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"All things end badly, or else they wouldn't end." -- Brian Flanagan, Cocktail
(Yeah, you saw that right. I just started a sports post with a quote from Cocktail, which, having now seen my first episode of Glee, is strangely only the second gayest thing I've done all week.)
I honestly think most of Coughlan's Laws are bullshit. The whole "Confucius meets Sam Malone meets Lucky Charms leprechaun" thing never really worked for me, but this one makes a little bit of sense to me. Primary examples include:
1. 21st birthdays (The human body was not meant to ingest 21 shots in an evening.)
2. Any sitcom whose cast includes Ted McGinley. (Go google "jump the shark McGinley".)
3. Fans running onto the field at sporting events.
I've never understood people, regardless of how drunk they are, who decide it's a good idea to inject themselves into a sporting event by running onto the field and making the airplane wing arms. It's the equivalent of volunteering to, minimum, get arrested and, worst case, incur a vicious beatdown.
What made me think of this? Well, earlier this week, Matt Diaz of the Atlanta Braves became my new favorite baseball player when he decided to sweep the legs of a Philly fan/interloper dressed in a red "Green Man" body suit. (These things happen in Philly roughly ten times more than all other cities combined.)
In my lifetime, I've made plenty of decisions I'd like to take back, so when I get a chance to watch someone else making that very type of decision AND I get to watch their punishment, well, this gives me pleasure.
And it should give you pleasure, too. So here you go, six Intruding Fan Time Wasters to get you through the rest of the day...
Best Part: 0:15 The intruder going down like a house of cards after an eagle-eye shot (on the run, no less) by a Citizens Bank Ball Park security guard. This was the security guard's equivalent of a three-quarter-court shot. (Little known fact -- the gate crasher is my friend on Facebook, but I can't remember his name. The line for whom qualifies as a "friend" is very blurred in 2010. I blame Facebook.)
Best Part: 0:08 After running out of his shirt (0:04) like a drunken Earl Campbell breaking tackles in 1978, dude takes the time to reach down and touch second base, as if the cops might somehow appeal to the third base ump instead of just beating the living shit out of him.
Best Part: 0:28 After about 25 seconds of a handful of fans running around (and make no mistake, the "drunk fan outnumbering overweight security detail" dynamic is fascinating to watch -- like watching three amateur cowboys try and herd cows), one dude finally belly flops into home plate...and probably about 200 hours of community service.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS, EVIL VERSION Best Part:0:12
The hooligan coming out of the crowd like a WWE wrestler trying to save his tag team partner is pretty awesome, especially when he goes for the side kick to the cop's head and wipes out. The rest of this video is disturbing and kind of depressing, I'll be honest.
SPEAR! SPEAR! SPEAR! Best Part: 0:32
....like I said --SPEAR! SPEAR! SPEAR!!!
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Best Part: 0:11 After two security guards sending each other in for matching hip replacements, the third guard in executes a tackle that was better than anything on a Bengals highlight film for the entire decade of the `90's. Go play it in slow motion, it is as technically perfect a tackle as you'll see.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on 1560 The Game from 3-7 p.m. on the "Sean & John Show" and follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SeanCablinasian.


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The Samsung Galaxy mini is now available on T-Mobile, and has been confirmed as being in stock.
The Galaxy mini, also available in White, is Samsung's latest affordable electronic gadgets and as you would expect, its offers a miniature smartphone experience. The pint-sized mobile sports a 3.15-inch touchscreen, displaying Samsung's social TouchWiz UI and a host of pre-loaded Google widgets. It may be small, but it still offers the full Froyo package, including built-in GPS, Facebook and Twitter integration and access to the Android Market. On its rear, the Samsung Galaxy mini features a 3 megapixel camera, capable of recording video footage at 15 frames per second. That's not all, as it also features HSDPA and WiFi speeds, up to 32GB of storage and a powerful 1200mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy mini is now available to order on pay monthly deals with T-Mobile. Prices start from just £11.06/month, once cashback from 11 months free line rental has been claimed from a 2 year £24.42/month contract. This deal includes a free handset, 300 minutes, 300 texts and 500MB data. These cool electronic gadgets is also available on O2, Orange and Vodafone, from £8.51/month.
The Samsung Galaxy mini is also available on Pay As You Go with O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone, from £149.99.

subset: commoncrawl


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Maverick Metal Bar Stool 30" (Distressed White) with Wood Seat
Hit on with the industrial style influence brought by Bronte Import. This 30" height Bar Stool enhanced with a low-profile design is perfectly suited for both indoor and outdoor spaces. Crafted from galvanized steel, it features an open and arched back rest with four tapered legs creating a factory-inspired shape. It 14" Bamboo square seat allows this piece to support up to 350 pounds, meeting a perfect match between wood and steel, while specialized rubber glides underneath its feet help protect your flooring or patio from any scratching.
|Lightweight and durable
|Rubber glides to protect the floor
|Available in matching chair
|Dimensions: 45" H X " 18½" D X 18½" W
|Seat Dimensions: 14" X 14"
|Seat Material: Wood
|Frame Material: Metal
|Seat Color:
|Weight :


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I've made so many cards already with the By the Sea stamp set from Creative Expressions.
My favourite images from the set are the two little seahorses. I remembered I had this seahorse digi paper from Pink Petticoat which goes so well as a background. I stamped the seahorse on white card with Versafine Onyx Black ink, then I used some of the Cosmic Shimmer Pixie powders to colour it. You probably can't tell from the photo but it's really shimmery and has a bit of texture. The colours I used are Lava Red and White Pearl which created this lovely pink colour. Once dry I added a few sprinkles of the white pearl which creates a lovely textured effect. As a final touch, I couldn't resist adding a googlie eye.


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Terms & Conditions
Your booking will be confirmed upon receipt of a 50% deposit. For those events requiring waitstaffing and additional items, the deposit required is just 50% of the hire package price and catering. The deposit is fully refundable (less a $55 administration fee) up to 5 working days prior to the event. Payment of the deposit indicates acknowledgement and acceptance of our terms and conditions. Should insufficient notice be given when cancelling a booking (ie less than 5 working days prior to the event date), the full deposit will be forfeited.
Final numbers (and guest list, where necessary) must be confirmed 5 working days prior to the event. No reduction in numbers can be accepted after this time.
The balance of payment (plus bond) is due 3 working days prior to the event.
Hire Packages:
For the Basic, Standard, Premium Hire Packages, a $200 bond is payable along with the balance of payment. Bond monies are refunded in the week after your event, once everything has been collected, hand-washed and packed away. The chance of a breakage is highly unlikely as we pack, deliver, set-up, clear-away, hand-wash and pack away everything ourselves, which greatly reduces the risk of any damage to the china. We do, however, realise that this may occur from time to time and, therefore, a flat fee of $35 per breakage/loss (except for teapots and cake stands). Teapots and cake stands are charged at replacement cost. Lost or damaged champagne and water glasses are charged at $2.20/glass (replacement cut crystal glasses: $15 each). Missing tea napkins will be charged at $5.50 each.
A $100 bond is payable for Children's Hire Packages. Lost or damaged items will be charged at replacement cost.
Antiquitea staff will do their utmost to ensure all hire items are collected at the end of each event. It is, however, the hirer's responsibility to assist Antiquitea staff in ensuring all items have been collected. Any remaining items are to be returned by the hirer to our premises in Shelley. Should a second collection be required, a $55 charge will be deducted from bond monies prior to refunding.
Any additional waitstaffing time or out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. parking fees) will be deducted from bond monies prior to refunding.
Tea or dinner set items cannot be added on to our Hire Packages. All other items (e.g. linen, glassware, decorator, furniture, etc) may be added (and will be delivered, collected and washed up, along with everything else in the hire package)!
Custom Hires:
Delivery and collection is available within the Perth metropolitan area (price on application).
A washing up service is also available.. please ask us for a quote.
Lost or damaged items will be charged at replacement cost.
You are welcome to collect items yourself (by appointment) from our premises in Shelley. All vintage china and silverware must be hand-washed, dried, re-packed and returned after the event. Please note: most of these items are from an era where dishwashers did not exist, and so must only be washed the old-fashioned way (damaged/lost items will be charged at replacement cost). If items are still soiled on return and need to be re-washed, a fee of $55/hr per staff member will be charged.
A $200 bond is payable for orders of $100 and over. For orders less than $100, a $100 bond is payable (bond monies are returned in the week following your event, once everything has been returned and accounted for).
Tea or dinner set items cannot be added on to our Hire Packages. However, all other items (e.g. linen, glassware, decorator, furniture, etc) can be added on (they will also be delivered, collected and washed up, along with everything else in the hire package)!


