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Sex, the sum of features by which members of species can be divided into two groups—male and female—that complement each other reproductively.
Sex, sexuality, and reproduction are all closely woven into the fabric of living things. All relate to the propagation of the race and the survival of the species. Yet there can be sex without sexuality, and reproduction need not be sexual, although for most forms of life sexual reproduction is essential for both propagation and long-term survival.
Because the life span of all individual forms of life, from microbes to man, is limited, the first concern of any particular population is to produce successors. This is reproduction, pure and simple. Among lower animals and plants it may be accomplished without involving eggs and sperm. Ferns, for example, shed millions of microscopic, nonsexual spores, which are capable of growing into new plants if they settle in a suitable environment. Many higher plants also reproduce by nonsexual means. Bulbs bud off new bulbs from the side. Certain jellyfish, sea anemones, marine worms, and other lowly creatures bud off parts of the body during one season or another, each thereby giving rise to populations of new, though identical, individuals. At the microscopic level, single-celled organisms reproduce continually by growing and dividing successively to give rise to enormous populations of mostly identical descendants. All such reproduction depends on the capacity of cells to grow and divide, which is a basic property of life. In the case of most animals, however, particularly the higher forms, reproduction by nonsexual means is apparently incompatible with the structural complexity and activity of the individual.
Although nonsexual reproduction is exploited by some creatures to produce very large populations under certain circumstances, it is of limited value in terms of providing the variability necessary for adaptive advantages. Such so-called vegetative forms of reproduction, whether of animals or plants, result in individuals that are genetically identical with the parent. If some adverse environmental change should occur, all would be equally affected and none might survive. At the best, therefore, nonsexual reproduction can be a valuable and perhaps an essential means of propagation, but it does not exclude the need for sexual reproduction.
Sexual reproduction not only takes care of the need for replacement of individuals within a population but gives rise to populations better suited to survive under changing circumstances. In effect it is a kind of double assurance that the race or species will persist for an indefinite time. The great difference between the two types of reproduction is that individual organisms resulting from nonsexual reproduction have but a single parent and are essentially alike, whereas those resulting from sexual reproduction have two parents and are never exact replicas of either. Sexual reproduction thus introduces a variability, in addition to its propagative function. Both types of reproduction represent the capacity of individual cells to develop into whole organisms, given suitable circumstances. Sex is therefore something that has been combined with this primary function and is responsible for the capacity of a race to adapt to new environmental conditions.
Sex cells
The term sex is variously employed. In the broad sense it includes everything from the sex cells to sexual behaviour. Primary sex, which is generally all that distinguishes one kind of individual from another in the case of many lower animals, denotes the capacity of the reproductive gland, or gonad, to produce either sperm cells or eggs or both. If only sperm cells are produced, the reproductive gland is a testis, and the primary sex of the tissue and the individual possessing it is male. If only eggs are produced, the reproductive gland is an ovary, and the primary sex is female. If the gland produces both sperm and eggs, either simultaneously or successively, the condition is known as hermaphroditic. An individual, therefore, is male or female or hermaphrodite primarily according to the nature of the gonad.
As a rule, male and female complement each other at all levels of organization: as sex cells; as individuals with either testes or ovaries; and as individuals with anatomical, physiological, and behavioral differences associated with the complemental roles they play during the whole reproductive process. The role of the male individual is to deliver sperm cells in enormous numbers in the right place and at the right time to fertilize eggs of female individuals of the same species. The role of the female individual is to deliver or otherwise offer eggs capable of being fertilized under precise circumstances. In the case of hermaphrodite organisms, animal or plant, various devices are employed to ensure cross-fertilization, or cross-pollination, so that full advantage of double parentage is obtained. The basic requirement of sexual reproduction is that reproductive cells of different parentage come together and fuse in pairs. Such cells will be genetically different to a significant degree, and it is this feature that is essential to the long-term well-being of the race. The other sexual distinctions, between the two types of sex cell and between two individuals of different sex, are secondary differences connected with ways and means of attaining the end.
Sexuality: complementary mating types
The complementarity of both male and female sex cells and male and female individuals is a form of division of labour. Male sex cells are usually motile cells capable of swimming through liquid, either freshwater, seawater, or body fluids, and they contribute the male cell nucleus but little else to the fertilization process. The female cell also contributes its nucleus, together with a large mass of cell substance necessary for later growth and development following fertilization. The female cell, however, is without any capacity for independent movement.
In other words, small male cells (sperm cells, spermatozoa, or male gametes) are burdened with the task of reaching a female cell (egg, ovum, or female gamete), which is relatively large and awaits fertilization. A full complement of genes is contributed by both nuclei, representing contributions by both parents, but, apart from the nucleus, only the egg is equipped or prepared to undergo development to form a new organism. A comparable division of labour is seen in the distinction between male and female individuals. The male possesses testes and whatever accessory structures may be necessary for spawning or delivery of the sperm, and the female possesses ovaries and what may be needed to facilitate shedding the eggs or to nurture developing young. Accordingly there is the basic sex, which depends on the kind of sex gland present, and sexuality, which depends on the different structures, functions, and activities associated with the sex glands.
The adaptive significance of sex
When two reproductive cells from somewhat unlike parents come together and fuse, the resulting product of development is never exactly the same as either parent. On the other hand, when new individuals, plant or animal, develop from cuttings, buds, or body fragments, they are exactly like their respective parents, as much alike as identical twins. Any major change in environmental circumstances might exterminate a race since all could be equally affected. When eggs and sperm unite, they initiate development and also establish genetic diversity among the population. This diversity is truly the spice of life and one of the secrets of its success; sex is necessary to its accomplishment.
In each union of egg and sperm, a complete set of chromosomes is contributed by each cell to the nucleus of the fertilized egg. Consequently, every cell in the body inherits the double set of chromosomes and genes derived from the two parental cells. Every time a cell divides, each daughter cell receives exact copies of the original two sets of chromosomes. The process is known as mitosis. Accordingly, any fragment of tissue has the same genetic constitution as the body as a whole and therefore inevitably gives rise to an identical individual if it becomes separated and is able to grow and develop. Only in the case of the tissue that produces the sex cells do cells divide differently, and genetic differences occur as a result.
During the ripening of the sex cells, both male and female, cell divisions (known as meiosis) occur that result in each sperm and egg cell having only a single set of chromosomes. In each case the set of chromosomes is complete—i.e., one chromosome of each kind—but each such set is, in effect, drawn haphazardly from the two sets present in the original cells. In other words, the single set of chromosomes present in the nucleus of any particular sperm or egg, while complete in number and kinds, is a mixture, some chromosomes having come from the set originally contributed by the male parent and some from the female. Each reproductive cell, of either sex, therefore contains a set of chromosomes different in genetic detail from that of every other reproductive cell. When these in turn combine to form fertilized eggs or fertile seeds, the double set of chromosomes characteristic of tissue cells is reestablished, but the genetic constitution of all such cells in the new individual will be the same as that of the fertilized egg—two complete sets of genes, randomly derived from sets contributed by the two different parents. Variation is thus established in two steps. The first is during the ripening of the sex cells, when each sperm or egg receives a single set of chromosomes of mixed ancestry. None of these cells will have exactly the same combination of genes characteristic of the respective parent. The second step occurs at fertilization, when the pair of already genetically unique sex cells fuse together and their nuclei combine, thus compounding the primary variation.
Reproduction and evolution
Sexual reproduction appears to be a process serving two opposing needs. The individuals produced must be almost exactly like their parents if they are to succeed; i.e., to grow and reproduce in turn, under the prevailing circumstances. At the same time they should exhibit a wide range of differences so that some at least can survive under different environmental circumstances. The first business of reproduction is to produce perfect working copies of the parental organism, without any mistakes. The second is to introduce novelties—i.e., new models that make possible other life styles. Extreme conservatism, in either sexual or nonsexual reproduction, may be disastrous to the species in the long run. Extreme variability may also be detrimental, resulting in the production of too high a percentage of misfits. A delicate balance has to be struck. Variability is necessary but must be kept within bounds. Sex is responsible for controlled diversity, without which adaptation and evolution could not take place.
Natural selection operates in two ways on this basic diversity inherent in any particular population or community. In a stable environment, where there is little change during a long period of time, except for the regular diurnal and seasonal changes, those individuals most likely to survive and produce offspring are those that are most like their parents at all stages of their existence. The more radical departures from the established types fail either to grow or to compete successfully and consequently do not reproduce. The less radical departures struggle along but leave progeny in proportionately smaller numbers. If, however, a significant long-term change occurs in the environment, the established types are likely to suffer, while other types that previously had been weeded out now may be favoured. They may become the more successful at surviving and growing and consequently replace themselves more readily than do others. They, in turn, become the establishment, and the older type is jeopardized. A constant interplay persists between a changeable environment and a variable population. This is adaptation. If environmental change continues in the same general direction, adaptation also continues in the initial direction, and eventually significant evolution becomes apparent.
The variability or diversity resulting from sexual reproduction is vital in two ways. It permits the process of natural selection to work and allows a population of organisms to adapt to new conditions. It also serves as a corrective mechanism. During nonsexual reproduction, particularly of single-cell organisms, large populations of virtually identical individuals are readily built up and maintained for a great many generations. Sooner or later, however, more and more abnormalities appear and, usually, a general waning of vigour ensues. When such organisms subsequently fuse together in pairs, equivalent to sexual reproduction, a rejuvenation and reestablishment of healthy strains generally follows.
Life cycles adjusted to environmental change
Both sexual and nonsexual reproduction may be exploited or adjusted to meet widely fluctuating environmental conditions, especially those of a regular seasonal character. This phenomenon is particularly striking in the case of the smaller or simpler forms of animal and plant life that have a life-span of a year or less. The seeds of annual plants germinate in the spring, grow and set seed in turn during the summer, and die in the fall. Only the sexually produced seeds persist and represent the species during the long winter season. Certain small, though common, freshwater creatures have a similar cycle. The microscopic eggs of Hydra and of Daphnia, for example, lie at the bottom of ponds throughout the winter, each within a tough protective case. In late winter or early spring, a new generation of hydras develops, each individual becoming attached to a stone or vegetation and feeding on small crustaceans by means of its long slender tentacles. The daphnias, or so-called water fleas, emerge at about the same time and grow rapidly to maturity. In both cases the growing season, usually from spring until fall, is a time for intensive reproduction by whatever means is most effective. Hydras bud off new hydras continually, each new hydra repeating the process, with the size of populations limited only by available food. Only late in the season, when the food supply drops off and the temperature drops, does the riotous splurge of nonsexual reproduction come to an end. Then each individual ceases to bud and produces either minute ovaries or testes, and in some species, both. Eggs become fertilized, encased, drop into the mud, and await the coming of the following spring, while the parental creatures die as living conditions worsen with approaching winter. Such is a general pattern of life, widely seen among creatures whose individual existence is measured in weeks or months but whose race must persist in some form at all times if extinction is to be avoided.
So it is with Daphnia and many other organisms. The Daphnia also changes according to the times, but it alternates between one form of sexual reproduction and another. Sexually, the Daphnia is exquisitely adapted to the little world in which it lives. Under ideal conditions every member of a Daphnia community is female. All those first hatching out from winter eggs in the spring are females. Each produces a succession of broods during the month or two of its individual existence, all offspring being females. Each such female, generation after generation, during the spring and summer seasons, produces eggs that develop at once without need or opportunity of being fertilized. No males in fact are present. Every individual is a self-sufficient breeding female. Population explosions occur wherever environmental circumstances are favourable. Eventually, however, conditions inevitably change for the worse, either because of effects inherent in any population explosion or because every season comes to an end. Food becomes scarce because of too many consumers; space becomes crowded and in some degree polluted; chilly days succeed the warmth of summer. Whatever the cause, and well before disaster can strike, the creatures respond in remarkable ways. On the first signal that conditions may be getting less than good, a certain number of the eggs produced by a population of Daphnia develop into males, each with testes in place of ovary, together with certain secondary sexual characteristics. A scattering of males through the virgin paradise, however, is only the first step, a preparedness in case conditions go from bad to worse. If there has been a false alarm, the females continue to produce female-producing eggs that develop parthenogenetically—that is, without benefit of fertilization—and the males die off without performing any sexual function. But if the environmental signal means the beginning of the end of congenial conditions, a cell in the ovary of each female grows to form a larger egg than usual, and it is of a type that must be fertilized. Then mating between the sexes takes place, and the resulting special, fertilized eggs become thickly encased and alone survive the winter season after becoming separated from the parent.
Wherever small aquatic creatures live in bodies of water that may freeze in winter or dry up in summer, similar adaptations may be seen in many forms of life besides hydras and water fleas. Certain small fish, known as the annual fishes, have individual life-spans of about six months. The life-span itself is in fact adapted to the period during which active existence is possible in their particular habitat. When the water holes, swamps, and puddles in which they live begin to dry up, mating takes place, and the fertilized eggs drop into the mud. The parents die, and the eggs remain in a state of suspended development until the next rainy season occurs. The race must continue whatever the circumstances, and all sex is directed toward this end.
The origin of sex and sexuality
All sexual reproduction, no matter how large or small the organisms may be, is a performance of single cells. Only at the level of single cells can the essential genetic recombinations be accomplished. So in every generation new life begins with the egg, which is a single cell, however large it may be. Egg and sperm unite at fertilization, but the fertilized egg is as much a single cell as before. When did it all begin? The generally accepted answer is that the fundamental, or molecular, basis of sexuality is an ancient evolutionary development that goes back almost to the beginning of life on earth, several billion years ago, for it is evident among the vast world of single-celled organisms, including bacteria.
In these lowest forms of life, sex and reproduction are distinct happenings. Reproduction is accomplished in most cases entirely by fission, which is simply cell division repeated regularly, as long as the environmental conditions permit. As long as crowding and other adverse changes are avoided, cells divide, and the daughter cells grow and divide again, for weeks or months on end. This process occurs in both plantlike and animal-like single-celled organisms and in bacteria as well. Under certain other conditions, such cell organisms come together and fuse in pairs, a form of sexual behaviour at its primary level and comparable to the fusion of an egg and sperm. In all such case, a combined cell is produced in which nuclear exchange or recombination has occurred. Pairing off of this sort takes place sooner or later in all forms of unicellular life, even where no outwardly distinguishable differences can be detected between the pairing individuals. The lack of discernible differences between the members of mating pairs, however, does not mean that pairing occurs between identical individuals. In the much investigated Paramecium and other protozoan organisms, two separate populations of cells may continue to increase almost indefinitely by ordinary cell division of single individuals, but when two such populations are mixed together, mating generally occurs immediately between individuals from the two different sources. The fusion, or pairing, has essentially the same function as the fusion of the male and female nucleus during the process of fertilization of eggs of higher forms. It is the basis of sex, the essential event in all cases being the genetic or chromosomal recombination.
Individual mating cells (i.e., eggs, sperm, or even whole single-celled organisms) may be called gametes whether or not they are distinguishable from one another. Yet even among the varius single-celled organisms, mating commonly occurs between individuals of two different kinds. This kind of mating is seen most often among the single-celled organisms known as flagellates. In some species the gametes may be alike and all are motile, progressing through the water by means of one or more whiplike flagella similar to the tail of a sperm. In other species, all individuals may still be motile, but pairing occurs between individuals of different sizes. In still others, one of the two mating types may be very small and motile, and the other, large, with stored nutritional material, and nonmotile. All degrees of differentiation between male and female gametes can be found, and it is probable that the basic and characteristic distinction between the sex cells of both animal and plant life in general was established very early in the course of evolution, during the immense period of time when virtually all living organisms consisted of single cells.
This division of labour between mating types, male and female, respectively, is nature's way of attaining two ends. These are the bringing together of the gametes so that fusion may take place and the accumulation of reserves so that development of a new organism can be accomplished. The first calls for as many motile cells as possible; the second calls for cells as large as possible. These different requirements are practically impossible to satisfy by a single type of cell. Accordingly, and especially in multicelled animals of all sorts, male gametes, or spermatozoa, are extremely small, extremely motile, and are produced in enormous numbers. The larger the number, the greater the likelihood that some will encounter and fertilize eggs. On the other hand, the female gametes, or ova, individually need to be as large as possible since the larger the size and the more condensed the internal nutritional reserves, the farther along the path of embryonic development the egg can travel before hatching must occur and the new organism must fend for itself. Nevertheless, eggs in general are caught between the desirability of being individually as large as they can be and the persisting need to be produced in reasonably large numbers, so that an assortment of differing individuals is produced from a single pair of parents. A large number of offspring ensures that a proportion, at least, will survive the environmental hazards faced by all developing organisms in some degree.
Differentiation of the sexes
Animals and plants, apart from microscopic kinds of life, consist of enormous numbers of cells coordinated in various ways to form a single organism, and each consists of many different kinds of cells specialized for performing different functions. Certain tissues are set aside for the production of sexual reproductive cells, male or female as the case may be. Whether they are testes or ovaries or, as in some animals and plants, both together in the same parental individual, they are typically contained within the body, and therefore the sex cells usually need to be passed to the outside in order to function. Only in certain lowly creatures such as hydras is there a simpler state, for in hydras the testes and ovaries form in the outermost layer of cells of the slender, tubular body, and the sex cells when ripe burst directly from the simple, bulging gonads into the surrounding water. With few other exceptions, in all other creatures the gonads are part of the internal tissues and some means of exit is necessary. In some, such as most worms, all that is needed are small openings, or precisely placed pores, in the body wall through which sperm or eggs can escape. In most others, more is needed and a tubular sperm duct or an oviduct leads from each testis or ovary, through which the sex cells pass to the exterior. This is minimal equipment, except where none is needed. The gonad and its duct is accordingly comparable to other glands in the body; that is, the gland is generally a more or less compact mass of cells of a particular, specialized kind, together with a duct for passage of the product of the tissue to the site of action. Gonads secrete—i.e., produce and transmit—sex cells that usually act outside the body.
Differentiation between the sexes exists, therefore, as the primary difference represented by the distinction between eggs and sperm, by differences represented by nature of the reproductive glands and their associated structures, and lastly by differences, if any, between individuals possessing the male and female reproductive tissues, respectively.
Sex cells, sexual organs, other sexual structures, and sexual distinction between individuals constitute a series of evolutionary advances connected with various changes and persisting needs in the general evolution of animals and, to some degree, of plants as well. In other words, no matter how large or complex a creature may become, it still needs to deliver functional sex cells to the exterior. This condition is almost always the case for sperm cells. Among aquatic animals, particularly marine animals whose external medium, the ocean, is remarkably similar chemically to the internal body fluid medium of all animals, eggs are also in most cases shed to the exterior, where development of the fertilized eggs can proceed readily. Even so, time and place are important. Starfish, sea urchins, and many others, for instance, accumulate mature eggs and sperm in the oviducts and sperm ducts until an appropriate time when all can be shed at once. When one member of a group of such creatures begins to spawn, chemicals included in the discharge stimulate other members to do the same, so that a mass spawning takes place. One might say that the more they are together the more variable their offspring may be. This situation actually is the crux of the matter for nearly all forms of life, because while it may be possible for a single individual to possess both male and female gonads, producing both sperm and eggs, it remains generally desirable, if not essential, that eggs be fertilized by sperm produced by another individual. Cross-fertilization results in a much greater degree of variability than does self-fertilization. The existence of two types of individuals, male and female, is the common means of ensuring that cross-fertilization will be accomplished, since then nothing else is possible. Where the sexes are separate, therefore, all that is necessary is that members of the opposite sex get together at a time and place appropriate for the initial development of fertilized eggs. Typically, spawning of this sort is a communal affair, with many individuals of each sex discharging sex cells into the surrounding water. This process is only suitable, however, when eggs are without tough protective cases or membranes; that is, only when eggs are readily fertilizable for some time after being shed and while drifting in the sea. In this circumstance there is no need for individuals of the opposite sex to mate in pairs, nor is such mating practiced.
Mating between two individuals of the opposite sex becomes necessary when eggs must be fertilized at or before the time the eggs are shed. Whenever eggs have a protective envelope of any kind through which sperm cannot penetrate, fertilization must take place before the envelope is formed. The envelope may at first be a gluey liquid, which covers the egg and solidifies as a tough egg case, as in all crustaceans, insects, and related creatures. It may be a thick membrane of protein deposited around the egg, as in fishes generally; or it may be a material that swells up as a mass of jelly surrounding the eggs after the eggs have been shed, as in frogs and salamanders. And finally, it may be a calcified shell, as in birds and reptiles. In all of these organisms the sperm must reach the egg before the protective substance is added, except in those forms in which a small opening or pore persists in the egg membrane through which sperm can enter.
When and how such eggs need to be fertilized depends on the nature of the protective membranes and the time and place of their formation. The jelly surrounding frog and toad eggs, for instance, swells up immediately after the eggs are shed. Mating and fertilization must take place at the time of spawning. Male frogs mount the back of female frogs and each clasps his mate firmly around the body, which not only helps press the egg mass downward but brings the cloacal opening of male and female close together. Eggs and sperm are shed simultaneously, and the eggs are fertilized as they leave the female body. Fish eggs are also fertilized as or shortly after they are shed, although fish have no arms and mating generally is usually no more than a coming together of the two sexes side by side, so that simultaneous shedding of sperm and eggs can be accomplished. In other creatures the mating procedure may be much more complicated, depending on various circumstances. Crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters, for example, mate in somewhat the same manner as frogs, with the male holding on to the female by means of clawlike appendages and depositing sperm at the openings of the oviducts, which are typically situated near the middle of the undersurface of the body.
Mating modifications imposed by the land environment
Greater problems arise on land than in water. Eggs produced by truly terrestrial creatures are either retained in the parental body during their development or must be fully protected from drying up. Protective membranes must be tough indeed. More importantly, however, sperm cells must still be deposited where they can swim toward the eggs, for they cannot survive or function except in a watery solution of dilute salts. In all terrestrial creatures, except those that return to water to breed, sperm can survive only in the body of the male or female organism. All insects, therefore, must mate in order for eggs to be fertilized, and all have appendages at the rear of the body that serve as a copulatory device capable of being used even when in flight. Sperm is injected into the female's duct or storage sac, either for immediate fertilization or for later use. The queens of bees, ants, and termites, in fact, mate once and for all during a nuptial flight and thereafter use the stored sperm to fertilize all the eggs they subsequently produce.
The land vertebrates have to cope with much the same breeding circumstances as the insects. Man is more aware of these procedures because they happen mostly in much larger creatures and also because he has some fellow feeling for them. Reptiles, birds, and even the most primitive surviving mammals—namely, the platypus and spiny anteater of Australasia—produce yolky eggs encased in a more or less rigid calcareous shell. Moreover, within the shell, a thick layer of albumen surrounds the egg proper. Both the albumen and the shell are added after the ovum leaves the ovary and during its passage down the oviduct. Fertilization must take place, if at all, as the eggs enter the oviduct, for neither the albumen nor the shell can be penetrated by spermatozoa. Sperm must therefore be introduced into the female and must be able to make their way up to the end of the oviduct, which is a very long journey for so small a cell. An enormous number must begin the journey to make sure that some will reach the goal.
Sexual anatomy
In reptiles and birds of both sexes, as in amphibians and fish, a single opening to the exterior serves jointly for both the intestine and reproductive duct. This is the cloaca, or vestibule. Nevertheless, copulation of a sort occurs in all three groups of terrestrial vertebrates: the reptiles, birds, and mammals. With the exception of man, the male always mounts the female from the rear or back, and in both reptiles and birds the cloacal openings are pressed closely together to form a continuous passage from one individual to the other. With one exception, the archaic tuatara (Sphenodon) of New Zealand, all present-day reptiles have an erectile penis, derived from the cloacal wall, that delivers the sperm into the proper duct. One mating may serve for a long time, and there are cases known in which female snakes have laid fertile eggs after months and sometimes years of isolation in captivity. On the other hand, a penis of any sort is lacking in most kinds of birds, and the pressing together of the cloacal apertures seems to serve well enough. The most advanced copulatory procedure is that of mammals. In mammals the cloaca has become replaced by separate openings for the reproductive duct and intestine, respectively. Eggs have become microscopic, devoid of shell, yolk, and virtually all albumen, although they still need to be fertilized as they enter the upper end of the oviduct. A well-developed, erectile penis is always present in the male for the ejaculation of stored sperm well up the reproductive passage of the female. Accordingly, the two sexes have become strikingly differentiated anatomically, with regard to delivery of sperm, compared with the seemingly primitive anatomical equipment of birds.
The coming together of two members of the opposite sex is a necessary preliminary to mating. It may be accomplished by two individuals independently of any larger congregation, or it may result from two individuals pairing off within a breeding population that may have assembled even from the ends of the earth. In the one the problem is to find one another; in the other the problem is to find the appropriate place, called the staging area. In both cases timing and some sort of navigation are important. Mass assembly appears to be the more effective, although a local crowd of any kind of animal may be an open invitation to predators, human or otherwise, and may on occasion become disastrous.
The searching out of a solitary individual by another of the opposite sex can be a difficult matter. In the dark depths of the ocean, for instance, where fish and other marine life forms are extremely scarce and scattered, the chance of encounter is rare indeed. The small angler fish (Photocorynus spiniceps) that cruise around at great depths are most unlikely to meet a member of the opposite sex at a time or place when the female happens to be ready to shed her eggs. As a form of insurance to this end, however, any small, young male that happens to meet a large female, apparently at any time, immediately fastens on to her head or sides by his jaws and thereafter lives a totally parasitic existence sustained by the juices of the female body. Sperm thus becomes available at any time the female may produce eggs to be fertilized.
On land this individual procedure of searching out is common among insects and the more predatory mammals. Male crickets and cicadas sound their familiar signals, by night or by day, which attract any females within hearing distance. More remarkable are those insects and other creatures that produce living light, in some cases for no apparent purpose but in others, such as the firefly, for signalling between the sexes in the dark of summer nights. The male individuals, always more dispensable than females, fly freely at considerable risk, flashing their light at regular intervals. The light of the female, perched more safely on some tall grass, winks back as though it were a landing light, and so they come together. Each of the several species of firefly has its own flash code, or rhythm, and any wasteful attempt at interspecies mixing is avoided. On the same principle, female moths send their personal perfume into the night air, and those males that detect the scent fly toward the source, the winner taking all. Mammals also depend mainly on their sense of smell, being generally colour blind, not too attentive to sound, and, apart from the grazing and browsing creatures, mainly active at night. The scented sex appeal of a cat in heat, whether domestic or wild, excites all the males in the neighbourhood and, with or without the sound of voice, male and female come quickly together in the dark. In all of these, courting is mostly uncalled for since only ready-to-mate individuals are involved in this sexual searching in the dark.
Courting is necessary whenever the male is a supplicant. A female may not be ready to mate, and stimulation in the form of dance or song may be required to create the mood; or, as is commonly the case, there is a surplus of available and eager males, and one must be chosen among many. However it may be, courting is most practiced not only when the female is in command of the final outcome but also when the mating procedure presents certain difficulties. A small male spider dances before a larger and ever ravenous female in an effort to induce her sexual interest rather than her hunger. Birds especially, however, depend on courtship as a preliminary to mating. The mating of birds represents copulation in its simplest form, without benefit of significant anatomical devices. Bird wings are a poor substitute for arms in a sexual embrace. Consequently the fullest cooperation between male and female is essential to success. In most birds a long-lasting, often lifetime, bonding becomes established between a male and female, a bonding that is usually reinforced by ritual behaviour at certain intervals, particularly during the onset of each breeding season and on various occasions when the individuals meet after short periods of separation. In some species a new mate may be taken each season or, as in sparrows, a general promiscuity may prevail.
One important aspect of courtship concerns the question of recognition. In gull colonies, for instance, members of the opposite sex look very much alike, and, at least to humans, the various individuals of one sex or the other may appear exactly the same. The advantages, with regard to successful production, incubation, and rearing of eggs and young, of permanent or semipermanent mate selection, however, are as great in gull colonies as elsewhere. The preliminaries to such a mutual selection not only establish a bond, by various posturings, but also establish the many small idiosyncrasies of action that add up to individuality and make one bird distinguishable among many within a colony, at least to its mate.
Many different forms of sex-oriented behaviour have consequently evolved among birds, depending on the character and particular needs of the various species. Penguins apparently not only look alike to human observers but also to themselves. Penguins seemingly have trouble even distinguishing between the sexes. Being unable to dance or sing, though they can make a lot of noise, male penguins can do little more than offer a pebble to a prospective female. If she accepts it as a token contribution to nest making, the match is on. If it is rejected, the suitor may have picked an unready female or even another male. In the case of most birds, however, the male can either sing, particularly the smaller kinds, or can strut and dance, with wings and feathers displayed, and some species, such as the lyre bird, continue to enchant the female by sight and sound together. In general, the need for physical mating has led to courtship and an emotional bonding between mating pairs throughout much of the animal kingdom at the higher level, particularly among birds and mammals. These are primarily utilitarian functions relating to the survival of the species, but in their fullest expression they represent what seem to man to be among the finest attributes of life.
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Sexuality, the quality or state of being sexual. Seesex.…
Reproduction, process by which organisms replicate themselves. In a general sense reproduction is one of the most important concepts in biology: it means making a copy, a likeness, and thereby providing for the continued existence of species.…
Fern, any of several nonflowering vascular plants that possess true roots, stems, and complex leaves and that reproduce by spores. The number of known extant fern species is about 10,500, but estimates have ranged as high as 15,000, the number varying because certain groups are as yet poorly studied and…
More About Sex2 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- evolution
- reproduction


