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South Africa's gastronomy is coming of age as chef's begin to experiment with indigenous foods and plants to create a cuisine that is bursting with unusual flavours and sharp contrasts, and is quintessentially South African.
We've compiled a list of ten ingredients any South African chef would be proud to include in his palate of basic ingredients …
The Marula, Sclerocarya birrea subsp caffra, is an indigenous drought tolerant tree (the same family as cashew, mango and pistachio) and a prolific bearer of fruit.
These fallen fruits are the essential ingredient for many local foods. They are brewed to make marula beer, the nuts (seed) can be dried and then cracked to eat, or used as a relish for cooking, and the kernel makes an incredible oil used mostly in the beauty industry but often included in the kitchen as well. And yes, the fruits are the main ingredient for Amarula Cream Liqueur.
Endemic to the mountains of the Western Cape, Buchu (boegoe with the 'g' said as though clearing the throat) is used for cooking, for its fynbos flavours, and as a tea.
The San people used to chew the leaves to keep their mouths clean, and they used it as a deoderant. Its mild minty flavour, with just a hint of aniseed, makes it incredible with a rack of lamb. But even served up with baby carrots, or on a bed of mielie pap, this herb is a 'wow'.
The lowly sour fig is known by many names – ice plant, pigface, and Hottentot fig – all of which describe the indigenous creeping, ground cover succulent that produces a bright pink, magenta or yellow flower, and is found growing wild all over the Cape.
Both drought and salt tolerant the plant stabilises sand dunes, the leaves' astringent juices are antiseptic and can help treat cuts, eczema, bites and sunburn, and the flowers are best in jams, pickles and preserves. One can even dry them to use later. The leaves are apparently good as a kind of spinach.
Also known as the cactus pear, prickly pears are an iconic symbol of the Eastern Cape, a common sight along major highways. However, they're indigenous to Mexico and came to South Africa with sailors who used it as an antidote to scurvy.
The plant spreads on its own without much assistance and in some areas of the country grew out of control. Today it's no longer regarded as invasive and is harvested by Xhosa women who use it to brew beer or to sell. The fruit is deeply embedded in both African and Afrikaner culture, and is delicious in salads, salsas, sauces, and syrups.
There are myriad reasons to plant spekboom in your garden. It's water-wise, improves the quality of the air you breathe and is easy to grow, but it's also so versatile in food that you'll want at least two big plants outside your back door.
Eat just two leaves a day, and you'll have consumed your RDA. With a very similar taste to purslane, its lemony flavour lends itself to salads, and soups, whilst served up with cheese and preserve it is heavenly.
Known also as kraaldoring, slangbessie or African boxthorn (Lycium ferrocissimum) belongs to the nightshade family (tomatoes, brinjals, potatoes) and produces fruitlets that can apparently be eaten when ripe, although this is still a relatively little-known practice.
You know you're onto something big when the likes of KWV launches a Kalahari Truffle infused super-premium boutique gin. Kalahari truffles are found underground in semi arid regions of the Kalahari Desert (in South Africa you find them only in the Green Kalahari region). They're naturally occurring, and are known as!N'abbas in the Nama language.
Like the French truffle they are edible fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain plants (usually the Tsamma melon). This indigenous veldkos is also difficult to find in the wild; you'll need a guide. But a company known as Woodford Truffles help South African farmers cultivate truffle orchards.
Nastergal is African nightshade berry, a wild plant that grows only on the Highveld of Mpumalanga and parts of the Free State and KZN. It has numerous names that include popolo and wonder berry, and is interestingly considered a weed. Parts of the plant are toxic to livestock.
Despite this it is used in traditional medicine and one can eat the ripe berries (the green berries are poisonous) and cooked leaves. The purple berries are used to make jam (umsoba) that is delicious on cheesecake, double cream yoghurt and icecream.
Most of us know this as wild rosemary, or Cape snowbush. Commonly found growing wild in the veld wild rosemary is easy to find with its thin, grey leaves, burst of white flowers in winter, and distinctive smell.
With meat and stews it is simply delicious, with baked roots and vegetables it is heavenly, or you can push the food boundaries by doing a Le Quartier Francais to produce a salt and kapokbos roasted guava to impress your guest.