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Kathmandu – First Impressions
After a couple of really busy days in Dubai we finally landed in Kathmandu, Nepal and have now been able to spend a couple of quiet-ish days getting a feel for the place. In this post I will talk about our first impressions of Kathmandu.
What is Kathmandu Like?
First impressions of Kathmandu are great. The city is absolutely buzzing. Everyone is trying to sell you stuff (from drugs to trekking trips), talk to you and take you to places. Our experience started with bargaining with taxi drivers at the airport as our hotel is located in Thamel, the central area of Kathmandu which is about 5km away from the airport. The table near the exit with a big blue sign "official airport taxi" seemed like a reasonable thing to have in an airport and we could see tourists lining up in an orderly manner with a person behind the table telling everyone how much their taxi would cost.
Now, there are two aspects here that need highlighting. First of all, queuing in this part of the world does not have the same meaning as back at home. Let's say it is a lot more "target oriented" and people participating in the queuing process are a lot more "determined to achieve their goal or reach their destination". In other words, don't queue. And secondly, don't take the first price you are offered because that's the price that the other person wants to get, not how much it actually costs!
Long story short, after speaking to a couple of drivers outside, the "official" taxi guy ended up reducing his price by about 30% and we made a deal. I think we could have pushed it a bit further, but when you are asked to pay £3 for a 20min ride it's difficult to ask for more.
Driving in Kathmandu
The only thing I can add about our ride from the airport is that the traffic is mental here. Everyone is going everywhere and it is almost impossible to understand whether people drive on the left or on the right hand side of the road*. It is important to know, however, that to drive in Nepal you need to beep a lot and repeatedly try to fit yourself into a space that does not have another car, motorcycle or a pedestrian in it. It's probably not very efficient, but that's just how it works.
Based on the interaction between a woman-with-a-baby-in-a-plastic-box-on-a-trolley and a taxi driver as shown in the picture below, it is a left hand side drive. But then again, who knows and who the hell cares.
Accommodation in Kathmandu
When our driver took us to our hotel, we found out it was not much of a hotel. It was this tiny place called Sweet Dreams in the heart of Kathmandu with around 5-6 guest rooms in total. We paid around £7 a night which is not too bad considering we got a room with a private bathroom. We are literally fifty meters away from all the restaurants and the central market and only about 15 minute walk away from the Durbar Square which is a UNESCO heritage site so location is fantastic. The only issue is that sleeping at night is a bit of a problem due to the proximity of all the fun happening outside. I'm glad I have my earplugs…
October 2018 Update: We moved into a new hotel further from Thamel which at £5 a night appeared to be much better value. It is called Stupa View Inn run by a very cheerful man Lapsang Lama. The hotel was built only very recently and so the rooms are new and modern which is unusual for this kind of pricetag!
Despite all of the above we are loving Kathmandu. It is crazy and fun, it has all the history and culture for us to explore, it has the awesome food (we have already tried some – Momos in Chilly are awesome!) and eating out is really affordable. I can't wait to get out and do some sightseeing.
These are our first impressions about Kathmandu. Read more about our experience in Nepal in the following posts.
Just a quick request before you go. Book with Agoda or Booking using our affiliate links and help us keep this blog going!


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Angeline Lau's 10-year-old son can lose his temper at the smallest annoyance: his sister picking up his new toy, another student singing and humming in line at school.
His brain was damaged by the alcohol his birth mother drank when he was in the womb. But a 12-week program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has helped him learn to better understand and regulate his emotions.
"It has smoothed out some of the rough edges," said Ms. Lau, his adoptive mother.
It also may have rewired his brain. Joanne Rovet, a researcher at Sick Kids, and her colleagues are using magnetic resonance imaging to study the brains of 40 children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD, before and after the 12 weeks of therapy. They are looking for changes related to impulse control, hoping to find concrete evidence that the therapy can create lasting changes in kids with FASD.
"We believe we may have the key to helping these children function in daily life," said Dr. Rovet.
FASD is an umbrella term to describe a number of conditions caused by exposure to alcohol in the womb, the most severe being fetal alcohol syndrome. Each child has a different constellation of symptoms that can include learning disabilities, such as problems with attention and memory, and behavioural difficulties. One in 100 children is born with FASD and many of them develop a mental illness in adolescence or adulthood, says Dr. Rovet.
The Alert program involves using games and props to get children to think of their brains and bodies as engines that at times can get too revved up. Each child finds "tools" to help their engines gear down when they feel angry or hyperactive, like putting in ear plugs, closing the blinds or sitting on a "wiggle seat," a half-inflated camping pillow. Tools include strategies for dealing with situations that upset them. The children also learn how to fire up their engines - perhaps with physical exercise - if they are feeling tired or sad.
The principles of that program are used in three special classrooms for children with FASD at David Livingstone public school in Winnipeg. There is a steady stream of visitors from across North America and Europe who come to see how the school helps kids with FASD learn, says principal Debbie Lenhardt Mair.
Teacher Sharen McDermit's classroom has been configured to be as soothing as possible, with the lights low and blue sheets covering the bookshelves and bulletin boards when Ms. McDermit isn't using them. When she talks, each of the eight children holds a listening tool, like a textured ball, to remind them to focus on what she is saying. When they go to their individual "offices," a cardboard screen makes it easier to concentrate on their work rather than on what a neighbour is doing.
The children, in Grades 2 and 3, have learned how their brains were damaged by the alcohol their mothers drank during pregnancy, says Ms. McDermit, who has been teaching children with FASD for 13 years. Two teaching assistants also work with the children.
The youngsters know their individual strengths, in art or language or music, and about the kinds of things that are more challenging for them, like paying attention, math, or keeping their tempers under control. As in the Toronto program, the children try different tools to calm themselves down, like rocking in a chair to do their work. Those who need physical activity can pull themselves around on a coaster board.
Ms. Lau, whose son was taught the Alert approach at Sick Kids in Toronto, has noticed a difference at home since he finished the program in the fall. "He is using his strategies, to walk away, ignore it, talk it out," she said. "Sometimes he can step on the brakes."
Her son - she requested his name not be published - was diagnosed when he was six years old. He is volatile and sensitive to things most children don't react to, which makes it hard for him to manage in the classroom. He learned to read early, but struggles with math. Ms. Lau says he was thrilled to be part of the research project at Sick Kids. "He thinks it will help other kids," she said.
Exposure to alcohol in the womb can affect areas and structures critical for memory, learning and abstract thinking. It also damages white matter, the connections that allow parts of the brain to communicate and work together.
Scientists are also starting to assess if there are ways to improve brain function in these children, to capitalize on neuroplasticity, or how experience changes the brain.
In Toronto, the focus is on self-regulation, emotional processing, impulse control and social understanding. In addition to the 40 children between the ages of eight and 12 with FASD who are enrolled in the study, the researchers are assessing 20 other children in a control group. They hope to present their preliminary results in September, at conference in Charlottetown.
Dr. Rovet is collaborating with Margot Taylor, Jason Lerch and Gideon Koren, and the work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canadian Foundation on Fetal Alcohol Research. The children get one-on-one therapy with graduate student Kelly Nash, who asks parents to fill out a daily form to keep track of their child's behaviour at home.
To see if the therapy changes their brains, she gets them to play an impulse control game inside a functional magnetic resonance imager. It is similar to the popular game whack a mole. Either a mole or a garden vegetable appears on the computer screen. The kids are asked to press a button when they see the mole, but not when they see a carrot or a head of lettuce.
Brain circuitry that is involved in impulse control usually gets activated when children without FASD play the game and stop themselves from whacking the lettuce. But the same network doesn't fire up in children with FASD, although researchers suspect this will change after the therapy.
That's what happened with Ms. Lau's son, one of the first to go through the program and the before-and-after brain imaging.
"After therapy, we saw this network come on line," said Ms. Nash. "It was interesting to see these neuroplastic changes, along with the improvements reported by the parent."


