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For Seniors: Improve Visibility on a Windows Laptop
If you're visually challenged, using a laptop's smaller screen is often difficult. Luckily, Windows provides tools to improve usability for those with visual disabilities, such as increasing screen contrast, improving cursor visibility, and even reading onscreen text for you.
Choose Start→Control Panel, then click the Optimize Visual Display link under the Ease of Access tools.
The Make the Computer Easier to See dialog box appears.
Utilize high contrast to improve readability by selecting the Turn On Or Off Higher Contrast When Alt+Left Shift+Print Screen Is Pressed setting.
High contrast is a color scheme that increases the darkness of darker elements and the lightness of lighter elements so it's easier for your eyes to distinguish one from the other. You can also choose to have a warning message appear when you turn this setting on, or play a sound when it's turned off or on.
Have text read aloud by selecting the Turn On Narrator setting.
You can also have video descriptions read aloud by selecting the Turn On Audio Description setting.
Magnify part of the screen by selecting the Turn On Magnifier setting.
Magnifier displays two cursors onscreen. One cursor appears in the Magnifier window, where everything is shown enlarged, and one appears in whatever is showing on your laptop (for example, your desktop or an open application). You can maneuver either cursor to work in your document. (They're both active, so it does take some getting used to.)
Improve visibility of onscreen elements by making selections from the Make Things On The Screen Easier To See section.
Here you can adjust onscreen contrast to make the focus rectangle and cursor easier to see, and get rid of distracting animations and backgrounds. The focus rectangle surrounds the active area of dialog boxes and other items you can navigate with the keyboard.
When you finish making your settings, click OK to apply them.
You're returned to the Control Panel; click the Close button to close it.
If you bought a laptop with a 12-inch screen and find things are hard to read, don't run out and buy a new laptop. It's possible to connect your laptop to a standalone monitor using a VGA port. If you mainly use your laptop at home, this may be a less expensive way to upgrade your screen to a larger size.
Internet Explorer 8–compatible add-ins that provide quick links to needed additional information on the spot without requiring a whole bunch more browsing.
Windows 7 uses the Action Center to keep you informed of security and maintenance issues that need attention.
An account for the manager of a computer or network. An Administrator account offers significantly more privileges in managing the PC compared to a Standard account.
A Windows color scheme that changes the way Windows itself looks and behaves on your screen.
A combination of the Aero color scheme and the Glass effect that creates a transparent effect in Windows
A Windows 7 tool that allows you to quickly view all open windows and programs in either thumbnail or full screen mode.
A Windows 7 feature that minimizes all windows except the one. Click on the title bar of the window you want to keep open and then drag it back and forth quickly.
A Windows 7 feature that lets you resize a window to half size just by dragging it to a side of the screen.
A test that Microsoft uses to determine how quickly a computer's graphics card can blend colors.
A kind of software used for productivity or to create things (the software that does the work).
A file that piggybacks onto an e-mail message.
Appears when you plug a memory card into your PC.
Microsoft's term for large-network business clients who qualify to receive upgraded support.
A wireless technology for adding devices to your computer.
Recording content to a CD or DVD.
Also known as the temporary Internet files, the cache contains all Web pages and their components that are downloaded when you subscribe to Web sites or channels.
An Internet browser developed by Google.
A special anti-aliasing tool developed by Microsoft to improve the appearance of fonts in high-resolution LCD flat-screen monitors.
A small program that converts data from one form to another so that the data can be played on a media player.
A traditional DOS-like text interface that allows you to input instructions to the computer.
A program option that allows you to trick an older program into thinking it is running in a previous version of Windows.
A folder containing multiple files that have been packed in such a way that all excess space is eliminated.
In Windows Explorer, these files are shown one right after another.
Tiny files that are used by Web sites to track your online activity and recognize you whenever you access the site.
To choose a portion of an existing photo and make that portion into the entire photo, omitting the rest of the photo.
A cable that allows two computers to connect to each other as a network without having to set up an actual Windows network.
The blinking icon on the computer screen that shows you where the characters you type appear; also called an insertion pointer.
The score that the Windows Experience Index gives to your computer's ability to replicate 3D images.
The primary printer that Windows uses automatically.
The process that your computer uses to rearrange the pieces of files and applications on your hard drive so that they are positioned next to each other on the drive, improving performance.
Windows 7's main screen that shows your program icons, the Start button, and the taskbar.
A collection of settings that control the appearance and behavior of the various appearance settings in Windows.
A small strip along the bottom of every folder that lists details about the item you're currently viewing.
A Windows tool that shows you the status of all the hardware elements on your PC.
Windows 7 uses the Device Stage to gather all the information about installed devices into one central hub.
Digital IDs are certificates that you can use to verify the identity of the person with whom you're communicating.
A computer that translates Internet addresses you can understand, such as _URL_, into addresses that the Internet can understand, such as 126.96.36.199.
The speed at which you click your mouse button twice. This rate is set in the Mouse Properties dialog box.
To copy data (usually an entire file) from a main source to a peripheral device.
A Windows 7 feature that can make a system-wide change to the size of fonts and icons.
To click and hold a mouse button while moving the mouse.
To place an item on the desktop or in a window, after dragging it, by releasing the mouse button.
The standard connection method for certain types of video display, such as LCD monitors.
An adapter that allows you to connect an older monitor to a newer computer or vice versa.
Microsoft's products that help assist people with physical limitations get full use of their computers.
A file that is attached to an e-mail message.
The translation, or scrambling, of data into a secret code.
A Windows tool that can examine a hard drive and fix many common drive errors.
A local-area network (LAN) architecture developed by Xerox Corporation in cooperation with DEC and Intel in 1976.
External devices such as peripheral hard drives, DVD drives, flash drives, or memory card readers.
A Windows 7 feature that allows you to quickly switch between users.
The small icon next to a URL address in an Internet browser's address bar.
A threeor four-digit suffix to a filename that tells Windows 7 what program should open the file.
An Internet browser developed by Mozilla.
A software or hardware device designed to block unauthorized intruders from gaining entry to an individual computer or a network.
A keychain-size storage unit that saves files on memory cards; you can plug it into your computer and access it like any other external hard drive.
When the Aero color scheme is engaged, this tool allows you to visually scroll through all open applications.
An operating system object that can contain multiple files and other folders.
The combination of typeface and other qualities, such as size, pitch, and spacing, that can be applied to characters in a document.
A state in which your PC does not respond to keyboard or mouse commands; also called locked or locked up.
A little always-on Windows 7 desktop program, such as the Slide Show, Clock, and RSS Feeds.
A Windows Appearance setting that gives your folders a nearly transparent look
Menu options that are currently unavailable.
The technical term for when two or more pieces of electronic equipment, such as a cell phone and a Bluetooth adapter, first recognize each other.
A Windows 7 Help and Support Center tool that runs you through the most common causes of hardware errors in a question and answer format.
A Windows tool that can search for and add hardware to the system.
A numbering system based on 16 digits that is often used for graphics.
A computer function by which it saves all the computer's memory (everything the system is doing), then turns the computer off.
A type of Windows Registry entry that contains a number of other Registry entries.
The first page you see when you open Internet Explorer. You should set your home page to one of your favorite Web sites.
Windows 7 computers use Homegroups to simplify networking.
A keyboard shortcut that opens an application or performs a specific task.
A common connection point for devices in a network.
A small picture that represents an object or program.
A form of backup that makes a copy of all the information on a drive, including programs, data, and custom settings.
The blinking icon that appears on your computer screen at the location where characters you type appear; also called a cursor.
A company that provides access to the Internet.
An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network.
The device you type on; it's the primary way you communicate with the computer, with input.
The Microsoft online help tool that contains information regarding Windows problems and errors
A portable computer.
Libraries enable you to group related folders


text: (self-designation, Pihsiehk'a), a people in China. The T'uchia, who live in Hunan and Hupeh provinces, number 549,000 (1953 census). Their origin is traced to peoples of the Ti-beto-Burman linguistic group. The T'uchia are highly sinicized and speak Chinese; they have retained only a few traits of their original culture. Their primary occupations are forestry (tung tree and tea) and the farming of rice, corn, and sweet potatoes.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
MPIDR Working Paper
Care for money? Mortality improvements, increasing intergenerational transfers, and time devoted to the elderly
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2013-014, 23 pages.
Rostock, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (October 2013)
Background: After the reunification of Germany, mortality among older eastern Germans converged quickly with western German levels. Simultaneously, the pension benefits of eastern Germans rose tenfold.
Objective: We make use of German reunification as a natural experiment to show that, first, increasing financial transfers from the elderly to their children led to increasing reverse transfers in the form of care; and, second, this rise in the number of hours spent on care led to a reduction in old-age mortality.
Method: As a first step, we calculated intergenerational transfer profiles by age for eastern and western Germany to determine whether any changes in downward and in upward transfers in the form of time and money occurred since reunification. We use generalized linear regression to test whether rising pensions led to an increase in the number of hours spent on care, and whether this increase led to a reduction in old-age mortality. We use different macro level data sources to test our hypothesis, including mortality rates and time use surveys for East and West Germany and information on private intergenerational transfers from the National Transfer Accounts project for Germany.
Results: We show that since German reunification, intergenerational downward transfers more than doubled in percentage terms in the east. This was predominantly caused by the sharp increase in pension benefits since the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the same time, mortality among pensioners dropped markedly, and converged to western German levels. We further show that the rise in pension income was strongly correlated with the increase in social support and the decline in mortality among older eastern Germans.
Discussion: Our result suggest that there was an interfamilial monetary transfer from the elderly to the young in exchange for social support. This mutual beneficial exchange may have helped to improve the survival of older East Germans after the reunification.
Keywords: Germany, mortality determinants


text:
Skip to Main Content
Using directional antennas to conserve bandwidth and energy consumption in ad hoc wireless networks has attracted much attention of the research community in recent years. However, limited research has focused on applying directional antennas to broadcasting. We devise a link reduction (LR) based broadcasting protocol for ad hoc wireless networks using directional antennas. LR outperforms most existing omnidirectional and directional broadcasting schemes in the sense that its normalized transmission cost and redundancy are significantly reduced, and consequently it is more bandwidth and energyefficient. Based on 2-hop neighborhood information, LR relies on no location or angle-of-arrival (AOA) information. LR is a localized protocol and it achieves full delivery in ideal networks. Simulation is conducted in ideal networks where packet collision, channel contention, or node mobility is avoided.


