text:
I pointed out that Len had opened the door for the rest of us, and a subset of the UFO field, that is crash/retrievals, was now something that was viewed with new interest and new respect. If not for Len's work, we wouldn't be looking at these cases simply because we had been "educated" by the destruction of the Aztec UFO Crash case and the information about the reliability of the two men who were at the heart of it.
In his landmark paper, Len began with what seemed, in 1978, to be a strong report given the source of the information. I confess that the fact the witness claimed to be a retired Air Force colonel colored my thinking about it. In fact, in A History of UFO Crashes, I gave the case high marks. Later, in Crash - When UFOs Fall from the Sky, I would reevaluate the case. I thought of it as taking it to the end, which, I believe Len would have wanted.
In his 1978 presentation in Ohio at the MUFON Symposium, Len reported:
Those are the basics of the case, and I selected this one, I say, not only because it was the first in his original paper, but because he had more to say about it later. And, I have found a great deal of information about the case in the last year or so. Some of you might have recognized the details as presented here, but are puzzled by the date.In 1948, according to reports from hazy sources, a UFO with occupants numbering anywhere from one to sixteen, had crashed in a desert region of the southwest United States or Mexico and was retrieved by U.S. military authorities. But the reports never got beyond rumor because 1948 was the year when Frank Scully's book unloaded an alleged hoax on the public about a crashed UFO in Aztec, New Mexico.
In the Fall of 1977 new word of a 1948 crash came to me from a well-informed military source. His information, however, was scanty. He had heard from other "inside" military sources that a metallic disc had crashed somewhere in a desert region. His only details indicated that the craft had suffered severe damage on impact and was retrieved by military units.
By coincidence, months later in 1977, I was to learn more about a crashed disc occurring in 1948. This came from researcher Todd Zechel, whom I had known since 1975 when he became Research Director of Ground Saucer Watch. Formerly with the National Security Agency, Zechel stated that an Air Force technician told him that his uncle, then a Provost Marshal at Carswell Air Force Base near Ft. Worth, Texas, had taken part in the recovery of the crashed UFO which was described as a metallic disc, 90 feet in diameter.
The crash occurred about 30 miles inside the Mexican border across from Laredo, Texas, and was recovered by U.S. troops after it was tracked on radar screens. The job assigned the Provost Marshal, now a retired colonel, was to cordon off the crash site.
The retired colonel [Provost Marshal], now living in Florida, was tracked down by Zechel. Among other facts revealed by the colonel was that one dead alien was found aboard the craft which was described as about 4 feet, 6 inches tall, completely hairless with hands that had no thumbs.
Zechel learned from his source that the troops involved in the retrieval were warned that if they said a word about the incident they would be the "sorriest people around".
Continuing his investigation, Zechel pieced together other eyewitnesses to the 1948 event. In his statement, Zechel relates the following: "I traced another Air Force colonel, now retired in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He had seen the UFO in flight. He was flying an F-94 fighter out of Dias [in reality Dyess] Air Force Base in Texas and was over Albuquerque, New Mexico, when reports came of a UFO on the West Coast, flying over Washington State. Radars clocked its speed at 2,000 miles per hour.
It made a 90 – degree turn and flew east, over Texas. The colonel, then a captain pilot, actually saw it as it passed. Then suddenly it disappeared from radar screens. At Dias base, the radar operators plotted its course, and decided it had crashed some 30 miles across the Mexican border from Laredo. When the captain got back to base, he and a fellow pilot got into a small plane and took off over the border after the UFO. When they landed in the desert at the crash site, U.S. troops were there before them.
The craft was covered with a canopy, and the two pilots were not allowed to see it. They were then called to Washington, D.C. for debriefing and sworn to secrecy about the whole event.
In his The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome published in January 1980, Len reported that a fellow named James Minton had told him about another fellow, named William Draeger who talked about a UFO crash in 1950.
Len wrote, "I knew the incident well, and that it had been disputed by some researchers, however, I had not pursued the case beyond having referred to the alleged crash in my pervious paper. At that time, I had used information related by Todd Zechel to the Midnight Globe (not exactly the most reliable of sources). Since, further research into the case by Zechel and others has revealed that not only the year of the incident was wrong, having changed from 1948 to 1950, but also the crash site was changed."
He printed a letter from Draeger who said that he had learned more about the crash, including information from an unnamed high-ranking Mexican Army officer. Draeger said he talked to the general on the telephone who told him that he knew about the crash but he had no papers or documents to prove it. Draeger asked if the general would go on camera for an interview and the officer agreed. When they arrived at his home, however, the general denied any knowledge of the incident. On camera, the general said he knew nothing about the crash.
Since that time, I have learned that Zechel never bothered to "vet" the retired colonel he had found in Pennsylvania. Everyone, including Len, believed that Zechel had done that. When I attempted to verify the "colonel's" credentials, all I could learn was that he had been a low ranking enlisted soldier who entered the service in December 1945 and was released from active duty in January 1947.
I have learned that the this colonel, the Pennsylvania man, was an officer in the Civil Air Patrol who has now changed the date of the crash to 1954, or 1955, or maybe 1957. He wasn't flying F-94s out of Dyess because the F-94 didn't exist as an operational fighter in 1948 and Dyess didn't exist in 1948. He has made many changes to the original story as some of his "facts" were found to be inaccurate.
And, I found, in the forerunner to the MUFON UFO Journal, Skylook, an article from 1968 that gives us the original information that set Zechel on his quest, and which, I believe, would have tipped off Len to the believability of the sighting if he had known about it. According to that article:
Col. R. B. Willingham, CAP squadron commander, has had an avid interest in UFO's for years, dating back to 1948 when he was leading a squadron of F-94 jets near the Mexican border in Texas and was advised by radio that three UFO's "flying formation" were near. He picked them up on his plane radar and was informed one of the UFO's had crashed a few miles away from him in Mexico. He went to the scene of the crash but was prevented by the Mexican authorities from making an investigation or coming any closer than 60 feet. From that vantage point the wreckage seemed to consist of "numerous pieces of metal polished on the outside, very rough on the inner sides."Len's research here, then, provided some of the basics of the case and opened it up to the research of many others. When Len first reported the case in 1978, it seemed to be a very good one, especially because of the high rank claimed by the witness. Later, as I became interested in UFO crash/retrieval stories, I accepted it as well because an Air Force colonel had signed an affidavit about it. High-ranking military officers simply wouldn't jeopardize their reputations by telling a story that was so incredible unless it was true. I knew of many witnesses who claimed high military rank who had not attained it but just claimed it, but I was also convinced that a real officer who had worked all his career to get to this high rank would not make up such a story. I believed then, as Len did, there was some truth to this. But it all hinged on that Air Force colonel. Without him, the tale took a nose dive.
As I have reported in the past, the man was not an Air Force officer, but a CAP officer. The difference is that CAP officers are volunteers in a civilian auxiliary of Air Force, but they are not Air Force officers. Those who have served in the Air Force or the CAP know the difference. This guy, Robert Willingham tried to blur the difference to make him into something that he wasn't.
So now I have taken one of Len's first reports, actually Abstract I from his 1978 MUFON presentation and followed the investigation to the end. We now have what I believe to be a solid answer for this case which is, simply, it didn't happen. Len started this process by publishing his information about it and I ended it for him. I believe Len would appreciate what we all have learned about this case. He would appreciate that we could now close it.
But this was not a criticism of Len or his work. He used, in 1978, the best information available to him. In 1980, he added to our knowledge by reporting on the changes to the case which made him suspicious. It wasn't until 2008, as I was preparing my book on UFO crashes, that I found, originally through the Internet, more data, and that I discovered no one had bothered to learn if Willingham was telling the truth about his military career. Len thought others had done it and I thought others had done it. It wasn't until I asked those others what they knew that I learned that truth.
This case unraveled because of Len's work. He raised the original suspicions about it. He was the one who supplied the information about the shifting date, and without Len, we would never have learned what we did.
In that article I saw, it seemed to suggest that I was criticizing Len, but such was not the case. He was a valuable member of the UFO research community, and would have published the latest and best information the moment he had it. Len's work and legacy can't be ignored. He was a true pioneer, a true researcher, and the UFO community is much poorer with him gone.