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You may recall that in the earlier unit on phase equilibria, we pointed out that aggregations of molecules that are more disordered tend to be the ones that are favored at higher temperature, whereas those that possess the lowest potential energy are favored at lower temperatures. This is a general principle that applies throughout the world of matter; the stable form at any given temperature will always be that which leads to the best balance between low potential energy and high molecular disorder.
To see how these considerations are applied to solutions, think about the individual steps that must be carried out when a solute is dissolved in a solvent:
|1 If the solute is a solid or liquid, it must first be dispersed — that is, its molecular units must be pulled apart. This requires energy, and so this step always works against solution formation.
|2 The solute must then be introduced into the solvent. Whether this is energetically favorable or unfavorable depends on the nature of the solute and solvent. If the solute is A and the solvent is B, then what is important is the strength of the attractive forces between A-A and B-B molecules, compared to those between A-B pairs; if the latter are greater, then the potential energy will be lower when the substances are mixed and solution formation will be favored.
Exothermic if A-B attractions stronger than A-A + B-B
Endothermic if attractions between like molecules are stronger than those between unlike molecules.
If step 2 releases more energy than is consumed in step 1, this will favor solution formation, and we can generally expect the solute to be soluble in the solvent. Even if the dissolution process is slightly endothermic, there is a third important factor, the entropy increase, that will very often favor the dissolved state.
Entropy of dissolution
As anyone who has shuffled a deck of cards knows, disordered arrangements of objects are statistically more favored simply because there are more ways in which they can be realized. And as the number of objects increases, the more does statistics govern their most likely arrangements. The numbers of objects (molecules) we deal with in Chemistry is so huge that their tendency to become as spread out as possible becomes overwhelming. But in doing so, the thermal energy they carry with them is also spread and dispersed, so the availability of this energy, as measured by the temperature, is also of importance. Chemists use the term "entropy" to denote this aspect of molecular randomness.
Readers of this section who have had some exposure to thermodynamics will know that solubility, like all equilibria, is governed by the Gibbs free energy change for the process, which incorporates the entropy change at a fundamental level. This topic is treated in some detail in the unit on the Thermodynamics of Equilibrium.
A proper understanding of these considerations requires some familiarity with thermodynamics, which most students do not encounter until well into their second semester of Chemistry (see box at left). If you are not there yet, don't despair; you are hereby granted temporary permission to think of molecular "disorder" and entropy simply in terms of "spread-outedness".
Thus in the very common case in which a small quantity of solid or liquid dissolves in a much larger volume of solvent, the solute becomes more spread out in space, and the number of equivalent ways in which the solute can be distributed within this volume is greatly increased. This is the same as saying that the entropy of the solute increases.
If the energetics of dissolution are favorable, this increase in entropy means that the conditions for solubility will always be met. Even if the energetics are slightly endothermic the entropy effect can still allow the solution to form, although perhaps limiting the maximum concentration that can be achieved.
In such a case, we may describe the solute as being slightly soluble in a certain solvent. What this means is that a greater volume of solvent will be required to completely dissolve a given mass of solute.
"Like dissolves like"
Polar and non polar molecules
Polar molecules are those in which electric charge is distributed asymmetrically. The most familiar example is ordinary water, in which the highly electronegative oxygen atom pulls part of the electric charge cloud associated with each O–H bond closer to itself. Although the H2O molecule is electrically neutral overall, this charge imbalance gives rise to a permanent electric dipole moment.
"Associated" liquids
Chemists use this term to refer to liquids in which the effects of hydrogen bonding dominate the local structure. Water is the most important of these, but ammonia NH3 and hydrogen cyanide HCN are other common examples.
Thus liquid water consists of an extended network of H2O molecules linked together by dipole-dipole attractions that we call hydrogen bonds. Because these are much weaker than ordinary chemical bonds, they are continually being disrupted by thermal forces. As a result, the extended structure is highly disordered (in contrast to that of solid ice) and continually changing.
When a solute molecule is introduced into an associated liquid, a certain amount of energy must be expended in order to break the local hydrogen-bond structure and make space for the new molecule. If the solute is itself an ion or a polar molecule, new ion-dipole or dipole-dipole attractions come into play. In favorable cases these may release sufficient potential energy to largely compensate for the energy required to incorporate the solute into the structure.
An extreme example of this occurs when ammonia dissolves in water. Each NH3 molecule can form three hydrogen bonds, so the resulting solution is even more hydrogen-bonded than is pure water — accounting for the considerable amount of heat released in the process and the extraordinarily large solubility of ammonia in water.
Non polar solutes are sparingly soluble in water
When a non polar solute such as oxygen or hexane is introduced into an associated liquid, we might expect that the energy required to break the hydrogen bonds to make space for the new molecule is not compensated by the formation of new attractive interactions, suggesting that the process will be energetically unfavorable.
We can therefore predict that solutes of these kinds will be only sparingly soluble in water, and this is indeed the case.
The hydrophobic effect
It turns out, however, that this is not an entirely correct explanation for the small solubility of non polar solutes in water. It is now known that the H2O molecules that surround a non polar intruder and find themselves unable to form energy-lowering polar or hydrogen-bonded interactions with it will rearrange themselves into a configuration that maximizes the hydrogen bonding between the water molecules themselves. In doing so, this creates a cage-like shell around the solute molecule. In terms of the energetics of the process, these new H2O-H2O interactions largely compensate for the lack of solute-H2O interactions.
But this shell of highly organized water molecules exacts its own toll on the solubility by reducing the entropy of the system. Dissolution of a solute normally increases the entropy by spreading the solute molecules (and the thermal energy they contain) through the larger volume of the solvent. But in this case, the H2O molecules within the highly structured shell surrounding the solute molecule are themselves constrained to this location, and their number is sufficiently great to reduce the entropy by far more than the dissolved solute increases it.
The small solubility of a non polar solute in an associated liquid such as water results more from the negative entropy change rather than from energetic considerations. This phenomenon is known as the hydrophobic effect.
In the next section, we will explore the ways in which these energy-and-entropy considerations come together in various kinds of solutions.
Gaseous solutions
Mixtures of gases are really solutions, but we tend not to think of them this way because they mix together freely and with no limits to their compositions; we say that gases are miscible in all proportions.
For a [non-mathematical!] thermodynamic description of why gases spontaneously expand and mix, see here.
To the extent that gases behave ideally (because they consist mostly of empty space), their mixing does not involve energy changes at all; the mixing of gases is driven entirely by the increase in entropy (S) as each kind of molecule occupies and shares the space and kinetic energy of the other. (Recall Dalton's law: "Every gas is a vacuum to every other gas.")
Your nose can be a remarkably sensitive instrument for detecting components of gaseous solutions, even at the parts-per-million level. The olfactory experiences resulting from cooking cabbage, eating asparagus, and bodily emanations that are not mentionable in polite society are well known.
See this list of odor thresholds.
Can solids or liquids "dissolve" in a gaseous solvent? In a very narrow sense they can, but only to a very small extent. Dissolution of a condensed phase of matter into a gas is formally equivalent to evaporation (of a liquid) or sublimation (of a solid), so the process really amounts to the mixing of gases.
The energy required to remove molecules from their neighbors in a liquid or solid and into the gaseous phase is generally too great to be compensated by the greater entropy they enjoy in the larger volume of the mixture, so solids tend to have relatively low vapor pressures. The same is true of liquids at temperatures well below their boiling points.
These two cases of gaseous solutions can be summarized as follows:
|gaseous solvent, solute →
|liquid or solid
|energy to disperse solute
|energy to introduce into gas
|increase in entropy
|very limited
Solutions of gases in liquids
Gases dissolve in liquids, but usually only to a small extent.
When a gas dissolves in a liquid, the ability of the gas molecules to move freely throughout the volume of the solvent is greatly restricted. If this latter volume is small, as is often the case, the gas is effectively being compressed. Both of these effects amount to a decrease in the entropy of the gas that is not usually compensated by the entropy increase due to mixing of the two kinds of molecules. Such processes greatly restrict the solubility of gases in liquids.
|liquid solvent, solute →
|energy to disperse solute
|energy to introduce into solvent
|medium to large
|increase in entropy
|usually very limited
Solubility of gases in water
Some typical gas solubilities, expressed in the number of moles of gas at 1 atm pressure that will dissolve in a liter of water at 25° C, are given below:
|solubility, mol L–1 atm–1
|carbon dioxide
|sulfur dioxide
As we indicated above, the only gases that are readily soluble in water are those whose polar character allows them to interact strongly with it.
Ammonia is remarkably soluble in water
Inspection of the above table reveals that ammonia is a champion in this regard. At 0° C, one liter of water will dissolve about 90 g (5.3 mol) of ammonia.
makes no significant contribution to its solubility; the equilibrium lies heavily on the left side (as evidenced by the strong odor of ammonia solutions). Only about four out of every 1000 NH3 molecules are in the form of ammonium ions at equilibrium.
This is truly impressive when one calculates that this quantity of NH3 would occupy (5.3 mol) × (22.4 L mol–1) = 119 L at STP. Thus one volume of water will dissolve over 100 volumes of this gas. It is even more impressive when you realize that in order to compress 119 L of an ideal gas into a volume of 1 L, a pressure of 119 atm would need to be applied! This, together with the observation that dissolution of ammonia is accompanied by the liberation of a considerable amount of heat, tells us that the high solubility of ammonia is due to the formation of more hydrogen bonds (to H2O) than are broken within the water structure in order to accommodate the NH3 molecule.
If we actually compress 90 g of pure NH3 gas to 1 L, it will liquefy, and the vapor pressure of the liquid would be about 9 atm. In other words, the escaping tendency of NH3 molecules from H2O is only about 1/9th of what it is from liquid NH3. One way of interpreting this is that the strong intermolecular (dipole-dipole) attractions between NH3 and the solvent H2O give rise to a force that has the effect of a negative pressure of 9 atm.
The reaction of ammonia with water according to NH3 + H2O → NH4+ + OH–
makes no significant contribution to its solubility; the equilibrium lies heavily on the left side (as evidenced by the strong odor of ammonia solutions) only about four out of every 1000 NH3 molecules are in the form of ammonium ions at equilibrium.