Emetteur infrarouge en carbone
The Carbon TWIN – a new CIR Carbon Infrared Emitter (anglais)
In the medium wave range, Heraeus offers tailor-made twin tube emitters or carbon round tube emitters of especially high efficiency. New is the unique combination of both of these technologies, which allows important synergy effects.
Carbon infrared emitter "TWIN"
Carbon infrared technology CIR® creating flexible, high efficiency heating processes
Heraeus carbon emitters have achieved what was never possible before by combining the advantages of medium wave radiation with very fast response times. Carbon IR emitters operate at a wavelength especially suited for materials such as plastics, paper and textiles. For these materials, as well as for dryingand adhesion applications, the carbon emitters achieve a significantly higher efficiency than that possible with short wave emitters. Consequently, heating processes are much faster and use less energy resulting in cost savings. The emitters are also ideal for fast cycle processes since they can be switched on and off in 1 to 2 seconds.
Carbon infrared emitter "CIR®"
Backend Options
Backend Options


text:
|Parks||Centers & Pools||Activities||Reservations & Permits||Projects & Planning||A - Z Index|
The first public park within the city limits of Seattle was Denny Park - a gift to the city by David T. Denny in 1884.
In 1887, the Board of Park Commissioners was established to oversee development of the Seattle park system.
Seattle Parks Commissioners hired the famed Olmsted Brothers landscape
architecture firm in 1903 to design a comprehensive system of parks
and boulevards for the city. The Olmsted Plan for Seattles parks
spurred the early development of the Seattle park system and has been
the basis of our modern day park system.
Much of Seattle Park history was documented by Donald N. Sherwood (_PHONE_).
The Seattle Parks and Recreation's Sherwood History
Files is the incredible legacy of Sherwood, who worked as an engineer
for Parks for 22 years from 1955 to 1977.
Updated May 2, 2008
Park History» Sherwood History Files
» Olmsted Parks
»African Americans and
» Military Base Reuse
» Historic Landmarks
» Historic Resources Plan
Bonds & Major Gifts
»Researching Seattle's City Parks & Playfields (city archive)
Park History on» Olmsted Parks
»Olmsted Park Plan
John Charles Olmsted 1903
National Park Service
|Home | Partnerships | Park Board | Volunteer | FAQ | Parkways | Facebook | _USER_ | Flickr|

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Incense Making Workshop
- Duration: 60 Minutes (approx.)
- Location: Awaji City, Hyogo Prefecture
- Product code: EN-HYG-7009-70091
Incense Making Workshop
Let's make your own incense!
Around the 6th century, incense was introduced to Japan along with Buddhism. Why don't you enjoy making incense in Awaji Island, which produces the most incense in Japan? You can choose not only fragrances but also colors and shapes you like, and enjoy your original incense making.
Around the 6th century, incense was introduced into Japan along with Buddhism. Incense also means the art of incense-burning. We can enjoy smelling its natural fragrance produced by burning an aromatic tree, such as 'kyara (aloeswood )', 'jinko (agarwood )'and 'byakudan (sandalwood). At that time when incense was brought into Japan, the purpose of using incense was to purify a human body and drive away something evil, so it had a religious meaning. Later, incense came to be used by ordinary people in their daily life. And nowadays people often use it as part of aromatherapy for the purpose of relaxing themselves and getting rid of their stress.
2. Let's choose the colors!
Today, you can enjoy wonderful fragrances expressing a variety of natural elements such as seasonal flowers and plants, water and air, the sun, and rain.
First, choose the color of incense expressing fragrance! Then, knead the incense with an earthenware mortar. Don't worry as it's easy! Our instructors will show you the process, so just follow their instructions and enjoy the process!
3. Choose whatever fragrance you like, and take the incense out of the mold!
Choose whatever fragrance you like, and then cut out the incense with a mold. You can make flower-shaped incense, a heart-shaped and more as you like.
4. Let's burn the incense.
You can take about 10 pieces of your favorite incenses home. The incense will become solid and be completed in about a week, so please look forward to it.
Light the incense and let thin smoke rise in the air. Put the incense on the plate and enjoy the fragrance. The smoke of incense has relaxing effects, so it would be nice to put it in the entrance and the bathroom.
2738-2, Ei, Awaji City, Hyogo Prefecture _PHONE_
1. Take JR Tokaido Line (Kobe Line) at Kobe station and get off at Sannomiya Station. (about 3 minutes)
2. Take Sannomiya Nishiura Line (Awaji Kotsu highway bus) from Sannomiya station and get
off at Ei bus stop. (It takes about 65 minutes)
3. 2 minutes walk from Ei bus stop.
5 years old and over
Please be dressed casually, because your clothes might get dirty while making incense.
7 to 4 days before the tour date 40% of the tour price
3 to 2 days before the tour date 60% of the tour price
The day before the tour date, On the day of the tour 100% of the tour price
※Right after the online settlement is made, a cancellation fee of 10% will be incurred in case of cancellation.
※The cancellation fee includes handling charges.


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Eugene ShoemakerEugene Shoemaker
(or Gene Shoemaker) (April 28
- July 18
) was one of the founders of the field of planetary science
, best known for co-discovering the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
, with his wife Carolyn Shoemaker
and David Levy
For his Ph.D. at Princeton, Dr. Shoemaker conclusively showed that Barringer Meteor Crater arose from meteor impact.
Dr. Shoemaker founded the Astrogeology Research Program of the USGS in 1961 and was its first director. He was prominently involved in the Lunar Ranger missions to the Moon, which showed that the Moon was covered with a wide size range of impact craters. Dr. Shoemaker was also involved in the training of the American astronauts.
Coming to Caltech in 1969, he started a systematic search for Earth-crossing asteroids, which resulted in the discovery of several families of such asteroids, including the Apollo asteroids.
Dr. Shoemaker received a National Medal of Science in 1992. In 1993, he co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which was the first observed
planetary impact of a comet.
Dr. Shoemaker perished in a car crash in Alice Springs, Australia in 1997. His ashes were carried to the Moon by the Lunar Prospector space probe.
External Links and References


Cooling buildings without warming the planet
Cooling buildings without warming the planet
Air-conditioning in large buildings is a necessity today. The demand for it will increase into the future, due not only to the increasing numbers of people working in large buildings, but also because of rising external temperatures and higher expectations of comfort.
Air-conditioning makes a positive contribution to the working conditions experienced by Europe's workforce, to the economy, and to quality of life. The trick is to keep its overall CO2 output to a minimum.
This can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of air-conditioning systems. Manufacturers are investing in this with admirable results.
The other important thing we can do is make sure that air conditioning systems don't work overtime fighting the sun's natural heat when this can be avoided.
This is where solar control glass comes in. It lets in the sunlight but keeps out much of the heat. Use of such glass saves huge amounts of energy, as the study we present in this brochure demonstrates.


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Buddhism is widely perceived to be, and Buddhist sources themselves promote the tradition as, a philosophy of liberation. Yet, as perhaps everywhere, Buddhist societies, both ancient and modern, not only evidence, but indeed seem to promote, social inequalities. The project â€˜Buddhism and Social Justiceâ€™ explores the inner tensions in Buddhist cultures between inherited core values and social realities, with specific foci on questions of labor (e.g., slavery and forced labor, serfdom) and social status (e.g., caste and discrimination).
The project consists of five studies: a core investigation of slavery and caste in India and studies on slavery in Korea, burakumin (â€˜outcastesâ€™) in Japan, â€˜serfdomâ€™ and monastic economy in Tibet, and ethnicity and Buddhism in Sri Lanka. These are approached through text-historical, historical and a socio-anthropological methods. The synergy between the projects lies in the question of how Buddhist ways of thinking and acting inform and structure historically Buddhist Asian societies, and how, correspondingly, Buddhist ideologies and dogmas were transformed in historical contexts. This study seeks therefore to uncover the links between the ancient and the modern and the theoretical and the real-world, thereby leading both to a deeper appreciation of how religious systems function in societies in general, and to a more nuanced appreciation of the dynamics of historically Buddhist societies in general, particularly with respect to questions of social justice. As such, the work is situated not only within the realms of Buddhist studies and Asian history, but also at the juncture of religious studies, political science and anthropology, as it engages issues of church and society, slavery studies, and the study of race, ethnicity and caste.
- Post-doc: Slavery in Korean Buddhism. Vacancy number: 10 – 048.
- Ph.D. 1: Burakumin (â€˜outcastesâ€™) in Japanese Buddhism. Vacancy number: 10 – 048a.
- Ph.D. 2: â€˜Serfdomâ€™ and Tibetan Monastic Economy. Vacancy number: 10 – 048b.
- Ph.D. 3: Ethnicity and Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Vacancy number: 10 – 048c.
See the full project description at _URL_
Post-Doctoral Fellowship applicants should have a demonstrably excellent academic track record in Buddhist studies and hold a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies or a related field, or its equivalent. They should have an excellent command of English and be prepared to present their research results in English. Applicants will teach a small number of courses on topics within their area of specialization and assist in guiding the Ph.D. students.
Conditions of employment
The position of the Postdoctoral fellow is temporary, maximum three years with a full-time appointment (38 hours per week).
The position of Ph.D.-fellow (â€˜promovendusâ€™) is temporary, maximum four years with a full-time appointment, and with an initial 18-month trial period.
For more information about the two positions contact Prof. dr. J.A Silk (tel. +31 – 71-_PHONE_; e-mail _EMAIL_. Also, see the full project description at _URL_
Post-doc candidates send your application (in English), including:
- a cover letter stating your motivation for this position,
- a curriculum vitae,
- copies of your academic transcripts,
- a printed copy of your PhD thesis and other relevant publications, and
- three references.
Send applications indicating the application number to the following address before April 23, 2010: _EMAIL_.