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Arts & Culture
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Judith2 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 92 designs submitted by 22 freelance designers.
Digital Game Museum
We are a museum that focuses on computer games, video games, arcade games - any game that exists primarily in digital form. We preserve the games and the memorabilia relating to games.
We had a previous contest that wasn't a success, so we've withdrawn it and started over at a higher level. What we want: something that represents our interests - digital games.
A winning design will scale well and look good on a banner, a t-shirt, a business card, and a legal document. It should pass the silhouette test. There should not be lurid colors - that would be nice for a website design but not for a logo. It must also look good in black and white.
Demographics? We appeal to anyone who plays games, which means any gender or age. The logo shouldn't appeal just to people who play just one genre of games. And remember that the words "Digital Game" are as important -or more than - "Museum," so don't make Museum the dominant word.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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So here, at last, is the roundup of recipes tried and tasted by people everywhere from Susan's FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog. As some of you already know, I hosted the event this month for Zuzana of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.
I love cooking from other blogs, and this was no exception. And the fact that most of the recipes had no added fat was a big bonus.
This is a busy day, and I'm glad I finally just got all this together, so I am going to keep my chatter short. Enjoy, everyone, and let me know if I missed your entry. I'll add it asap!
A2Zvegetariancuisine's Pineapple Coffee Cake
Amanda's Mushroom Miso Soup with Sesame Broccoli
Andrea's Spicy Carrot Salad and Asparagus Pesto Salad
Bindiya's Dal with Paanch Phoran
Bindiya's Peach Upside Down Cake
Clumzy Cook's Lasagna
Daisy's Strawberry Cake
Dipali's Split Pea Soup
Emmy's Chocolate-Covered Cherry Pudding Cake
Hema's Strawberry Snack
Indhu's Tofu Jambalaya
Jamie's Southern-Style Banana Pudding
Jugalbandi's Soy Yogurt with Strawberries
Jugalbandi's Lite Goddess Dressing
Jugalbandi's Spicy Kidney Bean Burgers
Jugalbandi's Brussels Sprouts in Lemon Mustard Sauce
Katie's Vidalia Onions Stuffed with Rice and Lentil Pilaf
Ksenia's Mushroom, Lentil and Wild Rice Timbales
Lisa's Wasabi Roasted Asparagus
Mary's Quick and Easy Potato Soup
Melissa's Pineapple Coffee Cake
Parita's Baked Spinach Koftas
Pavani's Strawberry Cake
Priyasuresh's Rassedar Rajma
Priyasuresh's Cherry Date-Nut Balls
RedChillies' Chocolate Orange Cake
Sea's Gluten-Free Pumpkin Waffles
Stephanie's Zucchini Muffins
Stephanie's Grilled Romaine
Sweatha's Tofu and Vegetable Cacciatore with Microwave Polenta
Vidya's Cauliflower Dal with Panch Phoran
Yasmeen's Soba Noodles Tofu Vegetable Stir-Fry
Youaresexy's Beet Chocolate Cake with Banana Peanut Butter Sauce
Zabeena's Light Goddess Dressing
Zuzana's Okara Coconut Cookies, Panch Phoran Dal, Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Garlic, Spicy Kasha Vegetable Salad, and Spicy Red Pepper Hummus
My Zucchini Muffins, Apple Cake, and Ethiopian Berbere Stew
Quick reminder here about June's It's A Vegan World: Morocco event which is being hosted this month by Lavi of Home Cook's Recipes. Do drop by her blog, and don't forget to send her your delicious entries!
Have a great weekend, everyone!