The Ammonia Fountain Experiment
This classic experiment nicely illustrates the high solubility of gaseous ammonia in water. A flask fitted with a tube as shown is filled with ammonia gas and inverted so that the open end of tube is submerged in a container of water. A small amount of water is pushed up into the flask to get the process started. As the gas dissolves in the water, its pressure is reduced, creating a partial vacuum that draws additional water into the flask. The effect can be made more dramatic by adding an indicator dye such as phenolphthalein to the water, which turns pink as the water emerges from the "fountain" and becomes alkaline.
"Ammonium hydroxide"
In old textbooks, ammonia's extraordinarily high solubility in water was incorrectly attributed to the formation of the non-existent compound "ammonium hydroxide" NH4OH. Although this formula is still occasionally seen, the name ammonium hydroxide is now used as a synonym for "aqueous ammonia" whose formula is simply NH3(aq).
As can be seen in the table shown previously, the gases CO2 and SO2 also exhibit higher solubilities in water. The main product in each case is a loosely-bound hydrate of the gas, denoted by SO2(aq) or CO2(aq). A very small fraction of the hydrate
CO2·H2O then combines to form carbonic acid H2CO3.
Solubility of gases decreases with temperature
Have you ever noticed the tiny bubbles that form near the bottom of a container of water when it is placed on a hot stove? These bubbles contain air that was previously dissolved in the water, but reaches its solubility limit as the water is warmed. You can completely rid a liquid of any dissolved gases (including unwanted ones such as Cl2 or H2S) by boiling it in an open container.
This is quite different from the behavior of most (but not all) solutions of solid or liquid solutes in liquid solvents. The reason for this behavior is the very large entropy increase that gases undergo when they are released from the confines of a condensed phase (see marginal box at the left).
Solubility of Oxygen in water
Fresh water at sea level dissolves 14.6 mg of oxygen per liter at 0°C and 8.2 mg/L at 25°C. These saturation levels ensure that fish and other gilled aquatic animals are able to extract sufficient oxygen to meet their respiratory needs. But in actual aquatic environments, the presence of decaying organic matter or nitrogenous runoff can reduce these levels far below saturation. The health and survival of these organisms is severely curtailed when oxygen concentrations fall to around 5 mg/L.
The temperature dependence of the solubility of oxygen in water is an important consideration for the well-being of aquatic life; thermal pollution of natural waters (due to the influx of cooling water from power plants) has been known to reduce the dissolved oxygen concentration to levels low enough to kill fish. The advent of summer temperatures in a river can have the same effect if the oxygen concentration has already been partially depleted by reaction with organic pollutants.
The pressure of a gas is a measure of its "escaping tendency" from a phase. So it stands to reason that raising the pressure of a gas in contact with a solvent will cause a larger fraction of it to "escape" into the solvent phase.
The direct-proportionality of gas solubility to pressure was discovered by William Henry (1775-1836) and is known as Henry's Law. It is usually written as
p = kH c
in which p is the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid, c is the concentration of gas dissolved in the liquid, and kH is the Henry's law constant. The latter can be expressed in various units, and in some instances is defined in different ways, so be very careful to note these units when using published values.
In the table below, kH is given as
(partial pressure of gas in atm) ÷ (concentration in liquid, mol L–1)
["Vinho Verde": rainydayknitter]
Carbonated beverages: the history of "Fizz-ics"
Artificially carbonated water was first prepared by Joseph Priestley (who later discovered oxygen) in 1767 and was commercialized in 1783 by Joseph Schweppe, a Swiss-German jeweler. Naturally-carbonated spring waters have long been reputed to have curative values, and these became popular tourist destinations in the 19th century. The term "seltzer water" derives from one such spring in Niederselters, Germany.
Of course, carbonation produced by fermentation has been known since ancient times.
The tingling sensation that carbonated beverages produce in the mouth comes from the carbonic acid produced when bubbles of carbon dioxide come into contact with the mucous membranes of the mouth and tongue:
Some interesting history and facts about carbonated beverages
Solutions of liquids in liquids
Whereas all gases will mix to form solutions regardless of the proportions, liquids are much more fussy. Some liquids, such as ethyl alcohol and water, are miscible in all proportions. Others, like the proverbial oil and water, are not; each liquid has only a limited solubility in the other, and once either of these limits is exceeded, the mixture separates into two phases.
|solute →
|energy to disperse solute
|energy to introduce into solvent
|increase in entropy
|"like dissolves like"
The reason for this variability is apparent from the table. Mixing of two liquids can be exothermic, endothermic, or without thermal effect, depending on the particular substances. Whatever the case, the energy factors are not usually very large, but neither is the increase in randomness; the two factors are frequently sufficiently balanced to produce limited miscibility.
The range of possibilities is shown here in terms of the mole fractions X of two liquids A and B. If A and B are only slightly miscible, they separate into two layers according to their relative densities. Note that when one takes into account trace levels, no two liquids are totally immiscible.
A useful general rule is that liquids are completely miscible when their intermolecular forces are very similar in nature; "like dissolves like". Thus water is miscible with other liquids that can engage in hydrogen bonding, whereas a hydrocarbon liquid in which London or dispersion forces are the only significant intermolecular effect will only be completely miscible with similar kinds of liquids.
(•-•)Substances such as the alcohols, CH3(CH2)nOH, which are hydrogen-bonding (and thus hydrophilic) at one end and hydrophobic at the other, tend to be at least partially miscible with both kinds of solvents. If n is large, the hydrocarbon properties dominate and the alcohol has only a limited solubility in water. Very small values of n allow the –OH group to dominate, so miscibility in water increases and becomes unlimited in ethanol (n = 1) and methanol (n = 0), but miscibility with hydrocarbons decreases owing to the energy required to break alcohol-alcohol hydrogen bonds when the non polar liquid is added.
These considerations have become quite important in the development of alternative automotive fuels based on mixing these alcohols with gasoline. At ordinary temperatures the increased entropy of the mixture is great enough that the unfavorable energy factor is entirely overcome, and the mixture is completely miscible. At low temperatures, the entropy factor becomes less predominant, and the fuel mixture may separate into two phases, presenting severe problems to the fuel filter and carburetor.
Solutions of molecular solids in liquids
The stronger intermolecular forces in solids require more input of energy in order to disperse the molecular units into a liquid solution, but there is also a considerable increase in entropy that can more than compensate if the intermolecular forces are not too strong, and if the solvent has no strong hydrogen bonds that must be broken in order to introduce the solute into the liquid.
|solvent →
|non polar liquid
|polar liquid
|energy to disperse solute
|energy to introduce into solvent
|increase in entropy
For example, at 25° C and 1 atm pressure, 20 g of iodine crystals will dissolve in 100 ml of ethyl alcohol, but the same quantity of water will dissolve only 0.30 g of iodine.
As the molecular weight of the solid increases, the intermolecular forces holding the solid together also increase, and solubilities tend to fall off; thus the solid linear hydrocarbons CH3(CH2)nCH3 (n > 20) show diminishing solubilities in hydrocarbon liquids.
Solutions of ionic solids in liquids
bic forces that bind ions and highly polar molecules into solids are quite strong, we might expect these solids to be insoluble in just about any solvent. Ionic solids are insoluble in most non-aqueous solvents, but the high solubility of some (including NaCl) in water suggests the need for some further explanation.
|solvent →
|non polar
|polar (water)
|energy to disperse solute
|large (endothermic)
|energy to introduce into liquid
|highly negative (exothermic)
|increase in entropy
|moderate to slightly negative
|very small
|small to large
The key factor here turns out to be the interaction of the ions with the solvent. The electrically-charged ions exert a strong coulombic attraction on the end of the water molecule that has the opposite partial charge.
As a consequence, ions in solution are always hydrated; that is, they are quite tightly bound to water molecules through ion-dipole interaction. The number of water molecules contained in the primary hydration shell varies with the radius and charge of the ion.
← Hydration shells around some ions in a sodium chloride solution. The average time an ion spends in a shell is about 2-4 nanoseconds. But this is about two orders of magnitude longer than the lifetime of an individual H2O–H2O hydrogen bond.
U. of Virginia]
Lattice and hydration energies
The dissolution of an ionic solid MX in water can be thought of as a sequence of two steps:
(1) MX(s) → M+(g) + X–(g) ΔH >0 (lattice energy)
(2) M+(g) + X–(g) + H2O → M+(aq) + X–(aq) ΔH < 0 (hydration energy)
- The first reaction is always endothermic; it takes a lot of work to break up an ionic crystal lattice.
- The hydration step is always exothermic as H2O molecules are attracted into the electrostatic field of the ion.
- The heat (enthalpy) of solution is the sum of the lattice and hydration energies, and can have either sign.
Single-ion hydration energies (as shown in the table at upper right) cannot be observed directly, but are obtained from the differences in hydration energies of salts (which are measurable; see below) having the given ion in common.
Additional values can be found on this Wikipedia page and in Chapter 4 of J. Burgess' book Ions in Solution.
Lattice energies are not measured directly, but are estimates based on electrostatic calculations which are reliable only for simple salts. Enthalpies of solution are observable either directly or (for sparingly soluble salts,) indirectly. Hydration energies are not measurable; they are estimated as the sum the other two quantities.
It follows that any uncertainty in the lattice energies is reflected in those of the hydration energies. For this reason, tabulated values of the latter will vary depending on the source.
As often happens for a quantity that is the sum of two large terms having opposite signs, the overall dissolution process can come out as either endothermic or exothermic, and examples of both kinds are common.
substance →
|lattice energy
|hydration energy
|enthalpy of solution
Two common examples illustrate the contrast between exothermic and endothermic heats of solution of ionic solids:
More on heats/enthalpies of solution and hydration at this U. of Waterloo site.
How hydration entropy affects solubility
Hydration shells around some ions in a sodium chloride solution. The average time an ion spends in a shell is about 2-4 nanoseconds. But this is about two orders of magnitude longer than the lifetime of an individual H2O–H2O hydrogen bond.
The balance between the lattice energy and hydration energy is a major factor in determining the solubility of an ionic crystal in water, but there is another factor to consider as well. We generally assume that there is a rather large increase in the entropy when a solid is dispersed into the liquid phase. However, in the case of ionic solids, each ion ends up surrounded by a shell of oriented water molecules. These water molecules, being constrained within the hydration shell, are unable to participate in the spreading of thermal energy throughout the solution, and reduce the entropy. In some cases this effect predominates so that dissolution of the salt leads to a net decrease in entropy. Recall that any process in which the the entropy diminishes becomes less probable as the temperature increases; this explains why the solubilities of some salts decrease with temperature.