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respect to distance / length
The Output can vary with respect to direction
The Output can vary with respect to magnitude
The Output can vary with respect to speed
The Output can vary with respect to force / power / pressure
The Output can vary with respect to object
The Output can vary with respect to quantity / volume
The Output can vary with respect to sequence
Emergent instantiation. An emergent instantiation is the outcome from a stepwise evaluation of upstream-downstream couplings. The outcome is called emergent because different conditions may produce different instantiations both in terms of the final outcome and in terms of the order (sequence) in which functions were triggered. The basic principle of an emergent instantiation is the following.
In each step every function will be evaluated.
The evaluation will determine whether the values of the Outputs from upstream functions match the triggering conditions of the function.
If so, it will also be determined how the values of the Outputs from immediate upstream functions affect the variability of the function.
The result of the evaluation will be updated values for the function's Output (or Outputs) - either a new value or the same value refreshed. This value will be used during the next step. The stepwise evaluation stops when a specific criterion (the stop rule) has been fulfilled.
Emergent instantiations will be made by means of the FRAM Model Interpreter (under development).
Equivalence of successes and failures: Whenever something is done, the intention is always to do something right and never to do something wrong. For each action, the choice of what to do is determined by many different things, including competence, understanding of the situation, experience, habit, demands, available resources, and expectations about how the situation may develop – not least about what others may do. If the expected outcome is obtained, the next action is taken, and so on. But if the outcome is unexpected, then the preceding action is re-evaluated and classified as wrong rather than right, as an error or as a mistake, using the common but fallacious post hoc ergo propter hoc argument. With hindsight, it is pointed out what should have been done, if only people had made the necessary effort at the time. The whole argument is, however, unreasonable because the action was chosen based on the expected rather than the actual outcome. Failures and successes are equivalent in the sense that we can only say whether the preceding action was right or wrong after the outcome is known. That changes the judgement of the action, but not the action itself.
Execution conditions: See Resource.
Foreground functions: Foreground and background refer to the relative importance of a function in the model. The foreground functions denote that which is being analysed or assessed, i.e., the focus of the investigation. A designated foreground function may become a background function if the focus of the analysis changes.
Function: In the FRAM, a function represents the means that are necessary to achieve a goal. More generally, a function refers to the activities – or set of activities – that are required to produce a certain outcome. A function describes what people – individually or collectively – have to do in order to achieve a specific aim. A function can also refer to what an organisation does: for example, the function of an emergency room is to treat incoming patients. A function can finally refer to what a technological system does either by itself (an automated function) or in collaboration with one or more humans (an interactive function or coagency). The description of a Function should be a verb, if it is a single word, or begin with a verb if it is a short sentence.
Functional resonance: Functional resonance is defined as the detectable signal that emerges from the unintended interaction of the everyday variability of multiple signals. The signals are usually subliminal, both the 'target' signal and the combination of the remaining signals that constitutes the noise. But the variability of the signals is subject to certain regularities that are characteristic for different types of functions, hence not random or stochastic. Since the resonance effects are a consequence of the ways in which the system functions, the phenomenon is called functional resonance rather than stochastic resonance.
Hexagons (FRAM): In the usual graphical rendering of a FRAM model, or of an instantiation, a function is represented by a hexagon. The reason is obviously that a hexagon has six corners corresponding to the six aspects. If the number of aspects is ever changed (reduced or increased), the graphical rendering will have to change accordingly. (See also snowflake.)
Input (as aspect). The Input to a function is traditionally defined as that which is used or transformed by the function to produce the Output. The Input can represent matter, energy, or information. This definition corresponds to the normal use of the term in flowcharts, Process-and Instrumentation Diagrams, process maps, logical circuits, etc. There is, however, another meaning that is just as important for the FRAM, namely the Input as that which activates or starts a function. The Input in this sense may be a clearance or an instruction to begin doing something, which in turn requires that the input is detected and recognised by the function. While this nominally can be seen as being data, it is more important that the Input serves as a signal that a function can begin. Technically speaking, the Input represents a change in the state of the environment, just as if the Input was matter or energy. The description of an Input should be a noun, if it is a single word, or begin with a noun if it is a short sentence.
Instantiation: An instantiation of a FRAM model is a'map' of how a set of functions are mutually coupled under given conditions (favourable or unfavourable) or for a given time-frame. The set may include all the functions in a model or a subset thereof. The couplings that are represented by a specific instantiation can be seen as representing the order or sequence in which the functions were triggered for the given conditions. The sequence may include parallel 'paths' and 'iterations' (cf. the Record and Playback options of the FMV). If the model is used to represent an event that has take place, such as an accident investigation, the instantiation will typically cover the time-frame of the event and represent the couplings that did exist at the time. For a risk assessment, it is more appropriate to work with a set of instantiations, where each instantiation represents the couplings between upstream and downstream functions at a given time or for given conditions. The instantiation may be represented graphically, although this is not necessary. (See also Performance Variability.)
There are two different forms of instantiations, called calculated instantiations and emergent instantiations, respectively.
Model: A FRAM model describes a system's functions (the union of the sets of foreground functions and background functions). The potential couplings among functions are defined by how the aspects of the functions are described. The FRAM model, however, does not describe the actual couplings that may exist under given conditions (see: Instantiation). To represent the result of performance variability of a function – or of several functions – therefore requires an instantiation (q.v.). A graphical representation of a FRAM model will be a set of hexagons, where each hexagon stands for a function, but without any lines or connections among functions. There is therefore no default orientation of the graphical representation.
Because the couplings in a FRAM model are potential rather than actual, a FRAM model is not a process model or even a net (graph). An instantiation of a FRAM model may be isofunctional to a process model or a net.
Output (as aspect): The Output from a function is the result of what the function does, for instance by processing the Input. The Output can therefore represent matter, energy, or information – the latter as a command issued or the outcome of a decision. The Output can be seen as representing a change of state – of the system or of one or more output parameters. The Output can also represent the signal that starts a downstream function. The description of an Output should be a noun, if it is a single word, or begin with a noun if it is a short sentence.
Output variability: The variability in how a function is carried out may show itself by the variability of the Output. Since the Output may be used as Input, Preccondition, Resource, Time, or Control by one or mode downstream functions, the variability of the Output may affect how the downstream functions are carried out and thereby the overall level of performance of the model. (Strictly peasking, the performance of the instantiation of the model.)
The variability of the Output can be described in either a simple or elaborate form.
Performance variability: The study of risk and accidents has traditionally focused on how failures or malfunctions of components or elements (technological, human, organisational) could happen and how the effects could propagate through the system. This can be called a bimodal view of functions and performance. The FRAM is based on the principle of equivalence of successes and failures and the principle of approximate adjustments. Performance is therefore in practice always variable. The performance variability of upstream functions may affect the performance variability of downstream functions, and thereby lead to non-linear effects (functional resonance).
Pre-condition (as aspect): A function can in many cases not begin before one or more Preconditions have been established. These Preconditions can be understood as system states that must be true, or as conditions that must be verified before a function is carried out. Although a Precondition is a state that must be true before a function is carried out, it does not itself constitute a signal that starts the function. An Input, on the other hand, can activate a function. This simple rule can be used to determine whether something should be described as an Input or as a Precondition. The description of a


