text:
Originally, we had planned to submit it to The Mountain Path, but all the extra details I had added made it rather long. In the end we decided to submit a shorter version to The Mountain Path, one that focused more on the thorn bush incident. We also agreed that the longer version, which contained a lot more background information, could be published here. I apologise in advance to those unfamiliar with Tamil religious traditions for the large number of technical terms, names and texts that appear. It's hard to tell the story properly without them. However, I can promise you that once you have negotiated the first few paragraphs and begun the story of Umapati Sivam's life, the story is much more easy to read and digest.
Our article for The Mountain Path begins with the following paragraph:
In a letter dated 21st July 1948, written three days after Bhagavan had certified that the cow Lakshmi had attained liberation, Suri Nagamma recorded an interesting story that arose out of this declaration of enlightenment by Bhagavan. She wrote:
One of the devotees who yesterday heard of the verse written by Bhagavan about the deliverance of Lakshmi approached him this morning and said, 'Swami, we ourselves see that animals and birds are getting deliverance [moksha] in your presence; but is it not true that only human beings can get moksha?'
'Why? It is stated that a mahapurusha [great saint] gave moksha to a thorn bush,' said Bhagavan with a smile. The devotee eagerly asked who that great saint was and what was the story about the thorn bush, and Bhagavan then related [the] story.
The version Bhagavan narrated was a concise summary of the basic facts about the thorn bush, but it left out many interesting elements of the story, in particular those relating to Umapati Sivam, the key figure in the drama. There are several variations on the basic story. The one presented here has taken elements from several different sources and consolidated them into a single narrative.
In addition to Bhagavan's account in Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, accounts from the Pulavar Puranam (a 19th century anthology of Tamil saints' biographies), Arulmigu Umapati Sivacharya Swamigilin Varalaru (a Tamil account of Umapati Sivam's life published by Kumara Devar Madam) and Saiva Siddhanta with special reference to Sivaprakasam, by S. Gangadharan have also been utilised. The story also appears in the Chidambara Mahatmyam (The Greatness of Chidambaram), the sthala puranam of Chidambaram and Saiva Santanacharya Puranam.
Jnanasambandhar, Appar, Sundaramurthi and Manikkavachagar are regarded as the acharyas (teachers) of the Saiva faith (samaya-acharyas). Collectively known as the 'nalvar' (the four), they each composed and sang devotional hymns in Tamil in praise of Siva. The songs of the first three are known collectively as 'Tevaram', whereas Manikkavachagar's outpourings are contained in works entitled Tiruvachakam and Tirukkovaiyar. Several centuries later these primary texts (now part of the Saiva canon) were interpreted in a philosophical way, and the resulting philosophy became known as Saiva Siddhanta. Four teachers, known as the santana-acharyas, were primarily responsible for this later codification of the fundamental tenets of philosophical Saivism in South India. All of them belonged to one Guru-disciple lineage, the head and founder of which was Meykanda Sivam. He was followed by Arulnandi Sivam and Maraijnana Sambandha Sivam, who in turn was the Guru of Umapati Sivam, the last of these four acharyas.
Umapati Sivam was born into a brahmin family that belonged to the Tillai Muvayiravar, the group of three thousand brahmins who traditionally have the exclusive privilege of undertaking the priestly duties in the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple. They all come from the dikshitar community.
Umapati was a precocious child who soon mastered all the Tamil and Sanskrit texts, including the Vedas and Agamas. Following the family tradition, he eventually became one of the Sivacharyas (the priestly class) who performed all the acts of worship in the Chidambaram shrine. In recognition of his outstanding accomplishments the Chola king of the day bestowed on him special honours such as a pearl palanquin in which he was carried around. The honours also included a drum accompaniment as he went about his business, and a torch that was lit even during daylight hours. He was clearly a major figure in his city.
One hot summer day, after performing his duties at the Chidambaram Temple, Umapati Sivam was being carried through the streets of the town. His procession passed a veranda where Maraijnana Sambandhar, the third santana-acharya, was teaching his disciples. This was before Umapati Sivam became his disciple.
Seeing Umapati Sivam proceed in such pomp down the street, Maraijnana Sambandhar declared loudly, 'Look! There is a person who is blind during the day, riding around in dead wood.'
The 'blind during the day' remark was a reference to the lit torch which was always part of his entourage.
Umapati Sivam was a highly mature soul who was in search of a jnana Guru. Instead of being offended by the criticism, he heard these words and took them to be jnana upadesa, instructions on jnana from a qualified teacher. When he looked through the window of his palanquin at the person who had uttered this stinging critique, he saw, in the place of Maraijnana Sambandhar, Lord Nataraja Himself.
Umapati immediately alighted from the palanquin, ran up to Maraijnana Sambandhar, and fell at his feet. While Umapati Sivam was still lying on the ground, Maraijnana Sambandhar ran away at a great speed. Umapati Sivam took up the chase, following him like a shadow, but since it was the height of summer, both of them soon became exhausted. They stopped and collapsed onto the veranda of a house in a street where all the inhabitants belonged to the senkundar (weaving) community. Maraijnana Sambandhar begged for food there, but all the owner of the house could offer was a bowl of the starchy liquid that was used to size the threads that were woven there. Maraijnana Sambandhar nevertheless accepted the offering and began to drink it. Some of the mixture flowed down his forearm and dripped off his elbow. Umapati Sivam happily consumed these drips as Guru ucchistam, food left over after the Guru has finished eating.
When the brahmins of the Chidambaram Temple came to know that a member of their exclusive group had taken food dripping from the body of Maraijnana Sambandhar, they excommunicated him and banned him from entering the temple. The caste of Maraijnana Sambandhar is not known, but since the initial offering had come from a low-caste weaver, that in itself was sufficient grounds for excluding Umapati Sivam from his priestly duties in the temple.
Umapati Sivam was unconcerned. He continued to be a disciple of Maraijnana Sambandhar, and eventually attained jnana. Later on, he established his own math (monastic centre) on the outskirts of Chidambaram in a place called Kotravan Kudi.
The ban proved to be a temporary one. At the beginning of the annual festival in the town, the temple priests attempted to raise a flag to mark the commencement of the festivities. However, when they attempted to do so, they could not get the flag to move up the pole.
After attempting unsuccessfully many times to hoist the flag properly, a disembodied voice was heard which said, 'If you bring Umapati Sivam here, he will be able to raise the flag for you'.
The priests went to Umapati Sivam and requested him to come and raise the flag for them. He agreed, but when he arrived at the temple, instead of attempting to raise the flag manually, he stood beside the flag pole and sang four verses. As soon as he began to sing, the flag spontaneously began to move up the pole. By the time he had finished the fourth verse, the flag had reached the top of the flagpole. These four verses, known as Kodikkavi (The Flag Verses) now form part of the Saiva Siddhanta canon.
At the end of the ceremony Umapati Sivam called all the senkundars (the weavers) and told them, 'You are the ones who gave food to my Guru and assuaged both his thirst and his hunger. By this act you also enabled me to consume the Guru's ucchistam. Therefore, out of gratitude, I am going to honour your community by issuing a proclamation that from now on your community will have the exclusive privilege of offering the cloth that is used in the flag-hoisting ceremony.'
It is interesting to note that this tradition is followed not only in the Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram, but in most other Siva temples, including the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai.
There is no accepted biography of Umapati Sivam. Though he himself wrote about the lives of many Saiva saints, no one took the trouble to record systematically the events of his own remarkable life. This resulted in there being different and contradictory versions of several key events. One such discrepancy concerns the circumstances under which he was allowed to return to the Chidambaram Temple. S. Gangadharan, a writer and lecturer on Saiva Siddhanta, has recorded an interesting and possibly alternative version of events in his introduction to Saiva Siddhanta with Special Reference to Sivaprakasam.
When Umapati Sivam had been prevented from entering the temple and performing puja, he decided to do puja mentally in his own math. That day, when a priest went to do puja to one of the temple lingams, he discovered that it was no longer there. Siva then manifested as a disembodied voice and instructed the priests to allow Umapati Sivam back into the temple to perform rituals.