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I take refuge with Allaah from the accursed devil.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem: In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Welcome to my blog and praise the Magnificent Lord as you enter: Allahu Akbar: Allah is the Greatest .
May the Peace and Blessing of Allah Azza wa Jal, our Lord Glorified and Praised be He, be upon our beloved Prophet, his Family, and Companions.
The Infinite Authority of Allah, Sublime and Majestic.
المر تِلْكَ آيَـتُ الْكِتَـبِ وَالَّذِى أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ الْحَقُّ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ
(1. Alif Lam-Mim Ra. These are the verses of the Book (the Qur'an), and that which has been revealed unto you from your Lord is the truth, but most men believe not.)
Surah 13 Ar Rad Verse 1
Tafsir Ibn Kathir
We talked before, in the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah (chapter 2) about the meaning of the letters that appear in the beginnings of some chapters in the Qur'an. We stated that every Surah that starts with separate letters, affirms that the Qur'an is miraculous and is an evidence that it is a revelation from Allah, and that there is no doubt or denying in this fact. This is why Allah said next,
(These are the verses of the Book), the Qur'an, which Allah described afterwards,
(and that which has been revealed unto you), O Muhammad,
(from your Lord is the truth,) Allah said next,
(but most men believe not.) just as He said in another Ayah,
(And most of mankind will not believe even if you desire it eagerly.) [12:103] Allah declares that even after this clear, plain and unequivocal explanation (the Qur'an), most men will still not believe, due to their rebellion, stubbornness and hypocrisy.
اللَّهُ الَّذِى رَفَعَ السَّمَـوَتِ بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ تَرَوْنَهَا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ كُلٌّ يَجْرِى لأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّـى يُدَبَّرُ الاٌّمْرَ يُفَصِّلُ الآيَـتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ بِلِقَآءِ رَبِّكُمْ تُوقِنُونَ
(2. Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you can see. Then, He rose above (Istawa) the `Arsh [Throne]. He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running (its course) for a term appointed. He manages and regulates all affairs; He explains the Ayat in detail, that you may believe with certainty in the meeting with your Lord.)
Surah 13 Ar Rad Verse 2
Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Allah mentions His perfect ability and infinite authority, since it is He Who has raised the heavens without pillars by His permission and order. He, by His leave, order and power, has elevated the heavens high above the earth, distant and far away from reach. The heaven nearest to the present world encompasses the earth from all directions, and is also high above it from every direction. The distance between the first heaven and the earth is five hundred years from every direction, and its thickness is also five hundred years. The second heaven surrounds the first heaven from every direction, encompassing everything that the latter carries, with a thickness also of five hundred years and a distance between them of five hundred years. The same is also true about the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh heavens. Allah said,
(It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth the like thereof.) [65:12] Allah said next,
(..without any pillars that you can see.) meaning, `there are pillars, but you cannot see them,' according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and several other scholars. Iyas bin Mu`awiyah said, "The heaven is like a dome over the earth," meaning, without pillars. Similar was reported from Qatadah, and this meaning is better for this part of the Ayah, especially since Allah said in another Ayah,
(He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His permission. )[22:65] Therefore, Allah's statement,
(..that you can see), affirms that there are no pillars. Rather, the heaven is elevated (above the earth) without pillars, as you see. This meaning best affirms Allah's ability and power.
Allah said next,
(Then, He rose above (Istawa) the Throne.) We explained the meaning of the Istawa' in Surat Al-A`raf (7:54), and stated that it should be accepted as it is without altering, equating, annulling its meaning, or attempts to explain its true nature. Allah is glorified and praised from all that they attribute to Him.
Allah said,
(He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running (its course) for a term appointed.) It was said that the sun and the moon continue their course until they cease doing so upon the commencement of the Final Hour, as Allah stated,
(And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed).)[36:38] It was also said that the meaning is: until they settle under the Throne of Allah after passing the other side of the earth. So when they, and the rest of the planetary bodies reach there, they are at the furthest distance from the Throne. Because according to the correct view, which the texts prove, it is shaped like a domb, under which is all of the creation. It is not circular like the celestial bodies, because it has pillars by which it is carried. This fact is clear to those who correctly understand the Ayat and authentic Hadiths. All the (praise is due to) Allah and all the favors are from Him. Allah mentioned the sun and the moon here because they are among the brightest seven heavenly objects. Therefore, if Allah subjected these to His power, then it is clear that He has also subjected all other heavenly objects. Allah said in other Ayat,
(Prostrate yourselves not to the sun nor to the moon, but prostrate yourselves to Allah Who created them, if you (really) worship Him.) [41:37] and,
(And (He created) the sun, the moon, the stars subjected to His command. Surely, His is the creation and commandment. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of all that exists!) [7:54] Allah's statement next,
(He explains the Ayat in detail, that you may believe with certainty in the Meeting with your Lord.) means, He explains the signs and clear evidences that testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Him. These evidences prove that He will resurrect creation if He wills, just as He started it.


