-writing in the classical style. I like to read about good leaders too, especially in their own words. The top of my list are Lincoln’s speeches and letters and almost anything by Churchill, including his sparkling memoir My Early Life. Churchill’s account there of trying to learn Latin is not to be missed. Well-informed historical fiction is fun and insightful. For bad emperors, Robert Graves’ I, Claudius is the starting point. Currently I am enjoying William Safire’s novel on Lincoln, Freedom.
Words formed when one letter is changed in crick
Letter 1 (C) changed: 4 words found:
Letter 2 (R) changed: 2 words found:
Letter 3 (I) changed: 3 words found:
No words found when changing letter 4 (C).
No words found when changing letter 5 (K).
A total of 9 words can be formed from crick by changing one letter.
This activity uses geometric examples to illustrate the method of elimination to obtain a Cartesian equation using the Computer Algebra System CAS tool.
Before the Activity
See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
Print pages 1 - 6 from the attached PDF file for the class
During the Activity
Distribute the pages to the class.In a vectorial plane, start at a certain point, and reach a certain point taking some steps of a particular vector
Observe the line which is generated over R
Recognize the fact that the parametric equations of the line are the algebraic translation of the geometric description of the line
Find points on the line for two values of the 'vector step'
Alternatively, decide whether a given point lies on the line
Understand that a point lies on the line if the system has a solution for the 'vector-step'
Verify the fact by solving the system
Realize that finding the Cartesian equations of a line is equivalent to finding the conditions for the coordinates of a general point in order that the system would have a solution for the 'vector-step'
Eliminate the step-parameter and solve the system
Repeat the steps by forming a plane over R when steps of two different vectors are taken to reach a point
Enter the equations of the circle and the line
Find the points of intersection and determine the equations of the two solutions
Draw the curve for the parametric equations
Eliminate the parameter 't' from the system of the associated curves, and determine the Cartesian equation of the Strophoid
Translate the double point of the Strophoid to the origin of the coordinate system
Intersect the curve with the line y = tx
Obtain the parametric representation for the whole strophoid
Follow the Activity procedures:
After the Activity
Students understand that with the help of CAS, parameters can be eliminated directly without the use of determinants.As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary
Review student results.
While numerous walks, talks and performances attempt to keep the past alive in the capital city of Delhi, the person who began it all was a young man in his 20s—Syed Ahmad Khan of the Aligarh Muslim University fame. As part of this series on ‘Reading a City’, Sahapedia explores how Khan sees historic architecture as part of a continuous culture, constantly nourished by new infusions. (Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)
Delhi is puzzled over, introduced, interpreted, celebrated all the time. Walks, performances, talks and articles keep the past alive here. But not many realise that the person who began it all was a young man in his 20s. Two centuries after he was born, Syed Ahmad Khan’s work can now enjoy a wider readership because of its translation into English. His book Asar-us-Sanadid was translated into English by historian Rana Safvi in 2018, for us to revisit Delhi as it was in the nineteenth century.
He was not the first writer to describe Delhi, but when he compiled his notes on the ‘remains of the great’ (asar-us-sanadid) into a book, he chose to write not in Farsi but in the accessible Urdu—making him a pioneer. Another first was that it appeared as a book rather than as a manuscript because his brother had just installed a new Urdu printing press in Delhi. His qualifications to write were not that of a narrow specialist. In those happy days when education was not one fixed menu, he had studied science, mathematics, Farsi and Urdu. In his 20s, living in his family home in Shahjahanabad, Khan was a junior official in the East India Company, helping his brother publish an Urdu newspaper, and translating Farsi manuscripts.
Asar was published in 1847, and had a quality of eagerness explained by his learning the subject as he went along. Khan went to great lengths to transcribe inscriptions (‘He is climbing up with such enthusiasm/That people think he has some work in the sky’ was an affectionate comment about his swinging round the Qutb Minar in an improvised basket-and-poles contraption to read the inscriptions on the higher storeys). The artists’ drawings for the book were based on his own sketches.
Also see | Exploring Shahjahanabad in Old Delhi
There are very few extant copies of this edition. The better-known second edition from 1854 bears the blue pencil marks of the collector A.A. Roberts, who did a hatchet-job, reducing it by a half, adhering to chronology, giving British scientists a role in the Jantar Mantar project, removing all the poets and artists, and making it an altogether dull book.