text:
Q&A with Ann Leary
In The Good House, author Ann Leary takes us into the world of Hildy Good, an eccentric "townie" and gossip queen from a small, close-knit city on New England's North Shore.
After gaining notoriety for her poignant memoir, An Innocent, A Broad, about unexpectedly going into labor with her son overseas, Ann Leary—that's actor Denis Leary's wife—returns with a fictional tale of a middle-aged real estate agent struggling to cope with troubled family relationships, gossiping neighbors, alcoholism, and self-doubt. Released earlier this year, The Good House has already earned a spot on the New York Times Best Seller list, and a film adaptation of the book—starring legendary duo Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro—is currently in the works. We asked Ann to dish on her inspirations behind the book, its eccentric main character, and its charming North Shore setting. .
What inspired you to write The Good House?
AL: I really wanted to try to write a book about an alcoholic from the point of view of an alcoholic in denial. We have quite a lot of alcoholism in our family, going back generations. In my family, it is particularly present among the women. The female alcoholic is very different than the male alcoholic, as there is still a special stigma about female drunks, and women are also more vulnerable when they are drunk in public places, so many women drink alone at home. I wanted to write about the loneliness particular to the type of woman who is a wonderful mother and volunteer or employee by day, but who drinks herself to drunkenness all alone each night. It's a sad way of life, though when one is in it, one believes that it's normal and an enjoyable way to live. I wanted to have the reader understand the mindset of the alcoholic woman in denial. The way that she can be so adept at distorting the realities of her world in order to make her behavior appear rational (if only to her).
The subplot of my book is about an affair between a psychiatrist and his patient. A few years ago, I read that it is against the law for a therapist or a psychiatrist to have a sexual relationship with a patient. In many states, a therapist can go to jail for this. I was shocked to learn that in our free society there is actually a law preventing two consenting adults to have a relationship, and I wanted to explore what would happen if a patient and shrink crossed that boundary.
The main character, Hildy Good, is described as a townie who knows pretty much everything about everyone. Have you known a Hildy Good in your own life? Did any one person inspire the character in the book?
AL: Hildy is not based on any one person, but I have known a few Hildys in my life. If you live in New England it's likely that you do, too. Hildy is a New England Yankee, in the best sense of the word. She's not easily swayed by the opinions of others. She's quite private, cool, unemotional (at least when she's sober), determined, and opinionated. She actually has a big heart and will always help a neighbor in need, but doesn't want anybody to know that about her.
Originally, the book wasn't going to be about Hildy at all. But I found that whenever I wrote scenes that involved Hildy, the writing was easy, and slowly she started taking over. In a way, she hijacked the book. This harsh, critical, often funny but somehow endearing middle-aged woman with an apparent drinking problem kept butting in with her stories about her hometown and her childhood and all sorts of defensive explanations about her drinking, and wouldn't stop until finally I made her not just the narrator but actually the main character. The novel is really about Hildy's relationship with her community, her family, her very loyal boyfriend, Frank … but mostly it's about Hildy's relationship with the truth.
Why did you choose to set the book in a small town on the coast of Massachusetts?
AL: I knew I wanted the novel to be set in a small New England town, because I just love small New England towns. When I was 14, we ended up moving from Wisconsin to Marblehead, Massachusetts, and I was immediately fascinated by the fact that Marblehead had its own personality, which was just a little different than the towns surrounding it, which each had their own distinct personalities. Marblehead—at least when I was living there—had a few wonderful eccentrics. On the North Shore of Boston, there are still many who claim to descend from the witches who were hanged in Salem, and I have always felt that the particular way that female alcoholics are stigmatized and the way that they withdraw from their communities is very much like the women who were accused of witchcraft in the 17th century. Also, the practice of "interventions" - confronting a person about their alcoholism, usually feels, to the alcoholic, like they are being persecuted. It feels like an inquisition and is very frightening. Just like it's hard to prove you're not a witch, it's hard to prove that you're not an alcoholic.
Is the fictional town of Wendover modeled after any real-life town in particular?
AL: The town of Wendover is not based on any one town in particular. It's on the water and it's horsey, so I had the towns of Ipswich and Essex in my mind while I was writing the book.
How was writing this novel different from writing your previous two novels, Outtakes from a Marriage and the memoir An Innocent, a Broad?
AL: An Innocent, A Broad is a memoir. It's about how my husband and I traveled to London when I was six months pregnant with our first child. We were very young, completely broke and, well, I went into labor when we got there and though we had packed for two nights, we stayed for six months. Our son was a preemie, but thanks to the excellent care he received at a London NHS hospital, he's a healthy 23-year-old today. But the book is a sort of fish-out-of-water story about how I became a mother in a strange land. The easy thing about writing a memoir is that you know the plot. It has a beginning, middle and end. And for me, that's the hard part about writing fiction—coming up with a compelling plot. On the other hand, the great thing about writing fiction is that you can almost be more honest about people and situations. I meet people and hear amazing stories every day, just stopping at out local post office. But, I always want to make the stories more interesting and, of course, alter the characters so that they're more fascinating than the person or people that inspired them. That's what I love about writing fiction. I get to lie and embellish for a living.
Living in Connecticut, what are your favorite towns on the New England coast to escape to for a vacation with your family?
AL: My mother and sister still live in Marblehead, so I visit there frequently. I love the Cape, the Vineyard, Nantucket. I recently did a book signing at Jabberwocky Books in Newburyport and I just fell in love with that town. I hadn't been there in years. They've done a lovely job of restoring the downtown area. I guess I'm just a North Shore girl. I pride myself on still being able to run barefoot on a rocky beach and dive into ice-cold water.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Looks like the Rancics can start buying blue baby clothes.
Bill and Giuliana Rancic are expecting a baby boy, according to E! News.
The reality show couple and part time Chicago residents announced the sex of their baby at a shower in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The Rancics revealed in April that a gestational carrier is carrying the baby, which means the baby will have the Rancic's full DNA.
The 37-year-old entertainment TV host suffered a miscarriage in 2010 and was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, leading to a double masectomy, but the embryo that resulted in the pregnancy was banked prior to the breast cancer diagnosis.
The baby is due in late summer.
Bill and Giuliana Rancic Having a Boy
Reality show couple's baby due in late summer
Looks like the Rancics can start buying blue baby clothes.


text:
Welcome to the 2019-20 Academic Catalog
This document provides information about the academic programs, degree offerings and requirements at the East Falls campus. It also provides information about the resources available to support students and their academic progress including course descriptions, checksheets, directory information and academic policies and procedures.
The 2019-20 Academic Catalog includes the degree information and requirements for students who start their studies at the East Falls Campus in the 2019-20 academic year. This information (including checksheets for undergraduate students) follows a student through to their graduation. Students should use this information as a guide toward their degree completion and should stay in contact with their advisor and/or program director to make sure they are on track to graduate.
Listed below are quick links to some of the most referenced pages of the catalog:


