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One common misconception surrounding the Papal Tiara suggests that the words Vicarius Filii Dei (Latin for "Vicar of the Son of God") exist on the side of one of the tiaras.
The story centres on the widely made claim that, when numerised (i.e., when those letters in the 'title' that have roman numeral value are added together), they produce the number 666, described in the Book of Revelation as the number of the Beast (the Antichrist) which wears multiple crowns identified by some as the triple tiara). This claim has been made by some Protestant sects who believe that the Pope, as head of the Roman Catholic Church is the Beast or the False Prophet mentioned in the Book of Revelation. However, a detailed examination of the existing tiaras shows no such decoration.
Further, Vicarius Filii Dei is not among the titles of the Pope; the closest match is Vicarius Christi ("Vicar of Christ", also rendered in English as "Vicar of Jesus Christ"), the numerical values of which do not add up to 666.
There is also a dispute on the numerology of "Vicarius Filii Dei" and "Vicarius Christi". Latin does not have the letter 'U' but instead uses 'V'; only if one uses the correct Latin spelling VICARIVS·FILII·DEI is the total produced (VICIVILIIDI = 5 + 1 + 100 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 50 + 1 + 1 + 500 + 1 = 666) (Vicarivs Christi, the real title, comes up to 214). Otherwise, the numbers add up to 661 and 209.
The time period for this claim is traditionally given as AD 855–858, between the reigns of Leo IV and Benedict III; however, this possibility is unlikely, because Leo IV died on 17 July 855, and Benedict III was elected as his successor on 29 September of the same year.
Jean de Mailly, a French Dominican at Metz, places the story in the year 1099, in his Chronica Universalis Mettensis, which dates from approximately 1250 and gives what is almost certainly the earliest authentic account of the woman who became known as Pope Joan. His compatriot Stephen of Bourbon acknowledges this by placing her rule at approximately 1100. Also, Rosemary and Darrell Pardoe, authors of The Female Pope: The Mystery of Pope Joan. The First Complete Documentation of the Facts behind the Legend, are assuming that a more plausible time-frame would be 1086–1108, when there were a lot of antipopes, and the reign of the legitimate popes Victor III, Urban II and Paschal II was not always established in Rome, since this city was occupied by Emperor Henry IV, and later sacked by the Normans.
Generally, there are two versions of the legend.
"Joan" disguises herself as a monk, called Joannes Anglicus. In time, she rose to the highest office of the church, becoming a pope.
After two or five years of reign, Pope Joan became pregnant, and during an Easter procession, she gave birth to the child on the streets when she fell off a horse. She was publicly stoned to death by the astonished crowd, and according to the legend, removed from the Vatican archives.
As a consequence, popes throughout the medieval period were required to undergo a procedure wherein they sat on a special chair with a hole in the seat. A cardinal would have the task of putting his hand up the hole to check whether the pope had testicles.
In a seventeenth-century study, Protestant historian David Blondel argued that 'Pope Joan' is a fictitious story. The story may well be a satire that came to be believed as reality. This view is generally accepted among historians.
Some hold that the current pope, Benedict XVI, will be the penultimate Pope, based on the Prophecy of the Popes. This claim cannot be proven either true or false until the end of the reign of Pope Benedict XVI's successor.
There have been several Popes who were alleged to have been sexually active during their reign, or even to have died as a result of this, as claimed by various authors in history.
However there is no solid evidence for any of these claims; in history, there has been only one document that was attributed to Jesus himself, the Letter of Christ and Abgarus. Scholars generally believe that those letters were fabricated, probably in the 3rd century AD. Even in ancient times, Augustine and Jerome were to the effect that Jesus wrote nothing at all during his life. The correspondence was rejected as apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I and a Roman synod (c. 495).


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Library News
St. Cloud Magazine - A- Palooza!!
We're giving away our old magazines (from 2010 or older) at the St. Cloud Public Library. Do you have any craft projects that need paper? Are you planning on doing collage or decoupage in the new year? Want to relive celebrity scandals, check for recipes, get fitness tips for all seasons? Read more »
First Thursdays at St. Cloud
First Thursdays is a series of free arts events held at the St. Cloud Public Library the first Thursday of each month from 7-8 p.m. in the Mississippi Community Room. The inaugural event is "Dancing with Many Voices" on Thursday, Jan. 3. Read more »
Visual Arts Minnesota Presents Solid Proposals at St. Cloud Library
This hands-on, one night workshop will focus on the ins and outs of developing, writing, and formatting proposals for individual artist funding opportunities in Minnesota and beyond. It is presented by Peter Happel Christian for Visual Arts Minnesota. All are welcome to attend on Wednesday, Nov. 14 from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the St. Read more »
Everything You Wanted To Know About Presidential Elections But Were Afraid To Ask
Find answers to all your presidential election questions. Read more »
Flow Chart Makes Sense of SciFi/Fantasy Choices
For avid readers, discovering a new book series or author is a joyful experience like seeing the sun rise after a cold night under canvas. Here's a tool that can help you locate new books and authors. Read more »
St. Cloud Banned Book Movie Night
Get Carded and Win an iPad!
This September, register for a GRRL library card or refer a friend to become a GRRL cardholder and you both qualify for a drawing to win a free Apple iPad. Read more »
Bug Guy a Hit in Eagle Bend
Bruce the Bug Guy was a big hit at the Eagle Bend Public Library on June 19. Fifty-four children and adults attended the program, funded in part with Legacy money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Read more »