Commonly known as the kei apple because it is native to the Kei River area of South Africa, where it grows wild, the kei apple is bothy a hardy tree that serves as a natural fence, and food. The fruit borne by the shrub is similar to an apple, but smaller (more like the size of a plum) with a high enough vitamin C content to find itself favourably compared to citrus.
Those who like their fruit acidic love this fruit just off the tree, but with a little imagination it flourishes as jam, apple crumble, kei apple, ginger-scented cupcakes or even kei apple tomato chutney.


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Yesterday the Children's Rights Director, Dr Roger Morgan, publishes the 100 days in care report which documents 100 personal diary entries about children's experience of being in care, leaving care, and living in boarding schools or residential special schools.
The report asks children and young people for their views about their experiences, their rights, their welfare, and how they are looked after. It seeks to provide a direct voice for these young people, simply containing 100 of their diary entries, describing things happening in their own lives, in their own words.
Early in 2011, children and young people were asked to volunteer and fill in a diary for a week. Twenty three children and young people agreed to do this, and the report gives their accounts, told through 100 of the diary entries.
Some of the authors of the diary entries in this report were care leavers, or living at home with social care support, others were living in children's homes or secure units, foster care, residential special schools, or as boarders in boarding schools.
The Children's Rights Director, Dr Roger Morgan said:
'This report gives us a clear insight into the lives of these children. As the diary entries have not been amended we can understand clearly the emotions, thoughts and concerns of the children and young people, and the children speak for themselves.
'When reading the diary entries it is clear there are some recurring themes, such as relationships between children, the experience of living in a group, the importance of staff support, food and routines. Some of those in care wrote about the impact it had on their lives and some offered advice to other children if they ever found themselves being placed in care.'
Having set routines and meal times was important to children as well as the need to have someone to talk to. Children also wrote a great deal about their day-to-day routine and some used their diary entries to share advice with other youngsters.
One 11 year old child said: 'You're allowed to make calls to your social worker but only if it is urgent not about your foster carer not letting you buy sweets or something like that.'
She went on to say:
'You may realize when you move to somewhere where they have a young daughter or son they might not like you because they are jealous of you getting more attention or that you have entered their house. Don't think that you are unwelcome or that they hate you.'
Another talking point for children completing the diaries at one particular care provider included experiences of looking after a dog, Cliff, which helped them develop responsible attitudes. Children at the home commonly called Cliff the 'responsibility dog.' The children needed to show they were reliable and owning the dog taught them about dependability, trustworthiness and as the title suggests 'responsibility.' One 14 year old child described the dog's role at his school saying:
'After we unpack we have to take our responsibility dog Cliff out, so he can do his business, which teaches us to remember to do things but if we don't remember we lose points.'
The report also included diary entries of young adults who had recently left care and included their experience of everyday life. One 20 year old care leaver in particular talked about working and coming home in the evening. She describes her experience:
'Stressful day at work… glad I'm home behind closed doors. The good thing is my neighbour is normally around on the weekend….When she is back I can hear her loud and clear… I can hear most of what she watches on TV! It's strange to say but although she is a rather noisy neighbour, I do welcome the sound – it makes me feel like I'm not totally alone on a night.'
1. 100 days in care report can be found on the Children's Rights Director's website and the Ofsted website.
2. The Children's Rights Director for England has independent statutory duties to ascertain and report the views of children living away from home or in care, to advise on children's rights and welfare, and to raise matters he considers significant to the rights or welfare of the children in his remit.
3. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.
4. Media can contact the Ofsted Press Office via Ofsted's enquiry line 0300 _PHONE_ between 8.30am - 6.30pm Monday - Friday. Out of these hours, during evenings and weekends, the duty press officer can be reached on 07919 057359.
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source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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The Development Gateway
Are you concerned with development issues such as reducing poverty and improving the life of people in developing countries? Do you need an interactive platform to share work that is important to your community and find information in this scope? The Development Gateway can make all that possible.
What is the Development Gateway and how did it start?
The Development Gateway is an interactive portal for information and knowledge sharing on sustainable development and poverty reduction. The Gateway offers users access to the most comprehensive database of development projects, an international procurement marketplace and knowledge sharing on key development topics.
The Development Gateway foundation started as a program within the World Bank and emerged to be an independent non-profit organization.
The purpose of the Development Gateway is to promote development by building partnerships and information systems that provide access to knowledge for development. This is achieved by using powerful and affordable information and communication technologies that were previously unavailable in order to:
- Increase knowledge sharing
- Enable aid effectiveness
- Improve public sector transparency and
- Build local capacity to empower communities.