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Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Al Dorne's Technique: "...his paintings suddenly came to glowing life"
In an old Watson-Guptill book called "Forty Illustrators and How They Work" I found a step-by-step of Al Dorne's painting technique.
* Warning: Its unfortunate that the specific subject matter of this step-by-step demo uses some language and visual stereotyping that would be considered racist by most people today. Keep in mind that this was produced more than half a century ago and was not intended to be offensive ( rather the opposite, since it was a national advertising piece ). For those who cannot view this type of material in an objective manner, it might be best to skip the whole thing.
The demo concludes with an addendum that emphasizes Al Dorne's mastery of his painting technique:
"Dorne scorns the use of airbrush; with his sable brush he can put the highest polish even on automobiles and other objects demanding the smoothest textures."
Recently my friend, illustrator/historian Kent Steine, sent a note referencing the unfortunate nature of the materials Al Dorne used for his technique:
"Although we can see tear sheets and good examples of Mr. Dorne's work, it has been my understanding the originals have not weathered time very well. Years ago, Fred Taraba and I were talking about various types of media, and he brought up some of the examples they had of Albert Dorne's work."
"As I recall, he worked with colored inks which, at the time, were likely quite "phantom". I understand some examples have faded. That's a shame. However, it was created to be commercial art. I used to occasionally use Dr. P.H. Martin's Synchromatic Transparent Watercolors. Most of that work has faded to a dull monochromatic local hue."
Kent's words struck me as particularly poignant. Albert Dorne was truly a giant of the mid-20th century illustration field. His tremendously skilled work, his admirable generosity and kindness, his opulent lifestyle preceded by years of astonishing struggle, his accomplishments as the founder of the Famous Artists School and how far-reaching its affects were on countless thousands of lives, the tremendous wealth and fame it generated, all speak of a life lived with unparalleled vibrancy. Like the coloured inks he preferred, all that has now faded away. That just seems so unfortunate and wrong to me.
Hopefully these posts will in some small way return some of the vibrancy to the memory of a colourful man who lived a colourful life.
* My Albert Dorne Flickr set.
11 comments:
- Chad Sterling12:48 PM
And how ironic that his diametricly opposite but comparably skilled colleague,Robert Fawcett,used these same dyes; leaving the integrity and quality of both men's draughtsmanship as a final testimony to their talent.ReplyDelete
A very thought-provoking thread.
Hi! I just wanted to assure you the memories of these artists have found new life in at least one person: Me! I discovered this blog and it's wealth of inspiration months ago and both my work and myself haven't been the same since. Their memories live on. Amazing work, both by these titans of illustration and yourself. You are doing a great service. Thank you!ReplyDelete
Chad; I very much enjoyed our discussion this week - thanks for presenting your challenging point of view on the subject. As a final thought on the ironic nature of the two men and what may seem like their opposing philosophies, let's also remember that they were not only colleagues but, As David Apatoff pointed out, good friends who had tremendous respect for each other. I find that notion very reassuring.ReplyDelete
You just made my whole weekend - many, many thanks for speaking up! :^)
- Chad Sterling1:41 PM
In many ways Leif,Dorne is my favourite illustrator,he was unbelievably good so often.Just the quality of his drawing sends my head spinning at times.ReplyDelete
Just like Today's Inspiration,in fact.
I sense a cameraderie borne of mutual regard united these two giants and I'm sure we would all like to keep their memory from fading.
And I wasn't joking about that Dorne book!:)
as usual great stuff,Leif.....regarding Dorne....walt reed once showed me the famous artists course with the "individual" illustrators binder set from 1949...briggs did a separate volume,fawcett,parker,rockwell....walt then showed me an empty loosleaf where dorne's book was supposed to be...i believe walt said dorne was so busy,he never got to finish his....but you can see many of dorne's drawing and painting lessons in the later 1950,1954,and 1960 famous artists "combined" sets....ReplyDelete
I'm not too familiar with colored inks. Are they similar to Dr. Martin dyes? Are they thinned with water? How do they react when re wet? Any more information on his technique would be greatly appreciated.ReplyDelete
Joel,You can thin colored inks with water,but they dry waterproof.You can add a wash-layer on top of a another without disturbing the color underneath.I've used Pelikan colored inks.Rotring and other companies make them.They go on like watercolors mostly.ReplyDelete
According to Dorne's 1960 Famous Artists demonstration,he would put a coat of Damar varnish over a finished painting to keep the colors from fading over time.Maybe the faded originals mentioned in the earlier post didn't have the varnish coating,or maybe it wasn't effective enough.
If one had a scan of the original, but faded, artwoirk, plus a printed reproduction made at the time, it would probably be possible to restore the colors in Photoshop.ReplyDelete
The original would be sharper than the print, but a bit of blur on colors is not noticeable.
Thanks, Steve. I may just give them a try.ReplyDelete