subset: commoncrawl


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Banner Ads
Samples | Guidelines for Effective Ad Design | Maximum file sizes
Accepted formats for Web Sites: GIF, JPEG, SWF (Flash)
Accepted formats for E-Newsletters: GIF or JPEG only
3rd Party Served CPM Banner Advertisers
Access to 3rd party metrics
To ensure accurate and timely billing, all third-party served CPM campaigns must provide access to metrics reporting. Access must be provided to your online ad traffic manager prior to start of campaign.
3rd Party Reporting for E-Newsletter Advertisers
If 3rd party reporting is required for E-Newsletter ads the image should be hosted with the 3rd party and should provide the simple image path as the creative for the campaign along with the click thru link. 1×1 image trackers are not accepted.
- Maximum Animation length: 15 seconds
- #Loop: 4 times
- NOTE: Animated GIFs are not supported in some email readers. Those users will only see the FIRST FRAME of the animated GIF banner. We recommend that you design your first frame as if it's one-frame banner so the users see everything that you'd want them to see on your banner.
Flash Ads
Flash ads accepted on Web Sites only. Not on e-newsletters or epromos.
Publish as Flash version 7, 8, 9 or 10 – Must function in Flash 10 Players and higher.
- Backup GIFs must be submitted
- Maximum animation length: 15 seconds
- Maximum frame rate: 24fps
- #Loop: 4 times
- Any audio must be user initiated (on click: mute/ un-mute); default state is muted
- Link(s) must open in new window
- Maximum file sizes
If you'd like Bobit Business Media to track your banner ad, the author of the Flash source file (.fla) has to assign a clickTAG variable using a getURL button action. Speak to the web production manager for the correct tag. They also have to make sure that they have selected "_blank" for a target so it opens in a new window.
Steps for inserting clickTAG for ActionScript 2.0
- Create a layer and move this layer to the very top of all the layers.
- Draw a color filled box, the exact dimensions of the banner, and convert it to a button.
- Make sure the button symbol is on the first frame of the timeline and make sure it is there for the entire timeline.
- Click the button on the workspace and open actions palette. Paste the actionscript code below (in blue) into the actions palette box. NOTE: The code is case-sensitive. Please implement it EXACTLY as shown below.
on (release) {if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") { getURL(clickTAG, "_blank"); } }
- Set button symbol's alpha color property to 0%.
- Export your file as a .swf
Steps for inserting clickTAG for ActionScript 3.0
- Create a Button. If the button is not already on the stage, drag it to the stage.
- Give the button an instance name (myButton) on the stage.
- Right click on the first key frame for the layer that contains the button (in the timeline pane). From the context menu select "Actions" (this will open the Actions Frame for that layer).
- Place the click tag actionscript (listed below) in the Actions Frame. NOTE: The code is case-sensitive. Please implement it EXACTLY as shown below.
// ActionScript 3.0/* Requires * - Button symbol on Stage with instance name "myButton" */
myButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, buttonSymbol_click);
function buttonSymbol_click(evt:MouseEvent):void {
var clickTAG:String = loaderInfo.parameters.clickTAG;
// Check for malicious code injections,
//only use URLs if they begin with http: or https:
if ((clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == "http:") || (clickTAG.substr(0, 6) == "https:")) {
var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest(clickTAG); navigateToURL(req, "_blank");
- Set button symbol's alpha color property to 0%.
- Export your file as a .swf
Max File Sizes
Banner + Text Ad (on e-newsletters only)
Image: 468×60, 468×120 GIF/JPG (see Banner Ad specs above)
Text: Maximum 200 characters (including spaces)
Rich Media
1000×66 Expandable Ad (Truckinginfo.com)
Initial Load
Dimension: 1000×66 pixels
Max File Size: 40KB
Include "Click to Expand" CTA
Expanded (User-initiated)
Dimension: 1000×415 pixels
Max File Size: 100KB
Do not include close button – will be added by publisher
970×66 Expandable Ad
Initial Load
Dimension: 970×66 pixels
Max File Size: 40KB
Expanded (User-initiated)
Dimension: 970×418 pixels
Max File Size: 100KB
728×90 Expandable Ad
Initial Load
Dimension: 728×90 pixels
Max File Size: 40KB
Expanded (User-initiated)
Dimension: 728×315 pixels
Max File Size: 100KB
For top placement, it must expand downward.
For bottom placement, it must expand upward.
300×250 Expandable Ad
Initial Load
Dimension: 300×250 pixels
Max File Size: 40KB
Expanded (User-initiated)
Dimension: 600×250 pixels
Max File Size: 100KB
For right-hand side placement, it must expand left.
For center or left-hand side placement, it must expand right.
Pushup Leaderboard
Banner Size Option 1
Dimension: 728×90 pixels
Max File Size: 40KB
Banner Size Option 2
Dimension: 970×90 pixels (IAB Super Leaderboard)
Max File Size: 40KB
Floating/Site Overlays
Accepted Third-Party Vendors
DoubleClick DART Motif, Eyeblaster, PointRoll, Atlas, Eyewonder, Visual Steel
Max File Size: 100KB Max File Size for the backup/alt creative: see specs for Banner Ads above
Max Dimension: 800×600 pixels (for floating element or when expanded)
Max Duration: 8 seconds
Frequency Cap: 1 per visitor per 24 hours
Must have static, persistent and functional "CLOSE" button to allow users to close the floating portion of the ad.
Dimension: 640×480 pixels
Max file size: 100KB
Maximum animation length: 15 seconds
The ad will be center-aligned on the page.
Photo Gallery Ad Unit
Dimension: 640×480 pixels
Max file size: 100KB
The ad is center-aligned on the page and will display between photos as the user advances through them.
Page Peels
Dogear (Graphic 'Curl' in corner before rolling over page peel)
Dimension: 500×500 pixels – Only top right 100×100 pixels area visible – example
File format: GIF or JPG only
Max file size: 100KB
Large Image
Dimension: 500×500 pixels – example
File format: JPG,PNG, or GIF only
Max file size: 100KB
Other specifications that apply to both dogear & page peel: For GIF or JPG
- Color Mode: RGB
- Resolution: 72 dpi
- Optimization: Standard Optimization (no progressive scan)
16:9 Wide Format (preferred): 576 x 324 pixels
4:3 Standard Format: 432 x 324 pixels
Accepted Formats:
The videos will ultimately be converted to Flash video (FLV).
Min Bitrate: 512Kbps
Max (Recommended) Bitrate: 1,000Kbps
Video duration: Maximum 30 seconds
Roadblocks consist of: 728×90 Leaderboard on top,
300×250 Medium Rectangle on the right-hand side above the fold, and
300×600 Half Page Ad on the right-hand side below the fold
Each banner ad must meet the requirements specified under Banner Ads
Mobile Banners
- Displayed Dimensions: 320×50, 300×250
- Note: To accomodate hi-resolution mobile displays, creative should be double the dimensions. For a 320×50 provide a 640×100 file. For a 300×250 provide a 600×500 file.
- Max File Size: 40kb
Sponsored Links
Headline: Maximum 35 characters (including spaces)
Description: Maximum 140 characters (including spaces)
Skin Ad
- Dimensions: 1600×1200
- File Size: 100kb
- File Type: Static Image (jpg, gif, png)
Guidelines for Designing Effective Banner Ads
When creating a web banner ad, it is important to look at it from the perspective of the viewers (or your potential customers).
- KEEP THE FILE SIZE TO A MINIMUM Smaller files load faster and it increases the chance of being seen by visitors.
- INCLUDE GOOD COPY Use of graphical elements is good, however, it's the copy that triggers people to find out more about your product. For a good copy: KEEP IT SHORT. KEEP IT SIMPLE.You want visitors to look at your ad, get interested, and click on it, then find out more info about your product on your Web site (preferably on a relevant landing page on your site).Don't try to fit all the benefits of your product into that small space.TIP: Use an eye-catching hook. Think "headline". Headlines are what trigger people to read the story. Emphasize the benefits of your products more than the features of your products.
- USE A CALL-TO-ACTION By using a Call-to-Action graphic or text you make it very clear to the visitor what you want them to do.For example: For More Information; Download Info Now; Click Here to Purchase
- ANIMATED GIFs Avoid using photos and photo-like images on animated GIFs. Because of how GIFs work, the photos won't look as nice and it will just make the file size huge. You will most likely be limited to having just one or two frames for the banner given the file size limits. Animated GIFs are also not compatible with most desktop email readers so users would only see the first frame. Therefore, if GIF must be used as banner ad on enewsletter the first frame should include the call to action.
- FLASH ADS If you want to use photos in an animated ad (for Web sites only; not on e-newsletters), consider creating it in Flash. It will give you better return in terms of quality and file size.
- LINK TO CAMPAIGN SPECIFIC LANDING PAGE When people click on the banner, they should be presented with the relevant campaign or information immediately. They do not want to go to your homepage and be forced to hunt for the information that may exist on another page of your site.


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Motorola and HTC 'help increase smartphone popularity'
5 February 2010 — 4:15 PM
Motorola and HTC are among the top five converged mobile device vendors and have helped to increase the popularity of smartphones, it has been suggested.
The IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, revealed that during 2009 vendors shipped a total of 174.2 million units, a 15.1 per cent increase on the 151.4 million units sold the previous year.
The report also found that smartphones accounted for 15.4 per cent of all mobile phones shipped in 2009, a slight increase from the 12.7 per cent seen in 2008.
Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker, said: "More advances are in store for 2010 as Symbian and Windows are expected to unveil new versions of their respective operating systems."
He added that users will benefit from "not only greater usability, but greater personalisation and customisation as well".
Motorola has recently announced its DEVOUR handset will be launched in March - it will be the first Verizon Wireless phone to feature MOTOBLUR.
Latest articles
Mobile recycling could be an option for recipients of unwanted gifts30 December 2010 — 12:02 PM
People can get money for a phone they do not intend to use.
Selling mobile can create chance to buy HTC Desire HD29 December 2010 — 3:54 PM
People who enjoy a large screen may find all they want in the HTC Desire HD.


text:
Page View
Catesby, Mark, 1683-1749. / The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants. Vol II.
Perca marina capite Striato: The Grunt; Albula Bahamensis: The Mullet, pp. 6-T 6
Page 6
This material may be protected by copyright law (e.g., Title 17, US Code).| For information on re-use, see http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright


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|Men's Soccer » Schedule » Roster » News » Coaches » 2014 Stats » Honors » Archives
2013 (Freshman): Saw action in seven games during his freshman campaign...Played a season-high 37 minutes against Central Arkansas where he attempted his only shot on the season.
Prep: Played for Steve Haupt…Earned Full Colours for Soccer…. Earned Full Colours for Rugby… Won the Inter-Provincial Tournament, the RCLFA Cup and the FAP Cup… Named All-Region and All-District… Named MVP of the Randburg Soccer Club and the Panorama Soccer Club…
Personal: Son of Jacqui and Anthony Vieira…Sisters Kayleigh and Amy… Plans to major in Exercise Science
2013-14 Men's Soccer


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Info & Phones News Forums
Replying to: EnV2 (VX9100) random reboots? by Owens
Re: EnV2 (VX9100) random reboots?
I had the same issue...among others...with my last EnV2. Sometimes it would reboot, sometimes I had to turn it back on myself, and sometimes I even had to remove the battery for it to come back on. Also the 'Send', and the 7, 8, and 9 buttons on the front wouldn't work. I got a replacement EnV2 from Verizon, and now the back light flashes on by itself every 2 minutes and it has already drained the battery by half in one day after being fully charged. If its your first replacement you have to get the same thing. But as long as you are still within your 1 year warranty Verizon will replace it. To me this phone is a piece of junk though.
No replies to this message


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I know its newer than your machine, but for comparison my 2012 13" i7 MBP gets to login screen in <15 seconds. After login I see desktop in 10 seconds, and that includes restoring of Safari, Mail, Calendar, iTunes and a bunch of other stuff and spinning up an external USB that is used for TM backups.
I've been with the home-brew fusion for a year now but do recall that first boot after install. It felt like my boot times were cut in half. Best $100 ever spent.
That is my big complaint about the home-brew fusion drives. You spent $100 and how much time? I get performance like that from my hybrid drive. I suppose if you enjoy tinkering and your machine is out of warranty, you can do what you want with it. But if you just want a fusion drive in an older machine with little fuss, hybrid drives aren't half bad.
The Seagate Momentus that I put into my previous MBP was simply underwhelming. Nowhere near SSD performance. And it died within 14 months. As far as time, putting the fusion drive into the MBP was marginally more effort than swapping out a stock HD for an SSD. Its not a big deal. When Haswell MacMinis come out I'll likely do a DIY fusion with them.
But for my work MBP I don't need tons of storage - photos and media live on the Mac at home. So in hindsight I should have just put in 256Gb SSD.
Thanks, Don. I also have a Seagate Momentus (it's now in the DVD bay).
Anyway, good news is I've got that boot time down to 17 seconds, which is more like what I was hoping for and about as fast as it'll get on my machine I guess.
The "trick" was actually setting the Fusion drive as the startup disk in System Prefs > Startup Disk. I hadn't bothered doing that because it was automatically booting to the correct OS right after install (albeit slowly) anyway.
I noticed after doing a restart with option key that the startup disk manager was listing both a 'Fusion' and a 'Fusion 2' disk - in other words, it was seeeing two disks where there should have only been one. I couldn't find this 'Fusion 2' drive anywhere else - not in Diskutil list or in the Startup Disk prefs.
However, once I specifially set the Startup Disk as the Fusion drive, boot times sped up to the now very pleasing 17 seconds!
As for time messing about with the system, it took me less than 45 minutes to install the SSD and swap the Momentus over to the drive bay, about 10 minutes to set up the Fusion corestorage file system and then a couple of hours to clone my backup onto the new Fusion drive.
Cost in time < 3..5 hours
Cost in $ < $180
Time and money well spent, IMO.
More Like This


text: TUALATIN – Thomas Robinson is 6-10, 240 pounds of pure muscle. He possess a man's man body at the barely legal age of 22. The No 5 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft is an intimidating freak of nature. Now isn't the time to be opposing teams facing the Portland Trail Blazers because Robinson, in his owns words, is "pissed off." "I'm just pissed off," he told CSNNW.com.