To Khan, historic architecture was not just patrons, materials, form and function. They were part of a continuous culture, nourished by new infusions. Political history, the overlapping cities and forts, the increasingly sophisticated elements in architecture, became four-dimensional by reading mosques, dargahs and mazhars as sacred spaces, calm with the presence of mystics and scholars long departed. They were to be experienced in silence, reading the inscriptions, not listening to the patter of a guide. He delineates the complementarity of a vibrant urban culture—music, poetry and dance—and animated bazaars, and the tranquil atmosphere of the countryside, fields and hills dotted with ruins. ‘The charm of the Delhi scene’, as historian Percival Spear was to describe it a century later.
In a sentence that sounds startlingly contemporary, Khan is distressed by the ‘recent’ increase of the city's population, making it—and also the bracing hills of Mehrauli—unpleasantly congested. But, he insists that ‘in spite of all these factors, the climate of Delhi is still a thousand times better than that of other cities.’ The magnificent Mughal fort (remember he was writing well before 1857) is described in the second chapter, Shahjahanabad in the third, the artists, poets and musicians in the fourth (the section captioned, charmingly, ‘The nightingale-like sweetly-singing people of Shahjahanabad on the outskirts of Paradise’).
It was a challenging task. Delhi’s landscape was not easy to read in the complete absence of any older accounts or images. There was overlap, modification (particularly in the Qutb Minar area), vandalism (of Rahim’s tomb by the ruler of Awadh). As a teenager, Khan was interested in astronomy, so his distress at the neglected condition of Jantar Mantar is understandable. He would have liked to spend more time studying it: ‘I will need a separate book to describe the workmanship, use and effectiveness of these instruments.’
Mirza Ghalib, in the ‘Foreword’, described his friend’s book as one that would ‘numb the hands of other writers.’ Khan’s meticulous account of buildings, even those in ruins, became the template for later books in English. ‘He who undertakes to write the archaeology of Delhi must constantly seek for light in the pages of Syed Ahmed Khan's interesting work on that subject,’ wrote Carr Stephen in The Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi (1876).
More than 20 years elapsed between Asar’s second edition and Stephen’s book. A world separated the two publications. Khan, posted in Bijnor (modern UP), was not caught in the trauma of 1857 (the Great Revolt). Some of the poets—like Ghalib—he had listed in Asar sought relief by writing laments to their ravaged city. His own reaction was different. With a sense of grief at seeing an efficient machine derailed, he was to write Asbab-e-Bagawat-e-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Rebellion) to try to understand what had gone wrong. Khan’s bond with Delhi was severed. He went on to become a distinguished public figure in north India, remembered today for the institution he founded, the Aligarh Muslim University. Hopefully, reading Asar now will return the young Syed Ahmad Khan to us. The past is in many ways a foreign country, and to walk with a guide through towns of the past is an invigorating exercise.
This article is the second of a nine-part series on Reading A City by Dr Narayani Gupta on The Print.
It’s 1961 and Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, is on the brink of its war for liberation. The country’s people are beginning to stand up to the oppression of colonisation. At the forefront of this movement are the Zimbabweans African Nations United (ZANU) and the Zimbabweans African People United (ZAPU) rebels. One such person was Solomon Wekwete, a former University of York student, who was not only imprisoned, but also tortured for his involvement in ZANU. All this was due to Solomon’s reluctance to give up the fight to liberate Zimbabwe.
Solomon was born in Rhodesia, in 1934. Growing up under a colonial administration, Solomon was unable to begin his education until the age of 14. This led to him only qualifying as a teacher at the age of 25, a job he kept for 3 years. During the early years of Solomon’s life, he experienced the oppression of growing up under a colonial government. He remembers, “The police were marching along the street in front of me and I tried to cross the road between them; I was man-handled. Fortunately there was someone whose child I was teaching, who then pleaded I be released”.
It was probably these experiences and the animosity shown towards his peers, which motivated Solomon to enter politics. As he recalls, “the politics started to change and so many people were joining the political parties and, as a young man, I was one of them”. During the year Solomon was a member of this group, he attended the weekly Sunday meetings while maintaining his job as a teacher. The party was met with opposition, when, at the height of the party’s influence it was banned by the government. Bit this didn’t deter Solomon. A year later he joined another political party where he continued to be an active member of up until 1960, when the group was forcibly disbanded. Yet again, the government had banned another pro-African political party.
