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DB welcomed everyone to the meeting.
DB apologised for not having contacted GB about creating a word template for official letters. DB explained to GB the discussion at the previous meeting.
Action: GB to create a word template for official letters.
PB said it was him who had mentioned the condition of the pavement on Queen Margaret Drive under item four of the previous minutes.
DB asked PB to add 'Website' as a standing item on the agenda.
Action: PB to add 'Website' to the agenda for future meetings.
The minutes of the January meeting were approved by KA and seconded by JM, subject to the minor correction.
DB said he had not received any apologies from the Police and said he would contact them in advance of the next meeting.
Action: DB to contact the Police before the next meeting.
JMacK reported that all the one-way system comments had been submitted and analysed and there was agreement in principle to go out to consultation. JMacK said it could be months before the formal consultation process can begin, as there is a long queue. This could result in the one-way system not being in situ for 18 months, if this is the case then the Council will look into temporary measures. JMacK said the Traffic Operations Manager has been asked to look and see whether it is possible to move the proposal up the queue.
JMacK said that as he had thought the pavement on Queen Margaret Drive has not been down that long, but when he looked it was all cracked and you could feel it move under your feet. JMacK said the condition of the pavement was currently being investigated to make sure it is safe.
JMacK reported that the Council are currently investigating who owns the wasteland next to the Bookmakers on Maryhill Road, but in the interim a one-off clean up will be carried out. JM said there used to be a bin by the bus stop that has been removed, this may be contributing to the litter problem. JMacK said he would look into reinstating the bin.
Action: JMacK to look into the missing bin and whether it can be reinstated.
JMacK reported that the Head of the Property Section, Andy Young (AY) has written to the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign and if they fulfil a set of conditions then they will be allowed to continue on the site for the growing season. Site investigation work is due to begin in March, but this can be carried out around the planting. Building work is expected to start on site at the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011. DP said the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign lawyers are talking to AY.
JA said she has not received any notification that the day for domestic refuge uplift on Fergus Drive has changed. JMack said as of 1 February there has been radical changes with the implementation of the four-day on four-day off system and people should have been notified if the changes affected them. KW said uplift information is available on the Council's website.
JM said she understood blue recycling bins were to appear on Kelvinside Gardens with the new regime, JMacK said that was correct. JM said they have not appeared yet, JMacK said he would investigate.
Action: JMacK to investigate the situation with regards to blue recycling bins being introduced in Kelvinside Gardens.
LE reported that their blue bins were not being returned to where they have been taken from and have sometimes been left on top of bulbs. JMacK suggested inviting Steven Egan (SE) to a Community Council meeting.
Action: PB to invite SE to the April meeting.
JM reported there were one or two planning applications for small residential changes and a notice of intent to make a planning application with regards to the Firhill development. DB said this would be discussed under item 6 on the agenda.
6. Discussion on future planning at Patrick Thistle F.C.
DB reported that PB and him had attended the Firhill consultation event on 6 February.
The master plan is to redevelop the stadium and also the waste ground to the north of the canal. They want to keep the waste ground as green space, but turn it into training pitches for the club and the local community.
DB circulated his copy of the plans and said he would pursue his request for an electronic copy for uploading to the website. GB said he could scan the hard copy and circulate it to the Community Council members. DB also said he had a copy of the proposed timeline and said he would forward this on.
Action: DB to request an electronic copy of the plans for the website. GB to scan the hard copy of the plans, for circulation to Community Council members. DB to forward on the proposed timeline.
DB said the club and architects are keen to do a good job of the consultation process, but it is new to them, as the law only came into effect in November.
DB reported there would be 36 private flats and 37 social housing flats, which are earmarked for Queen's Cross Housing, but they may not have the finances. PB said there would also be a football stand with a capacity for 300, which would be for families to use.
DB said the next meeting in March would be a joint meeting with Possilpark Community Council and the architects would also be attending. It was agreed this meeting should be a public meeting and advertised on the website.
Action: GB to advertise the public meeting on the website.
GB reported that the new website will replicate the existing site, but allow others to make updates. GB asked everyone to think about other information that could be added or possible ways to extend the use of the site e.g. a blog.
It was agreed to create a Website subgroup to progress the development of the new website more quickly. The group would meet outside of the usual meetings and KA, DB, KW and SH volunteered to assist GB on the subgroup.
KW reported the account balance is now £893.
KW said that now DB has completed the necessary paperwork she will be sent a notification when the signatories are changed, but she will chase this up in a few weeks if she has not received the notification.
PB said we had received a request from NSPCC to promote awareness of their helpline. DB said we receive a lot of requests like this and suggested the website subgroup should discuss whether advertising things like this on the website is the right place.
PB reported there were two HMOs on Clouston Street, but they are licence renewals. JMacK said he had looked into these and they have planning consent.
PB said the Community Council Resource Centre had sent a request for the Community Council's audited accounts. KE said he had submitted the last set of accounts in the autumn, PB to query the letter.
Action: PB to query the request for the Community Council's audited accounts.
PB said the Community Council had received an invite to the Draft Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan consultation workshop on 9 March, DB said he would like to attend. JM agreed to look at the draft document and provide her comments at the next meeting and then these can be returned by the 18 March deadline.
Action: JM to look at the draft document and bring her comments to the next meeting.
The issue of publicity and having no central place to advertise was raised again. LE said Curves had said no to putting a notice board in their car park. KD said the pharmacy wall on Fergus Drive had been mentioned previously and it might make a difference now it is Boots. JM said Boots have a corporate social responsibility and there is someone responsible for this in Scotland, she said she would get the contact details.
Action: JM to find out the contact details for the person responsible for Boots corporate social responsibility in Scotland.
JMacK suggested Queen's Cross Housing might let us put a notice board up on the school site on Oban Drive.
KW suggested renewing the posters. JA suggested advertising in the Local News. KW agreed to write a piece for advertising the public meeting in March.
Action: KW to write a piece for the Local News advertising the public meeting in March.
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Q: In Qt on Linux/X11, how do I fix main window ordering issue? I've got a Qt application that has two main windows. On Linux, when one main window brings up a modal dialog, it comes up behind the other main window. What can I do to cause the dialog to always come up on top of ALL main windows?
NOTE: This only happens on Linux. We build this app on MacOSX as well, and the problem does not occur there.
Here's the code that brings up the dialog. The stuff in the #if is all the things I've tried to bring the window forward. I've tried various combinations and orders of these things.
QMessageBox dialog;
dialog.setIcon( QMessageBox::Information );
dialog.setWindowTitle( _documentName );
dialog.setText( tr("This document has unsaved changes. Do you want to save before closing?") );
dialog.setInformativeText( tr("Your changes will be lost if you don't save them.") );
dialog.setStandardButtons( QMessageBox::Save | QMessageBox::Discard | QMessageBox::Cancel );
dialog.setDefaultButton( QMessageBox::Save );
dialog.setFixedSize( dialog.size() ); // non-resizable window
#if STUFF_I_TRIED
dialog.show();
dialog.setVisible(true);
dialog.open();
dialog.activateWindow();
dialog.raise();
#endif
int result = dialog.exec();
I realize that exec() should be all I need to show the window. My idea in calling show() or open() was just to allow activateWindow() or raise() to take affect. Just foolin' around trying to get that damn dialog to come forward.
TIA for any help!
A: All the sequcence between #if 1_ and #endif looks pretty weird to me.
Normally, to show modal dialog, only exec() is needed:
QMessageBox msgBox;
msgBox.setText("They killed Kenny, again.");
int ret = msgBox.exec();
Reference.
A: You are doing quite a bit of things between your #if 1, that is likely confusing X11.
You need only ONE of those. Since you are working with Mac and X11, I suspect you want to use open() and get a sheet.
IIRC, show() vs. open() causes different window flags to be set, so
calling them right after each other may get the window into a strange
state. Also calling show() or open() should always activate or raise the window if it is a dialog, which QMessageBox is.
Try only using one of these and seeing what happens.
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Re: xbox 360 controller on unravel?
xbox 360 controller on unravel?
How do i use my wired xbox 360 controller for the game unravel?
What issues do you have ?
i don't really know, but when i plug it in it doesn't do anything, only my keyboard works.
And you have no problem with other games ?
Did you try a different USB port ?
Did you try going to the settings and make sure the controller is recognized there ?
I have had no control problems as such BUT I have had issues with the tutorial controls as it seems to insist on giving me the keyboard controls if I have touched the keyboard or mouse at any point. The game doesn't seem to be able to adjust between giving pad and keyboard controls with any fluency. It defaults to keyboard even if you're using pad, but gives the pad controls only when you press the correct button. It needs a tweak I think. Other than that it's fine. I use a wireless pad and receiver. Have you tried changing the driver to the 2016 rather than 2009 version via Device Manager / Update Driver / Search on computer for a list of drivers / Xbox 360 Peripherals. That seems to fix some games. I guess the wired drivers have different releases like the wireless ones. Latest is the greatest in that instance.
@Captain_Lump Thanks for the extra info. Normally the 360 pad controls just work out of the box, and I haven't noticed any weird behaviour with Unravel.
However when things are acting oddly/inconsistently another factor can be other peripherals/peripheral software. If it's relevant/an option, you could try removing other peripherals/relevant software before trying out the pad.
I'm closing this thread to stop it being necroed.
If you have any issues with Unravel please make a new topic about the issues you are having and what kind of steps you have tried to solve it.
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Walking right down the middle of Main Street USA
September 10, 2021 / Amber Benson / Leave a comment
Any true Disney fan knows that Walt Disney spent his childhood in Marceline, Missouri. Moving there from his birthplace in Chicago when he was four years old, the Disney family lived in Marceline for about five years, but Walt cherished his time growing up there and his memories deeply influenced the rest of his life.
After a botched trip to Marceline this spring, the fam and I finally headed West to make the pilgrimage to Main Street USA and see for ourselves how this small town could influence a man to go on to accomplish all that Walt did in his short 65 years.
We traveled out to Kansas City, MO and rented a car for the two hour ride to Marceline. Farm land filled our view for the duration of the drive and it was very peaceful. Corn, creeks, trains, and few cars made for a nice journey. Upon arriving into Marceline, you instantly feel at home. We pulled up to our Airbnb, right on Main Street USA, and hopped back in time. We live in a small town but this one feels decidedly smaller and so quaint.
Welcome to the Chairman's Suite Airbnb!
Right away, I saw my good friend, Julie, walking up the street with her family. She is also a travel agent and lives a few hours from Marceline. Julie had set up a private evening VIP tour for us to enjoy at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum that evening and offered to give us the 'tour' of sights not to miss in Marceline.
Me (right) and Julie (left)
Back in the car, we headed to the Walt Disney Municipal Park for a few photos. Our next stop was the Disney Family Farm, not far from Main Street. This is where Walt and his family lived in the early 1900s while in Marceline. In fact, their original farmhouse is still standing, albeit hidden, under the red farmhouse on the property. The Executive Director of the museum actually lives in the farmhouse right now. Her story is pretty interesting, how she came to know the Disney family back in the late 1950s. In fact, her mom, Inez Johnson, can still be found at the museum regaling visitors of tales from her years as Walt's friend.
The Disney Family Farm area is tucked away, as expected, in the trees and fields of Marceline. You hear trains going by very frequently as Marceline is on a major rail line that is still very active. As you stand there in the trees, it is easy to slip into a relaxed frame of mind and see exactly why Walt loved his time there so much. It is no wonder that he grew up with an incredible love of trains and was influenced so heavily by this period of his life. The time he spent under his "Dreaming Tree", drawing and watching over his little sister, Ruth, was so impactful on his life that he is said to have returned to that very tree on every visit to Marceline. The barn on the property meant so much to him that he recreated it for his home in California and it was later rebuilt on the property in Marceline in 2001 for visitors to enjoy today. Guests are allowed to 'autograph' the interior of the barn with messages to Walt and Roy and it is amazing to see how many visitors have come to Walt's Happy Place to pay their respects.
After the farm, we walked around Main Street for a little while before dinner at Los Chimas, the local Mexican restaurant offering delicious food and right near our Airbnb!
We had dinner with Julie and her husband as well as Peter Whitehead, the Creative Director of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. Peter is such a Disney treasure! His knowledge of Walt and the Disney family, his drive and passion, and the work he has put into getting the museum to where it is today is incredible. He is a great guy and I loved being able to hang out with him and learn more about the Disneys and their lives in Marceline. Peter told us about the history of Main Street and some of its key buildings and areas: the Zurcher building and the Coke Wall behind it, Allen hotel, Uptown Cinema, E.P. Ripley Park with its gazebo where Elias Disney (Walt's father) played his fiddle, the Marceline Train Station, and the Marceline Post Office, which is the only federal building with Walt Disney's name on it and where you can get a special postmark to commemorate your visit. We also talked about Walt Disney Elementary School nearby, that was dedicated in 1960 and features murals inside drawn by a Disney artist.
E.P. Ripley Park is a beautiful, tree-filled spot at the start of Main Street USA where Walt used to hang out as a boy. The park is home to some train cars and the Santa Fe and Disney Railroad #2546 locomotive that was donated to the city in the 1950s. The train is shown below as all black, recently repainted and missing the name/number at the moment. The pond pictured below is gorgeous and somehow even has that 'Disney water' look to it — park guests, you know what I mean. The Midget Autopia walking track that was constructed and dedicated about two years ago can be seen behind the pond. If you don't know the story behind Midget Autopia, it is so interesting! This is the only ride ever to leave a Disney park and ran in Marceline for eleven years. It had been located in Disneyland, near the Storybook Land Canal Boats and was moved out of the park to make way for the it's a small world ride, fresh from the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.
The museum itself is housed in the Marceline Train Station and trains roll past by Marceline with great frequency. I have never seen so many trains, and been that up close to them, in my life!
The museum has so much to offer with information on the history of the railroad and the Marceline station, Walt's early life in Marceline and his return there over the years, Midget Autopia, Walt's family's lives, memorabilia from donors, murals, a model of buildings of Disneyland done by a fan name Dale Varner, a Stamp Day exhibit, a Club 55 showcase, and so much more. I can't even begin to describe all of the treasures found in that one building! Personal notes from Walt and Roy to their family members, Disneyland opening day relics, family photos, a recorded interview between Walt and his parents on their 50th wedding anniversary, Elias's tool box, Flora's butter molds (Walt's mother), the TV that Ruth watched the Disneyland opening ceremony on (because she hated to travel and didn't like crowds, so she didn't want to attend in person and Walt sent her money to buy herself a TV to watch it on), and even Walt's grade school diploma. There is even a large branch of the Dreaming Tree in the museum for guests to touch for that extra bit of Disney luck as they visit. Having Peter to show us around and give us the extra bits of history made our visit so memorable.
Some of the things that truly touched me in the museum were the personal letters between Walt and Ruth and how much you can see that he was a 'real' person, not just a celebrity, man worth an insane amount of money, or business mogul. He was down to Earth and cared about his family.
I was also humbled to see both Walt's elementary school desk, with his carved initials in it, and the actual light table he shared with UB Iwerks in Kansas City. Talk about history! And yes, I touched the light table with Peter standing right there and the 'do not touch' sign right on it. Oof! At least his school desk was in a case!
So when I mentioned Club 55 above, did you think I typo'd and meant Club 33? Nope. While Club 33 is the ultra-lux private club that started at Disneyland, Club 55 is a group of Disneyland employees that started working there when the park opened in 1955. Bob Penfield, a Club 55 member, donated several pieces to the museum and they are a joy to look through. Hard to believe that he worked there until his retirement in 1997 and was the last Club 55 member still employed by Disney when he retired. If you've watched any of the Behind the Attraction show episodes on Disney+, you might recall the one about the Jungle Cruise ride where it was mentioned that Walt wasn't happy with the ride timing being unpredictable at first. He gave the ride operators a watch to ensure that the ride was always timed perfectly. Bob's watch that Walt gave him is on display in the museum.
When Walt died in 1966, he had been working on many projects including the "Florida project" which became the Walt Disney World resort. His brother, Roy, came out of retirement to finish the build of Magic Kingdom and died just a couple of months after the park opened. Such a tragedy. One of the other projects that Walt had started before his death was work a theme park in Marceline! The plans for the park, drawn by Walt, were on his desk the day he died and are now housed in the museum in Marceline. He had had Rush Johnson, Inez's husband, buying land in Marceline for this project on the sly like he did in Florida. The project fell apart in the 1970s after Walt's death and Rush sold all of the property less the original 40 acres, where the Disney Family Farm and farmhouse I mentioned are located. Can you imagine if that had come to fruition? Can you imagine what the world would be like if Walt had lived another decade or more? Heartbreaking.
I have always wanted to go to Marceline. Going there this past weekend was a dream come true. Maybe it is because I am such a huge Disney fan, or that Walt and I almost share a birthday (Dec 4th and 5th), or that I just get all the feels when learning about Disney history, but this trip was so inspirational. If we all just follow some of Walt's words of wisdom, the world would be such a great place!
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.
Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.
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Shotcrete or Gunite: What's the Difference? Which Is Better?
People have spent almost a century arguing which of these two materials is better, but the truth is that only a qualified pool contractor can help you decide which one will work best for your specific situation. Each of these specialty materials has its advantages, but we have always used shotcrete because of its incredible strength and widespread availability in middle Tennessee.
Gunite was first invented more than 100 years ago. Gunite pools are created by shooting a dry concrete mix out of a hose with compressed air while simultaneously shooting water from a separate hose that is often mounted beneath. The concrete and water mix on contact and dry to form a very hard surface. Gunite is ideal for very challenging and time-consuming installations, particularly when it's very hot outside. However, its strength is limited because it lacks aggregate rock in the mix, and it is often only 2,500 psi, as opposed to shotcrete, which is a minimum of 4,000 psi.
Shotcrete was invented after gunite but it's very similar to it. The biggest difference is that with shotcrete, the concrete is premixed with water before being sprayed through the pneumatic gun as opposed to having separate water and concrete hoses. It also contains stone aggregate, which gives it much more strength than gunite. Shotcrete is often difficult to work with in extreme weather conditions, but that can be largely worked around by adding retarders or accelerants depending on the weather. The key is using an experienced shotcrete crew. At Absolute Pools, we use the best shotcrete crew and the best equipment.
All in all, despite its limitations, we feel that shotcrete is a better product which offers far more strength and durability than gunite. Call us today at 615-354-1840 to get started on designing your custom shotcrete pool.
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"Oral Language, Literacy and Schooling: Kindergarten Years" by Karen F. Thomas, Steven D. Rinehart et al.
This article reports the findings from the second year of a three year study following four children from a prekindergarten Headstart program through first grade. Grounded in the developmental theories of Vygotsky (1986), who has asserted the importance of social interaction and language learning, and Halliday (1975), who has provided a sociolinguistic framework for children learning language in social functions that promote meaning in their lives, it is an attempt to document the impact of oral language on young children's reading and writing. In the initial year of this study, we identified four children who demonstrated varying levels of Halliday's oral language functions and compared their use of talk with their understanding and performance of literacy tasks (Thomas and Rinehart, 1990). We used Halliday's (1975) seven functions: 1) instrumental, to have needs met; 2) regulatory, to regulate behavior; 3) interactional, to establish a me-and you relationship; 4) personal, to assert one's self in opinion and feelings; 5) heuristic, to ask questions fostering learning; 6) imaginative, to play; and 7) informational, to pass on information, to screen over 40 children to select subjects who displayed varying degrees of the seven functions. We selected four who provided us with varying uses of oral language demonstrated in classroom exchanges, classroom activities, writing activities, and reading activities. As participant observers, we collected over 36 hours of talk on audio and video tapes as well as hand tallied accounts from personal participation and observation. The selected four subjects were then ranked as numbers one, two, three and four with one representing full control of all seven functions. Subjects numbered two, three and four exhibited decreasing use of functions in social settings in the classroom with number four representing restricted use of language functions. In addition to the data collected in the classroom, we held interviews with parents in the first year of our study. The results of the first year indicated: 1) Subjects with the most developed use of language functions have the best understanding of the writing and reading process. 2) As oral language function use decreases so does the understanding of the writing and reading process. 3) subjects who are frequently read to have better oral language development. 4) Subjects who wrote/scribbled at home as part of adult activities had a better understanding and performance in writing. 5) Subjects who spent more time actively engaged with adults in talk had a heightened sense of language development. 6) Talk was necessary to help subjects begin and sustain writing. 7) Heuristic, interactional and personal language functions best served subjects' writing. 8) Understanding of and performance in print awareness tasks paralleled the level of use of language functions. 9) Classroom activities and time devoted to oral language growth promoted writing interest.
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Home » UN Bureau Chief For Press Trust Of India (PTI) Passes Away
UN Bureau Chief For Press Trust Of India (PTI) Passes Away
Fri, 2009-07-31 20:14 — admin
By Thalif Deen in the UN
United Nation, 31 July (Asiantribune.com): As a longstanding journalist covering the United Nations for PTI, Dharam Shourie rarely missed a breaking UN story on India. With his wealth of experience as a reporter and his wide ranging contacts, he pursued his stories relentlessly. And as any good newspaperman would do, he filed his story for his news agency first, and then shared it with his South Asian colleagues at the UN the next morning.
But he will also be best remembered for recounting some of the best political anecdotes from his days back in New Delhi. One that I will never forget is the story of a journalist, armed with a tape recorder, visiting a cabinet minister for an interview many moons ago.
When the minister found out that the reporter was carrying a tape recorder-- a politically lethal weapon by his standards-- he asked the reporter to leave it outside his office and then came the punch line: ''You are trying to deny me my right to deny what I am going to tell you.''
Shourie would regale us with dozens of similar anecdotes, a talent most journalists acquire on the job.
- Asian Tribune -
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The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology is now available in print at DriveThruFiction, bringing our total number of Chronicle Anthologies in print up to five!
Featuring stories by: Rick Chillot, Wood Ingham, Matthew McFarland, John Newman, Malcolm Sheppard, Geoff Skellams, Tristan J Tarwater, Eddy Webb, and Eric Zawazdki.
Whoops! Almost forgot to add the Demon: The Descent Storyteller Screen PDF!
We've also got an incredible number of new shirt designs (32!) available for both Classic and new World of Darkness fans!
Mage: The Ascension shirts, featuring the exclusive first-ever appearance of the Mage20 Craft symbols!
Don't forget that the PDF for Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition is also freshly-released!
Whoops! Forgot the Demon screen. Post edited.
The Knights Templar, Taftani, and Wu Lung Craft Symbols look amazing.
Cool with the Changeling and Mummy Shirts. I'm also thinking that the Orphans are not very popular, given that their logo is similar to The Triat Member Who Shall Not Be Named.
Does your contract with CCP include stuff like Messenger bags? Because I'd love to have a bag with a etherite symbol on it.
At the moment it's limited to shirts.
The M:tA shirts look great.
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That's not the opinion of some left-wing loony. It's the opinion of Democratic congresswoman Marcy Kaptur who says Wall Street has effectively taken over the US Congress and Federal Reserve. An excellent interview here on Bill Moyers with her and former IMF Economic Chief Simon Johnson (hardly Marxists either of them).
BILL MOYERS: So, Simon, what happens now? If we're going to avert a depression and the next calamity, what needs to be done?
This entry was posted in Blog, Economics, USA and tagged Bill Moyers, Crisis, Economy, Marcy Kaptur, Politics, Simon Johnson by Nick. Bookmark the permalink.
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Galanthus rizehensis är en amaryllisväxtart som beskrevs av Stern. Galanthus rizehensis ingår i släktet snödroppar, och familjen amaryllisväxter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.
Källor
Externa länkar
Snödroppar
rizehensis
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6 – Egypt Saved by Joseph
Diana led Oliver around the imposing circular walls of the medieval Louvre, still preserved here in the basement level of the museum, and up a set of stairs to the ground floor of the museum. Glancing out through the old glass panes, Oliver saw the distorted image of a group of tourists wandering through the enclosed space of the central courtyard. Continuing up the worn marble stairs for two flights, Diana stopped their ascent at the first floor and gestured for Oliver to take in the collection of Greek bronzes marching into the distance of the hall before them.
"It's through here. You know, most people come to the Louvre and head straight for the Mona Lisa, maybe run past the Greek and Egyptian collections, then just head out to visit the Eiffel Tower. They don't take the time to really explore this place and appreciate its beauty."
Oliver nodded in agreement, then shrugged and replied, "True, but you've got to admit that this place is huge. It probably intimidates your average tourist."
"Oh, I get that, believe me. When I arrived, I spent almost three weeks of evenings exploring the public galleries. Even after a year and a half I haven't done everything justice. Eventually I had to just surrender myself to the enormity of this place and say, 'Diana, you're in Paris. Get out and see the rest of the city now and then.'"
She gestured up at the ceiling of the round room in which they stood. "Part of what makes this place so overwhelming," Diana continued, "is that the Louvre itself is a work of art. Look here."
Overhead, the naked form of a muscular Icarus plunged to his death amidst a cloud of singed feathers. Daedalus reached towards him piteously, helpless to save his prideful son from plummeting into the sea. The painting was as richly detailed and vibrantly colored as any that Oliver had ever seen, but it was not a framed canvas hanging on the wall. This work of art was painted directly onto the ceiling of the room in which they stood.
"That's The Fall of Icarus, painted in 1819 by Merry-Joseph Blondel," Diana explained. "A lovely bit of Greco-Roman mythology, as imagined by a Frenchman more than two thousand years after the story was told."
"I know the myth," Oliver acknowledged.
"My point isn't to refresh your understanding of childhood stories, but to point out the beauty of this building. Many museums hold classic art. Some museums, the Pyramids of Giza or the childhood homes of Civil War generals come to mind, are actually the object on display themselves, even if they aren't all that pretty to look at. But this building melds the two so completely that the structure itself is a work of art."
Oliver placed a hand on Diana's shoulder and nodded, understanding her passion.
"But this isn't what I need to show you."
Diana grabbed Oliver's hand again and pulled him out of the round room and through several long galleries filled with Egyptian artifacts. They stopped in a room lined with ornately carved and painted wooden sarcophagi and Diana gestured for Oliver to look up at the ceiling.
Above them was a scene out of a horror movie. At the far right stood a man in red robes and a striped headdress gazing sternly into the distance as he supported a dazed woman, her bare breasts pressed against him. In his other hand he held a golden staff, with which he fended off a hoard of gaunt fiends and fire-breathing hellhounds. The monsters crowded forward, clutching at the heels of the helpless woman and gazing malevolently at the man in red as clouds of foul smoke billowed up at their backs, but they were repelled from her as if by an invisible wall.
"That's Egypt Saved by Joseph," Diana explained. "Painted by Abel de Pujol in 1827."
"Looks pretty terrifying," Oliver commented, walking around the room with his neck craned upward to inspect the work from different angles.
"Of course. If you believe the official story about the painting, Pujol was hired to paint this room with a biblical scene to accent the Egyptian artifacts that King Charles X intended to display in here. The plan was to focus on the story of Joseph saving the Pharaoh and his people from starvation, rather than the more popular Exodus account, since the king felt that a painting of Moses would not have been entirely appropriate to a room dedicated to honoring the might of Egypt."
"That makes sense, though I wouldn't be surprised if he was also uncomfortable with the idea of a painting of slaves overthrowing their ruler with the support of a wrathful god."
"True enough. Think about the story of Joseph. How did he save Egypt?"
Oliver paused for a moment to ensure he had the facts in order. He was certainly familiar with the story, but for the last few months he had been immersed in Icelandic folklore and he wanted to be sure he didn't mix up the details.
"As I recall, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers because they were jealous of his father's favor. The slavers brought him to Egypt, where he quickly rose to a trusted position in his master's house, only to be thrown into prison when he pissed off his master's wife by rejecting her advances."
Oliver looked at Diana to ensure he was keeping the story straight. Diana nodded and waited for him to continue.
"In prison he correctly foretold the fates of two other prisoners. One was executed, just as he predicted, while the other was restored to his position in the Pharaoh's court. A while later the Pharaoh started having bad dreams and the freed prisoner suggested that he call on Joseph to tell him what they meant. Joseph interpreted the dreams correctly, saving Egypt and winning himself a place as the Pharaoh's chief aid."
"Decent summary, but there are two important things you left out."
Oliver gazed up at the painted ceiling and pondered the scene for a moment. Diana was right, something was missing from his story, and from the painting above their heads. "I don't remember there being anything about hellhounds or zombies in the biblical account, Apocrypha, or what little I've read of contemporary Egyptian accounts."
"The Egyptian evidence is sketchy at best for the entire period, but nothing that can be linked to the likely biblical Pharaohs mentions such creatures. The only place you're likely to find them is in folk tales of the period."
"As I recall, Joseph is said to have saved Egypt from a famine by predicting a time of plenty that would precede the famine, during which he proposed that the Pharaoh should stockpile grain to be distributed when the famine struck."
Diana nodded and gestured at the ceiling. "You're exactly right. Those monsters are completely out of place. The title and artistic style of the painting indicates that it is supposed to depict Joseph literally defending Egypt from the threats that Pharaoh dreamed about, but if that were the case he should be pushing back a few withered husks of grain and a herd of starving cows. You could almost argue that the human figures are gaunt enough to represent the famine, but that theory is ruined by the hellhound over there on the left edge of the mural."
Oliver strode over to a wooden bench set under one of the room's wide windows and sat, crossing his legs and leaning back to further examine the painting.
"So what's your theory on this?" he asked.
"Pujol was an artist who spent much of his life working here in Paris. When I saw this painting a little over a year ago the differences between the title and the content were just too deep to be ignored, so I started digging for more information about his life and the story of this work. It turns out that Abel de Pujol had a younger brother named Gabriel. Gabriel didn't become an artist. Being the younger brother, and unable to depend on an inheritance, he needed to find a career that would provide a steady income, so he borrowed money from his brother to purchase a commission into the French army."
Diana gestured up at the painting and continued, "Reading what I could find of Abel's letters and journals, I discovered references to creatures like what you see up there. Those all trace back to stories that Gabriel told Abel after returning from Napoleon's Egyptian campaign."
"What does that have to do with hellhounds and… whatever you call those hungry fiends up there?" Oliver inquired.
"Napoleon spent about four years in Egypt. That time was marked equally by fantastic discoveries and bloody battles against both the British and native Egyptian forces. We all know about the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, but there were countless other artifacts recovered during that time. Napoleon is also rumored to have sent several ill-fated expeditions up the Nile and out into the desert seeking relics of the Pharaohs. According to one letter that I found, Gabriel de Pujol was the sole survivor of one of those expeditions. The letter is very circumspect, but it had to be, given the amount of censorship that military mail was subject to, but in it he announced his return to France and alludes to seeing his comrades 'taken by fiends of the desert' and quotes heavily from the book of Exodus."
"Couldn't that just be a battle-worn Frenchman getting colorful in his descriptions of native rebels? European soldiers weren't exactly known for their fair portrayals of people they viewed as savages."
"True, but there's one thing I haven't told you yet."
Diana gestured up at the painted ceiling. "What do you see in Joseph's hand?
Oliver examined the mural for a moment, then replied, "It looks like some sort of staff."
"Even if we accept that Pujol has set this mural at least seven years into Joseph's rule, when he might have actually held a staff of office and dressed in the fashions of the Egyptian nobility, that staff is all wrong. Egyptian rulers are usually depicted holding straight metal rods topped with the head of a jackal. Joseph's staff in this painting is clearly wood and the head is shaped more like a shepherd's crook. "
Oliver had a feeling that he knew where Diana was going with this. "Are you suggesting that Abel de Pujol intentionally altered the depiction of Joseph in this painting to match his vision of what Gabriel described to him?"
"It fits the timeline. Gabriel was sent back to Paris to serve in a non-combat position soon after surviving that ill-fated mission. There are no more letters between the brothers, but in subsequent years Abel's journal contains notes of meetings between the brothers, alongside sketches that appear to be rough drafts for parts of this painting."
Diana paused and gazed up at the painting for a moment, then turned to Oliver and crossed her arms. She stared until he lowered his head and looked her in the eye.
"Oliver, normally I'd be a bit annoyed at you for suggesting that I drop everything and follow you to Egypt without notice, but this is exactly the chance I have been waiting for. If your employer's scroll turns out to be genuine, then this might be an opportunity to follow Gabriel's trail and learn exactly what he found out there in the desert."
"So you'll come along?"
Chapter Seven
Two days later they arrived at the Hotel Sofitel in Cairo. Pulling up under the carport of the gold-topped pink tower located in the nook of a curve in the Nile, Diana expressed surprise at the choice of lodging.
Oliver finished paying the driver and stepped up beside her, saying, "I got a large advance on this job. Besides, we might as well be comfortable for the next few nights. Soon enough, we might be camping in the desert for a week or more."
Diana nodded in agreement and together they pushed through the revolving door into the cool air of the hotel lobby.
The clerk at the desk greeted them in flawless English, checked them into two adjoining rooms on the nineteenth floor, and informed Oliver that two packages had arrived ahead of him. Oliver requested that they be delivered to his room and gestured for Diana to lead the way to the elevator. Once upstairs, he insisted on checking her room before entering his own.
"I'm not helpless, Oliver," Diana complained as he pushed past her into the room.
"Obviously, but when were you last in a fist fight?"
"Eighth grade."
"Well, that puts me in the more experienced category when it comes to dealing with any covert agents or bastard relic dealers hidden in your closet. We're in-country now, Diana. Things might get dangerous."
That seemed to upset Diana, so Oliver didn't make any further comments as he pulled an electronic bug sniffer, disguised as a light meter for his camera, out of his carry-on bag. Once he was certain that the room was clear of both electronic surveillance and hidden attackers, Oliver informed Diana that he was going to get a shower and lay down for a few minutes. She expressed similar plans and they agreed to meet again in an hour.
Oliver locked his door behind him and leaned against it for a moment, taking in the view of the room. It was a perfect mirror of Diana's room next door. Both rooms were decorated in shades of amber and beige, with thick green carpeting on the floor and a single wide window looking out over the curving banks of the Nile. A heavy door set into the adjoining wall opened to reveal the flat face of a matching door in Diana's room, allowing easy access between the rooms when both doors were opened. Oliver made a quick check of his room and, convinced he was alone and not under any obvious surveillance, stripped and climbed into a cold shower.
It was probably a mistake bringing Diana along, he thought as the chill water pounded against his skin. Sure, he needed a translator and he was certain that she was the most competent Egyptian linguist he could trust. For that matter, she was perhaps the only one he could trust if the story about the staff turned out to be true. He was also reasonably sure that she could hold her own if things got rough, which was important. Three years ago, he had allowed a girlfriend to travel with him on a simple photo expedition, assuming that anyone who fell for an outdoorsman and expressed interest in traveling to exotic places would be at least as competent as Diana or Amber. That had been a disaster. The relationship had come to an abrupt end when, two days into the jungles of India, the woman had announced that she was taking one of their guides and returning to the city with or without Oliver.
No, it wasn't concern for Diana's linguistic skills or survival skills that gave Oliver a niggling sense of unease, which had grown into a raging headache in the last hour. It was a growing worry that he had gotten in over his head on this job and was now involving someone he cared about. Senator Wheeler hadn't even been vague in his threat to interfere with Oliver's livelihood should he suspect that Oliver had betrayed him. That was disturbing, but Oliver had ways of getting around the no-fly list if matters became desperate. But if the Senator decided to interfere with Diana's ability to travel and work internationally, Oliver would feel terribly guilty and have no ready means of remedying her situation.
Oliver stepped out of the shower, toweled his hair dry, and wrapped the towel around his waist. He shaved in the foggy bathroom mirror, then stepped out into the main room. He stood for a moment, gazing out the window at the lazy waters of the Nile far below. Boats darted past, splitting the sun-specked surface of the water with their wakes. After a few moments of contemplation, he tossed his towel over a chair and pulled on underwear and a pair of khakis from his bag.
He settled into a chair by the window and focused on breathing slowly and contemplating the ramifications of his decision to take this job.
"Alright, enough of that," he muttered, eventually.
Oliver stood and began unpacking his suitcase. He wanted the room to appear as normal as possible, just in case it was checked by Egyptian or American security. Fortunately, many of the trappings of his legitimate role as an adventure photographer aligned nicely with the needs of a relic hunter.
He was interrupted by a knock on the door separating his room from Diana's. Oliver strode to the door, turned the bolt to unlock it, and stepped back over to continue arranging camera lenses on the broad oak table in front of the window. Diana stepped into the room, glanced briefly at Oliver's bare chest, and then shook her head and fell into a chair at the opposite end of the table.
She regarded him critically through half closed eyes. "I get the feeling that you don't thoroughly trust your employer."
Oliver shrugged, finished checking a telephoto lens, then stepped to the closet to pull out a lightweight button-up shirt. "I trust him to act in his best interests, which might not always line up with ours."
"I don't like people treating relics as if they are some sort of cosmic vending machine. Just because something channeled divine power four thousand years ago, or was the focus of belief for an entire nation, that doesn't mean that it is still going to be effective in the present day. And if a relic does still possess power, why should that power be used for personal gain?"
"Understandable. So why did you take this job?"
Oliver studied Diana for a moment, trying to figure out how he could explain his concerns without appearing weak. Finally he strode over to the window and stood gazing out at the glistening waters of the Nile flowing past, and beyond to the sand dunes stretching into the distance beyond the city.
"What's the most intimidating position you've ever found yourself in?" he asked her.
She pondered the question for a moment, then responded, "My thesis board. They were pretty brutal in questioning some of the connections I drew between modern comics and ancient mythology."
"I know that feeling. You might recall that a similar event cost me my career. Now imagine that times about ten and you might have half an idea what it's like to be standing face to face with a man who has a serious chance of becoming the President of the United States and he's threatening to ruin you. If I fail here and Wheeler decides it was my fault…" Oliver paused for a moment, chewing at his lower lip, then shook his head and continued, "If that happens, we both might be in a world of trouble."
"You don't really think he'd exploit his position for a personal vendetta?"
"What do you think this whole job is? Wheeler is a powerful man using his influence to get what he wants, damn the rules."
"You're not a big fan of rules yourself, as I recall."
Oliver had to smile at that. "True, but as hypocritical as I might sound right now, I've got this notion that people who are in powerful places have a responsibility to not abuse their power."
"So why are you helping him?"
"I don't know that I had much of a choice. Senator Wheeler is a powerful man. I couldn't risk him going after me. All it would take is one call to the TSA and I'd be unable to fly for months, maybe years. I couldn't even prove it was him. Just a mistake. A simple mixup of names on the no-fly list, happens all the time."
Oliver moved to stand behind Diana's chair and rested his hands on her shoulders as he spoke intently, leaning down to almost whisper into her ear. "Diana, I'm this close. Just a few more pieces and I might be able to finish assembling the mechanism, then I'll understand why so many ancient cultures seem to be linked to it. Why inexplicable technologies cropped up across the globe. I need to know, Diana. I can't afford to be trapped in the United States indefinitely. And if he targets you too…"
She turned her head and looked at him closely, studying Oliver's expression with an intensity normally reserved for faded paintings and eroded glyphs. Finally she said, "Don't worry about me, Oliver. If things go bad there's plenty of work for me in the States." She studied him a moment longer, then put her hand on his cheek. "You might be afraid Oliver, but I see in your eyes that you're hungry for this. You want to find that staff, don't you."
Oliver released her shoulders and fell back into the chair opposite her. He studied her across the arrayed camera lenses and grinned. "You know me too well, Diana. I don't know if I can give it to the Senator in the end, but I absolutely want to find it."
"Then stop fretting. We'll find it if we can, then we'll deal with the Senator."
← 5 – Diana → 7 – Arrival
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The School has a vision of future guided by the Wisdom of the seers and a further vision to serve the ever increasing glory of India.
The school has a vision of a new world in which relationships are governed the spirit of universal fraternity. The mission of the school is to prepare children who have Courage and Heroism to demand from themselves tireless labor and inner discipline directed towards self-control and Self-mastery.
This school is engaged in providing facilities and opportunities for student to develop strong and healthy bodies, Clear and wide minds, resolute will power and ever-widening horizons of knowledge and even of wisdom.
The school is dedicated to serve the highest interests of nation building that can ensure vast synthesis of knowledge and harmonious of the individual and the collectivity.
To impart integral education general as well as vocational to all irrespective of caste creed and colour in an atmosphere of purity, efficiency, discipline and fraternity. With special emphasis on moral and spiritiul values and character building rooted in Indian culture.
To ensure all-round development of the scholars through efficient education under the teachers of very high physical intellectual and cultural caliber with total dedication.
To develop integrity and fullness of versatile personality, so that there is total dedication to the service to mankind.
To provide training in leadership and experience in self government through prefectural system and other allied positions of responsibility.
To develop creative potential through painting, dancing, music and other forms of performing arts.
To promote national integrational understanding and brotherhood.
To instil among learners awareness for maintaining enviromantal purity and ecological harmony.
To improve self-confidence and creativity through involvement in co-curricular activities.
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Q: Find and change the color of text in Label I am trying to change the label color to RED when (Not Recommended) is a part of Label. Is there any way to find the text from Label and change the color of it. I don't want to use a class for all and to change them.
<html>
<head>
<title> Label Color Change </title>
</head>
<body>
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<label for="imgDisplay">Do you want to Display Image:<br>(Not Recommended)</label>
</td>
<td>
<input id="imgUrl" name="imgUrl" type="checkbox" checked=False>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<label for="linkInsert"> Add a Link on the top :</label>
</td>
<td>
<input for="chckLink" name="chckLink" type="checkbox">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<label for="userDetails"> Wish to take User Details :</label>
</td>
<td>
<input for="userDetail" name="userDetail" type="checkbox">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Thank you for your time.
A: Try this:
Find fiddle Here
JS (Uses jQuery)
$(document).ready(function () {
$("label:contains(Not Recommended)").css("color", "red");
});
A: You can make use of the function:
window.find(text)
where your text will be '(Not Recommended)' in your case
As per browser support this function works on chrome, firefox and safari.
For IE you need to use the findText method of the TextRange object for similar functionality
A: The simplest way, that will work on any browser and won't rely on any library is to loop through all the labels on the page, look for the text in them, and paint them red.
var labels = document.getElementsByTagName('label');
for (i = 0; i < labels.length; i++) {
if (labels[i].innerHTML.indexOf('Not Recommended') !== -1) {
labels[i].style.color = 'red';
}
}
Example
Although using a class is the correct course of action. These labels have something in common, they are all not recommended. In fact a better course of action can be seen in this example, where the Not Recommended is added on its own with CSS.
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Let us consider some important things for your blog, which shouldn't be missed to increase the number of regular readers.
Remember that conversation – is the key to success. Comments to post make blog successful. That opportunity to make comments, thus expressing your own opinion, made blog sphere so popular.
Over many years of development there are three secret of blog writing rules.
First, always respond to comments visitors left. Ignoring the posted messages is bad form. Such your behavior will scare readers.
Secondly, make a convenient form for living comment. Often there are blogs, with inconvenient and unpleasant adding comments form. Undoubtedly, in this case, you won't get discussing of your posts.
Third, comment on other blogs. But always leave meaningful and detailed posts. This will attract new readers to the pages of your creation. Choosing a site for comments give preference to similar blogs on subjects and, most importantly, popular ones.
In the early stages of its development, social networking is a tool for communicating with friends, family and native people. But now the situation has changed dramatically. Of course, "students" considered "social" only as a means of communication, but in fact, social networks - is a powerful means of obtaining information that helps increase traffic. No wonder many serious projects spent much time on the "correct" positioning of its brand in social sphere.
You can see that at almost every post or article is a block consisting of social network buttons - Facebook, Twitter, etc.
To achieve at least some effect you must first think about your action strategy. Decide on the basic goals, objectives to address them, as well as the fact that you want to get eventually. Next is to identify the target group, which will be directed your intentions. Do not "spray", it is better to "strike" purposely. In this case, the result will have a greater effect. Do not try to find on Web pages already designed and shaped programs. Each case requires individual decision.
Finding an appropriate for your group, add your own notes regularly indicating the link back to your blog. If your posts are really interesting, you will find followers and readers. Do not forget that often users may go to your blog is only for review, so try to make them come back regularly.
Many will say that promotion of your blog in search results will require significant financial costs. Of course, in some ways they are right. But this statement is true only in some aspects that have a little to do with the blogosphere.
Competent optimization of posts by low-frequency queries (from 500 to 1,000 per month) (LQ) can bring significant growth in blog's traffic without spending money at the same time. In addition, you will receive quality targeted traffic.
You can get good traffic with minimal financial investment or none at all with high quality optimization of site pages for low queries. Moreover, traffic will be targeted.
At first it might seem that a few visitors a day for one page it's too little but it's worth to optimize 500 pages and the number of visitors may be increased to several thousand readers.
Let's consider in details the process of page optimizing for low-frequency queries. First you need to find a list of keywords. It must be approach with great care, at this stage lays the success of all of your subsequent manipulations.
After all "keywords" are selected you need to use it seamlessly in the text of your post. It is recommended to keep the rule –frequency of low queries in total should be about 5%. Do not try to insert a key word in each sentence. It will spoil the quality of content and will deter readers.
If the text is written, you can add it to your blog page. However, bloggers who are the owners of sites under the control of CMS WordPress there is a significant advantage. They can improve the optimization of the page filling meta tags - title, description and keywords.
It is also worth to pay attention to text formatting. Be sure to add themed pictures. If you write an article of large size, it is necessary to divide it into paragraphs, and add titles, marking them with tags H3, H2. At the same time keywords should be separated from the total mass of the tag – strong.
Don't forget that in the case of adding comments to the post the percentage of occurrence keywords is reduced, so answering to "comments" use LQ.
The final step for optimization with low-frequency queries will be putting of few internal links. It would be better to buy few external links on any exchange.
People like to get everything for free or the opportunity to receive a gift with a minimum amount of labor. Therefore, holding raffles and contests are a great way to attract traffic and get backlinks because as usual news about new contest is carried on the Internet at the speed of light.
Offer you several variants for competitions.
1) Contest for the best comment. This option is essentially all-prize as all Internet users can add comments – it does not require any knowledge and skills. At the end of the week you can chose one or more winners awarding them a small monetary reward.
2) Contest for the best article. Place several ads in social networks and thematic resources that you declare a contest for the best thematic article. At the end of the contest you choose e.g. three winners. This version of the competition is the highest priority, because you will get not only traffic but also unique content of high quality. All this is available at relatively low financial cost.
3) Awarding for the anniversary comment. Pay a small amount for each anniversary, for example, one hundredth, "comments". But in this case you have to follow the contest, because dishonest users can use the software to add comments automatically.
4) Organize a quiz on some very narrow and specific theme that is well known only to a small group of people.
What is usability for blog? This term refers to ease of use, ease of main elements navigation and functions.
The key to blog usability is thoughtful design. It's very difficult to find money for a unique and quality professional design so for start you can download a free one and make it just a little bit unique. It's not a problem even for the novice user.
If the design sorted out you need to work on improving the usability of your "child". Do not load the main page – try to find a "middle ground".
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This annual event show cases hundreds of blooms in over a hundred classes and is the perfect place to see and learn about a wide range of daffodils. You can discover how to grow them and show them. The Horticultural Competitions run by the RHS are open to all (you don't have to be an RHS member) and free to enter. They cover a wide range of ornamental plants as well as fruit and vegetables; a variety of prestigious trophies and prize money are awarded to winning entries. All details on our website. The show is free with normal Garden entry, which has 10% discount if booked in advance. Members go free.
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Abstracts & Posters 910
Insights into bone mineral density and bone metabolism in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
source: Neuromuscular Disorders
authors: M. Sframeli, G. Vita, A. Catalano, M. Distefano, M. La Rosa, C. Barcellona, C. Bonanno, G. Nicocia, C. Profazio, N. Morabito, C. Lunetta, G. Vita, S. Messina
Low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture risk are frequently observed in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Our aim was to explore BMD and bone turn over and to evaluate their main determinants in a cohort of DMD subjects. BMD at lumbar spine, detected by DXA and expressed as Z-score values, C-terminal telopeptide of procollagen type I (CTX) and osteocalcin (BGP), as bone resorption and formation markers respectively, and sclerostin were assessed. Prevalent fragility fractures were recorded. Left Ventricular Ejection fraction (LVEF %) and Forced Vital Capacity (FVC %) were evaluated. Thirty-one patients [median age 14 (12 to 21.5) yr.] were studied. Ambulant subjects showed significantly higher Z-score values in comparison with not ambulant ones, and subjects with prevalent clinical fractures had significantly lower Z-score values in comparison to subjects without fractures. Z-score values were positively correlated with FVC (r = 0.50; p = 0.01), but not with GCs use, and FVC was positively associated with BGP (r = 0.55; p = 0.02). In not ambulant subjects, Z-score values were associated with BMI (r = 0.54; p = 0.02) and sclerostin was associated with age (r = 0.44; p = 0.05). At a stepwise multiple regression analysis, age, BMI, FVC and sclerostin levels were retained in the model as independent predictors of BMD. Our data confirm low BMD values in DMD subjects, especially in not ambulant ones, irrespective of the use of GCs, and identify, for the first time, FVC and sclerostin as main determinants of BMD in this cohort. Therefore, a multidisciplinary setting, focusing on rehabilitative and respiratory care, is warranted to reduce bone complications in DMD.
organization: University of Messina, Italy; NEMO SUD Clinical Centre for Neuromuscular Disorders, Italy
DOI: 10.1016/j.nmd.2017.06.047
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Home » Our guide to the World Music Festival
Our guide to the World Music Festival
Eight days, 22 venues, 52 shows—and music from more than 30 countries
by Peter Margasak, Monica Kendrick and Miles Raymer September 15, 2011 August 19, 2021
Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal
In 2010 a sponsored three-day celebration of Indian culture allowed Chicago's World Music Festival to expand from seven days to ten, and even without that extra bump, its 13th annual edition is eight days long. Given how diminished many of the city's other music fests have been by budget cuts, it's an impressive accomplishment, even considering that the first day's programming consists of just one show—a free set by Chicago's Occidental Brothers Dance Band International at Summerdance.
Of course, the crippled economy has affected the World Music Festival's bookings. This year there are fewer Chicago premieres and more artists who've played earlier iterations of the fest—and sadly, one of the most exciting repeat visitors, Romany singer Esma Redzepova, had to cancel to due to visa problems. (So did the amazing Congolese street band Staff Benda Bilili, who were supposed to headline Pritzker Pavilion on their first stateside tour.) But plenty of excellent artists are still scheduled to play, and a few—including Malian singer and guitarist Sidi Toure and eclectic Italian ensemble Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino—are making their local debuts.
The WMF is also presenting four acts in cooperation with the new Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements festival, this weekend in Eckhart Park: Toure, Bomba Estereo, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and Fool's Gold.
(See more on Brilliant Corners.) And Benda Bilili, a new documentary about Staff Benda Bilili, premieres in Chicago with a free screening in the Cultural Center's Claudia Cassidy Theater at 1 PM on Sunday, September 18.
World Music Festival shows take place at 22 venues around the city (addresses and other info are on page B29), and except where noted they're free and all-ages. Bills are listed in chronological order, with openers first and headliners last. Advance tickets to events with admission fees are usually available from the venues; for details see worldmusicfestivalchicago.org. Considering the vagaries of international touring, last-minute schedule changes are always a possibility; updates will be announced on Twitter and Facebook. The fest also has its own free Android app, but iPhone users are out of luck.
As usual the early weekday performances at the Claudia Cassidy Theater will air as part of Continental Drift on Northwestern University's WNUR (89.3 FM). The festival once again closes with "One World Under One Roof," a free evening-length extravaganza that transforms the Cultural Center into a minifestival, with overlapping sets in three different halls inside the building. —PM
Thursday, Sept. 15
7:30 PM | Spirit of Music Garden
Occidental Brothers Dance Band International Led by guitarist Nathaniel Braddock, this local combo plays infectiously sunny pan-African dance music with deadly serious dedication, and it got a big bump last year by beginning a collaboration with the great Samba Mapangala, who sometimes steps in as lead singer. For tonight's set guitarists Braddock and Antonio Carella, alto saxophonist Greg Ward, bassist Joshua Ramos, and drummer Makaya McCraven will be joined by a newer ringer: Congolese vocalist Jonal, who sang in the Soukous Stars as well as one of the last versions of Franco's OK Jazz. —PM
Friday, Sept. 16
5:30 PM | Navy Pier
Cafe Antarsia Locals Cafe Antarsia dress up their story-songs with facile flourishes of eastern European and cabaret music and heaping helpings of theatrical overkill. —PM
6:30 PM | National Mexican Museum of Art
Citlalli Castellano & Mariachi Nuevo Jalisco This local singer performs with a traditional mariachi band. —PM
7 PM | Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements, Eckhart Park | $20
Bomba Estereo Acts like Bogota's Bomba Estereo are a big part of the reason so many fans of electronic dance music—which has long been divided into a staggering number of subgenres—have finally thrown up their hands and just started referring to anyone doing anything with a drum machine as part of a global "bass culture." Take for instance Bomba Estereo's recent single "Ponte Bomb" (Nacional), which combines the vocal melody of Technotronic's "Pump Up the Jam" (with new Spanish lyrics), a beat halfway between Puerto Rican reggaeton and Colombian cumbia, synths emulating vintage acid house, and a sexualized bump that's obviously indebted to Brazilian favela funk. Have fun figuring out where to file that one. —MR
Joaquin Diaz Though he left his native Dominican Republic more than two decades ago to settle in Montreal, accordionist and singer Joaquin Diaz hasn't lost his touch with his homeland—or with merengue, its most famous musical export. Rather than the genre's hyperactive, chintzy modern iterations, he plays something more rustic and traditional—merengue tipica, more or less. In keeping with the romantic theme of his most recent album, Mi Corazon (Nuits D'Afrique), Diaz breaks up the upbeat numbers with a few boleros for the slow dancers—but most of the record is wall-to-wall rapid-fire rhythm, a lattice of grooves that come together unfailingly for accents on the one and the three. —PM
8 PM | Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements, Eckhart Park | $20
Sidi Toure Malian singer and guitarist Sidi Toure got his start in 1976 with the Songhai Stars, a regional orchestra in Gao, and he's worked as a professional musician ever since—but despite a career nearly four decades long, he didn't release his second album under his own name, Sahel Folk (Thrill Jockey), till early this year. (The first, Hoga, came out in 1996.) The new record is billed to "Sidi Toure & friends," and though he sings and plays acoustic guitar on every tune, more often than not he yields the spotlight to one of five different accompanists—a modest approach that might help explain why Toure isn't better known. He's definitely running the show—he wrote most of the beautiful, cascading melodies and all the lyrics—but the casual conviviality of the recording sessions, held at his sister's house, allow the album to reflect the communal feel of nonprofessional music making. For his first U.S. tour, Toure will play with two of the musicians from Sahel Folk: Jambala Maïga on kuntigui (a traditional one-string guitar) and Douma Maïga on kurbu (a three-string lute). —PM
8 PM | Old Town School of Folk Music | $10 suggested donation
House of Waters The hammered dulcimer is a very versatile instrument, and Max ZT of House of Waters spends both his band's CDs, Elsewhere and Peace the Coats, demonstrating that. Sometimes sounding like a mandolin, sometimes like a harp, sometimes like a kalimba, sometimes like a pizzicato violin, the dulcimer provides the trio's backbone with its delicate, almost liquid notes. Bassist Moko Fukushima (who has roots in jazz) and percussionist Luke Notary (who's studied with a djembe master in Senegal and toured with Cirque du Soleil) pitch in to create a sound that's mostly calm and graceful, dominated by resonating strings. The music could use a little more dynamic range, and the players have assimilated their Indian and African training and influences so smoothly they almost disappear—but it's hard to argue with the loveliness of their performances. —MK
DikandaCredit: Marcin Grzegorczyk
Dikanda This mostly acoustic Polish fusion band brings an air of mystery to its first American tour—as its website explains, "Most of Dikanda's songs is written in Dikandish language. The written form doesn't exist. For this reason, below we are publishing lyrics of some traditional songs only." This is accompanied by translations of Serbian, Macedonian, and Hungarian tunes—and Dikanda sure travels with a full bag of those. Formed in 1997 by singer and accordionist Anna Witczak, the group plays a mix of Balkan and other eastern European music, spiced liberally with Turkish, Persian, and Arabic elements. It's both restlessly exuberant and unabashedly romantic, as if Loreena McKennitt's band got into the same slivovitz as Gogol Bordello and they all started falling in love with one another . . . and singing serenades in a made-up language. You might think you're too jaded for such foolishness, but there's a good chance that feeling will rub off on you. —MK
8 PM | Reggie's Rock Club | $12, 18+
L'Orchestre Super Vitesse This local instrumental group, led by Occidental Brothers guitarist Antonio Carella (also a former member of Chicago Afrobeat Project), pays homage to the Cuban-influenced music produced in the late 60s and 70s in west African countries like Guinea, Mali, and Senegal, evoking that era accurately and elegantly. —PM
Toubab Krewe This jam band from Asheville, North Carolina, started out six years ago playing an improbable fusion of heavy southern rock and west African music. On their latest, TK2 (Nat Geo), they've improved their reach—"Mariama" has flourishes of something approximating stride piano, and "Carnvalito" szounds like Manu Chao—but not necessarily their grasp. —PM
Primitive Percussionist John Yost of "rhythm based events organization" Rhythm Revolution leads a glorified drum circle. —PM
9 PM | Mayne Stage | $15, 18+
Natural Information Society On last year's Natural Information (Eremite), the record that gives this band its name, Joshua Abrams opens with a solo piece for processed and multitracked hammered dulcimer called "Mysterious Delirious Fluke of the Beyond." With its mesmerizing permutations of brief phrases, all circling within a single chord, it sets the tone for the album—Abrams favors the indefinite harmonic suspension that's common to ritual trance music all over the world. He plays bass on two of the six tracks and guimbri (a three-string north African lute) or donso ngoni (a six-string west African harp) on most of the others—those instruments not only have respectable lower registers but traditionally use unfretted drone strings. The current version of the Natural Information Society consists of Abrams on guimbri and MPC, Emmett Kelly on guitar, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, and Mikel Avery on drums. —PM
Malika Zarra Though she was born in Morocco, vocalist Malika Zarra left when she was three and grew up in France. After moving to New York in 2004 she began to explore her musical heritage, but anyone hoping for her to dig deep into those roots on the recent Berber Taxi (Motema) will be disappointed. She's fashioned a slick jazz-pop fusion with Moroccan flourishes (an occasional clatter from the metal castanets called krakebs, a thwack on a bendir or frame drum) and some Berber and Arabic lyrics—it sounds like a mix of Zap Mama and Esperanza Spalding. Zarra is a wonderful singer, but neither her sound nor her songs can yet equal her voice. —PM
9 PM | Martyrs' | $12, 21+
Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Duo This long-running local acoustic-guitar duo injects lots of improvisation and jazz-wise harmony into everything from flamenco and bossa nova to Balkan dance music. —PM
Kultur Shock I'm always happy to see Kultur Shock come back to Chicago, and this show should be great—these Seattle-based Balkan punks' new seventh album, Ministry of Kultur (produced by Jack Endino), is their best so far. The protest metal and working-class punk in their sound never steamroll the folkloric flair of its melodies (much of which is derived from the traditional music of Bosnia, where front man Gino was born), not even when the time signatures get extra crazy and Gino's voice goes all death-growly. Violinist Paris Hurley and drummer Chris Stromquist function as flawless melodic and rhythmic foils, anchoring the band's flights of fancy in fierce, danceable beauty. —MK
Noon | Dock at Montrose Harbor
Joaquin Diaz See Fri 9/16.
1 PM | Navy Pier
House of Waters See Fri 9/16.