On 17 November 2005, Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) and the Development Gateway Foundation announced the project. The portal, a preview of which was presented at the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS), aims to address the existing shortage of development information for the Arab World.
On 11 March 2006, an agreement was signed between Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Development Gateway Foundation. According to the agreement the BA will collaborate on this project in phases:
1. Take ownership of the main Gateway site in Arabic and be responsible for Arabic translation, similar to the current functionality of the Gateway Spanish and French version. The BA will be responsible for translating and augmenting the Development Gateway's collection of information resources relevant to the region.
2. Create and maintain an Arabic-language Community "Arab Reform". The "Arab Reform" Community will be a pan-Arab portal containing key resources relevant to a broad spectrum of social and economic reforms currently underway in the Arab world. In particular, resources related to the governance sector will include human rights, freedom of expression, and rule of law; in economic reform to youth employment, poverty, trade, and regional and international integration with the world economy; in social reforms to family education, health, and the removal of all forms of discrimination against women; and in cultural reforms to religious discourse as much as to public, media discourse, and the promotion of research and scientific thinking.
3. Design, develop and host the Egypt Country Gateway in Arabic similar to the China Country Gateway. Country Gateways are locally owned and operated initiatives which explore the use of information and communication technologies for development in their countries. By participating in and launching diverse online and offline initiatives, they enhance transparency, efficiency, dynamism and sustainability of the development process in their countries.
The legal approvals required from the World Bank to proceed with the translation of the material on the Development Gateway website, as well as all necessary legal approvals and copyright authorizations from all entities concerned with the material that is subject for translation, were acquired.
Key resources relevant to current Arab social and economic reforms were gathered and thus the Arabic-language Community "Arab Reform" was created. These resources are provided by special advisors and partner organizations. Currently, over 300 resources created by the dialogue forum team and other community members are available online. In March 2007, the Arabic version of the main Gateway as well as the website for the Arab Reform community(_URL_ were officially launched.
The BA's Dialogue Forum personnel are responsible for updating the website and were trained on how to use the website's backend. The ISIS team is continuously maintaining the Arabic web pages and ensuring that all information is correctly displayed.
ISIS is currently working on resolving some problems related to Arabization. In addition, new module in the Arab Reform Community such as the Discussion Forum, will be open soon. The Egypt Country Gateway is yet to be designed, developed and hosted.
Partners & Participants:
Last updated on 05 Oct 2008


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- 1 How do I get my Epson printer to Print in order?
- 2 How do I stop printing in reverse order?
- 3 How do I fix my printer from printing backwards?
- 4 How do I change the order of printing?
- 5 How do I change the printer on my Epson printer?
- 6 How do I reverse print?
- 7 What is reverse printing?
- 8 How do I print an array in reverse order?
- 9 Why is my printer printing the first page first?
- 10 Why is my printer printing upside down?
- 11 Why is my printer printing mirrored?
- 12 How do I print a booklet in pages in order?
- 13 How do I change the order of my printers in Windows 10?
- 14 How do I print a document in order?
How do I get my Epson printer to Print in order?
- Select the print command in your application.
- Make sure your product is selected.
- Click Properties or Preferences. Note: If you don't see these buttons, click Setup, Printer, or Options, then click Properties or Preferences on the next screen.
- Click the Main tab.
- Select Reverse Order.
- Click OK.
How do I stop printing in reverse order?
If it is the pages in the reverse order, click on the Office button and then on Word Options and then on Advanced and scroll down to the Print section of the dialog and uncheck the box for "Print pages in reverse order".
How do I fix my printer from printing backwards?
Open the Printer Control Panel and find your printer. Right-click it and select Properties. Go to the General tab and then click Printing Preferences and then go to the Advanced tab. Look under Printer Features and select Mirror Image and then click the down arrow to the right of that field and click Off.
How do I change the order of printing?
Printers usually print the first page first, and the last page last, so the pages end up in reverse order when you pick them up. To reverse the order: Press the menu button in the top-right corner of the window and press the Print button. In the General tab of the Print window under Copies, check Reverse.
How do I change the printer on my Epson printer?
Select Printer Settings from the drop-down list, and select the Basic settings tab. Select Advanced. You will find the predefined settings in the list on the right of Automatic. Select the most appropriate setting from the list according to the type of document or image you want to print.
