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Wiwaxia corrugata
The relationship of Wiwaxia is hotly debated; its similarities to the molluscs have been highlighted (Conway Morris, 1985; Scheltema et al., 2003; Caron et al., 2006; Caron et al., 2007), but Matthew's original view that it was related to the annelid worms (Matthew, 1899) still finds some adherents (Butterfield, 1990; Conway Morris and Peel, 1995; Butterfield, 2006; 2008). It is also possible that Wiwaxia branched off before the molluscs and annelids diverged (Eibye-Jacobsen, 2004). Wiwaxia has recently been placed in a group called the halwaxiids, along with the halkieriids, Orthrozanclus, and Odontogriphus (Conway Morris and Caron, 2007).
Wiwaxia – from Wiwaxy Peaks (2,703 m) in Yoho National Park. The word wiwaxy is originally from the Stoney First Nation Nakoda language, meaning "windy."
corrugata – from the Latin corrugis, "folded, or wrinkled," in reference to the wrinkled aspect of the sclerites.
Burgess Shale and vicinity: none.
Other deposits: none described, although sclerites have been reported from a number of Middle Cambrian deposits extending from northern Canada (Butterfield, 1994) to China (Zhao et al., 1994).
Age & Localities:
The Walcott and Raymond Quarries on Fossil Ridge. The Trilobite Beds, Tulip Beds (S7) and Collins Quarry on Mount Stephen. Additional smaller localities are known on Mount Field and Mount Odaray.
History of Research:
In an early review of fossils collected from the Trilobite Beds on Mount Stephen by Walker, Canadian palaeontologist G. F. Matthew (1899) described several forms he thought represented tubes of various annelid worms, including one he named Orthotheca corrugata. At the time, Matthew did not know this particular fossil was only part of a much larger organism. It was only when Walcott (1911) discovered articulated and much better preserved specimens from the Phyllopod Bed that the morphology of this species became clearer. Walcott placed corrugata in his new genus Wiwaxia and interpreted it as a polychaete annelid worm (Walcott, 1911). The single best specimen of Walker's "Orthotheca corrugata" remained unrecognized until it was "rediscovered" in the ROM collections in 1977.
Walcott's interpretation was called into question in a comprehensive reassessment of the genus (Conway Morris, 1985), and Conway Morris's link between Wiwaxia mouthparts and the molluscan radula was built upon by Scheltema et al. (2003) and Caron et al. (2006). Butterfield (1990), however, defended an annelid affinity mostly based on the study of individual sclerites, first at the crown-, and later at the stem-group level (Butterfield, 2003; 2006), but further work suggested that the evidence does not conclusively support a close relationship with annelids (Eibye-Jacobsen, 2004). A connection with the halkieriids was drawn early on (Bengtson and Morris, 1984; Conway Morris and Peel, 1995), and expanded more recently (Conway Morris and Caron, 2007).
Other studies have dealt more specifically with the ecology and taphonomy of this animal. The finely spaced patterning of ridges on the scale may have given Wiwaxia an iridescent aspect in life (Parker, 1998). Wiwaxia has proven useful in calculating the extent of decay in fossil assemblages (Caron and Jackson, 2006) and in reconstructing the longer term taphonomic processes responsible for the preservation of the Burgess Shale fossils (Butterfield et al., 2007).
Wiwaxia corrugata is a slug-like organism up to 5.5 cm in length almost entirely covered (except on the ventral surface) with an array of scale-like elements referred to as sclerites and spines. The body is roughly oval, and lacks evidence of segmentation. The body-covering sclerites are arranged in about 50 rows. In addition, two rows of 7–11 blade-like spines are present on the dorsal surface. Spines and sclerites were inserted directly into the body wall. Wiwaxia's feeding apparatus consists of two (in rare cases three) toothed plates that have been compared to a molluscan radula or annelid jaws.
Wiwaxia is mostly known from the Walcott Quarry where it is relatively common, representing 0.9% of the specimens counted in the community (Caron and Jackson, 2008).
The similarity of Wiwaxia's feeding apparatus to that of Odontogriphus suggests that it too fed on the cyanobacterial Morania mats growing on the Cambrian sea floor. Its sclerite armour-plating and long spines, sometimes found broken, suggest that it was targeted by unidentified predators.
BENGSTON, S. AND S. CONWAY MORRIS, 1984. A comparative study of Lower Cambrian Halkieria and Middle Cambrian Wiwaxia. Lethaia, 17:307-329.
BUTTERFIELD, N. J. 1990. A reassessment of the enigmatic Burgess Shale fossil Wiwaxia corrugata (Matthew) and its relationship to the polychaete Canadia spinosa Walcott. Paleobiology: 287-303.
BUTTERFIELD, N. J. 1994. Burgess Shale-type fossils from a Lower Cambrian shallow-shelf sequence in northwestern Canada. Nature, 369(6480): 477-479.
BUTTERFIELD, N. J. 2003. Exceptional fossil preservation and the Cambrian Explosion. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 43:166-177.
BUTTERFIELD, N. J. 2006. Hooking some stem-group "worms": fossil lophotrochozoans in the Burgess Shale. BioEssays, 28: 1161-1166.
BUTTERFIELD, N. J. 2008. An early Cambrian radula. Journal of Paleontology, 82(3): 543-554.
CARON, J.-B. AND D. A. JACKSON, 2008. Paleoecology of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 258: 222-256.
CARON, J.-B., A. H. SCHELTEMA, C. SCHANDER AND D. RUDKIN, 2006. A soft-bodied mollusc with radula from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Nature, 442(7099): 159-163.
CARON, J.-B., A. H. SCHELTEMA, C. SCHANDER AND D. RUDKIN. 2007. Reply to Butterfield on stem-group "worms:" fossil lophotrochozoans in the Burgess Shale. BioEssays, 29:200-202.
CONWAY MORRIS, S. 1985. The Middle Cambrian metazoan Wiwaxia corrugata (Matthew) from the Burgess Shale and Ogygopsis Shale Shale, British Columbia, Canada. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 307(1134): 507-582.
CONWAY MORRIS, S. AND J.-B. CARON, 2007. Halwaxiids and the Early Evolution of the Lophotrochozoans. Science, 315(5816): 1255-1258.
CONWAY MORRIS, S. AND J. S. PEEL, 1995. Articulated halkieriids from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland and their role in early protostome evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 347(1321): 305-358.
EIBYE-JACOBSEN, D. 2004. A reevaluation of Wiwaxia and the polychaetes of the Burgess Shale. Lethaia, 37(3): 317-335.
MATTHEW, G. F. 1899. Studies on Cambrian Faunas, No. 3. Upper Cambrian fauna, Mount Stephen, British Columbia. The trilobites and worms. Transactions of the Royal Society, 5: 39-66.
PARKER, A. R. 1998. Colour in Burgess Shale animals and the effect of light on evolution in the Cambrian. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 265(1400): 967.
SCHELTEMA, A. H., K. KERTH AND A. M. KUZIRIAN, 2003. Original molluscan radula: Comparisons among Aplacophora, Polyplacophora, Gastropoda, and the Cambrian fossil Wiwaxia corrugata. Journal of Morphology, 257(2): 219-245.
WALCOTT, C. D. 1911. Middle Cambrian annelids. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 57(2): 109-144.
ZHAO, Y.-l., Y. QIAN AND X.-S. LI, 1994. Wiwaxia from Early-Middle Cambrian Kaili Formation in Taijiang, Guizhou. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 33:359-366.