1 PM | South Shore Cultural Center
Blitz the Ambassador This Ghanaian rapper moved to the U.S. in 2001 to study at Kent State, and after ten years here the only real trace of his homeland in his music are its smart lyrics, which focus on African social and political issues. —PM
Kutumba The six young men of Nepali band Kutumba are all committed to the traditional music of their home country, and the wonderfully informative liner notes of their album Utsarga (East Meets West Musicbox) provide explanations of song types from various regions and excellent pictures of the instruments, a few of which are quite rare. Kutumba's music consists of beautiful semi-improvised versions of classic folk songs; airy and elegant and melodic, they're sparse and straightforward but nonetheless full of rich textures. Fans of Mongolian music (as well as Tibetan, Indian, Pakistani, and Afghani music) will hear some similarities, but because different regions of Nepal have evolved distinct styles due in part to the isolation enforced by the rugged terrain of the Himalayas, these songs stand apart as not exactly like anything else, anywhere. Highly recommended. —MK
3 PM | Margate Park
Tsukasa Taiko Students Recital The youth ensemble of Tsukasa Taiko, Chicago's best-known traditional Japanese drumming group, performs under the direction of bassist Tatsu Aoki. —PM
3:15 PM | Edgewater GRalley Festival | $10
Dikanda See Fri 9/16.
Malika Zarra See Fri 9/16.
Chai Found Music Workshop This group from Taipei performs traditional and contemporary classical music from Taiwan and China. —PM
7 PM | International House | $8, $5 students
Arooj Aftab Arooj Aftab, a Berklee College of Music student from Lahore, Pakistan, has posted covers of sad and meditative Western tunes like "Comfortably Numb" and "Hallelujah" online as she works on her debut album, but the roots of her own compositions run deep in qawwali and other forms of Sufi song—when she talks about her spiritual mentors in interviews, she sounds utterly, raptly starstruck. Her beautiful voice is more than capable of the ever-climbing ululation that lifts listeners into trance states, and though she's probably still too young to have developed the depth that qawwali demands, she's a talent to watch. —MK
Alsarah & the Nubatones Sudanese expat Alsarah leads this compact New York combo in traditional songs from her beleaguered country, as well as some original tunes that explore similar sounds. —PM
Wust El Balad This popular Egyptian group wouldn't sound too terribly out of place on Lite FM, except for the traditional Middle Eastern instruments (oud, hand percussion) and consonant Arabic singing. —PM
Bulgarika featuring Nikolay Kolev This nimble Bulgarian group, which includes onetime Ivo Papasov accordionist Ivan Milev, plays the high-octane Romany folk music of its homeland. —PM
8 PM | Old Town School of Folk Music | $10
Sidi Toure See Fri 9/16.
Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko, a deep well of Mande tradition, has worked with bluesman Taj Mahal and Italian minimalist pianist Ludovico Einaudi, but the recent Chamber Music (Six Degrees)—a collaboration with French cellist Vincent Segal—is his most successful and simpatico cross-cultural effort yet. The kora's circular grooves and sweetly unfurling cascades of notes dominate the proceedings—the cellist mostly seems to be finding his way among them—but even on the three pieces Segal wrote (the other seven are Sissoko's) there's no disconnect between their individual styles. A few tracks feature excellent guest contributions—the vocals of Awa Sanagho, the balafon of Fassery Diabate, the ngoni of Mahamadou Kamissoko—but Sissoko and Segal are engrossing all on their own. —PM
Blitz the Ambassador See above.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw With the recent Cervantine (LM Dupli-cation) A Hawk and a Hacksaw have ditched the training wheels—they're ready to show off what they've learned from the master Romany musicians they've rehearsed, recorded, toured, and drank with. Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, who lead this New Mexico-based group, immersed themselves in Romany music while living in Budapest in 2007 and 2008, but rather than meticulously re-create those sounds, they've begun to incorporate other influences—they add mariachi horns colored with Balkan brass, borrow new European elements like rembetika, and use postproduction tricks (courtesy of engineer Griffin Rodriguez) to turn the recordings into something more than simple documents of performances. It's their best album yet, and hints at exciting developments down the road. For this tour Barnes and Trost are joined by trumpeter Samuel Johnson (of Chicago's Mucca Pazza), percussionist Aaron Moore (Volcano the Bear), and drummer Jesse Hasko. Barnes explains via e-mail, "The drummers are not playing kits, it's more of an Ottoman Empire drum line." —PM
10 PM | Martyrs' | $15, 21+
Mad Professor The sound of dub reggae first cohered in the 1970s, but outside of Jamaica it's only ever been appreciated by fringe audiences. But its continued influence on hip-hop and dance music—basically any scene where you'll find samplers and remixes—means that it never sounds out of date. Mad Professor was something of a dub classicist when he came up in the early 80s, and since then he's stayed true to the sounds and techniques of the old school while applying them to remix work for a wide range of artists, including Massive Attack, the Beastie Boys, and the Kills. —MR
Toubab Krewe See Fri 9/16. Mad Professor (see above) will give the band's set a live dub mix.
Opposition Party Chicago's Opposition Party gigs at a wide variety of local venues, but it should feel especially at home in front of a World Music Festival audience. You might guess that a band calling its jammy pan-African sound AfroFunkDubJazz would specialize in provoking crowds into constant sweaty motion, and you'd be right. The Opposition Party just self-released a live CD, Live at Primitive, and though it's mostly covers—Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, Burning Spear, Herbie Hancock, Thomas Mapfumo, Mulatu Astatke—the group's ballsy to play a few of its originals alongside them. The Opposition Party's songs—mostly by keyboardist Joshua Siegal—acquit themselves well enough, but the band's horn section and percussionists own the show. —MK
Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal See Sat 9/17.
3 PM | Preston Bradley Hall
Friends of the Gamelan This long-running gamelan—the finest such ensemble in the city, and to be honest the only one—plays the entrancing, polyrhythmic Indonesian traditional music of the same name, dominated by the distinctive sound of metallophones. —PM
Bulgarika featuring Nikolay Kolev See Sat 9/17.
5 PM | Spirit of Music Garden
Sergent Garcia When I first heard Sergent Garcia more than a decade ago, I was charmed by their unself-conscious mix of reggae, dancehall, and salsa, which front man Bruno Garcia called "salsamuffin." But this French band's latest record, Una y Otra Vez (Cumbancha), marks the endpoint of a subsequent slide into world-in-a-blender mediocrity. It's like Komar & Melamid conducted a horrible experiment to see what the entire Putumayo catalog would sound like compressed into a single album. —PM
6 PM | International House | $5
Kutumba See Sat 9/17.
Chai Found Music Workshop See Sat 9/17.
Fool's Gold A Los Angeles-based group playing an updated take on a specific strain of pop-rock developed in the UK in the early 80s doesn't seem like the most obvious choice for a world-music festival, but a couple of things about Fool's Gold help this booking make sense. First, lead vocalist and cofounder Luke Top, who was born in Israel, sings much of the group's self-titled 2009 debut in Hebrew. Second, Fool's Gold draw on the snaking lead-guitar melodies of Nigerian highlife—and because Top and company borrow shamelessly from the playbooks of Celtic-influenced bands like Big Country, that African flavor collides synergistically with wisps of traditional music from the UK. —MR
7 PM | Mayne Stage | $15
Gerard Edery Ensemble Guitarist, singer, and storyteller Gerard Edery specializes in the music of the Sephardic diaspora, which is no small corner to stake out. The cultures of Sephardic Jews span continents and cross oceans, and include the music and lore of countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America—they've been especially important in liminal zones like the Middle East and the Balkans, and they've cross-influenced other wandering tribes like the Romany. With a guitar style touched by the fluidity of flamenco and a deep voice slightly reminiscent of Leonard Cohen, Edery brings his copious historical and anthropological research to life—he's studied places and times like the early Argentinian Jewish community and the Jewish cultural life of medieval Muslim Spain—and in the process transports his listeners to another past in another country. —MK
Nuriya New York singer Nuriya has an unlikely-sounding multicultural background—she's the daughter of exiled Syrian and Iraqi Jews who grew up in Mexico City—but her music is predictable adult-contemporary pop dosed with antiseptic flamenco guitar. —PM
8 PM | Reggie's Rock Club | $12, $10 in advance, 18+
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System Canadian Ryan Moore got hooked on dub in the 80s, and after settling in the Dutch city of Nijmegen in 1992, he launched a career as a dub producer. He also spent much of the 90s playing bass and drums with the Legendary Pink Dots, but left the band once his own Twilight Circus project took off. —PM
Mad Professor See Sat 9/17.
Canzoniere Grecianico Salentino This septet from Salento, Italy, has been around since 1975, but its music still overflows with frothy, youthful energy. On last year's Focu D'amore (Ponderosa) the current incarnation, led by the son of the band's founder, serves up pretty ballads and wild folk dances—including the iconic tarantella. —PM
Marco Calliari Born in Montreal to Italian immigrants, Marco Calliari cofounded a thrash-metal band called Anonymus in 1989—at that point, it would seem, he wasn't too attached to his roots. But as the years passed, his interest shifted to the traditional music of his homeland, and in 2003 he released his first folk-influenced album. In '06 he left Anonymus, who soldiered on without him, and threw himself into his solo career; last year's Al Faro Est (Casa Nostra) brings a raucous Tom Waits flavor to original songs steeped in Italian folk. —PM
8 PM | Lincoln Hall | $15, 21+
Black Bear Combo This Chicago group brings a punkish flair and garage-band energy to Balkan brass, with fidelity to tradition instead of Gogol Bordello-style showbiz kitsch. —PM
Steve Gibons Gypsy Rhythm Project with Nicolae Feraru Led by violinist Steve Gibons, this outfit has grown into one of Chicago's go-to groups for stripped-down, old-fashioned Romany music—and there's only one ringer in the bunch, cimbalom virtuoso and Romanian expat Nicolae Feraru. —PM
Yuri Yunakov For decades saxophonist Yuri Yunakov has been a leading exponent of Romany wedding music—a high-speed, odd-metered style infused with the energy of rock and the instrumental fluidity of jazz. The Bulgarian government tried to suppress it during the communist era (and for several years after the revolution of 1989) as part of a campaign to cleanse the culture of Romany influence, but that just drove the music underground—for years it could only be heard at private functions like weddings. In the mid-80s Yunakov joined Trakiya, the wedding band led by master clarinetist Ivo Papasov, and they introduced the style to an international audience with two recordings made in the States—1989's Orpheus Ascending as Ivo Papasov & His Bulgarian Wedding Band and 1991's Balkanology as Ivo Papasov & His Orchestra. Since moving to the U.S. in 1994, Yunakov has formed his own group and recorded four terrific albums, including one that reunited him with Papasov. He and his ensemble navigate zigzagging melodies in mind-boggling unison, tearing into the music pell-mell but playing with such superhuman precision that it seems they've all got their brains wired together. —PM
Monday, Sept. 19
Noon | Claudia Cassidy Theater
Marco Calliari See Sat 9/17.
Canzoniere Grecianico Salentino See Sat 9/17.
Megitza Quartet These locals play a rock-flavored mix of eastern European styles. —PM
7 PM | Claudia Cassidy Theater
Megitza Quartet See above.
Tuesday, Sept. 20
Abigail Washburn
Abigail Washburn Banjo virtuoso (and Evanston native) Abigail Washburn has a voracious musical appetite. Over the past decade she's mastered bluegrass, Chinese folk, old-timey music, and more, developing as a singer and songwriter along the way—and she doesn't merely hopscotch from style to style but instead retains ideas from each. On her latest and best album, City of Refuge (Rounder), Washburn works with Seattle producer Tucker Martine to transform all sorts of string music—from Appalachian hillbilly songs to chamber orchestrations by Jeremy Kittel of the Turtle Island Quartet—into sophisticated acoustic pop, delivering her pretty melodies in a voice that puts me in mind of a less ethereal Emmylou Harris. A huge supporting cast contributes as well: jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, Mongolian string band Hanggai, Chris Funk of the Decemberists (on guitar and dulcimer), Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket (on pedal steel and electric guitar). Credit goes to both Washburn and Martine for making what could've been an overloaded mess into the hookiest, most accessible record Washburn has ever done—meticulously pitched, eloquent, and utterly lovely. —PM
DePedro If you don't count soundtracks, it's been three years since Calexico has made a new record, but front man Joey Burns has kept increasingly busy as a producer. The Spanish group Amparanoia seems to have a thing for his indie-pop take on mariachi and spaghetti-western sounds: last year he worked with the group's popular singer, Amparo Sanchez, and he's been collaborating with guitarist Jairo Zavala (aka DePedro) for even longer. Last year's Nubes de Papel (Nat Geo) is their second DePedro album together, and Zavala sounds very much at ease in Burns's woozy desert hybrids—in fact, the Spaniard has played guitar in touring versions of Calexico. Zavala sings a few tunes in English (including a somnambulant cover of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On"), and despite his heavy accent, his atmospheric, ballad-heavy music sounds like it belongs on this side of the Atlantic. —PM
Luisa Maita Luisa Maita is one of three sisters in her family named after songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Ana Luisa," in her case), and perhaps predictably, samba and bossa nova figure into the music on her solo debut, Lero-Lero (Cumbancha). But this singer from Sao Paulo draws just as much inspiration from forms much less familiar outside her country's borders—the rhythms of baiao from the northeastern state of Bahia, for instance, or the musical martial art of capoeira. She might add dub effects or funk accents or incorporate folkloric touches like the grainy rabeca on "Fulaninha," but her gently insinuating voice is worlds away from the declamatory style of those lesser-known Brazilian traditions—it's much easier to imagine her finessing the Jobim songbook. And when she does write a samba, she fiddles with the formula; on the title track, which recalls vintage Tom Ze, she creates an infectious syncopated pattern from staccato stabs of acoustic guitar and cavaquinho and turns the familiar rhythm inside-out. —PM
7 PM | Instituto Cervantes | $15, $10 members
DePedro See above.
Luisa Maita See above.
Bomba Estereo See Fri 9/16.
Alana Amram & the Rough Gems On her new album, Snow Shadows: Songs of Vince Martin (Kingswood), New York singer Alana Amram—daughter of composer David Amram—covers tunes by 60s folksinger Vince Martin, who's best known for his duo recordings with Fred Neil. Van Dyke Parks wrote the album's string arrangements and John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful played some guitar, giving Snow Shadows a better sense of history than your typical neofolk effort. —PM
Mar Caribe Banjo player Tom McGettrick leads this Chicago instrumental ensemble, which has spent almost five years fine-tuning a sound that overlaps pretty thoroughly with the spaghetti-western desert pop of early Calexico. On the band's forthcoming album, The Law, the music isn't much more original than on its previous release, but the playing is tighter and more skilled. —PM
Abigail Washburn See above.
9 PM | Hideout | $10, 21+
Movits! At this point pretty much every musical style on earth has been crossbred with hip-hop. Movits! aren't the first to try mixing it with hot jazz, but as far as I know they do the best job. Part of that is because this trio from Lulea, Sweden, is willing to embrace the goofiness of the combination—they perform in black tie and keep the banjos and Frenchy accordion high in the mix—but the bigger reason is that they've located the two styles' shared love of raucous, bumptious rhythms and giddy racket. —MR
Wednesday, Sept. 21
Te Vaka It's hardly surprising that Opetaia Foa'i settled on a fusion approach with his pan-Polynesian band Te Vaka—he himself is half Tokelauan, half Tuvuluan, born in Samoa and raised in New Zealand. (Per his liner notes he's also an L. Ron Hubbard fan, so make of that what you will.) His 12-person crew represents many South Pacific islands, and the music emphasizes the traditions they share—the chants, the log and goatskin drums, the long history of seafaring (by which islands scattered across thousands of miles were populated), the rich body of folklore and spirituality centered on the ocean. Judging by the translated lyrics, some of Te Vaka's songs are on sad subjects, but none of them quite sounds that way—with that many people having that much fun onstage, there's just no way it can be a downer. The band's pop-inflected recordings perhaps try a little too hard to be listener friendly, and lose something in the process—but their live show is an extravaganza of dance, percussion, and pageantry. —MK
Movits! See Tue 9/20.
Boubacar Traore Trio Though he was the first Malian to play the country's indigenous music on electric guitar—he was making records nearly a decade before Ali Farka Toure, whose early work he sometimes engineered—Boubacar Traore is something of a hidden jewel. The recent Mali Denhou (Lusafrica) is his first studio album in six years; these days he spends most of his time growing vegetables and raising sheep on a small plot of land he owns in Bamako. When he straps on his guitar, though, he still wields all his old authority. His music is certainly similar to Toure's, with its bluesy, insistently circling acoustic guitar, but Traore plays with a lighter touch, masterfully braiding spontaneous licks into his sturdy, looping patterns—and the tenderness in his voice is missing in the singing of most other Malian bluesmen. On the album he shares the front line with French harmonica player Vincent Bucher, but here he's alone at the head of a trio. —PM
5:30 PM | Hostelling International
DJ Sound Culture David Chavez, who books world music and jazz concerts under the name Sound Culture, spins records that parallel his programming choices, though with a bit more dance-club flavor. —PM
Frigg Heads up, fiddle fans. Sure, you know and love the Appalachian, Nova Scotian, and Scottish and Irish styles—but what about the Scandinavian traditions, perennially underrated on these shores? This young group from small-town Finland (with two Norwegian members armed with resonating Hardanger fiddles) hopes to change that. Most of the members are students of the same teacher, and on their latest album, the self-released Grannen, they harmonize beautifully to produce a fluid, almost aquatic sound, enhanced by delightful complementary instrumentation like harmonium and Estonian bagpipes. They lean toward the cheerful, carefree traditional dance music of their respective nations—and yes, such music exists even the land of the ice and snow. When you see so little of the sun in the winter, it's only natural to want to re-create some of the feel of a summer breeze on your skin. —MK
6:30 PM | Millennium Park
Nawal Quartet On her new solo album, Embrace the Spirit (Milan), Nawal delivers a powerful one-woman meditation that salutes the recent uprisings in the Middle East and the human desire for freedom and peace. Based in Paris but hailing from the Comoros (islands off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean), the singer supports her own husky incantations with frame drums, mbira, and gambusi (a banjolike Swahili lute). Her most recent album with a backing group, 2007's Aman (Nawali), features much of the same instrumentation, and the gorgeous music—more melodic, rhythmic, and celebratory than her intensely solemn solo work—reflects the complex culture of the Comoros, which feels the pull of both Africa and Asia. —PM
Boubacar Traore Trio See above.
Calypso Caravan featuring Calypso Rose, Lord Superior, and Clyde "Lightning" George The Calypso Caravan was added to the fest after Staff Benda Bilili announced the cancellation of their first U.S. tour this Tuesday—and for a last-minute substitution, it's pretty impressive. Calypso Rose, born in Tobago and based in Queens, New York, is one of the greatest living practitioners of her namesake style, and in recent years she's deftly added reggae to her repertoire. Trinidad's Lord Superior (aka Andrew Marcano) is very nearly a match for Rose in notoriety and skill, and Clyde "Lightning" George, a Trindadian expat living in Chicago, is a master of the steel drums. —PM
The Creole Choir of CubaCredit: Sven Creutzmann
Creole Choir of Cuba This ten-member vocal group from the Cuban city of Camaguey—known back home as Desandann ("descendents")—formed in 1994, as the island's economy withered from the aftereffects of the Soviet Union's collapse. Rather than embrace the familiar sound of Cuban son, as pioneering a cappella group Vocal Sampling did in the early 90s, the Creole Choir of Cuba looked to the music of their Haitian ancestors—who'd been twice wronged, first by the African slave trade and then again by their French masters, who manipulated them into a second round of servitude in Cuba after the Haitian revolution. The songs on their U.S. debut, Tande-La (Real World), which the choir sings in Spanish, French, and Creole, are raucous with fervent call-and-response vocals and driving rhythms. And the choir does more than revive old traditions—some of their lyrics address the brutal reign of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, for instance, or the crippling fallout of a simple robbery. —PM
8 PM | Chief O'Neill's | $10 donation
Brock McGuire Band This Irish folk quartet from County Clare is steeped in tradition, but not to the point of rigid purism: the recent Green Grass Blue Grass (Paulman Music) is a collaboration with bluegrass heavies like Ricky Skaggs and Aubrie Haynie that explores the commonalities between the two genres. —PM
8:30 PM | Old Town School of Folk Music | $5 suggested donation
Te Vaka See above.
9:30 PM | Empty Bottle | $12, 21+
Frigg See above.
Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole with Shawn Pimental Twenty-seven-year-old Hawaiian singer and dancer Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole has a remarkable voice and expert pitch control; he can deliver traditional oli chants with piercing authority and strummy sing-alongs with enough gentle soulfulness to make Jack Johnson kick a stone. Unfortunately, his most recent album, 2008's Kaumakaiwa (Mountain Apple), favors the latter—at times I thought I was listening to an Anne Murray reissue. —PM
Creole Choir of Cuba See Wed 9/21.
Middle East Music Ensemble of Chicago The Middle East Music Ensemble of Chicago was founded at the U. of C. in 1997 and includes a wide array of students and visiting musicians who all share an interest in the beautiful sounds of Middle Eastern music as well as the complex theory and rich history behind its various forms. Past concerts have sometimes focused on specific themes, such as Turkish folk or the Iraqi oud tradition; the ensemble has a depth and range that's pretty astounding, considering the vastness of the territory it's charged itself with covering. Founding director Issa Boulos has taken a job in Qatar, and he's been replaced by Wanees Zarour, a Chicago-based Palestinian composer who plays buzuq, violin, and percussion. —MK
Noon | Daley Plaza
6:30 PM | Randolph Cafe
Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole with Shawn Pimental See above.
Boubacar Traore Trio See Wed 9/21.
7:30 PM | Claudia Cassidy Theater
Frigg See Wed 9/21.
8:30 PM | Preston Bradley Hall
Middle East Music Ensemble of Chicago See above.
9 PM | Randolph Cafe
Brock McGuire Band See Wed 9/21.
Nawal Quartet See Wed 9/21.
10:15 PM | Claudia Cassidy Theater
Bill O'Connell Triple Play with Dave Valentin & Richie Flores Keyboardist Bill O'Connell has worked with a wide range of jazz artists over the past four and a half decades—Charles Fambrough, Nnenna Freelon, Emily Remler—but his heart belongs to Latin jazz. He got his start working for the legendary Mongo Santamaria in 1977, and by far his longest-running and most meaningful musical partnership has been with Latin-jazz flutist Dave Valentin. His band Triple Play puts that musical bond front and center: he and Valentin improvise on O'Connell originals and classics by the likes of Santamaria and Milton Nascimento. Conga player Richie Flores (a veteran of bands led by Eddie Palmieri, Papo Vazquez, and David Sanchez, among many others) deepens the clave feel, and on the trio's self-titled 2008 debut for Savant Records, he and the front line artfully balance delicate melodies and tough rhythms. —PM
Legendary Romany Reedist Ferus Mustafov Makes a Rare Visit
Summer 2016 Chicago music festivals for every sort of sound
In "Music"
Even Yet Still More Summer Festival Announcements
Tagged: A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Ballake Sissoko, Benda Bilili, Bomba Estereo, Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements Festival, Canoziere Grecanico Salentino, Chicago World Music Festival, dance, Dikanda, Fool's Gold, gamelan, kora, Kultur Shock, Kutumba, Mad Professor, Natural Information Society, romany, Sidi Touré, Vincent Ségal, Vol. 40 No. 51, world music
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package Olyvova::Template;
use 5.10.1;
use strict;
use warnings;
use utf8;
use Exporter qw(import);
our @EXPORT_OK = qw(make_file_generator);
use Template;
sub make_file_generator($$)
{
my ($templates_dir, $output_dir) = @_;
my $template = Template->new({ RELATIVE => 1,
INCLUDE_PATH => $templates_dir,
ENCODING => 'utf8' });
return sub($$$) {
my ($file_name, $template_name, $context) = @_;
$template->process("$templates_dir/$template_name",
$context,
"$output_dir/$file_name",
{ binmode => ':utf8' }) || die $template->error();
};
}
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Why do my pores look larger after microdermabrasion?
Why do my pores look larger after a facial and microdermabrasion?
Hello! I had an hydrofacial where microdermabrasion was used, and I think my pores look worse. How can this be possible? Will they return to their original size? It has been 2 weeks since I had the procedure. Thanks!
I think your question is interesting because my own patients have asked this also. I don't have a scientific answer for you on this; but, in my opinion, it's because the oil and clogging in some people's pores acts as a sort of "spackle" visually. It makes the pores look more level and not as deep. When the microdermabrasion removes that clog, it reveals the pore more.
Usually, one microdermabrasion does nothing for pore size; but many patients find that if they get one every 4-8 weeks, and use acne medication that keeps the comedones (the plugs) from building up again, that over time (6-12 months) pore size does start to gradually decrease a little. If you're interested in reading more about how microdermabrasion works, see my guide to the treatment here.
Pore size is largely related to oil flow which is determined by hormones and your genes!
If you're using microdermabrasion to help with acne, check out my hand-selected Acne care products.
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The No. 1 flaw in America's biggest 401(k) plans
By Paul A. Merriman
Published: Sept 27, 2014 9:46 a.m. ET
Only 42% of the largest company 401(k) plans offer value stocks. What would Warren say?
PaulA. Merriman
Paul Merriman is committed to educating people of all ages to get the most from their retirement investments. Founder of Merriman Wealth Management, a Seattle-based investment advisory firm, he is the author of numerous books on investing: "Financial Fitness Forever," "Live It Up Without Outliving Your Money," and the new "How To Invest" series, free at his website: "How To Invest" series: "First Time Investor," "Get Smart or Get Screwed: How to Select the Best and Get the Most from Your Financial Advisor" and "101 Investment Decisions Guaranteed to Change Your Financial Future." In his retirement, Paul writes a weekly column at MarketWatch and continues his weekly podcast, Sound Investing, which was recognized by Money magazine as "the best Money Podcast in 2008". He is president of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation and all profits from the sale of his books are used to advance financial literacy. His recommendations for portfolios of Vanguard funds, Fidelity funds and ETFs, podcasts, articles and books are available at paulmerriman.com. Follow Paul on Twitter @SavvyInvestorPM.
Paul's Latest Posts
Buffett, Bogle, Merriman: Losers, every one?
If you're under 35, this is the ultimate all-value equity portfolio
25 things you should be getting from your financial advisor
9 retirement decisions that can change your future
After studying the 401(k) plans of 100 of the largest U.S. corporations and foreign companies with American subsidiaries, I've come to the conclusion that the vast majority of them fail one test — a good menu of investment choices.
Virtually every large 401(k) plan makes it impossible for its participants to invest in each of the 10 asset classes that have demonstrated superior performance over time.
For more than 15 years, I have been recommending 10 equity asset classes for long-term investors: U.S. large-cap stocks, U.S. large-cap value stocks, U.S. small-cap stocks, U.S. small-cap value stocks, international large-cap stocks, international large-cap value stocks, international small-cap stocks, international small-cap value stocks, emerging markets stocks and real-estate investment trusts.
Over time, a combination of these asset classes outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index SPX, +0.36% by two percentage points a year, without adding risk.
When I reviewed the 100 large company plans, International Business Machines IBM, +4.59% was the only plan that included them all.
Former managing director of IBM's retirement funds Jay Vivian on why IBM moved to index investing
When I previously wrote 7 fatal flaws in America's 401(k) plans, I found much to criticize. But this inability to invest across all of the asset classes mentioned above, in my opinion, is the biggest flaw of all.
paul merriman: Why 401(k) plans are failing American workers
• 7 fatal flaws in America's 401(k) plans
• 5 ways to make your lousy 401(k) plan stellar
• The No. 1 flaw in America's biggest 401(k) plans
More from Paul Merriman »
Most academics and others who have studied investing agree that the greatest determinant of long-term results is the investor's choice of asset classes.
Despite all the hype about people who seem to have a knack for buying and selling at just the right times, and about those who seem to know how to buy and sell the "right" stocks, decades of research has led leading academics to believe they can predict more than 90% of your long-term investment returns just from knowing what kind of assets you invest in.
If that's true, as I believe it is, then the most important feature of a retirement plan is how well it lets workers choose the most productive and efficient asset classes.
You might think 401(k) plan trustees would have learned a lesson from Warren Buffett, who has been famously successful. And you might think those trustees would want to offer their participants an opportunity to invest in U.S. value stocks, the asset class that has benefited Buffett and his followers. But if you thought that, I'm sorry to report that you would be largely wrong. I found that asset class in only 42% of the 100 biggest corporate plans.
Based on data provided to us last year by retirement-plan analyst BrightScope, and direct consultation with individual companies, here are a few of our findings:
U.S. small-cap value stocks, over the past 50 calendar years, returned more than five percentage points than the S&P 500. But only a third of the 100 plans give participants that choice.
International small-cap value stocks have had similar returns, but if you're in one of the 100 biggest plans, there's only a 10% chance you can find an international small-cap value fund.
While 88% of these plans offer U.S. small-cap stocks (another very productive asset class), fewer than one-quarter of them offer the equally attractive international small-cap asset class.
Fewer than 40% of plans offer an emerging markets fund, even though many believe this asset class will have the best future long-term returns.
Only about one-third of these plans offer a real-estate investment trust (REIT) option. That's too bad because REITs have outperformed the S&P 500 by 0.5% while moving up and down at different times, giving investors more return with less volatility.
Most plans offer target-date funds, which are fine for people who want simple solutions and are willing to give up a percentage point or two of long-term return. But participants who want to pick from individual funds must navigate some quirks.
Costco's COST, +0.48% plan doesn't offer any international funds or value funds. Verizon VZ, -0.02% offers its employees a bewildering 130 options; at American Electric Power AEP, +0.81% the choices total more than 600. I think this hurts more people than it helps, even though the company's attorneys can argue that the plan gives a full range of choices.
Exxon Mobil's XOM, -0.85% plan has no small-cap, value, emerging markets or REIT funds.
Participants in the Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A, -0.32% plan and that of privately held Fidelity Investments have access to all my recommended asset classes except international small-cap value. However, Shell's plan has too many choices (more than 340).
While individual 401(k) participants can't fix these shortcomings, those who care can make the most of the options available to them.
My recommendations for the specific plans I have studied are based on the asset allocation strategy I've been recommending for more than 15 years. It's summarized and detailed in a previous article that I highly recommend to all investors.
For each retirement plan, I've done the best job I can of implementing the principles in that article with the choices available to the plan's participants.
The recommendations in each plan are divided in three parts: One for conservative investors (probably those who are older or very risk-averse), one for aggressive investors (probably those who are younger), and one for those with moderate risk tolerance. If you're not sure which right is for you, choose the moderate plan. The only difference in each case is the ratio of equity funds to bond funds.
If your plan isn't among those listed here, all isn't lost. Study this article, then do your best to identify the funds in your plan that correspond to the asset classes you want.
Apply my recommended percentages to them, depending on how aggressive or conservative you want to be. The result will probably fall short of perfect, but it's likely to be much better than whatever default choices your plan offers.
Richard Buck contributed to this article.
more from paul merriman
How does the retirement expert spend his retirement? By helping others with theirs. More articles from author, educator and financial expert, Paul Merriman.
• 8 lessons from 80 years of market history
• Why Vanguard Total Stock Market isn't the best fund in the fleet
2 steps to a great small business 401(k) plan
Why your 401(k) needs a Roth option
Was saving to my 401(k) a mistake?
RDS.A
International Business Machines Corp. U.S.: NYSE: IBM
Costco Wholesale Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq: COST
Verizon Communications Inc. U.S.: NYSE: VZ
American Electric Power Co. Inc. U.S.: NYSE: AEP
Exxon Mobil Corp. U.S.: NYSE: XOM
Royal Dutch Shell PLC ADR Cl A U.S.: NYSE: RDS.A
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Update from Washington – Coronavirus Response
By Alexander Hecht, Anthony M. DeMaio
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress and President Trump have taken the following actions:
Coronavirus Supplemental Appropriations Act (signed into law March 6th),
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (passed House March 14th, expected to pass Senate and be signed into law this week), and
A large economic recovery package, now being drafted, for various impacted industries.
In short, the first bill provided about $8.3 billion to federal and state agencies to address clinical needs, (e.g., developing vaccines and treatments, increasing laboratory capacity). The second bill begins to address the economic impact of the pandemic. It includes free testing for the virus, $1 billion in unemployment insurance grants, a temporary increase in the federal share of Medicaid expenditures, funding for nutrition programs like SNAP and WIC, paid sick leave and extended family and medical leave for coronavirus-related reasons, and tax credits to help businesses absorb the cost of providing the leave.
Read more on these efforts in ML Strategies' March 16 update on the Federal Response to COVID-19.
What remains to be seen is the scope and content of the next legislative package, though we expect it to be an order of magnitude larger than the first two. The White House and congressional leadership have been meeting with major corporations and trade associations from nearly every industry to understand the effect the pandemic will have on each sector. The relief package being assembled could cost as much as $1 trillion and include any number of policy proposals, such as:
tax deferments,
no-interest business loans,
temporary cancellation of payroll tax payments (Chamber of Commerce is pushing this hard),
loan forbearance,
loan guarantees,
forcing insurers to cover telehealth services,
sending every American a check for $1,000 (floated by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), among others),
industry-specific bailouts (airlines, hotels, gaming, restaurants, retail, etc.),
deferring student loan interest,
easing tariffs, and
purchasing oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Simultaneously, education-specific bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate that would:
establish new grant programs to provide primary and secondary schools with funding for lunches and to disinfect,
provide emergency financial aid for college students, and
create a waiver process to exempt qualified applicants from repaying student loans.
Earlier today, the White House sent to the Senate a proposed economic stimulus package totaling approximately $850 billion. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is to brief Senate Republicans on the details of the proposal later today. Senate Democrats are expected to propose their own stimulus package today as well. However, much more political wrangling will take place before a package is finalized, and industries feeling the impact of the pandemic need to engage with Congress and the administration as soon as possible to ensure they are not left out of the next bill.
Finally, commercial banks and the Federal Reserve are exploring ways to provide credit to distressed businesses. Large banks are quietly considering increasing liquidity and providing no-interest loans to small businesses to cover payroll, rent, and employee health care during the crisis. The Chamber of Commerce is pressing Congress and the White House for changes at the Fed which would allow companies with more than 500 employees direct access to the discount window. The Fed has already cut interest rates to zero.
Subscribe To Viewpoints
Alexander Hecht
Anthony M. DeMaio
Lobbying & Public Policy
Federal Response to COVID-19
March 16, 2020 |Alert
COVID-19 Legislative Update - What Will Happen Between Now and July 31, 2020?
March 12, 2020 |Blog
ML Strategies - Executive Vice President & Director of Operations
Alexander Hecht is Executive Vice President & Director of Operations of ML Strategies, Washington, DC. He's an attorney with over a decade of senior-level experience in Congress and trade associations. Alex helps clients with regulatory and legislative issues, including health care and technology.
Director of Government Relations
Anthony M. DeMaio, Director of Government Relations of ML Strategies, draws on over a decade of experience in government affairs and communications - working with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation - to lobby on behalf of a variety of clients and assist them with congressional investigations and media messaging.
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Tag Archives: let's get free
Album of the Week: "Let's Get Free" by Dead Prez
Let's Get Free
Loud Records/Columbia Records, 2000
Tagged animal farm, culture, dead prez, george orwell, Hip hop, it's bigger than hip hop, let's get free, m-1, mind sex, Music, police state, political, propaganda, rap, revolutionary, stic.man
The Ideas of the Panthers Live on in Hip-Hop (Part Two)
Photo source: http://www.amistadresource.org/LBimages/image_08_11_010_R07-2012.jpg
Note: this is part two of a four part series. You can read part one here.
By: Kelvin Criss
"We gotta fight back' that's what Huey said" (Tupac, "Changes")
Hip-hop has a strong focus on self-defense, not violence. The idea of protecting one's community, much like the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense's idea of police patrol and self-defense, is very clear in the lyrics of the music. Hip-hop often has notions of confronting police due to injustices against one's community and protecting the community from foreign exploiters. This can be seen in countless songs such as Dead Prez's song "Assassination."
"Them belly full, my trigger finger got pulled/To cut the bull shots'll warm your flesh like wool/These tools for survival make fools out of rivals/Fuck the Bible, get on your knees and praise my rifle/Your life is done there aint another place to run/Eat your own gun, scared because my people never known fun" ("Assassination")
"Them belly full" conveys the same message as Tupac's "Holler if You Hear Me" as far as police exploitation. "My trigger finger got pulled" has the same message of fighting back in order protect one's community from further innocent blood being shed by the police. Immortal Technique's "Fight Until the End" has a very similar message to Dead Prez and Tupac's songs.
"Dem' shoot at us/Turn around and deny it/People on the streets are dying/We must come together/Fight depression and pull de pressure/On de system that tries to diss us/Tries to hurt us, and tries to kill us/We don't win, we fight again/We gon' fight until the end, until the end/We fight until we win, until we win." ("Fight Until the End")
"Dem' shoot at us, Turn around and deny it…Fight depression and pull de pressure, on de system that tries to diss us," shows the violence that police use against those who are from the community; people are being shot in their neighborhoods for unknown reasons by the police departments. Dead Prez has a song entitled "I Have a Dream Too" which describes a group of Panther-like revolutionaries who are looking for a police officer who shot a boy. Later in the song, a woman sings about the incident of a young boy being shot by the police.
"Just when you thought it was safe/Police kill a little boy last night/They said it was a mistake/But that won't bring back his life/His momma couldn't believe/That it could happen to her/She prayed to God everyday/Guess it just wasn't enough" ("I Have a Dream Too")
These lyrics show the hardships that people in urban communities endure. As if poverty wasn't bad enough, they have to deal with the police shooting their youth. In their song entitled "Far From Over," Dead Prez state: "Truth is like a 44 magnum in this business/I'm out to go Jonathan Jackson on you bitches." This is a direct reference to George Jackson, a member of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, who was taken out of his trial by his younger brother, Jonathon Jackson and friends, who were armed with automatic weapons. Dead Prez say this to not only incite community action, but also to commemorate what the community had done. "You ain't got the right to bear arms, huh?/Sometimes you might have to brandish a motherfuckin' firearm." This line from Immortal Technique's "Lick Shot" describes the mentality the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense has. This belief is not exclusive to the Party, but rather is common belief amongst revolutionaries. In order to protect ones community, one must pick up arms to protect one's neighborhood.
Public Enemy's "Can't Hold Us Back" is about protecting one's community:
"We rep justice, equality and freedom now/Put fam first, man, woman and child/Never mild, keep it hostile 'til we raise/Where we say, what we mean and we mean what we say/It's been a long time comin' that we mob as one/Guerrilla Funk, Hard Truth nigga, that's what's up/No peace on the street 'til the justice come/From the ballot to the bullet, if it's on, it's on" ("Can't Hold Us Back")
This song both resonates the ideas of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and describes what the community needs. These lyrics not only mention the lust for "justice, equality and freedom," but also that there will be, "No peace on the street 'til the justice come[s]." All of these songs mirror the principles of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. In particular, how the members of the community are willing to stand up for their rights, pick up arms and fight, even die, to protect their community.
Keep up with Bonus Cut and its continual look on the ideas of the Black Panthers in hip-hop every week in this four part installment.
Dead Prez. Let's Get Free. Rec. 1998-2000. Loud Records, 2000. CD.
Dead Prez. RBG: Revolutionary but Gangsta. Rec. Feb.-Mar. 2004. Sean Cane, Stic, 2004. CD.
Immortal Technique. Revolutionary Vol 1. Rec. 2000-2001. Viper Records, 2001. CD.
Immortal Technique. The 3rd World. Rec. June 2008. Bronze Nazareth, 2008. CD.
Public Enemy. Rebirth of a Nation. Rec. 7 Mar. 2006. Pari, 2006. CD.
Tupac Shakur. 2Pacalypse Now. Rec. June-September 1991. Atron Gregory, 1991. CD.
Tupac Shakur. Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Rec. January-March 1993. Atron Gregory, 1993. CD.
Tupac Shakur. "Changes." Rec. 1992. Changes. 1998. Song.
Tagged black panther party for self-defense, culture, dead prez, george jackson, Hip hop, immortal technique, jonathon jackson, let's get free, life, Music, public enemy, rap, Tupac Shakur
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Q: Convert Ascii value directly to Hex value I have a literal String made of the hexadecimal alphabet such as 00bff040dadd1fde55 and I wish to convert the string into its hex 'equivalent' in bytes i.e. into a byte array such as {0x00 0xBF 0xF0 0x40 0xDA 0xDD 0x1F 0xDE 0x55}
Is there a Java class that can do this conversion? If not, does anyone have an algorithm I can implement to do the above conversion?
A:
Is there a Java class that can do this conversion?
There is no class in the standard library that will convert a string containing hex characters into an array of bytes ... like that1.
If not, does anyone have an algorithm I can implement to do the above conversion?
*
*Divide length of the string by 2, and allocate byte array of that size.
*Repeat until string is empty:
*
*Remove a substring comprising the first two characters.
*Use Integer.parseInt(twoChars, 16) to convert to an integer.
*Cast the integer to byte and add to byte array.
This algorithm can easily be converted to Java code.
1 - If you actually want a sequence of byte "literals" represented as a string, then look at @aetheria's answer ...
A: If you mean you want to separate the string into bytes of hex, you can use a regular expression:
String s = "00bff040dadd1fde55";
String hex = "{" + s.toUpperCase().replaceAll("(..)", "0x$1 ").trim() + "}";
System.out.println(hex);
Prints:
{0x00 0xBF 0xF0 0x40 0xDA 0xDD 0x1F 0xDE 0x55}
If you mean you want a byte array to result:
int size = s.length() / 2;
byte[] arr = new byte[size];
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
arr[i] = (byte) Integer.parseInt(s.substring(i * 2, i * 2 + 2), 16);
}
To prove the array contains the right bytes:
for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
System.out.print(String.format("%02X ", arr[i]) + " ");
}
Prints:
00 BF F0 40 DA DD 1F DE 55
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The Council of Architecture (COA) has been constituted by the Government of India. Find details about Architects Act 1972 and Regulations 1982. Information regarding schools offering architectural education, courses, admission guidelines, institutional consultancy practice, promotional schemes, etc. is provided. Details about professional practices like preamble, comprehensive architectural services, landscape architecture, interior architecture, etc can be availed. Get information on Supreme Court and high court judgements, government letters, government circulars on the Council.
Get online outcome budget of Ministry of Human Resource Development. Users can access details of budget by selecting higher education or school education and literacy. Link to download outcome budget from 2007 onwards is available.
Access to citizen's charter of Department of School Education and Literacy and Department of School Education and Literacy of Ministry of Human Resource Development is available. Users can get information on department, its mission, vision, programmes, schemes, main services, stake holders, responsibility centres, etc.
Find the contact details of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Details of the address, telephone numbers, fax numbers, email ids, etc. of the Department of School Education and Literacy and Department of Higher Education under the Ministry are available.
The scheme aims to facilitate education of minorities by augmenting and strengthening school infrastructure in minority institutions (elementary/secondary/senior secondary schools) in order to expand facilities for formal education to children of minority communities. You can find detailed information on this scheme, its implementation, objectives, target group, assistance, etc.
The Scheme of Restructuring and Re-organisation of Teacher Education aims to create a sound institutional infrastructure for pre-service and in-service training of elementary and secondary school teachers and for provision of academic resource support to elementary and secondary schools. You can find detailed information related to this scheme, its objectives, target group, benefits, assistance, etc.
The regulatory functions with regard to Distance Education programmes in higher education have now been vested with the University Grants Commission. The Distance Education Council which was the erstwhile regulator of Distance Education programmes, has been dissolved and all regulatory functions are being undertaken by the UGC.
User can get the information or apply online for the incentives under the National Stimulus Plan for secondary education for girls.
Guidelines for Management, Planning and Programming of Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS) scheme by Department of Elementary Education and Literacy are given. Users can get information about the scheme, its concept, objectives, functions, target group, finance, monitoring, etc.
The National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA), an autonomous wing of Ministry of Human Resource Development is a nodal agency for overall planning and management and funding of Adult Education Programmes and institutions. Information is given about the General Council, Executive Committee and Grants in Aid Committee etc.
Detailed information is given on the Ministry of Human Resource Development and its various educational schemes. Information is given about the elementary, secondary, higher, vocational and teacher education etc. Details of universities, technical education, distance learning and language education are given. One can also find information pertaining to the scholarships and welfare programmes.
Get online annual reports of Ministry of Human Resource Development. Users can access reports of the Ministry by selecting higher education or school education and literacy. Link to download annual reports from 2009 onwards is available.
The Scheme of Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage aims to enable all students with disabilities, after completing eight years of elementary schooling, to pursue further four years of secondary schooling in an inclusive and enabling environment. You can find detailed information on this scheme, its objectives, implementing agency, financial assistance, etc.
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How do you wear the check? Famous for its Trench Coats & checked patterned garments Aquascutum has been operating for over 150 years. Why not add some Aquascutum to your wardrobe this season by browsing our wide array of men's Beige Aquascutum Shirts at Stuarts London.
Deriving from the Latin phrase "Water Shield" Aquascutum is one of the brands that has lived throughout many periods of transition within the modern history of the United Kingdom to where we are today. From producing jackets of the British military for use in both world wars, to leading the way in producing waterproof outwear in the decades since. Aquascutum's most famous trait is perhaps the check patterns it uses within its garment designs, which is ever prevalent amongst this season's Long & Short Sleeve shirt collections.
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Toddler dies in UP as hospital staff demands bribe for medical aid
Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh), Aug 11 : The parents of a 10-month-old boy, who died in a hospital in a district hospital here on Tuesday, today alleged that they were asked for bribe by the staff members.
The child's mother Sumita said that her son would have been saved had the nurses delivered the injection to him on time.
"After the doctor checked him for fever and weakness, he asked us to go ahead to admit him. The nurse asked us for money to get the documentation in order. After that, the sweeper at the children's ward also demanded bribe to allocate the bed," she added. The toddler's father Shiv said the nurse argued with them when they denied paying bribe, adding it was too late when the kid got the injection.
CMS doctor in-charge at the Bahraich district hospital, O.P. Pandey, told ANI that an inquiry has been ordered into the unfortunate incident. "The child got admitted on Sunday at around 10 p.m. The kid was suffering from fever. The nurse, who was on duty, has been shifted from the children's ward. An inquiry has also been set up. The father said that the sweeper had asked him for 30 rupees for a bed. He has been removed from duty," he said. The parents have so far not approached the police following assurance from the hospital that their grievances would be investigated.
← Meet the Indian couple who fulfilled their Olympic dream in Rio Asian Human Rights Commission accuses Pakistan of police excesses in Gilgit-Baltistan →
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Hi everyone… sorry for the long silence over here. I assure you, it's only because I've been busy. Natural Weather, my new record is coming out on May 25 through the tireless efforts of my associates Forward Music Group.
I've waited a long time to share it with you. You can catch a glimpse of it by checking out the single, Nobody Knows, on Spotify or wherever you get your streams. Feel free to 'like' while you listen, especially of you like. But let's be honest, it would be useful for me either way.
Otherwise I've been working with singer Camille Delean on capturing her songs. We are playing shows and working on a new record as well. We'll be in Europe to play very soon.
Bell Orchestre has stuff in the works too. It's pretty far along. You'd be surprised.
There are other projects and productions and things on simmer too, but I guess that's enough thrill for you today.
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Made a mistake while filing ITR? Here's how you can file a revised income tax return
Follow these steps to file a revised income tax return.
If you're new to filing your income tax returns, you're probably fairly confused about the whole process. Although you take the utmost care while filing, it is possible for you to make a few errors. These mistakes could be as small as incorrectly mentioning a wrong bank account number, to claiming the wrong deduction to even forgetting to declare interest incomes. But as per the current Income Tax laws, you can still rectify an error that you made while filing your ITR. The provision which comes under section 139(5) of the Income Tax Act, it allows taxpayers to rectify their errors by filing a revised income tax return. Here's how you can now file your revised income tax return:
Steps on how to file a revised income tax return
A revised return is basically filing your income tax return all over again, but this time with the correct information. It is important to note that the revised return must be filed before the end of the relevant assessment year, in this case before the end of FY 2018-19. An assessment year is the year that follows the financial year for which the return is filed.
How to file revised Income Tax Return?
Essentially the process of filing a revised ITR is the same as filing an original one. The only thing you need to keep in mind though is that you are required to file it under section 139(5) of the Income Tax Act. You need to select option '17 - Revised u/s 139(5)' in the 'return filed under' column. Once you proceed, the ITR form will also ask you for details like the receipt number and date of filing of the original ITR form that you filed.
Who can file a revised ITR?
Anyone who has filed their income tax return is entitled to file a revised ITR under section 139(5). Earlier only those taxpayers who had filed their ITR before the expiry of the deadline were allowed to file a revised income tax return. But starting this year, even belated returns are allowed to file a revised ITR.
How many times can you file a revised return?
Although there is no limit as such for the number of times you can file a revised return, you should make sure that you provide all the relevant details correctly in the first attempt itself. Since you are required to provide details of your original ITR, you should not misuse the facility.
Things you need to remember while filing your revised income tax return
Make sure to verify your revised ITR. The income tax department will not accept it unless you yourself don't verify it. There are several ways to e-verify your ITR using either Aadhaar, OTP or even net-banking. As a taxpayer, you are obliged to rectify any error in your income tax return filing before March 31, 2019.
How to save income tax under section 80C
How to get maximum tax savings on health insurance premiums under Section 80D
9 income tax filing mistakes that could lead to penalties (or even a tax notice)
> More on Get Smart
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Bring the entire family and participate in a variety of games such as Water-Related Relay Races, Water Limbo, Jump Rope Splash and much more. Win the GOLD with your Family!
Olympics take place at Swanson Pool. Daily admission fees apply.
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Fairfax University of America hosts 12th annual commencement ceremony with keynote speaker, Ahmed R. Ali
On Saturday, May 6th, Fairfax University of America (FXUA) is hosting their 12th annual graduation commencement ceremony, at the George Mason University Center for the Arts, celebrating the accomplishments of 484 students from around the globe. FXUA's President, Dr. Isa Sarac, will preside over the ceremony beginning at 2 p.m.
FXUA is proud to announce this year's keynote commencement speaker, Mr. Ahmed R. Ali, founder and President of TISTA Science and Technology Corporation. A former U.S. Navy serviceman, Ali, has over 25 years of military, federal government, and civilian experience in the fields of engineering, information technology, cybersecurity, and project management.
Since its founding in 2005, TITSA has developed into a leading provider of innovative technologies and mission critical solutions to the federal government and various commercial entities. TISTA is a reputable Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), focusing on the Cybersecurity and Health IT sectors within the federal government, state and local governments, and commercial sectors.
TISTA has been recognized as an Inc. 500/5000 company for the past several years, and was recognized by the Washington Technology FAST 50 as one of the fastest growing small businesses in government contracting. Ali was also selected as the 2016 Small Business Administration (SBA) Person of the Year for the State of Maryland.
Fairfax University of America will once again live-stream the commencement ceremony on the web. Live-streaming allows family and friends to view the ceremony in real time from anywhere in the world.
Fairfax University of America (FXUA) is a non-profit institution in Fairfax, Virginia with the goal of making quality education affordable to students with diverse backgrounds. FXUA offers over 20 cutting edge degree and certificate programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels on campus and online. FXUA also offers non-degree programs including continuing education, and test preparation. For more information about FXUA, call (703) 591-7042 or (800) 514-6848 or visit the University web site, www.fxua.edu.
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Are you looking for the perfect, unique gift for an upcoming bridal shower or wedding? How about this custom engraved cutting board!
Longlasting and easy to care for, the oiled finish simply wipes clean with a damp cloth. Do not soak in water for any period.
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ANCIENT PYGMY SEA COW DISCOVERED
12/31/2009 09:14:00 AM Publicado por Jorge Franchín
Etiquetas: Paleontology
The discovery of a Middle Eocene (48.6-37.2 million years ago) sea cow fossil by McGill University professor Karen Samonds has culminated in the naming of a new species.
This primitive "dugong" is among the world's first fully-aquatic sea cows, having evolved from terrestrial herbivores that began exploiting coastal waters. Within this ancient genus, the newly discovered species is unusual as it is the first species known from the southern hemisphere (its closest relatives are from Egypt and India), and is extremely primitive in its skull morphology and dental adaptations. The fossil is a pivotal step in understanding Madagascar's evolutionary history - as it represents the first fossil mammal ever named from the 80-million-year gap in Madagascar's fossil record.
"The fossils of this ancient sea cow are unique in that it has a full set of relatively unspecialized teeth whereas modern sea cows have a reduced dentition specialized for eating sea grass, and most fossil species already show some degree of reduction. It may also be the first fully aquatic sea cow; confirmation will depend on recovering more of the skeleton, especially its limbs," says Samonds.
Samonds is a Curator at the Redpath Museum and an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and the Faculty of Dentistry. Her discovery may be the tip of the iceberg to unlocking the secrets of 80-million-year gap in Madagascar's fossil record. The presence of fossil sea cows, crocodiles, and turtles, (which are generally associated with coastal environments), suggests that this fossil locality preserves an environment that was close to the coast, or even in an estuary (river mouth). These sediments may potentially yield fossils of marine, terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates - animals that lived in the sea as well as those that lived in forests, grasslands and rivers close to the ocean. Dr. Samonds plans to continue collecting fossils at this site, starting with a National Geographic-funded expedition in summer 2010.
"My hope with the discovery of these fossils is that they will illuminate how, when and from where Madagascar's modern animals arrived," said Samonds, "helping us understand how Madagascar accumulated such a bizarre and unique set of modern animals."
(Photo: McGill U.)
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HOUSTON (AP) Chris Carter doesn't want to talk about his difficult summer. That doesn't matter now.
It was easy to see that something was wrong. Always reserved, the Astros slugger retreated even more as he struggled at the plate. A radiant smile that comes naturally almost disappeared.
Wallow in the setback or do whatever he could to turn things around.
''It's hard going from an everyday player to playing every other game, to playing every few games to maybe playing once a week or getting a pinch-hit at-bat,'' he told The Associated Press. ''That's kind of upsetting.
''But I decided to keep working and not give up. I worked every day. Every day I wasn't playing I stayed positive and just kept working and when I got the opportunity to play again I just made the most of it and now I'm back in there playing every day,'' he added.
And he's not simply playing. Carter is a big reason why the Astros are on the cusp of closing out their American League Division Series against the Kansas City Royals with a 2-1 lead heading into Game 4 on Monday.
Carter's .455 batting average in the playoffs is second in the AL to teammate Colby Rasmus, who has hit .500.
Carter's first three-hit game of the season came in Houston's 4-2 win over Kansas City on Sunday when he had a majestic homer and also doubled and singled.
Carter has started slow in all three of his full seasons in the majors, but in his first two years he was able to turn it around and keep his job all season. Strikeout prone, he had a stark turnaround in 2014 when he hit 16 homers with 39 RBIs in August and September to finish tied for second in the majors with 37 homers.
This season he batted just .109 in July, and Hinch decided to make a change. He told Carter he wouldn't be starting every day and gave the 28-year-old a chance to respond.
So even though Carter spent games on the bench, he kept working, making adjustments and trying to do whatever he could to be ready when he got another chance.
He figured he'd get it and didn't want to let the team down when it came.
On Sept. 15 against the Rangers, Hinch played Carter for a whole game for the first time in more than two weeks. Carter doubled and hit another ball hard that center fielder Delino DeShields tracked down to rob him of a second hit.
''At that point he looked like he made a few adjustments and that started to trickle into more playing time,'' Hinch said.
Carter closed out September by homering in three of four games. Houston won each time he homered, boosting its playoff chances.
Carter hit .344 in September to help the Astros earn the second AL wild-card spot, their first postseason berth since 2005.
He didn't cool off once the playoffs began, either.
Carter has five hits and three walks in three playoff games for a .571 on-base percentage and .818 slugging percentage. He has scored three runs and driven in one.
Asked about his success and the numbers he's put up to make his .199 regular-season batting average seem really far away, Carter deflected attention from himself.
When pressed again about what it means to help the team on such a big stage, Carter finally acquiesced. But as usual, he did it in the most concise way possible.
''It means everything,'' he said, flashing the smile that is back in full force as Carter and the Astros soar.
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Temperatures are finally starting to increase and some homeowners are even turning on their air conditioners to stay comfortable. As long as your air conditioning system kicks on you're fine, right?
Even if your air conditioning system turns on after being in hibernation all winter long, it doesn't mean that you can skip your equipment maintenance. There are many reasons why you should have your air conditioning maintenance performed each year and Aramendia Plumbing, Heating & Air is here with a list of the most important.
Getting your air conditioning tune-up each year helps you catch minor issues before they turn into major (expensive) problems. Just because your air conditioning system is running well today doesn't necessarily mean it's ready to keep you cool and comfortable all summer. Don't wait until your A/C system goes out on the warmest day of the year – call Aramendia today to get your service completed before the temperatures skyrocket.
Purchasing a PLUS maintenance agreement can help save you money in the long run. An annual A/C system tune-up can help save you up to 30% on your cooling bills because it enhances the efficiency of your system.
Seasonal maintenance is actually required by the majority of manufacturers, so forgoing your A/C maintenance can nullify your warranty. That means when you do want any type of equipment repair, you will have to pay for those new parts out of pocket. Make sure you get all you can out of your warranty by keeping it valid as long as possible with annual air conditioner tune-ups.
Aramendia Plumbing, Heating & Air loves to save you money and right now with our spring promotion you can receive a discount on a annual tune-up for your A/C system. Call Aramendia today to find out about our great offers going on now and to schedule your air conditioning tune-up.
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Pit Bulls and Pit Bull type dogs and ways to keep your cat happy!
With the help of a new smartphone app by the Animal Farm Foundation, we discuss pit bull type dogs, the stigma they face, and the steps you can start to take to help educate yourself and the people in your community about these amazing dogs. Then Andi discusses a few tricks and tips she's found that helps keep her cats entertained!
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Tag: Rahe Kargar
Iran, Kurdistan and the left
How can we achieve principled communist unity in the Middle East? We spoke to Mohammad Reza Shalgouni, a member of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar)
How do you see the current situation in the Middle East and in Iran itself following first the nuclear deal and then its 'decertification' by Donald Trump?
Over the last few years the Middle East has been torn apart by a destructive crisis – caught in the midst of a full-scale international conflict. All sides have played a crucial part in initiating and continuing this situation, but of course the United States, Britain, France and their regional allies – in particular the kingdoms in the oil emirates of the Persian Gulf – have played a crucial role in the ensuing tragedy.
This disastrous situation entered a new phase with the Republican Party's victory in last year's US elections and, given the declared aims of the Trump administration, one cannot see an end to it. Let us not forget that the Trump administration is the first US government that openly admits it is seeking 'regime change' (be it in a 'peaceful manner') in Iran. It also wants to transfer the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and with unprecedented clarity declares in a gathering of Arab leaders that it is not concerned about human rights, that its only preoccupation is the defeat of Islamic terrorism (and, of course, only the anti-US version of this phenomenon).
In the current situation in the Middle East a number of issues have special significance.
Following the events of the last two decades, the house of Saud sees its future in danger and is therefore employing a more active and aggressive foreign policy – attempting to impose its hegemony over other Arab states and creating a situation where the Saudi dynasty is secure. However, this policy means the Saudis themselves are facing major crises.
Firstly, their attempt to confront Shia movements has not only increased the confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran: it has also created an extraordinary situation in Yemen, Bahrain and even the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia (where the country's major oil reserves are to be found), to such an extent that it is difficult to see how they can control this situation. For example, the catastrophic situation in Yemen is far worse than the tragedy in that engulfed Syria.
Secondly, Saudi attempts at eradication of various networks associated with the Muslim Brotherhood have led them to a confrontation with Qatar, and as a result the Gulf Cooperation Council is on the verge of destruction. It has also led to a situation where Saudi and Arab Emirates relations with Turkey have soured to critical levels.
Thirdly, in the Syrian civil war the intervention of the Russian airforce has changed the balance of forces in favour of the Assad regime and, as a result of this, for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.