کنگنا (and who integrates who when East and West meet)
In writing about Bhangra Rap, I talked about how 'foreign' and 'native' art forms are put together in Pakistani pop. More often than not, it is the foreign or Western art genres that govern the structure. Local elements – such as South Asian instruments like the sitar or dhol, or lyrics in local languages – are the ornamentation.
The reason early Coke Studio was interesting, was that it was the most prominent and explicit attempt to reverse this dynamic. Coke Studio music was structured around Eastern tradition with Western ornamentation on top. This didn't happen in all songs, but by and large the arc of Rohail Hyatt's first stint in Coke Studio was the subversion of the then preeminent order of Pakistani pop, in terms of what genre played host and what played guest.
Kangna is arguably the best recording from Coke Studio. And the accompanying behind the scenes videos (the standard Coke Studio BTS, and an additional Special Feature on the House Band), the most extensive for one song that I am aware of, help explain why.
Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad perform what the Coke Studio House Band's dholak player Babar Khanna calls 'Classical Qawwali'. Classical Qawwali is an innovation attributed to Nusrat as well. The main idea here is that this form of Qawwali incorporates ragas from Hindustani Classical, into the rhythm-and-poetry-focused genre of Qawwali. In itself, this is an innovation worth talking about. So I'll go on a little diversion and then we'll come back to Kangna.
Bringing classical to qawwali is more than a surface level bricolage. Classical ragas represent a strongly developed tradition, which requires knowledge and practice to sincerely perform. To understand ragas, it is worth discussing how melody is constructed. Seeing this through the lens of both Western and Eastern musical systems will also help understand how the two interact.
Melody is changing the pitch of sound into pleasing and recognizable combinations. The pitch of sound is an analog quantity, in that you can smoothly move from a low pitch to a high pitch by infinitesimal amounts. To make these movements audible and reproducible, music is made in a standardized system of particular pitches. This is referred to as a 'tuning system'.
In the predominant Western tuning system, a particular pitch and another with twice the frequency are said to be an octave apart. Each octave is then divided into 12 notes. The keys of a piano, and the frets of a guitar correspond to one note. Melodies are created by picking a subset of these notes, and ordering them. These subsets of notes are called scales.
Scales tend to have moods associated with them. What is called a major scale, sounds happy. A minor scale sounds sad and haunting. It is unclear if there is something inherent about these combinations that evokes these feelings, or if it is something we have learned culturally. Musicians rely on our subconscious associations of feelings with scale as they construct melody.
Now to Hindustani music. Tuning systems in North Indian Classical music subdivide octaves into a different, larger set of notes than the predominant Western system. But as Western instruments are added, South Asian music is simplified to fit Western tuning. The differences and nuances of the two tuning systems is hence, lost.
But a core difference between the two traditions is what the music is centered around. If Western music is built around a piano, Hindustani music is built around the human voice. The human voice – unlike the piano – is analog. Moving from a one key in a piano to the next causes a discrete jump in pitch. The human voice is able to smoothly modulate from one to the other. So Hindustani music's first governing principle is a level of additional complexity that is beyond the fundamentals of Western music. Even when the additional steps in tuning are lost in musical instruments, the one place where the remaining 'microtones' or 'shrutis' remain is in the voice.
This brings us to ragas. A raga, like a scale, is a collection of notes. Ragas tend to not only specify the set of notes they are made of, but also rules about the order in which notes should be hit, and characteristic movements between those notes. Each raga can be associated with a mood, venue, and/or time of day.
In Western music, there is also a tradition of common note movements within scales. These are called modes.
So in a sense, ragas are closely analoged with modes, but they have a different, parallel historical tradition. This tradition is passed down in formal coaching from musician to musician, but is also slowly internalized by audiences as they listen to songs set in ragas all their lives. Over time, just as we begin to learn that major scales sound happy, we also learn to recognize certains ragas as evoking a particular time, such as a the season of barsaat, or more generally as sounding of home. You can feel them, even if you can't name them.
The Western and Hindustani Classical traditions present two different ways of identifying notes, and selecting within them to create recognizable melodies. These are a function of different historical and technological trajectories. The Western tradition, given its breadth of published literature, proliferation through modern pop culture, and availability of instruments, offers an easier pathway for modern musicians in Pakistani cities. As a result of this, the Hindustani tuning system is less prevalent. And for many musicians in urban Pakistan, Western scales are more accessible than Hindustani ragas. The Hindustani tradition progresses orally for the most part, such as in the music of Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad, and of other musical gharanas that settled on each side of the border after partition.
Back to Classical Qawwali. The innovation of this genre was to position the formal knowledge of ragas into the environment of Qawwali. Doing so is not just a question of transplanting a simple set of notes from one melody into a Qawwali performance, it is an immersion of Qawwali in the historical tradition of ragas. The exercise is only complete if the structure and ethos of the raga, as determined through its historical development, is truthfully represented in the setting of a Qawwali.
Qawwali is concerned with a performance of spirituality that inculcates a sense of devotion and is designed to make an audience feel a rush of energy that can be directed to something larger than themselves. This fever is induced by rhythm and lyrics – the beat pushes you into a trance or maybe onto your feet, and the poetry fires you up behind a motif.
Classical Qawwali uses the additional power of a raga to add another mood onto this fever. It is in a sense, a doubly-hard art form. Because it promises to uphold not one, but two historical traditions in a performance driven by improvisation and learned mastery of rhythm and pitch.
Kangna however, is not just a Classical Qawwali. It takes this genre further by then ornamenting it with prog-rock.
Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad chose this particular melody because they decide they want to have some fun. Instead of taking something simple to Coke Studio, they took something uncommon even by Eastern standards. The core difficulty of Kangna is that the song is structured around a 10-beat cycle. (Most music you hear is in a 4-beat cycle; 3 is also common. Other variations exist, but are rare.) In general terms, the more beats you add to a cycle, the harder it is to play. This is because it is hard for a mind and body to memorize and repeat a complex set of movements, especially in a pattern it does not encounter normally.
The other complication of this song (and this is not limited to Kangna but is inherent to the Classical and the Qawwali genres) is frequent improvisation. Where most of Western pop is essentially a script of notes to be played from back to front, Eastern songs and qawwalis in particular are more a loose structure around which each performance can be based. The performer utilizes their years of academy in mastering the underlying structures (the raga and the taal, the pitch and the rhythm) to then conduct an infinite array of variation on top.
The House Band understand this situation, and instead of trying to keep track of the improvisation, decide they will play only two riffs while the Qawwals do whatever they want on top. The riffs draw from prog-rock, a genre of Western pop known to take pride in musical virtuosity and experiment with funky time signatures.
One main riff underpins most of the song, and this is built around the bass-line of Pink Floyd's Money. That song too was in an odd time signature (a 7-beat cycle), and provides a good template on how to supplement the Qawwali: a moody musical line repeated over and over. The variety is added by the voices on top.
The second riff the House Band plays is a way to get into the chorus, and is modeled around the music of the band Yes. The song Roundabout is a very interesting parallel.
The improvisation that the Qawwals do on top of the basic 10-beat structure has its own set of complications. When the Qawwals improvise, they don't really worry about the underlying 10-beat structure. They may switch to a totally different pattern, but when they decide to come back they do so in a way that fits the original 10-beat cycle they departed from. The House Band


