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Archive for the 'ethics' Category
The battle for justice, part 1: some background to the case
A prosecution should not proceed if there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction being secured. This basic criterion is the cornerstone of the uniform prosecution policy adopted in Australia.
from 'The decision to prosecute', in 'Statement of prosecution policy and guidelines', Director of Public Prosecutions, South Australia, October 2014
I rarely focus on myself on this blog, but now I feel I have to. Today I lost my job because of something that happened to me about 12 years ago. So the next I don't know how many posts will be devoted to my battle for justice, in the hope that it may help others in a similar situation. Of course I also find that writing is my best solace, as well as my best weapon. I have no financial resources to speak of, all I have is a certain amount of nous.
Between 2003-4 and 2010 I was a foster carer, under the aegis of Anglicare. Over that period I fostered six boys, with naturally varying success.
So why did I become a foster carer? I simply saw an ad on a volunteering website. I was being pushed to do some work, which I've always been reluctant to do, being basically a reclusive bookworm who loves to read history, science, everything that helps to understand what humans are, where they came from, where they're going. And I hate when work interferes with that! But having come from what for me was a rather toxic family background, trying to shut myself from screaming fights between parents, and being accused by my mother, the dominant parent, of being a sneak and a liar, and 'just like your father' (her worst insult), and being physically and mentally abused by both parents (though never sexually), and having run away from home regularly in my teen years, I imagined that, as a survivor, I could offer something which might work for at least some of these kids – a hands-off, non-bullying environment which would be more equal in terms of power than many foster-care situations. Call me naive…
Mostly, this approach worked. I did have to get heavy now and then of course, but not for long, so I always managed to stay on good terms with my foster-kids, as I have more recently with my students. This was even the case with the lad who accused me of raping him.
Let me describe the case as briefly as possible. A fifteen-year old boy was in my care in September 2005. He was much more of a handful than the previous two boys I'd looked after, and when I lost my temper with him during a school holiday trip in Victor Harbour, he took it out on me by claiming to his mother, with whom he spent his weekends, that I'd punched him on the back of the head. This was false, but his mother took the matter to the police, and the boy was immediately taken out of my care.
After an internal review conducted by Anglicare I was cleared of any wrongdoing, to their satisfaction at least, and another boy was placed in my care. Then, sometime in early 2006, this boy was secretly whisked out of my care, and I was informed by Anglicare that a serious allegation had been made against me. I was in shock, naturally thinking this new boy had also accused me of some kind of violence, but I was finally informed by the Anglicare social worker who'd been overseeing my placements that 'it isn't your new foster – kid'. The penny dropped more or less immediately that it was the same boy who'd accused me of hitting him. This boy, as far as I was aware, was now living happily with his mum.
I was left in limbo for some time, but eventually I received a message from the police to go to the Port Adelaide police station. There I was asked to sit down in an office with two police officers, and informed that I was under arrest for rape.
I was somewhat taken aback haha, and I don't recall much of the conversation after that, but I think it went on for a long time. I do remember one key question: if the boy's lying, why would he make such an allegation? I had no answer: I was unable to think clearly, given the situation. But later that night, after my release on bail, an answer came to me, which might just be the right one. When the boy was in my care, the plan was to reconcile him with his mother, who put him in care in the first place because she couldn't cope with him. I knew his mother, as I met her every weekend for handover. She was highly strung and nervous, and it seemed likely she was again having trouble coping with full-time care. Quite plausibly, she was threatening to return him to foster care, which he wouldn't have wanted. She allowed him to smoke, she allowed him to hang out with his mates, and her environment was familiar to him. To him, I would've seemed boringly bookish and unadventurous. What's more, his claim that I'd hit him had worked perfectly for him, getting him exactly where he wanted. Why not shut the door on foster care forever, by making the most extreme claim?
I don't really know if this sounds preposterous to an impartial reader, but this answer to the riddle struck me as in keeping with what I knew of the boy's thinking, and it was backed up by a remark he made to me, which soon came back to haunt me. He said 'my mum's friend told me that all foster carers are child molesters…'. It was the kind of offhand remark he'd often make, but it was particularly striking in light of something I was told later by my lawyer. Apparently, the boy didn't tell his mother directly that I'd raped him, he'd told a friend of his mother, who'd then told her.
So, after the sleepless night following my arrest, I felt confident that I knew the answer to the key police question. I typed it up and took it forthwith to the Port Adelaide station (I didn't trust the mail). How utterly naive of me to think they'd be grateful, or interested! I received no response.
So I obtained a lawyer through legal aid, or the Legal Services Commission. At the time I was dirt poor: I'd received a stipend as a foster carer, but that had stopped. Otherwise I worked occasionally as a community worker or English language teacher, mostly in a voluntary role. From the moment I was charged I spent many a sleepless night imagining my days in court, heroically representing myself of course, exposing contradictions and confabulations, citing my spotless record, my abhorrence of violence of all kinds, etc, etc. So I was a bit miffed when my lawyer told me to sit tight and do nothing, say nothing, and to leave everything to him. Standard procedure, presumably. The case passed from hearing to hearing (I don't know if that's the word – at least there were several court appearances), over a period of more than a year, and every time I expected it to be dismissed, since I knew there was no evidence. It had to be dismissed, there could be no other possibility. The only reason it had become a court matter in the first place, it seemed to me, was the absolute enormity of the allegation. But how could this possibly be justified? But I had to admit, the boy had, more or less accidentally, stumbled on the perfect crime to accuse me of – a crime committed months before, where there could be no visible evidence one way or another… It was all very nerve-wracking. And I was very annoyed at the fact that the DPP (the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) seemed to have different lawyers representing it at every court appearance, and mostly they behaved as if they'd only been handed the brief minutes before.
Finally I arrived at the lowest point so far – an arraignment. I didn't know this (my last) appearance would be an arraignment and I didn't know what that was. I just expected yet another appearance with a handful of yawning court officials and lawyers in attendance. Instead I found a packed courtroom.
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea.
In Australia, arraignment is the first of eleven stages in a criminal trial, and involves the clerk of the court reading out the indictment. (WIKIPEDIA)
The reason the courtroom was packed is that several arraignments are processed in the same courtroom on the same day, so there were several accused there with their friends and families. Unfortunately, I was solo. On my turn, I was taken out to the holding cells and brought in – some kind of ceremonial – to the dock. The charge was read out (I'd already been given the 'details' by the lawyer, so I barely listened to it) and I was asked to plead, and the judge told the court, to my utter amazement, that I was adjudged to have a case to answer.
So it was perhaps even more amazing that, a week or two after that appearance, the case was dropped.
a bit more on cell cultures, cell mortality and patients' rights
Canto: Well, we've followed up Meredith Wadman's The vaccine race with Rebecca Skloot's The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, which intersects with Wadman's book in describing cell cultures and their value in modern medicine and genetics. So are ready to talk about all this again?
Jacinta: Yes, this book tells a compelling history of the Lacks family as well as a story of the ethics around human cell cultures, based on the HeLa cell line taken from the cervix of Henrietta Lacks in 1951, shortly before she died of cervical cancer.
Canto: A very aggressive adenocarcinoma of the cervix, to be precise, though the tumour was misdiagnosed at the time.
Jacinta: Yes, her bodily state and her sufferings make for grim reading. And the cells were taken sans permission, in a pioneering era of almost no regulation and a great deal of dubious practice.
Canto: The wild west of cell and tissue culturology.
Jacinta: George Gey, the guy who ordered these cells to be taken, was a great pioneer in cancer and cell culture research, but he and others found it very difficult to keep human cells alive in vitro, so he was much surprised and delighted at his success with Henrietta's tumour cells.
Canto: They were the first ever cells to live beyond the Hayflick limit, though that limit wasn't spelt out by Hayflick until 1961.
Jacinta: And wasn't accepted for decades after that. And the reason for their apparent immortality, a rare thing in untreated cells, was their cancerous nature. Human cancer cells contain an enzyme known as telomerase, which rebuilds the telomeres at the ends of chromosomes. Normally these telomeres, often described as like the protective caps at the ends of shoelaces, shorten and so become less protective with each cell division.
Canto: So if we could stop cancer cells from producing telomerase, you'd stop all that metastasising…
Jacinta: Sounds easy-peasy. And if we could introduce telomerase into non-cancerous cells we could all live forever.
Canto: Bet they haven't thought of that one. So if this cell line was cancerous, how could they be of so much value? How could they be of any use at all, since the aim, I thought, was to produce 'clean' cells, like the WI-38 cells Hayflick produced ten years later? Remember how they had so many problems with monkey cells, which were full of viruses?
Jacinta: Well, forget viruses for the moment, the exciting thing about the HeLa cells was that they stayed alive and multiplied, which was rare, and so they could be experimented on in a variety of ways.
Canto: But did they use the cells for vaccines? The 1954 Salk polio vaccine was tested using these cells. How can you do this with cancerous cells?