How do I reverse print?
Microsoft Word has a single command that forces the printer to reverse print every print job:
- Open Word, then click Options > Advanced.
- Scroll through and come to the Print section on the right.
- When you want to reverse print a page, select the Print Pages in Reverse Order check box.
What is reverse printing?
To print or display the opposite background and foreground colors. For example, a typical white page with black text would be reverse printed as white characters on a black background.
How do I print an array in reverse order?
Q. Program to print the elements of an array in reverse order.
- Declare and initialize an array.
- Loop through the array in reverse order that is, the loop will start from (length of the array – 1) and end at 0 by decreasing the value of i by 1.
- Print the element arr[i] in each iteration.
Why is my printer printing the first page first?
If your printer prints with the printed side down (face down printing), it will print the first page of the job first, but if you have a printer that prints with face up, it must print the job in reverse or you will have to manually reverse the order of the pages after you print a job.
Why is my printer printing upside down?
Checking the physical printer settings When trying to print from ProFile the selection in print setup may be conflicting with the printer settings, causing some of the pages to print upside down. The default printer's properties should be set to duplex printing/double sided printing.
Why is my printer printing mirrored?
Mirrored Printing If your printed pages emerge looking like the mirror image of your original document, you've activated – accidentally or otherwise – the ability to invert page direction without changing the colors or sizes of the items on the page.
How do I print a booklet in pages in order?
Print a booklet on a double-sided printer
- Open the print dialog.
- Click the Properties…
- Under Range and Copies, choose Pages.
- Type the numbers of the pages in this order (n is the total number of pages, and a multiple of 4):
- Choose the Page Layout tab.
- Click Print.
How do I change the order of my printers in Windows 10?
However if you wish to change the first one, you can go into CONTROL PANEL > DEVICES AND PRINTERS and then right click on the printer you use most and select SET AS DEFAULT PRINTER. This will change your default printer, or the one on top.
How do I print a document in order?
Press [Ctrl], and select the files you want to print. (If the files are adjacent, select the first file in the list, press [Shift], and select the last file in the list.) Right-click the selection, and select Print from the shortcut menu. Select the desired print options, and click OK.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Controller.
In this example application the PostsController keeps a Software Transactional Memory (STM) reference to the current state of the application. This reference is our only piece of mutable data in the entire application!
object PostsController extends Controller {
 * A Scala STM reference holding the current state of the application,
 * which is derived from all committed events.
 val posts = Ref(Posts()).single
By using an STM reference any controller method can always access the current state simply by reading from the reference. New events are applied to the current state using the commit method:
 * Commits an event and applies it to the current state.
 def commit(event: PostEvent): Unit = {
 Logger.debug("Committed event: " + event)
The posts reference is updated by using the transform method. This ensures the update occurs in a concurrency safe manner. In this version of the application the events are not yet saved to durable storage, but to help you see what is happening while running the application the event is printed to the debug log instead. Later we'll implement saving the committed events to durable storage before updating the current state. The commit method returns Unit, which is similar to void in Java and provides no useful information to the caller.
The PostsController.index method is invoked by Play! to render a list of posts (the mapping from URL to a controller method is configured in the routes file). The index method returns a Play! action which generates an HTTP response from an HTTP request. In this case the response is an HTTP OK (200) containing the most recent 20 posts as rendered by the index template. Notice the use of the parentheses to read the current value of the posts reference:
 * Show an overview of the most recent blog posts.
 def index = Action { implicit request =>
To change an existing post we need to implement a GET to render an HTML form, and a HTTP POST to validate the form and update the post. The postContentForm defines the mapping between the HTML add/edit form and the PostContent class using a Play! form:
 * Blog content form definition.
 private val postContentForm = Form(mapping(
 "author" -> trimmedText.verifying(minLength(3)),
 "title" -> trimmedText.verifying(minLength(3)),
 "content" -> trimmedText.verifying(minLength(3)))(PostContent.apply)(PostContent.unapply))
The show method first tries to look up the specified post by its id. If successful it fills the form with the current contents of the post and renders the views.html.posts.edit template. Otherwise it returns an HTTP 404 (Not Found) response:
 posts().get(id) match {
 case Some(post) => Ok(views.html.posts.edit(id, postContentForm.fill(post.content)))
When the user has made the modifications and hits the save button the submit method is invoked. First we bind the HTTP POST parameters to the form (bindFromRequest) and then perform validation (fold). If form validation succeeds it commits a new PostEdited event and redirects the browser to the PostsController.show action to show the updated post. Otherwise the method rerenders the HTML form together with the validation errors:
 def submit(id: PostId) = Action { implicit request =>
 formWithErrors => BadRequest(views.html.posts.edit(id, formWithErrors)),
 postContent => {
 commit(PostEdited(id, postContent))
 Redirect(routes.PostsController.show(id)).flashing("info" -> "Post saved.")