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Are cow parsnips dangerous?
Are cow parsnips dangerous?
Can you eat cow parsnip? It is not toxic, but the juice can cause contact dermatitis in sensitive individuals. Washing the affected area and avoiding sunlight for a few days can reduce irritation. The plant is eaten by deer, elk, moose and livestock.
How can you tell if a plant is giant hogweed?
Giant Hogweed Identification Edges are spikey and serrated. Numerous small white flowers arranged in umbrella-shaped heads up to 80cm (31 inches) across. Flowers in late spring to mid summer. Thick, bright green often with reddish spots – can also be nearly completely reddish.
Is cow parsley the same as hogweed?
Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) The leaves are completely different to giant hogweed, with a feathery appearance. This is a native plant common along hedgerows. It grows to 60–170 cm (24–67 in) and also has clusters of white flowers in umbels.
What's the difference between wild parsnip and cow parsnip?
Cow parsnip (pictured above) has white flowers while wild parsnip has yellow flowers. Once cow parsnip starts to turn to seed, some can confuse the two because the flower color starts to fade. Difference can be seen in the leaf shape. It looks like an open palm while wild parsnip leaves look oblong.
Is hogweed and cow parsnip the same plant?
The Cow Parsnip's stem, green and ridged with fine white hairs. The Hogweed stem, green with purple / reddish splotches and coarse white hairs. The leaves of the Hogweed have a knife-like serrated edge. The shape of the Cow Parsnip leaf is similar to that of a maple leaf.
Can you touch cow parsnip?
All parts of the cow parsnip plant contain a phototoxic sap. When an individual gets the sap on their skin it causes a reaction called phytophotodermatitis.
Are wild parsnip and giant hogweed the same?
Giant Hogweed is often confused with native Cow Parsnip. The two are compared below. Giant hogweed has large, very deeply lobed leaves with jagged edges (up to 2.5 metres long), whereas Cow parsnip leaves are smaller (only 40cm long) and its leaves are wider, less lobed and less jagged.
How do you identify wild parsnips?
Wild parsnip can grow up to 5′ tall and has hollow, grooved stems that are hairless. Leaves resemble large celery leaves. They are yellow-green, coarsely toothed and compound, with 3-5 leaflets. Small, yellow flowers are clustered together in a flat-topped array approximately 3-8″ across.
Is Cow Parsnip hogweed?
Heracleum sphondylium, commonly known as hogweed, common hogweed or cow parsnip, is a herbaceous perennial or biennial plant, in the umbelliferous family Apiaceae that includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is native to Europe and Asia.
Is cow parsnip hogweed?
How can you tell cow parsley from giant hogweed?
Hedge parslies tend to be smaller, more delicate and spindly and often shorter than cow parsley. Hogweeds have a bigger leaf, with broader fronds. Giant hogweed sap from all parts of the plant is poisonous. Common hogweed may also pose a threat as the hairs on the stem can cause skin irritation and burns.
Are hogweed and wild parsnip the same?
View the Difference Both plants have large leaves dissected into 3 leaflets, but leaflets of cow parsnip (left) have rounded lobes and giant hogweed leaflets (right) have pointed lobes. Also, giant hogweed leaves are twice the size of cow parsnip leaves.
How do you get rid of Cow Parsnip?
Herbicides containing glyphosate can be an effective tool to control larger populations of wild parsnip. Glyphosate is a broad spectrum herbicide that kills green plants that it comes into contact with.
What is Cow Parsnip used for?
As medicine, pastes of dried grated roots are applied to swollen legs to relieve swelling and also used on aching limbs and heads to relieve pain. Other uses included making a yellow dye from the roots and using the dried stems to make flutes for children. In the garden, Cow Parsnip is easy to care for.
Does Cow Parsnip cause blindness?
That striking plant can attain a height of 4 metres (about 13 feet) and has a stout red-spotted stem and a white inflorescence up to 0.5 metre in diameter. Contact with the sap of giant hogweed is especially dangerous and can cause severe photosensitive blistering and scarring; blindness can also occur.
Is hogweed the same as wild parsnip?
What does it look like? Giant Hogweed is often confused with native Cow Parsnip. The two are compared below. Giant hogweed has large, very deeply lobed leaves with jagged edges (up to 2.5 metres long), whereas Cow parsnip leaves are smaller (only 40cm long) and its leaves are wider, less lobed and less jagged.
What happens if you touch wild parsnip?
Wild parsnip, which is similar to giant hogweed, produces a poisonous sap which causes the skin to become extremely sensitive to sunlight, leading to severe burns and blisters. WARNING: Disturbing image of the burn and blister is below. Discretion is advised.
Is common hogweed cow parsnip the same plant?
Are cow parsnips edible?
Cow parsnip is an edible plant. But, unlike other common edibles like nettles or lambs quarters, it has a strong flavor that some people won't like. For the best result, I suggest you cook with cow parsnip's green parts as you would an herb.
Is Cow Parsnip in the UK?
Cow Parsnip is also sometimes referred to as hogweed. It is a plant that grows commonly across the UK. You probably have seen it on the side of the road while driving in the humid areas of Scotland, but it is also common in other parts of the UK.
Is Cow Parsnip the same as poison hemlock?
Another distinction: cow parsnip's outer flowers have more deeply divided petals of unequal size. Poison hemlock is native to Europe, Africa and Asia. Its probably one of DuPage County's most poisonous plants. It grows throughout the county, mostly in sunny degraded areas.
Can you mow over wild parsnip?
Use a riding mower (not a push mower) to mow wild parsnip so mowed pieces are left on the ground and not on you. If possible, begin mowing in late May and continue through the summer, at a height of 8 inches or less. Mow the area for about three years and the parsnip will be virtually gone.
Why should you not burn wild parsnip?
Like giant hogweed and other members of the carrot family, it produces sap containing chemicals that can cause human skin to react to sunlight, resulting in intense burns, rashes or blisters.
How do you get rid of cow parsnips?
If possible, begin mowing in late May and continue through the summer, at a height of 8 inches or less. Mow the area for about three years and the parsnip will be virtually gone. Use a Parsnip Predator tool, available online through Prairie Enthusiasts, to easily and safely remove wild parsnip as whole plants.
Is Cow Parsnip toxic to dogs?
Cow parsnip poisoning is caused by furanocoumarins in the foliage of Heracleum maximum, which can produce phytophotodermatitis or photosensitivity if your dog eats the plant or if the sap is absorbed through the skin. In addition, exposure to cow parsnip can also cause ocular damage leading to permanent blindness.
Is cow parsnip the same as hogweed?
This flowering plant is native e to North America and garden owners consider it a weed as it is invasive in nature and grows very quickly to tower other plants. One of the most known species of Cow Parsnip is the Giant Hogweed. It is important to know what makes the difference and why cow parsnip vs giant hogweed is not the same thing.
What are the most common skin reactions to cow parsnip/hogweed?
One of the more common skin reactions to cow parsnip/hogweed, is the 'weed eaters' or 'strimmers' dermatitis. When string trimmers are used to clear long grass, components of weeds are usually mulched and scattered in all directions, often coating the legs and arms of the operator.
What does a cow parsnip look like?
The fact that there are many related plants with Cow Parsnip that scare people when they identify it in their gardens. The visible characteristic of this perennial plant is its large flower head that looks like an umbrella consisting of lots of tiny white flowers.
Is cow parsnip an invasive plant?
Cow Parsnip is a name used for more than 60 species of perennial plants belonging to the genus Heracleum. This flowering plant is native e to North America and garden owners consider it a weed as it is invasive in nature and grows very quickly to tower other plants. One of the most known species of Cow Parsnip is the Giant Hogweed.


text:
There has been some discussion whether Bob's Sports Saddles should be called "treeless". For instance, one reference we know of is to the pommel and cantle being described as trees and accusing Bob's saddles as not "truly" treeless. Here is a quote from that page: "The Bob Marshall saddles are not truly treeless -- they have a wooden pommel and cantle tree, but no bars, which takes weight off the pommel and cantle trees. You sit between the trees."
Bob Marshall has been a designer/producer of saddles for approximately 30 years. He is sought for his products and his knowledge of saddle design and production. He is highly respected for his work. Bob refers to the pommel and cantle as tree parts, which appears to be the correct reference (see the illustration of a typical saddle tree below). But, the gretchenfathauer quote, it appears, has inadvertently changed the words and meaning of Bob's description. And, that simple embellishment has caused something of a stir over the issue of what is a treeless saddle.
The illustration shows a typical saddletree (or "tree") and the relative positions where the pommel and cantle parts fit in relation to the rest of the tree. In the saddle industry, a typical saddletree is ridged and consists of bars, pommel, cantle and horn all assembled together into one complete ridged (possibly semi-ridged) framework. Different materials, such as metal, wood, plastic, fiberglass or other can be found in the construction of the tree parts.
Through the years, the saddletree got it's name because it is very much like a tree. A tree is strong, is kind of heavy, is made of wood, it has parts connected together firmly, it holds a lot of stuff, it's pretty darn rugged and it works real hard. Many people these days are interested in using a saddle for it's comfort instead of it's brawn. Comfort and equine health has become a principle goal. And what Bob actually did to meet this need was to construct the first Sports Saddle by physically cutting out the bars. Removing the bars disconnected the pommel part from the cantle part resulting in a softer seat, flexible action and no framework to poke or pressure the horse. After that, Bob fashioned various pommels and cantles into the shapes needed to construct the different models of Sports Saddles.
If you could see Bob's Sports Saddles during construction without the pommel and cantle attached, you would still recognize it as and call it a saddle. You could even ride in it without the pommel and cantle since the stirrup and cinch rigging are already in place. In fact the saddle is built before the pommel and cantle (i.e. the saddle seat) go on. Since Bob's Sports Saddle has no framework the saddle can't be ridged and some Sports Saddles have no horn.
Often, a typical tree integrates the seat and the framework for strength. However, the saddle seat is definitely not the tree. The construction of the Sports Saddle is different from the construction of a typical treed saddle, even though pommel and cantle parts are used. When you stop to think about it, what else would you use to form a saddle seat? ( "Hey Darrel -- grab me that ol' tractor seat over thar, will yah?")
For example, let's say you have a tractor and you take off the wheels and the seat, and lay them on the ground on the right side. On the left side lays the tractor without the wheels and seat. Neither the seat nor the wheels is the tractor and even the combination of the two couldn't do what a tractor is made to do. Even the simplest tractor mechanic knows that much. The tractor is still there layin' on the ground -- its' seat and wheels removed, and not very functional. However, the tractor is still not the seat and neither is the seat the tractor. So, how could a pommel or cantle possibly be a "tree"?
So, what is a saddletree? Is the pommel or cantle the tree? Is the pommel + cantle the tree? Are the bars the tree? Is the pommel + cantle + horn + bars the tree? What if the parts are not connected together, does that make the tree, or not? What if you had a bareback pad and attached a pommel and cantle - would that be a saddletree? Silly questions?... Maybe, maybe not. It's important to know how to define "tree" meaning "saddletree" so that people won't be confused.
One thing we know for sure, the saddle industry has come to accept that a typical saddletree consists of most or all of the tree parts and that those parts are assembled by connecting them together firmly, forming a ridged (or possibly semi-ridged) framework. After the saddle leathers and accessories are attached it's called a saddle. The "framework" is the key ingredient whether you have a tree (i.e. saddletree) or not. And there you have it.
So, in the end, are Bob's Sports Saddles "treeless"? It's probably a safe bet to say they are treeless, but keep an eye out for the saddletree police just in case.