Jacinta: Well it was the suitability of these cells for mass-production that made them ideal for test-driving the Salk vaccine, and of course their prolific nature was tied to their cancerous nature – Henrietta's cancer seemed to be horribly fast-spreading, it was just about everywhere inside her at her death. Her cancer was caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) and I've read that this may have had something to do with their prolific nature. She also had syphillis, likely contracted from her philandering husband, and this suppresses the immune system, allowing the cancer cells to multiply more rapidly. But even though they were cancer cells they shared many of the properties of normal cells, including the production of proteins and susceptibility to bacterial and especially viral infections. Of course you would never inject HeLa cells into humans, but their malignancy is an advantage in that you get the results of say, viral infection of cells as they reproduce, much more quickly than with normal cells, because of their reproductive rate. It seems old George Gey hit the jackpot with them, though he never made any more money out of them than the Lackses did.
Canto: They initially used rhesus monkey cells to test their antibody levels in response to Salk's killed polio virus, but they were too hard to get and too expensive, and the HeLa cells were an excellent alternative because they were easily infected by the virus… and they reproduced with unprecedented alacrity.
Jacinta: Yes, that's to say, they readily produced antibodies, and so could be experimented on to produce the level of antibodies to create immunity. But growing cell cultures in vitro and maintaining them in a viable state, that's been a decades-long learning process. Tissue culture these days is big business, which has led to the murky ethical questions about tissue ownership that Skloot refers to at the end of her book.
Canto: Yes but I for one am quite clear about that issue. I'm more than happy for researchers to use any tissue that comes from, say, a biopsy done on me. Is that tissue mine, when it's removed from my body?
Jacinta: Well, is it? Think of locks of hair kept from a loved one – something that happens a few times in Skloot's book. Wouldn't you be moved by a lock of hair that you knew came from someone you loved but who was no longer around? Wouldn't you feel you had hold of a part of her? Not just a memory of her?
Canto: Interesting. I think I'd be in two minds about it. I'd think, yes, this is her hair, a small part of her, and that would bring all the emotion of identity with it. But then, what I know about science and cells tells me this is just hair, it's not what makes her her. It's nowhere near it. Our hair is discarded all the time.
Jacinta: If you had some of her brain cells? Or heart tissue haha?
Canto: Nothing but ultra-ultra minuscule parts of the whole. And essentially meaningless when disconnected from that whole. But this misses the point that the value of this tissue for research outweighs by far, to me at any rate, the sentimental value that you're talking about.
Jacinta: But for some people, and some cultures, the intactness of the human entity, after death say, is of deep-rooted significance. Are you not prepared to respect that?
Canto: But we slough off our trillions of cells all the time. Even as a kid I was told we replace our cells every seven years. Of course it's much more varied and complicated than that, but the general point of constant renewal is true.
Jacinta: Yes but they're your cells, with your DNA in them, nobody else's.
Canto: Well people are prepared to be operated on, which inevitably kills or removes cells, and in doing so they give themselves up to experts in healing their bodies and often saving their lives, so it would seem to me pretty mean-spirited not to allow those experts to make use of what's removed, which is of no obvious use to them.
Jacinta: I think you have a good argument there, but what if these mad scientists use your cells for some nefarious purpose?
Canto: Well, call me a trusting soul, but why would they do that? And what nefarious purpose could they use them for?
Jacinta: Well it mightn't even be nefarious. With the modern commercialisation of cell and gene technology, they might find your tissue perfect for developing something patentable, out of which they make shitloads of money while preventing independent research on the tissue, so using your cells in a way that you might strongly disapprove of. But you wouldn't have the slightest say, as things stand today. Rebecca Skloot describes examples of this kind in the Afterword to her book. There's been a raging debate about commercialisation and gene patents and patients' rights for some time now in the USA, and no doubt elsewhere, with scientists and other stakeholders ranged along the spectrum. In fact, these are the last words of Skloot's book, published in 2010:
2009: More than 150,000 scientists join the American Civil Liberties Union and breast cancer patients in suing Myriad Genetics over its breast-cancer gene patents. The suit claims that the practice of gene patenting violates patent law and has inhibited scientific research.
Canto: Right. As her investigations reveal, it's not just about patients wanting a share of the loot from research on their cells, and so using the courts to bog everything down and hinder that research, it's often about researchers themselves wanting to cash in, and patients joining with other researchers to try to free up the system for the common good. So how's the Myriad Genetics case going, and how's the situation regarding patient rights in this field, several years on?References
Jacinta: Well in the case of Myriad, it was all highly complex and litigious, with suits and countersuits, which the company mostly lost, in particular in a landmark (and unanimous) Supreme Court decision of 2013, in which they found that 'merely isolating genes that are found in nature [in this case the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes] does not make them patentable'. But of course this wasn't so much about patients' rights in the material that was once part of their bodies. It's not all about money – though much of it is, and if you don't want the money landing in lawyers' pockets, the best thing is to have clear guidelines, disclosure, and fully developed and complex consent procedures. My impression from doing a fairly shallow dive on the issues is that we're a long way from sorting this out, in an increasingly complex and lucrative field. Our own federal government's NHMRC has a booklet out, available on PDF, called 'Ethics and the exchange and commercialisation of products derived from human tissue: background and issues', which is already six years old, but I don't see anything in the legislative pipeline.
Canto: Looks like an issue to be followed up, if we have the stomach for it.
Jacinta: It pays to be informed, that's one obvious take-away from all this.
any day now, any way now, they shall be released….
The New York Times describes the current US Prez as a billionaire, but is he? How can such a bumbling oaf be so super-rich? In the same NYT article, by Alan Rappeport, the Prez was quoted as bragging, when still a candidate, that he understood his country's tax laws 'better than anyone who has ever run for President' – clearly as truthful a remark as everything else he's ever said. His subsequent remarks on the tax system he promised to fix have been typically vague when not entirely ridiculous. A one-page tax plan of sorts was released in late April, which promised massive tax cuts to businesses and individuals, but it was massively short on details on how such cuts would be targeted and absorbed without a massive blow-out of the deficit. Anyway, it'll be massive cause the US Prez likes massive. The administration has promised a thoroughly detailed plan by the end of August, but fellow-travellers who've been involved in meetings – mostly Republicans – remain thoroughly sceptical.
Meanwhile the Prez hasn't released his own tax returns in spite of promising to do so. In mid-April some 100,000 citizens demonstrated against this interesting behaviour while high-profile critics such as Sam Harris have wondered why the release hasn't been forced upon him. Could it be that the Prez is above the law? This is of particular concern because investigative journalists and historians such as Anne Applebaum and Timothy Snyder, people with solid Russian connections, have cast doubt on the Prez's fortune and raised questions about his indebtedness to Russian money-makers, and possibly Putin's mafioso government. And of course tax cuts to the rich might just ease the economic burden on the Prez himself, supposing he has one.
Apparently there's a 40 year tradition of Prezes releasing their tax returns. When I read this in Rappeport's NYT article I was immediately disheartened, as it became clear that it was only a tradition, which is far from being a law. And the Prez, as we know, is no traditionalist, with respect to such fakeries as the rule of law, a free press, human rights and the like. But I hatched an idea this morning as I heard about the Prez's tweets on the London knife attacks, taking the opportunity to shore up his base with dog whistles on crazy immigrants, and attempts to mock the London Mayor by deliberately misconstruing his remarks. My idea is for certain high profile critics to take to Twitter (which I never use myself) or other social media platforms, and to address him directly, on a daily basis, with remarks like 'have you released your tax returns yet, Herr Prez?', and to get everyone else to do the same – a sort of global crowd-sourcing project. After all, though the Prez isn't a traditionalist, he is a populist, and imagine how he would respond to hundreds of thousands, growing to millions, of people tweeting the same request every day, flooding social media platforms around the world… You may say I'm a dreamer, but really, imagine….
who says women should be modest?
The French government is copping lots of flack for its ban on face covering in public, and rightly so, for outright bans are rarely effective, and this one is seen, rightly or wrongly – and probably rightly – as discriminating against Moslem women and the burqas that some of them wear.
However having said that, I'm no fan of the burqa, or any form of dress that sharply divides women from men (I love women in suits, and I wish I had the courage to wear skirts in public – I'm still considering buying one of those kilts I saw advertised on Facebook recently). But the burqa seems particularly regressive, and it's clearly not a coincidence that it's an outfit favoured by the Taliban and the Islamist Saudi government. Of course there are many variations of Islamic head-wear for women, but according to the women themselves, from what I'm always hearing, they choose to wear these head trappings as a sign of modesty.
It seems to me that modesty is the 'get-out-of-jail-free' term for these women, because modesty's a virtue, and who'd criticise a woman for wanting to be virtuous? However, given that men and women are equal in intelligence and ability, I see no reason whatever for modesty to be a woman-only virtue. So why aren't men wearing burqas? It isn't a rhetorical question – I note that there's a movement in Iran for men to wear hijabs in support of female associates targeted by the government there for being 'improperly dressed'. Government imposed modesty.