Both stories could be true. If so, it would seem that the story of the disappearing lingam came first. There is no specific indication in the flag-hoisting story that this is the first time he was allowed to return to the temple.
It is not known whether Umapati Sivam resumed his career as a temple priest since there are no further stories about his performing service in the temple. What is known, though, is that, based in his own math on the outskirts of the town, he became a prolific author, writing many works on Saiva Siddhanta, Saiva saints, and the history of Saivism.
There are fourteen works that comprise the Meykanda Sastras, the official texts of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. Eight of them (now known as Siddhanta Ashtakam, the Eight Works of Philosophy) were written by Umapati Sivam. He also composed many other works in both Tamil and Sanskrit. Many of his non-canonical works in Tamil focus on the lives of the Periyapuranam saints, the muvar – Jnanasambandhar, Appar and Sundaramurthi – and the Tevaram verses that were sung by them. He also composed Koyil Puranam, a Tamil history of the Chidambaram temple.
The following partial list of five of his Tamil works indicates just how much interest he had in the lives and songs of the old Tamil saints:
Sivakshetra Sivanamak Kalivenba: 300 couplets on the 274 pilgrimage sites visited by the muvar.
Tirttondarpuranasaram: an abbreviated and highly distilled version of the Periyapuranam.
Tevara Arulmuraittirattu: an anthology of ninety-nine Tevaram verses – sixty-three from Appar, twenty-six from Jnanasambandhar and ten from Sundaramurthi – with a commentary by Umapati Sivam that interprets these verses as primary texts of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy.
Sekkizhar Puranam: a biography of Sekkizhar, the author of the Periyapuranam. In this version, the Periyapuranam is composed in the courtyard of the Chidambaram Temple before being paraded through the streets of the town on the back of an elephant. At the conclusion of the parade, the whole work was read out, to great acclamation, before an assembly that included the king and the temple priests. It was customary for new works to be read before assemblies of learned people. One of Umapati Sivam's works, Sankarpanirakaranam, was read before an assembly on a particular date (1235 A.D.) that was mentioned in the text. This has enabled scholars to fix Umapati Sivam's life span in the fifty years between 1190 and 1240 A.D.
Tirumuraikanta Puranam: the story, in forty-five verses, of how the majority of the Tevaram poems, lost for centuries, were rediscovered in the Chidambaram temple.
Umapati Sivam's version of how the Tevaram manuscripts came to be found is a key episode in the revival of interest in poetry of the muvar. Since this story can also be used to illustrate Umapati Sivam's attitude to the temple and its priesthood, it is worth retelling in full.
King Rajarajamannan of Chidambaram was deeply moved when he heard some of the Tevaram hymns being sung to Siva at the Tiruvarur Temple. On making enquiries he was told that only fragments of the original poems remained, and that even these were being sung in a haphazard way. The king prayed to Siva, requesting him to reveal the texts properly, in an organised manner. In response to the plea Siva arranged for a boy called Nampi to be born into a family of adisaiva brahmins. The king then came to know that this was the person who would retrieve the lost hymns of the Tevaram. After putting Nampi through several severe tests to ensure that he was qualified for his mission, the king commissioned him to retrieve the lost texts. When Nampi prayed to Ganapati, his ishta devata (personal deity), Siva revealed to him that the hymns were locked in a room behind the image of the dancing Siva in the Chidambaram Temple. Nampi informed the king, and together they went to the temple to retrieve them.
However, the worshippers and priests in the temple were initially reluctant to open the locked door. They said they would only agree if the muvar themselves were present. This was somewhat problematic since they had died centuries before.
The king did not give up. He organised a festival in which images of the muvar were carried through the streets surrounding the temple and then placed in front of Lord Nataraja. In the presence of the images of the muvar, the locked door behind Lord Nataraja spontaneously flew open, revealing a huge collection of palm-leaf manuscripts. Many of them had been destroyed by white ants, but a disembodied divine voice informed everyone present that the remaining texts were all that were necessary. Nampi set to work, organising the remaining texts into the structure of the Tirumurai (the twelve canonical works of Saivism) that still exists today. The first seven volumes of the Tirumurai, as arranged by Nampi, comprise the Tevaram: three by Jnanasambandhar, succeeded by three by Appar, which in turn are followed by one from Sundaramurthi.
In view of his strained relationship with the dikshitars, the priests of the temple, it is not surprising that they are portrayed in this story as being impediments to, rather than facilitators of, the rediscovery of the ancient Tamil scriptures. In some of his other works Umapati Sivam also makes a point of downplaying the importance of formal, ritual worship in a temple. Sataratnasangraha, for example, is a Sanskrit text by Umapati Sivam that contains extracts from the Saiva Siddhanta Agamas, the scriptures that codify all aspects of ritual worship. In his highly selective anthology Umapati Sivam carefully avoided all verses that stressed the centrality of temple worship. The same pattern can be discerned in Koyil Puranam, his retelling of the principal myths behind the founding of the Chidambaram Temple.
The central story of Arunachala is the contest in which Brahma and Vishnu unsuccessfully tried to discover the ends of the column of light that Siva had manifested as. In Chidambaram the primary narrative comprises the events leading up to the dance of Lord Nataraja, and the portrayal of the dance itself. As the dance unfolds in Umapati Sivam's version, the priests are observers, not participants. They are not mediators or middle-men for the transmission of grace or power from Siva to His devotees.
Umapati Sivam describes in Koyil Puranam how Siva Himself became one of the 3,000 diskhitar priests of the temple when one went missing, thus indicating divine approval for the role the priests played in the management of the temple rituals. However, in describing the dance scene in Koyil Puranam, he makes it clear that he does not believe that the priests are essential intermediaries between devotees and Siva. When an interpretation and an analysis of the significance of the dance appears in the text, the words come from Umapati Sivam himself. He takes this task on himself, describing the dance and its significance in the terminology of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy, using key Saiva terms such as arul (grace), Pati (the Lord), pasu (the soul) and pasam (the bond or fetter). In several verses Umapati Sivam puts the philosophy of Saiva Siddhanta directly into the mouth of Siva as He gives out His teachings to the assembled multitude.
In structuring his narrative in this way Umapati Sivam is indicating that true knowledge of Siva – who He is and how He can be attained – comes not from the performers of rituals in the temple but from those teachers who have mastered and realised true knowledge of Siva.
This is not to be taken to mean that Umapati Sivam denigrated traditional forms of temple worship. His Koyil Puranam is a highly favourable account of the divine traditions of the temple. In addition to this work he also composed Kuncitanghristava, a Sanskrit text that gives a philosophical interpretation to the temple and the murti it contains. Its verses indicate that Umapati Sivam himself made donations to the running of the temple.
What Umapati Sivam seems to be pointing at in his writings about Chidambaram and its temple is a new hierarchy of methods by which Siva could be attained. In this new order, ritual worship was encouraged and approved of, but it was also stressed that true liberation could only come from intense personal devotion to Siva and the liberating grace that comes from an enlightened Guru.
This perspective harks back to the early days of Saivism when the muvar were expressing their passionate devotion to Siva through songs and through a personal one-on-one relationship with God. It also echoed the lives of the Periyapuranam saints who attained union with Him through divine love or through an unflinching commitment to His commands. The records indicate that though these saints participated reverentially in ritual worship, it was the intensity of their inner love for, and obedience to, Siva that eventually won them His grace.
When Umapati Sivam revived the Tevaram tradition through his many works on the writings and life of the early Tamil Saiva saints, he was aiming to restore the primacy of this simple but intense devotion to Siva.
The key elements of Umapati Sivam's ideas – personal devotion to Siva, without necessarily worshipping Him in a temple, and the necessity of an enlightened Guru – are all brought together in the story of Pettan Samban, a pulaiyan (outcaste) who lived in Chidambaram at the same time as Umapati Sivam. As an outcaste, Samban was unable to visit the Chidambaram Temple. This, however, did not prevent him in any way from having great devotion to Lord Siva. Wherever he was, and whatever he was doing, his thoughts were always on Him.