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It was nice to hear Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton say on October 26, "I strongly disagree" with Islamic countries seeking to censor free speech worldwide by making defamation of religion a crime under international law.
But watch what the Obama administration does, not just what it says. I'm not talking about its attacks on Fox News. I'm talking about a little-publicized October 2 resolution in which Clinton's own State Department joined Islamic nations in adopting language all-too-friendly to censoring speech that some religions and races find offensive.
The ambiguously worded United Nations Human Rights Council resolution could plausibly be read as encouraging or even obliging the U.S. to make it a crime to engage in hate speech, or, perhaps, in mere "negative racial and religious stereotyping." This despite decades of First Amendment case law protecting such speech.
To be sure, the provisions to which I refer were a compromise, stopping short of the flat ban on defamation of religion sought by Islamic nations, and they could also be construed more narrowly and innocuously. It all depends on who does the construing.
Is it "negative stereotyping" to say that the world's most dangerous terrorists are Islamists, for example? Many would say yes.
I sketch below how the resolution could be construed to require prosecuting some offensive speech and how it could be used in the long run to change the meaning of our Constitution and laws, based on doctrines developed by legal academics including Obama appointee Harold Koh, the State Department's top lawyer.
Also troublesome on the free-speech front are various remarks by Mark Lloyd, the Federal Communications Commission's associate general counsel and chief diversity officer. Lloyd asserted in a 2006 book, "The purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance." He co-authored a 2007 report calling for regulatory changes to close "the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio." In 2008, he praised the "incredible ... democratic revolution" of Hugo Chavez and implied approval of the thuggish Venezuelan strongman's pattern of shutting down news media opposed to him.
That's how I read Lloyd's videotaped statement, first aired by Glenn Beck of Fox News, in which he said: "The property owners and the folks who then were controlling the media rebelled [against Chavez], worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government, worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country."
Then there was the June 5 high school commencement speech in which White House Communications Director Anita Dunn called Mao Zedong -- one of history's greatest mass murderers and an implacable enemy of free speech -- one of "my favorite political philosophers." Dunn has, coincidentally, been the point person in President Obama's attacks on Fox News.
This is not to suggest that Dunn approves of mass murder or that Obama wants to censor critics. But the ideologies of appointees such as Lloyd and Dunn can have consequences. And in his eagerness to please international opinion, Obama has now taken a small but significant step toward making bad law.
Law -- especially international law -- evolves below the radar, in small moves largely ignored by the mainstream media. Although international resolutions have traditionally not been seen as binding law, the Obama administration is seeded with left-liberal thinkers who have long sought to spin what some call "transnational" law out of such stuff, and who have smiled on efforts to punish speech that is offensive to favored racial, religious, and other groups.
Such attitudes may help explain the administration's decision to join the U.N. Human Rights Council in the first place. Obama reversed a Bush administration policy of shunning this deeply politicized body, which counts as members several flagrant human-rights abusers and which is preoccupied with attacking Israel.
The council's October 2 resolution is ostensibly an endorsement of "freedom of opinion and expression," which seems ironic, given the track records of such members as China, Cuba, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
But the real problem is a provision, which the U.S. championed jointly with Egypt, exuding hostility to free expression.
That provision "expresses its concern that incidents of racial and religious intolerance, discrimination and related violence, as well as of negative racial and religious stereotyping continue to rise around the world, and condemns, in this context, any advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence, and urges States to take effective measures, consistent with their obligations under international human-rights law, to address and combat such incidents" (emphasis added).
What is this clot of verbiage supposed to mean?
It could be read narrowly as a commitment merely to denounce and eschew hate speech. But it could more logically be read broadly as requiring the United States and other nations to punish "hostile" speech about -- and perhaps also "negative stereotyping" of -- any race or religion. It's a safe bet, however, that the Islamic nations that are so concerned about criticisms of their religion will not be prosecuting anyone for the rampant "negative racial and ethnic stereotyping" and hate speech in their own countries directed at Jews and sometimes Christians.
Eugene Volokh of the University of California (Los Angeles) Law School pointed out on his Volokh Conspiracy blog that the reference to "obligations under international human-rights law" could be seen as binding the United States to a provision of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requiring that hate speech "shall be prohibited by law." The U.S. has previously rejected that provision.
Added Volokh: "Advocacy of mere hostility -- for instance... to radical strains of Islam [or any other religion] -- is clearly constitutionally protected here in the U.S.; but the resolution seems to call for its prohibition. [And] if we are constitutionally barred from adhering to it by our domestic Constitution, then [the administration's vote was] implicitly criticizing that Constitution, and committing ourselves to do what we can to change it." Such a stance could be seen as obliging the executive branch to urge the Supreme Court to overrule decades of First Amendment decisions.
Far-fetched? Not according to the hopes and expectations of many international law scholars. "An international norm against hate speech would supply a basis for prohibiting it, the First Amendment notwithstanding.... In the long run, it may point to the Constitution's more complete subordination," Peter Spiro, a professor at Temple University Law School, asserted in a 2003 Stanford Law Review article.
Similarly, if more ambiguously, Koh wrote in another 2003 Stanford Law Review article, "Our exceptional free-speech tradition can cause problems abroad, as, for example, may occur when hate speech is disseminated over the Internet." The Supreme Court, suggested Koh -- then a professor at Yale Law School -- "can moderate these conflicts by applying more consistently the transnationalist approach to judicial interpretation" that he espouses.
Translation: Transnational law may sometimes trump the established interpretation of the First Amendment. This is the clear meaning of Koh's writings, although he implied otherwise during his Senate confirmation hearing.
In my view, Obama should not take even a small step down the road toward bartering away our free-speech rights for the sake of international consensus. "Criticism of religion is the very measure of the guarantee of free speech," as Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, wrote in an October 19 USA Today op-ed.
Even European nations with much weaker free-speech traditions than ours were reportedly dismayed by the American cave-in to Islamic nations on "racial and religious stereotyping" and the rest.
The pressure to censor harsh criticisms of Islam, as well as other religions and groups, began to intensify after bloody riots by Muslims around the world in 2006 over the publication in Denmark of cartoons ridiculing Muhammad.
People have reportedly been prosecuted in Austria, Finland, and India for asserting that Muhammad's marriage to a 9-year-old girl made him a "pedophile." Brigitte Bardot was convicted in 2008 of provoking racial hatred for saying in a letter to France's interior minister that Muslims were ruining France. A 15-year-old boy in Britain was charged under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act last year for holding up a sign outside a Scientology building calling the practice "a dangerous cult." And so on.
We have had no such overt federal government censorship in this country so far. But we have seen plenty of private censorship and self-censorship, especially at our universities, most of which have thinly disguised speech codes.
One example is the spineless decision in August by Yale President Richard Levin and the Yale University Press to remove the Danish cartoons (and all other pictures) of Muhammad from a book about the drawings.
The reaction of the academic world to such episodes has been apathy. The same is true of the response by the academic world, the news media, and civil-liberties groups to the October 2 resolution.
Take The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union. Both were once dependable guardians of uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate, regardless of whose ox was gored. But as best I can tell from their websites, neither has said a word about the Obama administration's collaboration with would-be censors sitting on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Home > Business Why ads for luxury watches are banned in China Reuters Posted at Feb 06 2013 01:34 PM | Updated as of Feb 06 2013 11:19 PM Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Viber BEIJING - Chinese radio and television stations are to ban advertisements for expensive gifts such as watches, rare stamps and gold coins, the Xinhua state news agency said on Wednesday, as part of a push by the government to crack down on extravagance and waste. Such advertisements had "publicised incorrect values and helped create a bad social ethos", the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said in a release, Xinhua said. The ban comes after repeated calls from Xi Jinping, China's president-in-waiting, for a renewed fight against graft. But it could take a toll on luxury product manufacturers who advertise on Chinese television and radio. Makers of expensive Chinese liquors including Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd and Wuliangye Yibin Co Ltd routinely dominate the annual ad auction at China's official television network, CCTV. Producers of the fiery Chinese liquor known as baijiu, which once flowed freely at government banquets, were hit in December by an official ban on alcohol at military events. High-end bottles of the grain-based liquor can cost thousands of yuan. The crackdown on corruption has also hit jewellery retailers hard, especially after high-end watches became a symbol of graft. Hengdeli and Emperor Watch and Jewellery are the among the biggest watch retailers in China and both of their shares were down on Wednesday. Hengdeli had lost 2.2 percent by the early afternoon in Hong Kong while Emperor was down 1 percent. "Watches and liquor have been influenced by government policies and have been pulled down by a change in leadership," Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder of Hurun Report, told Reuters last month. Xi said in a speech on Jan. 22 that targeting the "flies", or lowly people involved in corruption, was just as important as going after the "tigers", or top officials. "As important cultural and ideological strongholds, radio and television channels should fully exert their role of educating the people," a spokesman for SARFT told Xinhua. Xi has warned that a failure to weed out corruption and extravagance would put the ruling Communist Party's survival in jeopardy. The party has been embarrassed by a string of corruption scandals at its highest levels. Xi is due to take over as president at an annual meeting of parliament in March. Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Viber Business,Top Stories,china,luxury goods,luxury watches Read More: china luxury goods luxury watches


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Product carbon footprint training from SGS – meet international life cycle calculation standards.
Product carbon footprinting (PCF) is an approach to calculating the life cycle emissions of a product or service. For a product this includes analysis of the various life cycle stages from raw material extraction and processing, manufacture, distribution, use phase and end of life treatment. Many companies now use this approach to gain a better understanding of carbon emissions through their supply chains and to identify efficiency opportunities.
A number of standards have been developed in this area including PAS 2050 and the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol: Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard. Additionally, a new standard, ISO 14067, is in development. This course provides delegates with an understanding of:
- The process for undertaking a PCF
- PCF Standards (ISO 14067, PAS 2050, WRI Life Cycle Standard)*
- Defining Boundaries
- PCF Quantification
- Reporting
- Preparing for Verification
*note courses may focus on one standard
This course is suitable for those wishing to gain a practical understanding for how to develop and quantify a PCF, and knowledge of the requirements of PCF standards.
The training comprises lecture and workshop exercises.
Check the Training Schedule for further details on public courses in your area or contact us. We can also provide in-house training courses that can be tailored to your needs.
Contact SGS today to discuss your climate change training requirements.
6755 Mississauga Road, Suite 204,
Mississauga, Ontario, CA-ON, Canada