This kind of modesty is of course highly dubious, it's about not putting yourself forward – for education, for advancement, for leadership. It's about knowing your circumscribed place. It's a shame because the term 'modesty' has I think a value that has been demeaned by this more recent cultural usage. The modesty I value is where people tend to avoid trumpeting their achievements, however impressive those achievements might be. This kind of modesty is obviously not gender based and surely has nothing to do with head coverings.
However, this modesty-in-women malarky is about more than just trying not to be seen as, or even not to be, a great achiever. It's about sexual modesty, and that's what the covering is all about. One of the key features of patriarchy is controlling women's sexual freedom. It really is about women as objects which need to be hidden from the lusty urges of male subjects, though women themselves are subjects only insofar as they must effectively hide or cover themselves from male appetites, otherwise they're blameworthy and need to be punished.
So all this stuff about female headcovering is essentially about female sexual control, which is of course most effectively achieved if females internalise the idea and exercise the control themselves, thereby assenting to and bolstering the patriarchy that deprives them of sexual and other freedoms. Banning these head-coverings isn't the solution, though it might be necessary in some places for practical purposes. What we need to do is win the intellectual argument against the stifling restrictions of patriarchy, and engage women on the hypocrisy of female sexual modesty where there is a different standard and expectation for males.
a few words on Donald Trump and democracy
I've never been too much exercised on US domestic politics, but I listened with some interest to an interview on the Point of Inquiry podcast recently with David Cay Johnston, the author of a book on Donald Trump, inter alia, and he effectively explained how such an obviously boorish character functioned, though he didn't so much explain why he got to where he is today – which would require a different book, one that reads the psyche of a particular type of individual, or 'mark'.
The term 'mark' is used by magicians playing as 'psychics' or 'faith healers' etc to refer to the easily duped. Johnson, in his book The Making of Donald Trump, describes Trump as a Barnum & Bailey 'huckster' type, far more interested in persuasion, usually for the purpose of making money, than truth. What struck Johnston, when he first reported on Trump in relation to his interest in casinos in the late eighties, was his ignorance, even of the business at hand. He tested this himself by asking Trump questions which contained deliberately false information and watching how Trump handled them. And of course got the usual arrogant bluster that we've all observed.
So this is the question. Why does anyone takes Trump seriously? I remember my own first experience of Trump, years ago, when he hosted some kind of reality show in which he was interviewing prospective job-seekers. It only took about five minutes to realise that the fellow was a self-important loudmouth and a bullying dirtbag. So it didn't take long for my feelings of contempt to switch from the oxygen-thief to his 'victims'. What kind of idiot would put herself in this position? Apparently it had to do with money and the power that it brought…
So the worry I have is not about the huckster Trump, it's about those who take him seriously, his 'marks'. And it's also about the process by which anyone can obtain high political office in a very powerful country – a position of huge responsibility. Arguably, it's a problem of democracy.
This problem was highlighted some 2,500 years ago, right at the beginning of democracy as a political system, when the sort of populism and demagoguery that Trump utilises so instinctively brought ancient Athens to its knees, and it's the principle reason why the intellectual elites represented by the likes of Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle were so vehemently opposed to democracy. They'd witnessed the disastrous Sicilian campaign (which precipitated Athenian decline in the region) which they blamed, not entirely fairly, on that system. Certainly they recognised the dangers of such populists as Cleon and Alcibiades, though neither they nor anyone after them were able to come up with a better system. Plato's Republic, which advocated, perhaps not entirely seriously, rule by an intellectual elite, was hampered by an absurdly static notion of society, a sort of eugenics avant la lettre, as if intellectuals (and warriors, and servants) were born and not made – or, at least, a mixture of both.
Yet if you look at our political system today, you'll find that we temper the democratic political system with a fair degree of intellectual elitism in the form of our judiciary – the 'unrepresentative swill' that preside over our high court and other courts throughout the land, interpreting legislature judiciously and causing grumbling parliamentarians to find new and more thoughtful laws to get round them. And I would advocate another form of 'elitist' intervention to ensure more responsible government.
I've mentioned this before when I suggested that individuals who want to stand for public office, thus to participate in making laws that influence our citizenry and showcase our nation to the world (and more than this in the case of powerful nations), should have to pass a reasonably stringent scientific literacy test. Of course, such an idea will never get up, so I'm proposing an even broader one.
It's expected that anybody applying for a job involving considerable responsibility should be submitted to considerable scrutiny regarding their plans for the job, their understanding of the job's requirements, and their knowledge of the fields covered by the job. In the case of becoming the President of a nation, this scrutiny should surely be imperative. So, a rigorous questioning of the candidate's knowledge and ideas with respect to that nation's economic situation, its domestic and foreign policies, as well as a basic understanding of science in relation to national and global issues, should be an absolute minimum requirement.
Compare this requirement to what actually exists today. No scrutiny whatsoever. A complete protection against tough questioning on these matters, with no requirement to justify to the people who they serve – as the ultimate public servant – any remark or decision they make. It's a problem.
Trump won't become President, because though he knows how to play to and work a particular crowd, that crowd will continue to shrink as his tactics are exposed by the media and especially by those who otherwise would support the conservative side of politics he's vaguely aligned himself to, but it's surely a systemic failure that such an inappropriate and ignorant candidate should ever get to where he is today. If that's how democracy works, then democracy isn't enough. Democracy has its limits – it has become far too unquestioned as a political system. Its limits are in fact considerable. We shouldn't decide scientific matters by democratic process (that sounds obvious, but I've heard more than one polly say the exact opposite), and we shouldn't, in my view allow just anyone to stand for political office, especially at the top level. The consequences might be dire. And we should also do our best, though it's a hard road to hoe, to make every vote count, by making it as generally informed and reasoned as possible. There's nothing new about that last statement, but it still holds true. Democracy without education, in the broadest sense, isn't worth much.
The philosophers want more power
Canto: Well I suppose the apparent detection of gravitational waves should be capturing our attention more than anything else right now, but it's very well described in The Economist, and in many other places, and we're no astrophysicists, and we did promise to focus a bit more on philosophical issues, so…
Jacinta: But we're no philosophers. But we're philosophasters at least, so let's have a go.
Canto: Well I came across an article on Three Quarks Daily which vaguely gave me the irrits, so with your help I want to explore why.
Jacinta: Right. The essay is called 'The psychologists take power', the author is Tamsin Shaw and it was originally published in the New York review of books.
Canto: Yes, and on reading it in full I find it an interesting but confused piece, which seems to take the failings of certain individual psychologists as an example of the failings of psychology as a whole, and even of neurology. Shaw seems to be entering the philosophy versus science debate, on the side of philosophy, but I don't find her arguments convincing.
Jacinta: The essay seems to divide into two parts, first a general critique of psychology and neurology, which can be summed up by the title of a philosophical essay by Selim Berker, which she quotes approvingly, 'the normative insignificance of neuroscience'. The second part is an account of how certain professional psychologists, practitioners of the 'positive psychology' pioneered by the influential Martin Seligman, colluded with the US government in providing dubious evidence for the psychological effectiveness of torture in eliciting valuable information from 'enemies of the state'. Shaw clearly wants to link these unethical practices to what she might want to call 'the normative insignificance of psychology'.
Canto: Yes, and it's a bit of a dangerous game – you might as well label Heidegger's allegiance to the Nazi party, or Althusser's murder of his wife, as examples of 'the normative insignificance of philosophy'.
Jacinta: Ha, well Althusser was declared insane at the time, no doubt by psychologists, who would be examining Althusser to determine whether he was, while strangling his wife, capable of understanding and following the normative rules of his society. Such determinations are hardly normatively insignificant, even though, no doubt, individual psychologists might make different determinations, due to levels of competence, corruption, ideological considerations and so forth.
Canto: Right, but let's look more closely at Shaw's essay, and pick it apart.
Jacinta: Okay, but first let's make a philosophasters' confession. Shaw mentions eight or so books or sources at the head of her essay, which form the basis of her discussion, but of those we've only read one – Pinker's eloquent tome, The better angels of our nature. And we don't intend to bone up on those other texts, though no doubt we'll refer to our own reading in our responses.
Canto: And we are reasonably familiar with Jonathan Haidt's work and ideas.
Jacinta: So Shaw begins her essay with the overweening ambition of behaviourist extraordinaire B F Skinner, a pretty soft target these days. I have no problems with criticising him, or Freud or any other psychologist whose theories get way out of hand. Shaw's concerns, though, are specifically about the moral sphere. She feels that a new breed of psychologists, armed with neurological research, are making big claims about moral expertise. Here's a quote from her essay:
Neuroscience, it is claimed, has revealed that our brains operate with a dual system for moral decision-making.
Canto: I like the 'it is claimed' bit. Claimed by who? Someone has put forward that hypothesis I'm sure, along with their reasons, but most neurologists bang on about neurology being a field in its infancy, and most findings are highly contested, it seems to me.