“They would hang me up by my private parts and tie my hands behind my back. They would leave me there.”
As a result of this activity, Solomon was told by the police he was to be remanded once the school year had come to an end. “I then decided to run away. After finishing the examinations and handing them into the head master, I slipped out of Rhodesia to Zambia.” Once in Zambia, Solomon settled into a non-political life working as a salesman for a year, before entering the Republic of the Congo. While in Congo, Solomon received a telegram which would alter the course of his future permanently. “A telegram arrived from home to say my father had died, this was in 1964; I wanted to go home. I tried to get home by going back into Zambia.” Upon reaching the border, Solomon met a friend who had become a policeman. He could not encourage Solomon’s efforts. “We can allow you back into Rhodesia, but will arrest you once you reach home”. At this point in his life, Solomon was becoming accustomed to living a life in which he survived on the borders of government control.
Once again, Solomon was forced to flee Rhodesia, entering Zambia once again. It was upon his second entrance into Zambia that Solomon joined the growing ranks of freedom fighters for Zimbabwe through ZANU. It was at this time that Ian Smith had unilaterally declared independence for Rhodesia, under white minority rule. Once Solomon had established himself within the party, he was able to concentrate on the work he had longed to do in and for Zimbabwe. He looks back on the feelings of liberation and power which came with his enrolment into ZANU. “I was responsible for recruiting people in Zambia, and at one point had recruited 80. I would then get them across the border to Tanzania to our camp Chuniya, where we would provide training.” Solomon continued to take on dangerous roles of responsibility for the sake of his cause. He was also responsible for the distribution of ammunition throughout the ZANU party.
By the year of 1966, the fight for Africa’s independence had become globally recognised. The West was beginning to take notice of the sacrifices people like Solomon were making. He, along with other members of various liberation parties, was offered the opportunity to undertake a one year course at the University of York, involved in training African people for positions in political office. The programme was designed to equip students with skills needed to take over administration, once independence had been gained. During his first stay at York, Solomon was a member of Derwent College. His time at York still brings back fond memories of the course. He explains, “The course covered us to go to Dublin, Scotland, Germany and Belgium.” Once he had completed the programme, unlike other students who chose to stay in the UK, Solomon was told to return home by the leaders of the ZANU party, so that he could continue his work with new recruits.
However, upon Solomon’s return, he was to find that the war had intensified, with fighters receiving training in combat from China. It was on one of Solomon’s routine trips, moving people across the borders, that Solomon was stopped and interrogated by two Portuguese men who were working for the colonial government. After an intense interrogation, which lasted three months, Solomon was handed over to the Zimbabwean authorities. Once it was confirmed that Solomon was a ZANU freedom fighter, he was subjected to the same fate as many others who had also been captured: an intense time torture, which was to become a regular occurrence for the next five years of Solomon’s life.
“When I was first captured, I remember spending three days in a dark bathroom with no food or water”. Solomon also recalls the physical pain inflicted upon him. “They would hang me up by my private parts and tie my hands behind my back, they would leave me there…when you fainted, they would pour water on you and try to find out who you were and what you were doing.” It was during these five years that Solomon came across and began some South African Open University (UNISA) courses. Due to his former links in York, he was also able to describe his capture to people abroad. One person in particular was Guy Christiansen, his former associate, who was to become a key lobbyer in getting Solomon released. Guy was able to contact his father-in-law, editor of the British Medical Journal, who went to visit the jail in which Solomon was being held, demanding to see him. During Solomon’s time in jail, talks were occurring between the British and Zimbabwean governments with regards to the proposal of a political reform, which the African leaders opposed. These talks were occurring during the period of Solomon’s imprisonment, when a request was being made for him to be released and permitted to return to York.
This is how he became acquainted with Amanda Sebestyen, his lifelong friend and also a former student from the University of York. Through various connections still in place within the alumni circle, Amanda became aware of Solomon’s case, and also became very involved in the lobbying, as well as raising awareness for the release of Solomon. Solomon was only able to gain release due to Amanda funding the scholarship set up by Professor Alan Peacock.