In Turkey itself, after decades of Kemalism and its emphasis on secularism, with the formation of a personal dictatorship by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the separation of state and religion has become meaningless, and repression against the Kurds has increased. This might lead to longer and more serious confrontations in that country, thereby increasing the Middle East's many crises.
As for Iran, which in the past wanted to unite 'all Muslims' against both the 'east and the west', it now has to confine itself to uniting various Shia sects against the Sunnis and to relying on sectarian divides to become a regional power. However, the creation of groups similar to Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria will in the long run weaken the current rulers of Iran.
The Iranian regime is engulfed in deep sectarian wars with Sunnis (who encompass nine tenths of the world's Muslims) and in the longer term victory against such forces is impossible. This also increases the threat of military confrontation with the United States and its allies. We should not forget that right now in Iraq we are witnessing a situation where some Shia groups are distancing themselves from Iran and in Syria, where the majority of the population is Sunni, there is increasing antipathy towards the Iranian regime.
Under such circumstances the Trump administration is trying to use a number of punitive measures to render the nuclear deal with Iran meaningless. It is hoping to reverse George Bush's failure to change the map of the region.
What is your analysis of the referendum that took place in Iraqi Kurdistan and what effect has it had on Iranian Kurdish groups?
Iraqi Kurdistan is already benefiting from a solid, all-encompassing autonomy and within Iraq's federalist constitution that situation would have been maintained.
In the most optimistic scenario, separation from Iraq would lead to complete dependence on one or other of the neighbouring states. Such dependence would be dangerous even in the European Union, never mind in the kind of jungle rule prevalent in a crisis-riddled Middle East. Following separation from Iraq, the Kurdish regional government would inevitably become another little oil state, similar to those of the Persian Gulf, but even more fragile than them: unlike those kingdoms, Iraqi Kurdistan is land-locked.
The separation of Kurdistan would inevitably lead to further nationalist and regional wars in the Middle East and we know that nationalist struggles can lead to the same kind of cannibalistic confrontations that religious infighting causes. The Kurdish vote for independence immediately prompted anti-Kurd sentiment in Iran, Iraq and Turkey.
The separation of Kurdistan from Iraq would no doubt increase tensions amongst various Kurdish groups both inside Iraq and in neighbouring countries – firstly because establishing democracy in Iraqi Kurdistan would face many obstacles and secondly because the regional government would undoubtedly have to compromise with one of the neighbouring countries – oppressors of Kurds within their own borders – in order to survive. Here it is not accidental that Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government, had (until recently) good relations with Turkey – a vicious enemy of the Kurds both in Turkey and Syria.
The separation of Kurdistan would make the coexistence of Sunnis and Shias more difficult in Iraq and would lead to the complete destruction of Iraq as a nation-state – a situation that would no doubt increase the reactionary influence of Iran and Saudi Arabia amongst opposing religious sects, leading to more widespread religious-based violence. In addition, let us remember that separation from Iraq would not be as peaceful as the separation of the Czech and Slovak republics, in that it would lead to ethnic cleansing in some areas. For example, the issue of the control of Kirkuk, Khaneghin and even Mosul would lead to further confrontations, causing deeper, unresolvable divisions.
The Kurdish referendum took place at time when, after years of struggling for independence, the majority of the Kurdish population had come to the conclusion that the peaceful coexistence of nationalities was the best way of achieving democracy and exercising the right to self-determination. This way of thinking is currently dominant amongst Kurds in Turkey (the largest group of Kurds within a country in the Middle East).
The result of the 2015 elections showed how such an attitude can strengthen the alliance between progressive forces and the workers' movement. In those elections, the Peoples Democratic party (which had only had come into existence three years earlier) united the Turkish Kurds with a number of leftwing tendencies in Turkey, and managed to get the best result ever achieved by the left in Turkey. If it had not been for the manifold plots of Erdoğan's security forces and the mistakes of the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), this would have undoubtedly changed the political scene in Turkey in favour of democracy.
All this shows clearly that the solution is not separation, but voluntary, democratic coexistence of all nationalities and peoples of the region, which can pave the way for democracy in the entire Middle East. This is the path that progressive Kurdish forces will have to accept sooner or later.
However, unfortunately the majority of Iranian Kurdish groups, under the influence of nationalist sentiments and slogans, supported the Kurdish referendum. They essentially interpret the right to self-determination as separation.
Your organisation has recently left the 'Council of Cooperation' of Iranian left and communist groups. You have stated that this was related to the illusions held by certain groups that 'regime change from above' could lead to 'democracy' or even 'socialism'. Can you explain your reasons for leaving this alliance?
From the outset our organisation was in favour of a powerful class bloc created through an alliance of the left and for more than two decades we have defended our line in favour of the unity of supporters of socialism. It was in this context that we joined the Council of Cooperation in Iran.
The reality is, however, that our understanding of socialism was always different from the majority of the groups in this alliance, mainly because most of them do not draw a clear line between themselves and the 'socialist states and communist parties' of the Soviet era. These were parties that did not believe in the participation of the majority of the population in shaping the transition to socialism. Nevertheless, we defended our line within the alliance, inviting others to debate such issues, while participating in joint activities.
However, the change in the line of the Communist Party [mainly a Kurdish organisation – translator], towards an alliance with those Iranian Kurdish forces associated with US-sponsored 'regime change from above', made it impossible for us to remain in the Council of Cooperation. In response to our opposition to this line, the Communist Party denied that the US had any plans for regime change from above. This comment was made in circumstances when after Trump's victory the United States openly talks of such plans – indeed some of the groups that the Iranian Communist Party wants to ally itself with are openly seeking financial support from Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States itself.
So the Communist Party wanted to remain in the alliance of the left, while participating in a Kurdish unity front, advocating regime change from above. This would have meant the Council of Cooperation becoming a junior partner of the US in blatant contradiction to the first principle of the alliance of left and communist forces: ie, "commitment to the revolutionary overthrow of the Islamic republic" – from below and by the majority of the Iranian people.
Posted on November 11, 2017 July 15, 2018 Author hopi-adminCategories SolidarityTags iran, Rahe KargarLeave a comment on Iran, Kurdistan and the left
Yassamine Mather on Rahe Kargar Radio (Farsi)
Yassamine Mather, HOPI
مجله بین المللی رادیو راه کارگر
رسوائی بزرگ امپراطوری رسانه ای مردوخ، آیا انقلاب دوم مصر آغاز می شود ؟
گفتگوی نصرالله قاضی با یاسمین میظر
بحران امپراطوری مردوخ ساختار مافیائی نظام رسانه ای حاکم بر جهان سرمایه داری در مرکز توجه افکار عمومی مردم انگلستان، آمریکا و … بسیاری نقاط جهان قرار داده است … مردم مصر که از برآورده نشدن مطالباتشان توسط نظامیان حاکم سرخورده شده اند بار دیگر برای جامه عمل پوشاندن به درخواست ها و مطالبات اساسی شان به میدان آمده اند…
اعتصاب گسترده کارکنان بخش دولتی در بریتانیا،
اعتراضات گسترده توده های مردم یونان …
گفتگوی نصرالله قاضی با
یاسمین میظر فعال سیاسی چپ و تحلیلگر مسائل بین المللی
مجله رادیویی بین المللی!
پیرامون دعوت اتحادیه های کارگری بریتانیا به اعتصاب عمومی در تاریخ ۳۰ ژوئن درمخالفت با سیاست دولت برای اصلاح قانون بازنشستگی
یاسمین میظر از فعالین سیاسی چپ
علل وقوع انقلاب عرب، موقعیت کنونی و چشم انداز های آن، صدوچهل سال از کمون پاریس گذشت!
گفتگوی نصرالله قاضی با یاسمین میظر و روبن مارکاریان
یاسیمن میظر در گفتگو با نصرالله قاضی گزارشی از میزگرد " کارزار از مردم ایران کوتاه" که با شرکت با شرکت مایک مکنیر( حزب کمونیست بریتانیای کبیر)، ، موشه ماخور( سوسیالیست اسرائیلی)، محمدرضا شالگونی( راه کارگر) و خود او برگزار شده بود ارائه می دهد، گفتگوی نصرالله قاضی با روبن مارکاریان درباره صدو چهلمین سال کمون پاریس
تعرض به حق تحصیل دانشگاهی در انگلیس و برانگیخته شدن اعتراضات علیه آن…
پرسنل خطوط هوائی انگلیس از پی پیکارها یشان به پیروزی نزدیک می شوند!
فعالین دستها از مردم ایران کوتاه قطعنامه ای به کنفراس اتحادیه خدمات انگلیس درباره جنبش کارگری ایران ارائه داده اند، این اتحادیه کارگران و پرسنل بخش خدمات عمومی و خصوصی انگلیس را در صفوف خود متحد کرده است. مفاد قطعنامه ارائه شده دفاع از جنبش کارگری، محکوم کردن دستگیری ها و بویژه طرح آزادی فعالین در بند جنبش کارگری می باشد…. در ادامه این برنامه تحلیل یاسمین میظر را درباره جنبش ضدحکومتی در سوریه و نقش جمهوری اسلامی در همیاری برای سرکوب خیزش مردم سوریه را خواهید شنید!
Posted on July 18, 2011 Author hopi-adminCategories HOPI blogTags News International, Radio, Rahe Kargar, yassamine matherLeave a comment on Yassamine Mather on Rahe Kargar Radio (Farsi)
Opposition to imperialism does not mean support for Ahmadinejad
Mohammad Reza Shalgouni is a founder-member of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) and has been elected as a member of its central committee on a number of occasions. He spent nine years as a political prisoner in Iran under the shah and today is an active supporter of Hands Off the People of Iran. Yassamine Mather interviewed him for the Weekly Worker
Fight for freedom
Could you explain the origins of your organisation and the space it occupies on the Iranian left?
Before answering your questions, I see it as my duty to thank your party, and especially the comrades involved with the Weekly Worker, for your coverage of issues concerning the movement of the Iranian people and working class. I hope your efforts can help eradicate the obvious misunderstandings of large sections of the western left.
Rahe Kargar started its activities in the early summer of 1979 and those who founded the organisation were mostly ex-activists of the guerrilla movement, who during their incarceration in the shah's prisons had come to the conclusion that armed struggle had not only failed to weaken the dictatorship, but that it harmed the relationship between the left and the working class.
Rahe Kargar was one of the first organisations of the left that pointed out the reactionary nature of the Islamic Republic and more importantly deduced from this that the Iranian revolution was defeated once the clergy took power. The clergy was a force that would undoubtedly suppress the movement and independent workers' organisations, as well as all aspects of modern culture (without which socialism would have no significance). It was with this analysis that, in the midst of widespread general optimism stemming from those who considered the 'massive popular presence on the streets' as a definite sign of the victory of the revolution, we drew attention to the threat of fascism and the need to confront its formation.
From our point of view, it was important to pay attention to the characteristics of the new dictatorship and to confront the forthcoming threat. Unlike a substantial section of the left, we considered the clergy and their influence and government as the main threat and, inspired by Marx's analysis of the ruling classes in England and France in the 1850s, we said that, although the clergy in power is defending the interests of the bourgeoisie against workers and toilers, it has its own interests when it acts as a governing caste. And that this is a result of a Bonapartist equilibrium resulting from the simultaneous weakness of both the bourgeoisie and the working class, the two main classes in society, at a time when neither can take political power.
Rahe Kargar started its existence in opposition to the Islamic Republic and has continued to struggle against this regime. But we have always had clear and firm anti-imperialist positions and we categorically oppose any imperialist intervention in Iran or anywhere in the Middle East. We have always been against the dependence of opposition forces on foreign powers.
From the beginning we opposed the dominant traditional position of the Iranian left, concerning the 'stage of the revolution' or defence of the bourgeois democratic revolution, and we have always insisted that a durable democracy in the specific conditions of Iran is impossible without the working class coming to power. That requires independent mass organisation of the class in the political, economic and social arena and this cannot be achieved solely through party organisations. That is why non-party, mass organisations of the workers and toilers can also play an important role. In addition, party organisation might take the form of a number of socialist and workers' parties, which can form a united workers' front.
Two other issues that distinguish Rahe Kargar from other leftwing organisations in Iran are:
1. the attention we pay to the issue of nationalities in Iran (a multinational country); we defend the right of the country's nationalities to self-determination, while emphasising the need for voluntary, democratic unity;
2. the destructive confrontation between tradition and modernity (a form of schizophrenia in our country) and putting an emphasis on the importance of keeping in touch with leftwing religious forces, which maintain a democratic and class understanding of religion and strive for a class alliance of workers and toilers.
In our opinion these are essential conditions for the class unity of the proletariat.
Can you give us an overview of the current situation, including the role of the reformists, the process by which sections of the movement became radicalised and the role of the working class?
In order to understand the dynamics of the current anti-dictatorship movement we must pay attention to a number of issues:
First, although this movement expressed itself in protests against rigged elections, its origins predate June 2009. In other words, in order to understand the situation we must remember that the gatherings in June in support of the reformists had nothing to do with people's illusions about the elections or the reformists' programme, but were mainly due to opposition to the institution of the vali faghih (Shia supreme religious leader). In fact these elections were similar to 1997, when people voted for Khatami mainly to confront that institution (the supreme leader wanted Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri to be elected at that time) and it should be said that at least during the last 10-12 years, the majority of Iranians have either participated in or boycotted elections as means of expressing opposition to the ruling dictatorship.
Second, the Islamic Republic has major differences with other dictatorships in the third world. We are dealing with a regime that came out of a mass revolution and for a while it did have considerable influence amongst the masses. The Iran-Iraq war (one of the longest of the 20th century) and political pressure by the United States and its allies throughout most of the last three decades have added to the regime's need to mobilise its mass base.
However, the Islamic regime is also a rare entity amongst world governments in that the clergy has imposed religion as the dominant force in the state apparatus, denying people's sovereignty even on a theoretical level and in its constitution. In addition, the Islamic Republic is a plural or multi-centred dictatorship, which so far has not succeeded in destroying its own factions and has not become a dictatorship run by a single individual.
Given the above, elections play a different and a more important role in this system compared to most third world dictatorships. Here the principal organs of power are not electable and elections are limited to the lower echelons within the power structure, which are controlled by the structures nominated by the supreme leader. Elections are above all a means to hide the absolute dictatorship foreseen in the constitution and to mobilise the masses, convincing them of a defining role in state policies. Elections are also a means by which the state organises relations between its own factions (its inner circles) and as a result of this the regime has no alternative but to take its elections seriously. So, once candidates have been screened by the Council of Guardians, there is less vote-rigging, compared with other dictatorships. That is why open electoral fraud disturbs the balance of forces in the regime, not only exposing its absolute despotism, but creating difficulties for regulating relationships between its factions.
Third, the Islamic Republic is a religious dictatorship. In this regime civil repression complements political repression. The regime considers daily and constant control over people's lives as its raison d'être and this repression creates widespread popular resistance. Throughout the last three decades we have seen a weary, direct and indirect mass resistance to the regime's efforts to impose sharia law and this has played an important role in the erosion of the regime's support base. In this confrontation, middle layers of society have played an active role, especially in the major cities. That is why some foreign observers (erroneously) refer to the current protests as the revolt of the middle classes.
Fourth, although at the time of the revolution the religious leadership benefited from considerable influence and this was reflected in the support for the governments stemming from the revolution, the imposition of velayat faghih (guardianship by the supreme leader) created many contradictions, which not only forced the government into constant confrontation with society's daily life and therefore confrontation with large sections of the population, but also created problems within the clerical hierarchy and the religious establishment.
These factors led to a situation where the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic was seriously challenged (in both the political and religious spheres) especially after Khomeini's death and this precipitated the loss of it support base. In fact the appearance of the reformists (who mainly came from the 'left' faction of the regime, or the 'imam's line' group in the first decade of the existence of the Islamic regime) and their victory in the 1987 presidential elections, has no other significance but a sharpening of this crisis of legitimacy. Efforts over the last 12 years by the office of the supreme leader to control the influence of government reformists were mainly attempted through the strengthening of organs under the direct control of the leader and rendering meaningless elected bodies. All this broke down the equilibrium that had previously existed, and it is no coincidence that the crises of the political and religious legitimacy of the regime have coincided.
The office of Iran's supreme leader is not only in total confrontation with the people, but at the same time most of the Shia ayatollahs who are accepted as sources of religious guidance are trying to distance themselves from him. The truth is that the traditional Shia religious governance is a form of republic (in the way Engels refers to the Protestant church as the 'republican church' and the Catholic church as the 'Royalist church'), but now vali faghih is trying to change it into a royalist system, making the independence of centres of guidance impossible.
Fifth, the vali faghih system is keeping all the real levers of power directly under the control of the supreme leader. In fact under the current constitution his absolute authority is unprecedented even in comparison to absolute kings. As far as religious matters were concerned, even the kings had to accept religious authority, whilst in Iran all the power of both religious and state authorities is concentrated in the hands of one leader. Given the needs of the revolutionary period and later the requirements of war, the first supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, tried to present himself as the embodiment of popular will, but during the last two decades, as the crisis surrounding the legitimacy of the regime increased, Ali Khamenei has been forced to use levers of power under his control to neutralise the general and inevitable inclinations of the people and work actively to destroy them.
As a result of this absolute 'royalist' power embedded in the constitution, the regime has been recognised as a naked dictatorship by ordinary Iranians. Nowadays all its armed forces are under the direct control of the supreme leader and the president cannot even send a policeman to someone's door without his permission. The Revolutionary Guards are not only in charge of national security: they also control many of the country's major economic activities. Today, Iran's economy is not just divided between the private and the public sector: there is a third, very powerful sector controlled by foundations under the direct influence of the supreme leader – even the parliamentary accounts committee has no control over it. According to some estimates, the resources under the control of these 'foundations' account for a quarter of the country's internal gross production. The broadcasting authority is a state monopoly under the direct control of the vali faghih. The supreme leader is in charge of one fifth of the country's oil income.
The coincidence of the economic crisis with the anti-dictatorship movement is a sign of the explosive potential of the current situation in Iran. During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, despite all the talk of 'protecting the disinherited', Iran's economy has reached a more critical stage.
Unemployment is increasing at a frightening rate and, according to some estimates, amongst youth it has reached 70%. It should be noted that the 15-30 age group constitutes about 35% of the population. Before the elections, inflation was above 25%, according to figure released by Iran's Central Bank (even after the manipulation of statistics), and despite the government's denials it has gone up in recent months. In the first three months of Ahmadinejad's presidency the cost of housing in most major Iranian cities rose by 1,500% and the cost of housing took up around 75% of the income of an average working class family.
Contrary to the illusions of some left groups outside Iran, Ahmadinejad's so-called 'pro-disinherited' policies played an important role in worsening the structural crisis of Iran's economy. The first term of the Ahmadinejad presidency coincided with an unprecedented rise in the price of oil and he spent a substantial part of the country's oil income, as well as the country's foreign exchange reserves, strengthening the social position of vali faghih. By injecting most of these resources into projects that had no economic value and only benefited the regime's inner circles, the government created unprecedented inflation, the main burden of which fell on the shoulders of workers and toilers. It is enough to remember that, according to Ahmad Tavakoli (head of the research centre of the Islamic Majles, and one of the most hard-line Principlist-conservative factions of MPs), 46% of all the the 'quick turnaround' policies claimed by Ahmadinejad to confront unemployment never existed. In other words, all these claims were a cover for giving credit and low-interest loans (at times no-interest loans) to close associates of the vali faghih. Of course, had it been any different, it would have been surprising, because corruption is endemic in Iran's Islamic Republic. In fact this regime has all the preconditions for relentless, institutional corruption. It is a rentier oil state and a brutal religious dictatorship, depriving non-believers of any rights.
Right now, according to figures released by the Central Bank, the country's banking system is facing total bankruptcy, because the banks have provided 50,000 billion tomans (around $50 billion) in non-returnable credit, lost in handouts to the regime's inner circles. Now, the banking system cannot even provide loans to small production units desperate for credit.
According to some evaluations, around 35% of the population live below the absolute poverty line. This means they face hunger and constant malnutrition. In addition to all this, as a result of the shortage of resources and considerable drop in oil income, the government has been forced to implement sudden measures to abolish subsides for all essential commodities, starting with the energy sector. The implementation of this policy will lead to a jump in the rate of inflation and increase poverty and destitution, making the lives of workers and toilers unbearable.
In view of all this, in my opinion the conditions are not suitable for reform. In general, reforms can only be achieved when the state is reasonably stable and the population is relatively calm and accepts the existing conditions. However, not only do people consider their situation unbearable, not only is there a lively protest movement, but the state is also at breaking point. In such conditions any retreat by the government will only encourage the people. That is why the reformists have little chance of gaining from the situation.
In reality, the electoral fraud, the removal of many reformists from power and the arrest of many of their leading figures was no more than a manifestation of the open bankruptcy of the reformist discourse in our country. It was not the reformists who rebelled against the vali faghih: it was the supreme leader who practically threw them out of the inner circles of the religious state.
In the midst of all this, the emergence of a self-instigated movement against electoral fraud propelled the reformists to the leadership of mass protests. That is the contradictory situation created by the rigged elections – reformists managed to lead the protest at the very time when the bankruptcy of the reform programme had become obvious. Clearly this situation cannot last long. We are now in the post-reformist era and the best proof of this is the growing gap between the slogans of the protest movement and the reformist discourse. The demonstrations that started with slogans like 'Where is my vote?' have now moved on to slogans such as 'Death to the dictator', 'Death to Khamenei', and even 'Death to the principle of velayat faghih'.
The people's protest movement started under reformist leadership for two obvious reasons:
1. the first protests were against election fraud and it was inevitable that candidates who lost should take pole position within them;
2. in periods of severe repression, protesters usually rely on some sort of cover to protect them – a cover that can reduce a little bit the cost of protest.
In any case, although the reformist programme was clearly bankrupt, the fact that reformists flocked to the ranks of the protest demonstrates the crisis within the regime. A phenomenon which is a necessary precondition for a revolutionary situation. Today, the presence of reformists on the side of the popular movement is a sign that the ruling order's position is untenable. At a time when the regime cannot even tolerate reformists who abide by the velayat faghih constitution, we can see a sign of absolute dictatorship and despotism, reducing the regime's chances of survival. Clearly this situation cannot last for a long time. However the reformists themselves have reached the end of the road – caught between the velayat faghih system and the anti-dictatorship movement of the masses, they are so hemmed in, they have lost the ability to take any initiative.
The brutal, repressive reaction of the regime in confronting the protests was one of the most important factors in the radicalisation of the protest movement over the last eight months. As I mentioned before, the protests against rigged elections (which was indirectly a protest against velayat faghih) disrupted the calculations of the regime. They had not expected mass popular interest in the elections and had even organised TV debates between candidates (a rare event in the Islamic Republic) to try and inject some enthusiasm and show the elections to be a real contest.
In the three weeks before the elections support for reformists candidates became so widespread that Ahmadinejad's defeat was obvious to everyone. It was in this atmosphere that the vali faghih system, seeing a repetition of the 1997 elections, declared two days before the elections, via the Revolutionary Guards, that a 'velvet revolution' was being planned by western powers. On the day of the election itself the Revolutionary Guards staged a military manoeuvre in Tehran to stop this alleged attempt. The election headquarters of reformist presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi was ransacked by plain-clothed security forces.
When the authorities saw the angry reaction of the masses after the announcement of the unbelievable results, they attacked Tehran University on the night of the election, killing a number of people and injuring more than a hundred. And again on June 15, when three million people were marching peacefully against the rigged results, they opened fire on defenceless protesters, killing more people and arresting hundreds. After that came the torture and rape of young boys and girls in prisons, and the death of more than a hundred political prisoners in detention. Illusions in reformism rapidly evaporated and slogans now clearly proclaimed opposition to all the main organs of the current order.
Throughout the last eight months, the shameless Goebbels-like lies of the regime has aggravated the situation. For example, they shamelessly claimed that Neda Agha Soltan, the young girl killed by the security forces, had died through a plot by a BBC reporter, even though witnesses to the attack arrested her killer and confiscated his security ID. When Massoud Ali Agha, a physics professor and supporter of Moussavi, was killed, they claimed he was a nuclear scientist and so Mossad had targeted him. All this, plus the escalating repression, has played a crucial role in reducing the reformists to a forgotten phenomenon and radicalising the youth (the main force behind the anti-dictatorship movement).
Contrary to the opinion of those who consider the movement 'middle class', there can be no doubt that workers and toilers have played a very important role in the current protests. For example, how can one say that the June 15 demonstration was only middle class, when Tehran's mayor admits three million people joined the protest (in a city with a maximum of 12 million inhabitants). Of course, the workers were not raising their own slogans in this demonstration, but the same is true of other sections, such as women and the youth, whose participation in the protests is not in doubt.
We should not forget that we are currently dealing with an anti-despotic movement which is facing brutal repression. In such movements, political protests take the form of sporadic demonstrations, fighting here, fleeing there, and under such conditions workers cannot get involved in independent political struggle at their workplace or in the districts where they live. This is a point made by Rosa Luxembourg in her summation of the Russian uprising of 1905. The experience of the February revolution in Iran against the shah confirms this. In that uprising there was no sign of independent workers' protests until the massacre of September 1978. It was only after that event (the police opened fire on demonstrators, killing large numbers), when street actions became more difficult and dangerous, that protests moved from the street to workplaces and gradually we witnessed important workers' strikes. And, of course, at that time, until very close to February 1979, most of the workers' strikes only raised economic and trade union demands.
At present too, despite all the arrests and repression of labour activists, workers' protests in support of their demands has manifestly increased. A review of workers' protests over the last eight months and a comparison of these with the same period last year leaves no doubt that the workers' movement is on the rise. The least one can say is that without a movement based on workers, toilers and the poor (who constitute the overwhelming majority of the population of the country) the current anti-dictatorship movement will get nowhere and in fact it is even difficult to envisage its continuation. Of course, the elimination of subsidies on essential goods (which is due to start in the first weeks of the new Iranian year, beginning on March 21) will no doubt lead to major workers' protests and this can create suitable conditions for the development of class-consciousness.
We must also remember that under dictatorships people do not believe any of the government's propaganda and in general do not consider the enemy of the government as their enemy (they are more likely to consider them as friends). In other words, that famous saying, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend', gains legitimacy. In today's Iran, where the regime's entire propaganda is geared towards opposition to the United States, public opinion against the US is weaker than in most Islamic countries. A couple of months ago when Obama was discussing the nuclear issue with the regime, in one of the demonstrations people were shouting, "Obama, Obama, you are either with them or with us!"
However, this does not mean people are oblivious to the dangers of military action or economic sanctions. One can say with certainty that the majority of Iranians are opposed to economic sanctions and any military action against their country. In particular, the US military invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the general massacre and destruction it has created in our two neighbouring countries has had a profound effect on public opinion in Iran. There are even signs (unfortunately) that Iranians support the regime's nuclear programme and would not even mind if their country possessed nuclear weapons. In fact the painful experience of the bombing of cities during the Iran-Iraq war and especially the indifference of western states towards the use of chemical weapons by Saddam's regime during that war created a sense of nationalist impotence which the regime tries to use. It is no coincidence that at present the state raises the nuclear issue in order to divide the masses.
How optimistic are you regarding the future of this movement? What are the prospects of the working class putting its stamp on any regime that follows the defeat of the theocracy?
There are many reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for this movement. In fact, even if this movement dies down today and its continuation becomes impossible, what it has achieved so far will have historic consequences.
The events of the last eight to nine months have left the Islamic regime with no future. Even if it survives for a while, it will never recover from the fatal blows it has suffered at the hands of this mass uprising. The young generation, the main motor of these protests, did not witness the 1979 revolution or the bloody repression of the first decade of this regime and until recently it was preoccupied with minor changes and certainly not thinking about social revolution. This generation is now irreversibly against the very existence of the Islamic regime.
There is no doubt that during the last three decades Iran's economy has fared worse than other countries in the region. For example, in 1977 (a year before the revolution), Iran's gross national product per capita was 60% more than Turkey and five times more than Egypt's. Now Iran's GNP, despite its oil income, is only 14% ahead of Turkey, and just twice that of Egypt.
The civil repression imposed by the regime will have consequences that will be with us for a long time. It is enough to remember that Iranian girls have been deprived of participation in sport for three decades and have not taken part in any major international sporting competition. The damage resulting from this is a tragedy that is occasionally referred to even within the pages of the regime's own educational journals. The reason is that, according to the clerics, girls' sporting activity must not be seen from people in neighbouring buildings, for example, and this makes any form of sport in girls' schools impossible. The absence of any rights for women has turned half of the society into second-class citizens, as far as law is concerned.
Around 15% of the country's population – the Sunnis, who are mainly Kurds, Baluchis and Turkmens – face double deprivation because of their religious beliefs and this endangers the country's territorial unity. It is a weapon in the hands of the US and its allies.
For all its claims of supporting the 'disinherited', Iran's Islamic regime is thoroughly corrupt, it is a parasitic state, pursuing brutal, anti-worker policies. According to many estimates, the current line of poverty in Iran stands at 800,000 tomans ($800), while the official minimum wage (which is often ignored and workers are paid less) is 300,000 tomans ($300). More than 80% of workers have temporary jobs and those in workplaces of less than 10 employees (ie, the majority of Iranian workers) are officially exempt from any labour legislation. For them it is the law of the jungle. Even those activists who demand the establishment of independent workers' organisations or workers who fight for payment of unpaid wages are arrested and tortured.
It is revealing to compare the government's attitude towards capitalists and managers compared to its attitude to workers. Last year when the government announced a two percent rise in tax for bazaar merchants, it faced a strike by shop owners in the Tehran bazaar and the state retreated immediately.
All this shows that the current anti-dictatorship movement is the only hope for improving the plight of the working class and ordinary people in Iran. The continuation of this movement and expansion of its scope has created a suitable atmosphere for raising class-consciousness and the formation of independent workers' organisations and no doubt will improve political conditions in favour of workers to such an extent that it will, in the words of the Persian proverb, learn in one night what usually takes a century. Of course, if the regime creates such an atmosphere of fear where workers' participation in political and economic protests becomes more difficult and costly, there is a danger that the struggle will take a violent form, when the role of organisations associated with foreign powers would increase, initiatives from below by the working class would fade away and reactionary, anti-democratic forces would gain the upper hand.
Let us not forget that, unlike the shah's regime, Iran's Islamic Republic has many powerful enemies throughout the world who seek to find allies amongst the forces opposed to the regime. No doubt such a scenario will harm democratic and socialist forces within the movement and it will give the regime an excuse to link the people's legitimate struggles with foreign powers. In my opinion the worst scenario in the current situation would arise if groups associated with foreign powers gained more influence within the opposition, because even if they do not manage to stifle the protests they will divert it from its democratic direction.
However, given the current awareness amongst social movements inside Iran, especially amongst the youth over the last 10-12 years, one can be hopeful that the anti-dictatorship movement will not be diverted from such a path. Of course, liberal discourse still dominates Iran's political scene and the left has a steep hill to climb to overcome this problem. But if the protest continues and takes a revolutionary path, as the role of the working class increases, the conditions for the dominance of socialist thought will develop.
How do you see radical change in Iran linking in with political developments in the region as a whole?
The coming to power of the clergy in the February 1979 uprising in Iran undoubtedly played a significant role in the development of Islamic movements in the region. In my opinion, the overthrow of the Islamic Republic in Iran can play an important part in weakening the influence of Islamic movements.
The reality is that Iran's Islamic experience is about 10 years older than other countries and so disillusionment with Islamism came much earlier than in other Muslim countries. The overthrow of the Iranian regime could increase that process in other countries, even though it might not necessarily lead to the coming to power of defenders of socialism in our country. Given the current situation in Iran and the region, such a perspective is possible.
It should be pointed out that, although liberal discourse is still powerful in Iran, the economic crisis engulfing world capitalism, the destructive effects of US military intervention, the bankruptcy of corrupt, pro-western regimes in the region and the fact that they are not tolerated – all this has created suitable conditions where, with the demise of Islamism, toilers in the region might turn towards more enlightened horizons. We are now witnessing the Islamic movements subsiding and if US military interventions stopped this decline would be faster. In none of these countries would liberalism be capable of responding to the stacked up problems of poverty, dictatorship and obscurantism, nor can it benefit from mass support amongst workers and toilers.
Right now in two key countries of the region, Egypt and Turkey, a powerful working class movement is rising and if in Iran the anti-dictatorship movement succeeds in strengthening the working class left (and in my opinion there is a strong possibility of that happening) it may be that a 'strategic bloc' would be created in these three key countries. A strong left in Iran, Egypt and Turkey would be in a good position to oppose not only the swagger about the 'free market' and neoliberalism, but also the obscurantist slogans of Islamism. In reality both currents are not as attractive as they used to be in the Middle East and if the left can learn from past mistakes and take up a democratic, radical, mass-orientated discourse, our region can move in a direction similar to Latin America.
The principal danger for the formation of such a perspective in our region is the destructive policies of the US. For example, Nato's plans in Afghanistan and Pakistan might lead to the disintegration of both countries – a phenomenon that will be as destructive as an earthquake for the whole region, and especially Iran. Countries in the region have strong religious, tribal and cultural links and Iran has more than 2,500 kilometres of common borders with these Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tribal strife in Kirkuk could heat up dangerous nationalist strife in Iraq, strengthening such arguments in the region and producing disastrous consequences.
What are the role and tasks of the international solidarity movement with those fighting the Iranian regime?
Undoubtedly the solidarity of western organisations and parties with the Iranian people has an important subjective effect on political and social activists inside the country.
Of course, we must have a realistic understanding of this influence. The truth is that the Islamic regime has a monopoly when it come to the radio and television that is available to all and especially the lower classes. These media present everything in a distorted manner, with Goebbels-like lies, and constantly make use of the support of some western left groups who praise the regime's anti-imperialism! This creates a certain hatred of the 'international' left amongst the population. Let there be no doubt: any support for the regime is met with nothing but animosity from the people it suppresses. Satellite radio and television, available to around 20% of the population, is mainly controlled by the US, UK or sections of the opposition directly or indirectly connected to foreign powers and most of them are anti-left and combine opposition to the regime with propaganda for the stance of the US and its allies.
Expressions of support for the working class movement in Iran from international progressive, leftwing organisations is mainly possible through the internet. However, although it is the most important means of communication for the majority of anti-dictatorship activists, inevitably it has a limited number of users – an optimistic estimate would be that 10% of the population has access to the internet.
Despite these limitations, though, support for the anti-despotic movement and, of course, for worker struggles plays an important role in strengthening the left and attracting the country's youth towards socialist ideas. Let us not forget that there are already favourable conditions for the re-establishment of a strong worker-socialist movement and clear positions taken by socialist forces in the west help bring neoliberalism as well as Islamist ideas into disrepute. In my opinion the anti-war, anti-sanctions movement abroad undoubtedly has a positive influence on the Iranian people, because, as I said before, the overwhelming majority of Iranians do not want to see a repetition of the Iraqi or Afghan experience in their own country, and they have seen how it is ordinary people who suffer the burden of sanctions (Iran has already had three decades of sanctions).
But the important issue is that opposition to the imperialist policies of the US and its allies must not lead to support for the Iranian government. Unfortunately the position of certain 'anti-imperialist' forces in the west is as damaging as the stance of those who support military intervention and sanctions. It is vital to oppose war and sanctions, but it must never take the form of supporting the dictatorial, bloodthirsty and obscurantist Islamic Republic. We must not forget that any support for the Islamic regime discredits leftwing and socialist ideas and in practice strengthens the hand of the US and its allies. Whether they like it or not, leftwing apologists for the regime actually help strengthen the imperialist, pro-capitalist camp in our country.
Our readers have followed Rahe Kargar's stance on many issues for over two decades. Could you explain the reasons for last year's split in your organisation?
The reason for the split was that for quite a while a group of people had tended towards a kind of reformist anarchism and latterly they wanted to impose their anti-organisation model on the rest of us.
Of course, they were only a minority, but others who did not necessarily agree with them politically ended up supporting them organisationally, creating conditions which would have meant nothing but dissolution. This made coexistence in the same organisation impossible. Amongst the comrades who had more formulated ideas were those who followed an interpretation of John Holloway's 'change the world without taking power'. But they propagate a caricature version of this, portraying any organisation as stifling and they are opposed not only to the notions of a working class party and state, but even to trade unions and other workers' organisations.
The conflict started around an article written by one of the comrades regarding the establishment of independent trade unions in Iran. This comrade warned workers that such an organisation would lead to hierarchical structures and claimed that unions, which limit their politics to economic issues, would benefit the liberals and pave the way for conciliation with capitalists. Those responsible for the website and the organisation's paper, followed our internal rules and put this article in the 'point of view' section of the website and some comrades considered this discriminatory. The reality is that the Iranian working class is actually fighting to establish independent organisations and it is not our policy to leave the working class defenceless.
Another difference arose around Palestine, starting with Israel's attack on Gaza. They thought the condemnation of Israel's crimes must be expressed in such a way that it would not strengthen Hamas and, although this was not clearly expressed, they wanted us to condemn both sides (Israel and Hamas) equally. Our position was that Israel's crimes must be condemned unconditionally and firmly.
Posted on March 26, 2010 Author hopi-adminCategories ArticlesTags iran, Iranian elections, Iranian revolution, Islamic Republic, Khomeini, Left, Mohammad Reza Shalgouni, Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran, Rahe Kargar, weekly worker, working class, yassamine matherLeave a comment on Opposition to imperialism does not mean support for Ahmadinejad
M.R. Shalgouni: The current situation in Iran and our tasks (Sweden)
Our tasks
As part of Hands Off the People of Iran's 'Week of Action' supporters of HOPI and Rahe Kargar in Sweden have organised these meeting on the tasks at hand for revolutionaries with regards to Iran. The meetings will be in Farsi
Meetings with Mohamad Reza Shalgouni
The current situation in Iran and our tasks
M.R. Shalgouni is a member of the Organisation of Revolutionary workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar)
Stockholm – Saturday 13thFeb 2010 – 13.00pm -16.00pm SVEA.41 ABF
Malmo – 19thFeb 2010 – 18.00pm -22.00pm – In the building of Iran-Sweden Association –Ystadvägen 44, MALMÖ
Gotenberg- Sunday 21stFeb 2010 – 14.00pm -21.00pmFolkets Hus GBG
Organised by Organisation Revolutionary workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar)-Sweden and Hands Off People of Iran
سخنرانی و گفت و شنود با
رضا شالگونی
از کادرهای سازمان
پیرامون : اوضاع سیاسی ایران ووظایف ما در قبال شرایط موجود
استکهلم : روز شنبه ۱۳ فوریه ۲۰۱۰ – ساعت ۱۳ الی ۱۶در SVEAV.41 – ABF
مالمو : روز جمعه ۱۹ فوریه از ساعت ۱۸ الی ۲۲ در محل انجمن ایران و سوئد واقع در Ystadvägen 44, MALMÖ
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Posted on February 5, 2010 Author hopi-adminCategories EventsTags Hands Off the People of Irab, Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran, Rahe Kargar, Sweden, week of action, سخنرانی و گفت و شنود با, محمد رضا شالگونیLeave a comment on M.R. Shalgouni: The current situation in Iran and our tasks (Sweden)
Iran: regime crackdown disguises weaknesses in the face of opposition
"Khameneii, Khamenei, your guardianship is dissolved"
Mehdi Kia co-editor Middle East Left ForumKargar) discusses the mass movement in Iran and the weaknesses of the theocratic regime. This article is from the magazine Permanent Revolution and was written in November.
The coup in Iran, that took place through the June presidential elections, gave the appearance of the regime being firmly in the saddle. But in Iran appearances are deceptive. The large antigovernment demonstrations that took place on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan (18 September), and again on the anniversary of the occupation of the US embassy on 4 November, not only showed an opposition that is alive and well, but one becoming progressively more radical. Whatever happens over the next months the Islamic regime has crossed three bridges that have collapsed behind it. There is no going back. The road can only be downhill all the way to the abyss.
Firstly by excluding a significant portion of the ruling clergy from the corridors of power it has seriously disrupted the accepted practice of power sharing among the numerous factions of the regime. This ability to maintain unity, manoeuver and change tactics, has been a key to the survival of the regime through thirty years of upheaval. How else could a government with an ideology based on a nomadic mercantilism run a moderately advanced capitalist economy without imploding at the first decision forced on it by modern life? Factions were the inevitable product of every major decisionmaking moment over the last three decades. And the ability to keep the regime together while swinging frantically from one policy direction to another was its secret of survival. This regime has survived from one crisis to another through creating structures such as the Expediency Council to paper over the inevitable divisions.1 At one stroke the 2009 election coup removed many of those safety valves.
Secondly the country saw a three-million strong demonstration on June 17 that confronted the entire security apparatus of the country, an apparatus clearly taken off guard at the size of the turnout.
It was the inability of the reformist leadership to seize the moment that saved the government's neck.
Faced with the masses on the streets, the pasdaran (revolutionary guards) did not risk a confrontation, but bided their time hoping, correctly as it turned out, that the street protests would slowly tire themselves out. Then as the protest gradually lost its momentum the security forces moved in and clamped down until demonstrations of no more than a few hundred people was possible.
Yet the people adapted quickly using "official demonstration days" (such as the anniversary of the occupation of the US embassy) to stage their own counter-demonstrations.
All the while the slogans have become increasingly radical. What began innocuously as "what happened to my vote" went through "Khameneii, Khamenei, your guardianship (velayat) is dissolved"2 to " "death to the dictator", "death to Ahmadinejad" and "death to Khamenei". Taboo after taboo was broken and red line after red line was trampled upon. Nothing is sacred, not even the semi-divine supreme leader. This is a watershed.
The third body blow to the system has been the final discrediting of the reformists. They have been consistently trailing the people, lamely trying to keep up, or begging them to tone it all down.
Their marginalisation can be seen from the radicalisation of the slogans despite their entreaties.
Notwithstanding the desperate efforts of the western media, both print and broadcast, to cast the opposition as a "green" movement whose sole purpose is to overturn the election results, the opposition has increasingly become multicoloured, clearly targeting the entire Islamic regime. The efforts of the reformist movement to "reform" the unreformable was always doomed, but now can be seen in all its contradictions.
Since September we have witnessed a greater spread of the opposition movement to cities and towns other than Tehran. The November demonstrations also took place in Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, Najaf Abad, Ahwaz, Shahre Kord, and many other towns.
The opposition is also being radicalised. This is shown in the evolution and radicalisation of the slogans, which have progressively marginalised the reformist leadership. The transformation of "what happened to my vote" finally to esteqlal, azadi, jomhuri irani (independence, freedom, Iranian Republic) has profound implications. "Independence, freedom, Islamic Republic" was the pivotal slogan of the 1979 revolution, the first two demands describing the content and the last the institution by which these were supposedly to be realised.
This was a democratic, antiimperialist revolution that was under the illusion that these goals could be achieved through an Islamic regime. By discarding the Islamic Republic but keeping the first two components, the people shouting this slogan today are making a clear link with the revolution of 1979, declaring it unfinished, reiterating its democratic and anti-imperialist aims, and proclaiming the new, secular government that could realise it.
While the slogan is only in its infancy, it has increasingly become more prominent. It betrays the seeds of a true anti-Islamic Republic uprising, that is both democratic and independent of foreign influence.
The slogan was supplemented on the 4 November with "na dowlate coup d'etat; na mennate amrica" ("neither the coup d'état government, nor relying on America"). No "colour revolution" here!3 The radicalisation has gone hand n hand with increasing prominence of left activists. The escalating casualty figures and arrests on the streets goes hand in hand with an increasing street presence of people from the poorer areas of south Tehran. But most striking is the continuous high profile of women activists – battling the basiji thugs in civilian clothes.
We have also witnessed a broadening of the demands to include those of women, of nationalities and other social movements, and of course the right to demonstrate. But in particular we have seen the early steps in bringing together the ever-growing protest movement of the workers with the general anti-regime movement.
Workers are protesting against job losses, real cuts in wages and destitution – a fight for their very survival in the face of neo-liberal policies of mass layoffs and privatisation. There are clear signs that the need to link the two movements is being increasingly recognized by the grass root leadership on both sides. Calls to set up neighbourhood resistance committees by the left are welcome but clearly only a beginning on a long road.
Broadening and deepening
The old left, both Iranian and non-Iranian, is largely confused about what is happening in Iran today. The protests are either portrayed as a fully-fledged uprising, or more commonly, as another "colour revolution". It is neither.
What we are witnessing in Iran is not an uprising in any real sense, let alone a revolution. However the seeds of an uprising have been planted, which if tended properly, can grow into an uprising that will unite the various springs of protest into one giant river with a single goal. The slogan of "independence, freedom, Iranian Republic" can provide one such goal. For this to be achieved a number of steps have to be taken. The grass root leaderships of the opposition need to be able to use everything at their disposal to widen, but also deepen, the movement.
To broaden the movement, it is necessary to draw in the disparate social movements, each with their own individual demands, into one huge movement that encompasses these demands. Thus the youth, the women, the nationalities and all the other movements have to be drawn into a co-ordinated single movement. Already youth and women play a critical role in the opposition and have been instrumental in its radicalisation.
The execution of Ehsan Fattahian, a Kurdish left activist, and the imminent execution of Shirko Moarefi another Kurdish activist, shows the regime's dread of the active involvement of the nationalities of Iran.
The movement must also learn to use the relative safety of the umbrella provided by the reformists without falling under their spell. The fact that the regime cannot slaughter its errant "children" (what it used to call the khodiha – insiders) with the same equanimity and savagery that it can "outsiders" is witnessed by the scale of the current repression, bad as it is compared to previous waves when literally thousands were slaughtered. A vigilant radical leadership will use this umbrella for as long as it provides a cover while pursuing its own independent programme, pushing the movement to adopt tactics that will ensure its deepening and strengthening.
To deepen the movement requires, more than anything, the linking of the workers' protest movement to the general movement for democracy. The workers' protest movement has reached levels not seen previously. Most recently oil workers, central to the Iranian economy, have began to flex their muscles.4 In Iran today it is impossible to have a meaningful and lasting democracy without the self-organisation of the working class. The only democracy that has a chance of surviving the inevitable imperialist onslaught must have at its head the only class that is, by its very existence, opposed to imperialism.
Imperial domination functions, and is imposed, through the subjugation of the working class, and only the self-organisation of this class can stand up to this domination. Undoubtedly the working class of Iran is still not organised as a class. This generation of workers has not even experienced real trade unions. Moreover the massive unemployment in the country creates a large constituency of the poor, living on the margins of society in the countless shantytowns surrounding our major cities, providing real organisational challenges.
But perhaps critically an uprising, let alone a revolution, cannot take place without a leadership that can see the road ahead clearly and lead the movement towards its goal. That leadership, which can weave the various strands of the movement into a single party and ensure that the fruits of victory are not handed to the imperialists or to another reactionary regime, as happened after the 1979 Iranian revolution, can only come from the left. Only the left can lead an uprising beyond regime change into a change in the social structure of the country. A change not just in political relations, but in the economic relations of the people.
But for this we need a left in Iran with a vision and the understanding of how to achieve this. Not much of either is visible in what passes for the left today. A "left" that looks up to a regime whose president communicates with a ghost that died 1100 years ago,5 whose regime sacks workers in their millions as part of a neoliberal privatisation policy, whose security forces shoot down peaceful demonstrators and expects it to oppose imperialism, does not deserve that name. To these comrades we say "the sun is out in Iran. Get out from under your umbrellas". No. We need a left with a vision. Yet that left is being born in Iran as elsewhere, though it has a long way to maturity.
And a final word for that section of the left abroad, like James Petras, Monthly Review and others, who have become an apologist for Ahmadinejad's regime. We say to you, "if you cannot help us, if you cannot support the struggles in Iran, at least don't harm us". By all means oppose imperialist pressures on Iran. Keep up the opposition to sanctions with every weapon at your disposal; sanctions can only harm the people of Iran without damaging the regime. And of course stop any military adventure against Iran. You help us with that and the people of Iran will deal with their regime. It may take time, there may be many more sacrifices, but we will prevail in the end.
Posted on January 7, 2010 Author hopi-adminCategories HOPI blogTags iran, Islamic Republic, mehdi kia, Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran, Permanent Revolution, protests, Rahe Kargar, revolutionLeave a comment on Iran: regime crackdown disguises weaknesses in the face of opposition
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International benchmark April Brent LCOJ9, -0.23% inched up 11 cents to $62.21 a barrel, after dropping 1% last week.
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, said a stronger dollar was also pressuring oil prices. The ICE Dollar Index DXY, +0.08% rose over 1.1% last week, and rose 0.3% on Monday. Dollar strength makes commodities priced in the unit less attractive to investors using another currency.
Among other energy contracts, March natural gas NGH19, +4.26% surged 4% to $2.69 per million British thermal units. Last week, prices lost about 5.5%.
In other Nymex trading, March gasoline RBH9, +0.03% rose 0.3% to $1.45 a gallon, and March heating HOH9, +0.18% was up 0.3% ay $1.914 a gallon.
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Opportunity for investor or owner-occupier in Sandyford for €5.65m
Two modern offices have scope for substantial uplift in rents following re-letting
Elm House and Oak House are detached units situated within Leopardstown Office Park in the Sandyford Business District
Fiona Reddan
Wed Sep 22 2021 - 06:00
Two modern suburban offices in Sandyford, south Dublin, have come to market seeking in excess of €5.65 million for the two blocks. Currently yielding about 5.4 per cent, the offices offer an investment opportunity for a private or institutional investor or an option for an owner-occupier, who may wish to occupy part of the property.
Elm House and Oak House are detached units situated within Leopardstown Office Park, accessed off Burton Hall Road within the heart of Sandyford Business District.
The units form part of a managed business park which consists of four blocks, comprising own-door and multi-occupied offices. Elm and Oak Houses are the most recently constructed and are available as a single lot, extending to about 11,200sq ft and 10,700sq ft respectively. They are laid out over three storeys with dual access points allowing for maximum flexibility, while generous parking is also provided.
Vacant suites
Current occupiers include AMT Sybex, Health Care Informed, Joseph G Byrne & Sons and Fitzwilliam Real Estate Capital. There are also three vacant suites, which are available for re-letting, ranging from 1,975sq ft to 3,720sq ft. Recent agreed lettings in the blocks range from €22-€24.50 per sq ft. The total current rental income from the units is €306,000 a year, with reversionary potential to about €550,000 following re-letting and completion of upcoming rent reviews.
Manus Agnew of selling agent Quinn Agnew said that the property offers good asset management opportunities, with flexible layouts to attract a wide variety of users for the vacant space. Upcoming rent reviews provide the opportunity to significantly increase the income from the properties.
"While the properties are suitable to private and institutional investors, they may also appeal to a potential owner-occupier who may wish to occupy part of the property and have the balance as an investment," he said.
Fiona Reddan is a writer specialising in personal finance and is the Home & Design Editor of The Irish Times
Amt-SybexFiona Reddan
Intercom set to sublet half of new Dublin HQ to US investment giant
Irish investment consortium in €6.5m deal for landmark Donnybrook Mall
Greystones retail scheme at €5.5m offers buyer 9.64% yield
Bartra secures €4.15m from sale of south Dublin residential site
Hibernia Real Estate Group begins delivery of new headquarters for KPMG
Our weekly personal finance digest will provide you with the insight you need to save money and make smart spending decisions
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The term NDD or Neuro-Developmental Delay describes the omission or arrest of a stage of early development.
It is the continued presence of a cluster of primitive reflexes and under- developed postural reflexes in the school-age child.
If these are not inhibited at the correct time, they remain active in the body and can interfere with balance, motor control, eye functioning, eye-hand coordination and perceptual skills. They can result in behavioural symptoms such as frustration, hyperactivity and hypersensitivity, and failure to match performance to ability.
If you suspect Neuro-Developmental Delay might be a factor in your child's presenting problem(s), we suggest you complete the Initial Screening Questionnaire.
If you suspect Neuro-Developmental Delay might be a factor for you, please complete our Adult Initial Screening Questionnaire.
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Mahjong films are a subgenre of gambling films in which Mahjong games and over-the-top tile-playing skills are important plot elements. The movie can be either a comedy or an action movie (occasionally with distinctive elements of Chinese kung fu). Almost all these films are produced in Hong Kong and they are often released during the Chinese New Year. Mahjong movies are very popular, particularly in some Asian countries.
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New Video Bullies Parents Into Complying With Child Protection Professionals
Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, social work
A new video produced by charity Just For Kids Law, under the pretext that it is trying to support parents going through child protection proceedings is thinly veiled propaganda which includes dangerous child protection advice.
The video, which is just under three minutes long, follows a young girl who was once in care and who now finds herself going through child protection proceedings after becoming pregnant. Whilst the animation is really nothing more than an advertisement for the charity's legal services, it is the way in which it treats young parents that is so offensive – and so wide of the mark that it amounts to bullying.
Entitled, "If I Could Talk To Me", the story approaches child protection proceedings as if the mother whose case we're watching has gone back in time to advise her younger self to do things differently. Right from the start, the assumption that's being made is that this young mother has been difficult, or obstructive, or, god forbid, independent minded in her view of the proceedings.
It's not a great start.
And using the woman's older self to sell the ideas in this video is a manipulative tactic designed to give young parents the impression that they would give themselves this advice, and that they should therefore trust what's being said – after all, 'they' are saying it.
As the story progresses, there are vague nods to the prejudices and assumptions child protection professionals may make that will lead to the young mother in the video being stigmatised – and unfairly treated – but these issues are brushed over and the young mum is asked to accept all of those injustices – and potential human rights breaches – as a matter of course. It's a deeply disturbing three minutes of viewing.
The video is also filled with dishonest rhetoric. At one point the young mum's older self tells her, "It's the process that makes it so hard – not the people." We know that's not true. There is an extensive track record today, of child protection professionals making the process unbelievably hard for parents, through all the prejudices the video makes references to – whether it's assuming a mother or father is unfit to parent because they've been in care (how can this starting point ever be allowed in best practice?) or because they've been in an abusive relationship. Assumptions are dangerous, and this video unfortunately plays on care leavers' worst fears, too.
At one point, the mum's older self asks her not to take "the most personal thing in the world personally." She is referring to child protection proceedings and the deeply invasive way they work. It's a ridiculous request, and one which turns the clock back on new and progressive research which shows quite clearly that these processes don't work if the emotional elements are ignored. Asking young, potentially vulnerable parents to shoulder all of the harsh realities of the system is a disgrace, and should never be part of child protection practice.
Another sentiment made during the film, which is narrated by the young mum's older self, is that she will be "judged for things in her past that were never her fault." Another, terrible reality of the system, which here is being openly acknowledged and accepted as the norm. It beggars belief.
It's with enormous sadness that we write this post. Researching Reform has for a long while, been a passionate advocate of Just For Kids, but we no longer feel that way.
Watch the video for yourself and tell us what you think. Have we been unfair? Is it more balanced than we've given it credit for? Let us know.
15 thoughts on "New Video Bullies Parents Into Complying With Child Protection Professionals"
AnnoyedIrishMan said:
Reblogged this on BertieS.
Another great post, exposing naked propaganda backfiring for profit! The way in which blind prejudices racked against natural parents caught up in safeguarding and care proceedings play out, is itself an abuse of process hence undemocratic. Most lamentable is lack of access to EFFECTIVE legal representation at critical times, with many parents still reporting legally-aided lawyers who cross over to bat for the local authority instead of the natural parents, thus circumventing meaningful access to justice as well as a right to a fair trial.
The voice-over is harsh and the message hard and uncompromising; a bit like the life portrayed. Never a bed of roses, this youngster has to come to terms with the realities of life in a system that offers no feather bed. Dickens eat your heart out for it seems little has changed, yet we all hope some things are better.
Horrific, horrific ! Did anyone notice the stat at the end? It says 10% of care leavers who are pregnant have their baby removed at birth ! So in effect the care system is a breeding ground for taking babies for adoption (for where else would they go?)
And who are these clowns sitting round a table and voting on whether a mum should be allowed to keep her baby? Yes who the hell are they to judge? How dare they take part in legal kidnapping of infants from defenceless young girls finding themseles at the mercy of a brutal care system ?
Sack the lot of them and leave the police to deal with the crime of child abuse and the world would be a better place !
wenevergiveup2015 said:
A true speaker as usual. They are breeding within the system and the "evidence " shows this. The young parents who are in long term foster care mostly. They tell the public the rates are going down in fact this is far from the truth. Because of this Baby farming police should be acting and "not " protecting them.
Completely agree Ian.
its a disgrace but how can these crimes be brought to justice. Social workers and their managers are protected behind a wall of Secrecy and LA support. thats why they are as bad as they are.
Yes Ian you are sadly correct. They are breeding these children in fostercare and taking there babies 15-18 yrs most under 17. What does one do with no experience in law procedures and ppl to scared to touch it. The money wheel spinning babies disappearing and these poor young adults loosing their babies,were loosing count, unless told. Police refuse to step in so it carries on, I believe one day these youngsters will get justice when they we can get them there not one but all of them. Breaking enactments in the name of "child protection " the stats are high.
Reblogged this on Site Title and commented:
They target young ones of the system " child protection "
Mehrnaz Allawi said:
Brilliant observation as always and well done for speaking out on behalf of all those who are unable or do not have the platform. Let's hope they apologise and remove this offensive video!
"its the Process that makes it so hard not the people"
this is the biggest Lie in the Video. in fact its the exact opposite. its the LA and their Social workers who make it so hard for the parents and children who are captured in their Gigantic Dragnet of Victims.
Reblogged this on HOLLIE GREIG JUSTICE and commented:
no thanks said:
I think you have gone a bit far. This advice is for the people in the thick of it. It's not a "here is the truth" video. It's really important to keep focused on working with the crappy deal you're dealt WHEN you're in the thick of it. That is GOOD ADVICE. if you focus on the injustice in the thick of it, you loose. When you're out of it; if you're researching reform; sure it's a crap video. But it's not written for you.
Thanks for your comment. We are aware the video isn't written for us, our post makes that clear. Our concern relates to the dangerous messages the video pushes in order to coerce compliance, not the realities of the system.
Richard Grenville said:
Its a snapshot of what is a long and tedious process for the young people caught up in this and plays into the confirmatory bias and the unwritten but widely enforced narrative that the system and those who administer it, follow to the letter.
What needs to be done is for the narrative to be opposed and dismantled and that those involved are taught not to be so gullible to the confirmatory bias that they slavishly follow.
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RUSI Briefing Examines Possible Russian Military Strategies Against Ukraine
RUSI News, 4 Apr 2014 By Dr Igor Sutyagin, Research Fellow, Russian Studies; Professor Michael Clarke, Director General
With elections set to be held in Ukraine in May, the relationship between Russia and Ukraine is about to enter a critical, and perhaps more dangerous period. Russian military planners may take the opportunity to intervene before further erosion of the combat effectiveness of their troops.
Based on current knowledge, expert insight and research, RUSI has published a briefing setting out four military scenarios that now have to be factored into the political calculations for both sides.
They are not predictions nor are they a complete picture of a complex and dynamic situation. Nevertheless, the military dispositions of Ukrainian and Russian forces are becoming more relevant to the political equation, and for a range of reasons they may reduce the time in which politics and negotiation can mitigate the effects of this crisis.
For media inquiries call: +44 7958 780 306
Published by RP Defense - dans Point de vue RUSI Russia Russie Defence Défense Strategy Ukraine
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Evaluation of the rotatory vestibular test: exploration of stimulus parameters. Objectives : The aim of this study was to construct a rotational test protocol after exploring the stimulus parameters of the rotatory vestibular test. Methodology: Twenty-four normal subjects were submitted to three different rotational paradigms: the sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test (SHAT), the pseudorandom rotation test (PRRT), and the velocity step test (VST). We inves- tigated the influence of frequency and velocity on gain, phase and asymmetry values for the SHAT and the PRRT. In the case of the VST, we examined the influence of velocity and deceleration on gain, slow component velocity at decelera- tion, time constant, nystagmus preponderance, and time constant asymmetry. Results: Frequency affected the SHAT response parameters, with significant phase differences between the frequencies 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 Hz, while velocity, if kept below 150°/s, had no influence on the results. In the case of the VST, responses were influenced by stimulus velocity and not by stimulus deceleration, with significantly higher gain values for the velocities 50 and 250°/s. Conclusions: A velocity of 50°/s tested at the frequencies 0.01, 0.02, 0.05,20.1, and 0.2 Hz was suggested for the SHAT and PRRT protocol, whereas a velocity of 100°/s with a deceleration of 200°/s was preferred for theVST. The relevance of this rotational protocol has yet to be established from patient data.