As a reward for his devotion Lord Siva manifested before him in His full traditional form: bearing the trident, the battle axe, carrying a deer, and so on.
Samban went into ecstasy.
Siva then asked him 'What do you want?' to which Samban replied, 'My Lord, I crave only liberation. I want nothing else.'
On hearing these words, Lord Siva wrote a verse on a palm leaf and gave it to Samban. It said:
This is a note given to the person at Kotravan Kudi [Math, i.e. Umapati Sivam] by the One dwelling at Chitrambalam, He who is easily accessible to devotees. It is My command in this world that you give diksha [initiation] to Pettan Samban in such a way that the sense of difference is eliminated in him; bestow liberation on him.
Chitrambalam, the space of consciousness, is one of the names associated with the temple of Chidambaram.
After passing the note to Samban, Lord Siva asked him to hand it over to Umapati Sivam at the Kotravan Kudi Math. Samban, though, hesitated to approach Umapati Sivam directly because he was of such a low caste. He decided instead on a more indirect approach, one which he hoped would eventually bring him to Umapati Sivam's attention. Each day he secretly took a bundle of firewood and placed it in the acharya's math, taking care to ensure that no one noticed him doing it. Samban was already delivering a bundle of firewood to the Chidambaram Temple each day, an offering that pleased Siva so much, He rewarded him for this service by giving him two gold coins every day.
The disciples of Umapati Sivam collected and used the wood offering without ever finding out who the donor was. No one ever made enquiries about where the wood was coming from.
Since this roundabout way of gaining Umapati Sivam's attention had not produced any results, Siva Himself decided to intervene because He wanted His note to be delivered. One day He made it to rain so heavily, there was flooding, as a result of which it was not possible for Samban to make his daily delivery of firewood. That day there was no firewood available in the math, and this caused the cooking to be greatly delayed. When Umapati Sivam asked why the cooking had been so delayed, he was told that the mysterious firewood delivery had not appeared that day. This was the first time that he came to hear that his math had been using firewood secretly delivered each day by an anonymous donor. Curious about the person who was anonymously giving wood, he asked his devotees to intercept the next delivery and bring the donor to him.
This order gave Samban the opportunity he had been waiting for. When he was taken the next day into Umapati Sivam's presence, after making his usual delivery, he fell at his feet and handed over the note that had been written by Lord Siva. As soon as Umapati Sivam started reading the note, he went into an ecstasy. He followed Siva's instructions to him and gave Samban nayana diksha, initiation through the eyes. Samban was such an advanced devotee, as soon as he was caught in the gaze of Umapati Sivam, he turned into light, merged in chidakasa (the space of consciousness) and physically disappeared. On seeing this, Umapati Sivam and his devotees were wonderstruck both by the event and by the maturity of Samban.
When Samban did not return home, his wife came to the math to make enquiries about his whereabouts. When she was told that he had attained liberation and physically vanished, she refused to believe it. She went to the king and complained that Umapati Sivam had killed her husband for failing to supply the math with firewood the previous day. The king responded by sending a deputation to ascertain the facts of the case. They returned to the king with the story that Umapati Sivam had told them: of the firewood donor bringing the note from Siva, getting nayana diksha, vanishing, and merging with the chidakasa. The king was astonished by this narrative, so much so that he decided to visit the math himself to get the story first-hand. He arrived shortly afterwards with a large entourage and asked Umapati Sivam to tell him directly what had happened.
When the king heard the story again, he refused to believe that the events described had actually occurred. However, he gave a chance to Umapati Sivam to prove his assertions by challenging him to grant liberation to someone else while the king was present as a witness.
Umapati Sivam responded by saying, 'This state can only be bestowed on a mature devotee'.
He looked around to see if anyone present was in a sufficiently advanced state, but none of them had the qualifications he was looking for. However, as he was scanning the area for a suitable candidate, he noticed a thorn bush that had grown by consuming the abhisheka tirtha, the water that had drained from the lingam that Umapati Sivam had been worshipping every day. Seeing its mature state, he bestowed nayana disksha on it in the same way that he had with Samban. The result was the same. The bush turned to light, merged in the chidakasa, and physically disappeared.
Though he was astounded by the event he had witnessed, the king was still not convinced. He felt that he had witnessed some sort of black magic, rather than an act of liberation.
The king announced, 'You claim that Lord Nataraja gave you a palm-leaf note. Let us go and seek clarification on this matter from Lord Nataraja Himself.'
Everyone then adjourned to the temple to see what Lord Natarajan had to say on the matter.
A puja was offered, and as the lighted camphor was being waved before Lord Nataraja, both Samban and the thorn bush were seen to manifest on either side of Him. On seeing this confirmation of the story in the temple itself, all those present realised the greatness of Umapati Sivam and sought his forgiveness. The king even granted some land to Samban's widow so that she could live out her days in comfort.
The story of the thorn bush and Samban manifesting on either side of Siva comes from Bhagavan's account in Letters from Sri Ramanasramam. There is an alternative version of the ending in which a rishi appears out of the thorn bush, just before it disappeared, to say that he had been cursed to be born in the bush because of misdemeanours in a previous life. In both versions the thorn bush is liberated.
It is interesting to note in passing here that Bhagavan himself fully accepted that plants had the capacity to realise the Self. In Sri Ramana Reminiscences, p. 61, G. V. Subbaramayya records Bhagavan as saying that there might be exceptional cases of even animals and plants attaining Self-realisation. This was recorded before Lakshmi's liberation.
The liberation of Samban by Umapati Sivam illustrates an important tenet of Saiva Siddhanta, one that Umapati Sivam himself most definitely agreed with. Samban asked Siva for liberation. Instead of giving it to him, Siva sent him to Umapati Sivam. Saiva Siddhanta teaches that the human Guru is essential for liberation in most cases, even going so far as to say that the Guru can liberate certain categories of devotees that Siva Himself cannot.
In the Saiva Siddhanta tradition there are three impurities – anava (ego), karma and maya (illusion) – that prevent devotees from attaining the ultimate goal, oneness with the consciousness of Siva. Those who have all three impurities (malas) need a human Guru to realise Sivam, consciousness of Siva. Those devotees who are only afflicted by anava and karma can reach Sivam by having Siva appear before them in a physical form. Many of the devotees from the Periyapuranam would come into this category. Those in the third category, whose only mala is anava, can get enlightenment through the power of the Self within, without needing either a human Guru or the darshan of an external God. Bhagavan would be a good example of someone who became enlightened through the power of the Self alone. Since devotees who fall into the second and third category are quite rare, it is an accepted tenet of Saiva Siddhanta that in the matter of liberation from bondage, in most cases the Guru's power exceeds that of Siva Himself.
Sadhu Natanananda summarised this tradition in verses 2-8 of his poem Atma Gita:
O mind! It is the established tradition that, though he [Brahman] is pure consciousness, he appears as a human being to remove the ignorance of devotees. God appearing, assuming the form of the Guru, and becoming the redeemer of his devotees, is not something new. The fact that the Lord appeared in disguise in many forms to bestow grace on the Nayanmars [the sixty-three saints in the Periyapuranam] is well known to the world. Other than by coming as a Guru, it is very difficult for Mahesa [the great Lord, Siva] to bestow the liberation that ends the misery of birth. The state of Siva that comes only through the eye of jnana [jnana drishti] is very difficult to attain without the Guru's glance of grace. (Sri Ramana Darsanam, by Sadhu Natanananda, p. 118.)
Muruganar also subscribed to the Saiva Siddhanta view on this point. In an essay entitled 'Sri Ramana' that appeared in appendix six of volume nine of Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham, he wrote about Bhagavan not needing an external Guru in the following words: 'As a result of tapas performed in the past, only a little of the anava impurity was left over, and this was as thin as the wing of a fly.'