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Orion's Other Nebula
The constellation of Orion is named after a great hunter, but if we wanted to be scientifically accurate, it should be named after a nursery instead.
After all, thousands of stars are being born in the direction.
The Great Nebula of Orion, M42, is a classic star-forming gas cloud, visible to the naked eye as the middle star in Orion's "dagger". And while M42 gets all the press, right next to it is a smaller but no less dramatic nebula, M43. Stars are forming there, too, and when you mix young, massive, hot stars and dense clouds of gas and dust, what you get is beauty.
Dione, Mother of Beauty
The Cassini mission is nearing its planned end after more that a decade orbiting Saturn. But it's not over yet; in mid-June it took this spectacular shot of the icy moon Dione:
The Sun is off to the left, so Dione is a crescent. You can get a hint at how battered and cratered its surface is. Looming behind it like a gigantic specter is Saturn itself, with its rings seen nearly edge on. We're seeing the night side of Saturn here, unlit by direct sunlight … so what's that glow above Dione?
It's ringlight! The rings are broad and reflective, and from that part of Saturn they would sweep across the night sky, providing illumination in the same way the full Moon does on Earth. Imagine what that must look like …
The tiny moon you can see to the upper right is Enceladus, the water-spewing moon that has been the center of so much attention lately. Dione orbits once for every two times Enceladus orbits Saturn. This is called a resonance, specifically a 2:1 resonance, and these are common in moons orbiting the giant planets. Usually this means the moons tug on each other and change their orbits over time, but in some rare cases it actually helps stabilize the orbits, which is the case here.
This shot is surreally beautiful. Fitting, too: In mythology, Dione was the mother of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty.
This is the penultimate visit of Dione by Cassini; there will be one more close pass in August (shaving the moon by a mere 474 kilometers). This is a common theme with encounters now; the Cassini end of mission is planned for September 2017, when it will dive into Saturn's atmosphere and burn up. This is a standard practice for planetary orbiters at the mission end, to prevent them from crashing into a moon and possibly contaminating it. Even as it plunges in, it will send back data on the planet's atmosphere, giving humans one last chance to learn another scientific nugget of information about Saturn.
It'll go down doing its duty one final time. A noble end.
Do You Want Some REAL Fireworks?
Today is the Fourth of July, a national holiday in the U.S. where we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence (we didn't actually win our independence until 1783, depending on how you look at it).
It's traditional to celebrate with fireworks, which I've always enjoyed (though some people are making the case that we should be aware of people—and pets—who don't). But as an astronomer, my idea of fireworks is maybe somewhat more expansive than most folks …
Like, the explosion of an entire star. Called a supernova, they're among the most violent events the Universe has to offer. The amount of energy they emit can be equal to the total amount of energy the Sun emits over its entire lifetime. The closest example is the Crab Nebula, seen above. Want a fun little bit of cosmic trivia to astound your friends? The light from this explosion reached Earth in the year 1054 … on July 4.
Anyway, the good news is that these ridiculously huge events tend to happen very far away. But what if one were a lot closer? Well, if it got close enough, we'd be in trouble. I wrote a chapter in my book Death From the Skies! about that.
But I also talked to science communicator Rose Eveleth about what would happen if a supernova were too close for comfort on her podcast Meanwhile in the Future. Also appearing is my friend and astrophysicist Katie Mack.
That was fun. She starts off each episode with a little vignette talking about some event in the future, then uses that as a springboard to talk about the science of an event. Clever.
I wrote more about the Crab in a recent post, and it turned out to be a little more poetic than I expected. But hopefully, it'll give you an impression of the cosmic forces out there, ones which craft the Universe we live in.
If you're celebrating July Fourth today, have fun! But remember, have some perspective. The fireworks you're watching could be a lot, lot bigger.
Crash Course Astronomy: Meteors!
I'm not gonna lie to you: This is one of my favorite episodes of Crash Course Astronomy we've done so far. It was a lot of fun, and this is just such a fantastic topic to talk about. So here you go: "Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites, Oh My!"
Those meteorites I held up in the intro are mine; they're examples of Sikhote Alin, an iron meteorite that rained debris over Russia in 1947. They're my favorite; they come in all sorts of exotic and bizarre shapes, and their color is gunmetal blue-black. They're a bit pricey, but you can buy them for yourself. I suggest perusing the store of my friend Geoff Notkin (you may have seen him on the Discovery Channel's Meteorite Men TV show). He has great samples.
I've written about meteors about 74 bazillion times. If you're looking for a generic meteor shower viewing guide, I've written them for several showers. Here's one from the 2014 Geminids. I've written about the Russian Chelyabinsk impact several times, including the night it hit, a follow-up a year later featuring what we've learned, a cool video where you can see a small chunk hitting a frozen lake, and another video where they hauled a big chunk out of a lake.
I also wrote about the Perseid that astronaut Ron Garan saw from the space station … including a calculation for how often the space station gets hit by a meteor on average.
You can see why I had so much fun making this episode. I'm endlessly fascinated by meteors, and hopefully, now, you are too.
Washington State Woman Is First Measles Death in U.S. in 12 Years
In Clallam County, Washington, a woman has died of complications from measles. This is the first U.S. death from measles since 2003.
Clallam County had an outbreak of measles earlier this year, when five people were diagnosed with the disease. The woman who died brings this to a total of six.
She likely contracted measles when she visited a health facility; a person who was later identified as having measles was there at the same time. The woman who died was apparently taking a series of medications that lowered her immune system's ability to fight off disease. Although she didn't present a rash or other obvious external symptoms, she died of pneumonia caused by the measles infection.
Vaccination rates in that area of Washington are lower than they should be. We—and I do mean "we"—need the public to have as high a rate of vaccination as possible, to ensure herd immunity, so that the bacteria and viruses that can cause such illness and death have as few places to hide as we can muster. When rates drop, we get outbreaks, like the one in Disneyland that sickened so many and spread the highly contagious disease to many parts of the country.
One person who came down with measles in the Clallam outbreak had been inoculated, but it was decades ago, when the shot was less effective. It's important to make sure your immunizations are up-to-date.
This death comes on the heels of California making it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinating their school-age children; only a medical exemption will be accepted (before, they also allowed religious and personal reasons). I'm very happy this law passed. I'll note that Washington state, where the woman died, still allows personal exemptions. Hopefully their legislature will rethink that policy.
It also comes right after a huge and awful backlash against the new California law by the anti-vax crowd, including actor Jim Carrey, who tweeted a series of foolish and blatantly incorrect statements about vaccines. He brought up the zombie ideas of mercury poisoning (a non-issue) and conspiratorial Big Pharma nonsense.
Let me be very, very clear: Anti-vax rhetoric like that makes people scared to get vaccinated. Rates drop, herd immunity drops, outbreaks occur, and people get sick. Some die. This is a direct, step-by-step chain.
No one is forcing you to get vaccinated. If you want your children to attend school in California, then yes, you have to get them vaccinated unless there's a pressing medical reason. But no one is coming to your door, holding you down, and injecting you with anything. You still have a choice. That choice boils down to this: If you want to rely on public services, then you have to support those services. One method of support is making sure you have minimized the risk of your child giving other children dangerous infectious diseases.
And it's not just children. It's elderly people who are at risk, too, and people—like the woman who died in Washington—who are immunocompromised. I have family members in both these categories, which is why my entire family is up-to-date on our vaccinations.
When you get vaccinated, you are helping not just yourself, but also many, many people around you of all ages. Read up about measles, and what you need to do. Ask your board-certified doctor and see if you need to be vaccinated (or need to get your booster). If they recommend it, then listen to them.
Is Star Trek Tech Possible?
My friend Veronica Belmont is pretty cool. Nerd, writer, TV host … and now she's doing an online video series with Engadget called "Dear Veronica", where she answers tech/geek questions sent in by viewers. It's a lot of fun.
In this week's episode, she was asked, "Which Star Trek technologies will still be invented? Which are truly impossible and will never happen?"
Hey, I like Star Trek! So I'm really glad she asked me to field this question.
That was fun to record. But it was hard, too, since I only had 30 seconds, which didn't give me much time to really dig deep.
But hey, I have space on the blog (haha—"space"! I kill me) so why not give a little more detail here?
Before we get started: Almost everything below is conjecture, based on physics as we know it. But I'm not an expert in all these fields, and I've been known to be wrong before. If you have better evidence, please let me know! Also, I'm assuming no major breakthroughs that negate or heavily modify the laws of physics as we see today. Keep that one in mind. All of these might be possible, but would involve huge breakthroughs that seem pretty unlikely to me—still, I'm no curmudgeon, and I'd love to see any of these technologies come true. I'm also trying to be brief here, to cover a lot of the quadrant. If you want details, Commander Riker might have already looked it up for you.
So let's leave spacedock and take these ideas out for a shakedown cruise.
There are lots of problems with the idea of going faster than light. You can't just accelerate past it like you can the speed of sound; it would take infinite energy according to relativity. And relativity tends to be right.
Other ideas include making a warp bubble, or punching a hole through space, or wormholes, but they all still have the same problem: causality. Moving faster than light is like time travel, and that opens up an entirely new can of Gagh.
So, I'm giving this a Nope until proven otherwise.
In Trek, they've said many times that the transporter works by converting someone to energy, beaming that across space, and then re-matterizing them. The problem with this is that converting a standard red-shirted human body (say, 50–70 kilograms) into energy is the equivalent of detonating well over a thousand one-megaton nuclear bombs, which is a lot.
Even if you can contain that, how do you record someone's "pattern"? That's a lot of information. A lot. Theoretically, there's an equation that describes every single subatomic particle in your body, but it's a tad complex. Describing a hydrogen atom is already pretty hard, but put ten of them together and it gets fantastically complex. There are very roughly 1028 atoms in your body. That's a big equation.
A better retcon would be to say you're creating a subspace tube, encasing the traveler in a small force field, and plunging them through it. But even then, I don't think subspace is quite so much real.
So: Nope.
Phasers are like lasers but instead they start with a digraph.
OK, how they work is never really stated, but I heard from a friend who worked on Next Generation that they don't vaporize you, they send you into subspace, where you die (see "Transporters," above, except don't use a force field). That's clever, and I like it, but again with the not-real subspace.
Artificial gravity/Inertial Dampening
These are tough. As far as we know now, there's no way to do either (well, you can spin a spaceship to mimic gravity, but that has other complications; and besides, is clearly not what they mean by the term in Trek). These are fundamental properties of space and mass, and as far as we know, the laws of physics give these a big Nope.
Replicators work on the idea that once you convert something to energy, you can then reconstitute it back as a different kind of matter. Cool, but transporters don't work, so Nope.
Now we're getting somewhere. Lots of things a tricorder can do we already have tech for. Infrared meters can read your temperature from a distance. Phones can listen for sounds, and do some basic image stuff too. This idea is based on reality well enough that there's an X Prize for it.
So: Yup. Eventually, and kinda sorta now.
Please. A device for talking to people over long distances that you have to flip open? What is this, the 2190s?
The idea of teeny tiny machines that can be programmed to do simple tasks doesn't strike me as being all that far-fetched. We have some basics of this developed now. They're a far cry from nanites escaping and taking over our (nonexistent) FTL starship, but this field is interesting. I wonder if they could be made generic such that in tandem they can do more complicated tasks. This sounds more like an engineering problem than one of physical laws, so I have to give this one a Maybe.
Force fields
The term force field is pretty generic. If you have a dense (strong) enough magnetic field it can deflect charged subatomic particles (electrons and protons) away from you, so in a sense we have those now. But something that can protect you from the force of an explosion, deflect bullets, and so on? I'm not even really sure how that would work.
But ignorance is no excuse, so to be honest I'll give this a Maybe, just not according to what we know now.
I love this. YES. In principle, this can be done. You just need to deflect any photon coming at you from any direction so that once it's past you it continues on in that direction.
Or, you could, for example, surround yourself with a device that can both detect and emit photons. It absorbs a photon, figures out what direction it came from, then finds the emitter on your opposite side and tells it to shoot off a photon of the right energy in the right direction. If you're sitting still, and the light source isn't changing, this should work. If you're moving, then you better have really fast processors on your cloaking computer.
This would be very hard to build, and might be clunky, but it doesn't violate any laws of physics, so I give this a Yes.
Universal Translator
We already have primitive but sort of effective translators online now. However, these take previously known languages and basically do really fast table lookups of the translations. This won't work for an unknown language, let alone the squeals, grunts, clicks, whines, buzzes, pheromone exudate, cilia waving, and rapid eye blinks used in alien language. In Trek, that thing basically reads minds, so I'm pretty skeptical. Nope.
An elevator that goes up, down, and sideways? Willy Wonka had one of those in the 1960s.
Tractor Beam
In Next Gen they refer to the tractor beam—a device that can grab distant objects and be used to tow them—as using gravitons. These are theoretical particles that mediate the force of gravity in quantum mechanics, like photons mediate electromagnetism. However, gravitons have never been detected, and may not actually exist, which is a prerequisite for actually, y'know, existing. That doesn't mean they don't, it just means that a tractor beam is speculative, so I can't give it the thumbs up here. But Maybe, someday.
Artificial Intelligence
This is a funny one. I won't worry about the existential issues of what intelligence is, because that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down (though in detail it's important; is intelligence an emergent property of anything that has enough complexity, or is it something that has to be specifically built into the hard/wetware?). But if we accept that humans possess intelligence, can we replicate it in nonhuman devices?
In principle, I have to say yes. But I wonder if we're going about it the right way. Our brains simply don't work like computers, despite the sci-fi trope. But if we can build machines that process information more like our brains do, then perhaps intelligence will emerge.
I'm no expert, and I'm spit-balling here, but clearly it isn't easy. I've been hearing that we're just 25 years away from true AI for the past 40 years. Every time some breakthrough is made, it shows us that things are still a lot harder than we thought. Still, evolution seems to have done this naturally after just cooking slightly polluted hydrogen for a few billion years. People whose brains work a lot better than mine are working on it, too, and they seem to think it's possible. So who am I to say no? Until proven otherwise, I'll go with Maybe.
To Boldly Go …
So where does this leave us? Beats me. But whether the tech or the science of Trek is real or not, I still love the show. And while this stuff is fun to think about, they're not the point of the show.
The point is the story, and the story is fun.
So: Second star on the right, and straight on 'til morning. Engage.
C'mon, How Much Weirder Can Pluto Get?
Seriously, Pluto, what the heck are you up to?
As New Horizons gets closer every day, more details on the tiny world come into view. The latest? A very weird set of four similar dark streaks on the surface, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, and fairly evenly spaced.
What the WHAT.
Those streaks are really too small to say much about them just yet. Although seen on older images blurred together due to low resolution, they only appear individually on images from Saturday, when New Horizons was close enough to see them and Pluto had rotated them into view (grayscale pictures from the long range camera were combined with lower resolution natural color images from another camera called, seriously, Ralph). The probe is only taking a few pictures per day as it approaches, trying to keep data storage to a minimum to save bandwidth for the big show coming in just over 11 days now.
It's possible they're multiple impact sites, but that seems really unlikely. They're so evenly spaced… they're also located very near the equator, and on the hemisphere pointed toward Pluto's moon Charon. There's been some suspicion that Pluto might be geologically active, spewing out jets of some material. Neptune's moon Triton has dark geyserlike plumes, probably nitrogen from under the surface mixed with dust or some other dark substance.
Also, Triton (like Pluto) is a Kuiper Belt Object, an icy and rocky body from the outer solar system, captured by Neptune. Hmmmm.
What could drive such activity on Pluto? On Earth (or rather, under it) it's the hot mantle moving under the continental plates that causes our tectonic activity. For Io's volcanoes and the geysers of Enceladus (moons of Jupiter and Saturn) it's tides from their parent planets.
Pluto and Charon are locked in both orbit and spin, so the tidal forces should all be balanced … now. However, it's thought that Charon may have formed after a big impact on Pluto, blasting material into orbit that coalesced to form the moon. For some time after that event there would have been considerable tidal stress on Pluto, and the jets may have been active back then, leaving their marks on the surface.
The same is true for Charon as well, and the tides on it would be 10 times larger (since Pluto has 10 times the mass of Charon). Note that Charon is a lot darker than Pluto. Did it have even more activity than its big brother?
With close encounter just a week and a half away, we'll be getting more amazing pictures every day. Unfortunately, New Horizons will be dipping low over Pluto's opposite hemisphere from these weird features, so we won't get super close-ups of them. But we'll certainly get some better shots over the next few days.
This is getting so exciting! Stay tuned.
Update, July 2, 2015: I originally said the streaks were only seen in the June 27 data, but I meant that they were only seen individually after then. Also, the probe is taking only a few pictures to save bandwidth, not data storage as I originally said. It takes a long time to send back each image. After closest encounter we'll be receiving images for many months.
Carreyed Away
On Tuesday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB-277 into law, removing the ability for parents to opt out of vaccinating their public school-age children for personal and religious exemptions.
In the wake of this, I knew the anti-vaccination cavalry would be mounting their steeds. What I wasn't expecting was a series of tweets from actor Jim Carrey, showing exactly why those of us on the side of reality cannot rest, even after a lovely legislative victory.
Jim Carrey is a comedic actor, and I'll note that I quite like a few of his movies and performances. But I stopped going to the theater to see them a few years ago, after he hooked up with Jenny McCarthy and joined her on her bizarre and fact-free crusade against one of the most successful medical procedures of all time.
He's been vocal in the past; in 2009 he wrote an anti-vax screed for the Huffington Post (the journalistic equivalent of the Mos Eisley tavern for anti-vaxxers)*, and he joined McCarthy to publicly defend the disgraced and humiliated doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose unethical research, retracted paper, and conflicts of interest started the modern anti-vax movement and earned him an accusation of fraud from the British Medical Journal. When they were together, he and McCarthy were the public face of the anti-vax movement, promoting the long-debunked notion that vaccines cause autism.
But this hasn't stopped Carrey. Tuesday night he went on quite the rant on Twitter, sending out a series of tweets that were, to be charitable, completely wrong. Let's take a look.
Greed trumps reason again as Gov Brown moves closer to signing vaccine law in Cali. Sorry kids. It's just business. ;^[— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 27, 2015
Greed? Ah, a variation on the "Big Pharma shill" gambit, the claim that somehow pharmaceutical corporations make huge amounts of money on vaccines. Actually, if money were the only reason they did this, it would be far more profitable for those companies to let people get sick. Hospital and clinic visits make them way more money.
California Gov says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum in manditory vaccines. This corporate fascist must be stopped.— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 1, 2015
One of the basic claims made by anti-vaxxers is that there are toxins in vaccines. But there are toxins in everything. The concern isn't that they're there, it's in the amount. Eating one aluminum atom won't have any effect on you, and people tend to have a few dozen milligrams in their bodies all the time. Not all vaccines have aluminum in them, and ones that do have it in such a teeny amount it has negligible effect on you.
As for mercury, hang on a sec …
They say mercury in fish is dangerous but forcing all of our children to be injected with mercury in thimerosol is no risk. Make sense?— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 1, 2015
Yes, this does make sense! That's because Carrey, despite having a vast amount of information literally at his fingertips, doesn't understand the difference between ethylmercury and methylmercury.
Methylmercury (with an M) is a form of mercury that is bioaccumulative—that is, it builds up in the body over time. People get it in their systems in a number of ways, including eating some fish.
Ethylmercury (with an E) does not bioaccumulate, and breaks down after a couple of weeks, and your body eliminates it. Thimerosal, which used to be used in many vaccines, breaks down into ethylmercury. This process is quite safe, but after a public outcry spurred by misinformation and confusion on these two forms of mercury, thimerosal was discontinued in most vaccines. It's now used in very small doses only in some flu vaccines.
Also? It's been shown, conclusively, that there is no connection between thimerosal and autism. None.
I am not anti-vaccine. I am anti-thimerosal, anti-mercury. They have taken some of the mercury laden thimerosal out of vaccines. NOT ALL!— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 1, 2015
Yes, Mr. Carrey, you are anti-vax. You can't pick and choose what to believe in and what not to, and then say you're not anti-vaccine. This gambit was tried by Jenny McCarthy and by RFK Jr. It rings just as hollow with them as it does now. If you're trying to scare people out of taking vaccines because of obviously and provably false information, then you're an anti-vaxxer.
Saying in one breath that vaccines have done good but then in another attacking them and increasing fears of them based on nonsense puts [RFK Jr.] squarely in the anti-vax camp. It's like saying that most UFO cases are just misidentified normal things, but the ones we haven't identified are definitely alien spaceships that come here to stick probes in our various orifices. Acknowledging one aspect of reality and then claiming absurdities does not make you pro-science.
Speaking of which …
I repeat! I AM PRO-VACCINE/ANTI-NEUROTOXIN, as is Robert Kennedy Jr. Please read the following article and book http://t.co/GTr9lReaXO— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 1, 2015
Here's a bit of free advice: Run, do not walk, away from comparing yourself to RFK Jr. That may not be the best line to take. For starters, he is indeed an anti-vaxxer. He's also a conspiracy-monger, and, unfortunately, an influential one, since he does have political clout. And given that we can't always trust our elected representatives when it comes to health issues, that makes him especially pernicious.
Jim Carrey can yell that he's not anti-vax at the top of his lungs, but that doesn't change the fact that he really, really is.
After his Twitter tirade Tuesday night, the replies started flowing in, and I was pleased to see just how many were against him. I guess Carrey didn't learn the lesson from McCarthy that sometimes going on Twitter doesn't generate quite the result you were hoping for.
In the end, though, SB-277 is now law, and if you live in California you have to vaccinate your children if you want them to attend public school, unless you have a valid medical reason for not doing so. I think that's real progress.
I'm happy to discuss the ramifications of laws like this on the basis of parental rights—as a parent myself I have very strong feelings about those rights. I'm also something of a social libertarian, wanting most rights to lie with the people, and not the government. But I also know those rights must have limits, because people make mistakes and in some cases need to be regulated.
The health and welfare of the public certainly constitute one of those cases. So again, I thank Gov. Brown, and I hope many more states follow suit.
*Correction, July 1, 2015: This post originally misspelled Mos Eisley.
Which Hunt?
In early June, Nobel laureate Tim Hunt was asked to speak at a luncheon sponsored by the Korea Federation of Women's Science and Technology Associations at a science communications meeting in South Korea.
What he said there is now Internet history. He made a series of sexist comments, saying that the problem with "girls" in science is that they fall in love with the men; the men fall in love with them; and when you confront them, they cry. He then went on to suggest labs should be single-sex.
When I first read this, I figured it was a joke. A very poorly conceived one, and a really dumb one to make, especially given that crowd. But there's a lot more to it than that.
Many science journalists were at the lunch and witnessed the whole thing, including Deborah Blum, Ivan Oransky, Charles Seife, and Connie St. Louis. After discussing what they saw and heard, they decided St. Louis should write an article about it in a blog post at Scientific American.* What's very important to note here is that both Blum and Oransky have corroborated St. Louis' report, multiple times. Seife did as well. Blum asked Hunt about his comments, and he confirmed that he thought women were too emotional to work with men in labs.
In other words, it's clear that even if he framed it as a joke, he was being sincere in his meaning and intent.
Then it all hit the fan. For one thing, on Twitter, news of his comments went viral very rapidly. The hashtag #distractinglysexy went viral, an amusingly tongue-in-cheek way for women to mock the idea that women are too emotional or liable to fall in love in the lab. For another, Hunt was asked to resign from his honorary position at the University College London. He also resigned from the board of the European Research Council and the Biological Science Awards Committee of the Royal Society.
Mind you, he is a retired professor, and was not fired or asked to resign from any paying positions. He lost no employment over this, despite some people claiming otherwise.
At this point the backlash began. Richard Dawkins, who, honestly, should know better by now than to wade into controversies about sexism, defended Hunt against what he termed a "witch hunt." However, there didn't appear to be any organized campaign to get him fired, and furthermore the University College London says it did not ask him to step down due to the social media uproar, but because of Hunt's own remarks.
A lot of electrons have been spilled over whether Hunt went on to say, "Now seriously…," which would indicate he was actually joking. Seife (who, again, was there at the luncheon) says Hunt never said this.
Hunt's comments and the defense of them were bad enough, but the situation has taken an even worse turn.
The execrable Daily Mail has waded into this. On Friday, it published what can only be called a hit piece on Connie St. Louis which, bizarrely, was endorsed by Dawkins.
To say the article is problematic is to severely understate the case. It attacks St. Louis' credentials; however, she is an award-winning journalist, former president of the Association of British Science Writers and was recently elected to the board of the World Federation of Science Journalists. The City University London (where she is a senior lecturer) has publicly supported her after the Daily Mail article came out. St. Louis points out numerous errors in the article there as well.
Not-so-incidentally, the very basis of the attack appears to be based on nothing as well.
This attack is deeply, deeply ironic, given that the Daily Mail has been known to brazenly plagiarize science journalists specifically, and has been accused of other less-than-savory tactics in journalism. Even when it's original, the publication's level of science journalism is appalling.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the Daily Mail is to journalism what ipecac is to digestion. Also, a perusal of links to their articles running down the right-hand side of their site doesn't exactly show them to be champions of women's rights.
I also found it very odd that the article also dismisses statements corroborating St. Louis' claims by Blum and Oransky (and it doesn't even mention Seife)—who, I remind you, were all there at the luncheon and agree on what happened. Why single out St. Louis here?
And now another attack piece on St. Louis has been posted on the far-right-wing Breitbart site, saying she has become immune from criticism because she's black.
Yes, you read that right. And that's not all. In a sentence so tone deaf I'd swear it's parody, the author, Milo Yiannopoulos, writes*:
St Louis is responsible for the sacking of Sir Tim Hunt, a Nobel prize-winning biochemist who became the target of an online lynch mob after his comments about women in science were taken out of context.
Yes, again, you read that right. You might ignore the obviously incorrect statements in that one sentence (Hunt wasn't sacked, he was asked to resign from an honorary position; and as we've seen his comments were not taken out of context), but it's much harder to ignore that, in an article attacking a woman because she's black, Yiannopoulos used the phrase "lynch mob."
Yiannopoulos, for his part, is a vocal advocate for Gamergate, a movement that claims it's "actually about ethics in gaming journalism" (a phrase so thin it's become a standard Internet joke), but which has also been viciously attacking women online. Yiannopoulos appeared on the British 24-hour news channel Sky News to "debate" this topic with Dr. Emily Grossman; while glib, his arguments were unconvincing, and unsurprisingly Grossman has been receiving misogynistic backlash for her appearance (that link also shines a light on more of Yiannopoulos' incorrect statements).
Clearly, this is quite the rabbit hole.
A lot of people are trying to squeeze this whole Tim Hunt affair in a "he said/she said" frame, but what they're missing is twofold: Even if he was making a joke initially, he meant what he said, and that's why he's suffered the consequences of it, and either way this event has once again shone a spotlight on the rampant sexism in society in general and in the sciences specifically.
So what now? The good news is that at least this important issue is getting airtime, getting discussed. The problem is it's also getting hijacked, distorted, and drowned out by nonsense. This happens every time institutionalized sexism is discussed.
But discuss it we must. Connie St. Louis has called for systemic change. Science writer Matthew Francis wrote about this in the context of the Nobel Prize itself. Science philosopher Janet Stemwedel wants scientists to be more vocal in decrying statements such as Hunt's. Emily Grossman shows we need to quash sexism so that at the very least women don't feel unwelcome in STEM fields. Stemwedel has written along those lines, too. Uta Frith, writing at the Royal Society blog, talks about the impact this has and will have on diversity in the science.
As always, it's important for men to speak up as well. This isn't a women's problem, clearly. It's something we all need to be aware of and to speak up about.
And in the end, while the spotlight may be on Hunt and what he said, that light has certainly cast a very large reflection on the rest of us.
Here are other articles I've written on this issue:
*Correction, July 1, 2015: This post originally misspelled the last name of writer Milo Yiannopoulos. Also, I originally wrote that the article St. Louis wrote about the luncheon was for her blog, but it was for a guest post on Scientific American.
Pluto Grows Under New Horizons' Watchful Eye
Right now, Pluto is about 25 pixels across in the New Horizons space probe's long-range camera. In a week it'll be 50 pixels across. A few days later it'll be well to 100 … and then it'll grow by the hour.
What will we see? I wrote about all this for my twice-monthly column for Sen.com. Go see! It's subscription only, but c'mon. I'm worth it.