Jacinta: Shaw may be referring to the work of Daniel Kahneman – a psychologist not a neurologist – who distinguished between system 1 thinking (intuitive, less conscious, rough-and ready) and system 2 thinking (reasoned, conscious, more changeable depending on inputs and knowledge). But really there are many dual-process theories going back at least to William James. But Shaw is explicitly referring to the fMRI imaging work of the neurologist Jonathan Cohen, who analysed brain activity when subjects were asked to think about moral hypotheticals.
Canto: Yes and she's quite straight about describing the two systems apparently highlighted by Cohen's research and the brain regions associated with them, but becomes scathing in dealing with Joshua Greene, Cohen's co-researcher, whom she quite deliberately introduces as a mere 'philosophy graduate student', whose interpretation of the research she describes thus:
Greene interpreted these results in the light of an unverifiable and unfalsifiable story about evolutionary psychology. Since primitive human beings encountered up-close dangers or threats of personal violence, their brains, he speculated, evolved fast and focused responses for dealing with such perils. The impersonal violence that threatens humans in more sophisticated societies does not trigger the same kind of affective response, so it allows for slower, more cognitive processes of moral deliberation that weigh the relevant consequences of actions. Greene inferred from this that the slower mechanisms we see in the brain are a later development and are superior because morality is properly concerned with impersonal values—for example, justice—to which personal harms and goals such as family loyalty should be irrelevant. He has taken this to be a vindication of a specific, consequentialist philosophical theory of morality: utilitarianism.
Jacinta: Okay, so here's where psychology – especially evolutionary psychology – first comes under attack. It's often said to present just so stories, which are necessarily highly speculative, as if they are facts. But I would question whether these speculations, or hypotheses, are unverifiable (forget about falsifiability, a term made popular by Karl Popper but which has come under heavy criticism since, both by scientists and philosophers of science, and I suspect Shaw has simply used it as a 'double whammy' to vilify Greene), to me they're important and useful, and in any case are rarely presented as facts, at least not by the best psychologists.
Canto: So how do you verify this hypothesis, that fast, rough-and-ready responses for dealing with immediate dangers are systematically different from slower, more sophisticated responses that deal with the 'impersonal violence', the many restraints, justified or not, on our personal freedoms that we deal with on a daily basis?
Jacinta: Well one obvious way is through neurology, a scientific field still in its infancy as you say. Clearly the system 1 responses would be shared by other complex social mammals, whereas system 2 thinking is much more language-dependent and unique to humans – unless cetaceans have developed complex language, which is far from being out of the question. New techniques for mapping and exploring neural pathways are coming up all the time, as well as non-invasive ways of exploring such pathways in our closest mammalian relatives.
Canto: Good point. So to go to the second part of the above quote, Greene is presented (and I wonder about whether Shaw is fairly or accurately presenting him) as finding system 2 thinking as superior because it deals with more abstract and less personal values, whereas I would prefer to think of this system as a further adaptation, to a human existence that has become more socially complex, systematic and language-based. And in this, I'm apparently in line with the thinking of psychologists Shaw takes aim at:
Many of the psychologists who have taken up the dual-process model claim to be dismissive of philosophical theories, generally. They reject Greene's inferences about utilitarianism and claim to be restricting themselves to what can be proved scientifically. But in fact all of those I discuss here are making claims about which kinds of moral judgments are good or bad by assessing which are adaptive or maladaptive in relation to a norm of social cooperation. They are thereby relying on an implicit philosophical theory of morality, albeit a much less exacting one than utilitarianism.
Jacinta: But I detect a problem here. You've talked about adaptation to the fact of growing social complexity, and the need to co-operate within that complexity. Shaw has written of a 'norm of social co-operation', by which she means an ethical norm, because she claims that this is the implicit philosophical theory of morality these psychologists rely on. But that's not true, they're not claiming that there's anything moral about social complexity or social co-operation. We just are more complex, and necessarily more co-operative than our ancestors. So it's kind of silly to say they're relying on a less exacting moral philosophy than utilitarianism. It's not about moral philosophy at all.
Canto: And it gets worse. Shaw claims that this phantom moral ethic of social co-operation is greatly inferior to utilitarianism, so let's look at that normative theory, which in my view is not so much exacting as impossible. Utilitarianism is basically about the maximising of utility. Act in such a way that your actions maximise utility (act utilitarianism), or create rules that maximise utility (rule utilitarianism). So what's utility? Nothing that can be measured objectively, or agreed upon. We can replace it with happiness, or pleasure, or well-being, or Aristotle's eudaemonia, however translated, and the problem is still the same. How do you measure, on a large-scale, social level, things so elusive, intangible and personal?
Jacinta: Yes, and look at how laws change over time, laws for example relating to homosexuality, women's rights, the protection of minorities, and even business practices, taxation and the like; they're all about our changing, socially evolving sense of how to co-operate in such a way as to produce the best social outcomes. This can't be easily bedded down in some fixed normative ethic.
Canto: Yes, Shaw seems to imply that some deep philosophical insight is missing from these psychologists which makes them liable to go off the rails, as the second half of her essay implies, but I'm very doubtful about that. But let's continue with our analysis:
Rather than adhering to the moral view that we should maximize "utility"—or satisfaction of wants—they are adopting the more minimal, Hobbesian view that our first priority should be to avoid conflict. This minimalist moral worldview is, again, simply presupposed; it is not defended through argument and cannot be substantiated simply by an appeal to scientific facts. And its implications are not altogether appealing.
Jacinta: But surely she's just assuming that 'they' – presumably all the psychologists she doesn't like, or is it all the psychologists who posit a two-tiered system of decision-making? – take the view that avoidance of conflict is the highest priority.
Canto: Well I must say that Jonathan Haidt seems to take that view, and it's something I find uncomfortable. So I agree with Shaw that Haidt 'presupposes that the norm of cooperation should take precedence over the values that divide us', and that this view is dubious. It's just that I suspect my own view, that there are values more important than co-operation, is also a 'presupposition', though I dislike that word. But more of that later perhaps.
Jacinta: Right, so Shaw refers to the sinister implications of a minimalist Hobbesian worldview, supposedly held by these psychologists. What are they?
Canto: We'll get there eventually – perhaps. Shaw describes the work of the 'positive psychology' movement, stemming from Martin Seligman and practised by Haidt among others, including Steven Pinker, whose book The better angels of our nature was apparently influenced by this movement:
In that extremely influential work Pinker argues that our rational, deliberative modes of evaluation should take precedence over powerful, affective intuitions. But by "rationality" he means specifically "the interchangeability of perspectives and the opportunity the world provides for positive-sum games," rather than any higher-order philosophical theory. He allows that empathy has played a part in promoting altruism, that "humanitarian reforms are driven in part by an enhanced sensitivity to the experiences of living things and a genuine desire to relieve their suffering." But nevertheless our "ultimate goal should be policies and norms that become second nature and render empathy unnecessary."
And here's where I see another problem. Pinker is here criticised for not subscribing to any 'higher-order philosophical theory', but Shaw doesn't attempt to outline or give examples of such higher-order theories, though she does refer to empathy – an important factor, but one that doesn't obviously emerge from philosophy.
Jacinta: Right, and we've already referred to utilitarianism and its problems. This reminds me that years ago I read a sort of primer on ethics, I think it was called Moral Philosophy, in which the author devoted chapters to utilitarianism, Kantianism, rights theory and other ethical approaches. In the final chapter he presented his own preferred approach, a sort of neo-Aristotelianism. I was intrigued that he felt we hadn't made much progress in philosophical ethics in almost 2,500 years.
Canto: Well, his may be a minority view, but it's doubtful that our changing laws derive from philosophical work on normative ethics, though this may have had an influence. I do think, with Haidt, that there's a great deal of post-hoc rationalisation going on, though I'm reluctant – very reluctant actually – to embrace the relativism of values. And this brings me to the nub of the matter, IMHO. To go back to an old favourite of mine, Hume: 'reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions'. A fairly notorious pronouncement, but I take the passions here to be something very basic – the fundamental drives and instincts, largely unconscious, that characterise us as humans…
Jacinta: But doesn't Hume break his own is-ought rule here? He says that our passions rule our reason, which may or may not be true, but does it follow that they ought to?
Canto: Please don't complicate matters. Hume also wrote this, in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals:
In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view, and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the question cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind.
So these true interests of mankind…
Jacinta: Hang on, so there he goes again, gaily bounding over his own is-ought barrier, saying that in order to work out what we ought to do we need – pretty well absolutely – to determine our interests, what in fact makes us human, what we actually are.
Canto: Well, precisely…
Jacinta: Or what we have evolved to become, which might amount to the same thing. So we need to study our evolution, our genes and genetic inheritance, our brain and its inheritance, and adaptive growth, and maybe the physics of our bodies…
Canto: So we need neurology, and genetics, and palaeontology, and physics and psychology, all of which contribute to an understanding of what we are. Without them, normative ethics would be empty theorising.
Jacinta: So I suppose you're going to write a rejoinder to this 'normative insignificance of neurology' essay? Something like 'the insignificance of normative ethics without neurology'?