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Lesson 7: Attributes
You can add attributes to a number of elements.
What is an attribute?
As you probably remember, elements give structure to a HTML document and tells the browser how you want your website to be presented (for example,

tells the browser to insert a line break). In some elements, you can add more information. This additional information is called an attribute.
Attributes are always written within a start tag and are followed by an equal sign and the attribute details written between quotes.
Example 1:

HTML

Would look like this in a browser:
The title
attribute is used to type a short description of the content that displays when you hover over it. If you — without clicking — place the cursor over the word HTML, you will see the text "Hypertext Language Markup" appear.
Try it yourself ! Add a title attribute inside any open tag. In the quotations marks, add the text you want to see when the mouse hovers over the title text.
What is the catch?
There are many different attributes. A more fun one is style
. With the style
attribute you can add layout to your website. For instance a background colour:

The example will show a completely red page in the browser - go ahead and see for yourself. We will explain in greater detail how the colour system works in a few moments.
Note that some tags and attributes use US spelling i.e. color instead of colour. It is important that you are careful to use the same spelling as we use in the examples in this tutorial - otherwise, browsers will not be able to understand your codes. Also, don't forget to always close the inverted commas (quotation marks) after an attribute.
How did the page become red?
In the above example, we asked for the background colour with the code "#ff0000". This is the colour code for red using so called hexadecimal numbers (HEX). Each colour has its own hexadecimal number. Here are some examples:
White: #ffffff
Black: #000000 (zeros)
Red: #ff0000
Blue: #0000ff
Green: #00ff00
Yellow: #ffff00
A hexadecimal colour code consists of the pound sign and six digits or letters. There are more than 1000 hex codes and it is not easy to figure out which hex code is tied to a specific colour. To make it easier we have made a chart of the 216 most commonly used colours: 216 Web Safe Colour Chart.
You can also use the English name for the most common colours (white, black, red, blue, green and yellow).
Example 3:

Enough about colours. Let's get back to the attributes.
Which elements can have attributes?
Some attributes apply to all elements (called global attributes) and some only apply to certain elements.
You will often use attributes in tags such as the
tag while you will rarely use attributes in, for example, a

tag since a line break normally is a line break without any parameters to adjust.
Just as there are many different elements, so there are many different attributes. Some attributes are tailor made for one particular element while others can be used for all elements. And vice versa: some elements can only contain one kind of attribute while others can contain many.
It may sound a bit confusing but once you get acquainted with the different attributes it is actually very logical and you will soon see how easy they are to use and how many possibilities they introduce.
This tutorial will introduce you to the most important attributes.
Exactly what parts does an element consist of?
Generally an element consists of a start tag with or without one or more attributes, some content and an end tag. It's as simple as that. See the illustration below.
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subset: commoncrawl


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IRS warns of biggest tax scam ever
As if taxpayers don't have enough to worry about. Thousands of Americans have been conned out of more than $1 million by crooks posing as IRS agents demanding tax payments, according to the U.S. Treasury.
"This is the largest scam of its kind that we have ever seen," said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, who says the agency has received more than 20,000 complaints about the fraud.
The sophisticated phone scam has hit victims in every state, tax officials say. Callers claiming to be from the IRS tell intended victims they owe taxes and must pay using a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. The scammers threaten those who refuse to pay with arrest, deportation or loss of a business or driver's license.
To lend the scam credibility, the crooks often know the last four digits of the taxpayer's Social Security number, and the calls are made with spoofed caller identification software that makes it appear the call is originating from the IRS.
In many cases, taxpayers will get follow-up calls that appear to be from their state motor vehicle agency (if a driver's license was threatened) or the police. The scammers also send follow-up emails that mimic the IRS insignia and even appear to be signed by real IRS officials.
"The increasing number of people receiving these unsolicited calls from individuals who fraudulently claim to represent the IRS is alarming," George said. "Particularly during the tax filing season, we want to make sure that innocent taxpayers are alert to this scam so they are not harmed by these criminals. Do not become a victim."
In reality, if you owe taxes, the IRS will contact you by U.S. mail -- not email. The agency never asks for payment via debit card or wire transfer. It never asks you to provide a credit card number over the phone. And it never requests personal or financial information by e-mail, text or social media.
"If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and uses threatening language if you don't pay immediately, that is a sign that it is not the IRS calling," George said.
If you get a call from someone claiming to be with the IRS asking for a payment, here's what to do:
* If you owe federal taxes, or think you may owe taxes, hang up and call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040.
* If you don't owe taxes, call and report the incident to the Treasury inspector general of tax administration at 1-800-366-4484.
* You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments in your complaint.
* If you get an email that's purportedly from the IRS, do not open any attachments or click on any links in the email. Send it to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Taxpayers should also be aware of other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes winner) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS. You can read more about identified tax scams at the IRS website, www.irs.gov.


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Be one of thousands who have safely shopped with us or our affiliates without credit card fraud. Our authorized vendor solution use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for secure payment transactions. As this is known to be the best in Internet security technology, it encrypts all your personal information and credit card numbers so it is unreadable as it travels over the Internet. We do not retain your credit card information in our website.
Paylessflora.Com is committed to the protection of your privacy. We will only use the information that we collect about you legally. We have created this privacy statement in order to fully describe our Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is applicable for the information that we receive from persons, like you, who contact our website.
The personal information we collect may include you and your Recipient's name, title, company or organization name, e-mail, phone, address. We may collect certain information about your visit, such as your IP address, the type of browser you use; the date and time you access the Site; the pages that you access while at the Site and the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our Site. This information is used to help improve the website and administer the website. We do not share your personal information including e-mail addresses to anyone except for the authorized retailer and courier who may ship your order. This courier is legally bound to use only the name and address that you provided to ship your order. The information that we collect may also be use to communicate regarding order issues.
In the case of attempted credit card fraud or any suspected illegal activity involving the use of this web site, detailed visitor information will be provided to law enforcement officials and/or our authorized retailer or as otherwise required by law.