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What a Welcome to the Easter Weekend
The photo shows the welcome we got to the Easter Long Weekend. It was bad enough that we already had 8 inches (20cm) of snow on the ground, then we were given another 4 inches (10cm) just for good measure.
Snow is not all we got, today when we got up the temperature was -16C (2F). Not too many people in the Robson Valley will be out wearing their Easter bonnets this year.
Check out my paintings at: davidmarchant.ca
Dr. Cowburn Passes
This blog is beginning to read like an obituary column.
McBride doesn't have a daily newspaper or a radio station, so up-to-date news is usually relayed mouth to mouth. If you want to know what the latest news in the community is, there is only one reliable source--Pat, at the grocery store check-out. I was buying some mushrooms and a green pepper yesterday, when she told me that Dr. Cowburn had died on Tuesday. It was another blow, after still trying to get used to the news that Trevor Jones is no more.
Dr. Geoff Cowburn had long been an essential part of the McBride Community, saving lives and patching people up. Back in the late 1970's when we arrived in the Robson Valley, he was the only doctor in the community. He is in many ways what you would expect of a country doctor--kind, wise, dedicated, and knowledgeable. When I was concerned about the color of my urine, his first question to me was, "Have you been eating beets?"--I had.
I don't know when Dr. Cowburn moved to tiny isolated McBride, but it was before Hwy. 16 was built. Access then was only by train. On his first day, he and a nurse had to perform an emergency appendectomy, and deal with two tubal pregnancies. Being the lone physician for such a large undeveloped and isolated area must have been a huge burden. Previous doctors had left because it was just "too much work", but Dr. Cowburn stuck around and worked until five or six years ago, when Jane, his wife died.
Dr. Cowburn did have a life outside medicine. We discovered some of his other interests when we boarded one of his horses at our place. He would come periodically and spoil the horse with a warm mulch of oats and sorghum. One year we ended up driving his horse to Spruce Meadows, Canada's big equestrian center in Calgary.
His other big interest was flying. It was always a treat to see his bright yellow Tiger Moth biplane circling and puttering against the blue sky and mountains. His plane also played a part in his doctoring. There are stories of him flying to see isolated patients, landing in their fields, and delivering prescriptions to places as far away as Blue River, BC.
If there was an emergency at the hospital, when he was out flying around, the hospital staff would put a white sheet on the roof of the hospital to signal that he was needed at the hospital.
Below, is a photo of Dr. Cowburn, in his Tiger Moth.
You can see my paintings at: davidmarchant.ca
Trevor L. Jones, Another Friend Gone
Yesterday, the Robson Valley lost a gentle spirit and talented artist, and Joan and I lost a dear friend--Trevor Jones. It had been hard to watch the rapid decline of his body to cancer, but throughout his doomed struggle, he maintained an amazing cheerful strength of character.
We first met Trev in 1980, when he and Di arrived in McBride in a truck covered with the dust from the erupting Mt. St. Helens, immigrating from England to Canada. Because he was a painter, he came to an Art Council meeting and was introduced. Even long before my painting days, I had always been a fan of realism, and I was gobsmacked when I saw Trevor's paintings of mountains with their amazingly blue skies.
Trevor was the first serious artist I had met and we became good friends. Having arrived in the Robson Valley ourselves just a couple of years earlier, we were happy to join together and explore the pristine mountains and valleys. Trev and I did a back packing trip up to Mt. Robson's Berg Lake, which was the only time I have been up there. In between the exploring, we did a lot of socializing with the Joneses on weekends. We joined them in celebration when they had their child, Rachel.
That first year was a struggle for them, because they could not find employment. We weren't rich either, but we bought a painting Trevor did of "The Helmet", a feature on the back side of Mt. Robson, for some cash and a big bag of potatoes we had grown. Fortunately, Trevor was eventually able to get an art teaching job at the high school.
I was always somewhat envious of Trevor, for finding an art form and dedicating himself to it. I was always floundering between photography, music, and other things without ever really excelling in any. He had an extensive library of art books, and was always buying new ones, like I said, he was very serious about art. I always felt sorry that he never really found the recognition, (beyond the regional) that he wished for.
There is a small group of friends that always join together to visit and feast at special occasions, birthdays, Christmas, and New Years holidays. Trevor and Norma were always an integral part of those celebrations, and our future gatherings will not be quite the same without his presence. We will miss you Trev,
Blue Skies.
Trevor's painting, The Helmet
Trevor and our dog on one of our hikes
Norma and Trevor on one one of their winter walks.
You can view my paintings at: davidmarchant.ca
Miserable Weather
Yesterday we woke up to rain/snow, a bit of a setback when we are so focused on Spring. Luckily by the afternoon the weather had loosened its grip a bit during for our walk. There were geese in the fields and clouds were obscuring the tops of the Cariboo Mountain Range. Some of the fields and pastures in the Robson Valley have partially cleared of snow, but the frost is still in the ground.
Seeing the geese and pussy willows does give us some hope.
View my paintings at: davidmarchant.ca
Two New Superstitions to Worry About
There used to be a television show called "Kids Say the Darndest Things". I was reading through one of my old diaries from 1975 and came across a couple of those "darndest" things which fall under the classification of superstitions, that were told to me by two, long ago, ex-students of mine.
At the time I was teaching in an isolated one-room school deep in the interior of British Columbia. Thinking back on it, I realized that "I' was the school. My duties not only included teaching, but I also had the chore of school bus driver. There wasn't a school bus, but every morning I would borrow one of the pickup trucks from the lumber mill where the school was located, and drive down to the big lake and pick up two or three of the Indian children that lived in a cabin down there.
It was on one of these trips that I heard about this first superstition. Here is what I wrote in my diary:
I heard an interesting story this morning from Madelaine and Hannah, they said they had seen a tail sticking out from behind something. This, I was told, was a bad thing. It meant an ugly skinny man with long fingernails and magic keys might get into your house (he hadn't yet). He had escaped from jail and had almost caught a friend of theirs, but fortunately, she was able to hit him on the head with a stick which knocked him out for two minutes. Anyway, I guess you should be careful if you see a tail sticking out from behind things.
The second new superstition I heard from the girls was very short, but even more dire. They told me if you wear wet socks on a rug, you would die.
I am beginning to question the validity of that warning, because I have been guilty of that offense numerous times without the severe repercussion.
Where Do You Want to Relax Today, Lucifer?
People that come to our house might think we have a lot of cats when they see the bench on our front porch, but no, we've only got Lucifer. Joan just can't help but spoil her. Every time Joan sees a new comfortable cat bed in a store she is tempted to buy it for Lucy. Fortunately, most of the time she will succumb to reason and pass up the opportunity.
We really don't need any more cat beds. Besides these three cat resting items, we have another on the balcony, one in the bay window, and there is also one beside the wood stove. Then I have a cardboard box with padding besides my computer monitor, and a pile of padded envelopes under my desk, where Lucy is resting now.
Of course, Lucifer isn't limited to those places, she also likes to cuddle up on our beds, and on or tucked in tight beside us, when we are watching television.
I don't know why a cat would need nine lives when the present one is so cushy.
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant.ca
Spring Signs on Horseshoe Lake Road
We do a lot of walking on Horseshoe Lake Road. There hasn't been much to see during out winter walks; snow, maybe nice light on the mountains, but those things weren't very exciting. Yesterday on our walk we perked up after we saw some definite signs of Spring.
Most obvious was the fact that the snow was gone from the road and we walked on gravel. The big surprise was that the herd of horses were back on the pasture after being absent all winter. There didn't seem to be much for them to eat yet, but I guess they know how to deal with what is there.
We have been hearing sounds of geese flying over last week and way off in the horse pasture we spotted a flock congregating by the ice. The most definite sign of spring was the five robins that were flitting from fence post to fence post as we walked down the road. I really don't know what they are eating this time of year, since all the ground is frozen and there aren't any worms about.
I know my excitement over such mundane things shows what a low key life I lead, but I am happy with the simple pleasures that I find.
Indian Givers, A Book Review
The theme for the March book club meeting at the McBride Library was, "A Book That Opened Your Eyes." One of the books that did that for me was Indian Givers by Jack Weatherford. Here is my review:
Starting in the third grade and carrying on throughout my life, I have had a special interested in Indians. As a child, I made a feathered headdress, I did beadwork, and worked on other Indian crafts, I read books about Indians, collected the flint arrowheads that could sometimes be found in the plowed fields of Indiana and visited Indian sites in both North America and Central America.
Through that interest, I had learned a great deal about First Nations People, most of that knowledge was either about how they lived or how the got exterminated. Indian Givers, this seemingly inconsequential book, that I first read twenty years ago, made me totally change the way I viewed Indian culture because it showed me the immense contribution they made to the world and everyone alive today.
The first section of the book deals with the transformation that occurred in Europe because of the massive amounts of gold and silver, robbed or extracted through the forced labor of Indians, by the Spanish. Although initially sent to Spain, this enormous wealth soon spread throughout Europe through trade.
Before it arrived, gold and silver was only for the rich, but soon there was so much of it, even common people had access to it in the form of coins. Most of the gold and silver artifacts and decorations seen today in the cathedrals and palaces of Europe were made from the gold stolen, or mined by Indians in South America and Mexico. Previously in Europe, land was the basis of wealth, the huge influx of gold and silver changed the economies of Europe so that soon wealth could be measured and accumulated in the form of currency.
The enormous amount of silver from the Americas, spread across the world initially into Spain, then through Europe, then into India and China through trade and the English piracy of Spanish ships. The huge amount that poured into Europe caused the value of silver to plummet. It raised the economy of all nations effected, and created the rise of capitalism, but the Indians who worked as slaves in the mines got no benefit.
The English piracy of the Spanish was initially financed by investors who formed a company for piracy. (Queen Elizabeth was one of the investors that profited, and who later knighted their pirate Drake, as a reward for the enormous returns on their investment). This company was so lucrative that other companies were formed to exploit other riches, like the Hudson Bay Company to exploit furs in North America.
The Americas were a vast warehouse of new items developed by the Indians, then exploited by Europeans:
They took North American cotton with its longer fiber.
They copied Indian Dyes to color it and started using sisal for rope.
Indians developed rubber for rain coats and hats, balls, and bungy-like cords for tying, and even invented vulcanizing rubber with sulfur, something that was later rediscovered by Europeans.
The ancient Incas specialized in agricultural experimentation and built numerous experimental areas where crops were grown in different ways. When the Spanish arrived the Incas had already developed over three thousand types of potatoes in the Andes. For instance, they perfected potatoes that matured rapidly, others that grew slowly, some that grew best in moist areas, and others that needed very little moisture. They created potatoes in a myriad of colors. Presently in the US, only about twenty varieties make up three quarters of potato production.
The introduction of the potato to the rest of the world had an enormously beneficial effect on both health and population. Before its arrival, the European diet was based largely on growing grain, which worked well around the Mediterranean, but was a dicey proposition in more northern countries, due to shorter growing seasons, cold, rain, and pests. This prevented these countries from really thriving, because of their large population of poor farmers, who often had to live hand to mouth.
Once the peasants got over their initial reluctance to the potato, their conditions improved greatly. It grew more quickly than grain, produced more calories per acre, and provided more nutrients. Once introduced, some country's population tripled in one hundred years.
The beans the Indians developed (kidney beans, string beans, snap beans, frijole, the common bean, butter bean, navy bean, Lima bean, and pole beans) increased the amount of protein in the European diet. In Africa it was the American Indian peanut that increased protein. Next to the potato, it was the Sunflower that was the most important Indian contribution to Russia.
Corn, while a staple in America, never caught on as a food for the people of Northern Europe who used it as an animal food. It improved the health of their livestock instead. It did become people food in Southern Europe and along with the introduction of other Indian developed foods, caused huge population increases in Italy and Spain.
The sweet potato gained a huge acceptance in Asia and China which is now the world's biggest grower. I noticed in The McDonald's in Hong Kong you could buy corn and a red bean dessert.
Amaranth grain has become one of the most important cereals in the diet of highland people in India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, and Tibet.
The Indians developed what we know as corn or maize from a small insignificant wheat-like grass. Through the centuries they bred a wide spectrum of varieties.
Some of their corn varieties thrived in moist cool New England-type climes, others flourish in hot humid Southeastern settings, while still other varieties were bred for the very hot dry desert-like environments of the American Southwest and Mexico. Indians purposely bred corn to have the thick husk to protect the kernels from insects. They did so much breeding on corn that, because of the husk, it could no longer re-seed itself and must be planted by humans.
Other food the Indians developed for us: chocolate, vanilla, tortillas, popcorn, hominy grits, maple syrup, tomatoes, sweet peppers, chilies, cashews, cranberries, turkey, tapioca, jerky, Cracker Jack (popcorn and maple syrup), Avocados, squashes, a myriad of nut and berries.
Think about some "ethnic" food that you like from elsewhere in the world. Most of those dishes, as you know them, didn't exist before the discovery of America and the contribution of those Indian-developed foods, like tomatoes, peppers, corn, chocolate and potatoes.
Indians gave the world three-fifths of the foods now produced.
Another contribution was in the field of Government:
The book makes the case that democratic concepts such as "equally and freedom" were inspired and spread by people like Thomas Paine, who saw it in the Indian societies he witnessed. The US government which was unique when it was created was largely based on the League of the Iroquois, a government structure set up by a handful of northeastern Indian nations.
People like Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson all favored and contributed ideas based on the League of the Iroquois. Ideas included, representatives to the large councils were chosen by everyone in the Indian bands, and in these large councils, no one was permitted to interrupt or heckle when a representative was speaking, unlike in Parliamentary governments.
Unlike what is commonly thought, Indians didn't have "chiefs" (a European word and concept) they chose leaders, but these leaders didn't rule, but lead through the consensus of the people. Supreme authority rested with the group, not an individual. One of the most important Indian concepts was that of a caucus, where a group would meet and talk through a problem. "Caucus" is an Algonquin word.
Both the League of Nations and the UN's General Assemble were bases on the Iroquois federal system, where each country, no matter it's size, is equally represented.
Indians were the first to develop a huge range of medicines such as Quinine to cure malaria, a vitamin C concoction to cure scurvy, willow bark containing aspirin for headaches, and petroleum jelly among other things. They used obsidian blades as scalpels for surgery that were sharper than anything until the laser beam was developed.They successfully did brain operations by drilling holes through the skull to relieve pressure on the brain, and their patients lived.
They knew more about the heart and circulation system than Europeans at the time. The Aztecs bathed daily, something abhorrent to the Spanish. Most Indians tribes used steam baths or sweat lodges.
Drugs used by Indians
Coca- used to reduce hunger, later used by Europeans for cocaine and early Coca-Cola
Chicle-chewing gum
Canoes, kayaks were invented by the Indians.
Amazingly engineered roadways through the high Andes mountains deep valleys, and jungles, that ran thousands of miles and were used by runners in a communications system similar to the pony express.
I found the whole book interesting but the chapters that I found most fascinating were on the subject of food plants development. It made me realize that most of my favorite foods were all the results of the Indian agricultural technology.
Take a look at my paintings at: davidmarchant.ca
A Hard Walk
It is my habit in the morning to walk with the dog and cat around the pond. I haven't been doing it for the last week because it was getting so difficult because of the deteriorating snow. The path which is hard packed snow was beginning to slump around the edges, thus becoming narrower and narrower. As the edges wore down, every other footstep would slide off into the 15 inch (45cm) deep snow on the side of the path. So I just quit walking the trail until conditions got better.
Last night it rained and then froze which gave a hard crust to the 12 inches (30cm) of snow still left on the ground. My path is now elevated higher than the surrounding snow. Anyway this morning when the animals and I went out to feed the birds, they both walked over to the path like they wanted to do the pond walk again. Since the snow was harder, I relented and off we went.
I quickly discovered that the conditions were horrible. Whenever I stepped down, at first it seemed like the snow would hold me, but then my foot would crash through and sink about a 12 inches. It was hard going and several times I thought I would abandon the walk and return home, but whenever I looked at Skye and Lucifer, I saw their begging eyes, and they seemed to want to continue (the reason was that both of them were having an easy time of it, because they were able to walk on top of the snow.)
Being a soft-hearted sucker, not wanting to disappoint them, I continued the walk. Step, crash through, step, crash through, step, crash through. It was a real pain, but eventually I made it all around the pond.
The one good thing about my difficult walk was the photo you see. I really liked the color and foggy mountains.
You can view my paintings: davidmarchant.ca
Cat Finds a New Hotspot
Our cat Lucifer usually curls up and snoozes either underneath my desk, on in a box beside my computer every morning when I paint. The other day she didn't and I wondered where she had gone. I found her in a snug little ball in my room underneath the grow light that I had just set up for my tomato plants.
There are dogs who are good at seeking out hidden drugs or missing people, we have a cat that can seek out warm cozy places.
My paintings are on display at: davidmarchant.ca
Painting a Square
Every day before I write a blog I paint. I paint a two inch (5 cm) square section of the painting I am working on. It takes me between 15 minutes to 90 minutes depending on how complicated the square is. Sometimes I get lucky and have a square that is one solid color, because I am lazy, I am always happy when I get one of those. Most squares however, have a lot of detail with different colors, those require a lot of mixing and are time consuming.
The photo above shows the square I painted today. It took me about 80 minutes to paint it. The picture I am painting is of a bunch of autumn maple leaves lying on the ground, so most squares have a lot of detail and require a lot of mixing colors.
The photo below shows all the tubes of paint I squeezed into today's two inch square.
You can see the whole painting in "Current Work" on my website:
davidmarchant.ca
Thinking About Seeds
Even though there is still a lot of snow on the ground in the Robson Valley, tomorrow is the first day of Spring, and a few days ago I planted my tomato and pepper seeds. The seed catalogues have been out for months, and now, while there is still choice available, it is the time to really get serious about what you want in your garden.
The local stores have put out their seed displays and so Joan and I picked and bought varieties we wanted to try this year. I usually save a lot of seeds to plant from my last year's garden, but it seems there is always something else that catches your eye or that you don't have.
With all these colorful seed packets it isn't hard to be optimistic about the lush green garden you can see in your mind. Reality usually sets in midsummer, when the weeds suddenly become uncontrollable or the weather isn't cooperative.
Midwinter, when I dream about Spring coming, I usually forget about reality and the transitional time that around here is called "Breakup." Breakup is the period when the snow begins to melt and everything seems to turn into mud. I remembered all about breakup yesterday when I drove to the dump to drop off some trash.
The area that slopes up to the trash bins appeared to me to be a wet plowed field. Luckily, I had only one garbage bag to contribute, so I just walked it up to the bin. The attendant told me some people had to use four wheel drive to get up to the bins.
It now strikes me that this sort of everyday life for us is probably a foreign concept to most people who live in places where everything is paved. Around here, there are a lot of places where roads and streets are gravel. The road we live on was gravel for many years, and during the spring it became a bit of a nightmare to slide and slop your way to town. Fortunately it was finally paved, which certainly made it easier on our vehicles. Unfortunately for us, McBride no longer has a car wash.
Below is a shot of the road that goes to McBride's Community Hall. What footwear would YOU wear to an event?
Check out my paintings: davidmarchant.ca
Re-emerging Woodpile
Here's another sign of Spring; I can see this woodpile again. This 40 inch (1 m.) high stack of firewood, which I will use next winter, had disappeared, totally engulfed under snow. It is nice to be able to see it again.
Back in 1966, I rushed into my bedroom with "Turn, Turn, Turn," my newly purchased new Byrd album. I ripped the cellophane wrapping from album, slid the vinyl record out of the envelope, plopped it down onto my turntable, and lowered the stylus onto the revolving grooves on the record.
The Byrds were my favorite group. They had been instrumental in creating a new genre of music called "Folk Rock" which coupled the sensitive and poetic lyrics of folk music with the rhythms and instrumentation of Rock and Roll.
As I had hoped, the album featured the rich high vocal harmonies of the Byrds, pulsing bass, and the jangling electric 12 string guitar which were their signature hallmarks. Beside the expected Dylan covers, and some of their own compositions, there was a cover of a song written in 1954 called "Satisfied Mind." I was unfamiliar with the song and was immediately struck by the lyrics, the chorus went:
"For money can't buy back your youth when your old,
or a friend when your lonesome, or a heart that's grown cold.
The wealthiest person is a pauper at times,
compared to the man, with a satisfied mind."
The words reflected my view of wealth, but also what a mistake it was to make money the main focus of your life. The accumulation of wealth and power was not the goal I wanted in my life, instead I hoped for friendship, happiness, and satisfaction.
The lesson of those lyrics came to life for me one weekend in 1969. At the time I was taking Peace Corp training in a long, tropical, tin-roofed former school building near Pepeekeo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The eight weeks of intensive training meant instruction from daybreak until about 8:00 at night. We were only given Saturday afternoons and Sundays off and so like all of the other trainees, tired of the language, cultural, and training lessons, I sought to take full advantage of my allotted free time.
Once I got to Hawaii, I was surprised to learn that the Big Island had less than a handful of beaches on it. The closest one was in Hapuna Beach State Park and this rural Indiana boy was eager to see it. What was the use of being on the islands without spending some authentic Hawaiian time in the sun and surf.
Pepeekeo was on the wet side of the island, and Hapuna Beach on the dry side. The trip to the beach would normally take a little more than an hour and a half drive, first skirting along and above the coastline of the island, then driving over the hump at the island's interior, and finally descending into the desert-like leeward side to the beach, but since Peace Corp volunteers had no access to a vehicle, we had to rely on hitch-hiking if we wanted to travel anywhere away from our camp, so travel time to the beach always varied.
One weekend, a girlfriend and I decided to spend our weekend at Hapuna Beach, so with blankets and supplies in hand, we hiked up to the edge of the highway, put on a pleasing face, and stuck our thumbs out. Eventually a big white Cadillac took mercy on us and stopped to pick us up.
"Wow," I thought, "this is great, we will be riding to the beach in style." I was wrong, it was not the delightful ride I had imagined. The Cadillac was occupied by a wealthy middle aged couple, and after we had gotten in, closed the door, and answered some introductory questions, the couple soon forgot our presence in the back seat, and began to verbally go at each other.
They bitched and complained, insulted and argued at each other as Charlotte and I, embarrassed by the verbal tirades, tried to make ourselves invisible in the back seat. While I was thankful for the ride, I was even more thankful and relieved when we were able to get out of the car and escape from the really miserable rich couple in their fancy car.
Our beach time was idyllic, Hawaii was a paradise for the senses. The azure surf, the deep blue sky, and the blinding white sand all fit my Hawaiian stereotype. We even got to stimulate our tastebuds when we were even invited to help ourselves to the leftover fresh pineapple and other tropical fruit refreshments from a Sierra Club gathering that had been held at the beach. At night we made our bed in the sand beside a van-sized rock, under a million stars, with the surf lulling us to sleep.
After a morning of more swimming and lazing around in the sun, it was time for us to gather up our blankets and head back to camp. We hiked up to the road then once again relied on our thumbs for a ride, eventually we made it the main highway, halfway home.
As we stood there hitching, a very old beat up and rusted truck slowed to a stop. The driver, one of the two old grizzled geezers in the cab, spoke through the rolled down window and said, "There isn't any room in the cab, but we've been out picking guavas and you can sit in the back with the fruit if you want."
We accepted the friendly invitation, threw our bundles into the back, then climbed over the dented tailgate and settled in.
It was an uncomfortable ride, sitting cramped on our blankets, which we had bunched up to pad our bottoms from the hard floor of the truck bed. Our confinement, squeezed between the baskets and cardboard boxes, full of the freshly-picked green fruit, didn't hamper the enjoyment of our ride. We watched, with the wind in our hair, as lush flowering bushes, green ferns, and tropical palms flew by, giving us the occasional glimpse of the Pacific on our left.
When they stopped to let us out, we climbed out of the back of the truck, our legs still stiff from the confinement. As I thanked the old men, they told us we should take some of the guavas with us. Seeing that they were poor men, who had already given us the gift of a drive, I tried to refuse, but they insisted.
Those two very contrasting rides, one in the miserable rich man's plush Caddy and the other in the poor man's beat up truck, will be forever in my memory, and even back then, given the choice of what kind of life I wanted, I would have always chosen that of the poor content old men in their rusty old pick up, over the neatly dressed wealthy guy in his shiny white Cadillac.
Below are photos of the view of the Pacific from Hwy. 19 and Hapuna Beach.
Visit my website to see my paintings: davidmarchant.ca
Snow Fall Danger
We have been getting above freezing temperatures for about a week. This has caused the deep accumulation of snow that is sitting on the roof to slowly, like a glacier, start moving down slope. They are creating large overhangs of snow on both sides of my carport.
These overhangs are fairly cohesive or else they would have broken off, but I am always afraid that they might break off at some inopportune time and injure our pets or car, so after I took these photos I used a shovel and broke them off. This happens every year, but the accumulation on the roof this year is much greater.
Another result of all these sliding plates of snow is that huge chunks of overhanging snow are breaking loose from the upper part of the roof on our house and falling onto the lower roof causing loud "THUMPS" throughout the day. Sometimes you can feel a slight vibration in the house when they fall. It's just another sign of Spring, I guess.
Last Sunday we switched our clocks ahead one hour to give us more useable time in the evenings. It really didn't have much noticeable effect on me until last night, when I drove into McBride for our jam session. For months I have been driving to the gathering in the dark, but last night on the drive in, it was still light outside. The Sun had already slide behind the mountains leaving the valley in the shadow, but it was still shining brightly and highlighting peaks in the Premier Range back the Raush Valley.
Immigration to Canada
In January of 1973, I mailed off a letter of inquiry to the government of Canada, telling of our wish to immigrate, and asking how we should proceed. They sent back the necessary forms to fill out, but there was one big hurdle that had to be jumped— we wouldn't be accepted as landed immigrants unless we had been offered a job that no Canadian wanted.
In the August of 1973, Joan and I packed up our green International Scout with suitcases and supplies, squeezed Nancy, my sister, who wanted to come along for the ride, into the back seat, and made our way along the scenic route to Canada . First we drove west to Colorado, then followed the Rocky Mountains northwest to the border.
On the car radio as we drove, we listened to the Watergate Hearings that were, drip by drip, bringing President Nixon down. The further north we got, the more spectacular the mountain vistas became. In Colorado, the Rockies were great. In Montana, Glacier National Park, was better yet, but after we crossed the border into Canada, and started up the Icefield Parkway that ran through Banff and Jasper National Parks, we were totally blow away, and I was running out of film.
Our final destination in Canada was Victoria, BC. The only connection I had in Canada was my uncle's family who lived there. My cousin, who was like a brother to me, sometimes visited Victoria and always came back with glowing stories about what a great place it was and how he was going to move there when he grew up.
We were enchanted by the ferry ride to Victoria which cruised through the deep green salt water, and beside the wave-beaten rocks of the mossy tree-covered islands along the way to Vancouver Island . When we arrived in a Victoria and found the address we were seeking, we were treated like family by the Hennekes clan, my uncle's family.
They put us up, fed us, and toured us through Vancouver island's coastal rainforests, starfish and kelp strewn coastlines, and the British inspired City of Victoria, but in between all the sightseeing, I had gotten a list of all the BC schools that still needed a teacher, and began firing off applications.
When September arrived, the schools in BC opened, and still I had not been successful in finding a teaching job. I was starting to loose hope when a phone call came from the Superintendent of the Fort Nelson School District. At the time the Fort Nelson School District covered one third of BC's northern landmass, a tremendously huge area.
He said there was a very isolated sawmill with no access roads, on Takla Lake, 120 miles north of a Fort St. James that wanted to start a elementary school and needed a teacher. It would be a one-room school with housing and food provided for the teacher. After the description the District Superintendent asked me, "Would you be interested in the teaching position there?"
It was a job no Canadian wanted, a job that would enable Joan and I to receive our coveted Canadian Landed Immigrant status.
"Yes, I replied, "I will accept the position."
The photo shows Peyto Lake, one of the spectacular scenes that we saw along the Icefield Parkway on our first trip into Canada.
Blue, Blue, Sky
Snow Path Inversion
Tracks in the Snow
Change of Venue
Yellow Snow, Be Gone
The Butt Plant
Mini Avalanche
Appearing Before the Draft Board
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Obituaries » Max Webb
Max Webb
March 2, 1917 - October 23, 2018
Services Date October 25, 2018
Obituary Viewed 1690 times
Max Webb was a man of the people. He always loved being around people and bringing a smile to their faces whenever possible. For him, every morning was a good day just by the virtue of waking up and being alive. As a survivor of the Holocaust, he knew all too well that there isn't always a next morning, so it was important to live life to the fullest. Max Webb (Menashe Weisbrot) was born on March 2, 1917 in Sydlowiec, Poland and raised in Lodz. He was one of seven children (five sisters and one brother) born to Avraham and Sheva Weisbrot z"l. Growing up in pre-war Lodz was a struggle. His parents worked hard to keep the family together, provide a good home and education for their children. However, there was never enough money and it was barely possible for them to go to bed without being hungry.Max learned more on the street than in formal classroom education. During those years of hardship he learned to think on his feet and to help provide for himself and his family. In his later years these experiences frequently took on a lighter tone as he would amusingly retell his survival methods that would range from "reserving" camp grounds for the gypsies to working with a grocer, and participating in the local unsavory businesses in the neighborhood. In the late 1930's Max became a professional dance instructor and for decades afterwards everyone would delight in the grace he would show on the dance floor.
In September 1939 everything changed when Hitler marched into Poland and Max witnessed the most horrific of events imaginable. His voice would crack as he relived that horrible nightmare of helplessly watching the Nazis toss babies out of a hospital window into a dump truck below,
During the war, Max survived twelve labor camps and six concentration camps including Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was at Auschwitz in 1943 that Max met Nathan Shapell with whom he developed a lifelong friendship and partnership. Together they fought for survival even through face to face encounters with Josef Mengele and the notorious Death March of 1944. Later, after liberation from Waldenburg on May 8th 1945 they began searching for other family members who may have survived. Max, along with his twin sister, Leah and his brother Isaac were the only three remaining members from his immediate family. After the war, Max and Nathan Shapell realized the dangers of the Soviet Occupation Zone and made their way to the relative safety of the American Zone. Together they searched throughout Germany for a place where they could rebuild their lives. Ultimately they settled in Munchberg and began to gather surviving family members to help form a Jewish community. Max brought his sister Leah with her fiancé; and his brother Isaac with his wife Genia, to Munchberg. Nathan also discovered two surviving members of his immediate family; his sister Sala and his brother David both of whom also settled in Munchberg. In December 1945, Max married Sala Shapell and began to start a new life and family. Max and Sala remained in Munchberg for seven years helping to build a new Jewish community, complete with a cultural center, an orphanage and a synagogue. Max and Sala had two beautiful daughters; Chara, born in 1947 and Rose, born in 1952, before immigrating to the United States in 1952 and eventually settling in Los Angeles, California. Max was a devoted husband to his wife Sala and was in many ways both father and mother to his daughters Chara and Rose. With great pride he would tell of always finding the time to take the girls to their after school activities. Later he doted over his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Sala passed away in January 1990 and Max cared for her night and day, even administering insulin shots on a daily basis throughout her prolonged illness. In 1993 Max married Anna Hitter, a successful businesswoman in Los Angeles. Anna has a son and daughter as well as 2 grandchildren, all of whom Max took into his heart; Anna's family became his family. Anna passed away in September 2011. Max, along with his brothers-in-law Nathan and David Shapell, founded S&S Construction Company in 1955. From this modest start Shapell Industries and Shapell & Webb were developed. For more than 60 years Max was a successful home builder and commercial property developer. His early years were mostly in the field, doing whatever was necessary at the time, even down to washing windows of model homes. More recently, Max spent the majority of his time in the office where he not only put in full day's work, but also always took the time to enhance the day for all of the employees. Sometimes he would do this by sharing the wisdom gained through his vast experience. At other times he knew it was just as important to smile, maybe tell a joke, and raise the morale of all of the employees, or as he referred to them, "his children." Surviving the nightmare of the camps was a constant reminder to Max that his life was given back to him as a miracle from G-d. Following liberation Max promised to do whatever he could to help those less fortunate and to rebuild the Jewish people. As a great philanthropist, he kept that commitment over the years by giving generously of his time and money to numerous worthwhile causes and organizations. He was frequently asked by local schools, including Chapman University and UCLA, to speak on Yom Hashoah. Even the Archdiocese of Los Angeles invited Max to speak at their Holocaust education programs. For many years the name Max Webb was nearly synonymous with Congregation Beth Israel where he was the longtime Chairman of the Board. He was personally involved in its complete rebuilding and expansion and he annually delivered the Yizkor appeal on Yom Kippur to inspire others to also support the synagogue. In his later years, Sinai Temple was Max's spiritual home and here too he strove to support the congregation, and help it to grow. Max became close friends with Sinai's Rabbi David Wolpe, and was prominently mentioned in the Rabbi's book "Why Faith Matters." In 2014 Sinai Temple established the Max Webb Senior Rabbi position with his good friend Rabbi David Wolpe filling the position. Not content to just do mitzvoth in Los Angeles, Max Webb was one of the Founders of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and a recipient of the Eternal Flame Award from the March of the Living. In Israel he was a major donor at Tel Aviv University, where he constructed the School of Languages building and adjacent outdoor café. At Bar-Ilan University he built a magnificent home for the School of Psychology on their new campus. Bar-Ilan and Tel Aviv Universities bestowed upon him an honorary Doctorate degree. He also supported many smaller schools and yeshivas in both the United States and Israel. Caring deeply about medical concerns, Max was a major supporter of work carried out at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – ranging from diabetes research to establishing a Chair in the Cardiology Department together with Nathan & David Shapell. Max was also a devoted donor to the Juvenile Diabetes Association and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation. In Israel he was a key supporter of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer where he was responsible for donating the Outpatient Cancer Therapy Center and more recently helped with major funding for Israel Center for Newborn Screening. Always wanting to set a good example to his family and community Max had a 99th birthday celebration like none other. While accepting no gifts for his birthday, it was important to him to bestow gifts upon the people present who were doing so much for others. So, Max used the occasion of his 99th birthday party to take the unprecedented step of handing out more than $1 million dollars to the various charitable organizations that he had supported over the years. Mr. Webb is survived by his daughters Chara Schreyer and Rose Webb Roven as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that charitable donations be made in Max Webb's memory to: Sinai Temple 10400 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90024 – Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Community Relations and Development 8700 Beverly Blvd., Suite 2416 Los Angeles, CA 90048 – Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 811 Wilshire Blvd #1600 Los Angeles, CA 90017 – March of the Living1146 19th Street, NW, Fifth Floor Washington, DC 20036
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US moves to keep advanced semiconductor technology out of China
Companies that accept U.S. funding as part of a plan to increase America's computer chip-making capacity will be barred from setting up advanced manufacturing facilities in China for 10 years, the administration of President Joe Biden announced this week.
The Commerce Department released its plan to distribute $50 billion provided by the CHIPS Act, which Biden signed into law last month. In an appearance at the White House on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the rules include specific language on technology transfer to China.
"Companies receiving CHIP funds are not allowed to build state-of-the-art or state-of-the-art facilities in China for a period of 10 years," he said. "The companies that receive the money can only expand their mature node factories in China to serve the Chinese market."
Mature node factories refer to semiconductor manufacturing facilities that only produce older technology that is already widely available.
Raimondo reminded his audience of the semiconductor supply shortage during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "We saw the impact of the chip shortage on American families when car prices drove a third of the inflation due to a lack of chips, factory workers were furloughed, appliances were often unavailable, all due to a lack of semiconductors."
"With this funding, we will ensure that the United States is never again in a position where our national security interests are compromised or key industries are immobilized due to our inability to produce essential semiconductors here at home," he said.
Low US capacity
The CHIPS Act is a response not only to computer chip shortages that affected global supply chains during the pandemic, but also to the perceived threat to national security posed by a lack of domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
According to the Commerce Department, the US consumes 25% of the world's most advanced computer chips, but produces none of them. As for less advanced chips, the US consumes 30% but manufactures only 13%.
See also BYD to become China's best-selling car brand in November, Tesla earnings: data
Because advanced chips are used not only in consumer goods but also in weapons systems and other technologies important to national security, the federal government is concerned that global adversaries could cut off supply in the event of a conflict.
For example, a large percentage of the chips the US imports come from Taiwan, which has come under increasing threat from China, whose government claims the island nation as part of its country.
'Unusual' policy
James A. Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told VOA that the 10-year time limit is an "unusual" policy for US, and likely represents an effort to find a middle ground between tech companies and China hawks in the federal government.
"I can't think of any other case where we've put a time limit like that… It's not how we usually do things internationally," he said.
The Commerce Department, Lewis said, was among the tech companies reluctant to be completely cut off from one of the world's biggest markets on one side, and Congress and the White House on the other. Both lawmakers and President Biden are eager to prevent China from producing next-generation semiconductors.
Technological restrictions are not new
Although a decade-long ban on the manufacture of advanced semiconductor technology in China may be stricter than expected, US companies are accustomed to facing export restrictions on critical technology.
"American companies will follow American law. They will continue to sell chips to Chinese buyers in accordance with existing law," Doug Barry, vice president of the US-China Business Council, told VOA in an email exchange. "They have long been required to apply for export licenses to sell certain types of chips and have stopped sales to specific entities in China when required by US law."
Barry said members of his organization "support the policies of a strong indigenous semiconductor industry and strong national security."
See also Jeffrey Dahmer is Netflix's 'star' of the month with 'Monster'
He added: "The key to preserving US competitiveness in important technologies is to reduce the scope of export and investment controls, and to consult regularly with the business community to avoid unintended political consequences."
The Chinese embassy responds
In response to a VOA query, the Chinese embassy in Washington emailed a response to spokesperson Liu Pengyu's move.
"The Chinese side opposes the intervention and restriction of the relevant law in the economic, trade and investment cooperation of the global business community," Liu said. "The law that includes terms limiting the normal investment and trade of relevant companies in China and normal Sino-US/science and technology cooperation. It would distort global semiconductor supply chains and disrupt international trade. China is firmly against it."
In conclusion, Liu said, "The US politicizes, instrumentalizes and weapons technology and trade issues, and engages in technology lockdowns and disengagement in an attempt to monopolize the world's advanced technologies, perpetuate its hegemony in the science and technology and harm the narrow-knit global industrial and supply chains. Such moves would harm others without benefiting ourselves."
a forked future
CSIS's Lewis said the 10-year ban strengthens the possibility that China will simply go its own way, investing in the ability to produce its own technology, perhaps to standards that would not be compatible with Western technology.
If it did, it could find willing clients in countries like Russia and Iran, which are on the receiving end of US-backed sanctions. China could also begin to compete with the US in other markets.
"If nothing changes, by 2030 we will see a bifurcated system," Lewis said. "It's a new kind of competition. There will be Chinese things made to Chinese standards that they want to sell to the global market. And there will be Western things made to Western standards that they want to sell to the global market." market."
Categories Technology Tags Chinese News, east asian, Porcelain, semiconductor, technology, U.S, USA
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The Halswell Skatepark has been steaming ahead with a number of features installed across the entire environment. Looking at the progress being made by Angus McMillan Concrete the facility will be completed before the Christmas holidays.
Click here to see the original 3d design.
RICH Landscapes is an award winning Landscape Architecture Company with extensive experience in Skatepark Design and Consultancy, Play Environments, Residential, Commercial, Educational and Public Landscapes, VR Design, 3D Modeling, Printing and Visualisation Services. RICH Landscapes offers completely Personalised Design and Build solutions for all of your landscaping needs.
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When you are looking to buy a car in the Richmond Hill area, H.J. Pfaff Audi in Newmarket is the place to be. New or pre-owned, it doesnt matter what kind of Audi vehicle you are looking for, chances are, we've got it. New car buying is a major investment, but its advantages can make it a sound one. From SUVs and coupes, to sedans, sports cars, and luxury cars, H.J. Pfaff Audi has the selection you want. In this article, we will talk about the benefits of buying a new car in the Richmond Hill area. Read on for more information.
When you buy a car from H.J. Pfaff Audi, you're the boss. You can consider a wide variety of vehicles in the size and price class you want. You can test-drive them all. You can select your favorite color. You can equip it with whatever features you need and want. You can upgrade the audio system. You can add technology such as a communication, entertainment or a navigation system. If you don't find what you want in a showroom or on our website, our dealer can special-order a new car to your precise specifications.
Depreciation is usually a reason to buy used instead of new, but vehicles in high demand will have a higher value. For instance, new vehicles that sell for more than the dealer's list price suggest stronger resale values and less depreciation. Audi vehicles depreciate at a lower rate and have stronger resale values because of their quality and reliability records.
While a used car may initially cost less than a new one, the interest rate you pay likely will be higher. To begin with, you wouldn't get the low-interest financing or cash rebate that usually is offered as an incentive to new-car buyers. Furthermore, financial institutions generally charge a higher rate of interest on loans for used cars, usually a full percentage point or two.
When you buy a used car, you get the state of the art, of the year of the used car. Every model year, manufacturers add and adopt technologies and features to vehicles, either as standard or optional equipment, as a way to lure buyers to new cars. Those technologies may be safety breakthroughs or they may just be convenience gadgets. The only way to get the most advanced technology and the latest convenience features is with a new vehicle. Automotive electronics are evolving so rapidly that unless you buy a new car, your vehicle's technology is already outdated.
If you are planning to buy a car in the Richmond Hill area, we strongly encourage you to consider H.J. Pfaff Audi in Newmarket today. For more information about our dealership and the premium quality Audi vehicles in our inventory, please feel free to continue browsing through our website. Click here to find our contact information, schedule a test drive, and to fill out our contact form.
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Mexico City 1968
Games Details
October 12 to October 27
Olympic Cauldron Lighting
Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo
President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz
Competing Athletes
5,516 (4,735 men, 781 women)
Olympic Oath
Olympic Oath (athletes): Pablo Lugo Garrido (athletics)
Nations Participating
112 NOCs
Canadian Team Size
142 (114 men, 28 women)
Medals Won
5 (1 G, 3 S, 1 B)
Flag Bearers
Roger Jackson
Games Summary
Games of the XIX Olympiad
Mexico City was a somewhat controversial selection as an Olympic host city because of its high altitude – 2300m above sea level. The rarefied air had both positive and negative impacts. While it led to extremely slow times in the long distance track events, many athletes in sprint events posted world record performances, none more spectacular than that of American Bob Beamon in the long jump. His leap was so long that the optical measuring device slid off the end of the rail before reaching the point where his feet had landed. A measuring tape had to be used to determine he had beaten the world record by 55cm, setting a mark of 8.90m that would stand for 23 years.
These were also the Games at which another American, Dick Fosbury, revolutionized the high jump. Instead of swinging one leg over the bar and allowing his body to follow, he won gold using his "Fosbury Flop", in which he jumped head first with his back to bar.
Canada's star of the Games was swimmer Elaine "Mighty Mouse" Tanner, who won three medals. She captured individual silvers in the 100m and 200m backstrokes and teamed with Angela Coughlan, Marilyn Corson and Marion Lay to win bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay. A fourth medal in the pool came from Ralph Hutton who won 400m freestyle silver. The trio of Jim Elder, Jim Day and Tom Gayford won Canada's first ever Olympic equestrian gold medal in the team jumping event on the final day of the Games.
Canadian Medallists
Team - Mixed James Day, James Elder, Thomas Gayford Gold Equestrian - Jumping
Backstroke 100m - Women Elaine Tanner Silver Aquatics - Swimming
Freestyle 400m - Men Ralph Hutton Silver Aquatics - Swimming
Freestyle Relay 4x100m - Women Marilyn Corson, Angela Coughlan, Marion Lay, Elaine Tanner Bronze Aquatics - Swimming
Abby Hoffman
Bill (William) Crothers
Harry Jerome
Jocelyn Lovell
Robert Boucher
Beverly Boys
Equestrian Jumping
James Day
James Elder
Thomas (Tom) Gayford
John Andru
Gerald Ouellette
John Primrose
Angela Coughlan
Elaine Tanner (Nahrgang)
Ralph Hutton
Pierre St-Jean
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In its recently unveiled "Latin American Guide 2016", Chambers and Partners, the leading directory of the legal profession in the world, recognized AMG as one of the top Puerto Rico law firms.
The London based legal ranking publisher boasted that the AMG Tax Department is a "[w]ell regarded practice group with experience across a variety of tax matters, such as negotiations for tax grants, exemptions and incentives, tax litigation and estate planning." The team was also recognized for "[r]egularly advis[ing] both local and international clients on tax issues related to their business operations in Puerto Rico. Fernando Goyco-Covas, a senior tax partner, is ranked "Band 1" by Chambers for the sixth year in a row. Mr. Goyco-Covas has over 30 years of experience in the field, and receives widespread acclaim for his expertise in corporate taxation and related litigation. He is described as "very competent, very knowledgeable and very pragmatic in his advice." Chambers wrote that clients consider the Tax Department lawyers as "very responsive and very competent, they know how to get things done and they're very familiar with the workings of the Puerto Rico government." Ricardo Muñiz, a senior tax partner, was also endorsed as "very capable and creative." Mr. Muñiz's practice is focused on tax exemptions and tax credits as well as offering specialist knowledge of estate tax planning, wills, trusts and inheritances.
Lastly, Edwin Seda, head of the Labor & Employment Practice Group, was recognized for his experience representing management in collective bargaining, labor disputes wrongful discharge and discrimination cases. He advises employers in labor aspects of reorganizations, mergers, and reductions in force.
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Santorum: Climate scientists 'driven by money'
By Michael Burke - 11/25/18 02:50 PM EST
© Greg Nash
Conservative political commentator and former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) on Sunday claimed that climate scientists "are driven by the money that they receive."
"If there was no climate change, we'd have a lot of scientists looking for work. The reality is that a lot of these scientists are driven by the money that they receive," Santorum said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"And of course they don't receive money from corporations and Exxon and the like. Why? Because they're not allowed to, because it's tainted. But they can receive it from people who support their agenda. And that, I believe, is what's really going on here," he added.
Santorum's comments come after the Trump administration on Friday published a dire report that warned of catastrophic climate change if the U.S. doesn't change its policies.
Santorum said Sunday that the report was "generated by people who are in the bureaucracy."
"These are not Trump appointees," he said.
The ex-senator added that "no one doubts that the climate is changing."
"No one doubts that. The question is how much does man contribute, No. 1, and No. 2, how much can man do to change it?"
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iPadOS: 5 Cool Features You Should Know About
Tech Know Technology Gadgets Apple iPadOS
For one, the new iPadOS takes user experience above and beyond
The iPad has been a standout device in Apple's slew of gadgets. This year, the tech giant gave this well-loved tablet a major upgrade. Enter: iPadOS. While patterned after iOS 13, hence the technical version number iPadOS 13, it accommodates the tablet's unique functionalities and enhances them quite impressively that your iPad becomes a serious contender for replacing your laptop.
In all its versions and patches, you'll never find yourself short of new and exciting changes in the way you use your iPad. Here are some seriously cool and essential features that you should know about:
Multitask apps with Split View
If you're the type that loves to multitask on your device, then you will love this handy update as it allows you to do just that. Ever wanted to watch videos while chatting with friends? Or view multiple online resources and, at the same time, take notes without minimizing your browser?
With the Split View in iPadOS, you get the advantage of accessing and using different apps on one screen. You can even create multiple windows from the same app. This functionality may not be at the same level as with a traditional laptop, but in tandem with Slide Over, it gets pretty close.
Maximizing activity with Slide Over interface
Speaking of Slide Over, it isn't exactly a new feature for the iPad. But with iPadOS, the feature gets an overhaul. In the past, Slide Over allows you to drag an app from the dock and let it float on the screen. Now? You can have multiple apps over the main app you're working on or even two apps if you've got Split View enabled. The gestures for getting your apps to overlay may be tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, Slide Over removes the hassle of returning to the dock.
Work across devices with upgraded Files
Moving away from previous iOS versions, iPadOS has reworked its Files system. Aside from a new Downloads folder, Files now supports shared folders through iCloud. This allows you to work and collaborate with other people across devices, syncing any changes in real-time.
What's more, you no longer need to rely on third-party software to store specific files. It's also now easier to access files through a USB drive, SD card, or even a hard drive. Files also has new features—Column View, which allows you to browse through files in nested folders, and Quick Actions, which lets you rotate, mark up, or create a PDF from within the app.
Do more with increased text features
Inputting text into your iPad has become even more seamless with the addition of swipe-typing functions that the likes of SwiftKey and Gboard also have. The new QuickPath typing keyboard allows you to type with one hand by gliding to different letters as opposed to tapping individual keys, all while providing spelling suggestions as you go along.
Combined with the easily-adjustable floating keyboard feature, typing has become even more convenient for all kinds of users. Plus, iPadOS 13 has added new text-editing gestures. You can now pick and drag the cursor to any point in the text, quickly select text by dragging a finger over the desired selection, double-tap to select a word, triple tap to select a sentence, and four taps for an entire paragraph. Made a mistake? Swipe left with three fingers. With practice, you'll be editing text like a pro.
Improved website viewing on Safari
Apple's default browser Safari has gotten major improvements, too, with iPadOS. The main change is that iPads will now be viewing webpages in desktop view by default. This is a big step towards providing laptop-level experience to users.
The update also brings with it a Download Manager, allowing you to download media, documents, and even Zip files that can be accessed in a new Downloads folder.
This experience is further improved by the addition of around 30 shortcuts for functions like opening links in the background, toggling downloads, using text selections for Find, scrolling around the screen, and displaying pages at Actual Size.
iPadOS brings powerful upgrades to the table. Users get to experience above-and-beyond performance that was once only possible on laptops. Work and play have become an easier, faster, and overall, better experience.
Is the iPad not your speed? Looking for something that fits your prepaid needs better? Explore the rest of Apple's gadgets at the Globe Shop.
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What We Know So Far About the AirPods 3 Release This 2021
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ACP, 15, 537–561, 2015
Articles | Volume 15, issue 1
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 537–561, 2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-537-2015
Research article 15 Jan 2015
Research article | 15 Jan 2015
Modeling dust as component minerals in the Community Atmosphere Model: development of framework and impact on radiative forcing
R. A. Scanza et al.
Show only first author papers Show all papers
Improved methodologies for Earth system modelling of atmospheric soluble iron and observation comparisons using the Mechanism of Intermediate complexity for Modelling Iron (MIMI v1.0)
Douglas S. Hamilton, Rachel A. Scanza, Yan Feng, Joseph Guinness, Jasper F. Kok, Longlei Li, Xiaohong Liu, Sagar D. Rathod, Jessica S. Wan, Mingxuan Wu, and Natalie M. Mahowald
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3835–3862, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3835-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3835-2019, 2019
MIMI v1.0 was designed for use within Earth system models to simulate the 3-D emission, atmospheric processing, and deposition of iron and its soluble fraction. Understanding the iron cycle is important due to its role as an essential micronutrient for ocean phytoplankton; its supply limits primary productivity in many of the world's oceans. Human activity has perturbed the iron cycle, and MIMI is capable of diagnosing many of these impacts; hence, it is important for future climate studies.
Reviews and syntheses: the GESAMP atmospheric iron deposition model intercomparison study
Stelios Myriokefalitakis, Akinori Ito, Maria Kanakidou, Athanasios Nenes, Maarten C. Krol, Natalie M. Mahowald, Rachel A. Scanza, Douglas S. Hamilton, Matthew S. Johnson, Nicholas Meskhidze, Jasper F. Kok, Cecile Guieu, Alex R. Baker, Timothy D. Jickells, Manmohan M. Sarin, Srinivas Bikkina, Rachel Shelley, Andrew Bowie, Morgane M. G. Perron, and Robert A. Duce
Biogeosciences, 15, 6659–6684, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6659-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6659-2018, 2018
The first atmospheric iron (Fe) deposition model intercomparison is presented in this study, as a result of the deliberations of the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP; http://www.gesamp.org/) Working Group 38. We conclude that model diversity over remote oceans reflects uncertainty in the Fe content parameterizations of dust aerosols, combustion aerosol emissions and the size distribution of transported aerosol Fe.
Atmospheric processing of iron in mineral and combustion aerosols: development of an intermediate-complexity mechanism suitable for Earth system models
Rachel A. Scanza, Douglas S. Hamilton, Carlos Perez Garcia-Pando, Clifton Buck, Alex Baker, and Natalie M. Mahowald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14175–14196, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14175-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14175-2018, 2018
Soluble iron input to remote oceans from dust and combustion aerosols may significantly impact the ability of the ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In this paper, the processing of insoluble iron during atmospheric transport is simulated using parameterizations that can be implemented in most Earth system models. Our mechanism reasonably matches observations and is computationally efficient, enabling the study of trends and climate impacts due to the Fe–C cycle.
Modeling the global emission, transport and deposition of trace elements associated with mineral dust
Y. Zhang, N. Mahowald, R. A. Scanza, E. Journet, K. Desboeufs, S. Albani, J. F. Kok, G. Zhuang, Y. Chen, D. D. Cohen, A. Paytan, M. D. Patey, E. P. Achterberg, J. P. Engelbrecht, and K. W. Fomba
A new technique to determine a size-fractionated global soil elemental emission inventory based on a global soil and mineralogical data set is introduced. Spatial variability of mineral dust elemental fractions (8 elements, e.g., Ca, Fe, Al) is identified on a global scale, particularly for Ca. The Ca/Al ratio ranged between 0.1 and 5.0 and is confirmed as an indicator of dust source regions by a global dust model. Total and soluble dust element fluxes into different ocean basins are estimated.
Effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols in E3SMv1: historical changes, causality, decomposition, and parameterization sensitivities
Kai Zhang, Wentao Zhang, Hui Wan, Philip J. Rasch, Steven J. Ghan, Richard C. Easter, Xiangjun Shi, Yong Wang, Hailong Wang, Po-Lun Ma, Shixuan Zhang, Jian Sun, Susannah Burrows, Manish Shrivastava, Balwinder Singh, Yun Qian, Xiaohong Liu, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Qi Tang, Xue Zheng, Shaocheng Xie, Wuyin Lin, Yan Feng, Minghuai Wang, Jin-Ho Yoon, and Ruby L. Leung
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-1087,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-1087, 2022
Preprint under review for ACP
Here we analyze effective aerosol forcing simulated by E3SMv1 using both century-long free-running and short nudged simulations. The aerosol forcing in E3SMv1 is relatively large compared to other models, mainly due to the large indirect aerosol effect. Aerosol-induced changes in liquid and ice cloud properties in E3SMv1 have a strong correlation. The aerosol forcing estimates in E3SMv1 are sensitive to the parameterization changes in both liquid and ice cloud processes.
SNICAR-ADv3: a community tool for modeling spectral snow albedo
Mark G. Flanner, Julian B. Arnheim, Joseph M. Cook, Cheng Dang, Cenlin He, Xianglei Huang, Deepak Singh, S. McKenzie Skiles, Chloe A. Whicker, and Charles S. Zender
We present the technical formulation and evaluation of a publicly available code and web-based model to simulate the spectral albedo of snow. Our model accounts for numerous features of the snow state and ambient conditions, including the the presence of light-absorbing matter like black and brown carbon, mineral dust, volcanic ash, and snow algae. Carbon dioxide snow, found on Mars, is also represented. The model accurately reproduces spectral measurements of clean and contaminated snow.
Look−up tables resolved by complex refractive index to correct particle sizes measured by common research−grade optical particle counters
Paola Formenti, Claudia Di Biagio, Yue Huang, Jasper Kok, Marc Daniel Mallet, Damien Boulanger, and Mathieu Cazaunau
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-403,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-403, 2021
Preprint under review for AMT
This paper provides with standardized correction factors for the measurements of the most common instruments used in the atmosphere to measure the concentration per size of aerosol particles. These correction factors are provided to users with supplementary information for their use.
Quantifying the structural uncertainty of the aerosol mixing state representation in a modal model
Zhonghua Zheng, Matthew West, Lei Zhao, Po-Lun Ma, Xiaohong Liu, and Nicole Riemer
Aerosol mixing state is an important emergent property that affects aerosol radiative forcing and aerosol–cloud interactions, but it has not been easy to constrain this property globally. We present a framework for evaluating the error in aerosol mixing state induced by aerosol representation assumptions, which is one of the important contributors to structural uncertainty in aerosol models. Our study provides insights into potential improvements to model process representation for aerosols.
Less atmospheric radiative heating by dust due to the synergy of coarser size and aspherical shape
Akinori Ito, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Yue Huang, and Jasper F. Kok
We improve the simulated dust properties of size-resolved dust concentration and particle shape. The improved simulation suggests much less atmospheric radiative heating near the major source regions, because of enhanced longwave warming at the surface by the synergy of coarser size and aspherical shape. Less intensified atmospheric heating could substantially modify the vertical temperature profile in Earth system models and thus has important implications for the projection of dust feedback.
Weaknesses in dust emission modelling hidden by tuning to dust in the atmosphere
Adrian Chappell, Nicholas Webb, Mark Hennen, Charles Zender, Philippe Ciais, Kerstin Schepanski, Brandon Edwards, Nancy Ziegler, Sandra Jones, Yves Balkanski, Daniel Tong, John Leys, Stephan Heidenreich, Robert Hynes, David Fuchs, Zhenzhong Zeng, Marie Ekström, Matthew Baddock, Jeffrey Lee, and Tarek Kandakji
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-337,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-337, 2021
Preprint under review for GMD
Dust emissions influence global climate while simultaneously reducing the productive potential and resilience of landscapes to climate stressors, together impacting food security and human health. Our results indicate that tuning dust emission models to dust in the atmosphere has hidden dust emission modelling weaknesses and its poor performance. Our new approach will reduce uncertainty and driven by prognostic albedo improve Earth System Models of aerosol effects on future environmental change.
Mineral dust cycle in the Multiscale Online Nonhydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model (MONARCH) Version 2.0
Martina Klose, Oriol Jorba, María Gonçalves Ageitos, Jeronimo Escribano, Matthew L. Dawson, Vincenzo Obiso, Enza Di Tomaso, Sara Basart, Gilbert Montané Pinto, Francesca Macchia, Paul Ginoux, Juan Guerschman, Catherine Prigent, Yue Huang, Jasper F. Kok, Ron L. Miller, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
Mineral soil dust is a major atmospheric airborne particle type. We present and evaluate MONARCH, a model used for regional and global dust-weather prediction. An important feature of the model is that it allows different approximations to represent dust, ranging from more simplified to more complex treatments. Using these different treatments, MONARCH can help us better understand impacts of dust in the Earth system, such as its interactions with radiation.
Antarctic Peninsula ice shelf collapse triggered by föhn wind-induced melt
Matthew K. Laffin, Charles S. Zender, Melchior van Wessem, and Sebastián Marinsek
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-301,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-301, 2021
Preprint under review for TC
The rapid collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula was triggered in part by surface melt and melt lake formation. Numerous studies identify how much melt occurred during the years of collapse but no research explores the day-to-day melt timing or melt mechanisms during these collapse events. We find that downslope winds called föhn winds and associated surface melt triggered the Larsen A collapse and contributed to the Larsen B collapse through firn densification.