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On Thursday, French President Nicholas Sarkozy visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. With another round of geeky photo-ops alongside a one-time pariah in the bag, Sarkozy thus sent the strongest message yet that France has completely retreated from its prior insistence that Syria end its interference in Lebanon.
Indeed, despite Sarkozy's own claim that he and Assad would "affirm Lebanon's sovereignty and independence," Hezbollah – which has often used Syrian support to hold Lebanon hostage to its political demands – reacted to Sarkozy's overture with profound optimism. On its media site al-Manar, Hezbollah hailed Sarkozy's visit to Damascus as a "historic turn" that "asserts the importance of the role that Damascus plays and will play in the future on another level." Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah used the occasion of Syria's diplomatic triumph to issue his boldest defense of Hezbollah's militancy to date. During a Ramadan iftar (break-fast dinner) hosted by the Hezbollah Support Committee, Nasrallah declared:
We are not using the occupied Shebaa Farms as an excuse to bear weapons. If the area is freed the weapons will remain because we are talking about a defensive strategy against a threatening country such as Israel.
Even for Hezbollah, the level of confidence embodied in this statement is remarkable. Not only has Nasrallah suddenly reframed the rationale of Hezbollah's militia from "resisting occupation" to national security responsibilities, but he has done so barely a week after Hezbollah created a national incident when it shot down a Lebanese army helicopter that it believed was Israeli.
Approximately two months ago, I suspected that France's rapid rapprochement with Syria represented a reluctant acceptance of Syria's role in Lebanon, with Syria tacitly agreeing to restrain Hezbollah, maintain domestic Lebanese stability, and prevent another Israel-Hezbollah war. Yet, if this is even the strategy, Hezbollah's burgeoning confidence indicates that it is failing. Meanwhile, despite signaling his interest in playing the role of peace broker, Sarkozy has derived little influence for furthering Israeli-Syrian peace from his meetings with Assad: the Syrian dictator announced in Sarkozy's presence that he remains adamantly opposed to severing its ties with either Hamas or Hezbollah, which any agreement would require.
Which raises the question: does Sarkozy even have a realistic Syrian strategy?