text:
Stephen Sturlaugson
Sometimes our cows understand us. When we bring new hay, they come running. But they don't always understand us. Sometimes the cattle kick at us. Once a cow had twine wrapped around her hoof, and she didn't understand our attempt to take it off. She didn't understand being separated from the others, or being put in the shed, or our handling of her hoof, or our cutting away of the twine. She just didn't comprehend our concern for her, and she struggled against us.
We can act like cows when we don't understand how God is treating us. In Psalm 73:22, Asaph confesses, "I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you."
When you're tempted to feel that is God treating you like dirt, it may help to remember that you are dust, and that to dust you shall return (Gen. 3:19). When someone complains that God treats him like dirt, your first reaction might be to say, "No, he doesn't. He's been good to you. Look at the blessings in your life." God has every right to treat sinners like dirt, of course, and sometimes he does deal with people in this way. He puts them beneath his feet, figuratively speakingand once he quite literally turned a person into a pillar of salt.
You might feel from time to time that God treats you like a dog, and then it might help to recall the words of Psalm 73:22"I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you." When people think that God treats them like some measly cur, perhaps we shouldn't jump to God's defense, as if he needed any. God treats people differently. He reveals different sides of himself to different people. Psalm 18 says, "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd" (vss. 25-26). People may feel that God is treating them like swine, and perhaps he is, because they're acting like swine before him. "I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you." Pinocchio, you may recall, grew donkey ears.
In Ecclesiastes 3:18, Solomon writes, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals." God tested Asaph, who relates the test in the opening words of Psalm 73: "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (vss. 1-3). The wicked were prospering around him, and this covenant singer was jealous. Verses 13-14 reveal his frustration: "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning." God gave prosperity to the wicked, but to Asaph he gave plague and punishmentor so it seemed to Asaph. God tests us in our fallen human condition, so that we will come to see that we are like beasts before him. Asaph came to see that this was true of him.
I presume you've felt like Asaph, and more than once said, "What's the use?" Your service to the Lord seems worthless. Your obedience seems to be in vain, because you never seem to be blessed like other people are. Sometimes I wish I had sowed more wild oats when I was younger, because I don't have the opportunity or the energy to sow them now. Feeling like this is natural to the human heart. What is unnaturaland a sign of new lifeis admitting envy, as Asaph does, and confessing our frustrationnot hiding it, but making it known to the whole congregation, as Asaph does, by making confession of sin part of our worshiping song. In confession, a beast turns back into a man. So Asaph could say, "I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you."
In the book of Daniel, we find a dramatic example of God's testing. Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men, to dwell with the beasts of the field and eat grass like oxen. In the grace of God, the king learned what God intended to teach him. The king wrote to the people of his kingdom, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble" (Dan. 4:37).
When Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus, he told him, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads" (Acts 9:5 NKJV). Jesus characterized Paul as a beast, kicking against the goads. Jesus was goading him, poking him, spurring him on to salvation and service, but Paul's response was to persecute the church and oppose Jesus, kicking at him like a brute beast.
Paul finally submitted to the Shepherd of his soul. Some never do. Second Peter 2 has some sharp words for false teachers in the church"These men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.... Of them the proverbs are true: 'A dog returns to its vomit,' and, 'A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud'" (vss. 12, 22). The books of Daniel and Revelation portray powers that are hostile to God and his Messiah as enraged and unruly beastsdragons, serpents, and animals with hard horns, or the feet of a bear, or the mouth of a lion. Satan, the old serpent, never learns.
In Psalm 73, one thing is especially said to characterize a beast: foolishness and ignorance. This is a cow's problem. It just doesn't get it. It doesn't understand what we're trying to do. It doesn't realize that kicking, or jumping over a fence, is foolish and can make matters worse.
I teach philosophy at a regional college, and I find Asaph's remark instructive. Philosophers often identify the difference between human beings and animals as our ability to reason, but some say further that we must never submit our powers of reason to any external authoritynever submit to the yoke of the Lord. But such thinking was part of Asaph's problem: "I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you." His confession suggests that mere human counsel in rebellion against God isn't truly human. A philosopher can in fact be a brute beast.
Asaph's foolishness and ignorance affected him deeply, and these feelings compounded his trouble. In verse 16, he admits that his attempts to understand were oppressive. Verse 21 leads into 22: "When my heart was grieved, and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you." He was grieved over the prosperity of the wicked and embittered over his own calamity. Grief and vexation aren't always sinful, but in this case they were. They were bestial.
Asaph envied the wicked and bemoaned his own innocence, but understanding eventually broke in: "If I had said, 'I will speak thus,' I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny" (vss. 15-17).
Asaph realized that making disparaging complaints would have been untrue or disloyal to God's children. They entrusted themselves to the leaders of the church, and Asaph was such a leader. He wrote psalms for public worship, and people trusted him to write words of life. If he had expressed himself like a senseless beast, especially in corporate song, he would have betrayed them.
I shudder to think how I let my children down by the faithless remarks I utter in their hearing. We betray the members of the church, young and old alike, when we talk in this way. We're in the covenant together, and our complaints violate a trust. They tear into us, tear us apart, and tear us down, giving voice to the heart of a beast.
Asaph entered the sanctuary of God, and there he understood the sorry end of the wicked. What exactly triggered this understanding? I'm not sure. The sanctuary was the holy place where the altar of incense smoked, where the bread of the presence lay on a table, where the lampstand burned brightly, illuminating the walls of angels and palm trees. I think of the beauty of the room, the fragrance, the nourishment and the light represented by the room, but most of all I think of the presence of God himself.
In the last verse of the psalm, Asaph says, "It is good to be near God" (vs. 28). When he entered the sanctuary, he drew near to God. In verse 23, he says, "I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand." In the sanctuary, it became clearer to him that he was with God, and that God was with him, holding him by the handthat close. In the sanctuary, he realized that "you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory" (vs. 24). Asaph could have given in to despair, but instead he realized that his end or purpose was to be taken into glory. The wicked? Their end is destruction, terror, and contempt. Why? They are "far" from God and unfaithful to him (vs. 27). By the grace of God, Asaph drew near, gained understanding, and regained his humanity.
Our Confession says, "Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: but God is to be worshiped everywhere, in spirit and truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly in the public assemblies" (21.6). In the gospel age, we don't draw near to a temple made with hands, but we may draw near to God anywherein public assembly, in households, and in our hearts.
May the Lord be near us in Christ Jesus, so we can draw near to him, hope in the glory to come, and in that hope serve him, even in plague and chastisement, as he renews us not in the image of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things, but in the image and glory of God.
The author is a ruling elder at Bethel OPC in Carson, N.D. He quotes the NIV unless otherwise indicated. Reprinted from New Horizons, February 2002.
|© 2020 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Chaplains and Military Personnel


text:
Hieromartyr Albian, Bishop of Anaea in Asia Minor
Saint Albian was bishop of the city of Aneium in the Aseian district, and suffered for Christ about the year 304 in a persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian and his co-ruler Maximian. Saint Albian was ordered to offer sacrifice to idols under the threat of death, but he confessed his faith in Christ and refused to serve idols. They tortured him with red-hot irons and beat him mercilessly, but he remained unyielding.
They tortured his disciple with him, and he also remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Both holy martyrs were sentenced to death and thrown into a red-hot oven, in which they died, receiving the crowns of martyrdom.


text:
Special gifts
There are no products matching the selection.
Shop By
Currently Shopping by
- Color: Remove This Item Denim
Shopping Options
Recent Reviews
Great shopBest prices with great delivery.Maze
Leki vertical kPerfect poles for fast hiking and running, great build quality. Very well packaged and received in the UK within 3 days. Thanks for top quality service.edmorris293
tutto perfetto!Perfect ski touring pant. Great fabric, slim fit, cool design with colored inserts. Super fast (!!!) shipping..guest
The ultimate hiking pantsI'm happy to finally have a pants that is ideal for Fall or Winter hiking, especially snowshoeing. The Titan Ridge II is perfect for such tasks, as it has well-reinforced back and knee panels, heat-reflective lining, and a wind and (mild) rain resistant base material that stretches in both directions. Its leg opening is expandable with a zipper, but also sealable with an elastic to fit all hiking boots. It also has a small hook that might be attached to shoelaces, so that sealing is as tight as possible.Gábor
ASICS GEL VOLLEY ELITE 3Comfort, dual gel cushioning, mesh materials provide more breathability and cooling. Fast shipping, placed order on 25th July and arrived on 28th July (Italy to Asia). Good job and highly recommended !!SP Ong
5th Pair of VarioSalomon shoes have a narrow fit , which is great for my low volume, narrow feet. La Sportiva Bushido are even lower volume in fit but are minimalist in cushion level. I have an arthritic ankle and the Salomon Vario have more cushion , heel to toe drop of at least 10mm . Excellent shoe for work and trail. Ankle roll prevention is not as good as La Sportiva because the Vario has a narrower footprint.. Long tread life compared to others. I just wish they had a street tread sole version.Russell
Quality product and ServiceGood quality robe, washes well also.. Ordered in two sizes and sent back the one that was too big. XS in ladies was perfect for my 11 year old daughter.. She will get plenty of wear out of this at swimming galas. Got a refund straight away on the returned item so this was a great service. Will buy from Animasportiva again.Elise 05
very goodexcellentpavel