Canto: Ha, well that would require reading Selim Berker's essay, which I'm not sure about – so many other things to explore. But I should end this discussion by saying a few words about the second half of Shaw's article – and I'll pass over many other points she's made. This section deals with the collusion of some psychologists, practitioners of the above-mentioned 'positive psychology', with the CIA and the US Department of Defence in the commission of torture.
Jacinta: And what exactly is this 'positive psychology'?
Canto: Well, to explain that would require a large digression. Suffice to say for now that it's about using psychology to make us more resilient, and in some sense ethically superior, or more benign, humans. Shaw dwells on this at some length, but claims that in spite of much rhetoric, these psychologists can only offer what she calls the bare, Hobbesian ethic of avoidance of strife. However, she herself is unable to point to a more robust, or a deeper, ethic. She presumably believes in one, but she doesn't enlighten us as to what it might be. And this is very striking because the tale of these psychologists' collusion with the Bush administration on torture, and the huge financial gain to them in applying 'learned helplessness', a theory of Seligman's, to the application of torture, is truly shocking.
Jacinta: So it would be a question of what, in their make-up, allowed them to engage in such unethical behaviour, and was it the lack of a deep ethical understanding, beyond 'bare Hobbesianism'?
Canto: Right, and my answer would be that, although two psychologists took up this lucrative offer to 'serve the state', there would have been others who refused, and would any of them, on either side, have made their decision on the basis of some rigorous normative ethic?
Jacinta: I'm quite sure I wouldn't have colluded with that sort of thing for all the terracotta warriors in China, but I'm also sure it wouldn't have been for deep philosophical reasons. I just have a kind of visceral revulsion for physical violence and bullying as you know, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I'd facilitated the premeditated cruel and unusual punishment of others. I'm not even sure if it's about empathy, but it's not a particularly reasoned position.
Canto: Yes, and so the only way to understand why some people are more prone to do unethical things – actions outside of the ever-changing standards of community ethics – might be to look at individual psychology, and neurology, and genetics, which takes us further away from normative ethics than ever.
Jacinta: Yes, and didn't we read, in Sam Kean's The tale of the duelling neurosurgeons, about a poor fellow in his mid-fifties who suddenly started engaging in paedophile acts, something he had never showed any signs of before? A brain scan revealed a large tumour pressing on parts of the brain responsible for higher-order decision-making (to put it over-simplistically). When the tumour was removed he returned to 'normal', until some time later he regressed to paedophile acts. A further scan showed they didn't remove all the tumour and it had regrown. After another more successful operation he was cured and never diddled again. But the consequences of his actions for his victims when 'not himself' would have required him to be punished, on a consequentialist ethical view, wouldn't they?
Canto: Very good point. And yet, and yet… can it be true that we've barely gone further in our ethics than the Golden Rule, or Aristotle's mean between extremes?
Jacinta: We're animals, don't forget. Okay we're animals that have managed to detect waves from space that are a tiny fraction of the diameter of a proton, but we're still not that good at being nice to each other. And the extent to which we're able to be nice to each other, and follow social norms, that's a matter of our individual psychology, our neurology, our individual and cultural circumstances, our genes and our epigenetic profile, so much particular stuff that philosophical ethics, with its generalities, can't easily deal with.
some thoughts on urbanisation, language and culture
Australian language families. From west to east:
Pama–Nyungan (3 areas)
The trend is massively towards urbanisation, though it varies massively between nations. The big urbanising country now is China of course. Citification leads to homogenisation, as everyone strives to be original. Anthropologist Wade Davis says that of the 7,000 or so extant languages, more than half are not being taught to the next generation. Cities are about communication, requiring a common language. It's unlikely to be Wajarri or Pitjantjatjara. How about English? Language groups, it has been argued, constitute the most natural nations, rather than states with their artificial boundaries. There's a whole theory based around this but I say, whenever you hear the word natural you should be skeptical. Why did a diversity of languages arise? A very very complex question. Or rather a simple question but the answer…
It presumably wasn't the case that each language was invented from scratch. My speculation – somewhere, sometime, a human or proto-human population developed a language (a bit like saying 'here, a miracle happens', but we know more than that about the earliest abstract sign systems). That population grew, split up and separated to such distances that the languages followed separate developments, just like, say, chimps and bonobos followed separate lines of development after being separated by the Congo River, if that's what happened. But then it could have been invented from scratch more than once, as is supposed to have been the case with writing.
Surely though the emergence of all these languages is primarily due to migration and isolation. Surely this is neither natural or unnatural. It happens. The loss of many of these languages will be due to their being surplus to requirements, due to a modern process that has reversed the 'tyranny of distance'. The need to communicate effectively across distances, between nations, has meant that a lingua franca has been a high priority, and the more such a language dominates, economically and culturally, the more small, local languages will die of neglect, or be rendered redundant. Is this tragic? I'm not entirely sure.
Wade Davis is quoted (in issue 63 of Cosmos magazine) as saying:
The central revelation of anthropology is that other peoples of the world are not failed attempts at being you, at being modern. On the contrary they are unique answers to a fundamental question: what does it mean to be human and alive? And when the peoples of the world answer that question they do so in 7000 different voices, and those voices and answers collectively become our human repertoire for dealing with the challenges that will confront us all. When we lose a culture we lose a part of ourselves. And it doesn't have to happen.
This is all stirring stuff, and it would seem bad form to demur, even slightly. But I would like to reflect a bit more on this. First, note that Davis is equating language with culture, which is fair enough to a degree, but some people may be separated by language but have more cultural similarities than differences. After all, this is part of the raison d'être of the European Union, that the French, the Italians, the English etc have enough in common that they should work together rather than separately. And I would dispute the claim that there are 7000 different voices answering the basic questions of human existence and purpose. Surely there are no less than 7.2 billion? On my street, I know there are at least a couple of people who speak a different first language from me. It's highly likely, though, that I would share more with them in terms of outlook or interest than with others who share my language. But I wouldn't share every interest or preoccupation with anyone, and nor would anyone else.
And to look at the first part of the quote: I've never seen other cultures, such as Australian Aboriginal cultures, as failed attempts at being modern. I see them as generally quite successful attempts at surviving and multiplying in a fairly inhospitable but obviously not uninhabitable environment, in which they've had to adapt to a world of resources, opportunities and threats that has remained relatively static, and certainly far far more static than was the situation in Europe over the same time period. And then, 200-odd years ago, Europeans arrived here, with (always in hindsight!) predictable consequences. The very concept of modernity would not have occurred to humans who had lived in a pretty well completely unchanging environment for more than 40,000 years, whereas for the Europeans who arrived here the concept of modernity was very much a living thing, as they were constantly aware of their changes and development, in technology, in politics, in lifestyle. They naturally believed in the progress which had, after all brought them to this great southern land and enabled them, they felt, to lay claim to it.
So, many of us are well aware of the situation. Just keeping to our Australian circumstances (though I'm actually a Brit, if it comes to strict definitions), one culture or set of cultures was long habituated to stasis, the other set of cultures was long habituated to dynamics, and, as a result of having survived all those dynamic processes, to 'progress'. So, in an important sense these two different groups aren't answering the one fundamental question, they're answering two quite different questions. The Aborigines had answers to 'what is it like to be a human in a world which for 40,000 years has been unchallenged by other humans, and which has enough resources to survive on if you know how to read the signs, and if you pass knowledge and skills on down the generations', whereas the Europeans had answers to 'what is it like to be a human whose ancestors have fought and defeated invaders, conquered other lands and enslaved or exploited their peoples, cultivated soils and experimented with plants and animals to provide a variety of foodstuffs, exploited mineral resources for construction and technological purposes, etc etc'.
So, it comes to this. We Europeans, sharpened by our historical experience, have come to Australia and transformed it. We – some of us – tried to make peace with the Aborigines while taking the best land to cultivate ourselves. We brought in our sheep and cattle, we took over the rich coastlines, we built our industries, and we made an assumption of 'Terra nullius' because it was so obviously in our interest to do so. We had no idea, of course, of the history of the Aborigines – being all 'young earth creationists' at the time. The Aborigines had no more chance than, say, a tasty flightless bird would have if feral cats were introduced onto an island that the birds had comfortably and skilfully survived on for a million years. Of course we didn't eat any Aborigines (as far as I'm aware) but we transformed their environment almost beyond recognition and made a continuation of their habitual way of life well-nigh impossible.
I make that comparison to suggest that humans are nothing special. Cultures, like species, go extinct, or adapt. That's a harsh reality, but somehow, in our sophistication, we know, at least some of us do, that diversity, of species and cultures, is a good thing, not just intrinsically but for our own selfish benefit. It's a balance maybe – we strive to preserve, but also encourage to adapt.