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Art EducationPage address: http://www.mnsu.edu/artdept/arteducation.html
"The arts must be at the heart of every child's learning experience if they are to have a chance to dream and to create, to have beliefs, to carry a sense of cultural identity."
- James D. Wolfensohn Former Chairman of the Kennedy Center
Recent studies of cognitive development suggest the arts as a foundational tool for learning. The arts offer students multiple avenues for learning and expressing knowledge while assisting in the integration of school subjects. The arts also offer an avenue to the human side of learning and allow us to explore and understand of our world. For more information on cognitive development and the arts see Howard Gardner's work with Project Zero:
The Art Education program at Minnesota State University will certify you to teach art in Kindergarten through Grade 12. Also available for Graduate students, through the College of Education, are the Graduate Teaching Licensure and the Masters of Art in Teaching.
The BS degree in Art Education is structured to give students a strong foundation in art, experiences working in a variety of studio media, and a thorough grounding in Art Education theory. The professional education sequence, which includes student teaching, is taken through the College of Education K-12 & Secondary Programs department.
The Art department foundation core includes: beginning drawing and design courses, art history survey, and initial courses in studio specializations. These courses are designed to prepare students for advanced study in studio areas. The curricular structure, content, and time that the program requires is consistent with that expected of a liberal arts degree. The art education requirement includes courses in both elementary and secondary art methods, as well as focused study in issues pertinent for art educators. Clinical experiences for learning to teach art occur in area pubic schools and community art programs. BS candidates are required to participate in a capstone exhibition upon the completion of the program.
The Art Education program at MSU blends a broad-based concentration in subject areas of art with a strong professional education sequence to prepare students for the important responsibility of teaching the visual arts. The program also encourages profession development opportunities for its majors. In 2003, the MSU student chapter of the National Art Education Association was initiated. Guided by Dr. Gina Wenger, the officers and members of the student chapter attend state and national conferences, participate in community art programs, and are continually developing activities for the group. The state convention of Art Educators of Minnesota http://www.aem-mn.org/ is held in the fall of each year, while the National Art Education Association Convention http://www.naea-reston.org/ is held in a major city each spring.
Attending the National Art Education Association Convention in Chicago
Art Education majors volunteer at art fairs in area schools
Community mural with area school children