text:
Gospel Graffiti Crew
OUR MISSION STATEMENT Gospel Graffiti is a Christian graffiti crew, but more importantly, it has become a ministry. The crew has been thrust into the lime light with the popularity of urban culture expanding. Because graffiti is rooted in fame and self glorification, a mission and vision are needed in order to stay the course that God is leading us to. Gospel Graffiti Crew is called to a high standard when reflecting God, as well as the other crew members. To better understand how we are called to reflect God and eachother, one must understand our mission and vision. Mission statement Gospel Graffiti Crew is a ministry that is called to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through legal graffiti art. This will be accomplished through a global community of artists who share the call and desire to use legal graffiti art as a tool to seek and save the lost. We will reflect Christ, on and off the wall, to show his love to the world. Vision Statement Our vision is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through legal graffiti art as well as our very lives. This means that we will represent Christ and seek to grow…
auGGust 2010 France auGGust 2009 Canada auGGust 2008 SF, CA, USA where: San Francisco, CA, USA – City Crossroads Youth Center who participated: Camer1, Fasm, Bams, Fay, Rhyse, TieFoo, Joax, Said, Saves who organized the event: Camer1 sponsors and thanks to: Blameless Clothing favorite memories:making great new friends, and meeting new ones…I went to take photos of some blockbuster up the road and met a homeless guy, was able to sit with him and talk and encourage him, and he encouraged me…freaking out on top of the scaffolding!…watching Camer in full effect in his enviroment, hes a legend in the Tender Loin…having tea in China town with Said etc. -Saves auGGust 2007 where: LA, CA, USA who participated: Dyle52, One Werd, Fasm, Said, Quaker, FBK crew who organized the event: Zender sponsors and thanks to: FBK, Blameless Clothing favorite memories: driving home in the middle of the night and Dyle and One werd thinking i was throwing things at them while they slept at my house because acorns where falling on the metal roof of the room they stayed in. -fasm auGGust 2006 Mexico where: Rosarito, Mexico who participated: Threat, Camer1, Dyle52, Battle36, j1, Fasm, Ezra, Sacks who organized the…
Custom Graffiti hats by Sonz1
Get your very own
custom graffiti hat
designed by
Get your own
Every tongue..
Pray for Mosul
Scroll to top


text:
- <div style="background-image:url(/live/image/gid/7/width/1600/height/300/crop/1/36620_img_0889.rev.1490624267.jpg)"/>
All Access
All-Access Mixer at agencyEA
Each room is a little different at agencyEA, an event planning and marketing firm in Chicago owned by Gabrielle Martinez '93. She hosted In The Loop students for a mixer and invited other successful Chicago alumni to join in on the fun, too.
Photo Galleries
The Environmental Studies Program treks senior seminar students down the Mississippi River each spring break to learn in the field about how we are connected to the great river and to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana into which the river drains. Professor Glenn Adelson takes his class on an educational adventure down to New Orleans with lots of pit stops on the way.
Nearly 225 student-volunteers spent Saturday working with youngsters in North Chicago during Forester Day of Service on February 27.
The board of Eukaryon and student contributors celebrated the 12th volume of the award-winning undergraduate research journal on March 1. Professor of Biology Karen Kirk was the inauguration speaker.
Lake Forest College sits on 107 wooded acres, one-half mile from Lake Michigan, 30 miles north of Chicago.


text:
Good Christmas - (Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Drake, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Rihanna, Birdman, Plies, Waka Flocka, Willow Smith, Lady Gaga & Wyclef) [Parody]
By 2-cent
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Xzibit (Feat. E-40) - Up Out The Way
"Up out the Way" is the lead Regional Single off of Xzibits newest Album | Napalm - Visit Itunes.com to preview Xzibits other master pieces [m]
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
While most of the United States was preparing for this year's Independence Day celebrations, conservative network Fox News' Twitter account was allegedly hacked, as it falsely reported on the untimely death of the President. The hacker tweeted that the President was gunned down at a restaurant in Iowa, later succumbing to his injuries, listed as two gunshot wounds.
"@BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead.
@BarackObama has just passed. He was shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck, shooter unknown. Bled out.
@BarackObama shot twice at a Ross' restaurant in Iowa while campaigning. RIP Obama, best regards to the Obama family. #ObamaDead, it's a sad 4th of July. RT to support the late president's family, and RIP. The shooter will be found.
BREAKING NEWS: President @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much. It's a sad 4th for #america. #obamadead RIP.
We wish @joebiden the best of luck as our new President of the United States. In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of tunnel."
The tweets stayed up on Fox News' Twitter page for 2 hours before the network caught wind and decided to take them down.


text:
Stanford University geneticist Michael Snyder will lead a state-funded stem-cell research project that Wednesday won $40 million to create a "Center of Excellence in Stem Cell Genomics."
The award, given to Stanford, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego and five other California research institutions, will focus on bridging stem-cell research with the field of genomics studying the complete genetic make-up of a cell or organism. Salk Institute geneticist Joseph Ecker will co-direct the five-year project.
The funds come from state taxpayers who, in 2004, created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine with passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.
Though only about 10 labs across the state are actively involved in the project, Snyder said the work will benefit "hundreds of labs" across California.
"We want to get genomics research out to other researchers, particularly stem-cell researchers, in California," Snyder said.
"Genomics requires sophisticated equipment and expertise and most people don't have access to that. An important part of this is collaborating on projects where we'll help groups bring genomics to more people.
"We'll take on cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurological diseases that are all approachable with stem-cell therapies and do projects related to those issues," he said.
The stem-cell agency's president, Alan Trounson, said, "Bringing together this team, to do this kind of work, means we will be better able to understand how stem cells change as they grow and become different kinds of cells.
"That deeper knowledge, that you can only get through a genomic analysis of the cells, will help us develop better ways of using these cells to come up with new treatments for deadly diseases," Trounson said.
The five other institutions participating in the $40 million project are the University of California at San Diego, the Scripps Research Institute, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Illumina, Inc., all of San Diego, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Other competitors to lead the research grant, including the University of California at San Francisco and Scripps Research Institute, protested the awards procedure, saying the state agency had failed to disclose key criteria to all applicants, the Sacramento Bee reported.
In addition to the $40 million "Center of Excellence" award, the stem-cell agency's governing board Wednesday approved more than $27 million in funding to 27 different biology research labs in California, including $1.1 million to Stanford neurologist Gary Steinberg for study of how human neural or brain nerve stem cells can help people recovering from stroke.
The 2004 ballot measure creating the stem-cell agency provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions.


text:
I believe that during the last financial crisis, macroeconomists (and I include myself among them) failed the country, and indeed the world. In September 2008, central bankers were in desperate need of a playbook that offered a systematic plan of attack to deal with fast-evolving circumstances. Macroeconomics should have been able to provide that playbook. It could not.DeLong argues that a better understanding of how to respond to economic crises exists, even if it is outside of Kocherlakota's realm of "modern macroeconomics." He goes back to John Stuart Mill:
Let me briefly set out what the macro playbook is, and how it has been developed by economists and policymakers over the past 185 years. Start with Say's or Walras's Law: the circular flow principle that everybody's expenditure is someone else's income--ands everyone's income is somebody else's expenditure. It has to be that way: for every buyer there is a seller: and for every seller who is disappointed because they sell for less than their cost plus normal profit because of excess supply there must be another who is exuberant from selling at more than cost plus normal profit.
How, then, can you have a depression--a "general glut," a situation in which there is excess supply of not one or a few but all commodity goods and services? How can you have a situation in which workers laid off from shrinking industries where demand is less than was expected and thus less than supply are not rapidly hired into industries where demand is more than was expected and hence more than supply?
Moral philosopher, libertarian, colonial bureaucrat, feminist, public intellectual, and economist John Stuart Mill put his finger on the answer in a piece he published in 1844:[T]hose who have... affirmed that there was an excess of all commodities, never pretended that money was one of these commodities.... [P]ersons in general, at that particular time, from a general expectation of being called upon to meet sudden demands, liked better to possess money than any other commodity. Money, consequently, was in request, and all other commodities were in comparative disrepute. In extreme cases, money is collected in masses, and hoarded; in the milder cases, people merely defer parting with their money, or coming under any new engagements to part with it. But the result is, that all commodities fall in price, or become unsaleable...
DeLong puts the problem in terms of a shortage of "safe" assets. The policy response of creating more of them - issuing more government bonds - is the flip side of the traditional Keynesian remedy of deficit spending (or deficit financed tax cuts), as well as of an aggressive "lender of last resort" central bank policy. See also DeLong's related project syndicate column, and this Vox piece by Ricardo Caballero.
So, is this further evidence that we are living in what Krugman called the "dark age of macroeconomics"? Yes and no. As DeLong notes, policymakers have largely been following his playbook (though there are ominous signs they are pulling back too soon). However, academic models employing the reigning methodology of "dynamic stochastic general equilibrium" (DSGE) have generally not been very helpful. That paradigm is still relatively young - it remains to be seen if it will develop in a direction that makes it more useful for policy, or whether it will be supplanted in a more fundamental shift.