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A-Boards effectively draw customers attention to the offered product or service. They are very easy to use and can be spread in many places such as promenades, markets or shops.
A practical fold-able frame, you can quickly move the A-board and post your message on it. The product is very versatile it is also resistant to weather conditions. The set consists of:two prints the same, a stand in the shape of the letter A with aluminium fold-able frame and anti-reflective foil to protect the print.
The water tank base board is particular suited for outdoor use, because of its weight (once the base is filled) and its resistance to the elements, it also has its main body attached to the water tank using two large springs so it has a bit of give in the wind, combine that with the wight of the water tank it is extremely hard for your sing to be blown over in the wind.
Art work: £5 Text only £10 Image & Text
Format A Board: A1 (594x841mm) A0 (841x1189mm) B2 (500x700mm) B1 700x1000mm)
Format A board with water tank: A1 (594x841mm) A0 (841x1189mm)
Quantities: 1-25
Material A Board: Aluminium
Material A Board with water tank: Aluminium frame with plastic water base.

subset: commoncrawl


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Confederation of Forest Industries ConFor
- Forests and woodlands
- Trade associations
Oral Evidence given to Parliament Committees
July 2011
- Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive, Confederation of Forest Industries gave evidence related to Forest research on 13 Jul. [3]
Government meetings
July 2010
Dept. for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- 1. Wikipedia. Confederation of Forest Industries
- 2. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Ministerial meetings with outside interests, 13 May - 31 Jul 2010
- 3. United Kingdom Parliament. Forest research - oral and written evidence 13 Jul 2011 - Science and Technology Committee - Minutes of Evidence
This profile was compiled by Who's Lobbying and is about Confederation of Forest Industries.
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London's 'infectious disease' of knife violence leaves five dead in a week and could take years to solveBy Europe bureau chief Samantha Hawley
London has seen a spike in knife attacks that has been compared by anti-violence campaigners to a rapidly spreading virus — and the city's Mayor says it could take a generation to solve.
This week alone five people have died from knife wounds in the British capital, including a 16-year-old boy on Monday night.
The victims range in age from 15-year-old Jay Hughes, who was stabbed in the heart outside a chicken shop on Thursday, to 38-year-old father Rocky Djelal, who was knifed in broad daylight in a park in south-east London.
The first stabbing of the year happened on January 1, and since then there have been 119 homicides in London in total, 74 of which have been stabbings.
The increase in violent crime has put London's Mayor Sadiq Khan under pressure.
This week he declared it would take a generation to solve London's violent crime, which he wants dealt with as a public health issue.
The Mayor said the use of knives had been normalised by many young people, and that required a cultural shift.
"To really make significant progress can take up to 10 years and a generation," Mr Khan told BBC radio.
"Children in primary school, thinking not only is it OK to carry a knife but it gives them a sense of belonging, joining a criminal gang, it makes them feel safer and they don't see anything wrong with getting involved in this sort of behaviour."
In the year to June there were 15,000 knife-related crimes in London, up 15 per cent on the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. That is the highest number ever recorded.
'Violence leads to violence'
Peter Green is the manager of anti-violence charity The Ben Kinsella Trust, and he told the ABC knife crime was like a spreading virus.
"In other words, once it is left unchecked it will spread and spread and grow and this is what we are seeing now," he said.
"Even if we go back to Shakespeare's time, you know we will see in plays like Romeo and Juliet, violence leads to violence."
Ben Kinsella was just 16 when he was stabbed to death in June 2008.
Mr Green said since then knife crime had fallen, before rising dramatically again.
"Absolutely it is a crisis," he said. "We have had five people die across the capital in less than a week, that is a crisis."
Often it is simple kitchen and household knives used in attacks, but increasingly young people are turning to the internet to acquire large hunting knives and machetes.
What's behind the spike?
John Poyton founded the youth outreach charity Redthread, which embeds youth workers in accident and emergency wards in London hospitals to speak to victims.
He says people seeking treatment "are really open to their vulnerability and they are able to reflect on the need they have to ask for help".
Gangs are believed to be the key driver of the spike, but the illicit drug market and even peer pressure are seeing more and more young people carry knives.
But Mr Poyton said it was a complex issue like an "infectious disease".
"Why is it happening? I think there have been quite black and white ideas in the past and I think those ideas need to start to change," he said.
"We need to be doing more early intervention."
He said on average a stabbing victim had been injured four to five times in the past before they presented to hospital.
Mr Khan partly blamed a fall in London's police numbers, pointing to a drop of 3,000 officers over an eight-year period, and the closure of at least 30 youth centres.
"Anyone who has spoken to, as I have, the parents of a child who has lost his life or to someone who has suffered knife crime, it is traumatic, it traumatises the individual, the family, the community," Mr Khan said.
Earlier this year, while defending gun ownership laws, United States President Donald Trump compared London's hospitals to war zones.
"I recently read a story that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital right in the middle is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds," he said in a speech to the National Rifle Association in May.
"They don't have guns. They have knives and instead there's blood all over the floors of this hospital."
While acknowledging there are more knives on the streets, Mr Khan insists London is still "a safe global city".


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In the digital era we live today, technology is enhancing many functions in a bid to improve their efficiency. However, have you considered the impact of artificial intelligence advancements on paper writing services?
Most recently, bots were created to offer essay writing services and have changed its course nonetheless to a better one.
To ensure that you can rip the benefits of technology in essay writing, we analyzed the top 3 innovations that may replace or enhance paper writing services.
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Unlike its counterparts, this tool offers thorough proofreading which ensures that your content is both readable and free of grammatical errors. Also, Grammarly gives access to pros in various fields thus providing you with material that is of quality.
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Thanks to its algorithm, the site searches for content applicable to your essay on multiple sites. As a result, the bot captures vast information on your field, therefore, creating information-rich content. This takes off the tediousness associated with researching material, thus, allowing fast turnaround duration of quality articles.
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Essay Bot
When it comes to writing assistants, essay bot ranks among the top on the list. Powered by AI (artificial intelligence), the bot finds suitable content for your topic and put up non-plagiarized content. Also, essay bot features built-in services that enhance readability and ensure that your content is free of grammar mistakes.
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With multiple technological advancements, AI essay writing remains the most significant achievement in essay writing. However, one can only speculate on the effects that bots will bring about to the field. On the other hand, if you are looking for paper writing services that assure quality without impacting negatively on your wallet, my essay geek stands as the one stop shop for quality essay writing service.


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University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa School of Travel Industry Management Assistant Professor Junwook Chi received the Best Paper Award at the 2016 Global Tourism and Hospitality Conference in Hong Kong. His paper, "Asymmetric tourist responses to own- and cross-price changes: Evidence from U.S. tourism demand for the UK, France and Italy," investigates how tourists from different countries respond to price increases and …Read More »
Business & Travel Industry
Research offers new ideas to minimize unethical behavior in powerful people
"Focusing the powerful to think about how they should behave may serve as a potential form of 'preventative medicine' against the abuse of power," says lead researcher Miao Hu, assistant professor of marketing at the Shidler College of Business. In her research, Hu offers new ideas for curbing unethical behavior by those with power. Through a series of experiments, Hu and co-researchers, …Read More »
UH alumni and students collaborate with publishers to produce Vietnam's best-selling management book
The #1 bestselling management book in Vietnam, "Business Model Generation," is a result of the collaboration between the publishers, and the students and alumni of the Shidler College of Business Vietnam Executive MBA (VEMBA) program. According to the Director of the Vietnam Executive MBA program, Tung Bui, this special edition highlights the program's extensive educational contribution to the business community …Read More »
i-Lab opens at UH Manoa
The University of Hawaiʻi celebrated the grand opening of its new UH i-Lab (innovation lab) on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. Inspired by Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, also known as the D.School, the University of Hawaiʻi has created a lab based on those same principles of exposing students to experiences that get them involved with innovation and entrepreneurship. "Our …Read More »
Three Mānoa faculty members make World's Most Influential Scientific Minds list
Three faculty members at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa have been named to Thomson Reuters' World's Most Influential Scientific Minds and Highly Cited Researcher lists in 2015—Stephen L. Vargo, Shidler College Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the Shidler College of Business; Loïc Le Marchand, a professor at the UH Cancer Center and Laurence N. Kolonel, emeritus professor in the …Read More »


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Visit an awesome UNESCO World Heritage Site and natural border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Victoria Falls is worth seen from a helicopter or a bungee jump. See huge herds of elephants while enjoying the tranquillity of the renowned Chobe Riverfront. Spot lions lurking in the shade of huge indigenous trees while hippos grunt and Fish Eagles cry. Then, when you get to the Okavango Delta wilderness, you will see real wildlife in action. Experience this huge floodplain brimming with plant and animal life in a desert setting.
6 Night Three Rivers Safari
Tailor Made Itinerary
- Experience 3 of Africa's natural wonders in only 6 days
- Romantic dining under the stars to the sounds of a thunderous waterfall
- Spectacular wildlife from open safari vehicles & by boat on the Chobe River
- Experience real wilderness in a traditional mokoro
- Seasonal Rates apply
Day 1-2: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Upon arrival at Victoria Falls Airport, you will be met and transferred by sh ared road transfer to Ilala Lodge where you will spend the next two nights on a bed and breakfast basis.
Ilala Lodge, Victoria Falls – Rest in spacious plush rooms with railway sleeper teak furnishings. Step out through large doors onto manicured lawns or a private balcony with Victoria Falls vistas. Dine in style in an à la carte restaurant under the African night sky while nature performs for you.
• bed & breakfast
Day 3-4: Chobe National Park, Botswana
After breakfast, guests are transferred by shared road transfer from Ilala Lodge to Kasane to Chobe Elephant Camp via Kasane Airport.
Chobe Elephant Camp, Chobe River Front – Imagine staying in accommodation created from sandbags? This lodge with its thick sand-filled walls produces a natural insulating barrier between you and the harsh African sun outside. Enjoy the old farm-style aura of a camp offering 10 rooms & one family room.
• all meals, local drinks, activities, laundry and park fees
• game drives, boating (stays of 2 nights or longer) and cultural village visit
Day 5-6: Okavango Delta, Botswana
Following the morning activity (time permitting) and breakfast, guests are transferred to Kasane Airport with Chobe Elephant Ccamp, followed by an air transfer to Pom Pom Camp.
Pom Pom Camp, Okavango Delta – Stay in one of 9 large Meru-style safari tents with en-suite showers and flush toilets. Shower under the stars and sip cocktails at the bar with its panoramic lagoon outlook. Relax around the open fireplace at the edge of the lagoon and swim daily in the perfect plunge pool to escape the midday heat.
• meals, drinks, activities, park fees & laundry
• day & night drives, mokoro, guided nature walking (have to be requested in advance) & bird watching
• When water levels permit boating is also offered
Day 7: Departure
After a morning activity (time permitting) and breakfast, guests are transferred by light aircraft to Maun Airport for their onward travel arrangements.
From $2650 per person sharing : January - March 2018
From $3155 per person sharing : April - June 2018
From $3875 per person sharing : July - October 2018
From $3155 per person sharing : November 2018
Single supplements apply
Subject to availability
Terms & conditions apply