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Does it get any dumber? Many countries experience flash floods -- but then still continue to have droughts. Short-term events versus long-term trends. It's all just embarassing at this point and shame on anyone who falls for this load of crap. As I've written several times before on this blog, and just last month, global warming and climate change are very complex, or at least more complex than the dim-bulb crowd will lead you to believe.
As Dr. Peter Gleick states:
Record snowfall is not an indicator of a lack of global warming, as has been pointed out in the scientific literature and many, many rounds of Congressional testimony. It merely means that there was a storm and temperatures were close to or below freezing. Indeed global warming can contribute to greater snowfalls by providing extra moisture. Many scientists testifying before the Senate and House of Representatives have explained the difference between a steadily warming planet and occasional extreme cold events in particular spots. But we can expect to see more examples of this kind of B.S. when it gets cold and snowy somewhere, sometime, this winter.And from conservative David Frum's web site, a quote from Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC):
People who make a lot of money on talk radio and talk TV say a lot of things. They slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and they're experts on climate change. They substitute their judgment for people who have Ph.D.s and work tirelessly [on climate change].Maybe in 2011 we'll see more Republicans convert to the side of reason and science, before it's too late.


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Sorting videos in your Director Application library
As you add more videos to your library, you may find the need to sort them.
Sorting video files
1. Your 360fly Director's Library can be sorted by a few different properties associated with your videos including: Name, Duration and Date Created.
2. Use the sort direction drop-down to adjust to be "Ascending" or "Descending".
Have more questions? Submit a request


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When I was in elementary school, we used to practice two emergency drills: one for fire, which was an evacuation, and another for a nuclear bomb, commonly known as a duck and cover.
During the Cold War, the Red Scare, a Soviet Union attack, was on everyone's mind.
Then the 1971 Sylmar earthquake happened and all the schools began practicing earthquake drills.
After the shootings at Columbine in 1999, soon lockdown drills were added to the emergency drill repertoire.
I have experienced two real lockdowns. Thank God, neither one turned out badly. But I can tell you that remaining quiet and motionless on the floor, uncomfortably cramped under a table for two hours is terrifying, trying to peek through vertical blinds for any shadow approaching.
And now the history books will add Sandy Hook in 2012. I'm not sure if this stomach-wrenching tragedy will generate any changes in emergency procedures. However, here's hoping smart people will reexamine the lockdown procedure.
I've never understood the logic behind the lockdown drill. Most school shootings are perpetrated by students who attend those campuses, meaning they are fully aware of the lockdown drill: teachers lock the doors, turn off the lights, and everyone hides in a corner. No one is fooled that that classroom is actually empty. Of course, a locked door makes it a little harder versus an unlocked one. However, any killer can easily shoot out a door and find a classroom of sitting duck victims.
From what little is known about that day's horror, the murderer calmly walked into rooms and executed kids who were motionless.
I understand the logic of not having kids run wild. A maniac is likely to shoot a moving target. However, at least there is a chance of escape. Crouching under a table only works on the completely random chance that the shooter doesn't choose that classroom.
The only good that can come out of Sandy Hook is for security measures at schools be reevaluated, and for politicians to rethink laws on assault weapons.
While we all know these tragic events are thankfully quite rare, they unsettle all of us: parents, teachers, children.
It wasn't that long ago when society feared a foreign intruder harming our nation. Now, that intruder is among us.
BRIAN CROSBY is a teacher in Los Angeles County and a regular columnist for Times Community News North. He can be reached at brian-crosby.com.