In 1972, Solomon was released from prison, on the condition that he did not return to the country. Finally, he returned to York. He would remain at the University for 3 years, graduating with a degree in Economics. Once his time in York had come to an end, Solomon moved to London where he met his late wife and lived there until Rhodesia gained its independence in 1980, becoming the Republic of Zimbabwe. Before his return to Zimbabwe, Solomon lived in Mozambique, becoming Chief of Protocol for a party established by exiled leaders and working within the camps. However, Solomon was unable to remain in this position due to his disputes with the ideology imposed upon members by the leaders. “There was a lot of confusion….. things that were happening with ladies and young girls in the camps did not please me”. Upon his return to Zimbabwe, Solomon took up the position of Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, then in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and finally, as Trade Attaché and Representative in Malawi, Tanzania and Mauritius, until 1994, when he retired.
Solomon’s story can easily be compared to that of many other freedom fighters within the era of Africa’s civil wars. However, what distinguishes Solomon is the integrity he still maintains to the true values of the ZANU party. He closes the interview by telling us how he questioned Mugabe. “ This may have been a bit out of line, but because of my make up, I did not understand how someone could just get money and rinse it out……without helping the people”. This leads us to ask an uncomfortable question. What will become of a nation, where the freedom fighters have become the oppressors?
Photos courtesy of the University of York Alumni Office
This course covers the mathematical concepts and theories related to computer science, which are based on the fundamentals learned in Foundations of Computer Science.
The principle of computing and computing models are viewed from various angles to reveal the essence of calculation.
At the end of this course, students will be able to deal with Turing Machine, the recursive function, the lambda calculus, and the computability theory.
Turing Machine, recursive function, lambda calculus, computability theory
|✔ Specialist skills||Intercultural skills||Communication skills||Critical thinking skills||Practical and/or problem-solving skills|
Based on lecture sessions followed by mid-term and final exams.
|Course schedule||Required learning|
|Class 1||Turing Machine 1 : Introduction to Turing machine||After each lesson, review what you learned. Use the exercise problems in the textbook.|
|Class 2||Turing Machine 2 : Binary coding||Specified in the class.|
|Class 3||Turing machine 3 : Universal Turing machine||Specified in the class.|
|Class 4||Turing machine 4 : Computability||Specified in the class.|
|Class 5||Recursive function 1 : Introduction to recursive function||Specified in the class.|
|Class 6||Recursive function 2 : Data expression using Gödel number||Specified in the class.|
|Class 7||Mid-term exam||Specified in the class.|
|Class 8||Recursive function 3 : Computability of recursive function||Specified in the class.|
|Class 9||Recursive function 4: Equivalence between recursive function and computability||Specified in the class.|
|Class 10||Lambda calculus 1 : Introduction to lambda calculus||Specified in the class.|
|Class 11||Lambda calculus 2 : Data expression using lambda term||Specified in the class.|
|Class 12||Lambda calculus 3 : Computability of lambda calculus||Specified in the class.|
|Class 13||Summary||Specified in the class.|
|Class 14||Final exam||Specified in the class.|
Osamu Watanabe, Naoki Yonezaki. "Introduction to Theory of Computing". Nippon Hyoron Sha Co. Ltd. (Japanese)
Students' course scores are based on quizzes (20%), mid-term exam (40%) and final exam (40%).
Students must have successfully completed Foundations of Computer Science I and II, or have equivalent knowledge.
Problem : Which of the following pairs are resonance structure? For pairs that are resonance structures, use the curved-arrow formalism to derive the second structure from the first.
One of the resonance structures of phenanthrene, a hydrocarbon found
naturally in coal tar, is shown below. It turns out that this is only one
of five resonance structures that can be drawn for this compound.
(a) Using the curved-arrow formalism to aid you, find the other four resonance structures of phenanthrene (fill in the incomplete structures).
The book introduces and describes the theory and the practice of System Design for Sustainability (SDS) - the design of such systems of products and services, which would be jointly capable of satisfying specific needs and desires of the customer, and related innovative stakeholders' interactions, leading towards eco-efficiency, social equity and cohesion. The first chapter introduces the conceptual framework, the meaning of sustainable development, and within that concept the need for so-called system innovation. The second chapter describes the role of design and the evolution of sustainability in it. It introduces the main notion of product Life Cycle Design (LCD), the concepts of life cycle and functional thinking as well as the main design criteria and guidelines. In the third chapter we will see where and why a product Life Cycle Design approach meets obstacles in traditional supply models of product in industrialised context. In the fourth chapter we will discuss what is so far known about System Design for Social Equity and cohesion (SDSE). How this could be faced by designers and its practical implications. The fifth chapter will describe the Method for System Design for Sustainability (MSDS) and its tools for designers, adopted within the LeNS (Learning Network on Sustainability) project, funded by the European Commission.