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About the Game
Developer: Electronic Arts
Editor: EA Sports
Genre: Sport
All-new game modes, new and deeper experiences in fan-favorite modes, and the best on-ice gameplay ever make NHL 17 the most exciting EA SPORTS NHL game to date. Live out your hockey fantasy in all-new Draft Champions and World Cup of Hockey game modes, own every zone with authentic goaltenders, new Net Battles on offense and defense, and bone-crushing Collision Physics. Take your team to the next level in the most customizable EA SPORTS Hockey League ever and bring your game to life with dozens of thrilling new goal celebrations. No matter how you play the game, NHL 17 lets you shape your legacy on and off the ice.
Live Your Hockey Fantasy in New Modes – No matter how you play the game, NHL 17 delivers new modes to connect to your favorite teams and players. Feel the thrill of fantasy draft night with a star power team in Draft Champions, or play for national pride in the World Cup of Hockey. Be a GM fans experience the evolution of team management and take on the entire business in Franchise Mode, where you call the shots from concessions to arena relocation. Whether it's in the faceoff circle or behind the big desk, there's a new way for you to live your hockey fantasy.
Depth and Customization in Fan Favorite Modes – Take your EA SPORTS Hockey League team to the next level by progressing through the ranks and unlocking customization items on the road to glory. Create the look you've always wanted with uniform customization in the Team Editor for EASHL and Be a Pro, or build your dream arena with the all-new Arena Creator in EASHL and Franchise Mode where you choose every aspect of your home ice; from the seats to the scoreboard to the goal FX that light up your team's most memorable moments. Hockey Ultimate Team introduces Synergy, a dynamic team-building system designed to challenge the way you choose your dream team by pairing player strengths to grant perks across your lineups.
Take Control of the Ice –Hockey games are won and lost in front of the net and the new Net Battle system lets you fight for that critical space in front of the crease on offense and defense. Authentic goaltenders look the part with true-to-life stances and smarter Reactionary Save Intelligence that will process position, angle and scoring situation to commit to an athletic save or get big with the body to block the puck. Improved hitting, passing, puck pick-ups and skating let you own every zone and dozens of new goal celebrations make your biggest moments memorable and bring the crowd to their feet.
Sharpen Your Game – Whether you're competing online for elite status or lacing up the skates for the very first time, the next generation of the critically acclaimed Visual On-Ice Trainer and Coaching Feedback tools return to teach you the skills needed to sharpen your game. Unprecedented control over gameplay settings and sliders let you go from fast, action-packed gameplay all the way to the most authentic simulation so you can play the style of hockey you love.


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The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.
Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor's children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.
As governor, Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters - Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7 - by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor's schedule.
But some organizers of these events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.
Several other organizers said the children merely accompanied their mother and did not participate. The trips enabled Palin, whose main state office is in the capital of Juneau, to spend more time with her children.
"She said any event she can take her kids to is an event she tries to attend," said Jennifer McCarthy, who helped organize the June 2007 Family Day Celebration picnic in Ketchikan that Piper attended with her parents.
State Finance Director Kim Garnero told The Associated Press she has not reviewed the Palins' travel expense forms, so she could not say whether the daughters' travel with their mother would meet the definition of official business.
On Aug. 6, three weeks before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate, and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel.
"The governor said, 'I want the purpose and the reason for this travel to be clear,'" said Linda Perez, state director of administrative services.
When Palin released her family's tax records as part of her vice presidential campaign, some tax experts questioned why she did not report the children's state travel reimbursements as income.
The Palins released a review by a Washington attorney who said state law allows the children's travel expenses to be reimbursed and not taxed when they conduct official state business.
Taylor Griffin, a McCain-Palin campaign spokesman, said Palin followed state policy allowing governors to charge for their children's travel. He said the governor's office has invitations requesting the family to attend some events, but he said he did not have them to provide.
In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women's leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.
The event's organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter.
Alexis Gelber, who organized Newsweek's Third Annual Women & Leadership Conference, said she does not know how Bristol ended up attending. Gelber said invitees usually attend alone, but some ask if they can bring a relative or friend.
Griffin, the campaign spokesman, said he believes someone with the event personally sent an e-mail to Bristol inviting her, but he did not have it to provide. Records show Palin also met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs representatives and visited the New York Stock Exchange.
In January, the governor, Willow and Piper showed up at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood Buffet, an Anchorage gala to announce winners of an earlier seafood competition.
"She was just there," said James Browning, executive director of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which runs the event. Griffin said the governor's office received an invitation that was not specifically addressed to anyone.
When Palin amended her children's expense reports, she listed a role for the two girls at the function - "to draw two separate raffle tickets."
In the original travel form, Palin listed a number of events that her children attended and said they were there "in official capacity helping." She did not identify any specific roles for the girls.
In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.
Expense forms describe the girls' official purpose as "NGA Governor's Youth Programs and family activities." But those programs were activities designed to keep children busy, a service provided by the NGA to accommodate governors and their families, NGA spokeswoman Jodi Omear said.
In addition to the commercial flights, the children have traveled dozens of times with Palin on a state plane. For these flights, the total cost of operating the plane, at $971 an hour, was about $55,000, according to state flight logs. The cost of operating the state plane does not increase when the children join their mother.
The organizer of an American Heart Association luncheon on Feb. 15 in Fairbanks said Palin asked to bring daughter Piper to the event, and the organizer said she was surprised when Palin showed up with daughters Willow and Bristol as well.
The three Palin daughters shared a room separate from their mother at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks for two nights, at a cost to the state of $129 per night.
The luncheon took place before Palin's husband, Todd, finished fourth in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, also in Fairbanks. The family greeted him at the finish line.
When Palin showed up at the luncheon with not just Piper but also Willow and Bristol, organizers had to scramble to make room at the main table, said Janet Bartels, who set up the event.
"When it's the governor, you just make it happen," she said.
The state is already reviewing nearly $17,000 in per diem payments to Palin for more than 300 nights she slept at her own home, 40 miles from her satellite office in Anchorage.
Tony Knowles, a Democratic former governor of Alaska who lost to Palin in a 2006 bid to reclaim the job, said he never charged the state for his three children's commercial flights or claimed their travel as official state business.
Knowles, who was governor from 1994 to 2002, is the only other recent Alaska governor who had school-age children while in office.
"There was no valid reason for the children to be along on state business," said Knowles, a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "I cannot recall any instance during my eight years as governor where it would have been appropriate to claim they performed state business."
Knowles said he brought his children to one NGA event while in office but didn't charge the state for their trip.
In February 2007, the three girls flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines. Palin charged the state for the $519.30 round-trip ticket for each girl, and noted on the expense form that the daughters accompanied her to "open the start of the Iron Dog race."
The children and their mother then watched as Todd Palin and other racers started the competition, which Todd won that year. Palin later had the relevant expense forms changed to describe the girls' business as "First Family official starter for the start of the Iron Dog race."
The Palins began charging the state for commercial flights after the governor kept a 2006 campaign promise to sell a jet bought by her predecessor.
Palin put the jet up for sale on eBay, a move she later trumpeted in her star-making speech at the Republican National Convention, and it was ultimately sold by the state at a loss.
That left only one high-performance aircraft deemed safe enough for her to use - a 1980 twin-engine King Air assigned to the public safety agency but, according to flight logs, out of service for maintenance and repairs about a third of the time Palin has been governor.