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In a world of noise, Clarence is a jar of sunshine, pure and simple. He sees the world only in his favourite colours: goofy grape and neon green. Clarence values his friends Jeff and Sumo and his mother Mary more than gold. No matter what happens, good or bad, nothing brings Clarence down.
Belson is a bully who's more likely to throw out a sarcastic quip than a punch. A spoiled rich kid, Belson secretly likes Clarence, although he'd never admit it.
Filled with unfailing excitement and curiosity, Clarence loves everything because he finds everything amazing. His unique attitude makes each and every day the best day ever.
Clarence's best friend, Sumo, is a scrappy, streetwise kid. He's an unpredictable wild card and fearless to a fault, but he's also fiercely loyal to his friends and always available.
Clarence's best friend, Jeff, is a bit of a square with a long list of phobias, but even someone as uptight as Jeff can't help but have fun when Clarence is around.
Mary is Clarence's mom, and her rare combination of patience, stamina, humor and unconditional support make her the perfect parent for Clarence.


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I am writing my PS about my relationship with my clients (widows of asbestos victims), and I was wondering if it would be appropriate to include a copy of a handwritten note from one of them thanking me for my work on her case, and explaining how much the settlement money has helped her support herself after her husband's death.Do you think this is unnecessary, or a good addition to flesh out my PS and make it more "real"?Thanks
damn lexy! no need to be hostile. That's why I asked for everyone's opinion's first. But why not? You think it would just be unnecessary, or annoying to an adcom.My reasoning for possibly including it would be that it is a concrete example of how I help out my clients, and would have more impact than me writing, "I help get clients money, and they like it"
now who's being sarcastic?


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Girl Scout Cookies
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first nationwide sale, the Girl Scouts are pleased to share the original sugar cookie recipe used when the troops made their own cookies.—Girl Scout Council, Girl Scout Council
Total TimePrep: 15 min. + chilling Bake: 10 min./batch
Makes4 dozen (2-1/2-inch cookies)
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Decorator's sugar, optional
- In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with trefoil cookie cutter or cutter of your choice. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.
- Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.
Nutrition Facts2 each: 154 calories, 8g fat (5g saturated fat), 38mg cholesterol, 117mg sodium, 18g carbohydrate (8g sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein.
Originally published as Girl Scout Cookies in Taste of Home February/March 1996
Follow along as we show you how to make these fantastic recipes from our archive.
My Review
Oct 22, 2013
Our favorite sugar cookie recipe!
Nov 11, 2011
This is my favorite sugar cookie without frosting.
Mar 9, 2009
This recipe tasted nothing like the girl scout cookies I remember.nweyer
Mar 9, 2009
I baked these with my granddaughter and was very dissappointed. They didn't taste anything like the original girl scout cookie .
Mar 4, 2009
Did you know that you can pay for the cookies but not take delivery yourself? What you buy can be shipped to our military in Iraq or Afganastan by the manufacturer. You pay nothing extra. Sales are going on now. Please consider buying some for our military members if you don't want them yourself. Elziabeth


text: lørdag 06 august 2005, 21:15, skrev Johannes Stezenbach: > Kenneth Aafløy wrote: > > Under linux/include/linux/errno.h there is a comment about ERESTARTSYS > > and other errno values, that specifically states that those are not > > to be seen by userspace programs. > > > > However, this value is frequently returned as the return value from > > down_interruptible. This even though include/asm-i386 and some other > > include/asm-*'s say that it returns -EINTR, which makes sense, since > > the only thing that can innterupt it is a signal. > > > > Would you say that it would be okay to replace all ERESTARTSYS with > > EINTR? > > No. The VFS layer handles ERESTARTSYS and, depending on the SA_RESTART > flag (see sigaction(2)) either restarts the syscall or returns EINTR > to userspace. (The code that actually does this is in > linux/arch/i386/kernel/signal.c). I didn't know this, thanks a lot. Kenneth


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Rif of the Fox Tribe has traveled far from home with his companion Rhene to compete in a puzzle contest. The night before the contest someone steals the wondrous Orb of Storms, an ancient relic of the Humans, and Rif is accused of being the thief. Rif is able to convince his accusers to give him a chance to find the real thief and recover the Orb. Two warriors are assigned to assist and guard Rif in his quest, Eeah of the Elk Tribe and Okk of the Boar Tribe. In addition Rhene is held hostage by the Boar King to ensure Rif does not try to escape.
Your goal in Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb is to guide Rif on his adventure, find clues to locate the real thief, and solve challenges along the way. You can have Rif talk to Okk, Eeah, and other Morph characters that are encountered during Rif's travels. Rif can pick-up items he finds and give these items to others. Some will only trade information for precious items, although what a Morph considers precious can vary greatly.
With your help, Rif will be able to clear his good name and rescue his beloved!
System Requirements:
Linux, Linux Gnome
Last updated:
2010-05-06 14:41:30
The Wyrmkeep Entertainment Co.
File name:
File size:


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Stop piling on to every investigation, Securities and Exchange Commission head Mary Jo White told other regulators Monday.
In a speech at the New York City Bar Association, White sharply rebuked those regulators that compete on investigations in an effort to make headlines.
"Collectively, we should also try to avoid unnecessary competition among ourselves for cases and headlines," she said. "While I realize we may not always achieve this goal in practice, enforcement is serious business and we have a professional responsibility to use our agency resources wisely and in a manner that best applies our specific expertise and enforcement tools."
"There is never room for anything other than a thorough investigation of all the evidence – wherever and to whomever it may lead."
White, who became the 31st chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission just over a year ago, said there has been a sharp increase in the number of investigators participating in probes.
When she was in private practice back in the early 2002, investigations were typically conducted by one or two regulators but now "it is common to have investigations with more – sometimes many more – than two regulators, whether they are additional federal regulators, state prosecutors, attorneys general, or foreign regulators."
There are sometimes good reasons to have so many regulators involved given the global nature of recent securities fraud, but regulators have to make sure that does not lead to "unjust, duplicative outcomes."
"Each agency should make a frank assessment of whether it brings the right expertise, jurisdictional authority, and appropriate remedies to the table," said White.
Some investigations should be criminal, civil or both, she said.
"Rushes to judgment or to the courthouse can potentially result in both injustices and charges that may not capture all of the culpable parties or misconduct."
— Sital S. Patel
— Follow The Tell on Twitter @thetellblog
— Follow Sital @Sital
More on MarketWatch:
Credit Suisse to settle tax-evasion charges
Geithner sees little risk of new financial crisis
Bernanke among Fed notables at Bush event


text:
At 3pm Eastern today, I'll be in sitting in the kitchen, surrounded by bottles of scotch. How is this any different than a normal 3pm in Chez Dietsch? Today, I have an excuse. Johnnie Walker's black-label blend turns 100 years old this year, and to celebrate, Johnnie's jetting his master blender, Andrew Ford, over to New York City, to lead a webcast focusing on the blending process.
I received an invitation to the webcast a couple of weeks ago, and shortly after I accepted, the FedEx man brought me a large box of kit.
Inside the box, I found seven sample bottles of single malt and grain whiskies, a small bottle of Johnnie Walker Black, a nosing glass, a measuring beaker, a funnel, and an empty bottle.
Andrew Ford will be walking us through the process of blending scotch whiskies. He'll also be taking questions, so if there's anything you want to know, leave a comment here, and I'll try to pass it along.
One question I have is why the grain whiskey appears to have been barrel-aged. I'm also curious about the number of whiskies they sent–one grain whiskey plus six bottles from various regions of Scotland (or in the case of the sherry-cask whiskey, a type of finishing method). Black Label is blended from at least 40 different whiskies. I know that Walker couldn't possibly have sent 40 bottles without breaking their bank. Even this shipment wasn't cheap, I'd wager. Now, what I don't know is whether each of those bottles is actually a single malt, or if each bottle has a blend of several malts–say, several malts from the Islay region–to approximate the 40 whiskies that comprise Black.