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TCDC Wins Award
The Tubb Canyon Desert Conservancy (TCDC) is this year's recipient of the California Invasive Plant Council's (Cal-IPC) Policy Award. This award is presented "for exceptional contributions to invasive the protection of California ecosystems." The presentation was made... — Updated 10/30/2019
6-12-24 Hour World Time Trial Championships
The countdown is on for the start of this year's race, with excitement, focus and possibly hints of nervousness surrounding the start gate with many experienced riders from all over the world preparing to take on the roads of... — Updated 10/30/2019
Farewell Our Champion, Bill Wright
William D. "Bill" Wright, born August 1, 1931, the most beloved, admired, and respected resident of Borrego Springs, passed away at home with his family at his side on Oct. 1 at the age of 88. His legacy of generosity and work... — Updated 10/30/2019
Borrego Springs Resort Golf Course Closes Golfers, Wildlife Loses... What About Our Community?
Community, community, community – that's what we hear about when folks speak lovingly about our village of Borrego Springs. Fred Jee said it Saturday night at the Miss Borrego Pageant. Miss Borrego, Dennise Cecena, expressed this sentiment as well during her final speech... — Updated 10/30/2019
Borrego Springs Was in the House!
A small group of Borregans dusted off the desert dust, put on their best duds and represented our village with pride at the Evening of Changing Lives annual Gala for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego County. The goal of this elegant evening at the downtown Marriott... — Updated 10/30/2019
Sampson Exits Casa, Chamber
Patrick Sampson has resigned from his role as General Manager of La Casa del Zorro and his position as Chamber of Commerce Board President as of Oct. 10. Sampson's wife Tiffany has also resigned as La Casa's lead accountant, according to an official statement released by La... — Updated 10/30/2019
54th Annual Borrego Days Desert Festival – "Bloom in Borrego"
The 54th annual Borrego Days Desert Festival has arrived for yet another spectacular and successful year. This year's theme, "Bloom in Borrego," brings awareness of and paying homage to the beauty of Borrego Springs and the... — Updated 10/30/2019
- GSP Advisory Committee Recommends GSP Adoption
- Akrofest Back in Town
- Volunteer of the Year: Judy Coyle
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Sylvana Meeks
- GSP Part 2: Land Fallowing
- Ladder-Backed Woodpecker
- Festival in Countdown Mode
- Bill Wright Passes
- Hideout Reopens
- Akrofest 2019 Returns to Borrego Skies
- LCDZ Unaffected
- BSR Golf Course: CLOSED
- 54th Borrego Days Desert Festival
- The Propeller
- Font's Point
Borrego Springs Sponsor Group
There is a critical meeting of the Sponsor Group on Thursday Oct. 3, 4: 30 p.m. in the Library Community Room, and Borregans are urged to attend. For questions, please email Rebecca Falk at... — Updated 10/3/2019
BAI Opens New Season
It was a show that captured unique perspectives of nature, animals, and people by over 15 photographers, and all were exhibited at the Borrego Art Institute. On Oct. 12, the BAI held its first opening reception of the 2019 – 20... — Updated 10/30/2019
Interact Club Car Wash
Borrego Springs High School Interact Club will have a car wash Sunday Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the old library in The Mall. Students will wash your car for a donation to help support their sanitation project in... — Updated 10/17/2019
BSHS Principal is Right Person for the Job
Welcome, Victoria Baay! It happens more often than not. The interviewee stops at the top of Montezuma Grade, looks down on our frontier town, notices the dearth of big box stores, turns around and heads home while making the phone... — Updated 10/3/2019
The Legion March
With the recent departure of the beloved San Diego Chargers NFL franchise, San Diegans who love American football are searching to fill that gritty, adrenaline loaded void. Some citizens have embraced SDSU's collegiate football... — Updated 10/30/2019
Rams Football Battle Out on Senior Night
The Borrego Springs Rams football team hoped to make a statement against one of the top two teams in the Ocean League, the San Pasqual Dragons. Entering the night's matchup, the Dragons sit just under Foothills in League... — Updated 10/17/2019
Broadway The Golden Age
Broadway, the Golden Age, started the beautiful history of Broadway music in the 1960s. On Sunday September the 22nd the Julian Arts Chorale recalled the songs, presented a beautiful concert celebrating Broadway recalling the... — Updated 10/3/2019
Is It Really Over?
After several months of heated discussions throughout the community, Julian's fire district issue is just about wrapped up. The signs are gone from the center of town and the back and forth messages on Facebook have dissipated. Different viewpoints on a situation can... — Updated 10/3/2019


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The first and perhaps only Bill Mike show of 2009 will be tomorrow night at Tiff's in St Paul. The evening will be hosted by a cool band called Charn as they release their debut recording, These Sins Of Mine. My friend Phil Hicks, who plays bass in the Jeremy Sanoski Band, is the bassist for Charn. They rule. Also in the evening's lineup is the reincarnation of the Minneapolis indie-pop band Cowboy Curtis, now called Wishbook.
It'll be a great night of music. Make it happen.
PS. Morrissey plays bass in both Bill Mike and Wishbook, and he's in town from NYC this week because of the release of his debut record as a bandleader/composer, The Morning World. He was featured on the first hour of 89.3's The Local Show last week, which you can listen to here.


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Reduced $75k! Rare opportunity to purchase in ocean front Prospect Reef Resort. This top floor, 1,324 square foot, 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with a 380 sf screened patio overlooking the Caribbean sea and garden areas, was previously updated and offers vaulted ceilings, premium appliances, wood flooring, and french doors.Prospect Reef Resort offers ocean front pool, sand beach, and tennis courts.Vendor is open to review all offers.
+1 345 945 4000


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Average Costs
The national average cost is $75 - $200+
The average cost to hire a local professional will average about $75 - $200, with some consumers spending over $500 or more
The average cost to hire a local professional can vary widely depending on the work that needs to be performed, they region in which you are located and how fast you need the project completed. So choosing the right professional the first time is of the essence.
Hourly Rate - Some companies charge by the hour.
Flat Rate Per Job - Some companies charge a flat rate for the work they do.
Recognize that there are several variables in developing the price. These include:
- Time that it takes to complete the project.
- How many technicians are working on your project.
- Was it an after hours emergency
- With many more aspects that may add to the cost
Remember, the company quoting a low rate may not necessarily be the right company for you. Some companies may offer low hourly rates, but then charge additional "fees" to complete the job.
You may also need to consider that most companies charge a higher rate for overtime, weekends, holidays and emergency calls.
The best rule of hand is to get an itemized estimate so you know exactly what is expected from the local company.
Basic Information
Advantages Of Mobile Dent Repair
Save Money
Generally, mobile dent repair professionals tend to charge lower rates than the conventional repair shops because their operating costs are significantly less.
Customer Service
Individuals who specialize in mobile dent repair services recognize that being friendly & understanding is an important asset in the job. As a result, they focus on providing the best customer service and establishing good relationships with their clients.
Can Save Your Time
Another benefit of hiring mobile dent repair professional for your repair is that it can help you avoid time wasting time. When you call your repair service, they'll come directly to your home or workplace and do the work quickly so that you get back on the road in the shortest time possible. No more auto service shop waiting rooms.
Fix Your Scratch And Dent Issues On Location
Mobile dent repair professionals are able to perform an array of scratch and dent repairs on location while you are at home, working or even shopping.
Related Services
Tips & Advice
Ask For The License - Ask for all local and state business licenses.
Proof Of Insurance- For your own protection, check proof of both workman's compensation and liability Insurance.
Business Stability- Find out how long the company has been in business.
Check Online Reviews - You're probably not the first person in town looking for their services. Rely on the internet to get reviews written by people in your community.
References - Expect any top-notch company to be able to provide you with references upon request. Once you have these names, contact the clients to get information about the quality service. When you call, ask questions about the work, timeliness, cost and whether the clients would use the company again for future work.
24-hour Emergency Service - Make sure your local company offers emergency 24 hour service. If something goes wrong, it's good to know that you will not have to wait days for them to come out and fix it.
Over The Phone Pricing - Honest estimates simply cannot be given over the phone - especially if you aren't talking with an actual technician when you call.
Free Estimates - Most companies offer free estimates. This is important because they can provide you with the costs upfront, so that you are not shocked with a bill after the services are completed.
Safety Record - Safety can be a significant factor, so ask the company about their safety records to ensure that any service professional you hire has a satisfactory safety record. You want a company that doesn't have a high incidence of on-the-job mishaps or injuries.
Satisfaction Guarantee - Choosing a company that offers a satisfaction guarantee will ensure that they will get the job done right the first time and will save you money and frustration in the long run.
Cleanup - The mess left behind after a project can be major. Ask what cleanup work the company includes with it's services.


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Hello Darlings!
Sorry for being radio silent for a little while, I've spent so much time hauling, reading and breathing K-beauty that I had to make room in my schedule for sleep, food, and Mr.Boyfriend. I'm not the best at multitasking in other words, or time management it seems.
Anyways! I'm back, with a first impression on what has to be the prettiest thing I've bought so far!
We're talking fancy pansy rose gold, flower inside shit!
So this has been mentioned before, when I'd just ordered it, and let me tell you the hype is real! I've tried it out two days in a row now, and I must say, it's not only fancy, it actually lasts long, and the color, not my first choice, is kinda starting to grow on me!
I just can't get over the fact that it's this pretty, LOOK AT IT GODDAMNIT!
Anyway, let's just get down to cold hard pink facts!
Name: Kailijumei Pixie Rose Lipstick
Shade: Dream Purple (They all turn a shade of pink, the name is for the flower inside)
Product: Lipstick
Good for: Looking fab and moisturizing your lips!
Price: 18$
Dudes, this has actual gold leaves and a flower inside, just for that they get extra points in my book!
So it's pretty on the outside, but what about the product itself?
I've used it two times now, both times has had a duration of 6 hours give or take, and the color sticks evenly throughout the day, you might want to add a dash here and there, because the whole lipstick feeling fades, and you're left with a tint of color, it doesn't really smudge too bad, and you don't end up with an involuntary lip liner with no dazzle, which is good!
I've even managed to squeeze in a selfie this time, but only of my old, wrinkly looking lips!
This is after 3 hours use, and i'm still rocking it!
So far I can absolutely recommend it, but check in with me in a month or two, just to get an up to date version!
Only thing I don't like about it is the fact that there is very little product, so you don't really get your money's worth, and it takes a bit of product to get good color, but then again, it stays pretty all day long! (if you have 6 hour shifts that is.)
Did I mention there's a flower inside?
That's what I have on it so far. I like it a lot, probably so much that I'll purchase a different flower when this one's gone, but there is a few different styles, so you don't actually have to pay 18 bucks for it. The regular models will cost you around 8-11$ depending on where you purchase it from, just make sure that the seller is legit, so you don't end up with a fake. God knows how your lips will react to that.
Omg, this lipstick!
Let me know if you've tried this, or have any other liptastic products to recommend!