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Four cockatiel fledglings from two clutches owned by the same breeder were reported to have developed temporomandibular rigidity at about 5 weeks of age.
Four cockatiel fledglings from two clutches owned by the same breeder were reported to have developed temporomandibular rigidity at about 5 weeks of age. The owner said that the birds were unable to open their beaks to eat or drink and that one bird had died. Previous clutches had experienced similar problems. The fledglings had been fed a commercial hand-feeding formula. The fledglings' veterinarian had suspected nutritional myopathy due to selenium deficiency and had recommended oral selenium supplementation, but the selenium therapy had proved unsuccessful. Two birds had developed slight or severe beak deviations and had been taken to another veterinarian for a second opinion. The bird with the severe beak deviation was euthanized and submitted for necropsy.
A postmortem examination revealed that the bird had a good body condition. The mouth could not be opened, and the upper beak was markedly deviated to the right. A complete gross examination revealed no other lesions. The temporomandibular joint and overlying musculature appeared normal grossly. A histologic examination revealed subacute mucopurulent rhinitis and sinusitis and proliferative temporomandibular osteoarthritis. The nasal cavity and sinuses contained abundant mucus mixed with moderate numbers of heterophils and cellular debris. Patchy areas of the nasal mucosa were covered with a palisade of small gram-negative, cilia-associated bacilli. The inflammation involving the temporomandibular joint was mild and did not extend into the masticatory musculature.
At necropsy, we seared the exterior of the nasal cavity with the flame from an alcohol burner and opened the nasal cavity sufficiently to introduce a sterile swab. We did not open the temporomandibular joint for examination or culture because the damage produced by these procedures would have prevented microscopic evaluation of the affected tissues. We streaked the nasal swab onto a MacConkey agar plate and incubated the plate at about 98.6 F (37 C). Numerous convex, nonpigmented, 0.1- to 1.5-mm diameter colonies were observed after 24 hours of incubation. After 48 hours, the colonies were umbonate, opaque gray, and about 1 to 1.5 mm in diameter. The organism produced an alkaline slant when inoculated and stabbed into a triple sugar iron (TSI) agar. The colonies were catalase-positive, cytochrome oxidase-positive, and urease-positive. By using a VITEK (bioMérieux) card, we identified the organism as Bordetella bronchiseptica, which we presumed caused the rhinitis, sinusitis, and temporomandibular osteoarthritis. (The VITEK card system is a fully automated bacteriology system that performs bacterial identification and susceptibility testing analyses by using a standard inoculum.) The colony characteristics, TSI slant, and colony biochemical profile findings were consistent with this organism.
Anecdotal reports indicate that lockjaw syndrome is well-recognized by cockatiel breeders; however, veterinary practitioners are frequently not aware of this syndrome or its potential causes. Bordetella avium was the first reported cause of a syndrome that included nestling mortality, rhinitis, sinusitis, and temporomandibular rigidity in 2- to 4-week-old cockatiels and less commonly in conures, cockatoos, and macaws.1 The organism was cultured from the choanae and cloacae of affected birds. Researchers reproduced the syndrome by intranasally instilling a pure culture of B. avium into a group of unaffected cockatiels. Five years later, Enterococcus species infection secondary to feeding with a sharp-edged, curve-tipped syringe was reported to have caused an outbreak of lockjaw syndrome in 3- to 6-week-old cockatiels.2
Recently, lockjaw syndrome was reported in 3- to 10-week-old cockatiels.3 This report indicated that not only B. avium but numerous other bacteria were isolated from affected juveniles.3 Other organisms isolated included Escherichia coli, Enterococcus species, Aerococcus species, Bacillus species, Klebsiella species, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and Mycoplasma synoviae. These researchers observed that all reports had been restricted to sinusitis and upper respiratory problems in captive-reared, young cockatiels. Thus, they suggested that cockatiels may be predisposed to bacteria-related lockjaw because of an unusual cranial air sac or nasal sinus conformation through which an upper respiratory infection can easily disseminate to adjacent muscles, nerves, or joints. An alternative hypothesis was that young cockatiels have weaker local immune responses in their nasal passages than other young psittacine species.3
Bordetella avium can cause turkey coryza, a highly contagious upper respiratory tract disease in young turkeys.4 And both B. avium and B. bronchiseptica have been indicated as a cause of pseudomembranous tracheitis and septicemia in ostrich chicks.1 Both Bordetella species produce a dermonecrotic toxin. The toxin produced by B. bronchiseptica can cause atrophic rhinitis in swine.5 So a dermonecrotic toxin produced by B. avium and B. bronchiseptica may play an important role in producing rhinitis, sinusitis, and temporomandibular osteomyelitis. Additionally, damage caused by a dermonecrotic toxin produced during a subclinical Bordetella species infection could predispose cockatiels and other psittacine birds to secondary opportunistic bacterial infections. Secondary invaders could rapidly become the predominant organisms since Bordetella species proliferate at a slower rate than many of the other cited organisms, at least when grown on culture media.
No effective treatment is available for cockatiel chicks or fledglings exhibiting signs of disease. Euthanasia is the most humane solution. A vaccine is not available for use in cockatiels, though vaccines are available for use in turkeys.
1. Clubb SL, Homer BL, Pisani J, et al. Outbreaks of bordetellosis in psittacines and ostriches, in Proceedings. Annu Conf Assoc Avian Vet 1994;63-68.
2. Greenacre CB, Wilson GH, Ritchie BW. Enterococcus species-associated temporomandibular arthritis in cockatiels. Vet Med 1999;94:907-909.
3. Fitzgerald SD, Hanika C, Reed WM. Lockjaw syndrome in cockatiels associated with sinusitis. Avian Pathol 2001;30:49-53.
4. Skeeles JK, Arp LH. Bordetellosis (turkey coryza). In: Calnek BW et al, eds. Diseases of poultry. 10th ed. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1977;275-288.
5. Brockmeier SL, Register KB, Magyar T, et al. Role of the dermonecrotic toxin of Bordetella bronchiseptica in the pathogenesis of respiratory disease in swine. Infect Immunol 2002;70
The information for this case was provided by Neil Allison, DVM, DACVP, and Alice Smith, BS, C.E. Kord Animal Disease Laboratory, Ellington Agriculture Center, 440 Hogan Road, Nashville, TN 37220. Dr. Allisonâs current address is Experimental Pathology Laboratories Inc., P.O. Box 12766, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.


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Viva Streets and Ciclovia
The word "Ciclovia" is a Spanish term for "Bike Parkway", but I'm calling it a bicycle celebration. Back in the early 80's, the people of Bogata, Columbia created the idea of Ciclovia as a way to battle against the traffic congestion found in their city and to this date they still hold a 70 mile celebration each Sunday.
This idea has caught on around the world and here in North America most places have changed the name to Viva Streets. Portland, San Francisco, Madison, New York, Los Angeles and other cities in the US have made this a part of their city's culture and now Austin is holding their own Viva Street Celebration. This Sunday (May 20th), the city will be blocking off Sixth Street between Brazos Street and Robert Martinez Jr Street so that it can be opened up to bikes, skaters, strollers, skateboards….or even some street yoga or hula hooping.
Our friends from Viva la Bicicleta will have a booth set up during Viva Streets (you just knew they had to be involved in something like this). I'll be roaming the event on my bicicleta and also hanging at their booth as well….come find me.
If you live in Austin or will be here that day, be sure to join in on this car-free and tobacco-free playground. If not, check and see if your city holds a Viva Streets festival or plans on hosting one. Give it up to the Columbians for coming up with such a great idea.
Have you ever experienced a Ciclovia or Viva Streets? Let's hear all about it.


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If you have a finished project you're now bored with, here's Tindie. It's a one-man operation headed b [emile] that hopes to connect makers with people who think DIY projects are really cool and have money.
There are already a few websites that cater to the builder who wants to sell projects: Kickstarter for one, but this is based on the concept of campaigns. Tindie aims to be a techie etsy, according to [emile]'s market research post on reddit; a places for makers with a soldering iron to sell stuff, but who are baffled by the concept of knitting.
Right now there's nothing to buy on Tindie – [emile] is looking for hackers to sell their projects so the store doesn't launch with an empty stockroom. If you've got an old project sitting on your shelf that you'd like to sell, put it up. [emile] is only taking 5% of the sales – just enough to pay for the hosting. Hopefully it will be popular enough for the eventual Tindie/regretsy blog.


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Using rinse aid
We highly recommend using liquid rinse aid regularly to get the best drying results. Rinse aid gives a streak-free, sparkling clean look to glass and chinaware. In addition, it prevents metal from tarnishing.
When to refill the rinse aid dispenser
When rinse aid level becomes low, the rinse aid indicator on the control panel will light up to remind you to refill the dispenser.
When you have the dishwasher door open you can also check the rinse aid level using the indicators on the dispenser inside the dishwasher.
Rinse aid level indicators (rinse aid dispenser)
Adjusting the rinse aid dosage
The normal, factory-set dosage level is 5, but you
Rinse aid indicator (on control panel)
How to refill the rinse aid dispenser