This post is also available in: I came across the question the other day while researching a blog post about whether you need to learn programming to be able to 3D print. And the question about programming knowledge, even if it may not seem so at first glance, has its justification. So do I need to be able to develop software to operate a 3d printer? No, it is not necessary to learn or have learned programming to be able to 3D print. Neither the operation of the printer, nor the creation of designs require programming experience. Nevertheless, basic programming skills offer the possibility of using additional tools. Basically, a 3D printer can be operated very well without programming experience. It remains a very visual activity. However, when building a 3D printer or if you want to create your 3D models using a scripting language, programming skills can be quite helpful. Is it necessary to learn programming to be able to 3D print? No, neither the operation of the 3D printer, nor the creation of 3D models or their preparation for printing necessarily require the knowledge of a programming language. However, it can be an advantage to be able to program at some points in the process. The 3D designs are usually created with CAD tools. There are beginner tools like Tinkercad, but also advanced or professional tools like Fusion 360 or Solidworks. However, the list of tools mentioned is by no means complete. The first confirmation that programming experience could open up additional opportunities for you comes right here. If you know how to program, you will not only have the possibility to model 3D models, but also the possibility to program these models by script. You can do that with e.g. Google’s OpenSCAD. I myself use OpenSCAD to create my keychains and cable clips in my store. If you want to prepare your 3D models for printing using Slicer, you don’t necessarily need programming skills here. The various settings are all set via dropdown menus, text or radio buttons. Many slicers also offer you the possibility to influence the printer or the printing process before, during or after the slicing process by using the so-called GCODE. The GCODE are essentially the instructions for controlling the printer. Here you will find information such as heat the nozzle, heat the print bed, extrude so and so much material, move the X axis at speed X to position Y, etc. If you have basic programming experience here, you’ll definitely have an easier time. But even as an experienced programmer, you first have to find your way around the GCODE commands. But this is definitely easier for you with the appropriate experience. Most printers offer a graphical interface that is quite easy to use. But there is also the possibility to combine your printer or several printers with a print server like Octoprint and manage them via a Raspberry Pi. To install, configure and manage such a print server, it is not necessary to know how to program, but you will definitely find it a lot easier. And last but not least, there’s the troubleshooting. In programming, you spend a lot of time looking for and correcting errors. So you learn to think analytically over time. This means that with the appropriate programming experience, you will most likely have a much easier time troubleshooting. So, to summarize once again. No, it is not absolutely necessary to be able to program. Nevertheless, programming knowledge and a little technical understanding make troubleshooting and, above all, problem solving easier if something does not work in the print preparation or in the printing itself. What advantages do I have in 3D printing if I can program? The fact that you can program does not necessarily give you any advantages in terms of 3D printing. Neither your designs, nor your prints will get any better. This might make it easier for you to deal with new programs and technical terms when configuring the slicer. The advantages of basic knowledge of programming are therefore more likely to be found in the 3D printing environment. This means that you have at least one additional option for creating 3D models and you may find it easier to find errors. Where you might also have an advantage is if you want to open and edit the GCODE file. This may be necessary, for example, to pause printing at a certain point for whatever reason. Do I need to know how to program to configure a 3D printer? Here one must distinguish what is meant by configure. If it is to be understood in relation to the printer configuration, i.e. changing any settings of a basically running printer or to the configuration of the slicer in the course of print preparation, then the answer is rather in the negative. You’ll probably have an easier time with some technical terms and understand the context of any options more easily, but that’s about it. However, if you are planning to build your own 3D printer, then it is definitely advisable to have at least a rudimentary understanding of software development. The various printer firmwares available are basically fully developed, but you will still have to edit at least one or two files in which you make the configurations that apply to your printer. How do I create my own 3D models without programming? The creation of 3D models happens in an estimated 98% of cases without programming. The models are usually drawn. There are different methods for this. If you use Tinkercad , for example, then you have a choice of 3-dimensional objects available. You connect them together or cut one object out of the other and create