Better calibration of cloud parameterizations and subgrid effects increases the fidelity of E3SM Atmosphere Model version 1
Po-Lun Ma, Bryce E. Harrop, Vincent E. Larson, Richard Neale, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Stephen A. Klein, Mark D. Zelinka, Yuying Zhang, Yun Qian, Jin-Ho Yoon, Christopher R. Jones, Meng Huang, Sheng-Lun Tai, Balwinder Singh, Peter A. Bogenschutz, Xue Zheng, Wuyin Lin, Johannes Quaas, Hélène Chepfer, Michael A. Brunke, Xubin Zeng, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Samson Hagos, Zhibo Zhang, Hua Song, Xiaohong Liu, Hui Wan, Jingyu Wang, Qi Tang, Peter M. Caldwell, Jiwen Fan, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Mark A. Taylor, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Shaocheng Xie, Philip J. Rasch, and L. Ruby Leung
We developed alternative parameters settings for E3SM Atmospheric Model version 1. We study the impact of parameter changes on the fidelity of model climate, and implications for climate change studies. The recalibration reduces common and longstanding biases across cloud regimes in the model and produces weaker aerosol-cloud interactions and cloud feedbacks.
The relationship between PM2.5 and anti-cyclone wave activity during summer over the United States
Ye Wang, Natalie Mahowald, Peter Hess, Wenxiu Sun, and Gang Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-750,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-750, 2021
PM2.5 is positively correlated with the anti-cyclone wave activity (AWA) changes close to the observing sites. Changes between current and future climates in AWA can explain up to 75 % of PM2.5 variability using a linear regression model. Our analysis indicates that higher PM2.5 concentrations occur when a positive AWA anomaly is prominent, which could be critical for understanding how pollutants respond to changing atmospheric circulation, as well as developing robust pollution projections.
Exploring DMS oxidation and implications for global aerosol radiative forcing
Ka Ming Fung, Colette L. Heald, Jesse H. Kroll, Siyuan Wang, Duseong S. Jo, Andrew Gettelman, Zheng Lu, Xiaohong Liu, Rahul A. Zaveri, Eric Apel, Donald R. Blake, Jose-Luis Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Patrick Veres, Timothy S. Bates, John E. Shilling, and Maria Zawadowicz
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Understanding the natural aerosol burden in the pre-industrial is crucial for us to assess how atmospheric aerosols affect the Earth's radiative budgets. Our study explores how a detailed description of DMS oxidation (implemented in an atmospheric model named CAM6-chem) could help us better estimate the present-day and pre-industrial concentrations of sulfate and other relevant chemicals as well as the resulting aerosol radiative impacts.
SNICAR-ADv4: A physically based radiative transfer model to represent the spectral albedo of glacier ice
Chloe A. Whicker, Mark G. Flanner, Cheng Dang, Charles S. Zender, Joseph M. Cook, and Alex S. Gardner
Snow and ice surfaces are important to the global climate. Current climate models use measurements to determine the reflectivity of ice. This model uses physical properties to determine the reflectivity of snow, ice, and darkly pigmented impurities that reside within the snow and ice. Therefore, the modeled reflectivity is more accurate for snow/ice columns under varying climate conditions. This model paves the way for improvements in the portrayal of snow and ice within global climate models.
Relative importance and interactions of primary and secondary ice production in the Arctic mixed-phase clouds
Xi Zhao and Xiaohong Liu
The goal of this study is to investigate the relative importance and interactions of primary and secondary ice production in the Arctic mixed-phase clouds. Our results show that the SIP is not only a result of ice crystals produced from ice nucleation, but also competes with the ice production; conversely, strong ice nucleation also suppresses SIP.
Relative Importance of High-Latitude Local and Long-Range Transported Dust to Arctic Ice Nucleating Particles and Impacts on Arctic Mixed-Phase Clouds
Yang Shi, Xiaohong Liu, Mingxuan Wu, Ziming Ke, and Hunter Brown
We perform a modeling study to evaluate the contribution to Arctic dust loading and INP population from high latitude local dust and low latitude dust. We find that high latitude dust has large contribution in the lower troposphere, while the low latitude dust dominates the upper troposphere. The high latitude dust INPs result in a net cooling effect on the Arctic surface by glaciating mixed-phase clouds. Our results highlight the contribution of high latitude dust to the Arctic climate.
Quantification of the dust optical depth across spatiotemporal scales with the MIDAS global dataset (2003–2017)
Antonis Gkikas, Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Stelios Kazadzis, Enza Di Tomaso, Eleni Marinou, Nikos Hatzianastassiou, Jasper F. Kok, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
We present a comprehensive climatological analysis of dust optical depth (DOD) relying on the MIDAS dataset. MIDAS provides columnar mid-visible (550 nm) DOD at fine spatial resolution (0.1 × 0.1) over a 15-year period (2003–2017). In the current study, the analysis is performed at various spatial (from regional to global) and temporal (from months to years) scales. More specifically, focus is given on specific regions hosting the major dust sources as well as downwind areas of the planet.
Improved representation of the global dust cycle using observational constraints on dust properties and abundance
Jasper F. Kok, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Samuel Albani, Yves Balkanski, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas S. Hamilton, Yue Huang, Akinori Ito, Martina Klose, Danny M. Leung, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Adriana Rocha-Lima, Jessica S. Wan, and Chloe A. Whicker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8127–8167, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021, 2021
Desert dust interacts with virtually every component of the Earth system, including the climate system. We develop a new methodology to represent the global dust cycle that integrates observational constraints on the properties and abundance of desert dust with global atmospheric model simulations. We show that the resulting representation of the global dust cycle is more accurate than what can be obtained from a large number of current climate global atmospheric models.
Contribution of the world's main dust source regions to the global cycle of desert dust
Jasper F. Kok, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Samuel Albani, Yves Balkanski, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas S. Hamilton, Yue Huang, Akinori Ito, Martina Klose, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Adriana Rocha-Lima, and Jessica S. Wan
The many impacts of dust on the Earth system depend on dust mineralogy, which varies between dust source regions. We constrain the contribution of the world's main dust source regions by integrating dust observations with global model simulations. We find that Asian dust contributes more and that North African dust contributes less than models account for. We obtain a dataset of each source region's contribution to the dust cycle that can be used to constrain dust impacts on the Earth system.
Impacts of secondary ice production on Arctic mixed-phase clouds based on ARM observations and CAM6 single-column model simulations
Xi Zhao, Xiaohong Liu, Vaughan T. J. Phillips, and Sachin Patade
Arctic mixed-phase clouds significantly influence the energy budget of the Arctic. We show that a climate model considering secondary ice production (SIP) can explain the observed cloud ice number concentrations, vertical distribution pattern, and probability density distribution of ice crystal number concentrations. The mixed-phase cloud occurrence and phase partitioning are also improved.
Quantifying the range of the dust direct radiative effect due to source mineralogy uncertainty
Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Martina Klose, Douglas S. Hamilton, Maria Gonçalves Ageitos, Paul Ginoux, Yves Balkanski, Robert O. Green, Olga Kalashnikova, Jasper F. Kok, Vincenzo Obiso, David Paynter, and David R. Thompson
For the first time, this study quantifies the range of the dust direct radiative effect due to uncertainty in the soil mineral abundance using all currently available information. We show that the majority of the estimated direct radiative effect range is due to uncertainty in the simulated mass fractions of iron oxides and thus their soil abundance, which is independent of the model employed. We therefore prove the necessity of considering mineralogy for understanding dust–climate interactions.
Effects of marine organic aerosols as sources of immersion-mode ice-nucleating particles on high-latitude mixed-phase clouds
Xi Zhao, Xiaohong Liu, Susannah M. Burrows, and Yang Shi
Organic sea spray particles influence aerosol and cloud processes over the ocean. This study introduces the emission, cloud droplet activation, and ice nucleation (IN) of marine organic aerosol (MOA) into the Community Earth System Model. Our results indicate that MOA IN particles dominate primary ice nucleation below 400 hPa over the Southern Ocean and Arctic boundary layer. MOA enhances cloud forcing over the Southern Ocean in the austral winter and summer.
Effects of thermodynamics, dynamics and aerosols on cirrus clouds based on in situ observations and NCAR CAM6
Ryan Patnaude, Minghui Diao, Xiaohong Liu, and Suqian Chu
A comprehensive, in situ observation dataset of cirrus clouds was developed based on seven field campaigns, ranging from 87° N–75° S. The observations were compared with a global climate model. Several key factors for cirrus cloud formation were examined, including thermodynamics, dynamics, aerosol indirect effects and geographical locations. Model biases include lower ice mass concentrations, smaller ice crystals and weaker aerosol indirect effects.
Emission inventory of air pollutants and chemical speciation for specific anthropogenic sources based on local measurements in the Yangtze River Delta region, China
Jingyu An, Yiwei Huang, Cheng Huang, Xin Wang, Rusha Yan, Qian Wang, Hongli Wang, Sheng'ao Jing, Yan Zhang, Yiming Liu, Yuan Chen, Chang Xu, Liping Qiao, Min Zhou, Shuhui Zhu, Qingyao Hu, Jun Lu, and Changhong Chen
This study established a 4 km × 4 km anthropogenic emission inventory in the Yangtze River Delta region, China, for 2017 based on locally measured emission factors and source profiles. There are high-intensity NOx and NMVOC species emissions in the eastern areas of the region. Toluene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, m,p-xylene, propylene, ethylene, o-xylene, and OVOCs from industry and mobile sources have the highest comprehensive potentials for ozone and secondary organic aerosol formation.
Understanding processes that control dust spatial distributions with global climate models and satellite observations
Mingxuan Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Hongbin Yu, Hailong Wang, Yang Shi, Kang Yang, Anton Darmenov, Chenglai Wu, Zhien Wang, Tao Luo, Yan Feng, and Ziming Ke
The spatiotemporal distributions of dust aerosol simulated by global climate models (GCMs) are highly uncertain. In this study, we evaluate dust extinction profiles, optical depth, and surface concentrations simulated in three GCMs and one reanalysis against multiple satellite retrievals and surface observations to gain process-level understanding. Our results highlight the importance of correctly representing dust emission, dry/wet deposition, and size distribution in GCMs.
Examining the atmospheric radiative and snow-darkening effects of black carbon and dust across the Rocky Mountains of the United States using WRF-Chem
Stefan Rahimi, Xiaohong Liu, Chun Zhao, Zheng Lu, and Zachary J. Lebo
Dark particles emitted to the atmosphere can absorb sunlight and heat the air. As these particles settle, they may darken the surface, especially over snow-covered regions like the Rocky Mountains. This darkening of the surface may lead to changes in snowpack, affecting the local meteorology and hydrology. We seek to evaluate whether these light-absorbing particles more prominently affect this region through their atmospheric presence or their on-snow presence.
The global dust cycle and uncertainty in CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5) models
Chenglai Wu, Zhaohui Lin, and Xiaohong Liu
This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the global dust cycle in 15 models participating in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). We assess the global budget and associated uncertainties. We also quantify the discrepancies in each model. The results highlight the large uncertainties in both the locations and intensities of dust emission. Our study will serve as a useful reference for model communities and help further model improvements.
Snowpack and firn densification in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) (version 1.2)
Adam M. Schneider, Charles S. Zender, and Stephen F. Price
Preprint withdrawn
We enhance the Energy Exascale Earth System Model's land component (ELM) to better represent multi-year snow (firn) on ice sheets. Our developments reveal ELM deficiencies regarding firn density, a fundamental property in glaciology. To improve firn density profiles, we fine tune ELM's snowpack parameters using statistical modeling. Our findings demonstrate how ELM can simulate both seasonal snow and firn on ice sheets and advance a broader effort to better predict sea level rise.
Beijing Climate Center Earth System Model version 1 (BCC-ESM1): model description and evaluation of aerosol simulations
Tongwen Wu, Fang Zhang, Jie Zhang, Weihua Jie, Yanwu Zhang, Fanghua Wu, Laurent Li, Jinghui Yan, Xiaohong Liu, Xiao Lu, Haiyue Tan, Lin Zhang, Jun Wang, and Aixue Hu
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 977–1005, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-977-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-977-2020, 2020
This paper describes the first version of the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) fully coupled Earth System Model with interactive atmospheric chemistry and aerosols (BCC-ESM1). It is one of the models at the BCC for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). The CMIP6 Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) experiment using BCC-ESM1 has been finished. The evaluations show an overall good agreement between BCC-ESM1 simulations and observations in the 20th century.
Size-segregated characteristics of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and organic matter in particulate matter (PM) emitted from different types of ships in China
Fan Zhang, Hai Guo, Yingjun Chen, Volker Matthias, Yan Zhang, Xin Yang, and Jianmin Chen
Particulate matter (PM) emitted from ships has gained more attention in recent decades. Organic matter, elemental carbon, water-soluble ions and heavy metals in PM and particle numbers are the main points. However, studies of detailed chemical compositions in particles with different size ranges emitted from ships are in shortage. This study could bring new and detailed measurement data into the field of size-segregated particles from ships and be of great source emission interest.
Dust Constraints from joint Observational-Modelling-experiMental analysis (DustCOMM): comparison with measurements and model simulations
Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Jasper F. Kok, Yang Wang, Akinori Ito, David A. Ridley, Pierre Nabat, and Chun Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 829–863, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-829-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-829-2020, 2020
Although atmospheric dust particles produce significant impacts on the Earth system, most climate models still have difficulty representing the basic processes that affect these particles. In this study, we present new constraints on dust properties that consistently outperform the conventional climate models, when compared to independent measurements. As a result, our constraints can be used to improve climate models or serve as an alternative in constraining dust impacts on the Earth system.
Surveillance of SO2 and NO2 from ship emissions by MAX-DOAS measurements and the implications regarding fuel sulfur content compliance
Yuli Cheng, Shanshan Wang, Jian Zhu, Yanlin Guo, Ruifeng Zhang, Yiming Liu, Yan Zhang, Qi Yu, Weichun Ma, and Bin Zhou
Owing to the gradual implementation of emission control zone (ECA) regulations, feasible technology for the surveillance of compliance with respect to fuel sulfur content is in high demand. We presented shore-based MAX-DOAS measurements of ship-emitted SO2 and NO2 under different traffic conditions. The results of this study indicate that this technique has high potential as a fast and accurate way to surveil ship emissions and fuel sulfur content.
Historical (1700–2012) global multi-model estimates of the fire emissions from the Fire Modeling Intercomparison Project (FireMIP)
Fang Li, Maria Val Martin, Meinrat O. Andreae, Almut Arneth, Stijn Hantson, Johannes W. Kaiser, Gitta Lasslop, Chao Yue, Dominique Bachelet, Matthew Forrest, Erik Kluzek, Xiaohong Liu, Stephane Mangeon, Joe R. Melton, Daniel S. Ward, Anton Darmenov, Thomas Hickler, Charles Ichoku, Brian I. Magi, Stephen Sitch, Guido R. van der Werf, Christine Wiedinmyer, and Sam S. Rabin
Fire emissions are critical for atmospheric composition, climate, carbon cycle, and air quality. We provide the first global multi-model fire emission reconstructions for 1700–2012, including carbon and 33 species of trace gases and aerosols, based on the nine state-of-the-art global fire models that participated in FireMIP. We also provide information on the recent status and limitations of the model-based reconstructions and identify the main uncertainty sources in their long-term changes.
Quantifying snow darkening and atmospheric radiative effects of black carbon and dust on the South Asian monsoon and hydrological cycle: experiments using variable-resolution CESM
Stefan Rahimi, Xiaohong Liu, Chenglai Wu, William K. Lau, Hunter Brown, Mingxuan Wu, and Yun Qian
Light-absorbing particles impact the Earth system in a variety of ways. They can warm the atmosphere by their very presence, or they can warm the atmosphere after they deposit on snow, warm it, and warm the overlying atmosphere. This paper focuses on these two processes as they pertain to black carbon and dust's impacts on the South Asian monsoon. It will be shown that these two aerosols have a significant effect on the monsoon.
Intercomparison and improvement of two-stream shortwave radiative transfer schemes in Earth system models for a unified treatment of cryospheric surfaces
Cheng Dang, Charles S. Zender, and Mark G. Flanner
The Cryosphere, 13, 2325–2343, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2325-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2325-2019, 2019
Evaluation of global simulations of aerosol particle and cloud condensation nuclei number, with implications for cloud droplet formation
George S. Fanourgakis, Maria Kanakidou, Athanasios Nenes, Susanne E. Bauer, Tommi Bergman, Ken S. Carslaw, Alf Grini, Douglas S. Hamilton, Jill S. Johnson, Vlassis A. Karydis, Alf Kirkevåg, John K. Kodros, Ulrike Lohmann, Gan Luo, Risto Makkonen, Hitoshi Matsui, David Neubauer, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Julia Schmale, Philip Stier, Kostas Tsigaridis, Twan van Noije, Hailong Wang, Duncan Watson-Parris, Daniel M. Westervelt, Yang Yang, Masaru Yoshioka, Nikos Daskalakis, Stefano Decesari, Martin Gysel-Beer, Nikos Kalivitis, Xiaohong Liu, Natalie M. Mahowald, Stelios Myriokefalitakis, Roland Schrödner, Maria Sfakianaki, Alexandra P. Tsimpidi, Mingxuan Wu, and Fangqun Yu
Effects of aerosols on clouds are important for climate studies but are among the largest uncertainties in climate projections. This study evaluates the skill of global models to simulate aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNCs). Model results show reduced spread in CDNC compared to CCN due to the negative correlation between the sensitivities of CDNC to aerosol number concentration (air pollution) and updraft velocity (atmospheric dynamics).
Regionally refined test bed in E3SM atmosphere model version 1 (EAMv1) and applications for high-resolution modeling
Qi Tang, Stephen A. Klein, Shaocheng Xie, Wuyin Lin, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Erika L. Roesler, Mark A. Taylor, Philip J. Rasch, David C. Bader, Larry K. Berg, Peter Caldwell, Scott E. Giangrande, Richard B. Neale, Yun Qian, Laura D. Riihimaki, Charles S. Zender, Yuying Zhang, and Xue Zheng
Atmospheric pollution from ships and its impact on local air quality at a port site in Shanghai
Xinning Wang, Yin Shen, Yanfen Lin, Jun Pan, Yan Zhang, Peter K. K. Louie, Mei Li, and Qingyan Fu
Shipping emissions were measured online at Shanghai Port, and their impacts on local air quality at the port and in the surrounding area were quantitatively assessed. Ship emission plumes were readily detectable before they dissipated. We captured ship emission plumes using synchronized peaks of SO2 and vanadium particles. By measuring the pollutant concentrations during plumes and their occurrence frequency, we made quantitative estimations of ship emission impacts on port air quality.
The influence of spatiality on shipping emissions, air quality and potential human exposure in the Yangtze River Delta/Shanghai, China
Junlan Feng, Yan Zhang, Shanshan Li, Jingbo Mao, Allison P. Patton, Yuyan Zhou, Weichun Ma, Cong Liu, Haidong Kan, Cheng Huang, Jingyu An, Li Li, Yin Shen, Qingyan Fu, Xinning Wang, Juan Liu, Shuxiao Wang, Dian Ding, Jie Cheng, Wangqi Ge, Hong Zhu, and Katherine Walker
This study aims to estimate the emissions, air quality and population exposure impacts of shipping in 2015, prior to the implementation of the DECAs. It shows that ship emissions within 12 NM of the shore could account for over 55 % of the shipping impact on air pollution in the YRD in summer. Ships entering the Yangtze River and other inland waterways of Shanghai contribute 40–80 % of the ship-related air pollution and population exposure,which both have important implications regarding policy.
The Beijing Climate Center Climate System Model (BCC-CSM): the main progress from CMIP5 to CMIP6
Tongwen Wu, Yixiong Lu, Yongjie Fang, Xiaoge Xin, Laurent Li, Weiping Li, Weihua Jie, Jie Zhang, Yiming Liu, Li Zhang, Fang Zhang, Yanwu Zhang, Fanghua Wu, Jianglong Li, Min Chu, Zaizhi Wang, Xueli Shi, Xiangwen Liu, Min Wei, Anning Huang, Yaocun Zhang, and Xiaohong Liu
This work presents advancements of the BCC model transition from CMIP5 to CMIP6, especially in the model resolution and its physics. Compared with BCC CMIP5 models, the BCC CMIP6 model shows significant improvements in historical simulations in many aspects including tropospheric air temperature and circulation at global and regional scales in East Asia, climate variability at different timescales (QBO, MJO, and diurnal cycle of precipitation), and the long-term trend of global air temperature.
LIVVkit 2.1: automated and extensible ice sheet model validation
Katherine J. Evans, Joseph H. Kennedy, Dan Lu, Mary M. Forrester, Stephen Price, Jeremy Fyke, Andrew R. Bennett, Matthew J. Hoffman, Irina Tezaur, Charles S. Zender, and Miren Vizcaíno
A robust validation of ice sheet models is presented using LIVVkit, version 2.1. It targets ice sheet and coupled Earth system models, and handles datasets and operations that require high-performance computing and storage. We apply LIVVkit to a Greenland ice sheet simulation to show the degree to which it captures the surface mass balance. LIVVkit identifies a positive bias due to insufficient melting compared to observations that is focused largely around Greenland's southwest region.
Fine dust emissions from active sands at coastal Oceano Dunes, California
Yue Huang, Jasper F. Kok, Raleigh L. Martin, Nitzan Swet, Itzhak Katra, Thomas E. Gill, Richard L. Reynolds, and Livia S. Freire
This paper provides important insights on dust emission from sand dunes, which cover a large fraction of arid lands; produces the first in situ measurements for size-resolved dust emission from active sands that could improve the representation of dust cycle in climate models and remote sensing techniques; and shows that dust from active sands is likely significantly finer than thought, implying a greater effect of dust emission from active sands on downwind climate, hydrology, and human health.
Radiative effect and climate impacts of brown carbon with the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5)
Hunter Brown, Xiaohong Liu, Yan Feng, Yiquan Jiang, Mingxuan Wu, Zheng Lu, Chenglai Wu, Shane Murphy, and Rudra Pokhrel
In climate models, organic carbon (OC) in wildfire smoke has been treated as an atmospheric cooling component by reflecting sunlight back to space. This study incorporates the observationally identified absorbing brown carbon component of OC into the Community Earth System Model, improving the agreement between the model and observations and effectively increasing absorption of solar radiation. This change contributes to altered atmospheric dynamics and changes in cloud cover in the model.
Effective radiative forcing in the aerosol–climate model CAM5.3-MARC-ARG
Benjamin S. Grandey, Daniel Rothenberg, Alexander Avramov, Qinjian Jin, Hsiang-He Lee, Xiaohong Liu, Zheng Lu, Samuel Albani, and Chien Wang
Anthropogenic emissions of aerosol particles likely cool the climate system. We investigate the uncertainty in the strength of the cooling effect by exploring the representation of aerosols in a global climate model. We conclude that the specific representation of aerosols in global climate models has important implications for climate modelling. Important factors include the representation of aerosol mixing state, size distribution, and optical properties.
A production-tagged aerosol module for Earth system models, OsloAero5.3 – extensions and updates for CAM5.3-Oslo
Alf Kirkevåg, Alf Grini, Dirk Olivié, Øyvind Seland, Kari Alterskjær, Matthias Hummel, Inger H. H. Karset, Anna Lewinschal, Xiaohong Liu, Risto Makkonen, Ingo Bethke, Jan Griesfeller, Michael Schulz, and Trond Iversen
A new aerosol treatment is described and tested in a global climate model. With updated emissions, aerosol chemistry, and microphysics compared to its predecessor, black carbon (BC) mass concentrations aloft better fit observations, surface concentrations of BC and sea salt are less biased, and sulfate and mineral dust slightly more, while the results for organics are inconclusive. Man-made aerosols now yield a stronger cooling effect on climate that is strong compared to results from IPCC.
The importance of considering sub-grid cloud variability when using satellite observations to evaluate the cloud and precipitation simulations in climate models
Hua Song, Zhibo Zhang, Po-Lun Ma, Steven Ghan, and Minghuai Wang
High-resolution modeling of gaseous methylamines over a polluted region in China: source-dependent emissions and implications of spatial variations
Jingbo Mao, Fangqun Yu, Yan Zhang, Jingyu An, Lin Wang, Jun Zheng, Lei Yao, Gan Luo, Weichun Ma, Qi Yu, Cheng Huang, Li Li, and Limin Chen
A few pptv of gaseous amines have been observed to affect particle nucleation and growth, and it is necessary to understand the sources and concentrations of atmospheric amines. This study presents the source-dependent amines to ammonia emission ratios and simulates methylamines concentrations in a polluted region in China with WRF-Chem. The performance of simulations based on source-dependent ratios is much better than those based on fixed ratios that have been assumed in all previous studies.
OCEANFILMS sea-spray organic aerosol emissions – Part 1: implementation and impacts on clouds
Susannah M. Burrows, Richard Easter, Xiaohong Liu, Po-Lun Ma, Hailong Wang, Scott M. Elliott, Balwinder Singh, Kai Zhang, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2018-70,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2018-70, 2018
Sea spray particles are composed of a mixture of salts and organic substances from oceanic microorganisms. In prior work, our team developed an approach connecting sea spray chemistry to ocean biology, called OCEANFILMS. Here we describe its implementation within an Earth System Model, E3SM. We show that simulated sea spray chemistry is consistent with observed seasonal cycles, and that sunlight reflected by simulated Southern Ocean clouds increases, consistent with analysis of satellite data.
The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 1: Overview and over-arching analysis plan
Masa Kageyama, Pascale Braconnot, Sandy P. Harrison, Alan M. Haywood, Johann H. Jungclaus, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Jean-Yves Peterschmitt, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Samuel Albani, Patrick J. Bartlein, Chris Brierley, Michel Crucifix, Aisling Dolan, Laura Fernandez-Donado, Hubertus Fischer, Peter O. Hopcroft, Ruza F. Ivanovic, Fabrice Lambert, Daniel J. Lunt, Natalie M. Mahowald, W. Richard Peltier, Steven J. Phipps, Didier M. Roche, Gavin A. Schmidt, Lev Tarasov, Paul J. Valdes, Qiong Zhang, and Tianjun Zhou
The Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) takes advantage of the existence of past climate states radically different from the recent past to test climate models used for climate projections and to better understand these climates. This paper describes the PMIP contribution to CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, 6th phase) and possible analyses based on PMIP results, as well as on other CMIP6 projects.
Emission or atmospheric processes? An attempt to attribute the source of large bias of aerosols in eastern China simulated by global climate models
Tianyi Fan, Xiaohong Liu, Po-Lun Ma, Qiang Zhang, Zhanqing Li, Yiquan Jiang, Fang Zhang, Chuanfeng Zhao, Xin Yang, Fang Wu, and Yuying Wang
We found that 22–28 % of the low AOD bias in eastern China simulated by the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 can be improved by using a new emission inventory. The concentrations of primary aerosols are closely related to the emission, while the seasonal variations of secondary aerosols depend more on atmospheric processes. This study highlights the importance of improving both the emission and atmospheric processes in modeling the atmospheric aerosols and their radiative effects.
Impact of aerosols on ice crystal size
Bin Zhao, Kuo-Nan Liou, Yu Gu, Jonathan H. Jiang, Qinbin Li, Rong Fu, Lei Huang, Xiaohong Liu, Xiangjun Shi, Hui Su, and Cenlin He
The interactions between aerosols and ice clouds represent one of the largest uncertainties among anthropogenic forcings on climate change. We find that the responses of ice crystal effective radius, a key parameter determining ice clouds' net radiative effect, to aerosol loadings are modulated by water vapor amount and vary from a significant negative correlation in moist conditions (consistent with the "Twomey effect" for liquid clouds) to a strong positive correlation in dry conditions.
Impacts of absorbing aerosol deposition on snowpack and hydrologic cycle in the Rocky Mountain region based on variable-resolution CESM (VR-CESM) simulations
Chenglai Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Zhaohui Lin, Stefan R. Rahimi-Esfarjani, and Zheng Lu
This study utilizes the newly developed variable-resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM) with a refined high resolution (0.125º) to quantify the impacts of absorbing aerosol (BC and dust) deposition on snowpack and hydrologic cycles in the Rocky Mountains. BC and dust in snow significantly reduce the snowpack around the mountains. BC and dust in snow also accelerate the hydrologic cycles in the mountainous regions, with runoff increased in spring but reduced in summer.
Investigation of short-term effective radiative forcing of fire aerosols over North America using nudged hindcast ensembles
Yawen Liu, Kai Zhang, Yun Qian, Yuhang Wang, Yufei Zou, Yongjia Song, Hui Wan, Xiaohong Liu, and Xiu-Qun Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 31–47, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-31-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-31-2018, 2018
Fire aerosols have large impact on weather and climate through their effect on clouds and radiation, but it is difficult to quantify. Here we investigated the short-term effective radiative forcing of fire aerosols using the nudged hindcast ensemble simulations from global aerosol-climate model. Results show large effects of fire aerosols on both liquid and ice cloud and large ensemble spread of regional mean shortwave cloud radiative forcing over southern Mexico and the central US.
The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 2: Two interglacials, scientific objective and experimental design for Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Pascale Braconnot, Sandy P. Harrison, Daniel J. Lunt, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Samuel Albani, Patrick J. Bartlein, Emilie Capron, Anders E. Carlson, Andrea Dutton, Hubertus Fischer, Heiko Goelzer, Aline Govin, Alan Haywood, Fortunat Joos, Allegra N. LeGrande, William H. Lipscomb, Gerrit Lohmann, Natalie Mahowald, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Francesco S. R. Pausata, Jean-Yves Peterschmitt, Steven J. Phipps, Hans Renssen, and Qiong Zhang
The PMIP4 and CMIP6 mid-Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations provide an opportunity to examine the impact of two different changes in insolation forcing on climate at times when other forcings were relatively similar to present. This will allow exploration of the role of feedbacks relevant to future projections. Evaluating these simulations using paleoenvironmental data will provide direct out-of-sample tests of the reliability of state-of-the-art models to simulate climate changes.
The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 4: Scientific objectives and experimental design of the PMIP4-CMIP6 Last Glacial Maximum experiments and PMIP4 sensitivity experiments
Masa Kageyama, Samuel Albani, Pascale Braconnot, Sandy P. Harrison, Peter O. Hopcroft, Ruza F. Ivanovic, Fabrice Lambert, Olivier Marti, W. Richard Peltier, Jean-Yves Peterschmitt, Didier M. Roche, Lev Tarasov, Xu Zhang, Esther C. Brady, Alan M. Haywood, Allegra N. LeGrande, Daniel J. Lunt, Natalie M. Mahowald, Uwe Mikolajewicz, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Hans Renssen, Robert A. Tomas, Qiong Zhang, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Patrick J. Bartlein, Jian Cao, Qiang Li, Gerrit Lohmann, Rumi Ohgaito, Xiaoxu Shi, Evgeny Volodin, Kohei Yoshida, Xiao Zhang, and Weipeng Zheng
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21000 years ago) is an interval when global ice volume was at a maximum, eustatic sea level close to a minimum, greenhouse gas concentrations were lower, atmospheric aerosol loadings were higher than today, and vegetation and land-surface characteristics were different from today. This paper describes the implementation of the LGM numerical experiment for the PMIP4-CMIP6 modelling intercomparison projects and the associated sensitivity experiments.
Aerosols at the poles: an AeroCom Phase II multi-model evaluation
Maria Sand, Bjørn H. Samset, Yves Balkanski, Susanne Bauer, Nicolas Bellouin, Terje K. Berntsen, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Thomas Diehl, Richard Easter, Steven J. Ghan, Trond Iversen, Alf Kirkevåg, Jean-François Lamarque, Guangxing Lin, Xiaohong Liu, Gan Luo, Gunnar Myhre, Twan van Noije, Joyce E. Penner, Michael Schulz, Øyvind Seland, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Philip Stier, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, Fangqun Yu, Kai Zhang, and Hua Zhang
The role of aerosols in the changing polar climate is not well understood and the aerosols are poorly constrained in the models. In this study we have compared output from 16 different aerosol models with available observations at both poles. We show that the model median is representative of the observations, but the model spread is large. The Arctic direct aerosol radiative effect over the industrial area is positive during spring due to black carbon and negative during summer due to sulfate.
Direct comparisons of ice cloud macro- and microphysical properties simulated by the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 with HIPPO aircraft observations
Chenglai Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Minghui Diao, Kai Zhang, Andrew Gettelman, Zheng Lu, Joyce E. Penner, and Zhaohui Lin
This study utilizes a novel approach to directly compare the CAM5-simulated cloud macro- and microphysics with the collocated HIPPO observations for the period of 2009 to 2011. The model cannot capture the large spatial variabilities of observed RH, which is responsible for much of the model missing low-level warm clouds. A large portion of the RH bias results from the discrepancy in water vapor. The model underestimates the observed number concentration and ice water content.
Sensitivity of the interannual variability of mineral aerosol simulations to meteorological forcing dataset
Molly B. Smith, Natalie M. Mahowald, Samuel Albani, Aaron Perry, Remi Losno, Zihan Qu, Beatrice Marticorena, David A. Ridley, and Colette L. Heald
Using different meteorology reanalyses to drive dust in climate modeling can produce dissimilar global dust distributions, especially in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). It may therefore not be advisable for SH dust studies to base results on simulations driven by one reanalysis. Northern Hemisphere dust varies mostly on seasonal timescales, while SH dust varies on interannual timescales. Dust is an important part of climate modeling, and we hope this contributes to understanding these simulations.
The compression–error trade-off for large gridded data sets
Jeremy D. Silver and Charles S. Zender
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 413–423, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-413-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-413-2017, 2017
Many modern scientific research projects generate large amounts of data. Storage space is valuable and may be limited; hence compression is vital. We tested different compression methods for large gridded data sets, assessing the space savings and the amount of precision lost. We found a general trade-off between precision and compression, with compression well-predicted by the entropy of the data set. A method introduced here proved to be a competitive archive format for gridded numerical data.
An observationally constrained estimate of global dust aerosol optical depth
David A. Ridley, Colette L. Heald, Jasper F. Kok, and Chun Zhao
Mineral dust aerosol affects climate through interaction with radiation and clouds, human health through contribution to particulate matter, and ecosystem health through nutrient transport and deposition. In this study, we use satellite and in situ retrievals to derive an observational estimate of the global dust AOD with which evaluate modeled dust AOD. Differences in the seasonality and regional distribution of dust AOD between observations and models are highlighted.
Impacts of global open-fire aerosols on direct radiative, cloud and surface-albedo effects simulated with CAM5
Yiquan Jiang, Zheng Lu, Xiaohong Liu, Yun Qian, Kai Zhang, Yuhang Wang, and Xiu-Qun Yang
Aerosols from open fires could significantly perturb the global radiation balance and induce climate change. In this study, the CAM5 global climate model is used to investigate the spatial and seasonal characteristics of radiative effects due to fire aerosol–radiation interactions, fire aerosol-cloud interactions and fire aerosol-surface albedo interactions, including radiative effects from all fire aerosols, fire black carbon and fire particulate organic matter.
Two Interglacials: Scientific Objectives and Experimental Designs for CMIP6 and PMIP4 Holocene and Last Interglacial Simulations
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Pascale Braconnot, Sandy P. Harrison, Daniel J. Lunt, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Samuel Albani, Patrick J. Bartlein, Emilie Capron, Anders E. Carlson, Andrea Dutton, Hubertus Fischer, Heiko Goelzer, Aline Govin, Alan Haywood, Fortunat Joos, Allegra N. Legrande, William H. Lipscomb, Gerrit Lohmann, Natalie Mahowald, Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles, Jean-Yves Peterschmidt, Francesco S.-R. Pausata, Steven Phipps, and Hans Renssen
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-106,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-106, 2016
Preprint retracted
What controls the low ice number concentration in the upper troposphere?
Cheng Zhou, Joyce E. Penner, Guangxing Lin, Xiaohong Liu, and Minghuai Wang
We examined the different ice nucleation parameterization factors that affect the simulated ice number concentrations in cirrus clouds in the upper troposphere using the CAM5 model. We examined the effect from three different updraft velocities (from low to high), two different water vapour accommodation coefficients (α = 0.1 or 1), the effect of including vapour deposition onto pre-existing ice particles during ice nucleation, and the effect of including SOA as heterogeneous ice nuclei.
Bit Grooming: statistically accurate precision-preserving quantization with compression, evaluated in the netCDF Operators (NCO, v4.4.8+)
Charles S. Zender
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 3199–3211, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3199-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3199-2016, 2016
We introduce Bit Grooming, a lossy compression algorithm that removes the bloat due to false precision, those bits and bytes beyond the meaningful precision of the data. Bit Grooming is statistically unbiased, applies to all floating-point numbers, and is easy to use. Bit Grooming reduces data storage requirements by 25–80 %. Unlike its best-known competitor Linear Packing, Bit Grooming imposes no software overhead on users, and guarantees its precision throughout the whole floating-point range.
Potentially bioavailable iron delivery by iceberg-hosted sediments and atmospheric dust to the polar oceans
Robert Raiswell, Jon R. Hawkings, Liane G. Benning, Alex R. Baker, Ros Death, Samuel Albani, Natalie Mahowald, Michael D. Krom, Simon W. Poulton, Jemma Wadham, and Martyn Tranter
Iron is an essential nutrient for plankton growth. One important source of iron is wind-blown dust. The polar oceans are remote from dust sources but melting icebergs supply sediment that contains iron which is potentially available to plankton. We show that iceberg sediments contain more potentially bioavailable iron than wind-blown dust. Iceberg sources will become increasingly important with climate change and increased plankton growth can remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Estimate of changes in agricultural terrestrial nitrogen pathways and ammonia emissions from 1850 to present in the Community Earth System Model
Stuart Riddick, Daniel Ward, Peter Hess, Natalie Mahowald, Raia Massad, and Elisabeth Holland
Future increases are predicted in the amount of nitrogen produced as manure or used as synthetic fertilizer in agriculture. However, the impact of climate on the subsequent fate of this nitrogen has not been evaluated. Here we describe, analyze and evaluate the FAN (flows of agricultural nitrogen) process model that simulates the the climate-dependent flows of nitrogen from agriculture. The FAN model is suitable for use within a global terrestrial climate model.
A Retrospective, Iterative, Geometry-Based (RIGB) tilt-correction method for radiation observed by automatic weather stations on snow-covered surfaces: application to Greenland
Wenshan Wang, Charles S. Zender, Dirk van As, Paul C. J. P. Smeets, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 10, 727–741, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-727-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-727-2016, 2016
We identify and correct station-tilt-induced biases in insolation observed by automatic weather stations on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Without tilt correction, only 40 % of clear days have the correct solar noon time (±0.5 h). The largest hourly bias exceeds 20 %. We estimate the tilt angles based on solar geometric relationship between insolation observed on horizontal surfaces and that on tilted surfaces, and produce shortwave radiation and albedo that agree better with independent data sets.
Evaluation of observed and modelled aerosol lifetimes using radioactive tracers of opportunity and an ensemble of 19 global models
N. I. Kristiansen, A. Stohl, D. J. L. Olivié, B. Croft, O. A. Søvde, H. Klein, T. Christoudias, D. Kunkel, S. J. Leadbetter, Y. H. Lee, K. Zhang, K. Tsigaridis, T. Bergman, N. Evangeliou, H. Wang, P.-L. Ma, R. C. Easter, P. J. Rasch, X. Liu, G. Pitari, G. Di Genova, S. Y. Zhao, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, G. S. Faluvegi, H. Kokkola, R. V. Martin, J. R. Pierce, M. Schulz, D. Shindell, H. Tost, and H. Zhang
Processes affecting aerosol removal from the atmosphere are not fully understood. In this study we investigate to what extent atmospheric transport models can reproduce observed loss of aerosols. We compare measurements of radioactive isotopes, that attached to ambient sulfate aerosols during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, to 19 models using identical emissions. Results indicate aerosol removal that is too fast in most models, and apply to aerosols that have undergone long-range transport.
Projections of leaf area index in earth system models
Natalie Mahowald, Fiona Lo, Yun Zheng, Laura Harrison, Chris Funk, Danica Lombardozzi, and Christine Goodale
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 211–229, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-211-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-211-2016, 2016
This paper evaluates the model predictions of leaf area index in the current climate, compared against satellite observations. It also summarizes the predicted changes in leaf area index in the future, and identifies whether some of the uncertainty in future predictions can be decreased.
On the characteristics of aerosol indirect effect based on dynamic regimes in global climate models
Shipeng Zhang, Minghuai Wang, Steven J. Ghan, Aijun Ding, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, David Neubauer, Ulrike Lohmann, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Toshihiko Takeamura, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Yunha Lee, Drew T. Shindell, Daniel G. Partridge, Philip Stier, Zak Kipling, and Congbin Fu
The variation of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) in several climate models is investigated across different dynamical regimes. Regimes with strong large-scale ascent are shown to be as important as stratocumulus regimes in studying AIE. AIE over regions with high monthly large-scale surface precipitation rate contributes the most to the total aerosol indirect forcing. These results point to the need to reduce the uncertainty in AIE in different dynamical regimes.
What controls the vertical distribution of aerosol? Relationships between process sensitivity in HadGEM3–UKCA and inter-model variation from AeroCom Phase II
Zak Kipling, Philip Stier, Colin E. Johnson, Graham W. Mann, Nicolas Bellouin, Susanne E. Bauer, Tommi Bergman, Mian Chin, Thomas Diehl, Steven J. Ghan, Trond Iversen, Alf Kirkevåg, Harri Kokkola, Xiaohong Liu, Gan Luo, Twan van Noije, Kirsty J. Pringle, Knut von Salzen, Michael Schulz, Øyvind Seland, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, and Kai Zhang
The vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosol is an important factor in its effects on climate. In this study we use a sophisticated model of the many interacting processes affecting aerosol in the atmosphere to show that the vertical distribution is typically dominated by only a few of these processes. Constraining these physical processes may help to reduce the large differences between models. However, the important processes are not always the same for different types of aerosol.
Quantifying the impact of sub-grid surface wind variability on sea salt and dust emissions in CAM5
Kai Zhang, Chun Zhao, Hui Wan, Yun Qian, Richard C. Easter, Steven J. Ghan, Koichi Sakaguchi, and Xiaohong Liu
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 607–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-607-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-607-2016, 2016
A sub-grid treatment based on Weibull distribution is introduced to CAM5 to take into account the impact of unresolved variability of surface wind speed on sea salt and dust emissions. Simulations show that sub-grid wind variability has relatively small impacts on the global mean sea salt emissions, but considerable influence on dust emissions. Dry convective eddies and mesoscale flows associated with complex topography are the major causes of dust emission enhancement.
Description and evaluation of a new four-mode version of the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) within version 5.3 of the Community Atmosphere Model
X. Liu, P.-L. Ma, H. Wang, S. Tilmes, B. Singh, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, and P. J. Rasch
In this study, we describe and evaluate a new four-mode version of the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Compared to the current three-mode version of MAM in CAM5, MAM4 significantly improves the simulation of seasonal variation of BC concentrations in the polar regions, by increasing the BC concentrations in all seasons and particularly in cold seasons.
A unified parameterization of clouds and turbulence using CLUBB and subcolumns in the Community Atmosphere Model
K. Thayer-Calder, A. Gettelman, C. Craig, S. Goldhaber, P. A. Bogenschutz, C.-C. Chen, H. Morrison, J. Höft, E. Raut, B. M. Griffin, J. K. Weber, V. E. Larson, M. C. Wyant, M. Wang, Z. Guo, and S. J. Ghan
This study evaluates a unified cloud parameterization and a Monte Carlo microphysics interface that is implemented in CAM v5.3. We show mean climate and tropical variability results from global simulations. The model has a degradation in precipitation skill but improvements in shortwave cloud forcing, liquid water path, long-wave cloud forcing, precipitable water, and tropical wave simulation. We also show estimation of computational expense and sensitivity to number of subcolumns.
CH4 parameter estimation in CLM4.5bgc using surrogate global optimization
J. Müller, R. Paudel, C. A. Shoemaker, J. Woodbury, Y. Wang, and N. Mahowald
We tune the CH4-related parameters of the Community Land Model (CLM) using surrogate global optimization in order to reduce the discrepancies between the CLM predictions and observed CH4 emissions. This is the first application of a surrogate optimization method to calibrate a global climate model. We found that the observation data drives the model to predict more CH4 emissions in the northern latitudes and less in the tropics.
Seasonal and interannual variability in wetland methane emissions simulated by CLM4Me' and CAM-chem and comparisons to observations of concentrations
L. Meng, R. Paudel, P. G. M. Hess, and N. M. Mahowald
Twelve thousand years of dust: the Holocene global dust cycle constrained by natural archives
S. Albani, N. M. Mahowald, G. Winckler, R. F. Anderson, L. I. Bradtmiller, B. Delmonte, R. François, M. Goman, N. G. Heavens, P. P. Hesse, S. A. Hovan, S. G. Kang, K. E. Kohfeld, H. Lu, V. Maggi, J. A. Mason, P. A. Mayewski, D. McGee, X. Miao, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, A. T. Perry, A. Pourmand, H. M. Roberts, N. Rosenbloom, T. Stevens, and J. Sun
Clim. Past, 11, 869–903, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-869-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-869-2015, 2015
We propose an innovative framework to organize paleodust records, formalized in a publicly accessible database, and discuss the emerging properties of the global dust cycle during the Holocene by integrating our analysis with simulations performed with the Community Earth System Model. We show how the size distribution of dust is intrinsically related to the dust mass accumulation rates and that only considering a consistent size range allows for a consistent analysis of the global dust cycle.
Description and evaluation of tropospheric chemistry and aerosols in the Community Earth System Model (CESM1.2)
S. Tilmes, J.-F. Lamarque, L. K. Emmons, D. E. Kinnison, P.-L. Ma, X. Liu, S. Ghan, C. Bardeen, S. Arnold, M. Deeter, F. Vitt, T. Ryerson, J. W. Elkins, F. Moore, J. R. Spackman, and M. Val Martin
The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), version 5, is now coupled to extensive tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry, called CAM5-chem, and is available in addition to CAM4-chem in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) version 1.2. Both configurations are well suited as tools for atmospheric chemistry modeling studies in the troposphere and lower stratosphere.
Local sources of global climate forcing from different categories of land use activities
D. S. Ward and N. M. Mahowald
The radiative forcing of land use and land cover change activities has recently been computed for a set of forcing agents including long-lived greenhouse gases, short-lived agents (ozone and aerosols), and land surface albedo change. Here we address where the global forcing comes from and what land use activities, such as deforestation or agriculture, contribute the most forcing. We find that changes in forest and crop area can be used to predict the land use radiative forcing in some regions.
Effects of pre-existing ice crystals on cirrus clouds and comparison between different ice nucleation parameterizations with the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5)
X. Shi, X. Liu, and K. Zhang
The ice nucleation scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) was improved by considering the effects of pre-existing ice crystals and some other modifications. Subsequently, the comparison between different ice nucleation parameterizations is investigated. Experiment using the ice nucleation parameterization of Kärcher et al. (2006) predicts a much smaller anthropogenic aerosol indirect forcing than that using the parameterizations of Liu and Penner (2005) and Barahona and Nenes (2009).
An improved dust emission model – Part 1: Model description and comparison against measurements
J. F. Kok, N. M. Mahowald, G. Fratini, J. A. Gillies, M. Ishizuka, J. F. Leys, M. Mikami, M.-S. Park, S.-U. Park, R. S. Van Pelt, and T. M. Zobeck
We developed an improved model for the emission of dust particulates ("aerosols") emitted by wind erosion from the world's deserts. The implementation of our improved dust emission model into a climate model improves its agreement against measurements. We furthermore find that dust emissions are substantially more sensitive to the soil state than most current climate models account for.
Potential climate forcing of land use and land cover change
D. S. Ward, N. M. Mahowald, and S. Kloster
While climate change mitigation policy often focuses on the energy sector, we find that 40% of the historical human-caused change in the Earth's radiative balance can be attributed to land use activities, such as deforestation and agriculture. Since pressure on land resources is expected to increase, we compute a theoretical upper bound on the radiative balance impacts from future land use which suggests that both energy policy and land policy are necessary to minimize future climate change.
Modelled black carbon radiative forcing and atmospheric lifetime in AeroCom Phase II constrained by aircraft observations
B. H. Samset, G. Myhre, A. Herber, Y. Kondo, S.-M. Li, N. Moteki, M. Koike, N. Oshima, J. P. Schwarz, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, N. Bellouin, T. K. Berntsen, H. Bian, M. Chin, T. Diehl, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, T. Iversen, A. Kirkevåg, J.-F. Lamarque, G. Lin, X. Liu, J. E. Penner, M. Schulz, Ø. Seland, R. B. Skeie, P. Stier, T. Takemura, K. Tsigaridis, and K. Zhang
Far from black carbon (BC) emission sources, present climate models are unable to reproduce flight measurements. By comparing recent models with data, we find that the atmospheric lifetime of BC may be overestimated in models. By adjusting modeled BC concentrations to measurements in remote regions - over oceans and at high altitudes - we arrive at a reduced estimate for BC radiative forcing over the industrial era.
Aerosol indirect effect on the grid-scale clouds in the two-way coupled WRF–CMAQ: model description, development, evaluation and regional analysis
S. Yu, R. Mathur, J. Pleim, D. Wong, R. Gilliam, K. Alapaty, C. Zhao, and X. Liu
The AeroCom evaluation and intercomparison of organic aerosol in global models
K. Tsigaridis, N. Daskalakis, M. Kanakidou, P. J. Adams, P. Artaxo, R. Bahadur, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, N. Bellouin, A. Benedetti, T. Bergman, T. K. Berntsen, J. P. Beukes, H. Bian, K. S. Carslaw, M. Chin, G. Curci, T. Diehl, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, S. L. Gong, A. Hodzic, C. R. Hoyle, T. Iversen, S. Jathar, J. L. Jimenez, J. W. Kaiser, A. Kirkevåg, D. Koch, H. Kokkola, Y. H Lee, G. Lin, X. Liu, G. Luo, X. Ma, G. W. Mann, N. Mihalopoulos, J.-J. Morcrette, J.-F. Müller, G. Myhre, S. Myriokefalitakis, N. L. Ng, D. O'Donnell, J. E. Penner, L. Pozzoli, K. J. Pringle, L. M. Russell, M. Schulz, J. Sciare, Ø. Seland, D. T. Shindell, S. Sillman, R. B. Skeie, D. Spracklen, T. Stavrakou, S. D. Steenrod, T. Takemura, P. Tiitta, S. Tilmes, H. Tost, T. van Noije, P. G. van Zyl, K. von Salzen, F. Yu, Z. Wang, Z. Wang, R. A. Zaveri, H. Zhang, K. Zhang, Q. Zhang, and X. Zhang
Different contact angle distributions for heterogeneous ice nucleation in the Community Atmospheric Model version 5
Y. Wang, X. Liu, C. Hoose, and B. Wang
Technical Note: On the use of nudging for aerosol–climate model intercomparison studies
K. Zhang, H. Wan, X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, G. J. Kooperman, P.-L. Ma, P. J. Rasch, D. Neubauer, and U. Lohmann
The sensitivity of carbon turnover in the Community Land Model to modified assumptions about soil processes
B. Foereid, D. S. Ward, N. Mahowald, E. Paterson, and J. Lehmann
Intercomparison and evaluation of global aerosol microphysical properties among AeroCom models of a range of complexity
G. W. Mann, K. S. Carslaw, C. L. Reddington, K. J. Pringle, M. Schulz, A. Asmi, D. V. Spracklen, D. A. Ridley, M. T. Woodhouse, L. A. Lee, K. Zhang, S. J. Ghan, R. C. Easter, X. Liu, P. Stier, Y. H. Lee, P. J. Adams, H. Tost, J. Lelieveld, S. E. Bauer, K. Tsigaridis, T. P. C. van Noije, A. Strunk, E. Vignati, N. Bellouin, M. Dalvi, C. E. Johnson, T. Bergman, H. Kokkola, K. von Salzen, F. Yu, G. Luo, A. Petzold, J. Heintzenberg, A. Clarke, J. A. Ogren, J. Gras, U. Baltensperger, U. Kaminski, S. G. Jennings, C. D. O'Dowd, R. M. Harrison, D. C. S. Beddows, M. Kulmala, Y. Viisanen, V. Ulevicius, N. Mihalopoulos, V. Zdimal, M. Fiebig, H.-C. Hansson, E. Swietlicki, and J. S. Henzing
Assessing the CAM5 physics suite in the WRF-Chem model: implementation, resolution sensitivity, and a first evaluation for a regional case study
P.-L. Ma, P. J. Rasch, J. D. Fast, R. C. Easter, W. I. Gustafson Jr., X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, and B. Singh
Sensitivity of tropospheric chemical composition to halogen-radical chemistry using a fully coupled size-resolved multiphase chemistry–global climate system: halogen distributions, aerosol composition, and sensitivity of climate-relevant gases
M. S. Long, W. C. Keene, R. C. Easter, R. Sander, X. Liu, A. Kerkweg, and D. Erickson
An AeroCom assessment of black carbon in Arctic snow and sea ice
C. Jiao, M. G. Flanner, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, N. Bellouin, T. K. Berntsen, H. Bian, K. S. Carslaw, M. Chin, N. De Luca, T. Diehl, S. J. Ghan, T. Iversen, A. Kirkevåg, D. Koch, X. Liu, G. W. Mann, J. E. Penner, G. Pitari, M. Schulz, Ø. Seland, R. B. Skeie, S. D. Steenrod, P. Stier, T. Takemura, K. Tsigaridis, T. van Noije, Y. Yun, and K. Zhang
A sensitivity study of radiative fluxes at the top of atmosphere to cloud-microphysics and aerosol parameters in the community atmosphere model CAM5
C. Zhao, X. Liu, Y. Qian, J. Yoon, Z. Hou, G. Lin, S. McFarlane, H. Wang, B. Yang, P.-L. Ma, H. Yan, and J. Bao
Uncertainty in modeling dust mass balance and radiative forcing from size parameterization
C. Zhao, S. Chen, L. R. Leung, Y. Qian, J. F. Kok, R. A. Zaveri, and J. Huang
Technical Note: Estimating aerosol effects on cloud radiative forcing
S. J. Ghan
The sensitivity of global climate to the episodicity of fire aerosol emissions
S. K. Clark, D. S. Ward, and N. M. Mahowald
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-13-23691-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-13-23691-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript not accepted
Multi-model mean nitrogen and sulfur deposition from the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP): evaluation of historical and projected future changes
J.-F. Lamarque, F. Dentener, J. McConnell, C.-U. Ro, M. Shaw, R. Vet, D. Bergmann, P. Cameron-Smith, S. Dalsoren, R. Doherty, G. Faluvegi, S. J. Ghan, B. Josse, Y. H. Lee, I. A. MacKenzie, D. Plummer, D. T. Shindell, R. B. Skeie, D. S. Stevenson, S. Strode, G. Zeng, M. Curran, D. Dahl-Jensen, S. Das, D. Fritzsche, and M. Nolan
Sensitivity of remote aerosol distributions to representation of cloud–aerosol interactions in a global climate model
H. Wang, R. C. Easter, P. J. Rasch, M. Wang, X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, Y. Qian, J.-H. Yoon, P.-L. Ma, and V. Vinoj
Global impact of smoke aerosols from landscape fires on climate and the Hadley circulation
M. G. Tosca, J. T. Randerson, and C. S. Zender
Evaluating and constraining ice cloud parameterizations in CAM5 using aircraft measurements from the SPARTICUS campaign
K. Zhang, X. Liu, M. Wang, J. M. Comstock, D. L. Mitchell, S. Mishra, and G. G. Mace
Host model uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing estimates: results from the AeroCom Prescribed intercomparison study
P. Stier, N. A. J. Schutgens, N. Bellouin, H. Bian, O. Boucher, M. Chin, S. Ghan, N. Huneeus, S. Kinne, G. Lin, X. Ma, G. Myhre, J. E. Penner, C. A. Randles, B. Samset, M. Schulz, T. Takemura, F. Yu, H. Yu, and C. Zhou
Radiative forcing in the ACCMIP historical and future climate simulations
D. T. Shindell, J.-F. Lamarque, M. Schulz, M. Flanner, C. Jiao, M. Chin, P. J. Young, Y. H. Lee, L. Rotstayn, N. Mahowald, G. Milly, G. Faluvegi, Y. Balkanski, W. J. Collins, A. J. Conley, S. Dalsoren, R. Easter, S. Ghan, L. Horowitz, X. Liu, G. Myhre, T. Nagashima, V. Naik, S. T. Rumbold, R. Skeie, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, T. Takemura, A. Voulgarakis, J.-H. Yoon, and F. Lo
Evaluation of preindustrial to present-day black carbon and its albedo forcing from Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP)
Y. H. Lee, J.-F. Lamarque, M. G. Flanner, C. Jiao, D. T. Shindell, T. Berntsen, M. M. Bisiaux, J. Cao, W. J. Collins, M. Curran, R. Edwards, G. Faluvegi, S. Ghan, L. W. Horowitz, J. R. McConnell, J. Ming, G. Myhre, T. Nagashima, V. Naik, S. T. Rumbold, R. B. Skeie, K. Sudo, T. Takemura, F. Thevenon, B. Xu, and J.-H. Yoon
Black carbon vertical profiles strongly affect its radiative forcing uncertainty
B. H. Samset, G. Myhre, M. Schulz, Y. Balkanski, S. Bauer, T. K. Berntsen, H. Bian, N. Bellouin, T. Diehl, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, T. Iversen, S. Kinne, A. Kirkevåg, J.-F. Lamarque, G. Lin, X. Liu, J. E. Penner, Ø. Seland, R. B. Skeie, P. Stier, T. Takemura, K. Tsigaridis, and K. Zhang
Implementation of the chemistry module MECCA (v2.5) in the modal aerosol version of the Community Atmosphere Model component (v3.6.33) of the Community Earth System Model
M. S. Long, W. C. Keene, R. Easter, R. Sander, A. Kerkweg, D. Erickson, X. Liu, and S. Ghan
Aerosol–climate interactions in the Norwegian Earth System Model – NorESM1-M
A. Kirkevåg, T. Iversen, Ø. Seland, C. Hoose, J. E. Kristjánsson, H. Struthers, A. M. L. Ekman, S. Ghan, J. Griesfeller, E. D. Nilsson, and M. Schulz
The Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP): overview and description of models, simulations and climate diagnostics
J.-F. Lamarque, D. T. Shindell, B. Josse, P. J. Young, I. Cionni, V. Eyring, D. Bergmann, P. Cameron-Smith, W. J. Collins, R. Doherty, S. Dalsoren, G. Faluvegi, G. Folberth, S. J. Ghan, L. W. Horowitz, Y. H. Lee, I. A. MacKenzie, T. Nagashima, V. Naik, D. Plummer, M. Righi, S. T. Rumbold, M. Schulz, R. B. Skeie, D. S. Stevenson, S. Strode, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, A. Voulgarakis, and G. Zeng
More articles (104)
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Reassessment of the radiocesium resuspension flux from contaminated ground surfaces in eastern Japan
Mizuo Kajino, Akira Watanabe, Masahide Ishizuka, Kazuyuki Kita, Yuji Zaizen, Takeshi Kinase, Rikuya Hirai, Kakeru Konnai, Akane Saya, Kazuki Iwaoka, Yoshitaka Shiroma, Hidenao Hasegawa, Naofumi Akata, Masahiro Hosoda, Shinji Tokonami, and Yasuhito Igarashi
Using a numerical model and observations of surface concentration and depositions, the current study provides quantitative assessments of resuspension, transport, and deposition of radio-Cs in eastern Japan in 2013, which was once deposited to the ground surface after the Fukushima nuclear accident. The areal mean resuspension rate of radio-Cs from the ground to the air is estimated as 0.96 % per year, which is equivalent to 1–10 % of the decreasing rate of the ambient gamma dose in Fukushima.
Duff burning from wildfires in a moist region: different impacts on PM2.5 and ozone
Aoxing Zhang, Yongqiang Liu, Scott Goodrick, and Marcus D. Williams
Duff is decomposed forest fuel under ground. Duff burning often occurs at the smoldering phase with low intensity and long periods, which has little impact on regional air quality. However, there is increasing evidence for duff burning during flaming phases. This study simulates the air quality impacts of duff burning during flaming phases in the southeastern US using a regional air quality model. The results indicate the important contributions of such burning to regional PM2.5 concentrations.