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Lily has always been a huge fan of music and loves to have a little boogie. So when we found out we were getting sent some very special music from Sing my Name we was very excited.
So what makes this music so exciting?
Sing my name is exactly what it says in the title. Music that is personalised with your little ones name.
Sing my name has CD's available, Alarm Clocks and these very cool bunny shaped music players.
We were sent a CD and Music player to review.
We firstly wanted to listen to the music and so stuck the CD on straight away. Lily instantly loved it. Im not sure if she recognises the fact it has her name in the songs as she is to young to tell me if she does, but she instantly started dancing around the room to it.
The CD has 12 personalised songs on it and your child's name isn't just mentioned once, its repeated throughout the song. In fact on the entire Cd your child's name is mentioned over 90 times.
Then we gave the music player a try.
We got the Pink bunny music player and I just love the look of it. Its such a great character design and I think it could be happily loved by all ages. As soon as I took it out the box Lily instantly wanted to play with it and press the buttons.
The bunny has a really cute face with a happy expression and we just love the little soft ears that it has. You hold down the play button to turn it on, so I had to do this part for Lily but a older child could easily do it by themselves. Then you can choose from Fun, Sleep, Wake up or Story time.
The wakeup song is brilliant though, and I've already learnt the words. I think it will be a lovely way to start the day each day by listening to it. What better way to raise the morning mood by playing some happy music.
Lily really enjoyed playing the music and would jig the bunny up and down to the beat. She would also put it to her ear to listen to it. Not that it doesn't go loud enough with the tail being a volume control on the back. She also liked pressing the pause button and then giving a great big applause as the music stopped. Then would shout "again" and press play.
The quality of the music coming from the speakers is brilliant. You can tell that the bunny has decent speakers built in.
The features of the bunny don't stop there. The story mode is very impressive. You can record your voice reading a story and play it back. I actually own personalised books so will be lovely to record these stories to stick with the name theme of the Sing My Name. With 2GB of space there is plenty of room for stories and more songs.
Also the bunny acts as a light. The face lights up and so do the ears. Which can be lovely for bedtime or even for turning out the lights to dance along with the music like a little disco. The ears change colours to.
Then when your done playing with it its very easy to charge up with a USB to plug into your computer.
Overall we are so pleased with this product and I think it would make a great gift for your child. Especially if you are a big fan of getting things that are personalised for them. I know that as Lily learns her name more and more she will also love these songs and this bunny more and more. We are definetly going to get plenty of use out of it.
The bunny is £39.95 and well worth the money. You can also buy the bunny in blue.
If you would like to find out more about Sing my Name, head to the website here.
Now your in luck. Sing My Name has one Bunny Player to give away. In the colour of your choice.
Enter on the Gleam app below for your chance to win.
Win a Sing My Name Bunny


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This is important – We are underestimating the problem, and overstating our capacity (#NewLeadership Series by Chude Jideonwo)
There is a truth young Nigerians need to know – and it is that if many of us find the privilege to step into public office today, we will act the exact same way as many of those whom we criticise, even despise.
Recover quickly and let's interrogate that assertion.
The problem is neither a default in character (the "all Nigerians young and old are corrupt" doctrine) nor a sudden absence of conscience – the problem is, as I see it, one of understanding.
More than once, I have quieted down and listened to government officials who were once activists or critics or columnists or opposition members repeat that they "did not fully understand the depths of the problem that existed" or that suddenly they have seen the light.
That in itself is a major problem, and I don't think we understand how grave a challenge it presents – and why we need to pay attention to what these people are saying.
It is very troubling to listen to the public discourse amongst young people and see them belittle and simplify the magnitude of the problems Nigeria faces or why it has been impossible for many brilliant, determined Nigerians in government to fulfill the promise that they made orrepresented.
They are preparing themselves to fall into the same traps that have caught their predecessors.
Let's look back on perhaps the finest example of this tragedy – Bola Ige, that excellent man who government took away from us. It had been barely days since he joined the government, without looking at the files, sitting down with the decision makers, understanding the bottlenecks or indeed having a cup of coffee to think over the mountains ahead, but he went to the public space and declared that he would solve the problems of NEPA in a couple of months.
His timeline came and passed – and, of course, he failed.
Government in Nigeria is surely not a matter solely of good intentions.
If you are a politician, you face a number of woes: a severely corrupt set of grassroots politicians that subsists almost entirely on cash-patronage and is driven by primal, primitive interests. To break all that English into a simple phrase – it is cash-and-carry (to win a local government election in the South-West, I have heard, you need at least N20 million).
You face an electorate populace that will sit outside the home of a Senator to get their "dividends of democracy", most times in cash. On rare occasions, they demand that a legislator sink a borehole in the community or build a bridge, a responsibility that is neither his nor does he oversee whose it is.
If you are, say a minister, your woes surely multiply – government is a complex layer of mundane, redundant, and gravity-defying bureaucracy that can consume (and corrupt) you. There are permanent secretaries who have outlived two decades of ministers whom you have to co-opt or circumvent (ask Adenike Grange). By the way, you cannot fire them, nor can you discipline them.
The Ministry of Youth Development is perhaps a good example here. It is a ministry that "handles" the National Youth Service Corps, but then, that is easily a joke.
Despite the fact that its budget is taken almost 90 per cent by the service corps scheme, the minister unfortunately has very little control over matters as simple as whether corps members allowances have been paid – in fact, effectively, the director-general and other officials of of the Corps are beyond his control No amount of "fire and brimstone' threats can make any real change in those places unless he somehow finds himself having the ears of the president on a constant basis. Unfortunately, youth development is not a 'powerful' ministry – another major problem.
You find yourself beholden to a severely corrupt National Assembly whose members have been there since democracy returned in1999, who already know "how things are done here" and are armed, dangerously, with small minds and huge egos.
You are pressured on every corner to ease your own passage during sittings and hearings (ask Fabian Osuji) for everything fromyour budget to mini-controversies, and you find yourself having to learn a whole new range of social skills to get any work done.
And I have only mentioned two principalities.
One remembers Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala tell a tale on her first course in Nigerian government about how she had to go out and buy pens for the ministry herself because the process of getting the monies out was about to drive her crazy. And that's just pens.
Have I told you the story of a government minister who entered into office and sought to do the simplest thing possible –a re-design of the ministry's website?
Ah, then maybe I should tell you. First and foremost, the directors in his office could give him no clues, claiming the previous minister had single-handedly managed the site. There was no email trail made available to the new minister, no proper handover in documented format (theminister before him had simply upped and left).
When he eventually got a contact, informally, to the special assistant to the former minister (whom, as you must recall was no longer in the vicinity), he was told that the contractor who managed the back-end of the site could not reached.
Cut a long story short, to get anything done, he had to register a whole new URL and get a new website designed, leading to a situation where different ministries in Nigerians government circles have wildly different URLs.
Of course, when you go down to Twitter to hear the chatter, you hear things like this: "Why can't this minsiter do a simple thing like change the website of this country?! Why do we have such daft people in government in Nigeria?"
The problem unfortunately, is not daft people. The problem is a daft system that has made itself so impossible to change that it takes the will and guts of a mad man.
What do you find, therefore? Brilliant technocracts who have blazed trails internationally or in the private sector or in the development community who find themselves hampered by the labyrinth of government in Nigeria – where they are unable to do the most basic things. Cushioned unfortunately by the interminable luxuries of that same government, they will not resign, but will simply throw their hands in the air, do the little that they can to "satisfy their conscience", moan about how terrible it is to steer any change in Nigeria.
Where they are smarter, they launch into quick wins – developing a string of nice-sounding ideas and projects that will quickly win them column inches and the admiration of donors and foreign governments. They are seen as visionary and transformative, but they know that the minute they step out of government, their unsustainable ideas will be churned out, along with their strategists, consultants, and other suits.
The result is that we take no step forward, and two backwards.
This is the challenge that a new generation of leaders faces. Government is the most important force for change in any society so ultimately to make any sustainable change, you have to have people in this imperfect, impossible governance structure.
Getting into public service without seeking to correctly understand how deep the corruption, the ineptitude, and the failure of common processes runs means that you are getting into government without the competence and the capacity that you truly need to make any change possible.
We don't need another generational merry go round where people go into government all fired up and ready to go and come out with no concrete achievement – ending up as additions to the long list of failed "whizkids".
Therefore, any young person who is desirous of joining that system (indeed, any system) on a tangential or major level, must begin to take the time to understand that system –indirectly through observation, monitoring, and knowledge osmosis (conferences, sittings, etc), or directly through internships, mentorships and other interactions.
That is what will truly differentiate a new generation of leaders from the old: knowledge, and the capacity to make change happen.
Not to complain about how hard it is when you eventually arrive there, not to be crippled by the relentless graft that defines it, not to be slowed down by its institutionalided inadequacies; but to come into those offices fully understanding the complexity of our problems and how deep they run and armed with a plan and a strategy on how to circumvent or de-mobilise those situations and achieve sterling results.
For now, we are not at that stage yet.
Many of us are still under-estimating the problem, and we are over-stating our own capacity to make that change happen simply because we have read a couple of textbooks that have outlined "alternative sources of energy in emerging economies", we have not faced any situations that test our character, or have attended one or two conferences on "The Asian Tigers" during our summer holidays at Stanford.
Many of us still imagine for instance – and this is truly worrisome – that good intentions are enough to solve our power problems and dismiss the circling of vultures including ex-heads of state who have vested interests in that sector and will fight reform tooth and nail; or that it takes just one fiery senator to dismantle the wickedness in high places that are siphoning Nigeria's oil wealth.
I'm sorry, but it doesn't have anything to do with passion, or righteous indignation. It has everything to do with the competence and the capacity to navigate these treacherous waters.
The solution bears repeating – Any young person who is desirous of joining that system (indeed, any system) on a tangential or major level, must begin to take the time to understand that system –indirectly through observation, monitoring, and knowledge osmosis (conferences, sittings, etc), or directly through internships, mentorships and other interactions.
These are not times for trial by error.
Chude Jideonwo is publisher/editor-in-chief of Y!, including Y! Magazine, Y! Books, Y! TV & YNaija.com. He is also executive director of The Future Project/The Future Awards. #NewLeadership is a twice-weekly, 12-week project to inspire action from a new generation of leaders – it ends on March 31.