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|Receiving Georgetown Honoris Causa.
#SaintOscarRomero #Canonization #Beatification
St. Oscar Romero was able to bring down the high mysticism of the Doctor of the Church St. John of the Cross (1542 - 1591) to a level that was comprehensible to peasants.
In a November 13, 1977 homily, Romero incorporated the symbolism of the "Spiritual Canticle" of the Spanish mystic to explain the Church's desire to be reunified with her Lord. "This Church is like the wife whose husband is far away and sighs for his presence," Romero said. Without quoting chapter and verse, he borrowed the literary device of a wife who misses her distant husband that St. John portrays in his "Canticle." Other times, Romero quoted a favorite phrase of the poet saint, "At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love." So Romero presented John of the Cross not as a lofty scholar, but as someone who talks to us about love.
Now that St. Romero has himself been proposed for possible consideration as a future Doctor of the Church, the example of St. John of the Cross offers us three points of departure for the road ahead.
* * *
TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, please follow this link to my new «Eminens Doctrina» blog, which will track the Saint Oscar Romero doctoral cause.
With thanks,
With thanks,


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Friday, May 11, 2012
Great May Golf Days
After a streak of rainy days early this month, the course has dried out and is in great shape for the weekend. Take out that 30% chance of showers tomorrow and next week's forecast looks great. Second to October, I think May is often the best and most comfortable month to play golf. Sunny and highs in the 70's! My favorite. A favorite of turfgrass, also. Coincidence? Probably not!
Posted by Kevin Goss at 8:24 PM
Labels: Pictures
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EC Stanton is ready for 2017!
I have answered several e-mails today (yes, sorry they are late, I took the holidays off). The most common questions so far are listed below with some answers:
1) Tuition - I meant to update this prior to Christmas and our Facebook promotion but sadly I did not. Our anticipated tuition is $6,000 for the year. This includes staffing from 7:30-5:30 (if your child is part of an after-school program, consider if that helps cover some of tuition). It also includes 'extras' like piano, art, any classes taught by staff, basic supplies, and select field trips.
2) Part-Time - We will offer a part-time option. However, your child's schedule will be less flexible and the tuition will not include any field trip fees. We will also need to set specific times/days so that we can have appropriate staffing available. Your child will need to be there all three days for a minimum of five hours.
3) Ages - One of the beautiful things about democratic schools is age mixing. We will have students ages 5-18 on our campus. For our inaugural year though, the oldest students we are accepting is 15. If, however, you have a student who is particularly interested we can arrange an individual interview with that child to assess whether or not they could benefit from a democratic school.
4) Enrollment - The process will be different for the inaugural class. There will be forms and a deposit but no specific interview process. We will ALL be on a trial period here! After the year starts our formal process will take over.
5) Location - We are planning to rent space from First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. If you don't know much about the UU faith, it is an incredibly inclusive group of people. They embrace diversity as much as the democratic school model embraces the qualities of every student. So, whatever your religion, orientation, gender, or background you are welcome in this space.
6) Inclusiveness - EC Stanton is a secular, private school. We do not teach a faith-based curriculum (or any set curriculum for that matter) but we are welcoming of all faiths. If you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, or any type of background, we want you! We also accept all types of students: gifted learners, those of us who are 'bad' at math, and the kiddo who feels like traditional school is the least welcoming place around. We are one school family and will always treat each other as such.
We are actively looking for families to be a part of our inaugural class. If you think that this model is perfect for you or your child, if you just want to know more, if you are curious about how to get involved, send us an e-mail!
Starting a school...
I hope that this blog can serve a 'who we are' and 'what are we doing' function as the school moves forward. For now, I hope that it can serve the 'who am I' and 'where are we at the in the process' function.
To start with, my name is Cammie Justus-Smith and I am the founder of E.C. Stanton Community School. I am currently an educator in the DFW area and have spent the past nine years teaching science in public schools. I did pretty well as far as school goes: graduated top 10% of my high school class, got awards and recognitions while there, attended the University of Virginia earning an undergraduate and graduate degree, and successfully started my grown-up job as a full time teacher. Despite doing well in this system I almost always hated my time there. It was a thing I was good at much more than it was a thing I enjoyed doing. But I was so good at it that I couldn't really envision my life without school. So, I became a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I really do like most parts of my job. I love my students and respect most of my peers. Getting to know these people every day is a great joy to me. I love sharing science and animals with my students. And I can't get enough of that lightbulb moment when students finally grasp a hard concept or ask me a challenging question or delve deep into the workings of our world for the first time. But despite my own best attempts at making school better within my own classroom (more flexibility, more engagement, less fear), the struggle to continue within a system that blatantly oppresses children is a little more than I can bear. Enter E.C. Stanton Community School.
Through my path of discovering what helps students learn best, unschooling practices, and reading the works of Dr. Peter Grey and John Taylor Gatto I realized that really what we need is to put education back into our children's hands. Learning needs to be more student-controlled, student-directed, student-led, student-managed, student-created, and student-driven. However, this type of learning does not lend itself to the traditional model very well. This type of learning at times is too loud, chaotic, and bold for a teacher managed classroom. It is too individual, untestable, and creative to be state-mandated. It is also too visceral, mercurial, and informal to be scheduled out hour by hour. It just cannot exist within the system that is currently responsible for content distribution. And while any efforts to impart some of it into traditional education are noble, the traditional education system just can't allow the same freedom that this type of learning requires. Hearing about democratic schools for the first time was as if I was having the brightest lightbulb moment of my life. All of the things I knew from my personal experiences, reading, and research all suddenly clicked into place. When I actually went to visit one for the first time I felt like my mind might explode from all the possibilities and what it could mean for students. It was as if all the things in my life had led me to this place and it finally all made sense.
So here I am, in the planning stages for E. C. Stanton Community School. We have solidified a location (First Jefferson Unitarian Church in Fort Worth Texas). They have classrooms, a kitchen, a fenced in playground, green space, gardening space, a short walk to the YMCA, and are directly across the street from a playground getting a huge facelift. They have agreed to reasonable rent so that we can afford to pay for insurance, supplies, and living wages for staff with a fairly small starting class size.
We have all of the posibilities, now we just need to get our students! We are currently recruiting families of all types to be a part of our community. Students ages 5-15 are welcome! If you want more information or to start a conversation about how this model might work for your child, e-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com!
School founder, teacher, and Harry Potter fan.
November 2019