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Car makers at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit are rolling out the red carpet for their newest models, right on the heels of some positive sales figures for the industry in 2012.
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Companies like General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F), Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Volkswagen descended on Detroit this week to unveil a slew of new vehicles and concept cars that continued to indicate a trend toward lighter and more fuel-efficient automobiles.
Just this week, GM said its sales rose 2.9% with 9.2 million vehicles sold in 2012. Volkswagen also saw an increase in sales, reporting group deliveries of 9.07 million cars to top 2011 by 11%. Meanwhile, Toyota is poised to sit atop the industry with sales estimates of 9.7 million vehicles.
GM revived the Stingray when it introduced the next generation of the Chevrolet Corvette that is set to hit roads next January. The 2014 Corvette Stingray's base model will have 450 horsepower and a V-8 engine with 6.2-liters of displacement. It goes from zero to 60 mph in less than four seconds.
"The car we think is so dramatic, so special from a design standpoint, but also technology and performance," Mark Reuss, president of GM North America, told FBN's Jeff Flock. "This was a big deal inside the company, and we rallied around it."
Also from GM, a plug-in hybrid Cadillac was on display. The 2014 Cadillac ELR uses the same technology as the Chevrolet Volt and, as a luxury car, is expected to be priced higher than the $40,000 Volt. Production of the ELR will begin later this year.
Ford has begun a $1 billion effort to reinvigorate its Lincoln line, preparing its first Super Bowl commercial and rolling out redesigned models. Lincoln customers average 65 years old, and the Lincoln MKC is a smaller sport-utility vehicle that Ford hopes will attract younger buyers. The MKC is on pace to make it to market next year.
One of the top-selling cars in recent years, the F-150 pickup truck, is also in line for an upgrade. Show goers got an up-close look at Ford's Atlas concept, which is expected to be the F-150 by 2015. When the truck goes into production, it will feature the company's direct-injection, turbocharged EcoBoost engine and an extensive use of aluminum. Ford announced in July that its F-150 would be overhauled to shave pounds off the truck, putting the focus on fuel economy.
In an interview with FBN's Liz Claman, Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally said the truck's Internet connectivity and fuel efficiency are features that will help fuel sales.
"I think it will be a while before we get there," Mulally said when asked about F-series trucks returning to sales that near the 2.5 million trucks sold in 2005. Ford sold 645,000 F-series trucks last year.
Meanwhile, the Dearborn, Mich.-based company is bringing the style of the Shelby Mustang to a new 2013 Shelby Focus ST, which follows the release last summer of Ford's high-performance 2013 Focus ST. Ford also displayed the 2013 Shelby Ford Mustang GT 500 Super Snake, a wide-body version of the classic muscle car.
Volkswagen showed off a concept SUV that is designed to challenge SUV models, such as Ford's Explorer and Chrysler Group's Jeep Grand Cherokee, in the U.S. market. Europe's largest car maker expects the SUV, called the Crossblue, will help the company increase its market share.
Chrysler took the covers off a reboot of its Jeep Grand Cherokee. Jeep president Mike Manley told FBN's Jeff Flock that the car's diesel engine will allow the Grand Cherokee to achieve 30 miles per gallon. Manley also said Jeep struck a deal to build cars in China.
Toyota introduced its Furia concept, a new design for the compact Corolla sedan. The company is banking on a sportier design to bring younger buyers to the Corolla.
"It's a styling execution of the next generation of Corolla," Toyota USA CEO Jim Lentz told Flock. "It's known for quality, dependability, reliability and value, but not necessarily for design. This car changes all of that."


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This was one of the first things I was taught as a seaman apprentice in the U.S. Coast Guard (motto: "Semper Paratus," which means "Why does the U.S. Navy get all that money and we get bupkis?")
Amazingly, Morse code was still being taught to everyone 125 years after its invention. Will we still be using C++ in the year 2125? I don't think so.
Not only that -- it's digital! We can make the case that it was the first universally used computer language. And it was developed by an artist -- not just a hack, but a world-class artist: Samuel Morse.
Morse code was used way into the 1890s and beyond for radio communications. David Sarnoff, later CEO of the Radio Corporation of America, was a young telegraph operator who received the first SOS from the Titanic in 1912. Thomas Edison was a crackerjack telegraph operator before he invented the light bulb and everything else.
Morse spent the first 20 years of his life painting. He hung with James Fennimore Cooper and other literati in Paris and painted some very important pictures, one of which hung in the Hall of Congress. Back in those days, educated men dabbled in science and did experiments, truly Amateur Night. But Morse was different.
He built an entire industry, solved some of the world's most technical problems, built the language ... and eventually quit painting. Some say the impetus was when a message that his wife was deathly ill was delivered too late for him to be at her bedside when she passed away. From that episode came an inkling that there needed to be a method of rapid long-distance communication.
In the early days of telegraphy, it was possible to send a message, but only if you used 26 wires -- one for each letter. And then the message could go only about 40 feet. Morse figured out how to send a message on one wire by basically turning the electricity on and off, which is kind of how computers work.
His first idea was just to transmit numbers; every word would have a number code, which could be looked up. He soon had a better idea: Give each letter a code that an operator could translate. Morse also figured out how to use repeaters or relays to regenerate the signal.
By 1844, he ran an experimental 38-mile link along a railroad right of way and transmitted from Washington to Baltimore the message: "What hath God wrought," which is as famous as "Watson, come here, I need you" and "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Up to that point, the way information moved was to move atoms: ships, horses, people. It was labor-intensive, slow and costly. Morse figured out how to move electrons ... and changed the world. By 1851 Western Union was formed; by 1861 it was possible to send a message from New York to California. And with that innovation, the Pony Express was DOA.
Five years later, undersea cables were laid to Europe, and the world was for the first time instantly connected.
That relay product was cute. It was a spring-loaded switch that an electromagnet could open and close. It became a building block for computers 100 years later. President Obama has the original patent application and model for Morse's telegraph on a shelf in the Oval Office. He told author Michael Lewis: "This is the start of the Internet right here."
For the next 30 years, telegraph wires went everywhere, but this mode of communication was still partially electrons and partially atoms, as delivery boys still had to take the message the last mile from the telegraph office to your home.
But by 1875, a Canadian named Alexander Graham Bell was working on something called the harmonic telegraph, which allegedly could send messages on different pitches or notes down telegraph wires.
More on that to come in the fourth part of our series.
Three technologies are vying to upend legacy data center networks. Which one will you back? Also in the new, all-digital Welcome To The Revolution(s) issue of Network Computing: Startups are bringing fine-grained I/O quality of service to solid-state arrays. (Free with registration.)


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20490 Surnames | 134619 Records | 2764 Reunions
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Photo #61633
Last Name: Bigelow
First Name : J.
Middle Name: W.
Subject's City: Wolfville
Subject's State:
Subject's County: King's
Subject's Country: Canada
Date: 1901-1920
Photographer's City:
Photographer's State:
Type** : PRT
Comments: J. W. Bigelow (Nee: ) | Wolfville Canada | 1901-1920 | Comments: This portrait of Mr. J. W. Bigelow appears as frontispiece illustration to The Canadian Horticulturist, vol.24, no.4, April 1901. See that reference for more details. J. W. Bigelow was born in Canso, Guysborough Co. in N.S., Canada in 1833. He lived there until 1869. He ran a shipping business in Canso for many years. In 1869 he moved to a farm outside of Wolfville, King's Co. He was involved in horticulture and fruit science and had an orchard of his own. He was the president of the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' Association for a time. See also the younger photo of him posted on deadfred. That is all the information I have on this photo. I am not researching this line, just saw the photo and thought I'd post it.
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To modify the attributes of an administered object, use the imqobjmgr update subcommand. You supply the object's lookup name and location, and use the -o option to specify the new attribute values.
Example 11–8 changes the value of the imqReconnectAttempts attribute for the queue connection factory that was added to the object store in Example 11–1.


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Review: Wally Lamb leaves Arts Café stunned
Most folks fluent in books and theater are familiar with Hal Holbrook's "Mark Twain Tonight." It's a one-man presentation designed to present the iconic Twain in not just his superior literary guise but also touch on all the many sparkling aspects of his character and personality.
On Friday evening, an SRO audience in the Mystic Arts Center witnessed a similarly remarkable production. Call it Wally Lamb's "Wally Lamb Tonight."
Indeed, for an hour in the final fall program of The Arts Café Mystic, Lamb, the author of a mega-bestselling trio of eminently devourable literary novels as well as a whimsical piece of Christmas nostalgia, gave a reading that was, well, far more than just a recitation of his work. In prefatory remarks, the folksy and hilarious Lamb said that, in trying to decide what to do for the Café, he would tap into his inner gameshow host and mix in the idea of a touring rock band's greatest hits set list.
Dressed in a T-shirt and a brown tweed sportcoat, and topped with a worn Rheingold beer cap, the author stood behind the microphone and started off by thanking The Arts Café director Christie Max Williams for the booking.
"I've been on the road a number of years," Lamb said, "but some of my fondest memories are of this café and this audience."
He thanked poet Owen Hughes and fortepianist Sylvia Berry for their very fine support sets. "I'm bowled over by Owen and Sylvia's performances," Lamb said. "So much for the high culture."
He also acknowledged a number of friends in the crowd, including a first girlfriend, an old teaching colleague, a husband/wife team of dairy farmers he's known for years and, in full disclosure, a Day reporter with whom Lamb shares a fondness for rock 'n' roll.
To warm up, Lamb asked for volunteers who felt familiar with his canon - "She's Come Undone," "The Hour I First Believed," "I Know This Much is True," "Wishin' and Hopin'" - and two audience members, representing the youngest of three generations in the house, came up. Lamb read short excerpts from his books to see if they could correctly identify the source. Both performed well and were rewarded with prize options, including a "booby prize" edition of a Norwich magazine with Lamb on the cover - and which, the writer promised, "includes a foldout."
Which brought Lamb to the main portion of the evening. He elected to read from his upcoming novel, called "We Are Water." He shared a few autobiographical anecdotes that contributed to the developing fabric of the story, then read a chapter in the voice of Kent, a relatively minor character who sets a major plot component in action.
It was a stunning section of the book - a bit of narrative sorcery that went through three distinct gear-shifts in tone. At the outset, the teenage Kent's account of living with his blue collar aunt and uncle and their three children is a melancholy but touchingly funny sort of coming-of-age recollection.
When a dam down the street breaks and floods, Kent's voice shifts desperately into stark terror as he and his Uncle Chick attempt to save family members from raging flood waters.
A final segue shows a new, more mature Kent who seems to have emerged from the disaster as the only one who can effectively help the family survivors heal - at which time, like a spider crawling out of a wedding cake, Lamb quietly delivered a plot-twist gut-punch so devastating that it seemed the work of a dark magician. Stunningly great stuff.
"We Are Water" hits bookstores in November 2013. It wouldn't be a surprise if folks from Friday's reading were already standing in line.
Police seek information in Crystal Mall fight involving machete
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Connecticut delegation joins call for special counsel to testify