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The Office U.S. Vs. The Office U.K.: Which Comedy Wins Out?
Some might argue that comparing art is a fruitless exercise. They'd probably be right. Pitting one work against the other in some kind of quality competition certainly goes against the spirit of any true artistic endeavor. But sitcoms aren't really art and nobody likes fruit. Obviously, I'm kidding. Fruit is healthy as well as delicious. And sitcoms can occasionally be Art with a capital 'A.' Now, with that pretentious bit of rationalizing out of the way, what version of The Office is better? U.K. or U.S.?
Is there a correct answer? Again, probably not. But that's not going to stop me from trying to argue one. And, after a look deep inside myself not to mention a look back through both Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's original and Greg Daniels' remake (thanks, Netflix), I'd have to go with the U.S. version of The Office.. It pretty much boils down to one reason, there's just more of it to love. Yes. I'm taking the stance that the British model of limited 'series' (seasons for us) per show, which in turn contain fewer episodes, may provide a better batting average but at the end of the day two hundred and one trumps twelve and one.
Why else would we get upset when our favorite shows get cancelled after one, two or three seasons? Don't leave us wanting more, give us what we want! Besides, even the batting average assertion is up for debate because, if one incarnation was so superior to the other, I wouldn't even be having this one-sided conversation in the first place. If you combined the two and made a list of the best installments, would the British rank 1 to 13 with the American 201 bringing up the rear? I don't think so. There's a long list of great episodes in the remake, easily three to four times as many as the original and that's assuming that every one of the Gervais' is above criticism.
I'll even go out on that limb and say that The American's lighter tone doesn't just make it more 'accessible' (it still has it's own edge) but also ultimately the funnier and more impressive of the two. Comedy out of positivity is hard. And it's not just that Daniels' adaptation is easier to watch, but that the laughs are not entirely born out of exploiting the awkward or the taboo. Entirely might be unfair since there's some sweetness in the British series (Tim and Dawn), however, I can say that "The Christmas Special" was one of the most depressing comedies I have ever watched. David Brent (Gervais) gets his happy ending but only after being put through the wringer for over an hour. Or more accurately, seven.
Despite having the same setting, adapted story-lines and similar characters, The Offices are two very different series tonally. There's still a significant amount of humor coming from uncomfortable situations on the American show, however, there are as many or more hilarious moments that are also sweet, sincere and fun. It's no surprise that the heir apparent to, well, both, Parks and Recreation - which might be the best sitcom on network TV - comes from the same people, namely Daniels and Michael Schur aka Mose Schrute, who worked on making the U.S. version special for so many years.
Too many? Perhaps. But the longevity, as I've been saying, is what has also allowed The Office to grow bigger and better than the original. Not all the episodes are great. The show surely overstayed its welcome, but thankfully no where close to Simpsons levels and there were always great episodes right up until this final year. Season 9 produced a few installments on par with Seasons 2 through 5 as well as adding an interesting twist on mockumentary by bringing the 'crew' into the story. And isn't it a lot harder to craft a couple hundred funny stories than a baker's dozen? Especially since sitcoms aren't meant to be watched once (syndication, DVDs or streaming), it's a big bonus to have a huge catalogue to play and replay. 201 > 13.
The most obvious benefit of the longer engagement, as well as the most compelling reason why the adaptation is better than the original, is the extra time to develop the supporting cast and their stories. It's difficult to create that many fleshed out characters in only 13 episodes. Even if you think Brent was better than Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) - he's not, largely because of Carell's performance - or choose Tim and Dawn over Jim and Pam - really tough call - or prefer Gareth to Dwight - the former may have an edge - there's no comparison when it comes to the rest of The Office.
There are a lot of laughs from the likes of Angela, Kelly, Oscar, Kevin, Creed, Ryan, Meredith, Phyllis, Stanley and Darryl. And Andy, Erin and Gabe. Oh, and I guess, Toby. Not to mention the many underused characters or long list of great guest stars along the way. I mean, Angela and Dwight's relationship alone makes a convincing case to choose the American version over the British. Again. Not that you should have to choose. But in a desert island scenario, which version are you taking?
This poll is no longer available.
The Office special two-hour series finale airs Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC. It starts with an hour long retrospective before the show wraps with Episode(s) 200/201, "Finale."
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Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
- Died:
- May 21, 1786 (aged 43) Sweden
- Subjects Of Study:
- barium oxide hydrogen sulfide inorganic compound organic compound oxygen
Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Carl also spelled Karl, (born December 9, 1742, Stralsund, Pomerania [now in Germany]—died May 21, 1786, Köping, Sweden), German Swedish chemist who independently discovered oxygen, chlorine, and manganese.
Scheele, the son of a German merchant, was born in a part of Germany that was under Swedish jurisdiction. In 1757 Scheele was apprenticed to a pharmacist in Gothenburg, Sweden. His interest in chemistry arose during his apprenticeship, and he read extensively and experimented frequently with the large variety of chemicals available to him. In 1765 he finished his apprenticeship and moved to Malmö, Sweden, to work at a pharmacy. In Malmö he made his first contacts with the academic world through the Swedish anatomist Anders Jahan Retzius at Lund University.
In 1768 Scheele moved to Stockholm, both for another job at a pharmacy and to get closer to scientific circles. In 1770 he took yet another pharmacy position, in Uppsala. During his years there, he became acquainted with the famous Swedish chemists Johan Gottlieb Gahn and Torbern Bergman, developing a fruitful friendship with the latter that lasted until the death of Bergman in 1784. After five happy years in Uppsala, Scheele moved to the small town of Köping to become an apothecary with his own business. He settled down permanently, only going to Stockholm to formally pass an apothecary exam and to take his place in the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1775. From the Academy he also received a yearly pension, which enabled him to continue his chemical experiments. In 1786 he died prematurely, his health most likely damaged from frequent experiments with cyanide and arsenic without proper ventilation. On his deathbed, Scheele married the widow of the town's former apothecary, who had stayed on as his housekeeper, in order to transfer the pharmacy and his other assets to her.
Scheele developed an outstanding and unequaled analytical skill, the more remarkable considering the primitive circumstances under which he worked. He had no proper oven to generate enough heat to analyze minerals, and his simple instruments were borrowed or improvised from the equipment of his pharmacies. His most ingenious experimental devices were constructed for the study of gases, where he made remarkable experiments with the help of simple tubes, retorts, and above all a well-prepared oxen bladder.
In 1770 Scheele's name first occurred in print in an article by Retzius on tartaric acid, to which Scheele had made crucial contributions. In 1774 Scheele was urged by Bergman to publish an important experiment with black magnesia (pyrolusite). Scheele had treated the mineral with muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) and noticed a hitherto-unknown gas develop, which he called "dephlogisticated muriatic acid" (chlorine). He also suspected that black magnesia contained a new mineral (manganese), but he was unable to isolate it. Finally, he announced the existence of the new earth baryta (barium oxide).
Scheele worked in all of the existing fields of chemistry. Among his many important contributions was the study of mineral acids, such as arsenic acid, molybdic acid, and tungstic acid. He also distinguished molybdenite and graphite, worked on phosphorus and its compounds, studied the effect of light on silver salts, and determined the properties of hydrofluoric acid, as well as many of its salts.
Also important was his work in organic analysis, a natural field for an apothecary with a weak oven. He studied or isolated for the first time many organic acids, among them tartaric, oxalic, lactic, mucic, uric, prussic, citric, malic (which he called "acid of apples"), gallic, and pyrogallic acids, as well as other organic substances such as casein, aldehyde, and glycerol.
However, Scheele is best remembered for his role in the discovery of oxygen, as described in his only book, Chemische Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer (1777; "Chemical Treatise on Air and Fire"). Scheele made his discovery independently, but simultaneously with the English clergyman and scientist Joseph Priestley. Like most chemists, they were convinced that air consists of at least two different kinds of airs: one that sustains combustion and one that does not. Scheele measured the amount of the air suitable for combustion and found it to be about one-fourth of ordinary air. To isolate a pure sample of this gas, he tried heating different substances, such as mercury oxide, and black magnesia. He interpreted the experiments according to the prevailing phlogiston theory and called the gas "fire air." The theory explained combustion by assuming the existence of a hypothetical substance, phlogiston, that left a material as it burned. Thus, when all of a material's phlogiston had disappeared, combustion ceased. The theory was experimentally well-founded and dominant among 18th-century chemists, and Scheele was no exception. Chlorine was thus "dephlogisticated muriatic acid," oxygen was "fire air," and so forth. With his own work, he efficiently proved the functionality of the phlogiston theory.
In his youth, Scheele did not think much in theoretical matters, and he did not, until Retzius taught him, take regular laboratory notes. The friendship with Bergman made his work more coherent and not as sketchy and hazardous as before. His chemical thinking became more organized, but he continued to consult Bergman on theoretical matters. For his part, Bergman profited heavily from Scheele's analytical skill, as did many other chemists. Scheele's cryptic laboratory notes are supposed to contain the details of 15,000 to 20,000 experiments, of which just a minor part have been published. His life in chemistry circled around experiments; he left the development of the theory of chemistry to others.Anders Lundgren


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Kelsey Brookes emailed over some images of his current show running through July 31st in LA @New Image. Also showing is Albert Reyes who opens Future Colors of America Thursday @Fecal face Dot Gallery w/ Matt Furie and Aiyana Udesen in SF (7-10pm)
I don't think at this point it needs to be written since the last update to Fecal Face was a long time ago, but...
I, John Trippe, have put this baby Fecal Face to bed. I'm now focusing my efforts on running ECommerce at DLX which I'm very excited about... I guess you can't take skateboarding out of a skateboarder.
It was a great 15 years, and most of that effort can still be found within the site. Click around. There's a lot of content to explore.
Hit me up if you have any ECommerce related questions. - trippe.io