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Animal Friends would like to invite you to join our campaign and convince the Croatian Government - in particular the Ministry of Environmental Protection - that a ban on the import, production and usage of genetically modified food would be the right decision to make. Animal Friends are organizing this campaign to draw the attention to the suffering of animals that will be genetically manipulated and to the danger that lies in genetically modified food.
The campaign will take place on Thursday, January 10 at 4:40 P.M. on the Ban Josip Jelacic Square, where we will distribute leaflets containing information about the dangers of genetic manipulation and the suffering of animals involved.
By banning genetically modified food, Croatia would be the second European country - Austria being the first - that protects its manufacturers and farmers, and protect its citizens from genetically modified products that are harmful to a person's health. By adopting this position, the Croatian Government would show willingness and strength - even before the Law has been passed, the US Embassy is threatening to force their ideas through the World Trade Organization (WTO). Minister Kovacevic of Environmental Protection stresses that a ban on genetically modified food would be a considerable help to domestic food manufacturers as well as tourism, and Animal Friends believe that such a ban would be a good and wise to make for Croatia.
As the treatment of animals in genetic engineering is not well known to the public, Animal Friends would like to draw the attention to the severe cruelty and the maltreatment of various animal species that will be used. Below you can find more information about genetic manipulation and its connection to animal suffering.
We believe that by adopting a law that bans genetically modified food, the Government will not only protect food manufacturers, farmers and the health of the citizens of Croatia, but it will also protect the environment and countless animals. We therefore welcome this move and we give our full support to minister Kovacevic and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Below you will find a chapter taken from the book The Livewire Guide to Going, Being and Staying Veggie!, which was published in Croatia last year and is written by Juliet Gellatley - a famous British activist and founder of the organization VIVA! (Vegetarian International Voice for Animals). This chapter talks about the suffering of animals in genetic manipulation:
"One of the first known genetic engineering disasters was a poor creature in America called the Beltsville pig. It was meant to be a meaty super big and, to make it grow bigger and faster, scientists introduced a human growth gene into the DNA of an ordinary pig. What they produced was a big pig which was in constant pain.
The Beltsville pig had joints so diseased with chronic arthritis that when it tried to walk, it could only crawl on its knees. It couldn't stand up and most of the time it lay still, suffering from a whole range of other diseases. This obvious experimental disaster was the pig that scientists allowed the public to see - there were other pigs from the same experiment which were in such a disgusting state that they were kept locked behind closed doors.
But the lesson of the Beltsville pig hasn't stopped the experimenting. In fact, genetic scientists have now produced a supermouse, double the size of of an ordinary mouse. This mouse was created by introducing a human gene into the supermouse's DNA that causes cancer to grow extremely fast. Scientists are now trying the same gene out in pigs but because people wouldn't want to eat meat that had a cancer gene in it, they've renamed it a "growth gene."
In the case of the Belgium Blue cow, genetic engineers identified the gene responsible for increasing the cow's muscle size and doubled it, thereby ensuring bigger, meatier calves. There was also, unfortunately, a downside. The female cows born as a result of this tinkering have slimmer hips and a narrower pelvis than normal - the very part of the body a calf has to pass through during birth.
It's not too difficult to work out what happens. A bigger calf and a narrower birth passage mean that it is often extremely painful for the mother to deliver her calf. Mostly, the genetically altered cows are unable to give birth at all. The solution is to cut them open (in what's called a caesarian section) and remove the calves. This operation may be carried out every year, sometimes for each delivery and each time the cow is cut open, the more painful it becomes. In the end the knife is cutting not through normal flesh but thick scar tissue, which takes longer and longer to heal. We know that when women have multiple caesarian births (something that luckily doesn't happen too often) the operation is excruciatingly painful. It's the same for the cow. Even scientists and vets agree that the Belgian Blue cow must suffer great pain - but the process goes on just the same.
An even weirder bit of tinkering has been done to Swiss Brown cows. It was discovered that these cows had a genetic weakness which meant they often developed a particular brain disease. Bud oddly, when this disease flared up, the cows gave more milk. When scientists located the gene that caused this disease they didn't use the knowledge to cure it - they made sure the cows got the disease just so they would give more milk. Scary, or what?
In Israel, scientists have found the gene in chickens that is responsible for featherless necks as well as the one responsible for curly feathers. Using the two genes together they have created a bird that is almost bald. The few feathers it does have are curly, exposing the bare flesh beneath. The reason? So producers can factory farm chickens in the heat of the Negev desert where temperatures reach a blistering 45°C.
So what other little treats are in store? Some of the projects I've heard about include research into producing hairless pigs, experiments with creating wingless battery chickens so more can be crammed into each cage, as well as work aimed at producing sexless cattle, and vegetables with fish genes.
Scientists insist that it is safe to alter nature in this way. But a big animal, like a pig, contains millions of genes; and scientists have mapped just a hundred of these at most. When a gene is changed or a gene from another animal is introduced, they have no idea how the other genes are going to react - they can only guess. And no one can say what the long-term consequences may be. (It's a bit like the builders on our imaginary building site changing a steel beam for a wooden one because it looks prettier. It might hold the building up - but on the other hand, it might not!)
Other concerned scientists have made some pretty worrying forecasts about what this new science might bring. Some say that genetic engineering could produce a whole new range of diseases for which our bodies have no resistance. Where genetic engineering has been used to change insects, some scientists are worried that it might result in new, uncontrollable pests.
The multinational companies responsible for introducing and encouraging this research offer all kinds of reason why genetic experiments must go on. They say that it will result in fresher, tastier, different and maybe even cheaper food. Some even claim it will be possible to feed the world's starving people. This is just an excuse. A comprehensive report from the World Health Organization in 1995 made it clear that there's enough food to feed everyone on the planet already; and that other economic and political reasons are preventing it from reaching those in need. There is no evidence to show that the money invested in genetic engineering will be used for anything other than to make a profit.
The long-term results of genetic engineering may be a disaster but there's one thing we already know - animals are already suffering in the race to produce more and more meat as quickly and cheaply as possible."