text: The purpose of our office is to ensure the accessibility of University programs and services to eligible students. We work closely with the University community to develop and coordinate the implementation of appropriate accommodations to disability. Accommodations, also called support services, are individually determined based on disability specific need and may include modified testing environments, sign language interpreters, and assistance obtaining books in audio format.


text:
The National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places and Golden Gate National Recreation Area, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, assisted by Rosie the Riveter--World War II Home Front National Historical Park, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, the Organization of American Historians, San Francisco Public Library and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, proudly invite you to explore World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area. World War II dominated the social, economic and political landscapes of the mid-20th century, setting in motion momentous events that still shape the world we live in today. The communities that ring the San Francisco Bay were irrevocably altered by that wartime era and still bear its visible marks in the remains of military bases and coastal defense fortifications, ships and shipbuilding facilities, worker housing and day-care facilities. This travel itinerary highlights 31 historic places listed in the National Register of Historic Places that reflect the San Francisco Bay Area's role in the "Arsenal of Democracy."
Preparations for mobilization to create "Fortress San Francisco" were massive. Forts Baker, Barry and Cronkhite ringed the tip of Marin County, while Fort Point mounted guard on the Golden Gate Straits. Inside the bay, bases abounded including Fort Mason, the principal Pacific Port of Embarkation, the Presidio, Fort Miley, Hamilton Field and Moffett Field. The San Francisco Bay Area's major contribution to victory during World War II was shipbuilding. During the war, men and women working in Bay Area shipyards, like Kaiser's Richmond Shipyard Number Three, built 1,400 vessels--a ship a day, on average--like the SS Red Oak Victory. Mare Island Naval Shipyard provided well-established repair and shipbuilding facilities. The converted Richmond Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant prepared tanks for shipment overseas to the Pacific War, and the Benicia Arsenal manufactured the munitions for these and other weapons. During World War II, tens of thousands of Bay Area women challenged common perceptions about their capabilities, and for the first time were faced with the problems of being working parents--finding daycare and housing. These historic places remain today as an indelible imprint of this time and remind us of the dramatic changes brought on by the Bay Area's participation in World War II.
Three months after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering the relocation of Japanese Americans living in coastal areas, who were at the time considered a security risk. In the weeks that followed, local newspapers carried almost daily reports of proclamations, plans and restrictions to civil liberties issued by Lieutenant-General John L. DeWitt out of Building 35 at the Presidio, such as Civilian Exclusion Order No. 20, which required 660 people living in the area bounded by Sutter and California streets and Presidio and Van Ness avenues to report to the Japanese American Citizens League at 2031 Bush Street for registration, and then, on April 29, 1942, for removal. Headlines from the San Francisco News at the time provide a sobering view of the swift expulsion: "General DeWitt Announces Military Exclusion Zones" (March 3); "First Japanese Ready to Leave Coast" (March 19); "Aliens Get One More Night Out" (March 25); "Goodbye! Write Soon!" (April 7). Internees were first transported to one of 13 "Assembly" centers throughout the state, including Tanforan race track in San Bruno--since demolished--where 8,000 Japanese Americans were detained in converted horse stables and makeshift barracks between April and October 1942, then on to permanent camps inland such as Manzanar, which is now a National Historic Site. In all, nearly 100,000 Californians of Japanese descent were removed from their homes and livelihoods for incarceration during the war until 1945.
The World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area travel itinerary offers several ways to discover the places that reflect the area's World War II history. Each highlighted site features a brief description of the historic place's significance, color photographs and public accessibility information. At the bottom of each page the visitor will find a navigation bar containing links to six essays that explain more about Seacoast Defense, Mobilization, Port of Embarkation, Shipbuilding, Women at War and Preservation. These essays provide historic background, or "contexts," for the places included in the itinerary. In the Learn More section, the itinerary links to regional and local web sites that provide visitors with further information regarding cultural events, special activities, and lodging and dining possibilities. The itinerary can be viewed online, or printed out if you plan to visit the San Francisco Bay Area in person. Visitors may be interested in Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area is the latest example of a new and exciting cooperative program. As part of the Department of the Interior's strategy to promote public awareness of history and encourage tourists to visit historic places throughout the Nation, the National Register of Historic Places is cooperating with communities, regions and Heritage Areas throughout the United States to create online travel itineraries. Using places nominated by State, Federal and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the itineraries help potential visitors plan their next trip by highlighting the amazing diversity of this country's historic places and supplying accessibility information for each featured site. World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area is the 33rd National Register travel itinerary successfully created through such partnerships. Additional itineraries will debut online in the future. If you have any comments or questions, please click on the provided e-mail address, "comments or questions" located at the bottom of each page.
World War II Home |
List of Sites | Maps|
Learn More | Itineraries | NR Home
| Begin
Essays: Seacoast Defense | Mobilization| Port of Embarkation| Shipbuilding| Women at War| Preservation
Comments or Questions


text:
Join our live RV chat - click HERE
My friends are currently camped in a field along the water in Indian Island. If I was not on call this weekend, that is where I would be as well. I am glad you mentioned the bridges. I will likely go there this summer and I have to check if I clear 3.8m or not.
we have crossed into another time zone
I hope to get to read my book , Pillars of the Earth so I can return it to Lorna in November. With this wind Ill also wish for calm seas in the morning!
Are you on MotoSat or using the park's WIFI? Hope the weather improves for you.(And us).
... Terry said by taking the shorter ferry it will add about 560 miles to your trip as you backtrack over same road twice. We calculated fuel prices and figured we were a little better off with long ferry. ...
I'm not following your math. Assuming you only get 6 mpg and that fuel is $6 per gallon -- that's $1.00 per mile or $560 for the road backtrack. The ferry was $776. Seems like the road route would be $216 cheaper. You would have to only get 4.3 mpg for it to come out the same cost. Am I missing something?
July 2, 2008 Irish Loop Drive South of St. Johns Newfoundland On ward in our tour of the Irish Loop, Russ shouted, Stop, stop. I thought he was having a coronary but he had spotted a huge white iceberg in the next little bay. Terry did a u-turn and we made our way down a small road to view this iceberg up close and personal. We marveled at this chunk of ice that we were later told is a regular occurrence. Icebergs break away each year and the only thing unusual about them would be the speed with which they melt. It is not a sign of global warming!
I don't do the math I just do the journal!
we'll go if God's willing and the creek don't rise. I think I should also add and if the fires don't spread..... Marsha~
Page created in 0.076 seconds with 22 queries.


text:
Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!
Archive User of The Month
At the moment no user of the month selected for this month
The Staff
There's nothing here yet


text:
|What kind of folks ride these kinds of roads?
I mean, what type of riders do this sort of thing? What riders would be attracted to such an activity? For many years, most cyclists, (not to mention non-cyclists), would give you that "you're crazy" look if you said that you were out riding gravel. Well, that is if they just didn't come right out and say it to your face, which a lot of people have to me.
I guess I could maybe give you- the reader- a version of what I think a gravel road rider is, but I am one. It's maybe not my place to even say what a gravel road rider's profile is, if there even is a "profile" for one.
Oh, I've been asked about this before. Folks wanting to know about Trans Iowa, or speaking to me about "Gravel Grinder News" . But for this post, I wanted to let you decide: Who Are The Gravel Grinders?
So, if you've got your version you'd like to share, hit me with it in the comments section. Thanks!
Special Note On "300 Miles Of Gravel":
300 Miles of Gravel Trailer from Jeff Frings Photography on Vimeo.
I have been getting several requests/questions about how one can get ahold of the film project by Jeff Frings about Trans Iowa V7 called "300 Miles Of Gravel" .
The answer is- You can't get it. .....................well, not yet anyway.
Let me explain a few things: First of all, I and all the riders and volunteers in Trans Iowa V7 have no connection with the sale or distribution of the film. We were in it, but we do not own the rights. We were "compensated" for our inclusion in the project by Mr. Frings by getting a free copy of the completed film in digital file format. Mr. Frings also opened up a small window for those wanting to have the film by making a list, (compiled and sent to Mr. Frings by myself), and snding those folks a copy of the film as well.
Beyond this, my only information regarding the film comes from Mr. Frings who told me that he "may offer the film for sale" at some undetermined point in the future.
So, while I am greatly flattered and appreciative of the interest I am finding out about out there for this film, I can not get you "hooked up", and have no influence on whether or not "300 Miles Of Gravel" will ever be distributed for public consumption/viewing.