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I'm wondering if maybe you're going about this the wrong way. You gave us this description of the task:
I am parsing an HTML file for a word in a foreign language. If the word is found, it will add it to a file.
Your code expects you have a file called "test.txt" that contains one or more (Urdu?) words. BTW, is the text in that file UTF-8 encoded? Have you made sure that your script is reading it correctly?
Then your code expects you have a file called "platts_wkg.html", which is assumed to contain one or more matches to the words in test.txt. Is the html file encoded the same way as test.txt? Have you checked whether some of the words that "ought" to match might be using numeric character entities (e.g. ب or ء for the Urdu letter "b")?
But there are some problems with the OP logic:
 1. When the "else" clause is not commented out, you will be prompted to "Type in an alternate spelling" for every line in the HTML file that does not match /^.*?.*?( $sw ) -- (where $sw is a single word just read from test.txt) and it's likely that there are quite a few such lines in that file.
 2. You are re-opening and re-reading the HTML file for each word in the "test.txt" list, which is really inefficient (and really tedious, if you have to respond manually to all those prompts on every line of HTML input).
In other words, your "if" statement is not failing - it's doing what the logic says it should do. The problem is that the logic is wrong.
I think you should start by reading all the contents of "test.txt" before you open the html file. Combine all the target words into a single regex, and then do just one pass over the html data - like this:
my $targets_file = '/Users/me/test.txt'; # (I'd rather get this from +_USER_) open( my $urdu_words, '<', $targets_file ) # (2nd arg might need ':ut +f8' too) or die "$targets_file: $!\n"; my _USER_ = <$urdu_words>; close $urdu_words; chomp _USER_; my $target_regex = join( '|', _USER_ ); # Now open and read from the html file # Use a hash to kept track of matches, so you can sort them later: my $html_file = '/Users/me/platts_wkg.html'; # could get that from _USER_ +GV too open( my $platts, '<', $html_file ) or die "$html_file: $!\n"; my %matches; while (<$platts>) { if ( /^.*?.*? ($target_regex) / ) { # note: spaces are now OUT +SIDE parens $matches{$1}.= " $_"; } } # At this point, it would be easy to dump all the matches to a file, a +nd # then edit that file manually, if you want: my $matched_file = '/Users/me/matches_found.txt'; open( my $output, '>', $matched_file ) or die "$matched_file: $!\n"; for my $match ( sort keys %matches ) { print $output "Matches found for target: $match\n $matches{$match} +\n"; }
If there's something you want to do with lines that don't match for any of the target words, you can put an "else" clause in the while loop that reads from the html file. But in that case, I would again recommend that you avoid doing anything that involves manual input to the script for each html line - put stuff into an array or hash, print it to a separate file, and deal with it in some way that's likely to be easier and less error-prone.
In reply to Re: My "if" is failing! by graff
in thread My "if" is failing! by Sumtingwong
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part I
part II part III part IV
by Mae Brussell, from The Realist February 1974
I. Why Was Patricia Hearst Kidnapped?
II. Cast of Characters
III. Chronology of Events
IV. Why Was the SLA Created – the Motives?
V. The Tell-Tale Revolutionaries: Conspicuous Banditos or Provocateurs?
VI. Tactical Support – Where Did It Come From?
VII. How Dangerous Was the SLA?
VIII. Why the Charges Against Patty?
IX. The Death Trap
How Do You Tell a CIA Espionage Plot from a Revolutionary, Radical, Terrorist Guerrilla Army?
XI. Indications the SLA Was Part of a Larger National Conspiracy
XII. Was This Plan Necessary?
There are three Symbionese Liberation Armies. This article is about SLA-BC.
SLA-BC (Before Cremation)
A small band of people brought together in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Through various manipulations, military intelligence infiltrated radical groups, specifically the prison's Black Guerrilla Family, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, United Farm Workers, Chino Defense Fund, Venceremos and the Women's Movement. These targets of the FBI and police were to be associated with the importation of persons from out of state. Some local women were incorporated in the group to lend authenticity.
SLA-AC (After Cremation)
Radicals or concerned citizens who responded with sympathy and horror at the public cremation of six SLA members by the military SWAT team. Continuous government murders such as those committed at the Orangeburg massacre, Jackson State, Kent State, Attica and San Quentin, police murders of Black Panthers, Black Muslims and hundreds of others, necessarily cause a genuine response. Silence in the face of these acts escalates genocide. Public disapproval escalates police armies.
More "liberation armies," fictitious messages, forged documents, infiltrators and spies will surface. Legitimate reform groups will continue to be discredited by acts of violence committed in their names. Peaceful rallies will be destroyed by intelligence agents. The organized disruption of the anti-war movement and rock concerts that took place during the '60s will escalate. The kidnappings and bombings will be blamed on the SLA, or "dedicated to the memory of the six slain SLA members." These planned acts of violence will include chemical warfare.
I. Why Was Patricia Hearst Kidnapped?
The kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst was as vital to the creation of the Symbionese Liberation Army as the murder of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was to the beginning of World War I. Both the kidnapping and the murder were used as an excuse to declare war. The ensuing battles had been carefully prepared and anticipated by the merchants of death.
An admitted kidnapping hoax involved Jean Paul Litt, son of a Belgian diplomat, in Florence, Italy.
The timing of international with national kidnappings could easily be planned to instill fear of an epidemic of abductions across continents.
In the meantime, and not by coincidence, only the poor suffer from these kidnapping and shootings on their behalf.
America's first political kidnapping was necessary to justify the creation of laws and the development of police SWAT teams. They can later be used against legitimate guerrilla or terrorist activities.
Increased repressions, planned genocide, starvation, widespread unemployment, inadequate health care and housing must necessarily provoke anger and self-defense in the face of death. Washington is preparing its defenses, its punishments and its armies in the streets.
The series of staged exploits by the SLA has created fear, suspicion and mistrust of genuine avenues of political change. Radical movements can be discredited and associated with kidnapping, terror, murder, bank robbery and violence.
Under the guise of "reforms," the door is now open for increased infiltration and disruption of progressive movements.
The Watergate affair provides only a small glimpse of how the White House, Pentagon, CIA, FBI, local police departments and intelligence agencies rig elections, manipulate candidates and violate the rights of citizens. Wiretaps, smear campaigns, illegal entry, forgery, interception and opening of mail, provocations, planned kidnappings, blackmail, leaks, poisoning, and assassinations are acceptable tactics to the "team members."
The Justice Department, Attorney Generals, government prosecutors, and investigators are used to protect these domestic espionage operations and cover up the serious crimes that are committed.
Intelligence agents don't only work against us at election time. They work every year, in every city, to help the power structure maintain control. They work against leftists, radicals and ordinary citizens assembling to inquire how their freedoms are being taken away.
Government-funded studies are made at Rand Corporation a and other think tanks on how to manipulate the population for maximum effectiveness and profit. The armies put the plans into action.
The agencies that control our elections, and indeed the selection of candidates, by bullets and smear tactics also control domestic productivity and investments. Since starvation and unemployment will inevitably lead to violent objections, provisions must be made to handle the mob. That is what the SLA was about.
Members of radical groups in the Bay Area were taunted and baited to join the revolution, to see how many were ready for the next stage and would accept violence. All of these groups turned the SLA down, suspecting that they were police provocateurs.
The People In Need Program (the Hearst food giveaway plan) and the SLA communiques identified radical or leftist organizations. Their strength and numbers were added up. Leaders were identified.
Public sensitivities were tested by well-placed cameras which invited us to witness the SLA cremation in Los Angeles. How will we respond the next time troops are deployed to control the people? What did you think of the first military operation inside the U.S., based upon the feeble creation of the mythical SLA., and our "first political kidnapping"?
The 1960's saw the systematic murder of politicians, civil rights leaders, minority spokesmen, educators, Black Panthers, prisoners, and many other concerned citizens.
In the 1970's, large masses of the population, now leaderless, can be controlled and exterminated. We have allowed this situation to develop by not exposing each conspiracy as it came along, pretending the facts and evidence would disappear.
Dr. Marcus Foster, Oakland School Superintendent, was murdered by the same kind of people, and for the same reasons, as Martin Luther King.
Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by the same kind of people, and for the same reasons, as Martha Mitchell.
Our lives are being manipulated by specific individuals who can be identified and exposed. Conspiracy theories only remain "theories" when there is no court, no lawyer, no judge, no Congress, with the courage to expose the evidence. In every case where the evidence is pursued, the "theory" becomes a clear-cut case of criminal conspiracy.
It took ten years for Emile Zola to reveal that Captain Alfred Dreyfus did not betray the French Army.
America has hundreds of Dreyfus Affairs going. Latest on the list is the creation of the SLA.
Congress gives the CIA and other intelligence agencies all the money they desire. No questions are asked about how much they receive, much less how it is used. CIA Director William Colby wants to tighten the secrecy, with the threat of a $10,000 fine and ten years in jail, for any Paul Reveres shouting in the dark to wake us up.
Until the present time, the CIA was carefully inconspicuous on the domestic scene. Creation of the SLA provides an excuse for the CIA, and special police forces like the German Gestapo, to step forth publicly and assume control of all law enforcement agencies.
The covert operations and psychological warfare techniques that were used to form the SLA were perfected in Britain and Germany during World War II. After the war, our OSS was converted into the CIA by English and German spy masters.
Right-wing groups such as the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, the Minutemen and the National States Rights Party are used as fronts for CIA and FBI operations. The military-intelligence teams give approval, funding, tactical support and protection from arrest.
Mass education, political organization and the attempt to solve economic and social problems are perceived as threats to the status quo. Recommendations for constructive alternatives to unemployment, sickness, hunger and poverty are answered by chaos, violence and racism. it is because the solutions to many problems exist today that armies and propaganda machines must step lip their domestic warfare. Police, prison guards, and intelligence agents flex their muscles and take aim at their victims.
Motives for Creation of the SLA
Fifteen goals were to be achieved by the creation of this elaborate conspiracy. They have all been launched, and a careful observer can see them being implemented in today's news stories.
1. Create a national fear of terrorist organizations, and of future kidnappings, accompanied by increased bombings.
2. Link U.S. terrorists to international guerrilla groups.
3. Discredit communes.
4. Escalate domestic fear of Mao Tse Tung, brainwashing and indoctrination.
5. Create the apparent justification for UCLA's Institute to Study the Causes and Prevention of Violence, now temporarily shelved and suspect.
6. Discredit the poor, and test food distribution programs.
7. Isolate prisoners from genuine reform organizations.
8. Escalate domestic race war between blacks and whites.
9. Discredit radical and/or leftist organizations, particularly the Black Guerrilla Family, Los Venceremos, United Farm Workers, Women's Movement groups and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
10. Increase public and private police forces and security agents.
11. Turn the population into informers, who turn each other In.
12. Create new