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AERZEN relubrication devices lubricate the bearings of electric motors automatically and dosed with the correct grease quantity according to manufacturer's specifications. Time intervals are possible up to 36 months. This allows a permanent and economical operation of all packaged units made by Aerzen.
The retrofit of the automatic, battery-operated AERZEN relubrication device AERZEN Vario is very simple: The programming is easy to understand and can be set up to 36 months and precisely adjusted to the actual grease requirement of the motor. In case of machine standstill, the facilities can be switched off and quantity adjustments are possible at any time. The assembly can be carried out up to 5 metres distance from the lubricating point. The preconfigured systems are supplied ready for connection and include all necessary fastening accessories.
AERZEN Vario system can be programmed precisely to meet the requirements of the machine that is lubricated. It works fully automatic. The temperature and pressure independent system consists of an electromechanical drive, a dosing unit (LC) with 60 cm³, 120 cm³ or 250 cm³ lubricant and a battery set. The requested dosing period and LC size is selected with the set button and can be read immediately in the LCD-display. The current operating condition is displayed by LED signals visible in a wide angle (red/green) on the dosing unit as well as on a LCD-display. The LED-signals on the dosing unit can also be recognised from a distance. With 6 bar pressure build-up assembly can be effected at a distance of up to 5 m from the lubricating point. This increases the flexibility in case of retrofitting considerably, as the relubrication device can also be installed outside hazardous areas or at easily accessible places. The electromechanical drive can be reused and is suitable for all 3 cartridge sizes. This makes reasonably priced adaptation possible in case of a modified lubricating requirement.
The following details are required for configuration of the AERZEN relubrication device:
The motor data of the electric motors used and the annual operating hours of the packaged units serve as a basis for project planning. From these values the required grease quantity is calculated. Various cartridge sizes make maintenance intervals from 1 month up to 36 months possible. The values for the WEG electric motors used by AERZEN are gathered in a data base and stored for the relubrication device.
The "Service Sets" for AERZEN Standard WEG electric motors have been designed for retrofitting existing and for equipping new packaged units. Only the lubrication nipples must be removed. The material for connecting the regreasing facility to the AERZEN standard motor is included in Set I (attachment set motor regreasing). The regreasing facility itself consists of Set II (Drive set) and Set III (Service set).
The "Attachment set motor regreasing" consists of all the materials required for mounting to an existing packaged unit. The hose length is 3 metres and can be adjusted individually. Therefore, the system can be arranged in any position. This set is required only once.
Material No. 2000019989
The "Drive set motor regreasing" consists of the AERZEN Vario drive of the latest generation, supporting consoles and a machine sticker. It serves for highlighting the service life of the cartridges and the battery set as calculated. This set is required only once.
Material-No. 2000020068
The "Service set for motor regreasing" consists of the grease cartridges with the individual grease type for your motor, the battery set and the yearly marks required for highlighting the change date on the machine sticker. It contains all the items which must be changed regularly. The "service set for motor regreasing" is therefore required at regular intervals.
Further grease types on request.


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Wire-wrapping an LED matrix
[Osgeld] hackaday reader and Arduino forum friend made an odd matrix:
Regular reader [Osgeld] built a 1024 LED display matrix. This is a proof-of-concept design and he admittedly has overloaded the components. Most notably, the 595 shift registers (featured over the weekend) are sourcing too much current if all eight pins are active. That's easy enough to fix in the next design by moving up to cascading LED drivers. Instead of soldering every connection in the display, [Osgeld] soldered the components in place and then used wire wrapping to make the point-to-point connections. This must have saved him a ton of time and frustration. We can't wait to see what comes out of this first prototype.
via [Hackaday]


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Giclée prints on paper are printed on 100% cotton Somerset velvet watercolour paper, weighing 255 grams. Enhanced and acid free, they are numbered, titled, signed and embossed by the artist in strictly limited editions.
Giclée prints on canvas are signed and numbered in small limited editions by the artist. The canvas is of such quality, that with the new fade resistant inks used for all giclée prints, they become virtually indistinguishable from the original work.
Image size: 10.5 x 14 inches (27 x 36 cm) approx Paper/canvas size: 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm) approx