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An asset is any file contained within a Python package which is not a Python source code file. For example, each of the following is an asset:
The use of assets is quite common in most web development projects. For example, when you create a Pyramid application using one of the available scaffolds, as described in Creating the Project, the directory representing the application contains a Python package. Within that Python package, there are directories full of files which are static assets. For example, there's a static directory which contains .css, .js, and .gif files. These asset files are delivered when a user visits an application URL.
Let's imagine you've created a Pyramid application that uses a Chameleon ZPT template via the pyramid.renderers.render_to_response() API. For example, the application might address the asset using the asset specification myapp:templates/some_template.pt using that API within a views.py file inside a myapp package:
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from pyramid.renderers import render_to_response
render_to_response('myapp:templates/some_template.pt', {}, request)
"Under the hood", when this API is called, Pyramid attempts to make sense out of the string myapp:templates/some_template.pt provided by the developer. This string is an asset specification. It is composed of two parts:
The two parts are separated by the colon character.
Pyramid uses the Python pkg_resources API to resolve the package name and asset name to an absolute (operating-system-specific) file name. It eventually passes this resolved absolute filesystem path to the Chameleon templating engine, which then uses it to load, parse, and execute the template file.
There is a second form of asset specification: a relative asset specification. Instead of using an "absolute" asset specification which includes the package name, in certain circumstances you can omit the package name from the specification. For example, you might be able to use templates/mytemplate.pt instead of myapp:templates/some_template.pt. Such asset specifications are usually relative to a "current package." The "current package" is usually the package which contains the code that uses the asset specification. Pyramid APIs which accept relative asset specifications typically describe what the asset is relative to in their individual documentation.
add_static_view() cannot serve a single file, nor can it serve a directory of static files directly relative to the root URL of a Pyramid application. For these features, see Advanced: Serving Static Assets Using a View Callable.
Here's an example of a use of add_static_view() that will serve files up from the /var/www/static directory of the computer which runs the Pyramid application as URLs beneath the /static URL prefix.
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# config is an instance of pyramid.config.Configurator
config.add_static_view(name='static', path='/var/www/static')
The name represents a URL prefix. In order for files that live in the path directory to be served, a URL that requests one of them must begin with that prefix. In the example above, name is static, and path is /var/www/static. In English, this means that you wish to serve the files that live in /var/www/static as sub-URLs of the /static URL prefix. Therefore, the file /var/www/static/foo.css will be returned when the user visits your application's URL /static/foo.css.
A static directory named at path may contain subdirectories recursively, and any subdirectories may hold files; these will be resolved by the static view as you would expect. The Content-Type header returned by the static view for each particular type of file is dependent upon its file extension.
By default, all files made available via add_static_view() are accessible by completely anonymous users. Simple authorization can be required, however. To protect a set of static files using a permission, in addition to passing the required name and path arguments, also pass the permission keyword argument to add_static_view(). The value of the permission argument represents the permission that the user must have relative to the current context when the static view is invoked. A user will be required to possess this permission to view any of the files represented by path of the static view. If your static assets must be protected by a more complex authorization scheme, see Advanced: Serving Static Assets Using a View Callable.
Here's another example that uses an asset specification instead of an absolute path as the path argument. To convince add_static_view() to serve files up under the /static URL from the a/b/c/static directory of the Python package named some_package, we can use a fully qualified asset specification as the path:
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# config is an instance of pyramid.config.Configurator
config.add_static_view(name='static', path='some_package:a/b/c/static')
The path provided to add_static_view() may be a fully qualified asset specification or an absolute path.
Instead of representing a URL prefix, the name argument of a call to add_static_view() can alternately be a URL. Each of examples we've seen so far have shown usage of the name argument as a URL prefix. However, when name is a URL, static assets can be served from an external webserver. In this mode, the name is used as the URL prefix when generating a URL using pyramid.request.Request.static_url().
For example, add_static_view() may be fed a name argument which is http://example.com/images:
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# config is an instance of pyramid.config.Configurator
Because add_static_view() is provided with a name argument that is the URL http://example.com/images, subsequent calls to static_url() with paths that start with the path argument passed to add_static_view() will generate a URL something like http://example.com/images/logo.png. The external webserver listening on example.com must be itself configured to respond properly to such a request. The static_url() API is discussed in more detail later in this chapter.
When a add_static_view() method is used to register a static asset directory, a special helper API named pyramid.request.Request.static_url() can be used to generate the appropriate URL for an asset that lives in one of the directories named by the static registration path attribute.
For example, let's assume you create a set of static declarations like so:
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config.add_static_view(name='static1', path='mypackage:assets/1')
config.add_static_view(name='static2', path='mypackage:assets/2')
These declarations create URL-accessible directories which have URLs that begin with /static1 and /static2, respectively. The assets in the assets/1 directory of the mypackage package are consulted when a user visits a URL which begins with /static1, and the assets in the assets/2 directory of the mypackage package are consulted when a user visits a URL which begins with /static2.
You needn't generate the URLs to static assets "by hand" in such a configuration. Instead, use the static_url() API to generate them for you. For example:
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from pyramid.chameleon_zpt import render_template_to_response
def my_view(request):
css_url = request.static_url('mypackage:assets/1/foo.css')
js_url = request.static_url('mypackage:assets/2/foo.js')
return render_template_to_response('templates/my_template.pt',
css_url = css_url,
js_url = js_url)
If the request "application URL" of the running system is http://example.com, the css_url generated above would be: http://example.com/static1/foo.css. The js_url generated above would be http://example.com/static2/foo.js.
One benefit of using the static_url() function rather than constructing static URLs "by hand" is that if you need to change the name of a static URL declaration, the generated URLs will continue to resolve properly after the rename.
URLs may also be generated by static_url() to static assets that live outside the Pyramid application. This will happen when the add_static_view() API associated with the path fed to static_url() is a URL instead of a view name. For example, the name argument may be http://example.com while the path given may be mypackage:images:
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Under such a configuration, the URL generated by static_url for assets which begin with mypackage:images will be prefixed with http://example.com/images:
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# -> http://example.com/images/logo.png
Using static_url() in conjunction with a add_static_view() makes it possible to put static media on a separate webserver during production (if the name argument to add_static_view() is a URL), while keeping static media package-internal and served by the development webserver during development (if the name argument to add_static_view() is a URL prefix). To create such a circumstance, we suggest using the pyramid.registry.Registry.settings API in conjunction with a setting in the application .ini file named media_location. Then set the value of media_location to either a prefix or a URL depending on whether the application is being run in development or in production (use a different .ini file for production than you do for development). This is just a suggestion for a pattern; any setting name other than media_location could be used.
For more flexibility, static assets can be served by a view callable which you register manually. For example, if you're using URL dispatch, you may want static assets to only be available as a fallback if no previous route matches. Alternately, you might like to serve a particular static asset manually, because its download requires authentication.
Note that you cannot use the static_url() API to generate URLs against assets made accessible by registering a custom static view.
The pyramid.static.static_view helper class generates a Pyramid view callable. This view callable can serve static assets from a directory. An instance of this class is actually used by the add_static_view() configuration method, so its behavior is almost exactly the same once it's configured.
The following example will not work for applications that use traversal, it will only work if you use URL dispatch exclusively. The root-relative route we'll be registering will always be matched before traversal takes place, subverting any views registered via add_view (at least those without a route_name). A static_view static view cannot be made root-relative when you use traversal unless it's registered as a Not Found view.
To serve files within a directory located on your filesystem at /path/to/static/dir as the result of a "catchall" route hanging from the root that exists at the end of your routing table, create an instance of the static_view class inside a static.py file in your application root as below.
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from pyramid.static import static_view
static_view = static_view('/path/to/static/dir', use_subpath=True)
For better cross-system flexibility, use an asset specification as the argument to static_view instead of a physical absolute filesystem path, e.g. mypackage:static instead of /path/to/mypackage/static.
Subsequently, you may wire the files that are served by this view up to be accessible as /<filename> using a configuration method in your application's startup code.
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# .. every other add_route declaration should come
# before this one, as it will, by default, catch all requests
config.add_route('catchall_static', '/*subpath')
config.add_view('myapp.static.static_view', route_name='catchall_static')
The special name *subpath above is used by the static_view view callable to signify the path of the file relative to the directory you're serving.
You can register a simple view callable to serve a single static asset. To do so, do things "by hand". First define the view callable.
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import os
from pyramid.response import FileResponse
def favicon_view(request):
here = os.path.dirname(__file__)
icon = os.path.join(here, 'static', 'favicon.ico')
return FileResponse(icon, request=request)
The above bit of code within favicon_view computes "here", which is a path relative to the Python file in which the function is defined. It then creates a pyramid.response.FileResponse using the file path as the response's path argument and the request as the response's request argument. pyramid.response.FileResponse will serve the file as quickly as possible when it's used this way. It makes sure to set the right content length and content_type too based on the file extension of the file you pass.
You might register such a view via configuration as a view callable that should be called as the result of a traversal:
config.add_view('myapp.views.favicon_view', name='favicon.ico')
Or you might register it to be the view callable for a particular route:
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config.add_route('favicon', '/favicon.ico')
config.add_view('myapp.views.favicon_view', route_name='favicon')
Because this is a simple view callable, it can be protected with a permission or can be configured to respond under different circumstances using view predicate arguments.
It can often be useful to override specific assets from "outside" a given Pyramid application. For example, you may wish to reuse an existing Pyramid application more or less unchanged. However, some specific template file owned by the application might have inappropriate HTML, or some static asset (such as a logo file or some CSS file) might not be appropriate. You could just fork the application entirely, but it's often more convenient to just override the assets that are inappropriate and reuse the application "as is". This is particularly true when you reuse some "core" application over and over again for some set of customers (such as a CMS application, or some bug tracking application), and you want to make arbitrary visual modifications to a particular application deployment without forking the underlying code.
To this end, Pyramid contains a feature that makes it possible to "override" one asset with one or more other assets. In support of this feature, a Configurator API exists named pyramid.config.Configurator.override_asset(). This API allows you to override the following kinds of assets defined in any Python package:
An individual call to override_asset() can override a single asset. For example:
1 2 3
The string value passed to both to_override and override_with sent to the override_asset API is called an asset specification. The colon separator in a specification separates the package name from the asset name. The colon and the following asset name are optional. If they are not specified, the override attempts to resolve every lookup into a package from the directory of another package. For example:
1 2
Individual subdirectories within a package can also be overridden:
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If you wish to override a directory with another directory, you must make sure to attach the slash to the end of both the to_override specification and the override_with specification. If you fail to attach a slash to the end of a specification that points to a directory, you will get unexpected results.
You cannot override a directory specification with a file specification, and vice versa: a startup error will occur if you try. You cannot override an asset with itself: a startup error will occur if you try.
Only individual package assets may be overridden. Overrides will not traverse through subpackages within an overridden package. This means that if you want to override assets for both some.package:templates, and some.package.views:templates, you will need to register two overrides.
The package name in a specification may start with a dot, meaning that the package is relative to the package in which the configuration construction file resides (or the package argument to the Configurator class construction). For example:
1 2
Multiple calls to override_asset which name a shared to_override but a different override_with specification can be "stacked" to form a search path. The first asset that exists in the search path will be used; if no asset exists in the override path, the original asset is used.
Asset overrides can actually override assets other than templates and static files. Any software which uses the pkg_resources.get_resource_filename(), pkg_resources.get_resource_stream() or pkg_resources.get_resource_string() APIs will obtain an overridden file when an override is used.