text:
Jan Blok (d. 1538)
Jan Blok (Block), a linen weaver of Ghent, an Anabaptist martyr, was executed by burning at the stake at Vught, Dutch province of North Brabant, on 9 September 1538, with a gag in his mouth to prevent his speaking or calling. He had been arrested in August at 's-Hertogenbosch, together with seven others, including his wife Lysken, who was burned at the stake the next day, and Paulus van Drunen, the bishop of the congregation, who was executed on the same day as Jan Blok.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doopsgesinde of Weereloose Christenen, Die om 't getuygenis van Jesus haren Salighmaker geleden hebben ende gedood zijn van Christi tijd of tot desen tijd toe. Den Tweeden Druk. Amsterdam: Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685: II, 42.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 447. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1917): 189.
|Nanne van der Zijpp
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Jan Blok (d. 1538)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 4 Aug 2020. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Jan_Blok_(d._1538)&oldid=129396.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1957). Jan Blok (d. 1538). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 4 August 2020, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Jan_Blok_(d._1538)&oldid=129396.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 71. All rights reserved.
©1996-2020 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


text:
I will be away from August 23 through August 29 and (gasp) will not have
internet access. If you need immediate assistance contact Jean Amaral
(firstname.lastname@example.com). I will reply as soon as possible after August 29.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
Received on Wed Aug 26 04:44:11 2009
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Oct 20 2009 - 15:17:07 PDT