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In thermodynamics, an adiabatic process or an isocaloric process is a thermodynamic process in which no heat is transferred to or from the working fluid. The term "adiabatic" literally means impassable (from Greek ἀ-διὰ-βαῖνειν, not-through-to pass), corresponding here to an absence of heat transfer. Conversely, a process that involves heat transfer (addition or loss of heat to the surroundings) is generally called diabatic. Linguistically, diabatic is the opposite of adiabatic by the absence of the initial a (which conveys negation in Greek).
For example, an adiabatic boundary is a boundary that is impermeable to heat transfer and the system is said to be adiabatically (or thermally) insulated; an insulated wall approximates an adiabatic boundary. Another example is the adiabatic flame temperature, which is the temperature that would be achieved by a flame in the absence of heat loss to the surroundings. An adiabatic process that is reversible is also called an isentropic process. Additionally, an adiabatic process that is irreversible and extracts no work is in an isenthalpic process, such as viscous drag, progressing towards a nonnegative change in entropy.
One opposite extreme—allowing heat transfer with the surroundings, causing the temperature to remain constant—is known as an isothermal process. Since temperature is thermodynamically conjugate to entropy, the isothermal process is conjugate to the adiabatic process for reversible transformations.
A transformation of a thermodynamic system can be considered adiabatic when it is quick enough that no significant heat is transferred between the system and the outside. At the opposite extreme, a transformation of a thermodynamic system can be considered isothermal if it is slow enough so that the system's temperature remains constant by heat exchange with the outside.
Adiabatic heating occurs when the pressure of a gas is increased from work done on it by its surroundings, ie a piston. Diesel engines rely on adiabatic heating during their compression stroke to elevate the temperature sufficiently to ignite the fuel. Similarly jet engines rely upon adiabatic heating to create the correct compression of the air to enable fuel to be injected and ignition to then occur.
Adiabatic heating also occurs in the Earth's atmosphere when an air mass descends, for example, in a katabatic wind or Foehn wind flowing downhill.
Adiabatic cooling occurs when the pressure of a substance is decreased as it does work on its surroundings. Adiabatic cooling does not have to involve a fluid. One technique used to reach very low temperatures (thousandths and even millionths of a degree above absolute zero) is adiabatic demagnetisation, where the change in magnetic field on a magnetic material is used to provide adiabatic cooling. Adiabatic cooling also occurs in the Earth's atmosphere with orographic lifting and lee waves, and this can form pileus or lenticular clouds if the air is cooled below the dew point.
Rising magma also undergoes adiabatic cooling before eruption.
Such temperature changes can be quantified using the ideal gas law, or the hydrostatic equation for atmospheric processes.
It should be noted that no process is truly adiabatic. Many processes are close to adiabatic and can be easily approximated by using an adiabatic assumption, but there is always some heat loss. There is no such thing as a perfect insulator.
The mathematical equation for an ideal fluid undergoing a reversible (i.e., no entropy generation) adiabatic process is
For reversible adiabatic processes, it is also true that
where T is an absolute temperature.
This can also be written as
where dU is the change in the internal energy of the system and δW is work done by the system. Any work (δW) done must be done at the expense of internal energy U, since no heat δQ is being supplied from the surroundings. Pressure-volume work δW done by the system is defined as
However, P does not remain constant during an adiabatic process but instead changes along with V.
It is desired to know how the values of dP and dV relate to each other as the adiabatic process proceeds. For an ideal gas the internal energy is given by
where R is the universal gas constant and n is the number of moles in the system (a constant).
Differentiating Equation (3) and use of the ideal gas law, , yields
= alpha , d (P V)
= alpha (P , dV + V , dP).
Equation (4) is often expressed as because .
Now substitute equations (2) and (4) into equation (1) to obtain
and divide both sides by PV:
After integrating the left and right sides from to V and from to P and changing the sides respectively,
Exponentiate both sides,
and eliminate the negative sign to obtain
The change in internal energy of a system, measured from state 1 to state 2, is equal to
At the same time, the work done by the pressure-volume changes as a result from this process, is equal to
Since we require the process to be adiabatic, the following equation needs to be true
Substituting (1) and (2) in (3) leads to
If it's further assumed that there are no changes in molar quantity (as often in practical cases), the formula is simplified to this one:
The following diagram is a P-V diagram with a superposition of adiabats and isotherms:
The isotherms are the red curves and the adiabats are the black curves. The adiabats are isentropic. Volume is the horizontal axis and pressure is the vertical axis.