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Quotes tagged "Butterfly"
Anastasia: You're a caterpillar. We're a cocoon. Maybe together, we make a butterfly."
Beautiful to look at
But hard to catch."
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This page was created by our editorial team. Each page is manually curated, researched, collected, and issued by our staff writers. Quotes contained on this page have been double checked for their citations, their accuracy and the impact it will have on our readers.
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McCain Urges US Help for Syria Without 'Boots on the Ground'
Sen. John McCain said Sunday that the United States must help the people of Syria who are potentially being attacked by chemical weapons, but warned repeatedly that U.S. troops on the ground would be the worst thing America could do right now.
Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, McCain, one of the most outspoken lawmakers on Syria, called for U.S. involvement in helping end that country's conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
"The American people are weary. They don't want boots on the ground. I don't want boots on the ground," McCain said. "The worst thing the United States could do right now is put boots on the ground in Syria."
McCain suggested that the United States should look at arming the rebels, use airstrikes to attack forces of the embattled President Bashar al-Assad and create a safe haven for refugees. He added that an international force should be prepared to secure chemical weapons if and when Assad falls. "There's a number of caches of chemical weapons that cannot fall into hands of the jihadists."
The senator suggested that U.S. involvement was imperative. "This woman who was a schoolteacher said, 'Sen. McCain, do you see these children here? They're going to take revenge on those people who refused to help them,'" McCain recalled. "They're angry and bitter. And that legacy could last for a long time too, unless we assist them."
He added, "For about two years this situation has deteriorated in a very alarming fashion, affected the surrounding countries, destabilized Lebanon, destabilized Jordan, and has had implications and repercussions throughout the region."
The White House has said Assad's forces used chemical weapons, warning that that could cross President Obama's "red line."
"We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists," Obama announced on March 21.
But McCain said that Obama's red line gave Assad a "green light" to do anything but use chemical weapons. "Our actions should not be dictated on whether Bashar Assad used chemical weapons or not," he said. "First of all, sooner or later he most likely would in order to maintain his hold on power."
The Syrian conflict is complex. It is estimated that about 10 percent of Syria's 23 million people are Christian, another 10 percent are from the Alawite sect, a Shiite offshoot. Another 10 percent, or more, are non-Arab ethnic Kurds, who are mostly Sunni Muslim but have their own language and culture, and are seen as secular and western-oriented. The rest, about 70 percent, are largely Sunni Muslims.
While President Assad is an Alawite and supported by Iran as well as Lebanon's Hezbollah among other Shi'a groups, the opposition movement is aided by Saudi Arabia and dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab nationalists. Some of the groups fighting government forces are affiliated with al-Qaida, or receive support from it.


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DENVER – Anze Kopitar had two goals, including the decisive score in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Kopitar's second goal of the night and 19th of the season put the Kings, who trailed by two goals midway through the second period, back in front.
The Kings were on the power play when Jeff Carter, in the middle of a scramble in front of the net, swung at a loose puck, sending it straight up in the air. When the puck hit the ice, Kopitar got his stick on it and sent it into the net past goalie Jean-Sebastian Giguere at 3:13 of the third period.
Justin Williams added an empty-net goal with 11 seconds left to round out the scoring as both teams returned to action after the Olympic break.


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|The White House
President George W. Bush
|Print this document
For Immediate Release
January 9, 2003
Press Gaggle with Ari Fleischer
The South Driveway
MR. FLEISCHER: Good morning, nation's press corps. Good morning. This is the back of Air Force One. (Laughter.) So this is a newfangled gaggle.
Q Driveway journalism.
MR. FLEISCHER: What kind of journalism?
Q Driveway journalism. (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: The President this morning had an intelligence briefing followed by an FBI briefing. Then he will depart the White House en route National Capital Flag Corporation -- or Company in Alexandria, Virginia. National Flag Company manufactures custom flags and flag poles for personal, commercial and government use, including the flags that fly on the Presidential limousine.
The company was founded in Claude Haynes' living room in 1962 and has since grown roughly 5 percent a year. Al Ulmer, Jr., became president in 2000. He increased the company's labor force to 35 employees and moved the company to Alexandria, Virginia.
The flags held by Boy Scouts and other groups for the informal observance of Flag Day that the President held last year were purchased at the National Capital Flag Company.
The President is going here to promote his package to help get the economy growing even faster. He wants to highlight the job-creating powers that are in his economic package and call on Congress to pass it. He will be joined at this event by several people who will benefit from it.
The company, first of all, because of the -- the small business, because of the expensing provisions in tripling the amount you can expense from $25,000 to $75,000, Mr. Ulmer believes that he will be able to purchase two additional pieces of equipment which he will show the President during the demonstration that will lead to his hiring what he believes will be two additional workers. That's a clear sign of how the package creates jobs.
In addition, other people who will join the President this morning will be Joseph and Kristen Pappano. They are in their mid-30s, they're married with two young children. Together, they earn approximately $75,000 a year. In total, they'll receive a $900 savings on their yearly tax bill -- an 18 percent tax cut.
He's not ready to go yet.
Donald Lucas -- has this been handed out to you guys, yet? Okay, then you have that. I won't go through then all the facts of the families that will benefit.
Very briefly, Donald Lucas, 74, retired. His annual income is approximately $65,000 a year, including $5,000 roughly in taxable dividends. His savings will be approximately $1,800 year, an 18 percent reduction.
In other issues today, we've just put this out, the President announced today the appointment of Ambassador Otto Reich as Special Envoy for Western Hemisphere Initiatives. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions.
Q Let me just back up on the specifics of the plan. What is the provision exactly that the owner of this business says is going to help him?
MR. FLEISCHER: Expensing -- under current tax law, you're allowed to expense $25,000 worth of equipment and no more than $25,000. The President proposed a provision to help small businesses expand by allowing them to expense $75,000 worth of equipment. Because he would be up against his cap, now the cap would grow to $75,000, he would have more of an incentive to buy these two pieces of equipment, which would allow him to hire more workers.
Q What do those two pieces of equipment do?
MR. FLEISCHER: They manufacture flags.
Q What, they're just sewing machines?
MR. FLEISCHER: We'll see when we get there. I'm not sure.
Do you know, Reed, specifically?
MR. DICKENS: They're large versions of sewing machines.
Q Ari, can you give us a spelling of the guy, the owner's name. I'm not sure -- the one who's buying the two new pieces of equipment.
MR. FLEISCHER: Al Ulmer, Jr., U-l-m-e-r, junior.
Q You've had a full day now to gauge support on the Hill. There was a story in a newspaper today suggesting Democrats supported it last time, don't necessarily support it this time. Have you had a chance to --
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me make two points. Number one, if you recall what happened in 2001, the Democrats did not support it at the beginning, either; they supported it at the end. The 12 Democrats who voted for it in the Senate, when the President announced it, they didn't come out for it, but they emerged there toward the end. So that's no surprise.
But, in fact, we do expect there will be some positive things coming from the Democrats. Senator Bayh, for example, has already weighed in rather favorably toward the package. And this is the beginning of what will be a very productive process in the President's judgment and opinion.
Q What's going on in North Korea, Iraq today?
MR. FLEISCHER: We still have not heard back from the North Koreans, and we await their official word.
Q Since the President today is highlighting the proposals that help small businesses, that's not a particularly controversial part of the plan. Will he be talking up the other more controversial things, like the dividend tax cut, things that have more opposition?
MR. FLEISCHER: In the President's remarks, he'll talk about the plan in its entirety. He'll talk about everything.
Q This isn't just focusing on the small business part, but the whole thing?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the visit, of course, highlights it creates jobs.
Q Right. Will he be making, though, other trips like this, just to focus on some of the other parts?
MR. FLEISCHER: You can anticipate, as the new year begins, the President aggressively pursuing his domestic agenda for the country. That will include a number of new initiatives, it will include a number of visits throughout the country to different places, and the President looks forward to working vigorously on behalf of American people for a robust domestic agenda.
Q So he'll be traveling, though, specifically for the plan, for the economic plan?
MR. FLEISCHER: Among other initiatives, yes.
Q He's been to this factory before, hasn't he, the President?
MR. FLEISCHER: I don't think so.
Q A year or so ago?
MR. DICKENS: I don't believe so.
MR. FLEISCHER: I don't recall it.
Q Where is Turkey right now, in it's -- (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: -- Mediterranean --
Q I opened myself up to that one. Where are they in supporting a possible war on Iraq? Where do they stand?
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me -- let me help you on that geographic question, Ron. (Laughter.) Scott. (Laughter.)
Turkey is a very valuable friend and ally. It always has been and always will be. And we continue to work with Turkey on a number of issues that are diplomatic, that are military, that are economic. And we continue to work with our friends the Turkish government on a number of these initiatives.
Q Where do they stand in terms of a commitment to help the United States in a possible --
MR. FLEISCHER: Anything that comes from Turkey has to come from Turkey. It's a very complex situation, many different aspects to it. And we'll continue to work with Turkey on it.