text:
- Opinion
- Open Access
- Published:
Darwin and Huxley revisited: the origin of allometry
Journal of Biology volume 8, Article number: 14 (2009)
10k Accesses
28 Citations
9 Altmetric
The relative sizes of parts of an organism frequently depend on the absolute size of the individual, a relationship that is generally described by power laws. I show here that these power laws are a consequence of the way evolution operates.
The Huxley whose name appears in the title of this article is not Thomas (Darwin's 'Bulldog'), but his grandson Julian, the author of Problems of Relative Growth [1], brother of the novelist Aldous (Brave New World) and half-brother of the biophysicist Andrew (the Hodgkin-Huxley equations). In 1924, Julian began studying the relative size of various organs and found many examples of what he called 'allometries', as opposed to 'isometries'. If an individual were simply magnified, all the parts would increase in size by the same amount and this would be an example of an isometry, in which the relative size of the component parts is independent of the absolute size of the organism. But the heads of the ants in Figure 1a are relatively larger for a large ant than for a small one, and this is an example of an allometric relationship: the relative size of one part of an organism compared to another part depends on the absolute size of the individual.
The remarkable thing Huxley discovered in his studies of relative growth, and summarized in his 1932 book Problems of Relative Growth [1], is that the mathematical relationship describing an allometry is very often a power law rather than some other function such as an exponential or a sigmoidal curve. From Figure 1a one can see that the ant legs, thorax and abdomen are about isometric (close to the same relative size for all the ants pictured), but the length of the head, L, is related to the length of the abdomen, A, by the power law L = bAk, with k = 2.06. The width of the head, W, is related to A by another power law, W = bAk, with the exponent k = 1.66. When power laws are plotted double logarithmically, they give straight lines with a slope of k (Figure 1b). It is easy to imagine that these double logarithmic plots would be curved rather than straight (not power laws), but in fact they typically are close to straight lines, sometimes over a 1,000-fold or more range of sizes. Allometric relationships like these are also called 'scaling laws' in the broader context of the physical sciences.
Why should power laws pop up so frequently in studies of the relative sizes of parts of an organism? A common view is that their frequent appearance is an illusion. Problems of Relative Growth was an immediate success, but Huxley's argument that allometric relationships are described by power laws was viewed with suspicion from the very start. For example, in his review of Huxley's book in Nature, CFA Pantin [2] concluded that "It is a book which every biological library should possess and every student of biology can read with profit." Nevertheless, Pantin noted that the power-law relation "... is necessarily empirical. Of the causes of differential growth we have little knowledge; their investigation is the problem at issue. A variety of possible relations, in fact, reduce approximately to this formula. But it is not the object of the formula to establish the correctness of a particular hypothesis as the cause of differential growth; it merely expresses the observed facts with considerable accuracy in a simple way, so that many very significant features emerge which would not otherwise do so."
Pantin's early reserve about the use of power laws has continued. For example, in his comprehensive review of allometry, Gould [3] said that allometry "... is not confined to any form of mathematical expression, such as a power function."
Here I show, however, that Huxley's power laws are not just a convenience but rather often are a natural consequence of the way evolution operates.
The state of evolutionary theory on Darwin's 100th birthday
Julian Huxley graduated from Oxford just 100 years after the birth of Charles Darwin, and after attending the centennial celebrations, embarked on a career in biology. Later in his career, Huxley was an important participant in the incorporation of population genetics into Darwinian theory – the synthetic or neo-Darwinian theory of evolution – but his first major contribution was the study of allometric relations. To understand why Huxley was so attracted to scaling laws in biology, I first need to briefly review the state of evolutionary theory in 1909 [4].
By the start of the 20th century, virtually all biologists embraced the notion of evolution. But at that time there was a sharp debate about the mechanism of evolutionary change. As Huxley [5] wrote later, in a review of the opposition to Darwin's theory at the turn of the century, "... about 1890 doubts began to be thrown upon it, and around 1910 it had become so unfashionable that some critics proclaimed the death of Darwinism." 'Darwinism' here refers to the random heritable variation and natural selection parts of the theory, not the idea of evolution itself. One of the popular alternatives to natural selection as a mechanism for evolution was the notion of 'orthogenesis' [6]. The 19th-century concept of orthogenesis is a little difficult to grasp by the 21st-century mind used to the biochemical mechanisms of genetics because the mode of explanation common around 1900 is so unfamiliar to us. Orthogenesis is synonymous with 'definitely directed evolution' [7], the idea that organisms contain a principle that causes them to transmutate (in part, perhaps, through some stimulus from the environment) along a predetermined course. The course of this evolution is unaffected by natural selection unless the result is so badly suited to the environment that the species becomes extinct. This theory was particularly appealing to paleontologists, whose arrangement of fossils in an 'orthogenetic series' revealed what was believed to be the natural unfolding of a predetermined program of change such as, for example, a steady increase in size. To explain the appeal of orthogenesis, I need to consider the 19th-century criticisms of Darwin.
Of the many early criticisms of Darwinian theory [4] three are important here. First, critics noted that not all changes between species could be believed to be adaptive; indeed, arguments for the adaptive nature of most characteristics of a species were really 'Just So' stories [8]. Second, the critics had a hard time accepting Darwin's notion that changes occurred totally at random, because various species seemed to develop along some orderly trajectory as if evolution had a preferred direction. Also, by the time of Darwin's 100th birthday, the theory of recapitulation ('ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny') had many adherents and, because development follows a predetermined course, how could evolution be directionless? Finally, biologists at the time hoped that evolution would conform to laws (orthogenesis was claimed, by its proponents, to be a law), and the concept of a probabilistic law that Darwinism demanded was largely unfamiliar, certainly in biology. The law of orthogenesis, then, was preferred by many over the natural selection of random changes as a mechanism for evolution because it escaped (by construction) these three criticisms. Some versions of orthogenesis also accounted for the extinction of species because it was believed that, in the final stages of the predetermined evolutionary changes, maladaptive characteristics, like the giant antlers thought to cause the extinction of the Irish elk, were a natural end state.
In 1924 Huxley published his first paper [9] on allometry (he used the term 'hetergonic development' at the time and did not coin 'allometry' until 1936 [10]) in which he analyzed data on the relative size of the larger fiddler crab claw (chela; Figure 2a). When the weight of the large claw of the fiddler crab was plotted double logarithmically against the weight of the rest of the body, "... a remarkably straight line was obtained" (Figure 2b). This finding is significant, according to Huxley, because of its implications for evolutionary theory. If these allometric relationships hold (as Huxley found they did) "... throughout a group, and the evolution of the group has been from small to large size, we shall get apparent orthogenesis..." [9]. Thus, the existence of allometric relationships, together with natural selection for size, automatically explains orthogenesis within the context of Darwinian theory. This is Huxley's important observation but, of course, it leaves open the question of why allometric relations exist at all.
The state of evolutionary theory on Darwin's 200th birthday
By Darwin's 150th birthday, the original evolutionary theory had been updated – Huxley was an important contributor to this updating – to neo-Darwinism, a version that incorporated population genetics to give a mechanistic account of the sources of variability upon which natural selection worked. Now, at Darwin's 200th birthday, evolutionary theory reflects the inclusion of the revolution in molecular biology that occurred during the last half of the 20th century and into this one [11–13].
Orthogenesis was constructed as an answer to particular criticisms of Darwin's theory, and these criticisms, although still relevant, tended to be obscured by the middle of the 20th century by the success of neo-Darwinism in removing the mystery associated with 'heritable variations'. Nevertheless, species do evolve in preferred directions and do possess many individual characteristics that have not arisen as a direct result of selection. With the re-merging of development and evolution [11–13], we now appreciate that pattern formation in embryogenesis is the result of complex genetic networks, and that these networks are highly conserved through evolution. The constraints imposed by the pattern-formation networks account for the preferred directions of evolution and the existence of characteristics that are not necessarily adaptive, and explain why the size of organs is related to the overall body size. Thus, the existence of allometric relations has, for the past two decades, been attributed to conservation of genetic networks [14].
How power laws arise
But why do we so often seem to end up with power laws when we describe the relative size of organs? Here is my answer to this question.
Figure 1a shows drawings of ants reproduced from Figure 36 of Huxley's Problems of Relative Growth [1]. The line drawing inserted between the smallest two ants represents the superimposed outlines of heads for all four ants after the outlines have been stretched or compressed in the vertical and horizontal directions to be all the same width and length. Clearly, the ant heads are all about the same shape, but stretched and compressed by different amounts. This observation is, as described below, what leads to the allometric relationships presented in Figure 1b (log of head length and width as a function of log abdomen length).
The outline drawings of the ant heads in Figure 1a can be described by some, perhaps complicated, function of x (horizontal direction) and y (vertical direction). A single functional form can be used to describe approximately all four heads because they all have the same shape except they are stretched and shrunk in the x and y directions. Because the function that describes the head shape is not a familiar and simple one, I will make the following arguments assuming that the head shape is an ellipse. The real head shape is not, of course, but the argument I make holds no matter what function is used, and ellipses provide an easy example. Also, I should describe the idealized ant head by a three-dimensional ellipsoid, but the two-dimensional case is simpler and the arguments are just the same for three dimensions.
So, two of our idealized ants are represented in Figure 1c with their heads described by the equation for an ellipse:
where x is the horizontal coordinate, y is the vertical coordinate, s is the abdomen length, and L(s) and W(s) determine the length and width of the head (L for the vertical axis of the ellipse and W for the horizontal axis). Note that the values of L(s) and W(s) depend on the size s; when L(s) is increased or decreased, the ellipse is stretched or compressed along the vertical axis, with W(s) controlling the ellipse size along the x axis in the same way. For the idealized small ant in Figure 1c, s = 1, L(1) = 1, and W(1) = 0.6, and for the large ant, s = 2, L(2) = 3.3, and W(2) = 2.
How do W(s) and L(s), the head length and width, depend on s, a measure of body size? Generally, we would expect both length and width to increase smoothly (continuously) with body size. For example, Darwin's finches have beaks whose length depends (monotonically) on the calmodulin concentration, and whose width depends (monotonically) on expression of the developmental signal protein BMP4 during development [15, 16] (Figure 3). (Note that size s above might not necessarily be measured by the size of an organ, but by the concentration of some signaling molecule or the expression level of a transcription factor during a particular period of the individual's life.)
The essential feature illustrated in Figure 1c is that a single equation describes both ant heads, and this equation contains parameters (here L and W) that depend on some size factor (here, abdomen length) and determines the head size of the ant. Equations of this sort have been known for a long time and are called 'homogeneous' or 'self-similar'. Self-similar equations have a remarkable property [17, 18]: the L(s) and W(s) can only be power functions (see Appendix), such as:
L(s) = bsk
where b and k are constants. This means that whenever evolution has conserved the genetic networks responsible for pattern formation so that structures are, from one individual to the next, very nearly the same shape (up to stretching and compression), Huxley's power-law relationships must arise. Power laws do not just happen to work sometimes – they are required whenever evolutionary mechanisms preserve organ shapes (except for stretching or shrinking in one or another direction).
Two challenges for contemporary allometry
Stephen Jay Gould [3] stressed the distinction between allometric relations that occur within one species (like the fiddler crab example) and those that occur across species (for example, brain size versus body size for various primates [19]). I have not honored this distinction above, because my argument holds for both cases, and because the question for any allometric relation ultimately is: how was the scaling relation generated in embryogenesis? One challenge in understanding allometry, then, is finding an answer to this question. Presumably, any conserved pattern-formation mechanism has been selected because it permitted the existence of allometric relations so that one mechanism would work for an individual of any size.
But even if the developmental mechanisms that produced a particular allometric relation were known, there is still the question of why evolution selected that particular allometry. The allometric relation must serve a purpose, so what is it? Questions about allometric relationships fall, then, into two categories: How is the allometry generated and what is it good for?
Explanations for the advantages of a particular allometric relation often boil down to accounting for the value of the exponent in the power law (k in the equations above). Whenever we believe an allometry is indeed described by a power law, it should be possible to attempt an explanation for why the exponent in the power law has the particular value it has. For example, the value of the exponent in Kleiber's law (the 3/4 power-law relationship between the mass of an organism and its metabolic rate) has been accounted for by properties of transport in fractal distribution systems [20]. In another example, the 3/2 power law relating the number of neurons that provide the primate visual cortex with information to the number of neurons that process that information is claimed to arise because the primary visual cortex increases the dimensionality of the neural representation of the visual world from two to three [21].
Another type of study derives from the mere existence of an allomeric relation. If evolution is going to work on the brain, the computational power of neural circuits must be scaled to meet the demands placed on them. For example, a visual system in primates of various sizes must be able to process the information from retinas with different numbers of photoreceptors, and the circuits that do this cannot be completely redesigned every time the number of photoreceptors is changed. What this means is that the neural circuits in the brain must have what computer scientists call a scalable architecture, a circuit design whose computational power can be increased by making the circuit larger. This requirement of scalability places strong constraints on the types of computations that can be carried out by brain regions [22], and an important challenge resulting from allometry is to learn the design principles that are used in building a brain with a scalable architecture.
The preceding discussion has focused on the logic of allometric relations, but probably the greatest challenge is understanding their developmental origin. Embryonic growth occurs in a way that the correct size relations between all organs result, so there must be general mechanisms of development that govern organ size, and these mechanisms must be remarkably robust. One of the great challenges, then, is to discover how these size relations are generated.
- 1.
Huxley JS: Problems of Relative Growth. [reprint]. 1993, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
- 2.
Pantin CFA: Form and size. Nature. 1932, 129: 775-777. 10.1038/129775a0.
- 3.
Gould SJ: Allometry and size in ontogeny and phylogeny. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 1966, 41: 587-640. 10.1111/j.1469-185X.1966.tb01624.x.
- 4.
Bowler PJ: The Eclipse of Darwinism. 1983, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
- 5.
Huxley JS: Man in the Modern World. 1948, New York: New American Library
- 6.
Bowler PJ: Theodor Eimer and orthogenesis: evolution by 'definitely directed variation'. J Hist Med Allied Sci. 1979, 34: 40-73. 10.1093/jhmas/XXXIV.1.40.
- 7.
Eimer T: On Orthogenesis and the Impotence of Natural Selection in Species-formation. 1897, Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company
- 8.
Gould SJ, Lewontin RC: The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1979, 205: 581-598. 10.1098/rspb.1979.0086.
- 9.
Huxley J: Constant differential growth-ratios and their significance. Nature. 1924, 114: 895-896. 10.1038/114895a0.
- 10.
Huxley J, Teissier G: Terminology of relative growth rates. Nature. 1936, 137: 780-781. 10.1038/137780b0.
- 11.
Carroll SB: Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo. 2006, New York: WW Norton
- 12.
Gerhart J, Kirschner M: Cells, Embryos, and Evolution. 1997, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers
- 13.
Raff RA: The Shape of Life. 1996, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- 14.
Stern DL, Emlen DJ: The developmental basis for allometry in insects. Development. 1999, 126: 1091-1101.
- 15.
Abzhanov A, Kuo WP, Hartmann C, Grant BR, Grant PR, Tabin CJ: The calmodulin pathway and evolution of elongated beak morphology in Darwin's finches. Nature. 2006, 442: 563-567. 10.1038/nature04843.
- 16.
Abzhanov A, Protas M, Grant BR, Grant PR, Tabin CJ: Bmp4 and morphological variation of beaks in Darwin's finches. Science. 2004, 305: 1462-1465. 10.1126/science.1098095.
- 17.
Aczel J, Dhombres J: Functional Equations in Several Variables. 1989, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- 18.
Barrenblatt GI: Scaling, Self-similarity, and Intermediate Asymptotics. 1996, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- 19.
Striedter GF: Principles of Brain Evolution. 2005, Sunderland, MA: Sinauer
- 20.
West GB, Brown JH, Enquist BJ: The fourth dimension of life: fractal geometry and allometric scaling of organisms. Science. 1999, 284: 1677-1679. 10.1126/science.284.5420.1677.
- 21.
Stevens CF: An evolutionary scaling law for the primate visual system and its basis in cortical function. Nature. 2001, 411: 193-195. 10.1038/35075572.
- 22.
Lee S, Stevens CF: General design principle for scalable neural circuits in a vertebrate retina. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007, 104: 12931-12935. 10.1073/pnas.0705469104.
- 23.
Darwin CR: Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, Under the Command of Capt. Edited by: Fitz Roy RN. 1845, London: John Murray, 2
Authors' original submitted files for images
Below are the links to the authors' original submitted files for images.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stevens, C.F. Darwin and Huxley revisited: the origin of allometry. J Biol 8, 14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/jbiol119
- Evolutionary Theory
- Allometric Relationship
- Fiddler Crab
- Head Shape
- Darwinian Theory