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|February 12, 2007
|Posted by Martin Ralya (TT)
We've just released the sixth free Treasure Tables PDF, Evil Overlords: Faction Players in Your Campaign.
This PDF collects World Powers and Big-Picture Plotlines, my post introducing the evil overlord concept, and The Care and Feeding of Evil Overlords, Tom Bisbee's post detailing how he implemented that concept in his current campaign (with his permission — thanks, Tom!).
Heres the short version: If your campaign features power groups and events in the background, and those elements have an impact on the PCs (the foreground), why not recruit a few gamers to play the factions and world powers via email?
Combined with our Evil Overlord Recruitment Bureau forum, this PDF gives you everything you need to try out faction players in your own campaign — I hope you'll give it a shot!
5 Responses to Evil Overlords: Free Treasure Tables PDF
Hey Martin. We just finished Game 5 and I hope to update you on how the Evil Overlords system works shortly. In a nutshell: It works very well!
As soon as I've started my new job, I anticipate things settling down enough to write it up.
That'd be great, Tom. I wrote up my impressions over in the forums, and I'm very pleased with how it's been working as well.
Tom, I didn't know that you were this famous…Infamous maybe…
This is actually very exciting as I am a member of Tom's game. So I promise not to look until after he squishes my character.
The Overlords is a way cool idea.
I'm taking back the DM seat sometime later this year, and I'm considering recruiting one or two overlords when that happens.
Evil Overlords, Now with Attributes - Treasure Tables
[…] With Faction Gaming in the Empire, the author of munkipox adds another layer to the evil overlord concept introduced here on TT: attributes for the various factions. […]
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Pittsfield Real Estate Listings & Rental Properties in Massachusetts
Looking to buy a home or rent an apartment? Whether you are looking for homes for sale, new homes, apartments finder, guides and rentals, foreclosures or apartment communities for rent; Find all Pittsfield real estate for sale or rent in Massachusetts on MassLive.com.
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TLC's What Not to Wear Is Ending Its 10-Season Run
What Not to Wear is about to give its final makeover.
The TLC show is signing off after ten seasons on the air, according to People.
The final new episodes will air on Friday nights beginning this July.
"I'm proud of the work we've done and the lives we've changed," star Clinton Kelly says. "And I'm relieved I don't have to point out that dark-wash jeans look dressier than light-wash jeans every day of my freakin' life."
"I'm excited about our final episodes," co-star Stacy London adds. "We are getting to do things we've never had the opportunity to do before, and there are many surprises in store."
"I do love that we are going out with a bang," Stacy says.
With the show sadly leaving, how will the fashion impaired ever realize their mistakes? It looks like we're all on our own from now on.
Source: People


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YIELD: Makes 10 servings
Arrange rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F. In roasting pan, toss bones with 1/4 cup oil. Roast until well browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
In heavy, large pot over moderately low heat, heat remaining 1/4 cup oil until hot but not smoking. Add garlic, onions, celery, and carrots and sauté until golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Add peppercorns and continue cooking until aromatic, 2 to 3 minutes. Add brandy and simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half, about 1 minute.
Add turkey bones, chicken stock, and demi-glace and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened and reduced by half, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Strain, return to pot, and place over moderately low heat. Skim excess fat, then add basil, remove from heat, cover, and let steep 10 minutes.
Strain gravy through cheesecloth-lined sieve into large pot. Stir in salt and keep warm.