Assimilating spaceborne lidar dust extinction can improve dust forecasts
Jerónimo Escribano, Enza Di Tomaso, Oriol Jorba, Martina Klose, Maria Gonçalves Ageitos, Francesca Macchia, Vassilis Amiridis, Holger Baars, Eleni Marinou, Emmanouil Proestakis, Claudia Urbanneck, Dietrich Althausen, Johannes Bühl, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
We explore the benefits and consistency in adding lidar dust observations in a dust optical depth assimilation. We show that adding lidar data to a dust optical depth assimilation has valuable benefits and the dust analysis improves. We discuss the impact of the narrow satellite footprint of the lidar dust observations on the assimilation.
Assessing the value meteorological ensembles add to dispersion modelling using hypothetical releases
Susan J. Leadbetter, Andrew R. Jones, and Matthew C. Hort
In this study we look at the ability of meteorological ensembles (multiple realisations of the meteorological data) to provide information about the uncertainty in the dispersion model predictions. Statistical measures are used to evaluate the model predictions, and these show that on average the ensemble predictions outperform the non-ensemble predictions.
Effects of oligomerization and decomposition on the nanoparticle growth: a model study
Arto Heitto, Kari Lehtinen, Tuukka Petäjä, Felipe Lopez-Hilfiker, Joel A. Thornton, Markku Kulmala, and Taina Yli-Juuti
For atmospheric aerosol particles to take part in cloud formation, they need to be at least a few tens of nanometers in diameter. By using a particle condensation model, we investigated how two types of chemical reactions, oligomerization and decomposition, of organic molecules inside the particle may affect the growth of secondary aerosol particles to these sizes. We show that the effect is potentially significant, which highlights the importance of increasing understanding of these processes.
The role of anthropogenic aerosols in the anomalous cooling from 1960 to 1990 in the CMIP6 Earth system models
Jie Zhang, Kalli Furtado, Steven T. Turnock, Jane P. Mulcahy, Laura J. Wilcox, Ben B. Booth, David Sexton, Tongwen Wu, Fang Zhang, and Qianxia Liu
The CMIP6 ESMs systematically underestimate TAS anomalies in the NH midlatitudes, especially from 1960 to 1990. The anomalous cooling is concurrent in time and space with anthropogenic SO2 emissions. The spurious drop in TAS is attributed to the overestimated aerosol concentrations. The aerosol forcing sensitivity cannot well explain the inter-model spread of PHC biases. And the cloud-amount term accounts for most of the inter-model spread in aerosol forcing sensitivity.
Constant flux layers with gravitational settling: links to aerosols, fog and deposition velocities
Peter A. Taylor
Atmospheric aerosols including fog droplets can be deposited on the ground or on water surfaces. This is due to both gravitational settling and turbulent impaction. A simple model of this combined process is developed based on conventional atmospheric-boundary-layer ideas. The model suggests an alternative formulation for the treatment of gravitational settling in the deposition velocity estimations of aerosol particles and fog droplets.
Combining POLDER-3 satellite observations and WRF-Chem numerical simulations to derive biomass burning aerosol properties over the southeast Atlantic region
Alexandre Siméon, Fabien Waquet, Jean-Christophe Péré, Fabrice Ducos, François Thieuleux, Fanny Peers, Solène Turquety, and Isabelle Chiapello
For the first time, we accurately modelled the optical properties of the biomass burning aerosols (BBA) observed over the Southeast Atlantic region during their transport above clouds and over their source regions, combining a meteorology coupled with chemistry model (WRF-Chem) with innovative satellite absorbing aerosol retrievals (POLDER-3). Our results suggest a low but non-negligible brown carbon fraction (3 %) for the chemical composition of the BBA plumes observed over the source regions.
Is the Atlantic Ocean driving the recent variability in South Asian dust?
Priyanka Banerjee, Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh, and Krishnaswamy Krishna Moorthy
We show that the Atlantic Ocean is the major driver of interannual variability in dust over South Asia since the second decade of the 21st century. This is a shift from the previously important role played by the Pacific Ocean in controlling dust over this region. Following the end of the recent global warming hiatus, anomalies of the North Atlantic sea surface temperature have remotely invoked a weakening of the South Asian monsoon and a strengthening of the dust-bearing northwesterlies.
Molecular-scale description of interfacial mass transfer in phase-separated aqueous secondary organic aerosol
Mária Lbadaoui-Darvas, Satoshi Takahama, and Athanasios Nenes
Aerosol–cloud interactions constitute the most uncertain contribution to climate change. The uptake kinetics of water by aerosol is a central process of cloud droplet formation, yet its molecular-scale mechanism is unknown. We use molecular simulations to study this process for phase-separated organic particles. Our results explain the increased cloud condensation activity of such particles and can be generalized over various compositions, thus possibly serving as a basis for future models.
Exploring the uncertainties in the aviation soot–cirrus effect
Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, and Christof Gerhard Beer
A global climate model is applied to simulate the impact of aviation soot on natural cirrus clouds. A large number of numerical experiments are performed to analyse how the quantification of the resulting climate impact is affected by known uncertainties. These concern the ability of aviation soot to nucleate ice and the role of model dynamics. Our results show that both aspects are important for the quantification of this effect and that discrepancies among different model studies still exist.
Reduced effective radiative forcing from cloud–aerosol interactions (ERFaci) with improved treatment of early aerosol growth in an Earth system model
Sara Marie Blichner, Moa Kristina Sporre, and Terje Koren Berntsen
In this study we quantify how a new way of modeling the formation of new particles in the atmosphere affects the estimated cooling from aerosol–cloud interactions since pre-industrial times. Our improved scheme merges two common approaches to aerosol modeling: a sectional scheme for treating early growth and the pre-existing modal scheme in NorESM. We find that the cooling from aerosol–cloud interactions since pre-industrial times is reduced by 10 % when the new scheme is used.
Hyperfine-resolution mapping of on-road vehicle emissions with comprehensive traffic monitoring and an intelligent transportation system
Linhui Jiang, Yan Xia, Lu Wang, Xue Chen, Jianjie Ye, Tangyan Hou, Liqiang Wang, Yibo Zhang, Mengying Li, Zhen Li, Zhe Song, Yaping Jiang, Weiping Liu, Pengfei Li, Daniel Rosenfeld, John H. Seinfeld, and Shaocai Yu
This paper establishes a bottom-up approach to reveal a unique pattern of urban on-road vehicle emissions at a spatial resolution 1–3 orders of magnitude higher than current inventories. The results show that the hourly average on-road vehicle emissions of CO, NOx, HC, and PM2.5 are 74 kg, 40 kg, 8 kg, and 2 kg, respectively. Integrating our traffic-monitoring-based approach with urban measurements, we could address major data gaps between urban air pollutant emissions and concentrations.
Air quality deterioration episode associated with a typhoon over the complex topographic environment in central Taiwan
Chuan-Yao Lin, Yang-Fan Sheng, Wan-Chin Chen, Charles C. K. Chou, Yi-Yun Chien, and Wen-Mei Chen
Taiwan and Hong Kong experience air quality deterioration as typhoons approach. However, the mechanism of the formation of poor air quality may differ and still not be well documented in Taiwan. The interaction between easterly typhoon circulation and Taiwan's Central Mountain Range resulted in a lee side vortex formation. Simulation results indicated that the lee vortex and land–sea breeze, as well as the boundary layer development, were the key mechanisms.
Impact of modified turbulent diffusion of PM2.5 aerosol in WRF-Chem simulations in eastern China
Wenxing Jia and Xiaoye Zhang
Heavy aerosol pollution incidents have attracted much attention since 2013, but the temporal and spatial limitations of observations and the inaccuracy of simulation are a stumbling block to assessing pollution mechanisms. The correct simulation of boundary layer mixing process of pollutant is a challenge for mesoscale numerical models. We add the turbulent diffusion term of aerosol to the WRF-Chem model to prove the impact of turbulent diffusion on pollutant concentration.
What rainfall rates are most important to wet removal of different aerosol types?
Yong Wang, Wenwen Xia, and Guang J. Zhang
This study developed a novel approach to detect what rainfall rates climatologically are most efficient for wet removal of different aerosol types and applied it to a global climate model (GCM). Results show that light rain has disproportionate control on aerosol wet scavenging, with distinct rain rates for different aerosol sizes. The approach can be applied to other GCMs to better understand the aerosol wet scavenging by rainfall, which is important to better simulate aerosols.
A weather regime characterisation of winter biomass aerosol transport from southern Africa
Marco Gaetani, Benjamin Pohl, Maria del Carmen Alvarez Castro, Cyrille Flamant, and Paola Formenti
During the dry austral winter, biomass fires in tropical Africa emit large amounts of smoke in the atmosphere, with large impacts on climate and air quality. The study of the relationship between atmospheric circulation and smoke transport shows that midlatitude atmospheric disturbances may deflect the smoke from tropical Africa towards southern Africa. Understanding the distribution of the smoke in the region is crucial for climate modelling and air quality monitoring.
15-year variability of desert dust optical depth on global and regional scales
Stavros-Andreas Logothetis, Vasileios Salamalikis, Antonis Gkikas, Stelios Kazadzis, Vassilis Amiridis, and Andreas Kazantzidis
This study investigates the temporal trends of dust optical depth (DOD; 550 nm) on global, regional and seasonal scales over a 15-year period (2003–2017) using the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset. The findings of this study revealed that the DOD was increased across the central Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula, with opposite trends over the eastern and western Sahara, the Thar and Gobi deserts, in the Bodélé Depression, and in the southern Mediterranean.
Dipole pattern of summer ozone pollution in the east of China and its connection with climate variability
Xiaoqing Ma and Zhicong Yin
Severe ozone pollution frequently occurred in the east of China and obviously damages human health. The meteorological conditions effectively affect the variations in ozone pollution by modulating the natural emissions of ozone precursors and photochemical reactions in the atmosphere. In this study, a south–north dipole pattern of summer-mean ozone concentration in the east of China was identified, and its connections with preceding climate variability at different latitudes were also examined.
Aerosol absorption in global models from AeroCom phase III
Maria Sand, Bjørn H. Samset, Gunnar Myhre, Jonas Gliß, Susanne E. Bauer, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Paul Ginoux, Zak Kipling, Alf Kirkevåg, Harri Kokkola, Philippe Le Sager, Marianne T. Lund, Hitoshi Matsui, Twan van Noije, Dirk J. L. Olivié, Samuel Remy, Michael Schulz, Philip Stier, Camilla W. Stjern, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, Svetlana G. Tsyro, and Duncan Watson-Parris
Absorption of shortwave radiation by aerosols can modify precipitation and clouds but is poorly constrained in models. A total of 15 different aerosol models from AeroCom phase III have reported total aerosol absorption, and for the first time, 11 of these models have reported in a consistent experiment the contributions to absorption from black carbon, dust, and organic aerosol. Here, we document the model diversity in aerosol absorption.
A black carbon peak and its sources in the free troposphere of Beijing induced by cyclone lifting and transport from central China
Zhenbin Wang, Bin Zhu, Hanqing Kang, Wen Lu, Shuqi Yan, Delong Zhao, Weihang Zhang, and Jinhui Gao
In this paper, by using WRF-Chem with a black carbon (BC) tagging technique, we investigate the formation mechanism and regional sources of a BC peak in the free troposphere observed by aircraft flights. Local sources dominated BC from the surface to about 700 m (78.5 %), while the BC peak in the free troposphere was almost entirely imported from external sources (99.8 %). Our results indicate that cyclone systems can quickly lift BC up to the free troposphere, as well as extend its lifetime.
Competing effects of aerosol reductions and circulation changes for future improvements in Beijing haze
Liang Guo, Laura J. Wilcox, Massimo Bollasina, Steven T. Turnock, Marianne T. Lund, and Lixia Zhang
Severe haze remains serious over Beijing despite emissions decreasing since 2008. Future haze changes in four scenarios are studied. The pattern conducive to haze weather increases with the atmospheric warming caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases. However, the actual haze intensity, measured by either PM2.5 or optical depth, decreases with aerosol emissions. We show that only using the weather pattern index to predict the future change of Beijing haze is insufficient.
Understanding the surface temperature response and its uncertainty to CO2, CH4, black carbon, and sulfate
Kalle Nordling, Hannele Korhonen, Jouni Räisänen, Antti-Ilari Partanen, Bjørn H. Samset, and Joonas Merikanto
Understanding the temperature responses to different climate forcing agents, such as greenhouse gases and aerosols, is crucial for understanding future regional climate changes. In climate models, the regional temperature responses vary for all forcing agents, but the causes of this variability are poorly understood. For all forcing agents, the main component contributing to variance in regional surface temperature responses between the climate models is the clear-sky longwave emissivity.
Surface deposition of marine fog and its treatment in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model
Peter A. Taylor, Zheqi Chen, Li Cheng, Soudeh Afsharian, Wensong Weng, George A. Isaac, Terry W. Bullock, and Yongsheng Chen
In marine fog, droplets will impact the water surface, collide and coalesce. This removal process is underestimated or ignored in many fog and weather forecast models. A new atmospheric boundary layer approach is proposed and tested in a standard weather forecast model (Weather Research and Forecasting, WRF). New profile measurements through marine fog layers are suggested.
Assessing the potential efficacy of marine cloud brightening for cooling Earth using a simple heuristic model
A simple model is described to assess the potential for increasing solar reflection by augmenting the aerosol population below marine low clouds, which increases the concentration of cloud droplets. The model is used to predict global cooling from marine cloud brightening climate intervention as a function of the quantity, size, and lifetime of salt particles injected per sprayer, the number of sprayers deployed, the cloud updraft speed, and unperturbed aerosol size distribution.
Aerosol effects on electrification and lightning discharges in a multicell thunderstorm simulated by the WRF-ELEC model
Mengyu Sun, Dongxia Liu, Xiushu Qie, Edward R. Mansell, Yoav Yair, Alexandre O. Fierro, Shanfeng Yuan, Zhixiong Chen, and Dongfang Wang
By acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), increasing aerosol loading tends to enhance lightning activity through microphysical processes. We investigated the aerosol effects on the development of a thunderstorm. A two-moment bulk microphysics scheme and bulk lightning model were coupled in the WRF Model to simulate a multicell thunderstorm. Sensitivity experiments show that the enhancement of lightning activity under polluted conditions results from an increasing ice crystal number.
The response of the Amazon ecosystem to the photosynthetically active radiation fields: integrating impacts of biomass burning aerosol and clouds in the NASA GEOS Earth system model
Huisheng Bian, Eunjee Lee, Randal D. Koster, Donifan Barahona, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Anton Darmenov, Sarith Mahanama, Michael Manyin, Peter Norris, John Shilling, Hongbin Yu, and Fanwei Zeng
The study using the NASA Earth system model shows ~2.6 % increase in burning season gross primary production and ~1.5 % increase in annual net primary production across the Amazon Basin during 2010–2016 due to the change in surface downward direct and diffuse photosynthetically active radiation by biomass burning aerosols. Such an aerosol effect is strongly dependent on the presence of clouds. The cloud fraction at which aerosols switch from stimulating to inhibiting plant growth occurs at ~0.8.
"Warm cover": precursory strong signals for haze pollution hidden in the middle troposphere
Xiangde Xu, Wenyue Cai, Tianliang Zhao, Xinfa Qiu, Wenhui Zhu, Chan Sun, Peng Yan, Chunzhu Wang, and Fei Ge
We found that the structure of atmospheric thermodynamics in the troposphere can be regarded as a strong forewarning signal for variations of surface PM2.5 concentration in heavy air pollution.
The MAPM (Mapping Air Pollution eMissions) method for inferring particulate matter emissions maps at city scale from in situ concentration measurements: description and demonstration of capability
Brian Nathan, Stefanie Kremser, Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, Greg Bodeker, Leroy Bird, Ethan Dale, Dongqi Lin, Gustavo Olivares, and Elizabeth Somervell
The MAPM project showcases a method to improve estimates of PM2.5 emissions through an advanced statistical technique that is still new to the aerosol community. Using Christchurch, NZ, as a test bed, measurements from a field campaign in winter 2019 are incorporated into this new approach. An overestimation from local inventory estimates is identified. This technique may be exported to other urban areas in need.
Advances in Air Quality Research – Current and Emerging Challenges
Ranjeet S. Sokhi, Nicolas Moussiopoulos, Alexander Baklanov, John Bartzis, Isabelle Coll, Sandro Finardi, Rainer Friedrich, Camilla Geels, Tiia Grönholm, Tomas Halenka, Matthias Ketzel, Androniki Maragkidou, Volker Matthias, Jana Moldanova, Leonidas Ntziachristos, Klaus Schäfer, Peter Suppan, George Tsegas, Gregory Carmichael, Vicente Franco, Steve Hanna, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, Guus J. M. Velders, and Jaakko Kukkonen
This review of air quality research focuses on developments over the past decade. The article considers current and future challenges that are important from air quality research and policy perspectives and highlights emerging prominent gaps of knowledge. The review also examines, how air pollution management needs to adapt to new challenges and makes recommendations to guide the direction for future air quality research within the wider community and to provide support for policy.
Data Assimilation of Volcanic Aerosols using FALL3D+PDAF
Leonardo Mingari, Arnau Folch, Andrew T. Prata, Federica Pardini, Giovanni Macedonio, and Antonio Costa
We present a new implementation of an ensemble-based data assimilation method to improve forecasting of volcanic aerosols. This system can be efficiently integrated into operational workflows by exploiting high-performance computing resources. We found a dramatic improvement of forecast quality when satellite retrievals are continuously assimilated. Management of volcanic risk and reduction of aviation impacts can strongly benefit from this research.
How well do the CMIP6 models simulate dust aerosols?
Alcide Zhao, Claire L. Ryder, and Laura J. Wilcox
The CMIP6 Models' simulated dust processes are getting more uncertain as models become more sophisticated. Of particular challenge are the links between dust cycles and optical properties, and we recommend more detailed output relating to dust cycles in future intercomparison projects to constrain such links. Also, models struggle to capture certain key regional dust processes such as dust accumulation along the slope of the Himalayas, and dust seasonal cycles in North China and North America.
New Particle Formation Events Detection with Deep Learning
Peifeng Su, Jorma Joutsensaari, Lubna Dada, Martha Arbayani Zaidan, Tuomo Nieminen, Xinyang Li, Yusheng Wu, Stefano Decesari, Sasu Tarkoma, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, and Petri Pellikka
We regarded the banana shapes in the surface plots as a special kind of object (similar to cats) and applied an instance segmentation technique to automatically identify the new particle formation (NPF) events (especially the strongest ones), in addition to their growth rates, start times, and end times. The automatic method generalized well on datasets collected in different sites, which is useful for long-term data series analysis and obtaining statistical properties of NPF events.
Characteristics of surface energy balance and atmospheric circulation during hot-and-polluted episodes and their synergistic relationships with urban heat islands over the Pearl River Delta region
Ifeanyichukwu C. Nduka, Chi-Yung Tam, Jianping Guo, and Steve Hung Lam Yim
This study analyzed the nature, mechanisms and drivers for hot-and-polluted episodes (HPEs) in the Pearl River Delta, China. A total of eight HPEs were identified and can be grouped into three clusters of HPEs that were respectively driven (1) by weak subsidence and convection induced by approaching tropical cyclones, (2) by calm conditions with low wind speed in the lower atmosphere and (3) by the combination of both aforementioned conditions.
Influence of sea salt aerosols on the development of Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones
Enrique Pravia-Sarabia, Juan José Gómez-Navarro, Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero, and Juan Pedro Montávez
Given the hazardous nature of medicanes, studies focused on understanding and quantifying the processes governing their formation have become paramount for present and future disaster risk reduction. Therefore, enhancing the modeling and forecasting capabilities of such events is of crucial importance. In this sense, the authors find that the microphysical processes, and specifically the wind--sea salt aerosol feedback, play a key role in their development and thus should not be neglected.
Quantification of uncertainties in the assessment of an atmospheric release source applied to the autumn 2017 106Ru event
Joffrey Dumont Le Brazidec, Marc Bocquet, Olivier Saunier, and Yelva Roustan
The assessment of the environmental consequences of a radionuclide release depends on the estimation of its source. This paper aims to develop inverse Bayesian methods which combine transport models with measurements, in order to reconstruct the ensemble of possible sources. Three methods to quantify uncertainties based on the definition of probability distributions and the physical models are proposed and evaluated for the case of 106Ru releases over Europe in 2017.
Forecasting and identifying the meteorological and hydrological conditions favoring the occurrence of severe hazes in Beijing and Shanghai using deep learning
Chien Wang
Haze caused by abundant atmospheric aerosols has become a serious environmental issue in many countries. An innovative deep-learning machine has been developed to forecast the occurrence of hazes in two Asian megacities (Beijing and Shanghai) and has achieved good overall accuracy. Using this machine, typical regional meteorological and hydrological regimes associated with haze and non-haze events in the two cities have also been, arguably for the first time, successfully categorized.
Simulated impacts of vertical distributions of black carbon aerosol on meteorology and PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing during severe haze events
Donglin Chen, Hong Liao, Yang Yang, Lei Chen, Delong Zhao, and Deping Ding
Black carbon (BC) vertical profile plays a critical role in BC-meteorology interaction which also influences PM2.5 concentrations. More BC mass was assigned into high altitudes (above 1000 m) in model, which resulted in stronger cooling effect near the surface, larger temperature inversion below 421 m, more reductions in PBLH and more increase in near-surface PM2.5 in the daytime caused by the direct radiative of BC.
Development and application of a street-level meteorology and pollutant tracking system (S-TRACK)
Huan Zhang, Sunling Gong, Lei Zhang, Jianjun He, Yaqiang Wang, Lixin Shi, Jingyue Mo, Huabing Ke, and Shuhua Lu
This study established a multi-model simulation system for street level circulation and pollutant tracking, and applied to real building scenarios and atmospheric conditions. Results showed that to a particular site the potential contribution ratio vary with the height of the site with a peak not at the ground but on a certain height. The work is of significance for urban planning and improvement of urban air quality.
Improving prediction of trans-boundary biomass burning plume dispersion: from northern peninsular Southeast Asia to downwind western North Pacific Ocean
Maggie Chel-Gee Ooi, Ming-Tung Chuang, Joshua S. Fu, Steven S. Kong, Wei-Syun Huang, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Sittichai Pimonsree, Andy Chan, Shantanu Kumar Pani, and Neng-Huei Lin
There is very limited local modeling effort in Southeast Asia, where haze is an annually recurring threat. In this work, the accuracy of haze prediction is improved not only at the burning source but also at the downwind site in northern Southeast Asia to highlight the influence of trans-boundary haze, which is often regional. The burning haze is carried to the populated west of Taiwan via several mechanisms, with the most severe conditions related to the boreal winter pressure system.
Simulation of the effects of low volatility organic compounds on aerosol number concentrations in Europe
David Patoulias and Spyros N. Pandis
Our simulations indicate that the recently identified production and subsequent condensation effect of extremely low volatility organic compounds has a smaller than expected effect on the total concentration of atmospheric particles. On the other hand, the oxidation of intermediate volatility organic compounds leads to decreases of the ultrafine particle concentrations. These results improve our understanding of the links between secondary organic aerosol formation and ultrafine particles.
Decadal changes of connections among late-spring snow cover in West Siberia, summer Eurasia teleconnection and O3-related meteorology in North China
Zhicong Yin, Yu Wan, and Huijun Wang
Severe ozone pollution frequently occurred in North China and obviously damages human health and ecosystems. The meteorological conditions effectively affect the variations in ozone pollution by modulating the natural emissions of O3 precursors and photochemical reactions in the atmosphere. In this study, the interannual relationship between ozone-related meteorology and late-spring snow cover in West Siberia was explored, and the reasons of its decadal change were also physically explained.
Better representation of dust can improve climate models with too weak an African monsoon
Yves Balkanski, Rémy Bonnet, Olivier Boucher, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, and Jérôme Servonnat
Earth system models have persistent biases that impinge on our ability to make robust future regional predictions of precipitation. For the last 15 years, there has been little improvement in these biases. This work presents an accurate representation of dust absorption based upon observed dust mineralogical composition and size distribution. The striking result is that this more accurate representation improves tropical precipitations for climate models with too weak an African monsoon.
Reduced light absorption of black carbon (BC) and its influence on BC-boundary-layer interactions during "APEC Blue"
Meng Gao, Yang Yang, Hong Liao, Bin Zhu, Yuxuan Zhang, Zirui Liu, Xiao Lu, Chen Wang, Qiming Zhou, Yuesi Wang, Qiang Zhang, Gregory R. Carmichael, and Jianlin Hu
Light absorption and radiative forcing of black carbon (BC) is influenced by both BC itself and its interactions with other aerosol chemical compositions. In this study, we used the online coupled WRF-Chem model to examine how emission control measures during the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference affect the mixing state and light absorption of BC and the associated implications for BC-PBL interactions.
The contribution of coral reef-derived dimethyl sulfide to aerosol burden over the Great Barrier Reef: a modelling study
Sonya Fiddes, Matthew Woodhouse, Steve Utembe, Robyn Schofield, Joel Alroe, Scott Chambers, Luke Cravigan, Erin Dunne, Ruhi Humphries, Graham Johnson, Melita Keywood, Todd Lane, Branka Miljevic, Yuko Omori, Zoran Ristovski, Paul Sellek, Hilton Swan, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Jason Ward, and Alister Williams
Coral reefs have been found to produce the climatically relevant chemical compound dimethyl sulfide (DMS). It has been suggested that corals can modify their environment via the production of DMS. We use an atmospheric-chemistry model to test this theory at a regional scale for the first time. We find that it is unlikely that coral reef derived DMS has an influence over local climate, in part due to their proximity to terrestrial and anthropogenic aerosol sources.
Droplet activation of moderately surface active organic aerosol predicted with six approaches to surface activity
Sampo Vepsäläinen, Silvia M. Calderón, Jussi Malila, and Nønne L. Prisle
Atmospheric aerosols act as seeds for cloud formation. Many aerosols contain surface active material which accumulates in the surface of growing droplets. This can affect cloud droplet activation, but the broad significance of the effect and the best way to model it is still debated. We compare predictions of six different model approaches to surface activity of organic aerosols and find significant differences between the models, especially with large fractions of organic in the dry particles.
Contribution of traffic-originated nanoparticle emissions to regional and local aerosol levels
Miska Olin, David Patoulias, Heino Kuuluvainen, Jarkko V. Niemi, Topi Rönkkö, Spyros N. Pandis, Ilona Riipinen, and Miikka Dal Maso
An emission factor particle size distribution was determined from the measurements at an urban traffic site. It was used in updating a pre-existing emission inventory and regional modelling was performed after the update. Emission inventories typically underestimate nanoparticle emissions due to challenges in determining them with high certainty. This update reveals that the simulated aerosol levels have previously been underestimated especially for urban areas and for sub-50 nm-sized particles.
Present and future aerosol impacts on Arctic climate change in the GISS-E2.1 Earth system model
Ulas Im, Kostas Tsigaridis, Gregory Faluvegi, Peter L. Langen, Joshua P. French, Rashed Mahmood, Manu A. Thomas, Knut von Salzen, Daniel C. Thomas, Cynthia H. Whaley, Zbigniew Klimont, Henrik Skov, and Jørgen Brandt
Future (2015–2050) simulations of the aerosol burdens and their radiative forcing and climate impacts over the Arctic under various emission projections show that although the Arctic aerosol burdens are projected to decrease significantly by 10 to 60 %, regardless of the magnitude of aerosol reductions, surface air temperatures will continue to increase by 1.9–2.6 ℃, while sea-ice extent will continue to decrease, implying reductions of greenhouse gases are necessary to mitigate climate change.
Evaluation of natural aerosols in CRESCENDO Earth system models (ESMs): mineral dust
Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Yves Balkanski, Samuel Albani, Tommi Bergman, Ken Carslaw, Anne Cozic, Chris Dearden, Beatrice Marticorena, Martine Michou, Twan van Noije, Pierre Nabat, Fiona M. O'Connor, Dirk Olivié, Joseph M. Prospero, Philippe Le Sager, Michael Schulz, and Catherine Scott
Thousands of tons of dust are emitted into the atmosphere every year, producing important impacts on the Earth system. However, current global climate models are not yet able to reproduce dust emissions, transport and depositions with the desirable accuracy. Our study analyses five different Earth system models to report aspects to be improved to reproduce better available observations, increase the consistency between models and therefore decrease the current uncertainties.
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Zhang, J. and Christopher, S.: Long wave radiative forcing of Saharan dust aerosols estimated from MODIS, MISR and CERES observations on TERRA, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 2188, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL018479, 2003.
Zhang, Y., Mahowald, N., Scanza, R., Journet, E., Desboeufs, K., Albani, S., Kok, J., Zhuang, G., Chen, Y., Cohen, D. D., Paytan, A., Patey, M. D., Achterberg, E. P., Engelbrecht, J. P., and Fomba, K. W.: Modeling the global emission, transport and deposition of trace elements associated with mineral dust, Biogeosciences Discuss., 11, 17491–17541, https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-11-17491-2014, 2014.
Supplement (2060 KB)
The main purpose of this study was to build a framework in the Community Atmosphere Models version 4 and 5 within the Community Earth System Model to simulate dust aerosols as their component minerals. With this framework, we investigate the direct radiative forcing that results from the mineral speciation. We find that adding mineralogy results in a small positive forcing at the top of the atmosphere, while simulations without mineralogy have a small negative forcing.
The main purpose of this study was to build a framework in the Community Atmosphere Models...
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Al Noor Hospitals, the Abu Dhabi healthcare firm which raised $342m from a London listing in June, said total profit for the first half of the year fell 24.4 percent, posting its first financial results as a publicly traded company.
The oil-rich emirate's largest private healthcare provider reported a total profit of $24.8m for the first-half of the year compared with $32.8m for the same period last year, Al Noor said in a statement on Tuesday.
Underlying profit for the period, which excludes marketing costs associated with its London listing, rose to $34.1m, compared with $32.8m for the same period last year.
Revenue for the first half of the year rose 10.9 percent to $179.5m aided by rising life-style related diseases in the Gulf region.
Al Noor has the biggest market share among private health-care services providers in Abu Dhabi for both outpatients and inpatient, according to the company. The listing had valued the company $1bn.
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Bongaerts and Smith 2019
scientific chapter |
Beyond the "Deep Reef Refuge" Hypothesis: A Conceptual Framework to Characterize Persistence at Depth
Bongaerts P, Smith TB
The rapid deterioration of coral reefs worldwide has led to a growing interest in identifying areas that can offer protection against adverse conditions including coral reef communities at intermediate (~15 to 30 m) and mesophotic (≥30 m) depths. However, various concepts regarding the protective potential of deeper coral reef communities, and subsequent roles in overall reef resilience and persistence, remain poorly defined. Herein, we organize these ideas into an initial conceptual framework and review for scleractinian corals how these ideas may be supported by the limited empirical data that is currently available. We distinguish between the concepts of "depth refuges," "depth refugia," and "depth resilience areas," based on the nature (i.e., avoidance versus resilience) and temporal scope of protection. Although past examples have confirmed the role of mesophotic coral ecosystems as short-term, ecological "refuges," there is thus far little support that they comprise long-term "refugia." In contrast, the concept of "deep resilience areas," reef communities that persist long-term through disturbance by resistance and recovery, remains largely unexplored. In terms of the functional roles of such protected areas in the overall coral reef ecosystem, we distinguish between the concepts of "reseeding" and "local persistence." The potential to actively reseed shallow reefs may be ecologically important, but only for a small proportion of shared biodiversity, whereas the potential to promote persistence of local biodiversity may apply across a broad range of coral reef species. Although empirical evidence remains very limited, we hope that the incipient conceptual delineations presented here provide a constructive reference for further discussion and research into the ecological importance of deep reef communities.
Meta-data (pending validation)
92 x (total of 8644 words)
Community structure
Disturbances
Algae (Macro, Turf and Crustose Coralline)
Porifera (Sponges)
Australia - Great Barrier Reef
Brazil - Eastern Brazil
Mexico - Gulf of Mexico
USA - Hawaii
Contributed by: Nicholas Hammerman
Validated by: Jaaziel García-Hernández
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High fashion Jewelry. Stunning Goddess Lakshmi Devi Necklace, surrounded by majestic elephants. With Faux rubies and emeralds. Deep faux Gold. Looks like the 24 karat gold, India jewelry. A faux golden pearl hangs from the bottom.
Matches the Lakshmi Pearl Drop Earrings. Sold separately.
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Free Legal Weed: Can You Still Get Freebies at Your Local Dispensary?
What's better than legal weed? Free legal weed. Previously, with patient appreciation days, free product samples and a joint with purchase, there seemed to be so many different ways to get a bigger bang for your buck. These days, legal free weed is harder to come by as California laws put the kibosh on free cannabis goods to anyone except those medical patients with state ID cards.
Under California law, retailers are no longer allowed to give out free cannabis or cannabis goods to their store visitors. The law even puts an end to retailers allowing others (not shop personnel) to give out free cannabis goods at their shop. That means shops, vendors and product brands can no longer shower dispensary comers with samples and goodies – leaving patient appreciation days a little less appreciative. But not so fast, a further reading into the law provides for a little bit of leeway on the subject.
Amongst the many benefits (like lower taxes) that Medical Patients still enjoy, gifted weed is one of them. The law carves out an exception for medicinal cannabis patients or primary caregivers, by allowing retailers to provide them free medical cannabis goods. However, this is conditioned on a slue of criteria that must be met.
One of the most important requirements is that the patient or caregiver be in possession of a valid identification card issued by the Department of Health and Safety. As opposed to a doctor's recommendation (a certificate from a doctor recommending the use of medical marijuana), a state-issued card is an identification card granted by the state allowing medical cannabis patients with qualifying medical illnesses to possess, grow, and transport marijuana within the state. While both a doctors' recommendation and a state issued ID are equally valid and allow for access to medical cannabis, a state-issued card may offer more legal protection to patients and in this case, the ability to receive free cannabis.
In addition to the requirement of a state issued ID, cannabis businesses have to comply with certain requirements in order to be able to give out free cannabis. Specifically, all cannabis freebies must always be entered into the track and trace system and be properly lab-tested or have a warning label stating that good wasn't tested. The track and trace requirement does not take effect until July 1, 2018 due to the transition period that the state has created to allow businesses some time to comply. The same goes for the required testing – all cannabis goods with warning labels are only compliant until the end of the transition period, July 1, 2018, thereafter all cannabis goods must be lab tested without exception.
Even if a patient or caregiver meets the above requirements to receive a gift of weed, the state has put limits on these freebies. The catch - Any gift of cannabis received by a patient has to be applied toward the daily limit purchased by a medicinal cannabis customer. Under California law, retailers cannot sell more than 8 ounces in a single day to one patient unless they have a written recommendation that contains a different amount. Thus, any cannabis goods given to patients will be calculated as part of the 8 ounces patients are allowed to procure at once.
Despite the restrictions on gifting free weed, California has carved out an exception for local jurisdictions that may want to allow for some freebies. California law states that a licensee can donate cannabis, cannabis goods and the use of equipment in connection with any local program or ordinance that allows for gifting of cannabis in the name of compassionate use, equality, or other similar programs. If you are a business owner, make sure to check with your local laws before gifting cannabis.
Organize in your local community to make sure compassionate care is available for those in need!
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May Was Best Month for CME Bitcoin Futures Volume Since 2017
June 7, 2019 by Sebastian Sinclair
May was the best month for derivatives giant CME's bitcoin futures volume since its 2017 launch, as nearly 300,000 contracts were traded in the 31-day period.
Average daily volume (ADV) reached more than 13,600 contracts, equal to $515 million notional value or 68,000 equivalent bitcoin, up 27 percent when compared to the month of April. On May 13, bitcoin futures traded a record single-day volume of 33,677 contracts (168,000 equivalent bitcoin or $1.3 billion notional value) while on May 28, BTC hit a record open interest of 5,190 contracts.
It may be a sign that institutional interest is on the rise, with 223 trading accounts added in May, the most since January 2018 according to research conducted by CME Group.
Volume month to month
As can be seen on the chart above May marked a 27 percent increase in volume on the month prior and a 73.69 percent increase on March, 2019's volumes, hinting at gradual increasing interest in bitcoin futures.
Open interest month to month
Volume and open interest, however, are two distinctly different things.
While volume is the number of contracts traded in a day, after each session, the figure starts over at zero. Open interest, on the other hand, is the number of contracts that have been created and that are open.
As can be seen above, futures were first listed on the CME at the height of the bull market in December 2017. Futures trading activity, however, remained dull through 2018, courtesy of the crypto bear market.
Still, the data suggests interest is building, suggesting more firms are using the tool to manage risk or else speculate on the crypto markets.
Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing
CME director of equity products Tim McCourt via Flickr
Filed Under: Bitcoin News
Bitcoin Dips Below $8K as Price Sheds $700 in Two Hours
Bitcoin has once again fallen beneath $8,000 amid a sharp sell-off that saw prices drop to as low as $7,900 according to Coindesk data.
At 23:00 UTC late Monday evening, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap began to fall sharply, enduring over a $700 loss in value on the back of strong volume.
For several days now BTC has failed to rise above and firmly closeout $8,800 leading to a retest of prior supports as it struggled to pick up a bid.
Down 8.26 percent, bitcoin is struggling find a footing just beneath the $8,000 psychological price tag as the intensity in the pullback continues on high volatility.
Notably, the sell-off was also accompanied by a large uptick in 24-hour trading volumes to a 24-hour high of $21.5 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
However, its "Real 10" volume – a metric that takes into account trading volume from exchanges reporting honest volume figures as identified in a report by Bitwise Asset Management – currently stands at $21 billion, according to Messari.io.
Meanwhile, other highly ranked cryptocurrencies like ETH, BCH, LTC, and BNB have dropped 5 to 12 percent each on a 24-hour basis, while EOS suffered the largest drawdown in the top 10, dropping 12.4 percent according to data at CoinMarketCap.
What's more, the total market capitalization has fallen to a total of $16 billion, while the market capitalization of altcoins is down $7 billion, a sign that investors are becoming wary of overbought prices.
Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.
Bitcoin image via Shutterstock
Open Bets On CME's Bitcoin Futures Hit Record High
The open interest in CME Bitcoin Futures contract hit a record high last Friday.
The total figure of 5,190 for the period between May 27 to June 3 represents the largest number of open interest, or contracts outstanding, in CME bitcoin futures ever and a 7 percent gain on the week prior, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
May 31 marked the last day of trading on the CME futures markets before contract settlements, which are set to take place at the end of today's (June 3) trading session.
The sharp rise in the futures trading activity could be a sign of increased institutional participation in the cryptocurrency markets. It is worth noting that futures were listed on the CME at the height of the bull market in December 2017. The futures trading activity, however, remained dull throughout 2018, courtesy of the bear market.
CME Futures Market – Daily Snapshot
As seen previously, bitcoin futures usually "fill" a gap created by the close of the trading period at the end of the week with a resumption of trade on the following Monday. Large demand in futures contracts usually creates bigger gaps (from the time of close to a new open for the week), thereby risking greater draw down once prices correct.
The gaps shown on the CME bitcoin futures daily chart for May 17 and May 31 provide a good example of this.
On May 17 the spot price of bitcoin dropped to as low as $6,600 before greater buying pressure pushed prices back above $7,300, completing the 11.74 percent gap left in the futures market four days prior.
Again on May 31, after climbing to as high as $9,090 on the Coinbase exchange, BTC's price retraced 11 percent below $8,000 before resuming its bullish trend, pushing back above $8,200 an hour later and completing the 5.5 percent gap left in the futures market, again, four days prior.
Lastly, the latest $145 gap left from yesterday's close and today's open created the possibility for a correction to roughly $8,595, which came in to effect early this morning as bitcoin's price fell below $8,400 on most exchanges.
Data from the CFTC also showed open interest in short positions sat at 85.1 percent compared to 62.9 percent for bitcoin longs, hinting at a price pullback in the short-term as investors side with the possibility for a downward move in its price.
Bitcoin image via Shutterstock; charts via Trading View
Bitcoin SV Was the Best Performing Cryptocurrency in May – And it Wasn't Close
The cryptocurrency markets saw rapid growth in May with quite a few outshining the largest by market capitalization, bitcoin.
The leading cryptocurrency drew most of the attention, rising 67 percent from $5,265 on May 1st to $8,900 by month's end. A considerable amount of the gains happened in the lead up to the New York Blockchain event, that took place during the second week of May.
For instance, sharp rallies in bitcoin's price on May 11 and May 13 pushed its price tag above $7,000 and then $8,000 for the first time in over a year.
Despite logging its best monthly gain since 2017 however, BTC ranks tenth on the list of May's best-performing cryptocurrencies, according to Messari.io data.
Names like Chainlink (LINK), Dent (DENT), bitcoin SV (BSV), Holochain (HOT) and bitcoin gold (BTG) took a clear lead, each rising between 65 and 256 percent against their respective trading pairs with the U.S dollar.
The total capitalization of the broader market excluding bitcoin reflected the growth by rising to $125.6 billion on May 30th– its highest value in nearly 10 months.
Bitcoin pairings
The performance of individual altcoins when paired against BTC fared much worse, however.
Ether's pairing with BTC, for example, found itself still unable to scale its 200-day moving average for much of the month, and at the time of writing has only increased roughly 2 percent since May 1 whereas its USD pair is currently up over 60 percent in the same time span.
Such a discrepancy between the performance of both pairs can be attributed to bitcoin's price rally inflated the USD value of most altcoins why devaluing it value in BTC terms.
That said, a number of cryptocurrencies were able to flash strong performances in both categories, case in point being the top five performers for the month of May seen below.
Top 5 Monthly Performers In May
BSV | Price: $197 | MCAP: $3.5 billion | Percent Change: +231 percent
The crypto project aptly named 'Satoshi's Vision' claims to be the "original bitcoin," by restoring BTC's first protocol while stating that it can massively scale with increased stability.
Bitcoin SV had a remarkable run during May and was the clear leader during the second half of the month after prices broke out on May 21, bringing it back above the elusive $100 price tag.
Prices peaked at $252 according to data from Bittrex after landing itself in overbought territory and triggering a pullback, as shown by the daily relative strength index (RSI) exceeding a value of 70.
BSV/USD remains bullishly bid above a technical resistance level of $148, but a strong close below could re-expose the $90 support in the coming weeks.
LINK | Price: $1.01 | MCAP: $364.3 million | Percent Change: +96 percent
Chainlink's (LINK) staggering 200 percent rise in mid-May suffered a setback as the monthly close approached, but today remains 96 percent up on the month, placing it firmly in 2nd place within the top 5 performers for May.
Concerns are now building for greater drawdown, courtesy of a candle close below the 38.2 percent Fibonacci retracement line on the daily chart, exposing the neutral pivot along the 50 percent retracement at $0.84.
Prices remain bullishly bid above the 200-daily moving average (red line) and above a key resistance that became support at $0.68, but expect a pullback if its price breaks below the neutral 50 percent retracement.
DENT | Price: $0.001747 | MCAP: $124.1 million | Percent Change: 78 percent
DENT is a token issued on the ethereum blockchain that aims to facilitate global communications via its platform and service offerings.
Its performance on the month was bullish to say the least, concluding May with a 78 percent higher price than it started and ranking as the 3rd best performer of the month.
However, recent market developments have thrown into contention the short-term bullish trend as prices dipped below a key support by the time the monthly trading period came to a close.
Similar to that of LINK, the longer term view remains bullish while trading above the 200-day moving average (red line), which looks set to complete positive crossover with the 100-day moving average on another significant upward move.
BTG | Price: $26.71 | MCAP: $475.8 million | Percent Change: +64 percent
Bitcoin Gold (BTG), yet another bitcoin fork, changed BTC's proof-of-work algorithm from SHA256 to Equihash, rendering specialized mining equipment obsolete in an attempt to democratize the mining process.
Traders heavily favored BTG buy opportunities in May, leading it to place as the 5th best-performing crypto this month, outperforming other notable bitcoin forks such as bitcoin diamond (BCD) and bitcoin private (BTCP).
BTG's rising channel spanning more than four months looks set to break down courtesy of a rising wedge (bear reversal pattern) residing within the channel's most recent price action. In addition, a long upper wick on the daily timeframe is evidence strong sell pressure still exists above $30.
Should momentum falter here, a drop in value toward the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement line at $20.34 may be in the offing, but will remain bullish so long as the channel pattern holds.
HOT | Price: $0.002165 | MCAP: $288.4 million | Percent Change: +74 percent
Holochain (HOT) is a decentralized application platform that uses peer-to-peer networking for processing agent-centric agreement and consensus mechanisms between users.
Beginning in late May, HOT managed to break a key resistance zone of $0.0016, carving out a further 57 percent rise in value before prices peaked at $0.0027 on May 29.
From there it has been a downhill battle for HOT with the forfeiture of the 38.2 percent retracement line opening up the neutral pivot point at $0.0018 (50 percent retracement).
If prices continue to falter, buying pressure is likely to support HOT near $0.0016 due to it being a previous resistance zone.
Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency assets at the time of writing.
Balloons image via Shutterstock; charts by Trading View
Bitcoin Hits New 2019 High Above $8,900
May 26, 2019 by Sebastian Sinclair
Bitcoin's price has once again set a new high for 2019 after breaking out from a bullish pattern on the daily chart, reaching as high as $8,905 before retracing slightly.
At 19:00 UTC on May 26, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization broke from an ascending triangle pattern on the daily chart, courtesy of being held beneath $8,250 for an extended period of time.
The move to fresh 2019 highs has come at a time when prices were beginning to creep to the downside, touching as low as $6,600 on May 17 before a large amount of buying pressure pushed prices back above $7,300 within the same day.
Since then prices have once again jumped by 22 percent, first rising above $8,500 on Sunday night in bullish fashion, then reaching over $8,700 within half an hour. It's currently changing hands at $8,890 per CoinDesk's price data.
Notably, the price rally was also accompanied by a large uptick in the 24-hour trading volume, an increase of $10.3 billion was added overall, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
However, its "Real 10" volume – a metric that takes into account trading volume from exchanges reporting honest volume figures as identified in a report by Bitwise Asset Management – currently stands at $3.1 billion, according to Messari.io.
Meanwhile, other highly ranked cryptocurrencies like EOS, Ether (ETH), XRP, and litecoin (LTC) have gained between 5.3 to 5.8 percent each on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinMarketCap.
What's more, the total market capitalization has risen to a high of $268.1 billion its highest point since August 3, 2018 while the market capitalization for altcoins is up $6 billion, a sign of continued funding and investment for cryptocurrencies overall.
Eyes are now firmly set on bitcoin's new target along $9,650 resistance, last seen 13 months ago on April 30, 2018, signaling a very strong upward move beyond the $10,000 psychological price tag.
Bitcoin Drops $1,000 In Value Amid Market Sell-Off
Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has once again come into contact with a greater crypto market sell-off slashing its price by more than $1,000.
On May. 17 at 2:00 UTC, bitcoin (BTC) dropped by 16.7 percent to find a bid below $7,000 at $6,600 before rising once more on the back of high volatility, moving above $7,000 to where it currently sits at $7,300, according to CoinMarketCap and CoinDesk data.
In the last 24 hours, bitcoin's market capitalization also dropped more than $10 billion over a 24-hour period. However, BTC remains positive over a 7-day period, up $14 billion on the week amid high volatility and market disagreements on its true price.
The reasons for the sell-off could be attributed to large sell-orders liquidating numerous stop-loss positions and invoking general panic amongst traders.
Indeed a sell-order on the Bitstamp exchange for example, of 3,645 BTC or $26.8 million in US dollar terms, was executed at around 02:00 UTC on May 17 and could have been one of the major causes for a dip below $7,000.
It's no small secret that when bitcoin moves in value, the rest of the crypto markets may also do so as seen by a large capitulation in daily prices which are currently down between 11 and 22 percent amongst the top 100 at CoinMarketCap.
Ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin (LTC) all suffered similar losses losing between 8 and 16 percent in value while stellar (XLM), XRP and cardano (ADA) were the hardest hit in the top 10 by market capitalization, dropping 16.3, 16.5, 16.7 percent respectively.
The total crypto market capitalization also took a hit dropping more than $29 billion over the last 24-hours hinting at investor uncertainty as they transition to the sidelines to await bitcoin's next move.
Disclosure: The author holds USDT at the time of writing.
Above $7.5K: Bitcoin Price Hits Highest Level Since August 2018
Bitcoin's price rose above $7,500 Sunday for the first time in over nine months, a move that marked a resurgence in the crypto market at large.
The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which accounts for more than half of all the total cryptocurrency market, jumped to $7,577 at 13:36 GMT – the highest price since August 2, 2018, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).
The surge, however, seems to have slightly cooled off thereafter, with the price currently trading at $7,100, suggesting the market considered the asset overbought.
The move to nine-month highs has come a day after the last remnants of bearish sentiment were snuffed out, and the trend appeared to switch to a long-term bull market. Notably, the price rally was also accompanied by a surge in 24-hour trading volumes to a record high of $29.33 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
However, its "Real 10" volume – a metric that takes into account trading volume from exchanges reporting honest volume figures as identified in a report by Bitwise Asset Management – currently stands at $1.87 billion, according to Messari.io.
Further, still, bitcoin's dominance rate, a measure of its market share versus that of other cryptocurrencies, has hit a 17-month high of 59 percent, indicating the broader market has lagged the recent bitcoin price rally.
But bitcoin's dominance rate may drop in the coming days, as the alternative cryptocurrencies are beginning to show signs of life, with names like bitcoin cash, tezos and bitcoin gold flashing double-digit gains at press time.
Meanwhile, other highly ranked cryptocurrencies like litecoin, EOS, XRP, and Binance coin have gained 6 to 9 percent each on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinMarketCap.
What's more, the total market capitalization has risen to a six-month high of $219 billion, while the market capitalization of altcoins has witnessed a flag breakout – a bullish continuation pattern – indicating better days ahead for the alternative cryptocurrencies in general.
Above $6,000: Bitcoin's Price Spikes to 6-Month High
May 8, 2019 by Sebastian Sinclair
Bitcoin's price rose above $6,000 on most cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time today in nearly six months.
At 00:57 UTC on Thursday, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which accounts for more than half of all other cryptocurrencies combined, picked up a bid and saw its price reach as high as $6,076 – its highest price since Nov. 14, 2018.
At the time of writing, bitcoin's surge has slightly cooled off, now trading across exchanges at an average price of $6,045, according to CoinDesk's price data.
In another first since last November, bitcoin's market capitalization rose above $100 billion, $1.45 billion or 1.39 percent of which entered the market in the last 24 hours.
Further still, bitcoin's dominance rate, a measure of its market share versus that of other cryptocurrencies, hit its highest point in nearly eight months at 56.8 percent – its biggest reading since Sept. 13, 2018, based on data from CoinMarketCap.
According to data from Messari.io, bitcoin's total trading volume across exchanges today exceeded $15.5 billion, yet its "Real 10" volume – a metric that takes into account trading volume from the only 10 exchanges reporting honest volume figures as identified in a report by Bitwise Asset Management – reveals a seemingly more accurate 24-hour volume figure may be closer to $15.3 billion.
When bitcoin's price moves emphatically in a particular direction, the U.S. dollar value of most other cryptocurrencies tends to follow suit, and the developments today were no exception.
Other highly ranked cryptos in terms of market cap like Ether (ETH), EOS (EOS), and Cardano (ADA) are all reporting 24-hour gains above two percent, while bitcoin is leading the top 10 cryptocurrencies, currently boasting an increase of 3.64 percent.
Overall the total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market increased roughly by $5.4 billion during today's rally to where it now stands now at a value of $189.1 billion. Indeed, the value of the broader market is making substantial progress in recouping the losses endured throughout 2018, but is still down 78.1 percent from its all-time high of $835 billion recorded on January 7, 2018.
How Crypto Markets Are Reacting to the Tether-Bitfinex Allegations
April 25, 2019 by Sebastian Sinclair
The cryptocurrency markets endured a loss of as much as $10 billion around 21:00 UTC on Thursday, following allegations that the Bitfinex exchange covered up an $850 million shortfall using the U.S. dollar-pegged Tether (USDT) stablecoin.
The New York Attorney General's office alleged in a statement on Thursday that Bitfinex lost $850 million and used customer and corporate funds from the affiliated stablecoin operator Tether in a coverup.
The allegations appear to have affected USDT's peg to the U.S. dollars, and have shaken market confidence that triggered an overall sell-off with larger cryptos by market cap such as ether and XRP down 6.99 and 4.8 percent, respectively.
Based on data from CoinMarketCap, the overall crypto market's capitalization dropped by $10 billion to as low as $167 billion around early Friday morning UTC time, and has since then climbed back above $172 billion as of press time.
Daily chart – Tether
At 21:00 UTC on Thursday, the price of USDT began to fall from the desired set price of $1.00 to as low as around $0.955, according to data from the Kraken and OKCoin U.S exchanges – the two that provide trading pair for USDT against the U.S. dollars.
The USDT price has since then climbed back and is currently changing hands around $0.97 on both Kraken and OKCoin, and may see further price uncertainty as the day continues to develop.
Other stablecoin assets such as USDC, TrueUSD and GUSD are all in the green up between 0.25 and 3 percent as a result of shifting investor funds toward some of the other more regulated alternatives.
Interestingly, Maker (MKR), the crypto asset behind the MakerDAO stablecoin project is down 14.65 percent over a 24-hour period, having dropped $73 in value and is currently the worst performer among the top 25 crypto. All despite recent upgrades to stabilize its value through a fee increase.
Daily chart – Other markets
Meanwhile, as seen above, the reaction to the Bitfinex and tether allegations has been negative with the majority of cryptocurrencies flashing red today.
Bitcoin has since recovered slightly and is changing hands at $5,138 after dropping to a low of $4,953 on the Coinbase exchange late Thursday.
And Whale Alert, a Twitter service that monitors blockchain transactions, notified that hours after the news, 3,999 bitcoin, which was worth $20 million, got moved out from Bitfinex's exchange wallets to unknown addresses.
Such recent moves are indicative of trader's sentiment who are currently seeking to reduce their risk by transferring funds away from the allegedly troubled exchange.
However, others have fared better than some with the majority of stablecoins seeing upside action as investors shift their preference away from Tether to other viable options such as Circle's USDC or Gemini's GUSD.
Ether is today's worst performing asset amongst the top 3 major networks, down 6.91 percent and is struggling to find a strong bid beyond $152 after falling from $165 at 21:00 UTC yesterday.
Untethered image via Shutterstock; charts via TradingView
Bitcoin's Price Climbs Above $5,500 to Reach 5-Month High
Bitcoin's price extended its recent gains today by spiking above $5,500 for the first time in over five months.
At 04:00 UTC, the world's premier cryptocurrency, whose market capitalization accounts for more than half of all other cryptocurrencies combined, picked up a bid and saw its price climb as high as $5,650 in less than 10 minutes on April 23 – its highest price since Nov. 18, 2018.
At the time of writing, bitcoin's price has since pulled back slightly, now trading across exchanges at an average price of $5,586, according to CoinDesk's price data.
Also up roughly 1.48 percent on the day, bitcoin's individual market capitalization rose to its highest value since mid-November of $96.9 billion while its percent share of the broader cryptocurrency market, also known as its "dominance rate," currently records 53.2 percent, according to CoinMarketCap.
CoinMarketCap data also reveals the cryptocurrency's exchange trade volume reached 15 billion in the last 24 hours, yet those figures may be misleading as suggested by a recent report from asset management firm Bitwise, which identified 95 percent of the reported trading volume on CoinMarketCap to be fake, with only 10 exchanges reporting honest figures.
These 10 exchanges combined, which include the likes Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp and more, reported $14.95 billion worth of total bitcoin trading volume in 24-hours time, according to Messari.io.
Generally accompanied by a strong move in bitcoin's price are similar movements to the USD value of most other cryptocurrencies.
Indeed, the broader market is flashing green today with nine of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap rank reporting gains above two percent, the strongest performer of which, Cardano (ADA), is now up 9.71 percent on the day (CoinDesk data).
In all, the total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market increased roughly 6.3 billion during today's rally and now registers $184.3 million, down roughly 78.2 percent from it's all time high of $835 billion achieved on January 7, 2018, Coinmarketcap data further reveals.
Bitcoin image via Shutterstock; charts via TradingView
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A Rapid Implementation of ERP Financials at BLD Brands
The implementation of any complex, enterprise-wide system can be fraught with difficulties. Installations can take more than a year and, in some cases, never work as advertised.
So it was encouraging to hear about a company of 3,700 workers and 134 locations implementing a suite of financial modules in less than three months.
That was the case at BLD Brands, where the new CEO, his team, and a value-added reseller (VAR) accomplished that task in a remarkable two months and 11 days in 2017, when they implemented the ERP financial system from Acumatica.
At Acumatica's recent customer conference, Andy Gale (pictured), the CEO and CFO of BLD Brands, a large restaurant management group, told us the story of how he and his team did it. (For more on Acumatica, see Acumatica Continues Expansion of Industry-Specific ERP.)
BLD Brands is the result of many acquisitions and includes 134 restaurants in 10 states. It includes three major brands, including one that is a large franchisee of two well-known restaurants, Papa John's and Hardee's. The firm also has its own brand, Spaghetti Warehouse. BLD Brands is headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif.
Gale, 58, joined BLD Brands in 2017. The experienced CEO has an extensive background in manufacturing and has installed 11 ERP systems at his former companies. BLD's search for a new ERP system was prompted by its inability to go through with a new acquisition due to limitations of its existing systems landscape, Gale said:
"About 15 months ago, BLD Brands was in discussions to purchase another large restaurant group, with about 100 locations. It was going to double the business in terms of revenue. And literally, days before the closing, the founder of our company backed out of the deal. There were a couple of reasons, but one of the top three reasons was he realized we did not have the solid infrastructure within the organization that would have supported bringing on an acquisition of that size."
'Couldn't Have Made It More Complex if You Tried'
Gale did not yet work for BLD Brands at the time, but he knew the founder through a CEO group. While in the group, Gale had been advising the founder.
"Looking in from the outside, one of the things that I discovered is that the company was running on an old, unsupported version of Sage Pro. Because of the acquisitions, BLD Brands was running on eight different charts of accounts and four different accounting calendars. You probably couldn't have made it more complex if you tried.
"I told him early on that we need to get on a modern system. And we need to harmonize all this stuff and get everything cleaned up so that we take away a lot of the complexity of the business. Because we're continuing discussions to acquire other businesses, we just want to make sure that we're keeping that backroom function relatively flat and not having to just continue to balloon the headquarters staff."
Gale had gone through many implementations in his previous jobs, including installations of Infor SyteLine, Infor VISUAL, SAP, JobBOSS, Jobscope, and, going way back, ASK Manman. At his new job, Gale saw an opportunity for a broader ERP footprint:
"In all those other implementations, the needs of manufacturing were really the driving force, and then you kind of got whatever financials you got. So, now this is the first time of really looking at it and saying, 'Hey, I wonder what it would look like getting world-class financials.' And then also knowing that in the restaurant industry, it's very technology driven, especially when you get to our size. So, we wanted to find a foundational platform with the ERP system at the heart of it that would be a good, solid package."
'Getting Back to Par'
Gale evaluated several ERP systems at BLD Brands. In addition to Seattle-based Acumatica, he considered NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and Intacct. The initial implementation started in the summer of 2017 and went live with the first phase in less than three months—a remarkable achievement.
"We started July 15th and we went live September 26th. And you always have to define, what does implementation mean? For us, implementation meant basically getting back to par. Meaning that we wanted to make sure we didn't lose any functionality in the process. So we wanted to be able to have our financials up and running. We want to be able to do all of our normal AP. Kind of the routine stuff. Be able to generate financial statements and kind of what I would consider to be relatively basic financial stuff."