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Via Francigena – WEEK 5
From Aulla to San Miniato
Aulla, can easily be reached by train from La Spezia, Cinqueterre or Milan. At your hotel you wil find all the material you need for your trip: hotel vouchers, the detailed description of the walking and the GPS maps. You will also be told where to go to receive a benediction should you want one before you start on yo way. This week itinerary is very varied as it starts in the Mountains and reaches the sea. Nice villages alng a mid heighth route that offers wonderful views of the coast with the backdrop of the "Apuane Alps", white with the famous Carrara marble. Two beautiful towns worth visiting: Lucca and San Miniato.
Holiday TypeVia Francigena
Activity Level Moderate
Sarzanello fortress
The sea view from the Carrara hills
Lucca with its perfectly oval walls
"Il volto santo" inside Lucca cathedral
We book your accommodations
We will book double rooms with private bathrooms in 2* or 3* hotels, b&b or country Inns. and you will find the corresponding vouchers in your package
We transfer your luggage
Just leave it at the reception desk with your name tag and you will find it at your next accommodation.
We supply detailed route notes and maps
At your choice, the route notes can be in English, Italian, French or German and maps have GPS tracing
- 7 Nights Accommodation
- All Breakfast ( Dinners on Demand )
- Luggage transfer
- Road Book & Maps
- Gps Files Available
- Emergency number 24/7
- The Pilgrim's "Credenziale"
What our customers have to say about us is really important for our company!
Send us your feedback about your tour at email@example.com
Day 1 – Arrival in Aulla – Cinqueterre extension
Aulla has been completely destroyed by bombing during World War II so most of the town is modern- However do not miss San Caprasio abbey; it is very interesting to see the reconstruction work and the little museum. The priest knows a lot about the Francigena and you can meet other pilgrims
Day 2 – Aulla – Sarzana – Max alt.:590m. Altitude gap: uphill 605m. downhill 660 m Distance : 17km Walking time: 4h30 Type of route: almost entierly unpaved
Leaving Aulla which lays in the shade of the imposing Brunella fortress we walk through the last slopes of the Appennino mountain and will catch the first sight of the sea. The Bibola ruined castleis our first stop, then the ruins of the Brina castle before starting the descent towards Sarzana
Day 3 – Sarzana – Carrara – Max alt.: 450 m. Distance : 24km Walking time:5h30 Type of route: dirt roads or secondary asphalt
First you meet the Sarzanello fortress. You will then walk from fortress to castle, to watch tower with the Apuane Alps in as a backdrop. It is the country of the famous Carrara marble and the mountains are white from its deposits.
Day 4 – Carrara – Camaiore – Max alt: 330 m. Distance: 24km Walking time: 5h30 Type of route: dirt roads or secondary asphalt
A pleasant walk with beautiful views of the coast. Again we remain high on the hills to avoid an overcrowded plain. The route is therefore full of ups and downs. The villages of this area, contrary to the one on the coast are still very well preserved with cobbled streets and small cafes
Day 5 – Camaiore – Lucca – Max alt: 460 m. Distance: 21km+bus Walking time: 5h00 Type of route: dirt roads or secondary asphalt
The main attraction of the day is certainly the arrival point, Lucca which you reach via the Park of the Serchio river. Take a walk on the oval shaped town walls, visit the Duomo not forgetting "il Volto Santo" an impressive, woodden sculpture created by Niccodemus, that arrived in Lucca by miracle on a boat without sailors, as the leggend goes.
Day 6 – Lucca – Altopascio – Max alt: 130 m. Distance: 16km walking time: 4h30 Type of route: almost entiery asphalt
A very pleasant town with a very old hospital. The area used to be very unhealthy because marshy and infested by bandits. Now it is a very densely populated area, not really nice to walk. Suggestion: spend most of the day in Lucca and catch a train! (Only 15 minutes)
Day 7 – Altopascio – Ponte a Cappiano – Fucecchio – San Miniato Alto – Distance :16,8km on dirt roads or secondary asphalt and a strech of original paved route.
There is a short stretch of medieval original pavement. To see along the way : Ponte a Cappiano (bridge built by Cosimo de' Medici, XVI sec.) – San Miniato Alto. To make it shorter and avoid a not so nice stretch, you can catch a bus.
Day 8 – End of our service.
Accommodation Level
Day 1 – Aulla –
Day 2 – Sarzana –
Day 3 – Carrara –
Day 4 – Camaiore –
Day 5 – Lucca –
Day 6 – Altopascio –
Day 7 – San Miniato –


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Medicine, Surgery & Wound Care
of the Foot, Ankle & Leg
9767 N 91st St, Suite 101(480) 629-5903
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
Cracked Heels
There are many potential causes of "cracked heels." Dry skin (xerosis) is common and can get worse with wearing open-back shoes, increased weight, or increased friction from the back of shoes. Dry cracking skin can also be a subtle sign of more significant problems, such as diabetes or loss of nerve function (autonomic neuropathy).
Heels should be kept well moisturized with a cream to help reduce the cracking. Sometimes a prescription strength cream is needed. An appointment with a foot and ankle surgeon for evaluation and treatment should be make for resistant cases or if an open sore is noted.


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Youth Sunday Sermons
"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:37
For Past Youth Sunday Sermons Please CLICK HERE
We have such incredible teens and children! Every Youth Sunday, they take over the service to lead worship, pray, usher people into the presence of God, and teach us what God is saying. It is such an honor to be able to hear what God is saying through the ready and available hearts of the next generation. They lead the entire service on this day because God has called us all to proclaim the gospel.


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Choose from our line-up of boats depending on how many people you have and what you would like to do on your charter.
Quick Details
Duration: 1.5 hours
Availability: Year-round, daily
Departure Location: Savannah Harbor
Ages: All ages
- Adult (13+)
- $55
- Child (12-3)
- $35
- Small Child (2 & Under)
- Free
Take a historic riverfront tour
The Port of Savannah, the nation's largest port in volume, contains over 50 piers, wharves, and docks. On this 90-minute tour, you will experience a working port as it should be seen from the water. This excursion begins with a scenic view of Savannah's Historic Riverfront and then ventures upriver to the Georgia Ports Authority. Here, your captain/guide will discuss the variety of ships seen, the port operations, and products of the different terminals.


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need hardly say, essentially Chinese—and he was not to be baffled. Here was the very thing for his pediment; nothing could be better. They had to be touched up, of course, with a little coquillage; the inevitable C's were fitted in somehow here and there; top-heavy naturalesque bunches of flowers came in handy as finials; and the whole, with other nondescript detail, resulted in those strange medleys which we see in the pediments of the wall bookcases on Plates IV. and V., the two lower cabinets on Plate VI., and the hanging bookshelves on Plates X. and XI. To sum up briefly the total outcome of this experiment, the chairs proved to be a greater success than the cabinet work. They were quaint and not altogether unattractive in appearance ; roomy, and, by the aid of a generous supply of loose cushions, might be made fairly comfortable. The cabinets, on the contrary, I am disposed to regard rather in the light of freaks ; though we may perhaps say of them, as was said of the curate's egg, immortalised by our friend " Mr. Punch," that they are "good in parts."
But the applied fret was in every way too useful a means of enrichment to be confined to the Chinese productions exclusively; and, having once discovered and perfected it, Chippendale employed it freely in many designs other than those based upon the household gods of the " Celestials." It was, in the first place, most effective; and, what was equally important, the use of the fret-saw cost but little. The process of production was still further cheapened by clamp-ing a number of the thin sheets or strips of wood together and piercing them all to the desired pattern at one and the same time. Indeed, they can not only be cut more expeditiously in this way, but even better than singly, for the saw obtains a surer " grip/' and cuts altogether more satisfactorily.
There are few situations in which the applied fret cannot he used, so we find it introduced by Chippendale to square chair and table legs and similar supports, as shown in the
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The UltraFocus digital x-ray cabinet by Faxitron® was designed to be placed directly on the benchtop in your lab or wherever you need easy access to imaging. Multiple cabinet and detector sizes coupled with a wide energy range from 10-130kV makes the UltraFocus line ideal for imaging a broad range of both biological and light NDT samples. The 8µm focal spot and up to 10X geometric magnification provides for as high as 5 µm resolution images.
- Easy to use with a laser centering guide and window to ensure proper sample positioning and no requirements for extensive training or additional x-ray shielding
- One button operation with advanced Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) to remove the guesswork from selecting appropriate exposure time and kV settings
- Single-click calibration with auto object detect that allows for simple, error-free calibration
- Convenient design featuring an easy to clean, stainless steel inner chamber and an integrated port for introduction of gaseous anesthesia lines or cables
- High-resolution imaging via a 10X magnification tray which provides as high as 5 micron resolution. Images are instantaneously displayed on included 24" high-resolution 3.7MPx monitor
- Remote diagnostic and support from product specialists who put you and your research first
The UltraFocus X-Ray machine is probably the easiest piece of equipment we have ever had to utilize. It's so easy even I can use it! The speed and clarity of the X-rays are phenomenal. This will not only ultimately reduce my time from an hour per part to fifteen minutes per part, but it also greatly enhances my ability to ensure there is no FOD (Foreign Object Debris) present. Again, the clarity and the ability to manipulate the image are exceptional. This machine is a great asset to my department, my company and my customers."