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The golden number in Cosmocaixa
In the wonderfull wall full of formulas (already mentioned in this blog) that you can see in the Cosmocaixa in Barcelona, there also is the sacred equation which solution is the famous golden ratio:
Of course, one of the solutions of x2 = x + 1 is the number x = 1.6180339887498948482… (the other is -0.6180339887498948482…). At first sight it may seem a regular solution for a regular equation, but this number has revealed to the world of mathematics a whole new conception of nature and proportionality and this is the reason why it is interesting to know the history of this number and who dared to study its wonderful properties.
Since the golden ratio is a proportion between two segments, some mathematicians have assigned its origin to the ancient civilizations who created great artworks such as the Egyptian pyramids or Babylonian and Assyrian steles, even though it is thought that the presence of the ratio was not done on purpose. We can go forward on history and find the paintings and sculptures in the Greek Parthenon made by Phidias, whose name was taken by Mark Barr in 1900 in order to assign the ratio the Greek letter phi. So we can associate the first conscious appearance of the golden ratio with the Ancient Greece because of its multiple presence in geometry. Although it is usually thought that Plato worked with some theorems involving the golden ratio as Proclus said in his Commentary on Euclid's Elements, Euclid was the first known person who studied formally such ratio, defining it as the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. Euclid's claim of the ratio is the third definition on his sixth book of Elements, which follows: "A straight line is said to have been cut in extreme and mean ratio when, as the whole line is to the greater segment, so is the greater to the lesser". He also described that the ratio could not be obtained as the division between two integers, referring to the golden ratio as an irrational number.
In the 13th century, Leonardo de Pisa (also known as Fibonacci) defined his famous serie in the Liber abaci (1202) although he wasn't aware that phi is asymptotically obtained by dividing each number in the serie by its antecedent, thus, lots of natural phenomena which follows the Fibonacci sequence in any way, are related to the golden proportion.
Another important work from the 16th century is De Divina Proportione (1509) by Luca Pacioli, where the mathematician and theologian explains why the golden ratio should be considered as "divine", comparing properties of our number like its unicity, immeasurability, self-similarity and the fact its obtained by three segments of a line, with divine qualities as the unicity and omnipresence of God and the Holy Trinity.
In the Renaissance, the golden ratio was chosen as the beauty proportion in the human body and all the painters and artists used it for his great masterpieces, like Leonardo da Vinci in his Mona Lisa or his famous Vitruvian Man.
The golden ratio was known in the world of mathematics as the Euclidean ratio between two lines and it wasn't until 1597 that Michael Maestlin considered it as a number and approximated the inverse number of phi, describing it as "about 0.6180340", written in a letter sent to his pupil Johannes Kepler. Kepler, famous by his astronomical theory about planetary orbits, also talked about the golden ratio and claimed that the division of each number in the Fibonacci sequence by its precursor, will result asymptotically the phi number. He called it a "precious jewel" and compared its importance to the Pythagoras theorem.
About one century later, the Swiss naturalist and philosopher Charles Bonnet (1720-1793) found the relation between the Fibonacci sequence and the spiral phyllotaxy of plants andthe German mathematician Martin Ohm (1792-1872) gave the ratio its famous "golden" adjective. If we want to talk about artists who introduced the ratio in their paintings in the modern times, a good example would be Salvador Dalí, whose artwork is plenty of masterpieces structured by the golden ratio.
This is just a brief summary of the history behind the golden ratio, which suffices to show that the interest induced by this number over the minds of the greatest mathematicians hasn't ceased since the Ancient Greece, and even people non-related with mathematics have used it in their own work, which shows the importance and the multiple presence of mathematics and this special number in places that one could not imagine
This post has been written by Pol Casellas and Eric Sandín in the subject Història de les Matemàtiques (History of Mathematics, 2014-15).
Location: Cosmocaixa in Barcelona (map)
The Long Market in Gdansk
The Long Market (Długi Targ) is one of the most important touristic attractions of Gdansk. It was a merchant road in the 13th century. After the massacre of Gdansk citizens on 13 November 1308 by Teutonic Knights, the place became the main street of the city and is name "Longa Platea" was first written in 1331. Nowadays it's a very beautiful long square full of typical shops and restaurants which are the soul of this cosmopolutan city. One of its most representative houses is the town hall from the 16th century and Neptune's Fountain, the main symbol of the city, is also there. This fountain was constructed in 1617 from Abraham van den Blocke's designs.
Thus, if you visit Gdansk, you must have time to take a beer or a coffee in one of the cafes or have a typican Polish dinner in one of the restaurants which fill all the beautiful houses which can be admire in the square.
Among all these houses we also find a lot of mathematical symbols which allow me to talk of them in this new post. For example, Radisson Blue hotel is located in number 19 and the allegorical paintings of the facade are a joy for the mathematical freak:
On both sides we have some of the most important men in the history of astronomy like Hipparcus of Rhodas,
Galileo Galilei:
and Hevelius:
Approaching the town hall, there is another red house which is full of artists ans it's coronated by a replica of Aristotle and Plato from Raffaello's "School of Athens":
In another house there also are the allegorical Astronomia rounded by Cellarius' heliocentric systems:
And finally we find other allegories like the Architecture, the Geometry or the Geography in the opposite side of the square:
For example…
As you can see, this is an excuse to admire the beautiful facades of the houses in this square which I never tire of walking through it.
By the way, there is a beautiful sundial in the town hall:
Location: Długi Targ in Gdansk (map)
The wonderful vault of a Royal Library
The King Philip II of Spain decided in 1550's that he wanted to have a great library near his court in Madrid and he chose the new Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial to place it in spite of other bigger villages. He didn't want that the new library was a regular room inside a monastery so it had to be a very important place. Therefore, the library was placed on the second floor of the monastery just above his royal chambers but never above the basilica. Between 1565 and 1576, the king bought almost 5.000 books and manuscripts and the library became one of the most important libraries in all Europe.
The mathematician and architect Juan de Herrera (1530-1597) designed a large room (54 m. long x 9 m. wide x 10 m. high) with big windows in both sides under a great barrel vault. This vault had to be decorated by an important painter and Philip II decided that Peregrino Tibaldi (1527–1596) had to be the right artist to do the work. Philip II was advised by Juan de Herrera and other humanists and he decided that the main subject of the paintings of the vault had to be the Liberal Arts. Furthermore, the seven arts would be together with the Philosophy and the Theology on both ends of the room. The Philosophy represented the compendium of the Human knowledge and she is accompanied by Aristotle, Plato, Seneca and Socrates:
The Theology is on the side next to the convent and she represented the Divine knowledge. Therefore the vault represented the way from the Human Philosophy to the Divine knowledge through the seven Liberal Arts: the Arithmetic, the Geometry, the Astronomy (Astrology), the Music, the Rhetoric, the Grammar and the Dialectic. We can see a mathematical detail on the fresco below the Philosophy: it represents the School of Athens and there is a discussion between the Academics leaded by Socrates and the Stoics leaded by Zeno of Elea.
The scholars aren't listening to the speakers because each of them is "playing" with something different. We can see at the lower left corner a man measuring something with a compass and two books, a sphere and an armilar sphere, a dodecahedron and a compass in the middle of the picture:
Going from the Philosophy to the Theology, we arrive at the Arithmetic after admiring the Grammar, the Rhetoric and the Dialectic. The Arithmetic is a woman turned to a table with simple mathematical operations rounded by muscled young men with tablets with arithmetical operations ans counting with their fingers:
There is also a representation of the Queen of Saba talking with King Solomon According to the Book of the Kings (I,10,1), the Queen of Saba went to meet Solomon to ask some enigmas to him so we can see a ruler, a balance and a tablet with some numbers written on it. In the red tablecloth we can read "Everything has number, weight and measure" in Hebrew:
The other panel next to the Arithmetic represents the school of the Gymnosophists who lived near the Nile and thought their philosophical theories from the numerical computations. In the middle of the picture we can see one of the gymnosophist with a compass looking at a triangle with the word "Anima" and the arithmetic progression 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the geometric 1, 3, 9 and 27 written on it. The other gymnosophists are computing with numbers written on the sand:
Finally, at both sides of the Arithmetic on the roof we find four people related with this subject: Archytas of Tarentum (c.428–c.347 BC) and Boethius (c.480-c.525) in one side and the Platonic Xenocrates (c.396/5 – 314/3 BC) and Jordan in the other. They are writing numbers in their tablets.
There is the Music after the Arithmetic and we find the Geometry after it:
She has a compass in one of her hands and the young men around her have different geometrical instruments. The two scenes which are on the corresponding walls next to her are dedicated to some Egyptian monks drawing geometrical figures on the sand…
and Archimedes' death:
Notice that Archimedes is drawing the demonstration of the Theorem of Pythagoras made by Euclid!
Finally, the four chosen figures are the Astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (IIIrd c. BC) and the Persian astrologer Abd del Aziz also known as Alcabitius (Xth century) in one side and Archimedes (c.287-212 BC) and Regiomontanus (1436-1476) in the other. Aristarchus is measuring angles and has a dodecahedron at his feet, Alcabitius has a carpenter's square, Archimedes has a compass and a sphere to measure the Earth and Regiomontanus is pointing at a dodecahedron.
The last Liberal Art is the Astrology. She is backed on a terrestrial globe and her eyes are looking at the sky. She has a compass in one of her hands and the little boys around her have an armilar sphere and some astronomical books:
In one of the two panels on the walls we can see Dionysius the Areopagite observing a solar eclipse the day of Jesuschrist's death in Athens (Luke, 23,45) We can notice a quadrant and an astrolabe in the hands of the amazed men!
The other fresco represents King Ezekiel resting in bed and looking how time is delayed 15 years by God because of the repentance of his sins:
The four famous men are Euclid, Ptolemy, Alfonso X and Johannes of Sacrobosco. Euclid is represented here meaning the relationship between Astrology and Geometry. He has drawn three geometrical schemes. One is a triangle and a square inscribed in a circle and another square. Another scheme seems to be two overlaid squares partially hidden by Euclid's name. In the middle of both pictures there is a man measuring the stars. Johannes of Sacrobosco has a quadrant in his right hand.
King Alfonso X of Castile (XIIIth. c) is the author of the Libros del Saber de Astronomía ("Books of the Astronomical knowledge") and on the tablet which he has in his hands we notice a compass and the Ursa Maior (the compass is anachronistic!). His left hand has an open book with a horoscope
So you can see that this wonderful vault is an open mathematical book designed by Tibaldi and Juan de Herrera. I've been twice in the library and now I am waiting for the next time that I could enjoy this artistic part of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
Location: San Lorenzo de El Escorial (map)
A Platonic Dalí in Washington
Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) is one of the most important surrealistic painters. This eccentric Catalan painter finished in 1955 the Sacrament of the Last Supper after nine months working in it and this painting is mathematically remarkable because of the dodecahedric form over Christ and the twelve apostles. The thirteen sacred figures are having supper when it's not at night and we can see a beautiful Catalan landscape behind the main scene. If Dalí wanted to capture this Biblical moment, why the dodecahedron was painted over it? The dodecahedron and its twelve sides may be related to the twelve apostles. Furthermore, a philosophic point of view can show to us a platonic idea for this famous painting. Plato (c.428 BC-c.347 BC) wrote in the IVth century BC the Timaeus where he associated the four basic elements to fours regular polyhedra: tetrahedron was the fire, hexahedron was the earth, octahedron was the air and icosahedron was the water. Thus, the universe was in perfect harmony with Mathematics!
Firstly, Plato described two kinds of triangles as the base of all the nature:
In the first place, then, as is evident to all, fire and earth and water and air are bodies. And every sort of body possesses solidity, and every solid must necessarily be contained in planes ; and every plane rectilinear figure is composed of triangles ; and all triangles are originally of two kinds, both of which are made up of one right and two acute angles ; one of them has at either end of the base the half of a divided right angle, having equal sides, while in the other the right angle is divided into unequal parts, having unequal sides. These, then, proceeding by a combination of probability with demonstration, we assume to be the original elements of fire and the other bodies
With these two triangles, Plato built the squares and triangles which had to be the sides of the regular polyhedra:
Now is the time to explain what was before obscurely said : there was an error in imagining that all the four elements might be generated by and into one another ; this, I say, was an erroneous supposition, for there are generated from the triangles which we have selected four kinds: three from the one which has the sides unequal ; the fourth alone is framed out of the isosceles triangle. Hence they cannot all be resolved into one another, a great number of small bodies being combined into a few large ones, or the converse. […]. I have now to speak of their several kinds, and show out of what combinations of numbers each of them was formed. The first will be the simplest and smallest construction, and its element is that triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side. When two such triangles are joined at the diagonal, and this is repeated three times, and the triangles rest their diagonals and shorter sides on the same point as a centre, a single equilateral triangle is formed out of six triangles ; and four equilateral triangles, if put together, make out of every three plane angles one solid angle, being that which is nearest to the most obtuse of plane angles ; and out of the combination of these four angles arises the first solid form which distributes into equal and similar parts the whole circle in which it is inscribed. The second species of solid is formed out of the same triangles, which unite as eight equilateral triangles and form one solid angle out of four plane angles, and out of six such angles the second body is completed. And the third body is made up of 120 triangular elements, forming twelve solid angles, each of them included in five plane equilateral triangles, having altogether twenty bases, each of which is an equilateral triangle. The one element [that is, the triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side] having generated these figures, generated no more ; but the isosceles triangle produced the fourth elementary figure, which is compounded of four such triangles, joining their right angles in a centre, and forming one equilateral quadrangle. Six of these united form eight solid angles, each of which is made by the combination of three plane right angles ; the figure of the body thus composed is a cube, having six plane quadrangular equilateral bases.
And then…
There was yet a fifth combination which God used in the delineation of the universe.
Great Plato! Which is this fifth combination? The answer is now so easy: the dodecahedron! The platonic solid which was used by God to draw our universe. It's easy to understand the reason why this harmonious figure is presiding the scene.
Location: National Gallery of Art in Washington (map)


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Please join the "Contested Images" class next Thursday, September 11th at 7:15 pm at 25 West 4th St. room C-5 for the first of three visiting artist talks, featuring Theresa Ganz.
Below is an image of Theresa Ganz' work and you can see further examples of her textured, complex photographs, hand-cut photo collages, and installations at http://www.theresaganz.com Feel free to contact lori.cole[at]nyu.edu with any questions about the talk.
Theresa Ganz was born in New York City in 1980. She earned her BA from Vassar College in Film and her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in Photography. She works in photo-based collage and installation. Her work has shown nationally and internationally at, among others, The Datz Museum of Art in Korea, the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, The Bell Gallery at Brown University and The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin and at various commercial spaces in New York and San Francisco.Her work has also been featured in print publications including Mousse Magazine, Outpost Journal and Magazine Gitz. She is a founding member and director at Regina Rex in Brooklyn. She currently resides in Providence, RI where she is faculty at Brown University.