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Akwa Ibom Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio has identified lack of patriotism as a factor contributing to corruption in the society.
Chief Akpabio, who stated this Thursday at the opening of a three-day workshop of Nigeria Guild of Editors on the theme ''The Nigerian Editor and National Security'' held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom Capital, noted that corruption thrives in countries with low level of patriotism.
He stated ''As editors, you are the captains of the media industry and your interpretations of reality become the reality for the nation. How do you interpret reality? Take the issue of corruption and you would discover that corruption thrives in countries with low level of patriotism. If you love your country, you will not steal from it. Clothe this country in beautiful garments, and patriotism will rise and corruption will decline.
''To drive away darkness, you turn on the light; let us turn on the light of patriotism in our country. Lack of patriotism leads to selfishness. Therefore, let us live not for our families and ourselves alone, or for our friends and class interest alone, let the empathy extend beyond our interest and we will make Nigeria a better and a more interesting country'', the Governor observed.
Akpabio thanked the Guild on the theme of the eighth annual conference, saying "This is a proof that the spirit of our ancestors, who used the vehicle of crusading journalism to win independence for us, is still in our time. It would be foolhardy for you to kill the baby, the democracy, you midwifed. ''We know that you constitute the conscience of our nation. When our nation had tottered in its walk to freedom, you had revived it with fearless, crusading journalism.
Now Nigeria calls again and you compatriots have risen and have come to the right place to respond to this call'', he remarked.
The Governor charged thus: ''Apart from the state making laws to protect those involved in direct national security activities, the media should also be involved in patriotic gatekeeping. They should deliberately keep information they have acquired, but which could threaten national security from being published. The common good should be prioritized above personal gain or corporate profit."


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See other Isle of Skye properties
Skyewalker Hostel
The Old School, Portnalong, Isle of Skye, Scotland, Distance from city centre: 13.1km
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These are trusted reviews from guests who have actually stayed here. We hope you find them helpful.
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- " Although it takes a while to get there, it is totally the worth of staying in this hostel. "
- 10 Jun 2015 Anonymous Finland
- " Everything was perfect. "
- 22 Aug 2014 Agnieszka Poland
- " Greatest Hostel I have ever been! The atmosphere was fantastic and the Jedi Hut was really great. We had a very nice view from inside our bed. The furniture and decoration inside it was really cozy and it was neither too warm or too cold. The huts are a fantastic idea if you want to be private as a couple. The feeling inside the glass dome when it was raining outside was very fascinating. The facilities were clean and well equipped with very very nice owners. Had some good chats with them. "
- 05 Aug 2014 Achim Germany
- " Room was big but not that clean. There were spiders in it. Overall good cost-benefit. "
- 24 Jul 2014 Anonymous Brazil


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|Message from the Director...
We're glad you are interested in our program and
Each year, thousands of individuals enhance their lives by participating in the adult / community education programs offered throughout Dorchester County.
Our residents return to school for a variety of reasons:
Complete high school credentials (High School Diploma or GED)
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Sunday, 02 February 2014
This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.
What happened in 1944?
- Robbie Robertson was born
- Allied forces landed in France
- Hitler escaped an assassination attempt when the bomb in the briefcase was moved away from him
- Paris was liberated (and not burnt)
- Double Indemnity was released
- Fitzroy were premiers
As I did last year, I'm starting with NAT KING COLE.
I might as well begin at the top. This is a song Nat wrote with the help of Irving Mills. He performs it with his trio. The song is one you all know, Straighten Up and Fly Right, one of his most popular and recognizable tunes.
♫ Nat King Cole - Straighten Up and Fly Right
BOB WILLS is in an uncharacteristically subdued mood on his tune today, although it picks up a little half way through.
Also unusual is that Leon Huff sings rather than Tommy Duncan who was generally the singer in Bob's band. The song, We Might As Well Forget It, was written by Johnny Bond.
♫ Bob Wills - We Might As Well Forget It
THE MILLS BROTHERS are here to sing a song covered by many over the years.
The song, You Always Hurt the One You Love, was written by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher. I won't even try to mention all the versions except to say that Clarence (The Frogman) Henry did a terrific version of the song in 1961.
♫ The Mills Brothers - You Always Hurt The One You Love
I remember TEX RITTER mostly for singing the theme for the film High Noon, giving the plot away in the song before the film had even started. There was a lot of that going on around that time.
We won't have that song today, wrong year. Instead it's I'm Wasting My Tears on You.
♫ Tex Ritter - I'm Wasting My Tears On You
I'll Be Seeing You was written by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal and was inserted into the Broadway musical, Right This Way, which lasted only 15 performances.
It was later used extensively throughout a film named after the song starring Joseph Cotton and Ginger Rogers. BING CROSBY recorded it that year and it became a huge hit.
♫ Bing Crosby - I'll Be Seeing You
HARRY JAMES performs Memphis Blues.
I don't know if this is the tune that W.C. Handy wrote. I played them back to back and they sound different to me, but those big band folks were known for arranging things so they didn't sound the way I expect them to.
There are no details about who wrote or arranged Harry's version, so I guess we just sit back and listen.
LOUIS JORDAN & His Tympany Five released Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby as the B-side of a record.
However, folks turned it over (remember when you did that with records?) and this song hit the top of the hit parade instead. Many others have covered this song, including Tom and Jerry.
♫ Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five - Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
I first encountered the music of LOUIS PRIMA in the fifties when he was performing with Keely Smith.
However, he goes back considerably further than that. Here he performs Oh Marie without Keely.
I hope you like THE INK SPOTS because here are some more of them.
The song today was written by Fred Ahlert and Roy Turk way back in 1928 and the first version was by Aileen Stanley. Billie Holiday recorded it quite a few times but now it's the Ink Spots' turn.
The song is I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You).
♫ The Ink Spots - I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)
I'll end with ELLA FITZGERALD.
There's a bit too much big band arrangement for my taste but at least they have the sense to tone it down when Ella sings. This is the old jazz standard, When My Sugar Walks Down the Street.
♫ Ella Fitzgerald - When My Sugar Walks Down The Street
1945 will appear in two weeks' time.
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
I was 7 years old, in 1944. -smile-
Thank you for the trip down Memory Lane.
My Grandmother and sister played much of this music on the piano and sang to us small people. Enjoyed the reminder.
One site listed the composer (s) of "Memphis Blues" as Harry James,Kitty Kalek,Buddy Devido.
Great jazz tunes
Bing, Nat and Ella on a Sunday. Who could ask for anything more? But you added Louie and Harry.
I remember standing under the Palladium bandstand in 1944 with a boyfriend listening to Harry and seeing a very pregnant Betty Grable (His then wife) come out on the stage. It was war time and the boy friend was to ship out the next morning so it was a bittersweet memory.
Even though it ws bittersweet, it was nice to remember that night. Thank you.
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text: |Optodisc Mini DVD-R's compact size and universal read-compatibility make these discs an ideal medium for a broad range of mobile storage applications including storage of multimedia content -- digital audio video and still images graphics business presentations internet downloads and data sharing. Optodisc Mini DVD-R uses a high quality organic dye that ensures reliable recording and playback and it is certified for up to 4x DVD recording speeds. The DVD-R provides an archival life span of over 100 years. Compatible with all Hitachi Panasonic Sony Canon and Samsung Mini DVD-R Camcorders. 1.4GB: Approximately 30 minutes of video record time. Clear surface. No stacking ring or groove allows full-face *White Inkjet* hub printing! The printable surface is perfectly suited for high-resolution color inkjet printing. Mini 4X DVD-R Recordable Media. Disc Diameter: 3 1/8" (80mm). Sold in 25-Disc mini cakeboxes.


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The London club´s record goalscorer is on the brink of completing a reported £16million move to Barcelona and is due in Catalonia to finalise terms on Sunday and is expected to be unveiled on Monday, but he claims he leaves with a heavy heart.
"Arsenal will always be in my blood and in my heart and I will always remember you guys," the 29-year-old told Arsenal TV. "I said I was going to be a Gunner for life and I didn´t lie because once you are a Gunner you will always a Gunner. The club is in my heart and will remain in my heart forever."
© Copyright PA Sport Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved.


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Weave a web of engaging entertainment and fun when you decorate with this deliciously dark spider web motif table cloth.Morticia Addams would be green with envy!
Jazz up your table setting when you add this black Lace Spider Web Tablecloth to the scene. Halloween is only once a year, but you can decorate like it lasts forever with this awesome tablecloth!
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. No deception, just sheer perfection in this dramatic black lace tablecloth inspired by spiderwebs and Halloween fun. The 30-inch round tablecloth is for indoor use only.
Keep up with the Addams family and decorate like Morticia with this spook-tacularblack spiderweb motif Gothic lace table topper!