Animal product alternatives
Reviewed by our expert panel
Animal product alternatives
Are vegetarian 'meats' and vegan 'dairy products' breaking any rules by not containing what they're named after? Gwendoline Keel and Ciska de Rijk, food law specialists at Simpson Grierson, find out.
Vegetarian 'bacon' and 'sausages', nut 'milk', soy 'cheese' and vegan 'ice cream' sound like oxymorons, but these foods are now commonplace. So, are they breaking any laws by being labelled as something they don't contain?
What's the law got to say?
The Fair Trading Act prohibits false and misleading representations and requires substantiation for any claims made. It is not just words that can be misleading. The overall impression conveyed by the product's packaging, pictures and logos is what counts when determining whether a product's claims are misleading.
Also, under the Food Code, certain foods must meet specific definitions in order to be sold as such. For example, milk is defined as 'the mammary secretion of milking animals, obtained from one or more milkings for consumption as liquid milk or for further processing'. Sausage is defined as 'meat that has been minced, meat that has been comminuted, or a mixture of both, whether or not mixed with other foods, and which has been encased or formed into discrete units'.
Where is the line in the sand?
Products that are named and sold as food that do not meet their legal definitions are, perhaps, technically in breach of the Food Code.
These products normally get around this non-compliance issue by providing additional clarifying information on the labels. For example, in an almond milk product the word 'almond' clarifies that the product is derived from almonds, and not the 'mammary secretion of milking animals'.
It should be made clear to the consumer what the product actually is. For instance, the packaging for vegetarian bacon bits must ensure that consumers are able to tell that the product does not contain meat as traditional bacon does, and that the product is indeed suitable for vegetarians.
Any fine print or clarifying statements must be prominent, clear and easy to read.
What's up over the ditch?
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which regulates the Australian Consumer Law, takes a hard-line approach to false and misleading claims in relation to food. Hume Import & Export was fined $10,200 for its 'Hi Honey' product including the word 'honey' and a map of Australia on the label.
The ACCC considered that this gave the impression the product was honey made by honey bees in Australia, whereas the product was mainly made from plant sugars and made in Turkey.
The ACCC has announced taking action against misleading and deceptive practices as part of its 2017 priorities.
Consumer tip
Pay attention to the ingredients list to determine what is within a product, and read claims on the label for additional information. Visit the manufacturer's website for further information or to ask questions.
First published: Aug 2017
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The first comprehensive look at persistent toxic substances across the vast Russian Arctic reinforces what studies in other Arctic nations have revealed: that indigenous people in this northern swath of the world are inordinately exposed to pesticides, industrial compounds, and heavy metals, with uncertain health effects.
Conducted by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, the environmental research arm of the eight-nation Arctic Council, the 4-year, $2.8 million study sampled pollutant levels in the four major regions of the Russian Arctic. The researchers found that samples of breast milk and maternal and umbilical cord blood contained moderate to extremely high levels of DDT, PCBs, mercury, lead, and brominated flame retardants, among other chemicals. Due to northward flows in rivers, oceans, and atmospheric currents, persistent toxins released elsewhere, along with some local contaminants, have accumulated heavily in many areas of the Arctic, where frigid temperatures retard their dispersal and degradation.
In people, the highest toxin levels were found in the Chukotka region on the eastern coast of the Russian Arctic, where the indigenous population eats large quantities of marine mammals and fish, which can be heavily contaminated both with local and long-range pollutants. Researchers found that about 5% of the population, mostly males, have some of the highest PCB contamination levels--10,000 nanograms per gram of blood lipid—ever seen, says Éric Dewailly of the Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments at the National Institute of Public Health of Québec. The Chukotka region, Valerie Chashchin of the Northwest Public Health Centre in St. Petersburg notes, "is a wasteland where millions of tons of chemicals were imported during the Soviet era and never cleaned up."
Preliminary evidence, from comparisons of these contamination data with information reported in health interviews with Arctic inhabitants, suggests that exposure to some persistent toxics may be linked to reproductive effects such as stillbirths, birth defects, low birth weight, and spontaneous abortions. The study also noted an apparent association between reduced numbers of male births and increases in Arctic maternal blood concentrations of both lead and some types of PCBs. "We are surprised and a little worried," says a member of the study's Steering Committee, Jon Øyvind Odland of the Institute of Community Medicine at the University of Tromsø in Norway.


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According to Newton's Laws of Motion, an unbalanced force is one that causes a change in the motion of the object to which the force is applied. An object at rest or an object in steady motion continues at rest or in unchanged motion unless it is subjected to an unbalanced force. In that case, the object accelerates in the direction of the force according to the equation: force equals mass times acceleration. An unbalanced force continues to accelerate an object until until a new counterforce builds up and a new balance of forces is established. The accelerated object then maintains a steady velocity, and the previously unbalanced force is balanced by the new force.
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)
An unbalanced force is a force that changes the position, speed or direction of the object to which it is applied. The unbalanced force accelerates the object with the acceleration directly proportional to the size of the force and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
How Unbalanced Forces Work
In a steady state situation, all forces are balanced with all objects either at rest or moving in a given direction with a fixed speed. If one force starts increasing or a new force is introduced, the situation can change, depending on the strength of the increasing or the new force. If the increasing force or new force is weak, a new balance of forces is established and nothing changes. If the increasing or new force becomes too strong for the existing balance of forces, objects will accelerate, move and change their position or speed. The situation will keep changing until a new balance of forces is achieved.
For example, a car rolling in neutral on a straight, flat highway is subject to several balanced and unbalanced forces. The weight of the car pushing down is exactly balanced by the force of the pavement pushing up. The car therefore does not accelerate up or down. The friction of the tires rolling on the pavement and the resistance of the air are two unbalanced forces acting to decelerate the car. The inertia of the car keeps the car rolling, but the two unbalanced forces slow it down to a stop. When the car stops, all forces are in balance again and there is no new acceleration unless the driver starts the car and drives away, adding a new unbalanced force that overcomes the previous two forces.
Common Unbalanced Forces
Common forces that are often unbalanced include the force of gravity and applied forces. When these forces are unbalanced, objects accelerate, change their position and find new configurations for which all forces are again balanced.
The weight of an object is the force exerted by gravity on that object. If an apple is hanging in a tree, the downward force of gravity is balanced by the upward force of the apple's stem attached to a branch. Once the apple is ripe, the stem becomes detached. At that moment the upward force becomes zero, and there is an unbalanced force of gravity downward. The apple falls. When it hits the ground, the Earth provides a new upward force equal to the force of gravity, and the situation is again balanced.
Applied forces are important because they are used to move objects in accordance with specific purposes. For example, to move a dining room table to the other side of the room against a wall, one or more people apply a force by pushing it. Before the new force is applied, everything is in balance.
At first the people may not push very hard, and the table doesn't move. Then people push on the table and their feet push on the floor with the force of friction. Similarly the table pushes back with an equal force due to the friction of its legs on the floor. Eventually the people push hard enough to create an unbalanced force to overcome the friction of the table, and the table accelerates to slide across the floor. When the people have pushed it against the wall, there is a new balance of forces and a new, steady-state situation. In all these cases, unbalanced forces cause a re-arrangement of objects to a new, balanced situation.


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Dogs may use Earth's magnetic field to navigate
A team of researchers from Czech University of Life Sciences, Virginia Tech and Barry University has found evidence that suggests dogs may use Earth's magnetic field as a navigational aid. In their paper in the eLife Sciences initiative, the group describes their study of dog navigation and what they learned from it.
Prior research has shown that dogs tend to orient themselves in a north-south position when urinating a finding that suggests they may have the ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field. In this new effort, the researchers conducted two experiments to further study magnetic field sensing in dogs and whether they use it for navigation.
The two experiments were essentially the same, they both involved attaching GPS sensors to multiple dogs, taking them out into a natural environment and releasing to run about. In all cases, the dogs soon returned to the person who had released them. The only difference in the experiments was the number of dogs involved, in the first, it was just four, and in the second it was 27.
In studying the routes the dogs took, both when heading out on an expedition and when returning, the researchers found they used one of two types of return. The first was called tracking, which meant a dog made its way back by following the same path it had taken out presumably using its nose. The team called the other type of return scouting, because the dogs followed an unfamiliar path to get back to where they had begun their adventure. The researchers also found something else, for a large percentage of the scouting returns, the dogs first engaged in an odd behavior. They ran north-south along a 20-meter length a few times before heading back to their starting point, doing so appeared to help the dogs get their bearings, as those that did it were more efficient in their return.
The researchers suggest the north-south running is evidence of the dogs using the magnetic field to orient themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, which in turn helps them find their way home. Further testing involved the owner hiding as the dog made its trek, testing wind direction and speed and noting the gender of the dog. No other factors made a difference in improving navigational efficiency, further supporting the idea that the dogs were able to use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate.
Bob Yirka, Phys.org