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Category Archives: Videos
What 2000 Calories Looks Like
Have you ever wondered when eating something, 'how many calories are in this? what does this compare to? is this REALLY good for me?
This video opens up your eyes to what 2,000 calories look like.
The Pressure of Beauty
78% of 18-year-old women are unhappy with their bodies. And this is why.
I'm part of that 78%.
Top 10 Core Exercises
What makes up your core? The core consists of your abdominal, back, and lower back regions. A strong and stable core is vital for good balance, proper posture, and injury prevention.
- You want a strong and stable core so it will help to stabilize the muscles involved with balance.
- As you grow older you want to keep a strong core so you can maintain proper posture. This is important especially the older you get. Back pain, neck pain, and several other forms of pain can result from not having a strong core which can result in poor posture over the years.
- Injury prevention is another amazing benefit of working the core. Of course not all injuries can be prevented, BUT most can be or at least the injury can be lessened.
- Below are some of the exercises you can do to strengthen your core. I recommend performing twenty to as many repetitions as you can for two to three sets and as often as you can.
Click on photos to view video
Become A Warrior
Running! Not many people enjoy it, BUT what if you could make it fun?! Would you run? Many of you have heard of triathlons, which sound like to much work for me. However when I heard of THE WARRIOR DASH, I checked it out and immediatley decided I was going to RUN!!
Warrior Dash is not just a "race" per say. It is more of an obstacle course.
It is an 3.11 mile course. While running you have to conquer 12 obstacles being
- Rubber Ricochet
- Satan's Steps
- Tipsy Tightrope
- Deadweight Drifter
- Vertical Limit
- Assassins Escape
- Storming Normandy
- Giant Cliffhanger
- Great Warrior Wall
- Cargo Climb
- Warrior Roast
- Muddy Mayhem
For more information you can visit warrior dash's home page, for locations AND MORE!
Trust—Strength—Acrobatic Yoga
Acrobatic Yoga. Talk about upper body strength!
How To Get Runway Ready – Victorias Secret Style
This post is going to be short but oh so sweet!
I was watching you tube workout videos earlier and came across some of the Angels workout routines. Below are some leg, arm, core and glute workout videos, that get the girls runway ready!
Lindsay Ellington – Legs
Doutzen Kroes – Arms
Candice Swaneopol – Core
Alessandra Ambrosio – Glutes
Adriana Lima


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Have you ever invented something only to find out that that thing has already been created? That happens to me everytime I think I come up with a revolutionary idea, for example: dates for caramel? the internet did that. spinach in pesto instead of basil? pssh, old news. Pre-sliced bread? already a thing.
But this is actually the first recipe I created ever (after an over steamed cauliflower incident)- and I have yet to see anything like it. This replaces the kraft mac and cheese and dinosaur shaped chicken nugget dinners of my childhood.


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Home decor-modern design connoisseur
November 17, 2008
Via email:
"Hello, I'd appreciate if you can give me some feedback on our site: http://www.regencyshop.com and our item hanging bubble chair. I realize that you are home decor-modern design connoisseur 🙂 I'd like to hear your opinion/feedback on our products. Also, it'd be swell if you can place our link on your blog. Thank you, Sean"
my interest in furniture is purely of a VIRTUAL nature. I neither have the space nor the bank account for actual modern furniture. But I love to think of furniture ideas in virtual worlds, where also nuisances like gravity or material limitations are not an issue. Your website looks rather clean, and I'll drop a link from my blog by posting this correspondence.
I wish you a good business!
Hello Peter,
Thank you for your valuable feedback and compliments. And, I really apreciate the link. I think a discount will be waiting for you, if you ever decide to make a purchase from our store 🙂
Thanks again.


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You've got exciting stories and your photos speak for themselves. But why not offer your viewers even more? Share your most beautiful memories in a whole new dimension by creating interactive tours with an immersive panorama view. With 360° recordings, you and your viewers can dive right in to the location where a photo or video was taken for a truly realistic experience!
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We're continuously optimizing and developing Photostory to meet the needs of our customers. And in previous months, we've focused on creating great new functions and creative elements for the program. The Update History lets you keep track of all new features.
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The free MAGIX tutorial videos include an introductory video for getting to grips with Photostory, as well as explanatory videos for the essential program functions and a range of helpful tips and tricks. Creating slideshows has never been this much fun!
- All features from Photostory Deluxe & Photostory Traveler Edition
- Create virtual tours from your 360° photos and videos
- 70 additional effects such as intros/outros, transitions & image collages
- Travel route animation with MAGIX Travel Maps
- All features from Photostory Deluxe & Photostory Traveler Edition
- Create virtual tours from your 360° photos and videos
- 70 additional effects such as intros/outros, transitions & image collages
- Travel route animation with MAGIX Travel Maps
- All Photostory Premium VR features
- Access all the latest updates, patches & features
- Introductory price starting from £7.49 / €9.99/month
- Easily present slideshows without burning to disc
- All Photostory Premium VR features
- Access all the latest updates, patches & features
- Introductory price starting from £7.49 / €9.99/month
- Easily present slideshows without burning to disc


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STEP 1.) Have plenty of dry Goodwood Firewood.
STEP 2.) Open flue. Check for air draft by lighting newspaper and watching smoke rise-up through flue. Some dwellings with air tight rooms may need to open a window or door 1/4" just while building the fire.
STEP 3.) Crumple 8-9 pieces of newspaper softball size. Pyramid or criss cross kindling or small split wood on top of paper in a teepee or crisscross style. (This process may take 10-15 minutes to assure kindling of fire) Good draft and air space between the logs are important for good fire. Also fan wood when it is glowing or tap wood lightly to get a flame.
Please enjoy, but remember not to leave a fire unattended without a screen, and to shut your flue after each use.
Thank You and Keep Warm,
The Wood Folks


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Director's welcome
Welcome to HMP Forest Bank, a Sodexo Justice prison.
I have been the Director of the prison since January 2015, and I am proud to lead a high performing establishment that works to protect the public, keep people safe, and reduce reoffending.
This is in line with the purpose of Sodexo Justice; to change lives for the better by reducing re-offending and risk of harm, and improving the Quality of Life of those under our supervision and care.
In June 2016, HM Inspectorate of Prisons published a report on their most recent unannounced inspection, which took place in February that year. The report centres on four tests measuring safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement. The inspectors found Forest Bank to achieve the highest level of resettlement provision, and the second highest level for the remaining areas. The results of this report reflect our commitment to delivering services to a high standard in what can be a highly challenging environment.
From ground-breaking partnerships to through-the-gate support which continues our mission into the community, great work is taking place across our prison.
If you are family member or loved one of a person in our custody, or are considering working for us, you can be assured that safety is our top priority. I have made a personal pledge to introduce and embed a safety culture at HMP Forest Bank with the aim that staff, residents and visitors end the day in the same physical condition as they started it.
I hope you find the information you require on our website. Please do get in touch if you require assistance.
Matt Spencer, Director


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Great Lakes Equity Center is a technical assistance and research center located at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. Established in 2011, the Center provides technical assistance, resources, professional learning opportunities, and conducts research related to equity, civil rights, and systemic school reform. The Center serves as a resource to educational agencies across the nation, and hosts the Region III Equity Assistance Center, the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center.
Our Mission
Mission: Equitable, Responsive Education for All.
Core Activity Domains
To achieve our mission, we seek to:


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Shows > Video Blog
Fightland Meets: Rory MacDonald
The next video will play in {s} seconds. Click here to remain on current page
Welterweight Rory MacDonald isn't just one of the top prospects in MMA; he's also the best-dressed man in the UFC. So we decided to take him suit shopping at Craig Robinson in Brooklyn.
The Mixed Martial Arts of Victorian London
Before BJJ, there was Bartitsu.
Jonathan Maicelo: The Last Inca
Peru's up-and-coming boxing star.
Kron Gracie on Jiu-Jitsu, Skateboarding, Older Brothers, and Famous Fathers
The ties that bind are strong.
Joel Tudor on the Art of Surfing, Fighting, and Style
A surf icon helps MMA keep its sense of tradition.
Japan's Karate Kid: Kyoji Horiguchi
Japan's brightest MMA prospect.


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Monogrammed Onesie
Circle Design
Price: $ 14.95 ( In Stock )
Now there's a monogram for the boys too! First and middle initials are on the left and right. The center initial represents the LAST name.
This premium onesie is constructed of 100% combed cotton with lap shoulder construction for over-the-head ease and snap leg closure construction for improved diaper friendly fit and ease of movement.
Printed with eco-friendly inks that contain no solvents or VOCs making it baby safe!


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Sale price
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Start your morning with this bright and sunny bowl. Perfectly sized for: a bowl of cereal or oats, or sliced fruit.
5.5" diameter, 2.5" tallSpeckled, textured clay exteriorWhite gloss interiorFood and dishwasher safe
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