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The winner of the 2013 PA Outstanding Contribution Award is Patrizio E. Tressoldi. This yearly award is given to a PA Professional or Associate Member who has made an outstanding research or service contribution that has advanced the discipline of parapsychology.
Patrizio E. Tressoldi earned his Dottore di Ricerca (PhD) in Psychology at Padova University, Italy in 1988. He is currently full time Researcher at the Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale of Padova University, Italy and Member of the Scuola di Dottorato in Psicologia (Psychology PhD School) of Università di Padova, Italy.
His research experience started in the field of human experimental neuropsychology extended in the field of learning disabilities. At present his main research interests are devoted to the cognitive and physiological characteristics of nonlocal mind functions in collaboration with Julia Mossbridge, Northwestern University, USA, Lance Storm, University of Adelaide, Australia; Jessica Utts, UC at Irvine, USA; Dean Radin, Noetic Institute, Petaluna, CA, USA; Daryl Bem, Cornell University, USA. Furthermore he is interested in the modelling of nonlocal properties of human mind within a quantum-like paradigm in collaboration with Andrei Khrennikov, Linnaeus University, Sweden and Marco Genovese, INRIM, Torino, Italy. He is also involved in the reform of statistical practices in collaboration with Geoff Cumming, La Trobe University, Australia and in the epistemological debate about the contribution of the study of neural correlates of human cognitive functions in collaboration with prof. Carlo Umiltà Emeritus of the Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale of Padova University, Italy and prof. Max Coltheart, Emeritus at the Department of Cognitive Science of Macquerie University, Australia.
Congratulations, Dr. Tressoldi! Additional information about the PA's annual awards can be found at: http://www.parapsych.org/section/27/awards.aspx
Register with the Parapsychological Association website to participate in the discussion, or sign in if you already have an account.
The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or 'psychic') experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.
First established in 1957, the PA has been an affiliated organization of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 1969. The PA is a non-profit, non-adjudicating organization that endorses no ideologies or beliefs other than the value of rigorous scientific and scholarly inquiry.


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Career Guides >> Browse Articles >> Advice and Options >> Editor's Blog
How Would YOU Change USAJOBS?
flickr | creative commons | http://www.flickr.com/photos/spursfan_ace/2328879637/
Chris McConnell | GovCentral
Last month, the Office of Personnel Management published a draft of their strategic plan for 2010-2015 seeking to update, streamline, and modernize how the federal government recruits, hires, trains, and rewards its civilian workforce.
John Berry, Director of OPM, stated in a speech entitled A New Day for the Civil Service, that they have set a lofty goal to make the federal government the model employer for the American in the 21st Century.
OPM is seeking public comment on their strategic plan, which happens in a lot of federal documents, but typically it's a little hard to understand how to submit them. The OPM has made this a lot easier and more transparent, as the public comments can be instantly accessed by visitors to the site.
You can see OPM's draft strategic plan and submit your own public comment here
Of the four strategic goals mentioned in the document, one in particular will have a large impact in attracting and recruiting top talent to work for Uncle Sam. This is of course the blessed and cursed USAJOBS.gov website.
Become a Government Employee
2. Switch to a Career in Government
3. Government Career Profiles
Quizzes: What's Your Government Specialty?
Any applicant that submits an application for a position on USAJOBS understands that they are stepping into a potential black hole. Currently, it can be hard to discern if you qualified or not, or if a poorly formated application put to an end the little resume that could. Kudos in advance to OPM if that can make the process easier.
Other goals in the strategic plan focus on the life-cycle of federal employment, from assisting veterans in the transition to the federal workplace, improving the work-life balance, and recognizing high-performing employees and federal agencies for a job well done.
The Obama Administration has made it a stated goal to "make government cool again", which was greeted with optimistic intrigue by Vanity Fair in their early profile of new Administration in February earlier this year. The Politico has even reported on an even more enthusiastic group of interns coming to DC to work. However, instead of just seeking an internship on Capitol Hill, they are finding the appeal of the executive branch and the plethora of options within federal agencies.
It's important that the OPM finds an efficient way to seek for and hire the influx of enthusiastic workers young and old clamoring for a spot in the government. However, it's simply too early to judge whether the OPM can change a government culture the public views as inefficient and full of red-tape. The release of the draft strategic plan is the first step in making it a reality.
Lofty goals indeed.
Download and read the Office of Personnel Management Draft 2010-2015 Strategic Plan at: http://www.opm.gov/strategicplan/ The deadline for public comments is August 30th, 2009.


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The Canterbury Tales Notes & Analysis
The free The Canterbury Tales notes include comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. These free notes consist of about 74 pages (22,108 words) and contain the following sections:
These free notes also contain Quotes and Themes & Topics on The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
The Canterbury Tales Plot Summary
The Canterbury Tales begins with the General Prologue, a detailed introduction and description of each of the pilgrims journeying to Canterbury to catch sight of the shrine to Sir Thomas a Becket, the martyred saint of Christianity, supposedly buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury since 1170. The pilgrims, a mixture of virtuous and villainous characters from Medieval England, include a Knight, his son the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner, a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. They each bring a slice of England to the trip with their stories of glory, chivalry, Christianity, villainy, disloyalty, cuckoldry, and honor. Some pilgrims are faithful to Christ and his teachings, while others openly disobey the church and its law of faithfulness, honor, and modesty.
The pilgrimage begins in April, a time of happiness and rebirth. They pilgrims hope not only to travel in this blessed time, but to have a rebirth of their own along the way. The pilgrimage consists of these characters journeying to Canterbury and back, each telling two tales in each direction, as suggested by the host. At the conclusion of the tales, the host will decide whose story is the best. The Knight is the first to tell a story, one made up properly of honor and chivalry. His tale is followed by the Miller's opposite tale of dishonor and frivolity. Chaucer frequently places tales of religion and Christ-like worship with tales of unfaithful women and cuckolded men. The Reeve, the Cook, and the Man of Law tell the next stories, while the host interjects his opinions throughout. There are several rivalries that grow from within the intertext, including the small quarrels between the Friar and Summoner and between the Miller and Reeve. Between each tale, most pilgrims have a prologue, in which they tell about themselves or allow Chaucer to illustrate the dynamics of the group. The Friar and the Summoner develop a minor feud, in which they each tell tales of ill-will towards the other's profession, and the Pardoner brings his own immoral behavior into the Tales. The Wife of Bath is a memorable character and is often thought of as a primordial feminist who acts on her own terms instead of those of the man.
The Canterbury Tales are not fully completed, for the original task of having each pilgrim tell two tales is never realized. Furthermore, two of the tales are begun and then suddenly cut off before their grand conclusion, such as the Squire's Tale and the Tale of Sir Thopas. Some of the pilgrims never even tell one story, such as the Tapestry-Maker and the Haberdasher, and the destination of Canterbury is not explicitly mentioned in the pilgrims' prologues or Chaucer's Retraction.
Chaucer concludes his tales with a Retraction, asking for mercy and forgiveness from those whom he may have offended along his course of storytelling and pilgrimage. He hopes to blame his ignorance and lack of education on any erroneous behavior or language, for he believes that his intentions were all moralistic and honorable. In the end, he gives all credit to Jesus Christ.