It was definitely an all-hands-to-the-pump effort. Gale asked his major team members to work long hours and hired a few temps to assist in data input. He also brought in his former IT manager to assist on the project. The two have worked together a total of 22 years, have done five ERP implementations together, and are "very familiar with each other's expectations," he said. The IT manager has since been hired by Premier Computing, the Acumatica VAR that helped with the project. Gale and the IT manager ran the evaluation and selection process.
"I mapped all the old account structures to the new map before starting the implementation. He converted the historical GL data to the new map once we started the implementation process. Most of the project consisted of setting up the accounts, subaccounts, and intercompany structure with a lot of guidance from the VAR. We also harmonized eight different vendor masters into one, which was a major manual process with nearly 3,000 vendors."
Getting the data cleaned up for the new system was a challenge. BLD Brands came into existence through acquisitions, which resulted in siloed data.
"We did prep work on our own end. Because we were going from eight charts of accounts to one, and four accounting calendars to one, we actually took 10-years worth of financial history and mapped it outside of Acumatica so that we brought it into Acumatica clean. That was a lot of work."
Asked how the speed of this implementation ranked with the others he's done, Gale said this was the fastest. "All of my previous projects involved manufacturing modules which required more setup," he said. Previously, his fastest implementation was four months. The BLD project is quite an achievement, considering that Gale has given access to the system to all 134 store managers and another 30-plus field-based managers.
Focus on the Implementation
In his long career as a CEO of manufacturing companies, Gale learned a valuable lessen: How an ERP system is implemented is as important as its capabilities.
"I've seen this over and over again. I come into a business that has a system in place, and everybody hates the system. I did it with JobBOSS, I did it with ASK Manman, I did it with Jobscope. I came in and everybody was cursing the ERP system, and I looked at them and I said, 'Yeah, well you've done a crap implementation.' And we re-implemented and ended up getting a lot more functionality."
Asked to expand on what a bad implementation looks like, Gale said:
"Most have been the result of inadequate training post-implementation. Everyone does the training up front, but not many invest in training after going live. My experience is that 50%-plus of the initial training is forgotten as people focus on the basics of bringing the system up. They then fail to fully implement the value-added features that led to the decision to upgrade."
There is still work to be done. Gale described the implementation process as "crawl, walk, run," and BLD Brands is still in the crawl stage. After that stage, he will layer in additional capabilities that the company does not yet use, such as dashboards, mobile apps, and some of the more advanced features within the financials. After that, he says he will embrace more advanced capabilities such as PowerBI and analytics.
Asked how he likes Acumatica, Gale said simply: "It's way better than I thought it would be."
With more than 130 locations and 3,700 employees, BLD Brands is quite a bit larger than Acumatica's typical customer, which often has fewer than 100 employees. Nevertheless, BLD's success shows that the combination of cloud ERP with experienced project leadership and a focused team effort can lead to rapid and successful implementation, even in larger companies.
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Lucy is a freshman in the college studying environmental biology. She enjoys playing guitar and bass, and watching other people play guitar and bass. It's hard for her to choose a favorite artist, but she's a big fan of First Aid Kit, The Dixie Chicks, and Justin Bieber.
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Single Family in Vernon Twp.
Contemporary Styled Cape with cathedral ceilings, freshly painted and move in ready. Hardwood floors, sliders to deck overlooking woodlands. Finished walk out basement. Nice lot & neighborhood.
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Two hectic games on Sunday afternoon Sept 29 provided the crowd with entertainment and lots to talk about in the Hong Kong Hockey Association Premier Division.
Following on from two fairly uneventful matches between Punjab-A and SSSC-B, and KCC-A against Elite-A, which ended in wins for Punjab (4-1) and KCC (5-1), the stadium burst into life for the SSSC-A against Valley-A game.
Then Shaheen and Khalsa took the energy in the stadium to a higher level still when they played out a 5-all draw.
Bullets (SSSC-A) shot out of the starting gate and were one goal to the good in just the first few minutes of the match. They looked like continuing in that vein with long accurate passes up field and good skills by the attackers, but gradually Valley got themselves organised.
Valley adapted to the pace and started to nullify the SSSC-A play, scoring an equaliser before half time.
The match was very frantic, arguing with the umpires was common and there was a lot of shouting from the crowd over penalty corner decisions. Valley drew away 4-2 in the second half, but SSSC-A pushing hard pulled another goal back just before the end to make the final result 4-3 to Valley.
After the match Valley-A coach, Mark Kake gave his impression of the game to the Epoch Times.
"We conceded that one at the end but by then I think the guys knew they were home with only a minute or 30 seconds to go," said Kake.
"Pretty brutal, clash of styles, structure against five up-five back, but it was always going to be physical," he admitted.
After Shaheen's victory last week over SSSC-A all eyes were on Shaheen to see how they might fare against last year's league champions Khalsa. Before the match a staunch Khalsa supporter Jagdev Singh assessed the game as 50-50, which was quite surprising as I estimated 60-40 or even 70-30 in favour of the champions.
Khalsa played some superb hockey in the first half, but missed quite a few chances on the Shaheen goal. Top players for Khalsa got into good scoring positions, but the ball just slipped past the posts until Ahmed Ewis had a penalty corner chance, which he drag flicked into the top corner.
The scoreline was 2-1 to Khalsa-A at half time and Khalsa added another soon after the start of the second half. But Shaheen had an inspired period of play getting three goals in 10 minutes to take the lead at 4-3, with Shaheen veteran Asghar Ali cutting through the Khalsa defence to secure two super scores.
The supporters of both sides were on fire with the game in the balance.
Khalsa brought the score back to 4-4 with a controversial goal, which held up play for some minutes, but by then Khalsa had lost their normal controlled shape and passes were going astray.
Shaheen added another from a short corner with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, but a short corner to Khalsa gave Ahmed Ewis another shot pushing the final score to 5-5.
Gurcharan Singh the Khalsa team manager was obviously disappointed to drop points.
"We have to rectify the mistakes we made today and we will rectify them," Singh told the Epoch Times.
"The umpiring was not up to standard and they made the game so much of a panic," he continued.
He conceded that Shaheen are improving, but the umpiring was still on his mind.
"Shaheen have got some good players coming up, but the umpires called the day today,' he concluded.
Arif Ali of Shaheen showed his obvious delight after the match.
"… getting a draw against Khalsa is fantastic especially that we have such a young and very determined group," Ali told the Epoch Times.
"I think from the first game, when we beat Pakistan and last week when we beat SSSC-A, everyone's confidence is really high up.
"It is not only good for us, but it is good for Hong Kong hockey.
"There are so many players to choose from now for the Hong Kong team, so it is really great," Ali explained.
"The umpires did make a lot of mistakes, but what can we do? We just keep playing and staying focussed," he added.
In the two matches played at the Football Club: HKFC-B narrowly defeated KNS-A 4-3 and HKFC-A had an easy 8-1 win over Pak-A.
Although KNS-A have yet to score a point, it looks like their level is fairly up to standard with a good chance of improving as the season progresses.
Pak-A on the other hand seem to be struggling without their stalwart goal scoring machine Ishtiaq Ahmed, who moved to Khalsa for this season.
After Week 3, the top six teams are HKFC-A and Punjab-A on nine points, Khalsa and Shaheen are both on seven points, with Valley and SSSC-B both on six points.
HKFC-B won their match against the Dutch Club 3-0 after being 1-0 up at half time, but it was quite an equal game and the Dutch players held their own very well. They had some good chances in front of goal but HKFC-B's new American College goalkeeper put on a good performance stopping the Dutch club from scoring.
The men's and women's premier fixtures now take a break as many players are away at the East Asian Games. The ladies have three matches planned on Saturday Oct 19, but the men do not restart until Sunday Oct 27.
Exceptions to this are: HKFC-B vs Recreio-A on Saturday Oct 5 and SSSC-B men play their club-mates SSSC-A on Oct 20.
Preliminary rounds of the East Asian Games hockey tournament in Tianjin, China start on Oct 6. All of the Hong Kong squads are eager to participate and have high hopes of a medal.
The Hong Kong women start against Japan on Sunday Oct 6, they then play Chinese Taipei on Tuesday Oct 8 and China on Thursday Oct 10. There are then finals for 1-2 and 3-4 places on Saturday Oct 12.
China, Korea and Japan are currently 7, 8 and 9 respectively in the FIH world rankings. HK women's are ranked 53rd.
The Hong Kong men also start their round robin matches against Japan, but on Monday Oct 7, followed by China on Wednesday Oct 9 and Korea on Friday Oct 11. The finals for places 1-2 and 3-4 take place on Sunday Oct 13.
The top three in FIH rankings are Korea (= 6), Japan (16) and China (18). HK men's are ranked 42nd.
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What are the technical difficulties of metal laser cutting machine cutting thick plates
by:Caodahai 2021-09-20
Many metal materials need to be processed before they can be used in production activities. Some of these metals are thick plates, which are more difficult to process than thin plates. So what are the technical difficulties when using a metal laser cutting machine to cut thick plates? Let's take a look. Metal laser cutting machine has the following technical difficulties in cutting thick plates: First, it is difficult to maintain the quasi-steady state combustion process. In the actual cutting process of the metal laser cutting machine, the thickness of the plate that can be cut through is limited, which is closely related to the inability of the cutting front iron to burn stably. For the combustion process to continue, the temperature at the top of the slit must reach the ignition point. The energy released by the iron-oxygen combustion reaction alone cannot actually ensure the continuous combustion process. On the one hand, due to the continuous cooling of the cutting seam by the oxygen stream sprayed from the nozzle, the temperature of the cutting front is reduced; on the other hand, the ferrous oxide layer formed by combustion covers the surface of the workpiece and hinders the diffusion of oxygen. When the concentration of oxygen decreases At a certain level, the combustion process will be extinguished. When using traditional convergent beams for laser cutting, the area where the laser beam acts on the surface is very small. Due to the high laser power density, not only the area where the laser is irradiated, the surface temperature of the workpiece has reached the ignition point, but also due to heat conduction, the area is wider. The area reached the ignition temperature. The diameter of the oxygen flow acting on the surface of the workpiece is larger than the diameter of the laser beam. This indicates that not only a strong combustion reaction takes place in the laser radiation area, but also combustion occurs at the same time in the periphery of the laser beam irradiated spot. When cutting thick plates, the cutting speed is quite slow, and the speed of iron oxygen combustion on the surface of the workpiece is faster than the speed of the cutting head. After the combustion continues for a period of time, the combustion process is extinguished due to the decrease in oxygen concentration. Only when the cutting head travels to this position, the combustion reaction restarts. The combustion process of the cutting front is carried out periodically, which will cause temperature fluctuations at the cutting front and deteriorate the quality of the cut. Another difficulty is that it is difficult to maintain a constant oxygen purity and pressure in the thickness direction. When cutting thick plates with a metal laser cutting machine, the decrease in oxygen purity is also an important factor affecting the quality of the cut. The purity of the oxygen stream has a strong influence on the cutting process. When the purity of the oxygen stream decreases by 0.9%, the iron-oxygen combustion rate will decrease by 10%; when the purity decreases by 5%, the combustion rate will decrease by 37%. The decrease in the burning rate will greatly reduce the energy input into the kerf during the combustion process and reduce the cutting speed. At the same time, the iron content in the liquid layer of the cutting surface will increase, which will increase the viscosity of the slag and make it difficult to discharge the slag. Severe dross will appear in the lower part, making the quality of the cut unacceptable. In order to keep the cutting stable, it is required that the purity and pressure of the cutting oxygen flow in the thickness direction of the plate be kept basically constant. In the traditional laser cutting process, common cone nozzles are often used, which can meet the requirements for use in thin plate cutting. However, when cutting thick plates, as the air supply pressure increases, shock waves are easily formed in the nozzle flow field. The shock waves have many harms to the cutting process, reducing the purity of the oxygen flow and affecting the quality of the cut. Wuhan Gaoneng Laser Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise integrating Ru0026D, production and sales of professional laser complete sets of equipment. Not only successfully developed laser equipment with advanced technology, but also used self-support import and export rights to promote products to more than forty global products including Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Jordan, etc. nation.
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\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}
The evolutionary sequence from ULIRGs to quasars (Sanders 1999, \& Sanders 2003 for reviews) has become a popular, though controversial, theory. Numerous publications deal with the AGN components and the merger morphologies at the ULIRG stage. But the starburst properties and merger signs of post-ULIRG quasars have hardly been addressed.
\newline
Evans et al. (2001) investigated the total molecular gas content of infrared-bright, optically selected QSOs. These galaxies may evolve out of ULIRGs and show systematically higher infrared-to-CO luminosity ratios compared to the majority of apparently quiescent galaxies (i.e. with no obvious AGN) with similarly high infrared luminosity. This lead Evans et al. (2001) to the interpretation that their selected sources may show a strong AGN heated dust contribution to the infrared luminosity. An alternative explanation would be an increase in star formation efficiency, i.e. star formation rate with respect to the total amount of molecular gas available. The latter is traced by the CO rotational line transitions.\newline
To test which scenario is more important an independent check of the star formation efficiency has to be performed. Gao \& Solomon (2004; GS04) investigated a large sample of 65 nearby galaxies, covering three orders of magnitude of infrared luminosity L$_{IR}$ up to the ULIRG regime (L$_{IR}$ $> 10^{12}$ L$_\odot$). They studied the HCN content and established that the {\em dense} gas tracer HCN is tightly correlated to the SFR by L$_{IR}$/L$_{HCN}$=900~L$_\odot$(K km s$^{-1}$pc$^2$)$^{-1}$. A similar correlation between SFR as traced by L$_{IR}$ and the {\em total} molecular gas content traced by L$_{CO}$ breaks down towards the high infrared luminosities of ULIRGs (L$_{IR}$/L$_{CO}$=33~L$_\odot$(K km s$^{-1}$pc$^2$)$^{-1}$). GS04 concluded in their study that the global HCN/CO line intensity ratio is a strong starburst indicator.
\newline
By applying this indicator to their sample the total infrared luminosity could be assigned to starburst activity, excluding AGN heated dust. This holds for the entire sample, including the most infrared luminous ULIRGs. \newline
Thus the ULIRG phenomenon in nearby galaxies without indications for nuclear activity from other wavelength regimes appears to result exclusively from enhanced star formation efficiency (SFE). The question of AGN contribution to L$_{IR}$ remains open for infrared bright QSO+hostgalaxy systems, which are shown to harbour an AGN in the optical wavelength regime.
\newline To combine the findings of Evans et al. (2001) and GS04, we have observed the two CO-brightest infrared-excess QSOs (PG0838+770 and PG1415+451) of the sample of Evans et al. (2001) in the rotational line transition of HCN(J=1-0) to trace the star formation efficiency and star burst contribution to the infrared luminosity in these galaxies. Both sources have IR luminosities in the LIRG range (10$^{11} \le $ L$_\odot$ $\le$ 10$^{12}$). Haas et al. 2003 have classified them within a wide-range spectral energy distribution survey to be evolved quasars between the ULIRG and old quasars stage.
Thus the selected targets are ideal to complement the normal-to-(U)LIRG findings of GS04 with similar observations of quasar hosts.
\section{Observations and Results}
\label{sec:obs}
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=12cm]{images/HCNdata2.eps}
\caption{HCN in PG0838+770 (left):1$\sigma$=3.5~mJy and PG1415+451 (right): 1$\sigma$=6~mJy}
\label{fig:1}%
\end{figure*}
The observations were carried out in June 2005 using the IRAM 30 meter
radiotelescope on Pico Veleta, near Granada, Spain.
Weather conditions were good during the run with typical
system temperatures of 150-250 K and the 3mm opacity at zenith was
$0.05 \le \tau_{zen} \le 0.1$. Because the (redshifted) observing frequencies fall outside the standard tuning range of the
receivers, we made use of the recently offered workaround requiring a
non-standard tuning of the 3mm receivers with the 1mm local
oscillators. A freqency tuning test on the giant molecular cloud Sgr B2 was successfully performed. More details about the observational setup used will be published soon (Pott et al., in prep.)\newline
Our observed spectra and the signal-to-noise ratio achieved are shown in Fig.\ref{fig:1}.
We did not detect any HCN(J=1-0) line emission in both galaxies at the given noise level. Because the redshifts have been confirmed spectroscopically by the preceding CO observations, we can derive upper limits on basis of the CO findings. Assuming a linewidth similar to that of CO we derive the following 3$\sigma$ upper limits to the luminosity of the HCN(J=1-0) rotational line transition:
$$ L'_{{\rm HCN}}({\rm 0838})\,\le \,10\cdot 10^8\,{\rm K\,km\,s^{-1}\,pc^2}; L'_{{\rm HCN}}({\rm 1415})\,\le \,\,7 \cdot 10^8\,{\rm K\,km\,s^{-1}\,pc^2}$$
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[height=5cm]{images/IR_HCN2.eps}
\caption{Here our upper limits (arrows) are confronted with the data published in GS04. The definition of L$_{\rm IR}$ and L$_{\rm FIR}$ can be found e.g. in Sanders et al. 2003 and references therein. The size of the crosses is of the order of the uncertainties. }
\label{fig:2}%
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[height=4cm]{images/IR_FIR2.eps}
\caption{This luminosity ratio indicates an additional AGN heated near-infrared component in the observed quasar hosts, in contrast to the majority of the nearby quiescent quasars, including ULIRGs. NGC~1068, known to bear an AGN, lies between the observed quasars.}
\label{fig:3}%
\end{figure*}
\section{Summary}
\label{sec:sum}
In Fig.\ref{fig:2} these luminosity limits are put in the context of the galaxy sample, observed by GS04. Our upper limits (as illustrated by arrows) indicate general agreement with the results of the reference sample. With the published CO luminosities we have calculated an upper limit of the HCN(1-0)-to-CO(1-0) luminosity ratio of about 0.5 for the observed quasar hosts. Similar investigations in nearby galaxies found ratios around 0.05 for normal galaxies and values increased up to 0.3 in ULIRGs and in the centers of Seyferts (GS04, Kohno et al. 2003). Recent investigations revealed abnormally high {\em local} ratios larger than 0.5 very close to AGNs (e.g. NGC~1068; Usero et al. 2004), suggesting that here the HCN is excited by the AGN emission rather than by starbursts. Assuming similar excitation mechanisms close to a QSO, we can exclude, that the AGN in our observed QSOs is dominating the whole galaxy in a way, that {\em global} HCN/CO ratios above 0.5 appear.
\newline
In Fig.\ref{fig:3} we plotted the IR-to-FIR luminosity ratio of the investigated galaxies. Here the distinct ratio seen for the quasar hosts is obvious. Only the known active galaxy of Seyfert II type, NGC~1068, shows similar flux ratios. This suggests, that the complete IR luminosity (8-1000~$\mu$m) of quasar hosts comprises a significant contribution of hot dust which is not apparent in non-active galaxies, even in the ULIRG stage. The central AGN is most probably responsible for that contribution. Similarly the {\em global} L$_{\rm FIR}$-HCN ratio in NGC~1068 seems to be smaller than usual (Fig.\ref{fig:2}), indicating an additional HCN excitation by the AGN. This has an impact on the design of future studies of quasar hosts. If the HCN/CO ratio is indeed a good tracer for the star formation efficiency, the HCN luminosity should be tightly correlated only to the L$_{\rm FIR}$ in quasar host, whereas the AGN contribution to the L$_{\rm IR}$ breaks up a similar correlation. On the other hand an additional excitation by the AGN would favour a break up of the L$_{\rm FIR}$-HCN correlation.
In the near future we will broaden our sample to increase the statistical significance of our findings.
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Greensboro - The N.C. Department of Transportation will hold an informal public meeting next month regarding the proposed improvements to two intersections on U.S. 70. at St. Marks Church Road and Graham-Hopedale Road in Burlington.
The public meeting will take place on Thursday, May 19 at the Historic Burlington Depot at 200 South Main Street in Burlington from 4 to 7 p.m.
Interested citizens may attend at any time during the meeting hours. NCDOT representatives will be available to answer questions and listen to comments regarding the project. Please note that no formal presentation will be made. Citizens will also have the opportunity to submit comments and questions in writing. All written comments and questions should be submitted no later than Thursday, June 2, 2016.
Anyone desiring additional information may contact Division Design Construction Engineer Chris Smitherman by mail: at 1584 Yanceyville Street, Greensboro, N.C. 27415-4996, by phone: (336) 487-0075 or by e-mail: at csmitherman@ncdot.gov.
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A guild dedicated to promoting medieval metal working and woodworking skills.
Meeting at The Art Studio the first Saturday of the month.
Location: The Art Studio, 720 Franklin Street, Beaumont. Inside the red brick building at 720 address is air-conditioned classroom. Next door is white building, production workshop, where blacksmithing and carpentry happen, with cooking on that shaded loading dock.
Date: 1st Saturday of a month, Sawdust and Steel workers are joined by Cooks Guild.
Time: In hot months, meet at 10:AM to beat the heat. In cooler months, 2:00 PM.
Everyone is welcome to attend any guild gathering!
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Challenge 1: Circumnavigate the planet.
This challenge has been successfully completed! I made it all the way around!
Challenge 2: Do so using only my bicycle (or perhaps bicycles) overland and boats on water (No planes, no buses, no trains, no cars).
This task has also now been completed! I had to restart the attempt in Mori, Western China in October 2014. On 8th February 2018 we returned to Mori, completing a continuous circumnavigation entirely by bicycle and boats!
Challenge 3: Pass through antipodal points.
Challenge 4: Visit all the inhabited continents.
Europe, Asia, Australia and North America have been well and truly visited. South America and Africa are in our sights. Antarctica is unikely.
Challenge 5: Cycle at least 100,000 kilometres.
Challenge 6: Cycle in 100 countries (UN member states).
1. France. 2. Belgium. 3. Luxembourg. 4. Germany. 5. Netherlands. 6. Denmark. 7. Sweden. 8. Norway. 9. Finland. 10. Russia. 11. Estonia. 12. Latvia. 13. Lithuania. 14. Poland. 15. Belarus.16. Czech Republic. 17. Austria. 18. Liechtenstein. 19. Switzerland. 20. Slovakia. 21. Hungary. 22. Ukraine. 23. Moldova. 24. Romania. 25. Bulgaria. 26. Turkey. 27. Georgia. 28. Azerbaijan. 29. Armenia. 30. Iran. 31. Turkmenistan. 32. Uzbekistan. 33. Tajikistan. 34. Kyrgyzstan. 35. Kazakhstan. 36. Mongolia. 37. China. 38. Laos. 39. Thailand. 40. Vietnam. 41. Cambodia. 42. Malaysia. 43. Singapore. 44. Indonesia. 45. Australia. 46. Vanuatu. 47. Fiji. 48. United States of America. 49. Canada. 50. United Kingdom. 51. Ireland. 52. Italy. 53. San Marino. 54. Slovenia. 55. Croatia. 56. Bosnia and Herzegovnia. 57. Montenegro. 58. Albania. 59. Macedonia. 60. Serbia. 61. Greece. 62. South Korea. 63. Japan. 64. Mexico. 65. Guatemala. 66. Belize. 67. El Salvador.
Challenge 7: Return with more money than I start with.
Well, I don't want to give away the exact details of my bank balance, but thanks to relatively good sales of No Wrong Turns and Into the Sunrise I've got a chance.
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Category Archive News
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World innovation for mobile and modular energy storage raised bed systems and urban tree plantations
The founder of the Leipzig palm startup and Urban Greening Camp for greening and vertical farming developed a world innovation to improve urban habitats. This innovation called 'Energy Storage Tree' can reduce costs of tree planting in cities and generally make urban greening more efficient and cost-effective. It involves innovative, mobile, modular, energy- and water-saving raised bed systems. Extensive concepts have been developed for initial energy storage raised bed systems. These mobile and modular raised bed systems for sustainable recreation, energy and water storage will make urban regions, large cities, small towns but also rural areas more livable. In fact, the raised beds can also be placed in village squares, tram or train stations and bus stops. Several innovations are combined in one general raised bed system and charging station. Energy and water storage enables sustainable and environmentally friendly operation. Ecological components, durability and low maintenance allows very efficient and long operation for decades – at least with minor corrections or repairs every few years. More details on the most important points will follow on the social and project pages. A comprehensive description of the basic concept and the standard variant were already published in August 2021.
The raised bed system is an energy storage station, a space or place to relax and recharge the batteries. The raised bed is equipped with small-growing tree species up to 5m. The special construction and processing of weather-resistant woods allow a long standing time, of course, it varies depending on the stand and location. The stability is increased by extra reinforced outer walls and inner walls with squared lumber in the corners, it is just taken usual measures for stabilization as it is common for raised bed construction. Due to the scalability, it can also be planted with many flowers, bushes, herbs and special shrubs or larger trees. The raised bed provides enough space and sufficient watering for the plants to grow well, also by good energy and atmosphere.
The standard dimensions for the standard design of the basic raised bed construction is 1.20×1.20×1.20m. The minimum basic or standard equipment consists of a mobile raised bed with foldable, robust and weather-resistant wooden benches or painted chipboard. If possible, the woods are treated with ecological or environmentally friendly varnishes or oils. The benches have a small angle of inclination towards the raised bed, so that rainwater can flow into the raised bed through latticed openings. All the inner sides of the raised bed are lined with pond liner and there are holes at the bottom as is common with large pots or planters. Below the raised bed there is an extra tray to catch rainwater. Excess water can drain down the side via drains a few inches above the bottom tray to prevent waterlogging in the raised bed, but at the same time water is available at the bottom for larger plants such as trees or shrubs. The lower compartment is accessible, the water can be drained at any time via a closable drain or water can be taken out for watering. The lowest side of the raised bed is extra reinforced with a solid plate, and is attached with rotating rollers with platforms made of metal or steel. Alternatively, a prefabricated rolling board can be attached at the bottom. These constructions provide extra stability and tilting of the raised bed becomes very unlikely, even with the simple standard variant, the raised bed stands firmly and stably. Due to the weight of the tree and the soil, the benches can be well loaded.
The extended standard variant contains three water reservoirs in the outer walls. One side has closable openings and extra compartments, the spaces between them are about 10-25cm wide, depending on the variant. The dimensions as well as designs are generally variable. Wide, high, rectangular or square raised beds can be made. Wide raised beds are suitable for shallow rooted plants and high ones for deep rooted plants. The benches or solar benches are set at about 50-60cm, so all people regardless of size can sit comfortably. Depending on the application, budget and location, smaller or larger raised bed systems are possible. Various casters can be attached or even replaced at the bottom of the solid top, depending on weight and size. Casters with locks and stoppers are available, or no casters for permanent and long-term installations. More details and sketches are in the utility model, concept and design papers.
Modular functions of the mobile raised bed allow a wide variation and a lot of additional applications. Lockable compartments and flaps provide access to spaces on the sides, for example, to perform cleaning, remove drains or add special fertilizer, mineral and water mixtures. The idea of give and take is harmoniously combined with the raised bed system. The spaces for the water storage tanks and lockable compartments for the modules are easily accessible and watertight. The modules such as adapters, energy storage, climate station and measuring devices are interchangeable – the latter are good for analyzing the tree or other plants, for example. The data can be retrieved, various devices and e-bikes can be charged via adapters. An expansion of the raised bed to include a mobile climate station for the city and regional climate would be conceivable, so like a connection to the power grid. The raised bed system will support the transition towards climate-neutral, greener and smarter cities and urban habitats. Sustainability and environmental awareness is additionally trained by the raised bed. The raised beds are also a meeting point for young people, pupils and students to get inspired by nature-based solutions and ideas. The raised bed system encourages raised bed construction at universities, schools and in school gardens.
Background on the sustainable and ecological developments
Ecological and recycled materials are preferred for raised bed construction. Inexpensive variants can even be realized with simple pallets or chipboard. These are previously oiled, painted or impregnated, as well as lined with pond liner so that they last for many years.
It took months and years to develop, studying raised beds and urban trees from around the world. The basic idea was born in 2017 and matured during the last months, the main reason and intention from the beginning was to make city tree planting more affordable, because especially in western countries like Germany a planting of a city tree can cost up to 3000 euros or even more – worldwide the price in big cities is at least around 1000 dollars. This was also one of the reasons to develop a mobile raised bed system which can reduce the price worldwide to far below 1000 dollars, depending on the country and material costs even below 300!
A raised bed for trees can of course also be realized with used barrels, rain barrels or IBC containers. This is especially suitable for communities and cities with little money, similar to poor regions in Africa or places with great poverty and poor soils. For this purpose, trees can even be kept for a few years in large sturdy garbage bags, as is done in some nurseries or tree plantations in developing countries.
The pattern of the simple standard variant of the raised bed system serves as a model for all cities in the world and is at the same time a good example for public use. More efficient and sustainable greening, resources and energy use is possible in the long run with different variants of the energy storage raised bed system. There is also some space under the raised bed, for example for stones. The concept and some design variants have been further developed by the Urban Greening Network project developer and founder of the new Leipzig palm startup since 2020. In August, final designs and excerpts from the general concept were published on various platforms and made available to the international community.
Urban Greening Camp in Leipzig for biodiversity conservation, cleantech, greentech and vertical farming
The world's first nursery and vertical farming startup for endangered tree species was started by the Leipzig Palms and Urban Greening Camp project. The urban gardening company is connected with the scientific and private project for vertical farming. It is an ongoing project development until we expand into bigger halls of the building and start with the urban farming facilities for special herbs and vegetables. First we have to test a lot of vertical farming and lighting systems. We will keep you updated here and on the other official pages and channels.
There are also good news during the crisis, such as the creation of a successful startup for urban greening, green and clean technologies combined with innovation and knowledge management. Urban agriculture and vertical farming as well as plant cultivation with hydroponics is traded by futurologists as the future of agriculture. This was also a reason to develop an extra Urban Greening Camp in Leipzig years ago and to build it up since 2020. In the run-up, the first tree and plant species have already been cultivated, including particularly endangered species. Herbs and medicinal plants will be cultivated in further grow rooms which are in preparation. There is actual no vertical farming company worldwide who combines biodiversity conservation, urban farming, tree cultivation and species protection. It is also a model project and pilot for various innovative developments — for a more ecological farming and sustainable forestry worldwide, we call it Ecosystem Restoration Systems. #ecorestorsys
Urban Greening Camp vertical farming startup example for endangered trees.
The greening camps will cultivate many native plants and important trees for agriculture and forestry. Cities will be supplied through home improvement stores and garden centers. The camps will simultaneously serve education and training, development and research. Urban and vertical farming is being taken very seriously in some major Asian cities, and complete greenhouse buildings (Urban / Vertical Farming Towers) are even being planned. With sufficient support, we can also realize a vertical greenhouse over several floors in Leipzig. The Urban Greening Camp will not only cultivate plants under artificial light, but also with direct daylight. Innovative solutions and developments in the field of aquaponics, hydroponics and optics will be developed and tested – barrels, canisters and water tanks are already available. A suitable building has already been occupied, and initial talks have been held with the owner. It is not just about endangered tree species, vegetables or a few herbs, but about professional greenhouse facilities, storage and logistic systems – which are also needed for some important species conservation projects. The Urban Greening Camp is a center for biodiversity and species conservation, not only locally or regionally but internationally! Many species conservationists, conservation organizations, botanists, botanical gardens and environmentalists have already been informed and invited. Berlin and Leipzig has many flat roofs, these should be used much more for rooftop greening and roof gardens.
The Urban Greening Camp and Leipzig Palm Project is a platform for cultural, socio-economic and scientific exchange, online as well as directly on site. Active participants are welcome to join the innovative developments and projects. The garden market and tree nursery will cultivate not only palms, but also other important plants such as herbs, ethnobotanical and medicinal plants. Endangered tree species and important flowering plants for bees are also in the program. Permaculture, urban farming, community and urban gardening are not just trendy terms, they are global movements that can make cities more livable and environmentally friendly. In principle, the allotment garden movement which started with the poor gardens and allotments in the 19th century is the first urban gardening movement. For years we have been supporting the movement and cities on urban greening issues. Kindergartens, schools and universities also have the possibility to establish allotment gardens on their premises, talked with a lot of people about how to establish more horticulture, community and rooftop gardens in inner cities.
Green roofs and rooftop solar applications are together possible, so like community and rooftop gardens.
Since 2016, the founder of Greening Deserts has been developing projects such as the greening and research camps for sustainable reforestation, greening, green and clean technologies (cleantech and greentech). Species protection, climate protection, nature conservation, environmental protection and especially sustainable actions as well as economic activities are important tasks of the future ventures. Ecological education and environmentally conscious actions are also important points on the Global Greening Agenda developed by Oliver Caplikas together with colleagues from the EU and UN over the years. The international Greening Act and the new Green Deal have already been successfully implemented in some countries. It is about an honest and conscientious transformation of environmentally harmful economic sectors, the reduction of global overproduction and the improvement of consumption and environmental awareness of societies and the world population as a whole. That is why many innovative projects have been founded over the years, successful campaigns and initiatives have been carried out worldwide. Many people and organizations got inspired and followed the good example.
The crisis has set back some developments and projects, but brought others forward. Like the new Urban Greening project in Leipzig, which is currently focusing on innovative plant cultivation, storage and cooling systems – especially with regard to green building, sustainable architecture, energy storage and economical water management. All of this will be incorporated into future vertical farming solutions and systems that will be developed at the Urban Greening Camp. Solar, wind and water energy applications will play a crucial role. A research facility on a larger roof could show that green roofs and solar systems are possible at the same place and time, for which the Agrovoltaik project was founded. Another important topic is the education and increased promotion of facade solar systems, hydrogen energy storage, transparent solar technologies and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT). Very interesting in this context is the combination of highly efficient processes for hydrogen production from solar and wind energy. It is so innovative like facade greening and solar facades for cooling and heat storage. Energy efficiency and energy storage plays a special role in the urban cooling and urban greening process. Insulation materials made of hemp and hemp wood are further innovations that are being promoted particularly strongly in Canada and Austria. Germany should not lose touch in many respects.
Another good urban vertical farming example to produce healthy food – depends on light, minerals, substrate and water quality.
The founder has informed many international institutions and universities about the potentials, especially in the field of building technology and energy storage solutions. In the future, buildings could be efficient energy storage devices and decentralized power plants; it is the future of a truly sustainable energy economy and more economical use of natural resources. Facade greening and photovoltaic facades can also protect against high heat and store heat. Urban greening in general can help cool cities and, of course, provides fresh air. More light-colored surfaces, such as lighter asphalt and concrete are also a good option; in New York and other cities, roofs have already been painted white to cool buildings. Greening cities and urban regions is key to urban cooling and thus global cooling.
We invite interested investors, strong partners and sponsors to join the further project development. In late summer, the first round and official meeting of interested parties will take place. Representatives of the city of Leipzig, Halle, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and other interested cities are also invited. We are looking forward to a successful start of the new startup and a greener future. Check also Greening Deserts other innovative projects like the Greenhouse and Recycling Ship! Together with other Startups we develop(ed) mobile greenhouse solutions so like greenhouse, solar and water containers which can collect and filter rainwater. We want to establish desalinization plants and applications for coastal greening and reforestation. Years ago we published some great concepts to use nature-based solutions like bamboo for loosen hard soils, to filter sea water and to improve the groundwater levels. @ #ecofarming #ecoforestry #ecorestorsys #greeningcoasts
Some more important points and summer updates:
The Leipzig Palms project and Urban Greening Camp is the world's first nursery and vertical farming startup for indoor arboriculture and endangered tree species! Herbs and medicinal plants are cultivated in further grow rooms. We will use innovative cleantech, greentech and vertical farming techniques for tree cultivation and plant breeding of important plants.
There is no other vertical farming company worldwide who combines biodiversity, conservation, cleantech, greening, greentech, tree cultivation and urban farming. Welcome to the future of arboriculture!
The Urban Greening Camp, nursery and vertical farming startup for endangered tree species saving much energy, place, time, water and other resources by innovative management and real sustainable solutions.
The indoor farming startup in Leipzig works on the next room for critically endangered tree species, herbs and seed storage. Vertical farming will reach new dimensions with cleantech and greentech developments.
The vertical farming company office and workshop are connected with a large corridor to the other rooms and the main hall. The next room for critical endangered tree species is in progress. There are much more rooms, halls and floors in the building we can use in future – or we move to another similar building.
More classic and modern plant growing systems with good soils and substrates will be tested together with new grow lights and hydroponic systems. Manufacturers and sponsors are welcome to send us their products for testing and presentation.
We will test new light systems, not just LED, LEC, HID and CFL lights with optimal light for each plant or tree species and phases of growth — we call it the right light management. Lasers, robotics, sensors and webcams will improve the vertical farming results in future.
You are also welcome to visit the official business and social networks on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and…
Big thanks to the colleagues from Max Planck Society, New York and Toronto University for showing some support during the years — thanks going also to all the other institutions and organizations who don't ignored the information letter. To all interested parties, welcome on board! You are always welcome to visit the camp in future. Your friend of nature from Leipzig in Saxony, Germany. Oliver G. Caplikas
Species protection projects for critically endangered species and ecosystem restoration
Greening Deserts Critically Endangered Species Research and Protection Program (CES-RPP) started an extra project for endangered tree species to focus on the most important issue of global biodiversity conservation and establish more biodiversity in habitats and forests worldwide. This will also promote many other ecosystems, and stabilize as well as improve the atmosphere or air, biosphere, global climate and water cycle. The contribution of trees to the improvement of soil, life, air and water quality should be clear to everyone. There is as much life in a handful of soil from a rainforest as in hundreds of soccer fields, but not so much in fields and meadows. It depends also on the history and vegetation. The main focus of the special species protection project for critically endangered tree species is the building of special seed storage facilities (boxes and cabinets) and other innovative solutions in various areas. The exchange and sharing of experiences are particularly important. With the Urban Greening Camp we can store and preserve seeds professionally. In the field of Indoor Gardening and Vertical Farming we can cultivate many species of trees, especially for the European and Mediterranean regions. We can share seeds and plants with botanical gardens and professional nurseries around the world. Numerous international institutions, organizations, universities, biodiversity and plant scientists, and tree and forest specialists have already been informed about many of these aspects and projects in 2020.
This announcement and information of the new Greening Deserts project for critically endangered species can be shared worldwide. The project title is 1001+ Critically Endangered Tree Species Seed Storage and Tree Cultivation Project. The Trillion Trees Initiative will help to share the trees and seeds worldwide in the future, especially in regions where more biodiversity is needed or trees have become extinct or very rare. Some of the other Greening Deserts projects and special programs can also help establish many of the endangered tree species on which many other species depend. These special biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, environmental greening, ecological reforestation and species protection projects can save millions of life forms worldwide. Healthy ecosystems like forests are habitat for countless organisms and can save many endangered insects, fungi and microbes. That's why Greening Deserts species conservation projects will focus on biodiversity forests, drylands, grasslands and wetlands. Urban greening and biodiversity in cities will be supported by the upcoming greening, research and species protection camps.
Species conservationists, tree experts, botanists, tree growers, and all friends of nature are invited to join the project, for example by exchanging useful information or sharing constructive feedback and resources. Of course, other experts and scientists who are able to support the project can also join. Together with the CES-RPP, we can set a goal to recultivate and replant forests, typical tree landscapes, and regions with critically endangered tree species and key plant species worldwide. If we focus on cultivating and exchanging seedlings around the world, we can save many tree species from extinction. If all goes well, we can lift the critically endangered status of many trees and truly save them by cultivating plants and sharing seeds. Other important tasks are to show natural alternatives to pesticides, and to promote nature-based solutions and permaculture.
Botanical gardens, nurseries, tree experts, forestry companies and tree-related businesses should pay more attention to these factors. One big cause of the biodiversity loss and mass mortality is deforestation and too many monocultures. This issue is not only about the few established tree species in forestry, it is also about many other important plants and keystone species. With the endangered tree species that we want to cultivate and share worldwide, thousands of other species can be saved and protected. These trees and plants may even bring back other species that were thought to be extinct. Biodiverse forests, meadows and fields are the key to counteracting global species extinction on a large scale. Many of the critically endangered tree species play a particularly important role. On the pages of Greening Deserts and affiliated projects, you can read more about the real problems and good solutions in almost all areas, especially how to act in a truly efficient and sustainable way.
Environmental satellites, GIS systems, and satellite imagery of global vegetation can also help select the right trees for the right areas. Historical archives and plant databases can be used to find suitable tree species for those regions with low biodiversity, like in Europe and North Africa, where few tree species exist and many have been lost or forgotten—especially in relation to the approximately 60,000 tree species, of which about 10,000 are endangered and 1400 are critically endangered. That's why Greening Deserts has set the goal of saving the most endangered tree species, while working together with interested species protection organizations, tree nurseries, botanical gardens and institutions in this area. It is not only about biodiversity hotspots, new forests and a few more tree species, but about many other plants, animals and ecosystems that used to have a greater biodiversity. Biodiversity in cities and urban regions is more important than many people think. Ecosystem and landscape experts can help to find good places for greening and reforestation, or even for completely new forests, such as in man-made deserts or urban concrete jungles. Urban greening and urban forests will play an increasingly important role over time, especially in relation to the issues of biodiversity, global greening, health and the urban cooling aspect.
Some cities are now already up to four degrees hotter than in the old days, i.e. the 1.5 or 2 degree target has long been exceeded in some regions! Many people around the world have died as a result of the droughts and heat waves of recent years. The passive effects of the climate crisis, such as environmental or natural disasters and pandemics are underestimated, especially when it comes to poverty. Experts estimate that over 100 million people will fall into poverty during the actual crises. All the more reason why we need holistic solutions to the climate crisis and global solidarity with these poor, sick and weak people. Healthy ecosystems and a healthy environment are the basis for the health of all life forms. Adapting to climate change and strengthening cultures is important not only for humans but for animal and plant species. Only together with nature we can overcome the crises. Nature-based solutions play an increasingly important role. One can see the Corona crisis as part of the climate crisis, especially since the virus was originated in a region of damaged or polluted environment in China. Many people think the virus came from a wet market with endangered species in Wuhan, but some scientists think it started to spread by wild animals like bats. The chance of a spread of zoonotic viruses that can be transmitted between animals and humans is higher in damaged ecosystems.
Climate protection and environmental protection is also species protection—and therefore human protection. Species recovery, species conservation, and biodiversity with species protection camps and special protection programs like the Trillion Trees Initiative can reduce global species extinction with appropriate international support. The camps primarily serve to restore near-natural ecosystems. Global greening can accelerate the peace-building process and reduce climate change effects like global warming and air pollution. Environmental awareness, ethical and social principles, sustainable production and work, and human rights and indigenous rights are very important for future development. For years, we have been informing organizations and institutions about Greening Deserts projects. Requests for funding and support of these important developments and projects have been sent several times.
The global extinction of species, lack of biodiversity and species protection or too little species rescue in many areas also increasingly affects human health. The current crisis and drought years have clearly shown everyone how quickly ecosystems can collapse or become unbalanced. The important role of missing tree species, especially in tree-poor regions of Europe and the Mediterranean, is greatly underestimated. Several hundred other species can depend on each individual tree species! Since many thousands of tree species are critically endangered and only rarely present, hundreds of thousands of species that depend on these trees are missing. This is one reason behind the extinction of numerous species. Trees fulfill important functions and are key elements of ecosystems and cycles. Climate and weather systems are also significantly influenced and stabilized by trees and forests, as well as all associated plants.
One unfortunately still hears many limited arguments or opinions in agriculture and forestry. Agroforestry, food forests, flowering trees and more trees with fruits for animals and humans are possible to combine more sustainable agriculture and ecological forestry! AI, aquaponics, cleantech, hydroponics, greentech, permaculture techniques and vertical farming, scientific developments or achievements can also help improve all these areas or sectors. Many of the long discussed conflicts are really unnecessary, especially the land use conflict. Think about all the space in the air, underground, underwater and on waters. A lot of things are possible at the same time if one is creative, willing to compromise and understanding. Often there is simply a lack of awareness and will. If all nations plant a few billion trees during the next years we could reach the goal of a trillion trees extra for planet Earth easily. If the most of the humans plant a few hundred trees in their life the humanity could plant another trillion trees in just one generation – it could be so easy if all humans would act together. In the meanwhile we will push the trillion trees initiatives with good actions, examples and projects. Many people and organizations were informed about the Greening Deserts sustainable developments, innovative ideas and outstanding projects.
Here are some of the main projects: Afforestation.org, Artenschutzcamp, Desert Bamboo Africa, Climate Adaption EU, Ecosystem Restoration Network, Eichenpark, Energy Storage Park, Greening Coasts, Greening Drones, Greenhouse Ship, Green Ring Africa, Great Green Wall North Africa, Hemp Papers, LE Palms, Palm Coffee, Recycling Ship, Reforestation Europe, Rice Straw Paper, Rooftop Greening, Seeding Balloon, School Forests, Species Protection Europe, Transparent Solar, Trillion Trees Africa, Trillion Trees Foundation, Urban Greening Network,.. tbc..
The first Urban Greening Camp and species protection camp will be located in Leipzig, Germany. It will be also an biodiversity center and international biodiversity conservation platform. The state of Saxony is a relatively central region in Europe. Effective logistics, sustainable working and sustainable packaging as well as shipping should not be a problem. The founder and initiator Oliver Gediminas Caplikas is working hard on the concepts and projects, at the moment he prepares a new location and the launch of a new startup. The startup project mainly deals with palms and palm products. More about the new project development in the next article and press release. Many interesting developments, information and projects on the topics have been published in scientific networks and on various platforms during the last years. Read more on Greening Deserts official project pages.
Constructive feedback and real support is always welcome. Feel free to contact and to connect by the social networks or other official channels. Sustainable joint ventures, investments, partnerships and sponsorships are always welcome.
You can download the complete article as PDF, it is the second edit of February. Greening_Deserts_species_protection_projects_for_critically_endangered_species
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The concept of the design of new FNU Library's physical spaces provides various opportunities for the renewal of the library as a societal institution.
The FNU Library moved to the new location – same address, but we are at the Second Floor at the Dr. Jose Regueiro Building. Come and check out it, and we will give you a tour!
The FNU Library is new learning spaces are with quantity and quality of physical book collections and digital databases connected and collaborative. Flexibility and choices exist not only just within the room, but also between rooms.
As usual, physical spaces are not the most glamourous aspect of academic higher education, but not in this story.
Strategic design supports peer-led learning, empowers digital discovery and connects the new means for student study-groups. The best of these spaces are a tour de forte of technology-driven that set in mind for individualized education led by FNU Library staff.
Each collaborative area have a writable surface to study and learn individually and in study-groups.
The Library facility cannot be as it was 200 years ago in the Industrial age. Today in 21st century, we are living in the Knowledge age. The best of the new place is that someone can get excited and feel like they are part of the conversation. The new facility design supports the new way of project-based learning. The smart light display makes the learning and study process presentable and visible.
These contemporary design choices reflect on both the FNU's mission and vision. Digital devices, connectivity, lighting, and furniture aim to empower a particular vision of the way in which modern education models unfold. The human factor has been prioritized by providing library users with the space to study, space for meetings, professional development, or recreation reading. It puts library users in a position to be a better learner – overall pushing learning toward project-based learning.
Group learning, digital devices, individual spaces and individual experiences bring us forward for the highlights of the future higher education for many years to come and serve the academic community.
Currently, we continue to organize to use our spaces in the most effective ways. The larger physical space requires more staff. The continuing education and training for new hired staff is on the way to accommodate both shifts and extended hours of operation.
Welcome to our new home of books, computers, digital databases and study-rooms facilitation!
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What will future bring for the companies internally, how they will change and how will common business process adapt for new challenges? Guiding through the current wave of digital transformation (digital tsunami) which affects literally all companies. The technology across digital domains explaining waves of this change and how it is inevitable.
Many examples led this book to be one of the true discoveries of this year.
Methodology created by a team from Google is super-useful and super-up-to-date. It is tool for designers, marketers, but also developers or engineers. The book gives a comprehensive guide through this 5-day process of developing ideas and can be used as a manual for facilitator of this creative training for every day and even what to do after. Very useful.
Manual for stepping into innovation process with six-stage framework for building a culture of innovation. It will help everyone who needs to create innovation setup in organization.
A new book from Eric Ries, writer of Lean Startup takes us where he stopped in previous book, but now main focus is on all organizations – not just startups. How companies should use entrepreneurial and startup methods in their processes and how continuous innovation can be the process implemented in big companies, too.
I was always loving the books on creativity and this is one of the best! Author interviewed many creatives and show the way how them found the creative path. Creative curve, or the way to achieve it brings a new light to the theory with 4 laws of the creative curve: Consumption, Imitation, Creative Communities, Iterations. Numerous examples guides us through this theory.
I would suggest also to read regular textbooks of universities, they can be boring, but full of useful stuff, for example, Organisation Design and Change for Richard Daft is a good start, it has innovation management and corporate change.
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Michael Baxter has been working with computers since he was nine, imprinted by a July 4, 1969 viewing of "2001: A Space Odyssey." He's also an experienced photographer who uses GNU/Linux for photo processing. Michael was more recently imprinted by the "Belly Dance Vortex," this time apparently on July 4, 2004 when he met Michelle Joyce in the photo studio. Since then he's met many new wonderful friends in the dance community and has taken over 80,000 studio and festival belly dance photographs.
Held on November 10, 2007, in Oroville, California, event produced by Carolee and David Tamori. It was an exciting contest, covering five categories: Novices, Intermediates, Troupe dancers, Solos and Live Solos. Live music was provided by Doug Adam's amazing Light Rain.
Event Sponsored by Shabnam and Maurice in Oakland, California.
It was an exciting contest, covering five categories: Novices, Intermediates, Troupe dancers, Solos and Live Solos. Live music was provided by the amazing Light Rain.
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The Italian-American Immigration Experience
As President Obama prepares to move forward on immigration reform, the debate over the role of immigrants in US society is ramping up.
"Mrs. Guadina, living in a dirty, poverty stricken home"
By: Livia Gershon
With President Obama's announcement of an executive order on immigration reform, the debate over immigrants in US society is ramping up. Most people involved in the debate readily acknowledge that we're a nation of immigrants. But to many opponents of high levels of immigration coming from Latin America, this current wave of immigration seems different than previous ones.
And it is different. For example, the global economic conflicts involved in the influx of Italian immigrants 100 years ago were worse than we have any reason to expect from immigration today.
In a 1995 paper for the journal In Defense of the Alien, Rita J. Simons points out that, historically, Americans have been opposed to each major wave of immigration while it is happening. Later, though, we look back on the newcomers as having contributed greatly to our nation. In 1982, for example, only 25 percent of survey respondents said Mexican immigrants have, on balance, been a good thing for the country, while 34 percent said they've been bad for it. In contrast, 56 percent said Italian immigrants have been a net positive, compared with 10 percent who said the opposite.
Italian immigration in the twentieth-century lends context to today's debates.
The fact that Italian-Americans have now been thoroughly accepted is a testament to assimilation despite seemingly long odds. Writing in the journal MELUS in 2004, Stefano Luconi describes the world of Italian-Americans in the early 20th Century. He notes that, upon arrival, the newcomers generally didn't even perceive themselves as Italian, but identified with the culture and dialect of specific regions, like Sicily or Abruzzo. It was discrimination that pushed them to "close ranks and to develop a sense of ethnic identity based on their Italianness in the interwar years," Luconi writes.
As it turned out, it was bad timing for this newfound sense of nationalism, coinciding with the rise of fascism and the buildup to World War II. Luconi writes that many first-and second-generation Italian-Americans "rejoiced over the alleged achievements of Mussolini's regime out of a sense of ethnic redress after suffering from ethnic discrimination in the US for being supposedly an inferior people."
When Italy declared war on the US in 1941, Italian Americans overwhelmingly declared their allegiance to their new home, but not without misgivings. Luconi quotes second-generation immigrant Joe Vergara: "I wondered how I would react if I was sent to Italy… Would I be able to pull the trigger if I saw one of Pop's compa's through the gun sight? When the time came, I told myself, I would do what I had to. But, all the same, I wondered."
And yet, despite strong ties to one of America's greatest wartime enemies, it took a short time for Italian Americans to be viewed as thoroughly American. For all the uproar about Latino immigrants, the nation's experience with Italians suggests that integration may not be that difficult, even under the worst circumstances. And, after all, at least we're unlikely to go to war with Mexico.
Barack ObamaimmigrationItalian-AmericansItalyMexicoIn Defense of the AlienMELUS
Immigration and Public Opinion
By: RITA J. SIMON
In Defense of the Alien, Vol. 18, (1995), pp. 58-68
The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc.
Becoming Italian in the US: Through the Lens of Life Narratives
By: Stefano Luconi
MELUS, Vol. 29, No. 3/4, Pedagody, Canon, Context: Toward a Redefinition of Ethnic American Literary Studies (Autumn - Winter, 2004), pp. 151-164
Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS)
The Modern Invention of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving as we know it was deliberately invented in the nineteenth century.
Law firms founded on Protestant identity necessitated the creation of firms that would hire those shut out by WASP gatekeeping.
Burning Kelp for War
World War I saw the availability of potash plummet, while its price doubled. The US found this critical component for multiple industries in Pacific kelp.
When states began restricting labor by children, verifying a person's age became an important means of enforcement.
Freedom Libraries and the Fight for Library Equity
Freedom libraries in the south provided Black residents with access to spaces and books, whether in church basements or private homes.
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1995 Chevrolet Impala 16,995 USD - Asking Price
This 1995 Impala SS is one car that I can guarantee will be gone in very short order. If you're even remotely interested in it, don't even finish reading, call now, because these cars never, ever stick around for long. Even nearly 20 years after they were built, these are A-list commodities with a long list of eager new owners. There's no need to cover the legend of the Impala SS here, so I'm just going to get right to it. This is a 2-owner, GA car and is completely stock. It also wears its factory dark gray green paint, which is arguably the most desirable of all Impala SS colors and certainly the rarest. After 18 years is showing some signs of use, but thanks to careful ownership and some long-term storage, it's quite presentable, especially for a car designed to go this fast. The car has never been hit or rusty, and all the special Impala SS-only components are in place, from the grille to the emblems on the C-pillars. The trick Impala SS emblems on the quarters, which were color-matched to the body for a cool effect, perfectly sum up the subtle look of this car. Even the headlights are bright and clear and the taillights show no signs of UV damage or fading, further indications that this car has been treated right. Chevy's gray leather interior was a bit more dressed up than the usual Caprice fare and the stuff wears like iron. The driver's seat shows modest signs of use and there's a bit of wear on the driver's armrest where someone's elbow might rest, but otherwise the interior is remarkably clean and unused. Every single option Chevy offered was standard on the Impala, including A/C (ice cold, by the way), power windows, locks, mirrors and seats, cruise control, and a tilt column with a leather-wrapped wheel. There's room for five in there and nobody will complain about the accommodations. A center console houses the shifter for the 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission, as well as a pair of cup holders big enough to handle a pony keg. Heck, this car is so stock that even the original factory radio still lives in the dash, and quite honestly, it sounds great. The cavernous trunk looks like new and still carries its original space-saver spare, tire cover, and cargo net. GM's 350 cubic inch LT1 V8 powered the Impala SS, and while it wasn't as strong as the Corvette version from which it was derived, it gives this big 4-door the moves of a genuine muscle car. It's also as reliable as a New York City taxi cab and as modification-friendly as Joan Rivers. Fortunately, this one is completely stock, right down to the air filter, and that's exactly how you want them. Never abused or raced, it runs and drives beautifully and still feels exciting after all these years. It starts easily, the transmission shifts properly, and it hammers down the road with the authority that only a big, bad sedan can deliver. Factory alloys look fantastic and wear recent 255/50/17 Kumho radials. Late-model collectables are rare, but the fact that the Impala SS is still trading hands aggressively means that there's a strong following for these cars. As I said, this is one car that won't be here next week, so don't miss your chance and call today!
Stock Number 2904-ATL
Car 1995 Chevrolet Impala
VIN 1G1BL52P8SR188166
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Q: Reusing a float buffer for doubles without undefined behaviour In one particular C++ function, I happen to have a pointer to a big buffer of floats that I want to temporarily use to store half the number of doubles. Is there a method to use this buffer as scratch space for storing the doubles, which is also allowed (i.e., not undefined behaviour) by the standard?
In summary, I would like this:
void f(float* buffer)
{
double* d = reinterpret_cast<double*>(buffer);
// make use of d
d[i] = 1.;
// done using d as scratch, start filling the buffer
buffer[j] = 1.;
}
As far as I see there's no easy way to do this: if I understand correctly, a reinterpret_cast<double*> like this causes undefined behaviour because of type aliasing, and using memcpy or a float/double union is not possible without copying the data and allocating extra space, which defeats the purpose and happens to be costly in my case (and using a union for type punning is not allowed in C++).
It can be assumed the float buffer is correctly aligned for using it for doubles.
A: You can achieve this in two ways.
First:
void set(float *buffer, size_t index, double value) {
memcpy(reinterpret_cast<char*>(buffer)+sizeof(double)*index, &value, sizeof(double));
}
double get(const float *buffer, size_t index) {
double v;
memcpy(&v, reinterpret_cast<const char*>(buffer)+sizeof(double)*index, sizeof(double));
return v;
}
void f(float *buffer) {
// here, use set and get functions
}
Second: Instead of float *, you need to allocate a "typeless" char[] buffer, and use placement new to put floats or doubles inside:
template <typename T>
void setType(char *buffer, size_t size) {
for (size_t i=0; i<size/sizeof(T); i++) {
new(buffer+i*sizeof(T)) T;
}
}
// use it like this: setType<float>(buffer, sizeOfBuffer);
Then use this accessor:
template <typename T>
T &get(char *buffer, size_t index) {
return *std::launder(reinterpret_cast<T *>(buffer+index*sizeof(T)));
}
// use it like this: get<float>(buffer, index) = 33.3f;
A third way could be something like phön's answer (see my comments under that answer), unfortunately I cannot make a proper solution, because of this problem.
A: Here's an alternative approach that's less scary.
You say,
...a float/double union is not possible without...allocating extra space, which defeats the purpose and happens to be costly in my case...
So just have each union object contain two floats instead of one.
static_assert(sizeof(double) == sizeof(float)*2, "Assuming exactly two floats fit in a double.");
union double_or_floats
{
double d;
float f[2];
};
void f(double_or_floats* buffer)
{
// Use buffer of doubles as scratch space.
buffer[0].d = 1.0;
// Done with the scratch space. Start filling the buffer with floats.
buffer[0].f[0] = 1.0f;
buffer[0].f[1] = 2.0f;
}
Of course, this makes indexing more complicated, and calling code will have to be modified. But it has no overhead and it's more obviously correct.
A: I think the following code is a valid way to do it (it is really just a small example about the idea):
#include <memory>
void f(float* buffer, std::size_t buffer_size_in_bytes)
{
double* d = new (buffer)double[buffer_size_in_bytes / sizeof(double)];
// we have started the lifetime of the doubles.
// "d" is a new pointer pointing to the first double object in the array.
// now you can use "d" as a double buffer for your calculations
// you are not allowed to access any object through the "buffer" pointer anymore since the floats are "destroyed"
d[0] = 1.;
// do some work here on/with the doubles...
// conceptually we need to destory the doubles here... but they are trivially destructable
// now we need to start the lifetime of the floats again
new (buffer) float[10];
// here we are unsure about wether we need to update the "buffer" pointer to
// the one returned by the placement new of the floats
// if it is nessessary, we could return the new float pointer or take the input pointer
// by reference and update it directly in the function
}
int main()
{
float* floats = new float[10];
f(floats, sizeof(float) * 10);
return 0;
}
It is important that you only use the pointer you receive from placement new. And it is important to placement new back the floats. Even if it is a no-operation construction, you need to start the lifetimes of the floats again.
Forget about std::launder and reinterpret_cast in the comments. Placement new will do the job for you.
edit: Make sure you have proper alignment when creating the buffer in main.
Update:
I just wanted to give an update on things that were discussed in the comments.