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favorable (Wright1998).
Liquid hot water (LHW)
Much like the steam-explosion process, liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment uses water at elevated temperatures and high pressures to maintain its liquid form in order to promote disintegration and separation of the lignocellulosic matrix. Temperatures can range from 160°C to 240°C over lengths of time ranging from a few minutes up to an hour with temperatures dominating the types of sugar formation and time dominating the amount of sugar formation (Yu et al.2010).
This process has been found to be advantageous from a cost standpoint in that no additives such as acid catalysts are required. Furthermore, expensive reactor systems have not been necessary to use due to the low corrosive nature of this pretreatment technique. Neutralization of degradation products is not needed due to their fractionation and utilization in the liquid fraction. In the same sense, inhibitory products have not been reported to form overwhelmingly in the respective fractions allowing higher yields under specific conditions.
Ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX)
The ammonia fiber/freeze explosion (AFEX) process is another physicochemical process, much like steam explosion pretreatment, in which the biomass material is subjected to liquid anhydrous ammonia under high pressures and moderate temperatures and is then rapidly depressurized. The moderate temperatures (60°C to 100°C) are significantly less than that of the steam explosion process, thus allowing less energy input and overall cost reduction associated with the process (Alizadeh et al.2005, Teymouri et al.2004, Chundawat et al.2007).
There have been extensive literature reviews on this type of pretreatment over the last decade, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of the AFEX process used for different feedstocks (Sun and Cheng2002, Mosier2005). An overview of some of the advantages include lower moisture content, lower formation of sugar degradation products due to moderate conditions, 100% recovery of solid material, and the ability for ammonia to lessen lignin's effect on enzymatic hydrolysis. A smaller number of disadvantages can be seen in the form of higher costs due to recycle and treatment of chemicals that are being used.
Ammonia recycle percolation (ARP)
Ammonia recycle percolation (ARP) has been paired with the AFEX pretreatment process by many authors, but it can have some different characteristics that need to be taken into consideration when looking at different pretreatment options (Kim and Lee2005). In this process, aqueous ammonia of concentration between 5-15% (wt%) is sent through a packed bed reactor containing the biomass feedstock at a rate of about 5 ml/min. The advantage with this process over AFEX is its ability to remove a majority of the lignin (75–85%) and solubilize more than half of the hemicellulose (50–60%) while maintaining high cellulose content (Kim and Lee2005). Primarily, herbaceous biomass has been most treated with this process: 60-80% delignification has been achieved for corn stover and 65–85% delignification for switchgrass (Iyer et al.1996).
Supercritical fluid (SCF) pretreatment
A supercritical fluid is a material which can be either liquid or gas, used in a state above the critical temperature and critical pressure where gases and liquids can coexist. It shows unique properties that are different from those of either gases or liquids under standard conditions-it possesses a liquid like density and exhibits gas-like transport properties of diffusivity and viscosity (King and Srinivas2009). Thus, SCF has the ability to penetrate the crystalline structure of lignocellulosic biomass overcoming the mass transfer limitations encountered in other pretreatments. The lower temperatures used in the process aids in the stability of the sugars and prevents degradation observed in other pretreatments. Kim and Hong2001 investigated supercritical CO2 pretreatment of hardwood (Aspen) and southern yellow pine with varying moisture contents followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. SCF pretreatment showed significant enhancements in sugar yields when compared to thermal pretreatments without supercritical CO2. Alinia and coworkers (2010) investigated the effect of pretreatment of dry and wet wheat straw by supercritical CO2 alone and by a combination of CO2 and steam under different operating conditions (temperature and residence time in the reactors). It was found that a combination of supercritical CO2 and steam gave the best overall yield of sugars.
Biological pretreatment methods
Biological pretreatment uses microorganisms and their enzymes selectively for delignification of lignocellulosic residues and has the advantages of a low-energy demand, minimal waste production and a lack of environmental effects. In biological pretreatment processes, microorganisms such as brown-, whiteand soft-rot fungi are used to degrade lignin and hemicellulose in waste materials Schurz (1978). White-rot basidiomycetes possess the capabilities to attack lignin. Penicillium chrysosporium, for example, has been shown to non-selectively attack lignin and carbohydrate (Anderson and Akin2008). P. chrysosporium has been successfully used for biological pretreatment of cotton stalks by solid state cultivation (SSC) and results have shown that the fungus facilitates the conversion into ethanol (Shi et al.,2008). Brown rots mainly attack cellulose, while white and soft rots attack both cellulose and lignin. White-rot fungi are the most effective basidiomycetes for biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials (Fan et al.1987). Other basidiomycetes such as Phlebia radiata, P. floridensis and Daedalea flavida, selectively degrade lignin in wheat straw and are good choices for delignification of lignocellulosic residues (Arora and Chander2002). Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, however, lacks cellulases (cellobiohydrolase activity) but produces manganese peroxide and laccase, and selectively delignifies several different wood species (Ferraz2003). The advantages of biological pretreatment include low energy requirement and mild environmental conditions. However, the rate of hydrolysis in most biological pretreatment processes is very low.
Hydrolysis of pretreated biomass
After pretreatment, the released cellulose and hemicelluloses are hydrolyzed to soluble monomeric sugars (hexoses and pentoses) using cellulases and hemicellulases, respectively. The initial conversion of biomass into sugars is a key bottleneck in the process of biofuel production and new biotechnological solutions are needed to improve their efficiency, which would lower the overall cost of bioethanol production. Enzymatic hydrolysis has been considered key to cost-effective bioethanol in the long run, and the reaction is carried out with mainly cellulase and hemicellulase for cellulose and hemicellulose, respectively. The advantages of using enzyme (cellulase) over acid is to eliminate corrosion problems and lower maintenance costs with mild processing conditions to give high yields.
Despite the fact that some fungal strains have the advantages of being thermostable and producing cellulases, most of these fungal strains do not produce sufficient amounts of one or more lignocellulolytic enzymes required for efficient bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues to fermentable sugars. In addition, plant cell walls are naturally resistant to microbial and enzymatic (fungal and bacterial) deconstruction, collectively known as 'biomass recalcitrance' (Himmel et al.2007). These rate-limiting steps in the bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues to ethanol remain one of the most significant hurdles to producing economically feasible cellulosic ethanol. Improving fungal hydrolytic activity and finding stable enzymes capable of tolerating extreme conditions has become a priority in many recent studies.
Fungal extracellular cellulases
Enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic materials such as sugarcane bagasse, corncob, rice straw, Prosopis juliflora, Lantana camara, switch grass, saw dust, and forest residues by cellulases for biofuel production is perhaps the most popular application currently being investigated (Kuhad et al.2010, Sukumaran et al.2005). Both bacteria and fungi can produce glucanases (cellulases) that hydrolyze of lignocellulosic materials. These microorganisms can be aerobic or anaerobic and mesophilic or thermophilic. Bacteria belonging to genera of Clostridium, Cellulomonas, Bacillus, Thermomonospora, Ruminococcus, Bacteriodes, Erwinia, Acetovibrio, Microbispora, and Streptomyces are known to produce cellulase (Bisaria1998). Anaerobic bacterial species such as Clostridium phytofermentans, Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium hungatei, and Clostridium papyrosolvens produces cellulases with high specific activity (Duff and Murray1996, Bisaria1998). Most commercial glucanases (cellulases) are produced by Trichoderma ressei and β-D-glucosidase is produced from Aspergillus niger (Kaur et al.2007). Fungi known to produce cellulases include Sclerotium rolfsii, Phanerochaete chrysosporium and various species of Trichoderma, Aspergillus


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Addiction & Body
Posted by: Michael
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You may have heard some recent stories about people using cosmetic surgical procedures to align their appearance with the enhanced look of Snapchat filters. Such behaviour suggests that a person may be overly identified with their body, as if their physical appearance is the most important aspect of who they are.
In extreme cases of such distortion, your body is the only thing that matters, and completely defines who you are as a person. The reality is that your body is one of many aspects that builds yourself into being healthy and whole.
You also have a mind. Your thoughts and beliefs make up who you are, in any moment.
You also have a heart. Your feelings and ability to share with others make up who you are, in any moment.
You also have a soul. Your reasons why and meaning and purpose make up who you are, in any moment.
When all you see is your body, and this is all that matters, in any moment, you are missing the value of the other aspects of who you are.
There exists a person that took up extreme measures and cost in plastic surgery and tattoos to modify their entire body to look like a cat. There exists a person that modified their body to look like a lizard. There exists a person that modified their body to look like Barbie. There existed a television show that made ugly ducklings into beautiful swans by using a definition of beauty focused only on physical appearance.
These are examples of distortions in how we view our bodies. And although some botox or veneers or eyelifts or collagen injections are not as extreme as full body tattoos or complete facial reconstruction, the distortion is still there, just in less degree.
Before you get that tattoo, or that lasering, or that cosmetic enhancement, it is worthwhile to ask yourself if you are giving more value to your body than you really need to be healthy and whole.
Are you modifying your body to change the way you appear to others, and to influence what they think of you? What is driving you to seek such power over people?
Are you giving just as much time, attention, and care to modifying your belief systems, your relationships, and your purpose in life as you are giving to modifying your body? Why should one aspect of who you are deserve more value than others?
Your body matters, and it deserves to be healthy and whole. It is also a vessel that carries the other aspects of who you are. In your body somewhere is a mind, a heart, and a soul, which also deserve to be healthy and whole.
And if Snapchat had a filter that could show you the beauty of what you felt, how you aspired, how you honoured, and how you loved, you might not put such high value in how you looked.