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Tens of thousands of Yemenis are demonstrating in the capital, Sana'a, to demand that relatives of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh vacate key government posts and leave the country.
Protesters on Monday called for the removal of Saleh's family from security leadership roles. The protesters focused on the removal of the president's son, Ahmed Saleh, as commander of the elite Presidential Guard.
The Yemeni president remains in Saudi Arabia, where he is recuperating from injuries sustained in an attack on the presidential compound earlier this month.
Yemeni officials have said Saleh plans to return "in days." But the French news agency quoted an unnamed Saudi official Friday as saying Saleh will not be going back to Yemen.
Yemenis took to the streets across the country Friday. Demonstrators renewed calls for President Saleh's removal from office and others voiced support for the embattled leader.
Thousands of anti-government protesters massed after midday Friday prayers. Some chanted and waved the Yemeni flag.
Yemen's state-run television said loyalists gathered in the capital, waving banners and chanting pro-government slogans.


text: This archive of filmed oral histories was created by filmmakers Anne de Mare, Kirsten Kelly and Elizabeth Hemmerdinger under the guidance of the irreplaceable Dr. Michael Nash. The 48 women represented here provide a complex portrait of Rosie the Riveter, taking the viewer beyond the iconic "We Can Do It" poster girl and deep into the experiences real Rosies from diverse backgrounds, challenging the popular perception of women in American History. The filmmakers were inspired by the extraordinary women of The Real Rosie The Riveter Project to develop this material into an animated documentary project using new media technologies called The Girl With The Rivet Gun.


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Ultra-Reliable, High-Performance WD S25 SAS Drives Get Capacity Boost to Offer Greater Support for Mission-Critical Enterprise Server and Storage Environments
IRVINE, Calif. – Mar. 6, 2012 — Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC), a leader in the desktop, mobile, high-capacity enterprise and consumer markets for hard drives, today announced the availability of its third-generation WD® S25 SAS hard drives, serving the performance-optimized, mission-critical enterprise server and storage market. Shipping now, the new 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM, WD S25 with SAS 6 Gb/s interface hard drives offer IT professionals a more advanced array of ultra-reliable and efficient, high-performance storage, available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB. The WD S25 line is designed for the most demanding applications such as online transaction processing and multi-tiered networked storage arrays.
"Continuing our commitment to the industry's fastest-growing segment — 2.5-inch drives — WD is updating our small form factor SAS offering with the advanced technology of our third-generation drive, including a new 900 GB capacity point," said Darwin Kauffman, vice president of enterprise storage solutions, WD. "Our latest generation of WD S25 SAS drives offer a powerful combination of enterprise-class performance and industry-leading reliability that is ideal for demanding high-performance computing and mission-critical environments. WD is also delivering higher capacity offerings and the power efficiency of the small form factor footprint, providing the most efficient storage solution for IT professionals and enabling lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)."
The new family of WD S25 SAS drives has the speed required to service any enterprise need, delivering high performance with its 6 Gb/s SAS interface. With its small form factor allowing for more system airflow, resulting in lower cooling costs for customers, the latest WD S25 SAS drives require less than 8 watts to operate and have a 2.0 M hour MTBF rating–the industry's highest. WD's third-generation of 2.5-inch SAS drives are also its first to include support for T10 Protection Information (PI) for advanced data integrity, and the first to provide optional models that feature drive-level self-encryption that meets the Trusted Computing Group's specification for Enterprise Class A encryption.
WD S25 SAS hard drives are currently shipping to OEMs, with broader availability at select resellers and distributors worldwide later next quarter. WD S25 SAS hard drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. More information about WD S25 enterprise SAS hard drives may be found on the company's website at http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=10.
About WD
WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and home entertainment products.
WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.
Company contacts:
Heather Skinner
Public Relations
Bob Blair
Investor Relations
Western Digital, WD, and the WD logo are registered trademarks; of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. One gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.


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St. Romanos the Melodist Choir Completes Two Week Tour at St. Nicholas Cathedral
Update: click here to see an excerpt from the performance.
The St. Romanos the Melodist Choir from the Archdiocese of Beirut completed their two week tour at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY before a capacity crowd of over 450, on Saturday, September 22, 2012. Six hierarchs, numerous priests and deacons, and two counsels general from Lebanon and Cyprus, filled the cathedral for a night to remember.
To begin the concert, His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP offered words of welcome, and then the choir of twelve men, led by Father Romanos Joubran, mesmerized the crowd with their beautiful music for a hour. After a short break, Part Two began with a special guest appearance by the Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Then, to top the evening off, both choirs performed several hymns—first antiphonally, and then in unison.
Following the program, His Eminence Archbishop DEMETRIOS of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America presented Fr. Romanos and the group with a beautiful icon of St. Romanos the Melodist on a large polished stone. Metropolitan PHILIP then thanked both choirs, and all present gave the choirs a standing ovation. Fr. Romanos expressed his gratitude to His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP for allowing the group to come, and to The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch for sponsoring the tour. He also thanked the host parishes for their generosity and hospitality throughout the two weeks of concerts in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Troy, Livonia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Potomac, Worcester, Boston and New York.
The following morning, the choir sang the entire Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral with Their Graces ANTOUN and NICHOLAS presiding.
What began as a dream of the Cathedral's dean, Fr. Thomas Zain, and his Balamand classmate, Fr. Romanos, came to fruition over the two weeks of the tour. Everywhere the choir went, they received accolades. The choir's American hosts pray that this was the first of many such endeavors in the years to come. May God grant Fr. Romanos and the entire choir many years!
View the concert photo gallery.
Listen to the choir's YouTube rendition of "Osoi Eis Xriston."


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Cold-climate projects comprise a staggering 25% of the world wind market, according to consultancy BTM in its latest World Market Update. These locations tend to have high wind resource, especially during winter. Conversely, ice on the turbine blades can affect power production by up to 20%.
Yet, surprisingly, this is the first de-icing solution the company has designed. Vestas chief technology officer Anders Vedel said this new de-icing solution is in response to customer demand, a signal that developers are now being more creative in their search for new wind project sites.
The Vestas de-icing system (VDS) consists of a heating unit in the hub to distribute hot air throughout the blades. The outer third of the blade and two thirds of the leading edge are fully de-iced. The company has received its first order for four V112 3.3MW turbines to go to a project in Austria. The first prototype is currently being installed in Sweden.
The VDS is integrated into the wind turbine's Scada system, explains Vedel. An algorithm is set to trigger the de-icing when the potential power loss caused by ice becomes greater than the potential power loss while the turbine is switched off for de-icing. In all the de-icing process across all three blades takes two hours. Only the blades need to be de-iced as the wind measurement systems are already designed to avoid ice accumulation.
"The VDS is an active de-icing solution consisting of an ice detection system and a hot air flow unit within the blades," said Vedel. "The hot air flow targets the blade's most critical parts to efficiently melt ice build-up, with no negative impact on the noise level or overall performance of the turbine," he added.
"VDS will provide significant value to customers who want to harness the potential of wind power in colder climates with icing risk such as North America as well as the northern and central regions in Europe, which were previously not economically feasible due to the risk of ice affecting power production." The system adds minimum weight while the heating unit uses 150kW, he said.
During the development process, the company spent last winter testing a prototype turbine that used the system in Canada. It had looked at other solutions to hot air, such as coating the blade and integrating heating elements within the blade. The former was found to not be effective enough, and the latter was dismissed as it could pose a danger to the turbine.
The VDS system will be available for the V112 3.3MW and V117 3.3MW turbines.