*
*The first thing mentioned was that we may need to update the initially created float pointer to the pointer returned by the re-placement-new'ed floats (the question is whether the initially float pointer can still be used to access the floats, because the floats are now "new" floats obtained by an additional new expression).
To do this, we can either a) pass the float pointer by reference and update it, or b) return the new obtained float pointer from the function:
a)
void f(float*& buffer, std::size_t buffer_size_in_bytes)
{
double* d = new (buffer)double[buffer_size_in_bytes / sizeof(double)];
// do some work here on/with the doubles...
buffer = new (buffer) float[10];
}
b)
float* f(float* buffer, std::size_t buffer_size_in_bytes)
{
/* same as inital example... */
return new (buffer) float[10];
}
int main()
{
float* floats = new float[10];
floats = f(floats, sizeof(float) * 10);
return 0;
}
*The next and more crucial thing to mention is that placement-new is allowed to have a memory overhead. So the implementation is allowed to place some meta data infront of the returned array. If that happens, the naive calculation of how many doubles would fit into our memory will be obviously wrong. The problem is, that we dont know how many bytes the implementation will aquire beforehand for the specific call. But that would be nessessary to adjust the amounts of doubles we know will fit into the remaining storage.
Here ( https://stackoverflow.com/a/8721932/3783662 ) is another SO post where Howard Hinnant provided a test snippet. I tested this using an online compiler and saw that for trivial destructable types (for example doubles), the overhead was 0. For more complex types (for example std::string), there was an overhead of 8 bytes. But this may varry for your plattform/compiler. Test it beforehand with the snippet by Howard.
*For the question why we need to use some kind of placement new (either by new[] or single element new): We are allowed to cast pointers in every way we want. But in the end - when we access the value - we need to use the right type to avoid voilating the strict aliasing rules. Easy speaking: its only allowed to access an object when there is really an object of the pointer type living in the location given by the pointer. So how do you bring objects to life?
the standard says:
https://timsong-cpp.github.io/cppwp/intro.object#1 :
"An object is created by a definition, by a new-expression, when implicitly changing the active member of a union, or when a temporary object is created."
There is an additional sector which may seem interesting:
https://timsong-cpp.github.io/cppwp/basic.life#1:
"An object is said to have non-vacuous initialization if it is of a class or aggregate type and it or one of its subobjects is initialized by a constructor other than a trivial default constructor. The lifetime of an object of type T begins when:
*
*storage with the proper alignment and size for type T is obtained, and
*if the object has non-vacuous initialization, its initialization is complete"
So now we may argue that because doubles are trivial, do we need to take some action to bring the trivial objects to life and change the actual living objects? I say yes, because we initally obtained storage for the floats, and accessing the storage through a double pointer would violate strict aliasing. So we need the tell the compiler that the actual type has changed. This whole last point 3 was pretty controversial discussed. You may form your own opinion. You have all the information at hand now.
A: tl;dr Don't alias pointers - at all - unless you tell the compiler that you're going to on the command line.
The easiest way to do this might be to figure out what compiler switch disables strict aliasing and use it for the source file(s) in question.
Needs must, eh?
Thought about this some more. Despite all that stuff about placement new, this is the only safe way.
Why?
Well, if you have two pointers of different types pointing to the same address then you have aliased that address and you stand a good chance of fooling the compiler. And it doesn't matter how you assigned values to those pointers. The compiler is not going to remember that.
So this is the only safe way, and that's why we need std::pun.
A: This problem cannot be solved in portable C++.
C++ is strict when it comes to pointer aliasing. Somewhat paradoxically this allows it to compile on very many platforms (for example where, perhaps double numbers are stored in different places to float numbers).
Needless to say, if you are striving for portable code then you'll need to recode what you have. The second best thing is to be pragmatic, accept it will work on any desktop system I've come across; perhaps even static_assert on compiler name / architecture.
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Circles, Rounds for the 6 hole Native American Flute.
All these songs can be played as rounds. Playing your flute in the quiet of the evening is wonderful, as you know, but now you can play your flute with your family, friends or flute group, and make harmony together when you play the rounds found in Circles.
You do not need ANY musical training in order to be able to play Circles, nor do you need to be able to read music to be able to play the songs in Circles but you do need two flutes tuned to the same key, preferably from the same maker and one book for each of you. I have special prices if you desire to buy a set of matched flutes in the same key.
There are 15 rounds, all using the same notation graphics of the Simple Song Series. The notation graphics will show you everything you need to know to successfully play beautiful music on your 6 hole Native American flute. All original songs by Carol LaForet.
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Operation Ball mills operate either in open or closed circuit. Two 24 ft. x 30.5 ft., 14 000 HP ball mills processing copper/gold in Indonesia. Mill lining installation in a ball mill at Atacama Kozan Mining Company, Copiapo, Chile.
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Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse
Karen L. Anderson, Yossef Itzhak
Exposure to high doses of methamphetamine (METH), a major drug of abuse, may cause neuronal damage. Previous studies have implicated the role of peroxynitrite, produced by nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species, in dopaminergic neurotoxicity produced by METH in mice. The present article was undertaken to investigate if a neurotoxic regimen of METH is associated with changes in tissue levels of nitrate and nitrite, which are the stable products of NO. Administration of METH (5 mg/kg × 3) to Swiss Webster mice resulted in marked depletion of dopamine (DA) and DA transporter (DAT) binding sites but no change in 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) binding sites in the striatum, amygdala, frontal cortex, and hippocampus, suggesting that METH causes selective neurotoxicity to DA nerve terminals. The concentration of nitrate in the striatum was increased by about two-fold after METH administration; however, no changes in nitrate concentration were detected in other brain regions that endured dopaminergic neurotoxicity. These findings suggest that (a) a neurotoxic regimen of METH produces selective increase in NO in the striatum, which may generate toxic species such as peroxynitrite, and (b) toxins other than NO-related derivatives may mediate dopaminergic neurotoxicity in the amygdala and frontal cortex.
Corpus Striatum
Peroxynitrous Acid
Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
Street Drugs
Nitric oxide (NO)
Peroxynitrite
Anderson, K. L., & Itzhak, Y. (2006). Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse. In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (Vol. 1074, pp. 225-233). (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences; Vol. 1074). https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1369.021
Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse. / Anderson, Karen L.; Itzhak, Yossef.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Vol. 1074 2006. p. 225-233 (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences; Vol. 1074).
Anderson, KL & Itzhak, Y 2006, Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse. in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. vol. 1074, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1074, pp. 225-233. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1369.021
Anderson KL, Itzhak Y. Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse. In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Vol. 1074. 2006. p. 225-233. (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences). https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1369.021
Anderson, Karen L. ; Itzhak, Yossef. / Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Vol. 1074 2006. pp. 225-233 (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences).
@inproceedings{2f8f609ac7b343efaf0f9694fd930521,
title = "Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse",
abstract = "Exposure to high doses of methamphetamine (METH), a major drug of abuse, may cause neuronal damage. Previous studies have implicated the role of peroxynitrite, produced by nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species, in dopaminergic neurotoxicity produced by METH in mice. The present article was undertaken to investigate if a neurotoxic regimen of METH is associated with changes in tissue levels of nitrate and nitrite, which are the stable products of NO. Administration of METH (5 mg/kg × 3) to Swiss Webster mice resulted in marked depletion of dopamine (DA) and DA transporter (DAT) binding sites but no change in 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) binding sites in the striatum, amygdala, frontal cortex, and hippocampus, suggesting that METH causes selective neurotoxicity to DA nerve terminals. The concentration of nitrate in the striatum was increased by about two-fold after METH administration; however, no changes in nitrate concentration were detected in other brain regions that endured dopaminergic neurotoxicity. These findings suggest that (a) a neurotoxic regimen of METH produces selective increase in NO in the striatum, which may generate toxic species such as peroxynitrite, and (b) toxins other than NO-related derivatives may mediate dopaminergic neurotoxicity in the amygdala and frontal cortex.",
keywords = "Dopamine, Methamphetamine, Neurotoxicity, Nitrate, Nitric oxide (NO), Nitrite, Peroxynitrite, Serotonin",
author = "Anderson, {Karen L.} and Yossef Itzhak",
doi = "10.1196/annals.1369.021",
isbn = "1573316296",
series = "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences",
booktitle = "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences",
T1 - Methamphetamine-induced selective dopaminergic neurotoxicity is accompanied by an increase in striatal nitrate in the mouse
AU - Anderson, Karen L.
AU - Itzhak, Yossef
N2 - Exposure to high doses of methamphetamine (METH), a major drug of abuse, may cause neuronal damage. Previous studies have implicated the role of peroxynitrite, produced by nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species, in dopaminergic neurotoxicity produced by METH in mice. The present article was undertaken to investigate if a neurotoxic regimen of METH is associated with changes in tissue levels of nitrate and nitrite, which are the stable products of NO. Administration of METH (5 mg/kg × 3) to Swiss Webster mice resulted in marked depletion of dopamine (DA) and DA transporter (DAT) binding sites but no change in 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) binding sites in the striatum, amygdala, frontal cortex, and hippocampus, suggesting that METH causes selective neurotoxicity to DA nerve terminals. The concentration of nitrate in the striatum was increased by about two-fold after METH administration; however, no changes in nitrate concentration were detected in other brain regions that endured dopaminergic neurotoxicity. These findings suggest that (a) a neurotoxic regimen of METH produces selective increase in NO in the striatum, which may generate toxic species such as peroxynitrite, and (b) toxins other than NO-related derivatives may mediate dopaminergic neurotoxicity in the amygdala and frontal cortex.
AB - Exposure to high doses of methamphetamine (METH), a major drug of abuse, may cause neuronal damage. Previous studies have implicated the role of peroxynitrite, produced by nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species, in dopaminergic neurotoxicity produced by METH in mice. The present article was undertaken to investigate if a neurotoxic regimen of METH is associated with changes in tissue levels of nitrate and nitrite, which are the stable products of NO. Administration of METH (5 mg/kg × 3) to Swiss Webster mice resulted in marked depletion of dopamine (DA) and DA transporter (DAT) binding sites but no change in 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) binding sites in the striatum, amygdala, frontal cortex, and hippocampus, suggesting that METH causes selective neurotoxicity to DA nerve terminals. The concentration of nitrate in the striatum was increased by about two-fold after METH administration; however, no changes in nitrate concentration were detected in other brain regions that endured dopaminergic neurotoxicity. These findings suggest that (a) a neurotoxic regimen of METH produces selective increase in NO in the striatum, which may generate toxic species such as peroxynitrite, and (b) toxins other than NO-related derivatives may mediate dopaminergic neurotoxicity in the amygdala and frontal cortex.
KW - Dopamine
KW - Methamphetamine
KW - Neurotoxicity
KW - Nitrate
KW - Nitric oxide (NO)
KW - Nitrite
KW - Peroxynitrite
KW - Serotonin
U2 - 10.1196/annals.1369.021
DO - 10.1196/annals.1369.021
SN - 1573316296
T3 - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
BT - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|
WATKINS, MN--(Marketwire - January 25, 2011) - International Barrier Technology Inc. ("Barrier") (OTCBB: IBTGF) (TSX-V: IBH) is pleased to announce the ratification of a three-year supply agreement with LP® Building Products (LP). The agreement extends the exclusive supply agreement ratified in January 2010 through December 31, 2013. Under the terms of the agreement, Barrier Technology Corporation will continue to manufacture LP® FlameBlock® Fire-Rated OSB Sheathing, utilizing Barrier's proprietary Pyrotite® Technology, at Barrier's existing manufacturing facility in Watkins, MN.
Judy Musgrove, LP's OSB Marketing Manager, reflects on the agreement in stating: "...LP® FlameBlock® is a critical component of LP's value-added OSB strategy. LP believes that fire treated OSB products will be more and more important over time and is proud to have the only cementitious fire treated OSB product on the market."
LP® FlameBlock® was first introduced to the building industry at the International Builder's Show in Las Vegas in January 2010. According to Dr. Michael Huddy, Barrier's President and CEO: "Both LP and Barrier were encouraged by 2010's success in building awareness and developing prospects for LP® FlameBlock® in the building industry. We are well positioned and resolved to help builders and building designers provide effective solutions for fire-rated construction in 2011 and beyond."
International Barrier Technology Inc. (OTCBB: IBTGF) (TSX-V: IBH) develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary fire-resistant building materials branded as LP® FlameBlock® Fire-Rated OSB Sheathing and Mule-Hide FR Deck Panel. Barrier's award-winning fire-resistant wood panels use a patented, non-toxic, non-combustible coating with an extraordinary capability: it releases water in the heat of fire. The panels exceed "model" building code requirements in every targeted fire test and application, and are unique in combining properties that increase panel strength and minimize environmental and human impact. Barrier's family of products provides customers a premium material choice meeting an increasingly challenging combination of requirements in residential and commercial building construction. For more information please visit www.intlbarrier.com.
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Iran Nuclear News Iran secretly tested 'nuclear-capable missiles'
Iran secretly tested 'nuclear-capable missiles'
AFP: Iran has carried out secret tests of missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in breach of UN resolutions, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday.
LONDON (AFP) — Iran has carried out secret tests of missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in breach of UN resolutions, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday.
Hague's comments came a day after Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said they had fired 14 missiles in an exercise, one of them a medium-range weapon capable of striking Israel or US targets in the Gulf.
In a statement to lawmakers, Hague said: "Iran has also been carrying out covert ballistic missile tests and rocket launches, including testing missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in contravention of UN resolution 1929."
He said Iran had also announced plans to triple its capacity to produce 20 percent enriched uranium, adding: "These are enrichment levels far greater than is needed for peaceful nuclear energy.
"We will maintain and continue to increase pressure on Iran to negotiate an agreement on their nuclear programme," including sanctions, he said.
On Tuesday US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Iran was "bragging" about its assets, but did not specify whether Washington thought the tested missiles were nuclear-capable.
Iran's missile programme, which is under the control of the powerful Guards along with its space projects, has been a mounting source of concern in the West.
Western governments fear Tehran is seeking to develop a ballistic capability to enable it to launch atomic warheads under cover of its civil nuclear programme.
Tehran denies any such ambition.
Previous articleIran's president denounces arrests of his allies
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With the month of November almost here, don't forget about the Holy Souls in Purgatory. If you are unsure what to pray for them, check out Requiem Press. Scroll down to where the "Daily Prayers for the Church Suffering" booklet is presented. I bought one of these not long ago, It's a great way to pray for the Holy Souls, and remember that they will also pray for you.
This morning, I attended a Men's Morning of Spirituality with Danny Abramowicz, former wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints as the key speaker. Our bishop said the Mass at the end, and we had a witness talk as well. There were several hundred men present there. The rather large church building in the Germantown suburb was filled to capacity.
As I reflect on it, I realize how much this kind of ministry is needed. In fact, one major problem that we have is that much of the spirituality (and especially the music) has been been too feminine in nature. Many of the hard truths are softened on the pulpits and in other places. The idea of spiritual warfare, which we must all wage, is just not fashionable today. One thing that was presented this morning was that being on a SWAT team and crashing in to a prostitution house to arrest the people running it is very much a Christian act. Imagine if that were said in another venue. Oh no! It might upset a pseudo-Christian pacifist movement that insists that those people who kidnap women to sell as prostitutes just need love and understanding. It's a small wonder that we now have the women doing all the work in the Church. Given this, there is little doubt in my mind that many a pastor wants to avoid offending the shrill, liberal ones.
Remember that, when we make the Sign of the Cross, we use masculine terms to describe the Trinity for a reason. God loves us and wants to call us all to himself. However, if kicking out tail is necessary for our eternal good, then we ought not put it past God. Remember that our salvation was worked out by a death by crucifixion.
Too often being a man is looked down upon. We've told we've got to be more "in touch with our feelings." Manliness is portrayed as selfishness, crudeness, and a sensuality similar to that shown on Comedy Central's The Man Show. Well, I've never actually sat down and watched it, but the opening of the show tells me all I need to know. People who act like that aren't men; they are overgrown adolescents. Our society needs real men who love God and their families and will stand up, and even go to the cross themselves, for what is right.
It appears that Michael J. Fox is recording misleading ads like this one all over the country. Other articles have quoted him saying he is a "single-issue" voter. One wonders if he is really thinking about what he is saying. I hope not.
First off, it appears that he things that embryonic stem cell research is his only hope for a cure for his condition. This simply isn't true. Even candidates who oppose embryonic stem cell research typically support adult stem cell research that does not involve destroying human embryos. Other forms of biotechnology also exist that have been used to produce medications. In fact, I work for a company that dispenses those kinds of medications.
Second, even if the research he advocates is his only hope, does he have the right to kill another innocent human being to obtain it? No, he does not. I don't know if he realizes the problem. He is making his sole issue the right to kill a human being in an early stage of life and to obtain government funding to do so.
Another thing that is of interest is the fact that embryonic stem cell research is legal. It shouldn't be, but it is. The questions on the ballots today refer strictly to government funding. Apparently, people can't get private funding for it, so they are trying to use our tax dollars for it.
Some people point out, and rightly so, that if embryonic stem cells were used on Michael J. Fox as we know them now, they will almost certainly kill him. Only adult stem cells have been used successfully. However, I would be careful about using this as an argument against funding of the research. People could easily turn around and use this as a reason why more research is needed. After all, we don't have a cure yet, but someone thinks it's promising. Therefore, more research is needed to find the cure. If enough research is done, it's possible that a medical breakthrough will result.
However, that breakthrough will be the result of the immoral destruction of human life. This is the real problem with embryonic stem cell research. We are killing a helpless, innocent human being for the sake of another. It is immoral to do evil so that good may come out of it. A medical breakthrough with embryonic stem cells may cut off the development of other, morally-acceptable means to the same end. We cannot afford to have our tax dollars used for this.
It seems like the Susan G. Komen foundation would be a good cause to contribute to. I'm sure that they have done much to help women. However, regardless of what they have done, I can't in good conscience support them when they have been found to have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood.
It's sad to see something that could be doing a lot of good being involved in this. Why do they need to do this? It's like someone is taking advantage of well-intentioned people for their own agenda. I'm not sure that this is happening, but it's hard to believe otherwise.
I saw this article and wanted to blog about being in the Life Chain. It's the only demonstration that I regularly participate in. The thing that seems to strike me the most is that, while many show their support, so many seem to be indifferent. How can anyone be indifferent to the killing of so many innocent unborn children?
I was standing next to the Jiffy Lube for most of the hour. The funny part was that those guys came out with signs of their own while at work. So, imagine this . . . here I am with a sign that says "Pray to End Abortion," and next to me is a guy with a sign that says "$19.99 Oil Change." He was friendly.
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Madisonian Constitution
Constitutional scholars often describe the original Constitution of 1787 and its first ten amendments as Madisonian, and they have two good reasons to do so. First, james madison was arguably the central historical actor in every phase of the political movement that led to the adoption of the Constitution, from the calling of the federal constitutional convention of 1787 to the ratification of the bill of rights in 1791. His preparations for the federal convention shaped its basic agenda and its politics. Even though several of the proposals he most favored were rejected, the completed Constitution still carried the marks of his substantial influence. Second, scholars typically rely on Madison's political writings—especially his most celebrated contributions to the federalist—as the most authoritative statements of the underlying theory of politics and government that the Constitution embodied.
If Madison did play the critical role that historians ascribe to him, the reason was not only that experience and intellect suited him to do so, but also that he consciously made the task of promoting the project of constitutional reform his own cause. During his service in the continental congress (1780–1783), Madison was deeply involved in the effort to ratify and then amend the articles of confederation, and he pursued the same ends as a member of the Virginia assembly from 1784 to 1786. Though Madison initially worried that the assembly's decision to invite other states to a conference to consider national problems of commerce might backfire, he went to the Annapolis Convention in September 1786 convinced that a radical step was necessary to break the impasse over reforming the Confederation. When it became evident that the meeting was too poorly attended to propose anything of substance, Madison joined the other commissioners in issuing a call for a general convention to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787. He then returned to Virginia to make sure that the assembly took the lead in inviting the other states to appoint delegates for the new convention.
Madison prepared for the convention by reflecting on both the history of other confederations and his own political experiences. These reflections supported one critical conclusion: Any federal union that relied, as did the Confederation, on the voluntary compliance of its member states with national decisions must always prove defective. Instead, the national government needed to be empowered to act directly upon the people, by enacting, executing, and adjudicating its own laws. This conclusion led to two others. First, the convention would need to think seriously about the proper composition of the three essential departments of government—legislative, executive, and judicial. Second, because a well-constructed legislature was bicameral, the rules of apportioning representation in both houses of a future Congress would become a source of controversy. Here Madison was intent on establishing that seats in both houses should be apportioned on the basis of population and perhaps wealth.
The deeper impetus for the solutions Madison wished the convention to adopt reflected his diagnosis of the problems of legislative misrule and popular politics in the individual states. Madison believed that the great source of instability in American government lay in the tendency of the state legislatures to act impulsively and unwisely, especially by enacting laws that violated the due rights of minorities and individuals. The legislature, and especially its lower house, was the branch of government most likely to encroach upon the legitimate powers of the other departments. The great challenge of designing the institutions of republican government was thus to protect the two weaker departments, the executive and judiciary, against legislative domination. But the problem was not merely an institutional one. For when legislatures overstepped their bounds or acted unjustly, Madison reasoned, they were likely to be acting in response to the improper desires of their constituents, or more to the point, the popular majorities whom they represented. To bring stability to republican government, Madison believed, required finding ways to insulate elected representatives from the passions and interests that swayed the electorate.
In drafting the virginia plan just before the Constitutional Convention assembled in May 1787, Madison converted this general diagnosis into a program of reform. Over the next four months, however, he met defeat on most of the crucial proposals that he supported most strongly. The rule of representation adopted for the U.S. senate, giving each state an equal vote, Madison thought fundamentally unjust. The Senate would also be elected by the state legislatures, which Madison regarded as nests of political demagoguery. To protect the executive and judiciary against legislative domination, Madison had proposed uniting these two weaker branches into a council of revision armed with a limited veto power over Congress; instead the Constitution gave the veto to the President alone. To correct the vices of state legislation, Madison proposed giving Congress a veto over all state laws; instead, the Constitution envisioned limited judicial review of state legislation by a federal judiciary that Madison feared would be too weak to carry out this task.
The completed Constitution was thus far less Madisonian than Madison would have wished. Yet it is equally true that both the debates at Philadelphia and the document they produced were deeply influenced by Madison's diagnosis of what he called the "vices of the political system of the United States." No other delegate played a more important role in framing the convention's agenda, steering its deliberations, or elevating the tenor of its debates. And even if the Constitution disappointed his expectations, Madison's criticisms of the defects of the Confederation were the foundation on which the new plan of government rested.
After the Constitution was published, Madison agreed to contribute to the series of essays that alexander hamilton planned to publish to support its ratification. Madison's first essay, the tenth Federalist, appeared on November 22, 1787. Its importance was largely neglected by nineteenth-century commentators. But in his influential work, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (1913), charles a. beard treated Federalist No. 10 as the paradigmatic statement of the political theory of the Constitution, and a host of later commentators who rejected most of Beard's reading of this text have nevertheless echoed the same judgment. Several of Madison's other essays for The Federalist—notably his discussion of federalism in Nos. 39, 45, and 46, and of the separation of powers in Nos. 47–51—have attained nearly the same status.
Federalist No. 10 is a critical document because it disputes the conventional wisdom which then held that stable republican governments could safely exist only in compact, relatively homogeneous societies. This posed a formidable objection to the Constitution, because Americans could never approve a national government that did not take a suitably republican form. Federalist No. 10 turned this conventional wisdom on its head. The greatest danger to liberty arose when self-interested factions seized control of government, Madison argued, and this was far more likely to happen in small, homogeneous societies than in extended, diverse polities. Creating an extended national republic of diverse interests would reduce this danger, Madison concluded, and it might have the further benefit of enabling a superior class of lawmakers to gain election to Congress, where they could legislate more wisely than their counterparts in the states.
Federalist No. 10 explained why a national republican government was possible, but it did not describe how its institutions would be constructed or how they would operate. These were the subjects to which Madison turned in later essays. In Federalist No. 39, he patiently explained why the new government could only be described as a complicated amalgam of national, federal, and republican features—neither a confederation of fully sovereign states nor a consolidated unitary nation-state. The succeeding essays then provided a case-by-case defense of the particular powers that the proposed Constitution delegated to Congress. In Federalist Nos. 45–46, Madison further suggested that the states would retain significant political advantages over the national government. All of these essays sought to demonstrate that creating an effective national government would still leave the states in possession of their essential powers and even their political influence.
It was in Federalist Nos. 47–51, however, that the second fundamental element of the Madisonian theory of the Constitution became apparent. Here Madison set out to counter two other axioms of contemporary constitutional theory. One held that the best way to protect each of the three branches of government from encroachments by the others was to keep them rigidly separated in their powers and personnel; the other held that the greatest danger to this institutional separation of powers arose from the executive.
Madison countered these positions in several ways. He argued, first, that the theory of rigid separation was rarely followed in either British or American practice, and that indeed some mixture of powers across the branches might prove a better way of preserving the essential separation than an adherence to their rigid separation. Second, in republican governments the real danger to separation came from the "impetuous vortex" of the legislature, which could deploy its rulemaking authority and its superior political influence to overwhelm the other branches. From this it followed, third, that the people could not be expected to rally to the support of the threatened departments; it was far more likely that their passions and interests would inspire the legislature to overstep its bounds. The only security for protecting each branch within its proper sphere, Madison concluded in Federalist No. 51, was to give each branch of government some means of defense (the veto for the President, judicial review of legislation for the judiciary, the power of the purse for Congress), but also to encourage alliances between the weaker institutions against the stronger. Read carefully, Federalist No. 51 is really a defense of the potential alliance between the President and Senate against the danger from the U.S. house of representatives. But its general principle extends further. Rather than rely on a rigid theory of separation, a truly Madisonian constitution would strive to fashion pragmatic mechanisms for preventing any one branch of government from gaining lasting supremacy over the others.
Madison ended Federalist No. 51 with a restatement of the argument of Federalist No. 10, and this provides a revealing clue to his own understanding of the Constitution. If the extended republic worked as the latter essay had earlier predicted, Madison concluded, the actual danger that Congress would dominate the other branches might be mitigated, for the diversity of interests in the larger society should work to discourage the wrong kinds of majorities from forming to pursue their vicious ends. This restatement confirms that Madison himself believed that the benefits of the extended republic would lay the essential foundation of a truly Madisonian constitution.
Jack N. Rakove
Adair, Douglass 1951 The Tenth Federalist Revisited. William and Mary Quarterly 8:48–67.
——1957 "That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science": David Hume, James Madison, and the Tenth Federalist. Huntington Library Quarterly 20:343–360.
Banning, Lance 1995 The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the American Republic. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Beard, Charles A. 1913 An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution. New York: Macmillan.
Bourke, Paul 1975 The Pluralist Reading of James Madison's Tenth Federalist. Perspectives in American History 9:271–295.
Dahl, Robert 1956 A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Diamond, Martin 1959 Democracy and The Federalist: A Reconsideration of the Framers' Intent. American Political Science Review 53:52–68.
Epstein, David F. 1984 The Political Theory of The Federalist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ketcham, Ralph 1971 James Madison: A Biography. New York: Macmillan.
Nedelsky, Jennifer 1990 Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism: The Madisonian Framework and Its Legacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rakove, Jack N. 1996 Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. New York: Alfred Knopf.
Zvesper, John 1984 The Madisonian Systems. Western Political Quarterly 37:236–256.
Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
"Madisonian Constitution ." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Madisonian Constitution ." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. . Encyclopedia.com. (December 28, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/madisonian-constitution
"Madisonian Constitution ." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. . Retrieved December 28, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/madisonian-constitution
Constitution (vessel) , The U.S. Constitution is the document written in 1787 that established the frame of government for the United States of America. It was written by a… Constitutional Convention , Constitutional conventions, like the written constitutions that they produce, are among the American contributions to government. A constitutional co… James Madison , James Madison Ralph Ketcham JAMES MADISON, was born on 16 March 1751 of a family that had been in Virginia since the mid-seventeenth century. Tradesm… Federalist Papers , The Federalist Papers, a series of eighty-five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, were intended to win public support… State , The declaration of independence declares that the "united colonies" are, as they ought mk mm to be, "free and independent states." The term "states"… Constitution Of The United States , The fundamental law, written or unwritten, that establishes the character of a government by defining the basic principles to which a society must co…
Constitutionalism and the American Founding
Constitution: Creating a Republic
JEFFERSON, THOMAS (1743–1826)
MADISON, JAMES (1751–1836)
Government: Overview
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Hamilton, Alexander (1755–1804)
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Madison's Notes of the Debates
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Madison Media Institute: Tabular Data
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Fall is in the air. Can you feel it? Time to get that crockpot ready. This one will soon become an autumn favorite.
Place about 4 cups of soup in a blender with the olive oil. Pulse gently until semi-smooth and creamy-looking (the oil will form a creamy emulsion with the soup). Add back to the pot and stir to combine. Stir in the kale and parsley. Turn the heat off and just let everything chill out for a bit before serving. The taste gets better with time and so does the texture, IMO!
Season to taste (add the sherry, vinegar, and/or lemon juice at this point) and to really go next level, serve with crusty wheat bread and a little Parmesan cheese. It's called Detox Balance.
This was delicious!! Easy to make and good for the body. Thanks for posting, this is definitely a 'do again' recipe!
Thanks! Can't go wrong with either a crockpot recipe OR soup this time of year! Glad you enjoyed it.
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On traditions, remembering, and taking action
Today I'm going to share a version of part of a chapter in Collisions of Earth and Sky - along with some parts of it that didn't make it into the final draft, but I thought it might be okay to share here in newsletter form. It's always a little odd to share excerpts, since you only get a part of the story, but I'll share anyway. You'll get the basic idea. I'm sharing this particular excerpt because holiday time gets me thinking about and taking part in family traditions. And because this year, a year that's been a really challenging one with extreme winter weather in Minnesota and South Dakota (and many other places..),
— the Dakota 38 + 2 Wokiksuye riders still rode the 330 miles from Brule, South Dakota to Reconciliation Park in Mankato, MN, to honor the life lost 160 years ago.
I come from a family of farmers—from four generations ago in Norway and Germany to central South Dakota where my uncles still cultivate the land my grandfather farmed. My folks taught us how to plant seeds, grow vegetables organically, and cook creatively (even though I didn't always appreciate those "creatively cooked" dishes as a youth). So I grow garlic, potatoes, carrots, kale, and tomatoes year after year, even when it's hard, like when bugs or small rodents or wild turkeys eat half the crop and I feel like throwing in the spade. I try to save some of my own seeds, swap with others when I can, and order the rest of what I need for a gardening season from Seed Saver's Exchange. We preserve as much of the harvest as we can, share what's in abundance, and eat together as a family. My dad's mom was a champion canner, and while I haven't mastered the art of pickling like she had, jars of pickles, tomatoes, and other preserves line our cabinet and freezer shelves every year. When the baseball bat sized zucchinis overtake the kitchen counters, my maternal grandma's zucchini bread recipe comes out. I freeze loaf after loaf to help sustain us in the winter months.
Just after we got married, Nick and I took a community education class and learned to make Lefse from an elderly Swedish woman in an effort to claim part of our shared Scandinavian heritage. We got our own Lefse making supplies shortly after and have been making a big batch every year since, and our daughter has embraced the practice wholeheartedly. Nick's paternal grandmother's goulash recipe is in the regular winter dinner rotation. We get out the German advent calendar each Christmas, and eat now and then at the local German restaurant. It feels important to stay connected to these things, even though traditional German food isn't my favorite. It's part of where I came from, and I want to remember that. I hope growing up with this closeness to where food comes from and the rituals of preparation and preservation help my daughter remember her roots and offer her a sense of belonging.
I also actively have to remember that as the descendent of settlers with European heritage, I'm a visitor on this land that we steward now in Minnesota, just as much as it's home. Much of what I have access to is because of generational wealth: The Homestead Act of 1862 granted my farming family access to colonized lands. I may always be unpacking and reconciling the complexities of this reality, yet I don't want to wait until I have it all figured out (I don't know if anybody truly gets it all figured out..) to incorporate this evolving understanding of what it means to be a good ancestor into everyday living. As a coach, I am always telling people that I do not have their answers (as much as they sometimes want me to have them)–only they can truly figure out what the best course of action is. I don't hand coaching clients a tidy 10-step solution for healthy living, because that's not something that exists. It can take a good long while and lots of conversation to elicit the responses that lead to positive change. Even still, sometimes it is tough to remember that I don't need to have a resolution for everything, immediately. When I find myself wanting to be able to offer an immediate lesson from these stories of remembering and returning, I have to remember that I am not done learning myself.
On February 12th, 2020, the state of Minnesota returned 114 acres of land along the Minnesota River to part of the Mdewakanton Band of Dakota (a group federally recognized as the Lower Sioux Dakota.) The land that was transferred is called Cansa'yapi, meaning "where they marked the trees red." It is the site where the U.S./Dakota War began in 1862. The conflict between the United States government and the Dakota people began when the United States refused to distribute the food and supplies stored at the site, violating its treaty.
Robert Larsen, the Lower Sioux chair, said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, "Our ancestors paid for this land over and over with their blood, with their lives. It's not a sale; it's been paid for by the ones that aren't here anymore." The U.S./Dakota War lasted six weeks. After it ended, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato, Minnesota. Another two were captured and executed a few days later. It is the largest single-day execution in United States history. (This is why the riders mentioned at the beginning of this post, many of them desendants of the men killed in 1862, are riding, and have been each year for the past 17 years.)
On October 9, 2021, Angela Two Stars' (Dakota, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) sculpture Okciyapi (which means Help Each Other) was unveiled at the Walker Art Center. The sculpture, which provides a space for visitors to interact with the Dakota language, rests in the same area of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden that once housed a sculpture called "Scaffold" that was partly inspired by the execution in Mankato in 1862. (Though it was intended as a symbol to denounce capital punishment, it was deemed traumatizing during mediations with Dakota elders and ceremoniously dismantled and burned in 2017.) In a press release, Two Stars said that she "specifically chose this site with the awareness that there was a need for healing, for both the community and the land itself. As part of the installation process, my family led a ground cleansing ceremony at the site, to help all of us to move forward in positivity and celebration."
Every time a person remembers what they need to remember, in order to connect with an essential piece of themselves, and acts on that remembering, it's another wisp of hope, rising.
A colleague introduced me to Steph Big Eagle's work a year or so ago, and I've been keeping up with what she's doing since. And this year she decided to join the ride to honor her Dakota relatives. On Day 14 of the ride this year, as they navigated through the brutal winds and frigid conditions of the wide open spaces of the plains, she said, "It's extremely powerful to ride with these warriors, who are determined to carry these prayers for our ancestors and future generations. Thank you most importantly to the Sunka Wakan Oyate, the Horse Nation, for being such beautiful partners in this ceremony to bring reconciliation and healing to our Dakota relatives."
The riders made it to Mankato yesterday, and the community came together at Reconciliation Park to lift up the healing that has happened, and that which is still to come. And we are all part of the healing that is yet to come—the more beautiful world needs us to be.
There is work to do yet. I'll be continuing to explore ways I can add to the healing of my direct community and the larger collective, and taking the actions necessary to contribute. There is work to do yet. But there, even on the frozen ground that has seen so much pain, there are wisps of hope, rising.
Ordinary Collisions: Intersections of Nature & Culture is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a subscriber.
Folks in Pine Ridge and Rosebud have been hit really really hard with blizzard conditions, power outages, and extreme cold in the last few days. Many are in need of assistance due to impassable roads over the holiday weekend. To aid those who are in position to help, you can donate here: ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE BLIZZARD RELIEF FUND
This is clearly very oversimplfied. I appreciated how Diane Wilson, an author from my community, writes about it in her book Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past. Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota is another good book to read about Minnesota's true history.
Dec 28, 2022Liked by Heidi Barr
A friend of mine made a movie called Dakota 38. It can be viewed on YouTube. (Smooth Feather Production)
1 reply by Heidi Barr
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Congratulations to Alfie C from Blackman and Issie M from Rowling who were both prize winners in Bewdley InterAct's 'View From My Window' competition. Alfie won 1st prize in the photo category and Alfie and Issie came joint third in the poetry competition.
Alfie's also entered the 'Kids' Poetry Club' competition and has been invited to record his poem for their podcast!
Thank you to Bewdley Rotary for donating the prizes and to Bewdley InterAct for organising the competition. For a full list of winners take a look at the Bewdley InterAct Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/bewdleyinteract/.
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Home » About » ALTogether Now » ALTogether Now Vol. 17
Vol. 17 - Sept. 23, 2019
Advancement Leadership Team: Steve Hornsby, Leigh Kalin, Scott Anderson, Tom Hewitt, Karen Bertrand, and Deanna Bennett.
What's in your back pocket?
The inspiration for the lead story of this newsletter was borne from an exercise ALT completed called the Work of Leaders; one aspect of the work ALT has undertaken through the DISC Workplace assessment tool (see a DISC overview in ALTogether Now, Vol. 15).
As a part of this exercise, each ALT member has assumed responsibility of a leadership best practice to explore and champion, not only on behalf of our leadership team, but for Advancement as well. The best practice I will be exploring is seeking counsel and consulting others.
While I don't profess to be an expert in the area, this practice is something I have tried to embrace in my career and instill in my colleagues. In my view, a learning organization is a consulting organization and that ongoing process of continuous learning is strengthened by our collective activities.
Here are a few of the things I have found extremely helpful which may also have application in your own environment.
Collaborate with other schools: In our most recent Advancement staff meeting, I suggested that I have seen a positive shift in the willingness of our peer institutions to share and collaborate. While my peers in other Advancement Services shops have always been generous with their time, a group of us took it one step further by formalizing opportunities to collaborate outside of the traditional PD circuit offerings. While I'm not even sure we have a name, we try to meet two to three times per year and have created a simple email distribution list to share group insight. More than nine years down the road, not a week goes by without some form of dialogue. These opportunities are indispensable to me.
On a smaller scale, it is likely that each of us can find collaborators and peers within our own ecosystems. This could include colleagues in different units, individuals in similar roles across campus (but with different outcomes and audiences) or even a few key contacts at strategic schools. The key is to establish a plan for interaction and create an ongoing dialogue.
Work of Leaders assignments:
Being driven: Deanna
Being receptive: Tom
Being encouraging: Karen
Offering praise: Leigh
Seeking counsel: Steve
Structuring messages: Scott
Belong to an e-community or subscribe to a listserv – our sector is rich with opportunities to support our ongoing learning. One such example is the Ellucian e-Community where you can register, post, and receive input from a large number of Ellucian schools using Advance. The Blumberg's Canadian Charity Law List is an additional example of a listserv where charitable compliance, case law, and changes to legislation are shared.
No doubt, these approaches will be obvious to many of you and cover but a small portion of the opportunities and strategies you already use – they were really meant as a thought starter. It is my observation that the Office of Advancement already has good instincts in this area. As I further develop my thinking on this, I would be pleased to receive your ideas, strategies, and/or examples of how you seek counsel and consult others. Please feel free to email me at steve.hornsby@queensu.ca and use seeking counsel in the subject line.
While on the topic of continuous learning, Advancement Services is also pleased to roll out the sessions for the newly named Advancement Services Learning Forum. The specific dates and times will be firmed up in the coming weeks. Group interaction is what makes these sessions particularly valuable, so we hope you will join us.
Third-party Donations with a Focus on UK Giving: October.
Step into the Matrix – Using Supervised AI to Build your Pipeline: November.
Preparing for Calendar Year-end: November
The Paul & Jon Hour: December
Demystifying Data Governance: January.
Restricted Gifts and Guidelines for Using Pending Funds: February.
Prospect Identification, Qualification, and Strategy - We're in this Together: March.
Find a New Newsletter
Related to this, the Advancement IDEAS group has proposed a new section for Altogether Newsletter where ALT Members and their team can share helpful and interesting campus newsletters. This week's suggestion is from Carla Ferreira Rodrigues:
The Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre SIGN UP
Please send your suggestions to your ALT Member.
Learning Opportunities on Campus
Each week this new section will highlight educational opportunities on campus and other events that may be of interest to advancement staff. Please send any suggestions to your ALT member.
Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019:
1–2 pm: Why We Need a Theory of Territory
The Ban Righ Centre hosts a talk on the importance of people's relationship to land and to territory for a number of disciplines – constitutional law, indigenous rights, international relations, political science, analyses of gentrification, and more.
2–3:30 pm: Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative at Queen's University
Please join us at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts as Queen's University hosts the Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative, featuring Martin Chalfie, 2008 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019:
4 pm: Microagression and forward-looking moral responsibility
The Queen's University Department of Philosophy Colloquium Series presents Regini Rini of York University discussing how to address microagressions and change the behaviour behind them.
5–6:30 pm: MacClement Lecture: Tanya Talaga
The Faculty of Education is hosting a lecture by award-winning journalist and author of Seven Fallen Feathers, Tanya Talaga. In this compelling and thought-provoking lecture, Tanya Talaga will highlight the research she's done, emphasising its application to education and youth.
For more information and a listing of other great events, please visit the Queen's Events Calendar for more details.
Volunteer for Homecoming
The leaves are turning, the students are back, and people are wearing sweaters again… all this can only mean one thing! That's right – Homecoming. In less than a month, Homecoming 2019 will be joyfully painting the town tricolour – and we need your help to make it a success!
Talk with your supervisor about the roles and shifts that you'd like to take - hourly-paid staff will be compensated with lieu time according to your collective agreement. Use the Homecoming Staff Support Sign-Up Sheet to read through the linked role descriptions, and sign up for the shifts you want by adding your name and email address in the applicable row.
Please note: we are especially keen to find staff support for the Football Game Zone Captains. This is a fast-paced role where you will lead a small team of students to accomplish specific functions/goals at the game and during the Tricolour Guard parade during half-time.
No matter which roles you may choose, you'll receive the training and information you need beforehand to feel comfortable and confident. Many thanks for sharing your time, energy, and Queen's spirit to support this incredible moment in the Queen's year. Through these roles, you will significantly impact the Homecoming experience for alumni, guests, and students. The positive ripple-effects from this weekend of connection with Queen's will be felt for a long time to come.
Please send Kathryn Vilela a note if you have any questions!
Custodial Services Update
Physical Plant Services is in the process of reviewing, overhauling, and investing in their custodial services. Currently, 120 cleaning staff service 4.9 million square feet of space. Over the next 18 months, custodial services will be introducing standards that are clear on expectations and backed by a service level agreement.
We can expect to see the following changes; autonomous cleaning equipment, hospital grade cleaning of all washrooms, improved indoor air quality from entrance matting program, improved surface and floor cleanliness, and improved communication between service requesters and custodial managers. In the future, service delivery will be provided by industry trained and tooled specialist teams per area type; thus reducing opportunities for cross-contamination, cleanliness outcomes that fall below published expectations, and stretched resources unable to deliver services as required.
This is a major initiative by Physical Plant Services and will drastically improve the health and well-being of staff, faculty, students, and visitors on campus.
Reminder for any current concerns, please contact FIXIT operations center by phone at ext. 77301 or by e-mail.
The Old Medical Building was the first permanent building on campus or elsewhere that was constructed by Queen's. It has undergone more alterations than any other building on campus, the result of expansions, contractions, renovations, and a fire in 1924 that destroyed the top floor (which has since been rebuilt). Despite this, much of the original building, including its ornate doorway – the builders' only real concession to decoration – stills stands. In 1872, Professor John Watson commented that "nothing short of inverted architectural genius could devise anything so irredeemably ugly." Stand tall Old Meds – we've got your back.
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We're pleased to announce The Power of Presence, a first-of-its-kind online course with Eckhart Tolle and Kim Eng.
This is a unique exploration of Eckhart's work—emphasizing how you can bring more Presence into your own life, from one moment to the next.
The program contains over 16 hours of teachings, two live Q&A sessions, Presence Practices, and special bonuses. Please read on further to learn more about the course, and what your participation might mean for you and for the world we share.
You may have noticed what Eckhart Tolle calls "the voice in the head"—the stream of habitual thought patterns and self-talk that absorbs the majority of our attention in any given moment.
"The most important life lesson to be learned is the realization of who you are in essence, beyond the person."
When we are continually lost in thoughts and concepts, we miss the immediacy and the fullness of life in the here and now—the only place we can ever experience it. In our attempts to find peace, we create more suffering for ourselves and others.
That is, until we discover Presence . . .
"Presence is the arising of a dimension of consciousness from where you can become aware that there is a voice in the head. That awareness is beyond thinking. It's a space of consciousness where you can be the observer of your own mind—the awareness behind the thought processes.
"For human beings to discover this dimension is extraordinarily important. It is in fact, as I see it, the next step in the evolution of humanity. When you no longer look to the mind to provide you with your sense of identity—because your sense of identity now comes now from a deeper place—that's the shift that changes everything, dramatically. It is the most important thing that can happen in your lifetime.
"The arising of Presence is no longer a luxury; it's a necessity for the survival of humanity."
So how do we initiate this shift?
Can we actually learn to be present?
And how do we sustain Presence after we've caught a glimpse?
The Power of Presence takes you on an eight-week journey with Eckhart Tolle, Kim Eng, and a global community of people committed to the deepening of Presence in daily life.
We warmly invite you to join us for this landmark program.
P.S. The Power of Presence comes with a one-year, 100% satisfaction guarantee so you can try this life-changing material with no risk.
P.P.S. As a bonus you'll also receive never-before-seen video recordings from Eckhart's recent retreat in Costa Rica on Being Present. This bonus contains over 7 hours of additional teaching content to support your learning and personal growth.
Discover freedom from the source of suffering in the mind through this essential step in awakening to Presence.
Eckhart's most effective tools for entering the Now and accessing Presence in daily life situations.
Learning to recognize the pain-body, unresolved emotional energy from the past, is the key to transcending the cycle of suffering this energy creates.
Getting clear on the nature of ego is a critical step toward engaging in conscious relationship and living a life of Presence.
Becoming an expression of "awakening in action" for the greater good. As Eckhart teaches, there may be no more important way to be of service in the world.
We become what we practice and every moment we have a choice to be in the present or not.
When we are in meditation or in silence without distraction, allowing presence can be easier than when we are surrounded by the noise of our daily activities. Our mind and senses are often triggered, causing us to lose our natural state of being.
Yet it is by bringing more presence into our work, our relationships, and every area of our life that we are able to make everything a living practice.
As part of The Power of Presence program, Eckhart Tolle and Kim Eng will be sharing with you powerful presence practices that you can incorporate into your everyday life as well as during your meditations.
In addition to the teachings every week, you will receive a downloadable workbook with over 29 presence practices as well as three 60-minute guided teachings to support you on your journey.
contains more than 17 hours of curated insights and guidance over eight weeks.
The course will have two live questions-and-answer sessions. You will be able to submit your questions in advance. Our special focus will be on the Presence Practices as described in the course. In case you are unable to attend these will be recorded and available in the course.
During the course will will replay three recent live teaching sessions intended to point you to the discovery of stillness in everyday life—more than two hours of additional guidance from Eckhart.
All-new teachings, practical insights, and immediate tools to spark the arising of Presence and help us "hold the space of awareness" throughout our daily lives. Over seven hours of never-before-seen video teachings from this special event.
Eckhart speaks with author and teacher Marianne Williamson about the evolution of humanity and our role as individuals.
Renowned Buddhist meditation teacher Jack Kornfield joins Eckhart for a dialogue on mindfulness, meditation, and the journey of awakening.
A moving dialogue on topics including Neale's personal story, his creative process, and the challenge of staying spiritually awake in daily living.
When you register for The Power of Presence, the Eckhart Tolle Foundation will donate one free course membership to an individual in need.
All spiritual teachings hold within them the seed to change human consciousness. Our greater responsibility as we go through our own transformational process is to find meaningful ways to help others.
An important element of The Power of Presence online training program is a one-for-one matching component that will benefit those most in need—and we have made it easy for you to give.
When you enroll in The Power of Presence, one registration for this online course will be donated to an underserved community through the Eckhart Tolle Foundation. You will be helping the elderly, young students, those in prisons, and others who would not otherwise be able to participate.
Through this one-for-one match program, you will be helping to expand the positive impact this work has in the world to further accelerate the awakening of consciousness at this critical time.
Each of the eight modules in this course was curated from recent talks by Eckhart, with an emphasis on the practical application of his central teachings in the "training ground" of our daily lives.
The vital question in relationships: Is there space?
Please sign up below if you would like to be notified when we reopen registration.
How do I access the free video teaching series and live webinar?
You can access the gift here.
Are the sessions live or pre-recorded?
The course videos are pre-recorded. Sessions noted as "Live" or "Q&A" are live.
How do I know what time live sessions start if I live abroad or in a different time zone?
All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Please use a time zone converter of your choice or thetimezoneconverter.com.
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RETRIBUTIVISM: ESSAYS ON THEORY AND POLICY
by Mark D. White (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 272 pp. Cloth $95.00. ISBN: 9780199752232.
Reviewed by Whitley Kaufman, Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell. Email: Whitley_Kaufman [at] uml.edu.
Just a generation or so ago, the retributive theory of punishment was dead; today it is arguably the dominant theory of punishment among both academics and policymakers. Yet despite its dominance, we have no good theory as to why retribution is a morally justified response to criminal wrongdoing. In short, retributivism is a hot topic, and it is heartening to see high-quality scholarly treatments like the present subject of review. Mark White has put together a series of thoughtful essays from some of the leading voices in the field. The critical commentary I provide below on many of these essays should be taken as an attempt to enter into dialogue with the various views, and by no means as a negative judgment on the quality of the volume. The difficulties that I see in the various arguments in this volume are a reflection of the very difficulty of the problem being set out: how can we make sense of why it is permissible to respond to a wrong by inflicting suffering on the wrongdoer? It remains an unanswered question, and this is just why we need more books like this one.
R.A. Duff has long been one of the most eloquent and powerful defenders of the "communicative" theory of punishment. But, as Duff acknowledges (p.16), the theory has always struggled to explain why it should involve the infliction of suffering (i.e., punishment), rather than just a declaration of the wrongness of the crime. Here Duff suggests that "words may not be enough" to "give social force" to the criminal's "apology" (pp.17-18). The notion of "social force" is however either far too murky to explain punishment, or else if taken in some more concrete sense (e.g. deterrent or rehabilitative effects), causes the theory to collapse into a consequentialist theory. Either way, the communicative theory still lacks a convincing rationale.
Cahill suggests that though the present state of criminal theory is "ambiguous," it "seems to hold the promise of a potential emerging consensus," in the form of a "mixed" theory of punishment that reconciles the consequentialist and the retributivist theory (p.25). This "emerging consensus" is news to me, and seems to be a product more of wishful thinking than reality (Cahill signals his uncertainty by incorporating a remarkable five distinct qualifications in the sentence – "ambiguous," "seems," "promise," "potential," and "emerging"). I have written elsewhere on why the "mixed theory" of punishment will not work (Kaufman 2008); not only are the two theories contradictory and unreconcilable, but it is not even clear whether either of the two is morally justifiable. While I am sympathetic to "pluralist" approaches in law and ethics, there is a danger that the rubric "pluralist" can be used as an evasion of [*13] the serious theoretical difficulties. No one for example would propose a pluralist theory reconciling evolution and creationism.
Markel also defends the communicative theory of punishment, and in addition claims that punishment has "expressive" functions as well (p.53). Markel has a very different approach than Duff, emphasizing how punishment helps "secure the regime of equal liberty under law" (id.). How this account is to work however remains unclear. Markel insists that only by punishing the wrongdoer does the state "convey respect" for the wrongdoer and allow her to "express remorse" (p.51). But how can locking someone in a jail convey respect, rather than the opposite? Markel's view gets dangerously close to the surprisingly common but implausible view that the state is punishing wrongdoers reluctantly but out of a concern that otherwise criminals might feel disrespected. This view gets things entirely backwards: it is the state that desires to punish, and the criminal to avoid punishment.
Gaus attempts to apply game theory to explain the evolutionary origins of the disposition to punish. The account, ingenious as it is, suffers from serious problems. First, the highly simplified models of game theory provide little confidence that they can effectively model reality even in the abstract, let alone in our almost complete ignorance of the environmental conditions when punishment is supposed to have evolved. Indeed, work by Martin Nowak has resulted in precisely opposite results, that punishment is not an effective means to secure group cooperation. Second, even if the account were true, it would only create a new, overwhelming objection: the retributive theory would turn out to be utilitarian after all, and hence morally unjustified.
Jeffrie Murphy, having long been an important defender of retributivism, expresses sensible cautions here about the dangers of self-righteousness in punishment, even if the retributive theory is correct (he does not attempt to present here an account of just why retribution might be justified, though the reader can refer to his other writings).
Holtman's essay attempts another defense of a mixed theory, though under the vague rubric of "civic respect." She relies heavily on the "unfair advantage" theory of punishment, a theory widely rejected for reasons well presented by both Murphy (p.98) and Johnson(p.159). Holtman also relies on a caricatured view of retributivism, one which is focused on "guilt and proportionality," though just why it is a problem to focus on these two key ideas remains unclear. She claims that her theory is "multifaceted and nuanced" (p.125), but this seems an admission that, as with all pluralist accounts of punishment, the various elements are never fully reconciled by the notion of civic respect. We all want to "respect" wrongdoers, but how does making them suffer do so rather than just the opposite?
White's chapter defends a non-absolutist form of retributivism that he calls "pro tanto retributivism," such that punishing the guilty is not an absolute and uncompromisable duty, as some retributivists seem to have believed. White also criticizes the idea that retributivism can be translated into a maximizing theory. On both counts, [*14] White gives a very sensible and convincing argument.
Johnson's essay is the most ambitious one in the volume. She hopes not only to explicate Hegel's theory of punishment, but to show how it can provide a new and wholly successful theory of why punishment is justified. Her explanation of Hegel's famously obscure theory is helpful, though it only confirms suspicions that the theory is not a useful one. To accept it would require numerous obscure metaphysical commitments, such as the idea that that a crime corresponds to a "negative infinite judgment" (p.148), that social relationships constitute a form of "recognitive loop" (p.151), and that punishment is the "annulment of three negations" (p.159). Nor does it help that Johnson relies mostly on metaphors to explain these concepts (in one case, using a rare triple mixed metaphor: the criminal "cuts himself off from" the "loop" that "underpins society"! (pp.151-52)). Hegel's theory of crime is oddly abstract, logical, and even linguistic; one searches in vain for the nature of the crime as a physical assault on a human being, rather than as an attack on the abstract legal order. And this makes one wonder why physical punishment is warranted, rather than a purely verbal or logical "annulment" of the wrong. Johnson holds that the physical harm is a mere side effect of the punishment (p.160). But there is no obvious reason why these physical "side effects" are in any way necessary; why not have a legal judgment of guilt, but without physical punishment? Why wouldn't a purely formal annulment of the crime suffice?
Tunick presents an interesting discussion of the problem of entrapment and how to reconcile it with retributivism. His account is however marred by a serious confusion about the nature of retributivism. He says: "I have appealed to a version of retribution that is consequentialist in seeing the point of our criminal justice system as preventing harm" (p.185). But what distinguishes retributivism from consequentialism is precisely that the former insists that punishment does not aim at any future effects, while the latter insists that punishment is justified only with reference to future effects such as crime prevention. To miss this point is to misunderstand the very nature of the debate.
DeGirolami convincingly argues that the "choice of evils" defense cannot be reduced to utilitarian goals, but that there is an essential retributive element to it.
Lippke addresses the difficult problem of how a retributivist should make sense of proportionate sentences in the case of a criminal with multiple offenses. He presents a balanced and reasonable solution, which allows for a sensible form of pluralism in which multiple competing (but not contradictory) goals have to be reconciled.
Brooks argues that a retributivist should reject the death penalty, since we can never be certain about the guilt of the murderer. The problem with this view is that uncertainty exists in all criminal cases, not just death penalty cases. Brooks equally contends that death is different, in that once administered, it cannot [*15] be remedied. But that is also true of all punishments; once five years of the person's life is taken away, it cannot be given back. The proper response to the extreme case of death, it seems, is to insist on extra procedural safeguards in death penalty cases, just as we already do.
Let me reiterate my strong recommendation for this book, notwithstanding my respectful disagreements with the positions of many of the contributors. We need more books like this, given the importance and the difficulty of the issue at stake. My one global complaint would be that the contributors do not seem to take seriously enough the difficulty of justifying retributivism, and each author seems confident that his/her own view provides the answer, even though there are wildly different theories of how retribution can be justified, from communicative and expressive theories to Hegelian logic. Further, there is no representative of the abolitionist position, that retribution is positively unjustified. I disagree with the abolitionists, but at the same time their voice needs to be heard, especially given that we still lack a convincing account of why retribution is justified. In any case, this is a fine volume with a broad range of issues raised on the crucially important question of retributive punishment. Anyone interested in this topic will benefit from reading the book.
Kaufman, Whitley. 2008. "The Rise and Fall of the Mixed Theory of Punishment," International Journal of Applied Philosophy 22 (1): 37-57.
Nowak, Martin, and Roger Highfield. 2011. Supercooperators: Why We Need Each Other to Succeed. New York: Simon & Schuster.
© Copyright 2011 by the author, Whitley Kaufman.
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Home Industry News Brands A Hotel Room in an Airport: Sleepbox Expands To Washington, D.C.
Resting on the floor of an airport can be a difficult experience to avoid for frequent fliers. Travelers attempt to entertain themselves with reading, working, or playing games on portable devices, and are often unable to recharge once their batteries deplete. Sleepbox, a new plug-in room brand coming to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C, is aiming to solve that issue once and for all.
Guests can rent a Sleepbox room from between one and 24 hours with 15-minute increments. Rooms come in four different sizes: a room with a single bed; a room with a queen bed; a compact room with a standard bed but less usable space; and an ADA-compliant room. Rooms come equipped with charging ports to plug in all personal devices and are soundproof.
And this concept isn't just needed in the United States—while modular hotels are popular around the globe, Sleepbox is a different concept in and of itself. The rentable rooms can be implemented at any place where people may need privacy and rejuvenation—not only airports, but potentially places like hospitals, too.
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Watch News Channel 8 on Great 38
Parents of teen killed at Parkland were in El Paso during Walmart shooting
by: Aaron Bracamontes
Posted: Aug 4, 2019 / 07:50 AM EDT / Updated: Aug 4, 2019 / 07:50 AM EDT
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The parents of one of the Stonewall Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida happened to be in El Paso on Saturday.
Manuel and Patricia Oliver, parent of Joaquin Oliver, were in town to unveil a memorial mural that was going to be unveiled this weekend.
Both parents shared their reaction to the shooting at Walmart that has claimed at least 20 lives.
"You saw what happened today and it could happen tomorrow in another 'safest city in the country,'" Manuel Oliver said. "So this is America, this is how we live here. We pretend to have things that we don't have. We like to think that it is a perfect country, but it is not."
The Oliver family has been an advocate for gun laws following the 2018 tragedy in Florida. They repeated their stance on Saturday in El Paso.
"You need to talk about guns, right now. You cannot wait because 'it is too early to talk about guns,' and not say 'thoughts and prayer' as an answer. Don't do that," Manuel Oliver said. "This advice is coming from the parents of a victim from Parkland."
More Florida Stories
by Mahsa Saeidi / Jan 20, 2021
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- President Joe Biden has instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to start setting up mass vaccination sites across the country. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis calls the plan a big mistake and unnecessary for Florida. But can he stop it?
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, nearly 36 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been distributed nationwide. Approximately half have been administered.
Florida GOP lawmakers wary of Biden administration
by Jake Stofan / Jan 20, 2021
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Cap News Services) - With a new administration comes new optimism or pessimism for state lawmakers, depending on which side of the political aisle they fall on.
Legislators are already setting expectations for how President Biden may impact the state.
Biden signs first executive orders after being sworn in as president
'Not necessary in Florida': DeSantis criticizes Biden's plan for vaccine distribution
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