text:
Theresa M. Hunnewell
Student Financial Services Assistant
Office: Garrison-Foster 107 [ campus map ]
Box 4130
Phone: 207-859-4133
Fax: 207-859-4122
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Mailing Address:
4130 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, Maine 04901-8841
4130 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, Maine 04901-8841
The directory information is for individual use only, it may not be retransmitted or published for any reason. It is not to be used for mass solicitations by email, mail, phone, or other means. Sale or other distribution of this document is prohibited by College policy.


text:
Hold the hankies, girls. Here comes the heresy. To wit, maybe we're actually a lot happier than Marcus Buckingham et al think we are.
It's not that anyone disputes the data. Clearly, the numbers are all there, and they show that quantitatively, women rate themselves lower on the happiness scale than they did back in the seventies.
But amidst all this media blowback, I can't help wondering: are we once again being sold a bill of goods? Are we maybe defining happiness a little narrowly? Confusing unhappiness with stress? And is all this talk about the happiness gap some sort of subtle ploy to convince us that, really, we were better off when we stuck to the kitchen? That there's no path like the safe path?
Before the "woe is me" goes viral, maybe we'd be better off wondering why.
Because here's the thing. The more our opportunities, our choices, our expectations grow — the more our lives expand, the more we juggle. And of course we're angsty. We have more demands on our time and our abilities, both personally and professionally. More responsibilities. More relationships. We reach outside ourselves, we stretch, we put ourselves out there in a way that means others are going to judge us. It doesn't take a rocket scientist — or a social scientist — to note that of course we would feel pulled, stretched and stressed. But see, here comes the heresy. I don't think that is necessarily how you measure happy. Sure, you work all day. Then you come home and wrangle all the stuff of real life — dinner, laundry, kids, bills, you name it — and maybe work some more before bed. Tired, yeah. Stressed, maybe. Pissed off, quite possibly. But truly unhappy? Depends on how you define it.
Or how you parse it out. Check out this smart counterpoint on HuffPo by Morra Aarons-Mele and Ellen Galinski, who offer some good data to suggest that men, too, might have some of this unhappiness action as well.
As Shannon wrote on Sunday:
... by focusing on self-reported, empirical measurements of happiness, are we conveniently missing the harder point, making what is, at its core, a societal issue personal instead? Is this issue of happiness just a smokescreen, to keep the discussion light and distract us from what lies beneath: that, despite all the strides we've made towards equality, we are simply not there yet?
Feministe blogger Jillian Hewitt seems to get it:
… Perhaps there's something to be said for the fact that with greater opportunities, higher standards of living, etc. come more opportunities for problems… Maybe we just need to face up to the fact that there are simply more things to be unhappy about. But even if we are more unhappy, I would argue that we still have reason to feel more fulfilled. Even if we fail—fail to get into the school we want, fail to get the job we want, fail to find the man or woman of our dreams—we can still be grateful that we had the opportunity to do so.
….The final point I want to make is actually drawn off of a quote used by Gracie earlier in the week. She quotes Betsey Stevenson, who explains that "Across the happiness data, the one thing in life that will make you less happy is having children…Yet I know very few people who would tell me they wish they hadn't had kids or who would tell me they feel their kids were the destroyer of their happiness." And I think the same logic applies in light of this situation, too: maybe it's true that our "greater educational, political, and employment opportunities" have made us less happy. But those opportunities aren't ones that I'm willing to give back.
Nor should any of us. If we're truly in a funk because life has dealt us more opportunity, maybe it's not the choices themselves that have made us unhappy. But rather, the fact that we haven't quite mastered the art of dealing with them.
And then there's this. Despite all those new sources of stress out there — job, grad school, the kids and the dog, the blog (oops, did I type that out loud?) — on balance, isn't the satisfaction and fullfillment we get out of any or all worth a dose of angst now and then?
I don't call that unhappy. I call it growing pains.


text:
Newcastle Knights Tervis Water Bottle
- Write a review
- Add to wishlist Added to Wishlist
Hydrate yourself with the Newcastle Knights Tervis Water Bottle Water Bottle. The Rugby League drink bottle features a unique double-wall insulation resulting in less condensation and slows unwanted temperature changes.
Themed lid in the colours of the Knights with their logo proudly displayed on the bottle.
The bottle is designed to last well beyond the footy season's end, making this perfect for your gym session or for a kids water bottle at practice.


text:
As reported here previously, on December 21 the National Rifle Association broke its week-long silence regarding the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. At a press conference, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre (pictured), the most visible spokesman for the organization, took aim and blasted away at the federally imposed Gun-Free School Zones Act (first passed in 1990 and revised in 1995). Mr. LaPierre declared that nobody "has addressed the most important, pressing and immediate question we face: How do we protect our children right now, starting today, in a way that we know works?"
LaPierre continued:
The only way to answer that question is to face up to the truth. Politicians pass laws for Gun-Free School Zones. They issue press releases bragging about them. They post signs advertising them.
And in so doing, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.
The politically correct (but fatally wrong-headed) Gun-Free School Zones are an easy and appropriate target. However, in the interest of full disclosure, Mr. LaPierre should have reminded his listeners that only a few years ago he and the NRA were major backers of the Gun-Free School Zones. Yes, it will surprise many Americans, including many NRA members, to learn that LaPierre testified in favor of the Gun-Free School Zones he now decries, when President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno were pushing their ambitious attacks on the 2nd Amendment.
Here is what LaPierre said, on behalf of the NRA, when testifying on May 27, 1999, before the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Judiciary Committee:
We think it's reasonable to support the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act. What's unreasonable is letting 6,000 students caught with illegal guns at school go, prosecuting only 13 of them the past two years.
In addition, at the same time, the NRA also supported a vast expansion of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
As we pointed out at the time (The NRA's Gun Control Schizophrenia), the NRA's "reasonable" so-called solution to gun violence in the schools was foolhardy on the practical level and a gross violation of our Constitution's strict limitation on the powers of the national government.
Now the NRA is at it again. This time it is trying to undo the evils that it helped unleash with its support of the Gun-Free School Zones Act by proposing still more unconstitutional federal intervention in state and local affairs. In this particular case, the NRA is proposing a vast expansion of federal TSA-style police-state occupation of every school, which means virtually every neighborhood as well. The NRA cannot credibly claim to be the defender of the Second Amendment while it simultaneously is trashing the most fundamental concept of our Constitution, which is that the national government in Washington, D.C. has only those "delegated" and "enumerated" powers expressly given to it by the States and the people.
That is most particularly expressed in the 10th Amendment of our Bill of Rights, which states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The NRA cannot defend the Second Amendment while trashing the 10th Amendment and the fundamental principles on which all of the guarantees of our rights under the Constitution are based.
Photo of Wayne LaPierre: AP Images
Related articles:
NRA's Response to Sandy Hook: Federally Funded Police in Every School