Note that our "domain logic" is implemented directly in the controller. This is fine for simple applications like this example, but a rich domain model is usually introduced when the logic to generate the events becomes less straightforward.
Like we discusses above one of the advantages of an in-memory model is that there is no need to talk to a database just to render a view. Even though this application has not been performance tuned, it is still interesting to get a basic idea of the performance. I ran some trivial benchmarks on my laptop (an early 2010 MacBook Pro with 2.66 GHz dual core i7 with hyper-threading).
Just rendering the blog posts index view runs at about 5,500 GETs per second (with the three example blog posts you see when you start the application). This was measured with Apache JMeter using 25 concurrent client threads running on the same machine as the server.
Just submitting the blog post edit form runs at 4,200 HTTP POSTs per second or so.
In both tests the server is basically CPU bound, since we're not performing any disk I/O. It will be interesting to see how well we can do with an actual event store implementation. The server was running on JDK 1.7.0u5 with the Garbage First GC (JVM option -XX:+UseG1GC).
The example application shows a simplified implementation of the event sourcing and memory image principles. Domain events are generated and used to apply updates to the memory image, which is then used to render views, without the need for a traditional database.
Hopefully you've noticed that none of the code is very complex. Each part (events, model, controller actions) simply focuses on a single task, without any of the "magic" that is so common with many webor CRUD-frameworks. Even the most complicated method (Posts.apply) is a rather straightforward translation of events into updates to the current state and is easy to thoroughly test.
But the events are not yet committed to durable storage, which is necessary to build a production-ready application. In the next part we'll see what is needed to capture the events correctly so that we can start writing the events to durable storage.
 6 Responses to "Simple event sourcing – introduction (part 1)"
 1. Hi.
 Great post. I considered to do something similar in development part of my thesis but I chose a more conservative approach instead.
 I am looking for the part II. I am pretty interested how you solve the most challenging part – to persist events / restore state. It could be possibly the largest performance problem IMO.
 2. And I have a small question: is there any recomendation for granularity of event objects? Should it be "ObjectEdited" to the new state or some smaller ObjectFieldChanged?
 - This is a question only your domain experts can answer. Events should capture what is significant in your domain, so in case of an ordering app you'd have events like: OrderAccepted, OrderDelivered, etc. Not just a single OrderStatusChanged or even a OrderFieldSet event.
 The standard example is a "AddressCorrected" vs "CustomerMoved" event. Both update the same field (address), but if they have very different meanings in your domain, it makes sense to use two different events.
 3. Wonderful documentation… I just checked out the project and I think the this correction is needed: PostEdited to PostAdded
 If form validation succeeds it commits a new PostEditedPostAddedevent and redirects the browser to the PostsController.show action
 Leave a Reply


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Genus: Notocrypta de Nicéville, 1889
Species: paralysos Wood-Mason & de Nicéville, 1881
Sub-species: varians Plötz, 1882
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 33-36mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plant: Costus lucanusianus (Costaceae, common name: African Spiral Flag).
Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
Above, the wings are dark brown. The forewing has a large white band consisting of conjoined spots in spaces 1b, 2 and the distal end of the cell. There is usually a small white hyaline spot in space 4 of the forewing. The hindwing is unmarked. Underneath, the wings are brown and dusted with purplish scales next to the termens. The purplish hue is more readily observed in pristine specimens. The antenna has a pale whitish band just below the club.
Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
Banded Demon is moderately common in Singapore. The adults are rather localized and are typically found in the vicinity of its host plant in the fringe of the nature reserve. The adults are fast fliers among the ground cover and shrubbery. They visit flowers for nectar, and at times perch on sun-bathing spots with half-open wings.


Taipei City Government LOGO
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Exhibition/ Recreation/ Sports
Why is the air conditioning not always on? At what temperatures is it turned on?