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The First Time News Was Fit To Print: From The Archives
Every Monday, we venture into the archives of The New York Times to find the first time the paper covered various topics. This week, in a moment of weakness/laziness, we're re-running eight first mentions from our own archives. If you have a suggestion for next week, leave us a comment.
Lee Harvey Oswald
American Awaits Soviet Word Lee Harvey Oswald shut himself in his hotel room today to await a decision on his request for Soviet citizenship. Mr. Oswald, a former Marine from Fort Worth, Texas, turned in his American passport to the United States Embassy here [in Moscow] last week-end. "I am awaiting a reply from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on my application for citizenship and have nothing to say meanwhile," he said over the telephone.
Keep reading for Books on Tape, Yoko Ono, Aerosmith, Bill Maher, Don Mattingly and more.
Books on Tape
Catching Up With the Classics Want to catch up on your reading while driving cross-country? Or dip into the classics while sunning with eyes closed on a secluded Caribbean beach? A California outfit called Books on Tape makes it happen. Described as the "thinking man's answer to CB radio," Books on Tape was conceived in Los Angeles a few years back to aid long-haul commuters avoid "cerebral atrophy" occasioned by long traffic tie-ups on freeways. * * * * * Clients are able to rent the cassettes at fees ranging from $6.50 to $7.50 for a complete work, based on a one-month rental period, plus $1.75 for postage and handling. If one had to buy the tapes, the purchase price would be somewhere around $50.
Yoko Ono
Far-Out Music Is Played at CarnegieOne thing you can surely say about today's new music: the farther out it gets, the harder it is to describe. It wasn't always so; thirty years ago inner anatomical detail and structural exactitude were the rage. But now "" Here are some of the things that happened in almost total darkness at Carnegie Recital Hall late yesterday afternoon, all in the name of music: Against a taped background of mumbled words and wild laughter a girl spoke earnestly about peeling a grapefruit, squeezing lemons and counting the hairs on a dead child. Musicians in the corner made their instruments go squeep and squak. * * * * * The occasion was a concert of works by Yoko Ono, and the hall was packed. The works were titled, respectively, "A Grapefruit in the World of Park," "Piece for Strawberries and Violin" and "AOS""To David Tudor." Whether or not time will prove Miss Ono a master of musical expressiveness, there can be no denying her skill at concocting titles. Especially since neither strawberries nor violin were anywhere in evidence. [This was actually Yoko's second appearance. She was briefly mentioned the previous day in an article titled "Musical Notes."]
The Taxicabs One taxicab company, in spite of all the popular clamor for cheaper fares, has raised its rates, so that a ride of two miles, if the meter works properly and the chauffeur is honest, will cost $1.30. We fear it will turn out to be like advertised hotel rates, $1.30 "and up." The chauffeur's fee is still to be considered. * * * * * It would be better for the companies to practice economies; to secure honest chauffeurs, to guard against taximeter errors; than to raise the rate of fares. We have all been dreaming of the establishment of a cheap cab system. We still have nothing cheaper than a livery stable horse coupe.
Kinks Concert Blends Artistry and Appeal The Kinks have been a leading rock "˜n roll band for nearly 10 years now, and their appearance Friday night at the Fordham University gymnasium in the Bronx made it clear that they are still one of the finest groups around....Aerosmith, the opening act, played loud, derivative rock, distinguished only by Steve Tyler's fawning imitation of Mick Jagger.
McCann to Promote Humble's Exxon Gas in 6 CitiesMcCann-Erickson will soon be promoting Exxon gasoline in six cities. Exxon? Exxon? Exxon is a new brand name that will be tested by the Humble Oil and Refining Company to find out how it is accepted by consumers. This is an important move for Humble, the major domestic arm of Standard Oil (New Jersey), because it has long been legally prevented from using Esso, its best known brand name, in 29 of the 47 states it markets in. So it uses Humble in one state and Enco in 28.
Bill Maher
A Rising Star At PaceBill Maher, a student at Cornell University who has been described as an "observation comic" will entertain at 9 P.M. Friday in the Campus Center of Pace University in Pleasantville. Mr. Maher, who has performed at Catch-a-Rising-Star, a Manhattan nightclub that showcases new comedians, will be joined by two other emerging comedians, Adrienne Tolsch and J. J. Wall. The evening is one of two yearly showcases at Pace initiated by Dr. Nicholas Catalano, director of performing arts, who is a part-time nightclub producer in New York"¦."Bill Maher is one of the best talents I've seen in years. He will be a major comedy star one day," he predicted. Admission is $3, no reservations are required and beer and soft drinks are provided free.
Don Mattingly
Yankee Hopefuls Face Crossroad At GreensboroDon Mattingly, a 19-year-old outfielder from Evansville, Ind., hit in the vicinity of .370. He has a knack for turning fastballs into line drives. Mattingly's fielding has been questionable, but he improved after working with Ken Berry, the two-time Gold Glove winner who is now a Hornet coach. * * * * * Kim Mattingly, 17, left high school to marry Don"¦.Being married to a minor league player is lonely, Kim says. There are so many bus trips and so many days with nothing to do. Some of the wives look forward to the games as much as the players do. Kim Mattingly likes to get out and walk around the stadium and talk to fans and the wives and girlfriends of other players. She says she realizes that hers is strictly a supporting role to her husband. "When he's happy, I'm happy," she says. "When he goes 0 for 8, then he gets grumpy and he's grumpy to me too."
Our Archives
"¢ Volume I: Barack Obama, Microsoft, iPod
"¢ Volume II: Hillary Clinton, Starbucks, Donald Trump
"¢ Volume III: JFK, Microwave Oven, the Internet
"¢ Volume IV: Larry David, Drudge Report, Digital Camera
"¢ Volume V: Walkman, Osama bin Laden, Iowa Caucuses
"¢ Volume VI: Times Square, Marijuana, Googling
"¢ Volume VII: Lance Armstrong, Aerosmith, Gatorade
"¢ Volume VIII: Bob Dylan, New York Jets, War on Terror
"¢ Volume IX: Hedge Fund, White Collar Crime, John Updike
"¢ Volume X: E-mail, Bruce Springsteen, George Steinbrenner
"¢ Volume XI: RFK, the Olsen Twins, Digg
"¢ Volume XII: Jerry Seinfeld, Lee Harvey Oswald, Don Mattingly
"¢ Volume XIII: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Taxicab, Hippies
"¢ Volume XIV: Digital Watch, Prozac, David Hasselhoff
"¢ Volume XV: George Clooney, Golden Gate Bridge, Toyota Prius
"¢ Volume XVI: Woody Allen, The Titanic, The Beastie Boys
"¢ Volume XVII: New York Edition
"¢ Volume XVIII: Sports Edition
"¢ Volume XIX: TV Edition
"¢ Volume XX: Wrestlemania, Phil Knight, My Two Dads
"¢ Volume XXI: Books on Tape, Condoleezza Rice, Tina Fey
"¢ End of 2007: Greatest Hits
"¢ Volume XXII: John McCain, American Gladiators, Dianetics
"¢ Volume XXIII: Barbara Bush, Sports Illustrated, The Daily Show
"¢ Volume XXIV: "I Have A Dream" speech, Mitt Romney, Game Boy
"¢ Volume XXV: Randy Moss, Regis Philbin, Valentine's Day
"¢ Volume XXVI: Yoko Ono, Universal Health Care, Tom Coughlin
"¢ Volume XXVII: The U.S. Presidential Candidates
"¢ Volume XXVIII: Superdelegates, HD DVD, Spud Webb
"¢ Volume XXIX: Academy Awards Edition
"¢ Volume XXX: National Review, Wayne Gretzky, Harry Truman
"¢ November 3, 2007: Appearance on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday
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Whether some or all of your natural teeth are missing, Dr. Joseph Tseng may be able to restore the functionality of your mouth and aesthetics of your smile with dentures.
Since his office is conveniently located in Westland, MI, you don't have to go far to get great professional denture service.
A denture is synthetic teeth attached to a plastic base that has been made to match your natural teeth and gums.
Besides making your smile look better, dentures also fix the way your mouth functions overall. Dentures also support your cheeks and lips to reduce sagging of the muscles in your face.
Below are some types of dentures that might be available to you. Even though there are many options, not all patients are good candidates for every type of denture. During your appointment, Dr. Joseph Tseng will let you know which options may work best for you.
Conventional complete dentures consist of an upper denture and a lower denture.
The upper denture is made to replace all of your teeth in your upper jaw. It covers the roof of your mouth and fits securely on your upper gums and palate.
The lower denture is made to take the place of all your teeth in your lower jaw. It sits on the lower gums and stays in place with the help of your tongue, saliva, and cheek muscles.
Your mouth must be clear of all natural teeth before conventional complete dentures are placed. If some of your teeth need to be removed, the dentures will be placed once your gums have healed.
Like conventional complete dentures, implant-supported complete dentures replace all of your natural teeth. Instead of relying solely on the structure, tongue, saliva, and cheek muscles, this type of dentures uses implants to keep them secure.
Implant-supported complete dentures are placed on healthy gums that have fully recovered from teeth extractions and/or implant placements.
Immediate dentures are put into place right after all of your remaining teeth have been removed. You do not have to wait for your gums to heal before the immediate dentures are placed. The dentist may need to make adjustments once your gums have fully healed.
Partial dentures are also comprised of synthetic teeth attached to a plastic base made to look like your natural teeth and gums. Below the plastic base they usually have a framework that attaches to your teeth. Unlike complete dentures, partial dentures cannot be placed in a mouth with no teeth.
Dentures require special attention to keep them working well and looking good.
Dentures are fragile and should be handled very carefully at all times. They can break after being dropped just a few inches.
When they are not in your mouth, handle your dentures over a folded towel or sink of cool water. Never place your dentures in hot water since the heat can warp them.
When not in your mouth, dentures need to be stored in water so they will not dry out and lose their shape. Also, be sure to keep your dentures out of the reach of pets and children.
Like your natural teeth, your dentures need to be cleaned well.
Remove them from your mouth and rinse with cool water to remove loose food particles. Use a denture brush or soft bristled toothbrush with denture cleanser to clean them. Once you have finished cleaning your dentures, rinse them with cool water in case there are chemicals in the cleanser that are not meant to go into your mouth.
Since dentures are more delicate and not made of the same materials as natural teeth and gums, do not use toothpaste or hard bristled toothbrushes to clean them. Such cleaning materials may be too abrasive and scratch your dentures. This can leave them less attractive, more susceptible to stains, and harder to clean. Use denture cleaners that meet the American Dental Association's standards for effectiveness and safety. These products have the ADA Seal of Acceptance on them.
You should continue to clean all parts of the inside of your mouth daily as well. Brushing your palate, tongue, and gums every morning with a soft brush increases the circulation in your tissue and helps get rid of plaque.
To keep your dentures in place and properly supported, you should maintain a healthy mouth. Along with cleaning your mouth daily, a balanced diet can keep your mouth strong. Also, avoid foods that may discolor or damage your dentures.
You should visit the dentist to make sure your dentures and mouth are functioning together correctly. Besides checking the fit of your dentures, the dentist will also look for any signs of oral diseases.
When teeth are missing, there are many different ways to help your mouth function optimally and look great. Making an appointment with a dentist is the best way to determine what type of treatment is best for you.
Dr. Joseph Tseng works with the top denture lab specialists in Westland, Garden City, Livonia, Inkster, Wayne, Dearborn Heights, Redford, Dearborn, Canton, and nearby areas to get you the best dentures possible in MI.
Give Dr. Joseph Tseng's office a call at (734) 525-7636 to schedule an appointment.
Let Dr. Joseph Tseng help you feel great with an awesome looking smile!