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1990 Yasser Arafat addressed the UN Security Council In Geneva demanding UN emergency force to provide international protection for the Palestinian people to safeguard their lives, properties and holy places.
1991 The first comprehensive peace talks between Israel and delegations representing the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states
1993 Israel deported 415 Palestinian men to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. The deported Palestinians were said by Israeli authorities to be active members of the militant Islamic resistance movement Hamas.
1993 Aftersecret negotiations, PM Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed an historic peace agreement. Israel agreed to allow for Palestinian self-rule, first in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, and later in other areas of the West Bank.
Feb 1994 An American-born Jewish settler in Hebron, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire in al-Haran al-ebrahime crowded mosque, killing 29 Muslims and wounding 150 more.
May 1994 In Cairo - Egypt, Yasser Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin, signed the final version of the Declaration of Principles. Within 24 hours of the signing, Israeli military forces were scheduled to leave the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
July 1994 Yasser Arafat returned to Palestine.
Oct 1994 The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, announced that the peace prize was being awarded to Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and to Yasser Arafat.
Jan. 1995 Martyr bombs kills 19 in Israel.
April 1995 Six killed in Gaza Martyr bombing.
July 1995 Martyr bomb in Tel Avivi.
Aug. 1995 Martyr bomber kills five in Jerusalem.
Sept. 1995 Israeli and PLO officials meeting in Taba, Egypt, finalized agreement on the second stage of eventual Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands. Special arrangements were agreed upon for Hebron, where Israeli soldiers will remain to protect the 450 Jewish settlers living there.
Nov. 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated in Tel Aviv by a right-wing extremist.
Jan. 1996 PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat elected Presendant of the Palestinian National Authority.
June 1996 Right-wing Likud Party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu become the new Prime Minister of Israel.
June 1996 Arab summit discuss the new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's peace plans.
Dec. 1996 Israeli authorities release plans to expand the Jewish settlements in Arab east Jerusalem, which causes outrage among Palestinians.
Jan. 1997 Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement for an Israeli redeployment from the West Bank city of Hebron.
Oct. 1997 Sheik Ahmed Yassin (61-year-old) founder of the militant Islamic group Hamas was released from Israeli prison, as part of a prisoner swap touched off by a failed Israeli assassination attempt in Amman, the capital of Jordan.
Oct. 1998 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed at peace-for-land agreement at the conclusion of negotiations in the U.S. the agreement calls for Israel to relinquish control of portions of the West Bank in return for active measures to be taken by Palestinians against terrorism.
Nov.1998 Palestinian President Yasser Arafat inaugurated Gaza International Airport.
Dec. 1998 President Clinton stood witness as hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel. Clinton urged "legitimate rights for Palestinians, real security for Israel."
May 1999 Winning a crushing victory over hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak promised to forge a secure peace with the Palestinians, pull troops out of Lebanon in a year and heal the deep divisions among Israelis.
Sep. 1999 An agreement has been reached with Israel concerning the release of Palestinian prisoners. Such release was a major point of contention in negotiations concerning the implementation of the Wye River peace accord.
Oct.1999 Israel and the Palestinians agreed to establish the first open land link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip so-called "safe passage".
Mar.2000 Kissing Palestinian earth and warmly welcomed byYasser Arafat, Pope John Paul II made a prayerful pilgrimage to the town of Jesus' birth.


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IOWA CITY -- CIty High senior Mackayla Highly has only been bowling for two years and she has really improved.
Highly rolled a 245 game in her first meet of the season, and that was 35 pins better than her previous high game. Highly averaged 212 that day.
"Just went up there and hit my mark every time, and got strikes," she said.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather
City High Bowler Mackayla Highly Wins KCRG-TV9 Athlete of the Week
By Scott Saville, Sports Director
Most Popular


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Algae Scrubber theory question
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Gold Finger
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View User Tanks
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wpg. MB Canada
Posts: 849
Originally Posted by
They work well by adding a lot more light in the ATS vs the aquarium.
If you add lots of light to both locations, they are the same then.
So they do not eliminate algae per se.
They remove nutrients, but plant filters/emergent plants are FAR more effective and a simpler device. Reef folks have macro algae, the grasses and trees do not remove like the FW emergent plants.
Floating water sprite etc, or a peace lily in a wet/dry section will out perform any algae filter with less energy.
"Hydrophyte" has several simple hand on or suction cup planters that would do the job if you want to keep it simple.
Thanks, that makes sense. Not a magic bullet for tank algae. End of that question.
I have experienced how well plant filters work and agree they are more simple than a modern ATS, but I am working on a new design which is very, very simple, and as for plant filters being far more effective at removing nutrients I hope to be able to narrow that margin quite a bit with my design. Microalgae, after all, are the fastest growing "plants" of all. They can double their mass in under 12 hours! I really enjoy plant filters but am finding growing algae to be a lot of fun too. My fish enjoy the bonus O2 injection provided which is one reason I am giving ATS a try. Also, I like to screw around with stuff.
Ver. 1.0 80 gallon dirt goldfish tank
Ver. 2.0 bare bottom
same tank another approach (defunct)
Ver. 3.0 Pool filter sand
same tank now
Farming Algae
Goldfish are among the worst fish for beginners.
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Overall Rank:
Avg. Rating:
# of Ratings:
Theater Date:
Lillian GishHenry B. WalthallMary AldenRalph LewisMae Marsh
Like Movie:
Plot Outline:
During the civil war, a tale is told of the anarchy that ruled the south after the war. One of the first major motion pictures and the one that started "it" all. Silent.
Characters left. Want more? See how.
Indyfreak 08/11/2014 (0 of 0 found this helpful)
Rating of 1/4
Nothing can be simple, can it? The Birth of a Nation is indeed a landmark film with its groundbreaking technical achievements. In this sense, it could be seen as the first modern movie with a fleshed out story filling up a feature-length running time, a soundtrack, and creative editing.
But it is famous for another reason. It's incredibly and unrepentantly RACIST!
Alaine 12/16/2011 (0 of 0 found this helpful)
Rating of 3/4
I just can't bring myself to give this four stars due to the absurd racism it glorifies. There's no way I can rate it lower as its technical excellence is impossible to ignore. Important film in the history of cinema. So unfortunate that I can't be an enthusiast for this one.
mitchellyoung 12/04/2010 (0 of 0 found this helpful)
Rating of 2.5/4
It's original and classic only because of its seminal use of storytelling elements, editing, and the scope in which the story is told. Other than that, it's antiquated and very racist.
The Film Rebel 11/09/2010 (0 of 0 found this helpful)
Rating of 0.5/4
This movie is fucking horrible. It is the biggest piece of a racist propaganda shit I have ever seen. I honestly don't care how "revolutionary" it is. This film is just garbage. Complete and utter garbage. "One of the best films of all time" my ass.
Allison 12/14/2008 (0 of 1 found this helpful)
Rating of 3.5/4
This was an amazing film by D.W. Griffith. I avoided it for so long, because unfortunately someone told me it was racist. It actually shows the disturbing effect by the Ku Klux Klan and the blacks' uprising against this secret-society. To ignore this important piece of history would only be giving power to racism. Griffith is a master and this film is a work of art.
05/11/2012 (0 of 0 found this helpful)
Revolutionary and racist
The Birth of a Nation is a revolutionary film that has many impressive scenes. Its battle scenes are particularly good considering the level of technology available at the time. D.W. Griffith is one of the most influential directors of all time and the film is well put together overall. However, this film is blatantly racist. Its depiction of blacks is one the most despicable things ever seen on film. In fact, it was controversial for its racism even when it was released in 1915! The idea that the KKK were heroes is morally offensive considering their use of systematic terror to achieve their goals. It is no wonder that the real KKK allegedly used the film as a recruiting tool.
Some may say that this film cannot be viewed objectively since it came out at a time when racism was not...
Rating of2.5/4
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The purpose of this program is threefold: (1) to train qualified professionals to work in administrative, planning, service delivery and instructional and staff development positions in programs and services for the elderly at the national, state and local levels, (2) to provide an opportunity for those studying in other disciplines, and whose work will encompass service to the aged, to integrate their own training with a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the aging process and (3) to stimulate the design and execution of gerontological research across the multiple disciplines.
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text: T17_3_5_2d 2011 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports The National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) is a comprehensive national overview of quality of health care in the United States. It is organized around four dimensions of quality of care: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness. Table 17_3_5.2dPeople age 18 and over who received any illicit drug or alcohol abuse treatment in the last 12 months,a by education, 2009 TotalLess than high schoolHigh school graduateAt least some collegePopulation groupPercentSEPercentSEPercentSEPercentSETotal 1.80.13.00.32.00.21.30.1Age18-4220.127.116.11.22.214.171.124.245-6220.127.116.11.184.108.40.206.265 and overDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUGenderMale184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.2Female1.00.11.70.184.108.40.206.1RaceWhite only1.80.13.00.220.127.116.11.1Black only188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.2Asian only0.20.1DSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUNHOPI onlyDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUAI/AN only2.80.6DSUDSU2.10.6DSUDSUMultiple racesDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUDSUEthnicityHispanic, all races188.8.131.52.6DSUDSU0.80.2Non-Hispanic, all races184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.1County typebMetropolitan188.8.131.52.42.00.21.20.1 Large central metro22.214.171.124.188.8.131.52.2 Large fringe metro184.108.40.206.184.108.40.206.2 Medium metro18.104.22.168.188.8.131.52.2 Small metro2.00.3DSUDSU22.214.171.124.4Nonmetropolitan188.8.131.52.126.96.36.199.4 Micropolitan188.8.131.52.42.10.5DSUDSU Noncore220.127.116.11.62.10.6DSUDSUa. Received any illicit drug or alcohol treatment refers to treatment received in order to reduce or stop drug or alcohol use, or for medical problems associated with drug or alcohol use. It includes treatment received at any location, such as a hospital, rehabilitation facility (inpatient or outpatient), mental health center, emergency room, private doctor's office, self-help group, or prison/jail. Any illicit drug includes marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or any prescription-type psychotherapeutic drug used nonmedically, based on data from original questions, not including methamphetamine items added in 2005 and 2006.b. Specification of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan subgroups changed in 2009; results should not be compared to those of previous years. For information on the urban-rural classification scheme, refer to http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/urban_rural.htm#documentation for details.DSU - Data do not meet the criteria for statistical reliability, data quality, or confidentiality.Key: AI/AN: American Indian or Alaska Native; NHOPI: Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; SE: standard error.Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Page last reviewed October 2014 Internet Citation: T17_3_5_2d: 2011 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. October 2014. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqrdr11/17_utilization/T17_3_5_2d.html