In response to a Taipei City Government directive aimed at saving energy, the Library maintains a temperature of 26-28 degrees centigrade. The temperature is adjusted depending on the number of visitors and temperature changes. If you feel hot in the Library, you are welcome to inform one of our clerks.
 - Hit: 7112
 - Updated: 2011/4/20 16:55
 - Reviewed: 2015/7/16 10:07
 - Source: Taipei Public Library


text: At Applied Medical, we are committed to protecting our environment and the earth's natural resources. We identify and manage current and future environmental sustainability initiatives by tracking energy usage, water consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste generation. We gauge our progress toward optimization of these key indicators by assessing our impacts, implementing strategies, encouraging team members' involvement, and tracking results. Through these efforts, we endeavor to consistently and responsibly reduce our environmental impact. We adhere to the sustainability practices outlined in our environmental policy.


text:
Lesson Plan for PreK and K
Teaching Caesar's Cipher through grouping students and centers or table jobs
The inner circle is the groups assigned. The outer circle is the centers or jobs
Groups could be 4 student names. Jobs could be Home, Blocks, Writing, and Sensory.
Make 25 jobs for kids and kids names on inner circle, then shift each week
Teaching Base 2, 8, 10, and 16
Using opportunities, such as snack, centers, and place value to represent various bases
Snack could be, equal sharing in base 8 for grapes or 16 for crackers.
Place value could be with blocks, misc items during 100 days of school


Does the "simulation temperature" setting in MODE do anything?
I tried to change the "simulation temperature" in the general tab of FDE or varFDTD (default value is 300K). I was expecting Neff of a silicon WG to change due to silicon's thermo-opto effect. However, the simulation results do not appear to change al all with different temperature values. Is this how it should be?
Dear _USER_.xie
The value for simulation temperature will be important if you use a perturbed index material. To add such a material, click on Add and then select index perturbation in Material Database:
In the simulation file attached, I have two silicon rectangles. These two rectangles have different materials, and index for rectangle 1 is a function of temperature. By setting different values for simulation temperature you can study how the index varies:
As you can see in the figure above, only rectangle 1 (the top rectangle) is affected by simulation temperature.
I hope this answered your question.
index_perturbed_test.lms (279.2 KB)
Dear Behzad,
This is a perfect answer to my question. Thank you so much.
1 Like


text:
an initial "honeymoon" period. Many home treadmills, exercise bikes, and other fad equipment are unused after this initial period. Exercise programs for persons with disabilities that are successful are all characterized by the presence of exercise "buddies" or program monitors that provide ongoing supervision and encouragement.
For further reading^
- "Advanced Stages of Huntington's Disease Caregivers Handbook: Exercise and Fitness." _URL_
This is a Huntington's Disease Handbook that has a chapter on exercise that discussed the importance of exercise and discusses sample exercise plans.
- Bloor, CM. (2005). "Angiogenesis during exercise and training." Angiogenesis 8(3): 263-71.
This technical article thoroughly examines the link between angiogenesis and physical activity.
- White, L. (2005). "Exercise and Cognitive Function." The Lancet Neurology. 4(11): 690-691.
This article explains the ways in which exercise can impact cognitive function.
-D. McGee, 4-30-06; recorded by B. Tatum, 8/21/12


What is Cadence? Why do we care about it? How can we improve it?
These are three questions that I want to answer today from the mountain bikers point of view.
What is cadence?
Cadence is the number of revolutions your crank and pedals make each minute. In short and simple terms, it's how fast your feet are moving as you ride.
Most cyclists gained a lot of familiarity with what cadence is after Lance Armstrong took his Tour De France wins. Lance blew away the competition with a high cadence that helped him to maintain a fast and consistent speed through climbs and time trials. Most of the TDF riders rode at a cadence of 60-80 RPM. Lance, on the other hand, rode at an astonishing 90-110 RPM. Since then, cadence has become one of the most talked about disciplines of road cyclists and triathletes.
Why should mountain bikers care about cadence?
Roadies and triathletes don't have to dodge trees, rocks, and jump over suicide squirrels, right?
Right. But in addition to maintaining consistent speeds, it is also about using more slow-twitch muscle fibers as you ride. Slow-twitch muscle fibers do three things that hold incredible value to all mountain bikers:
 1. Slow-twitch muscle fibers burn fat as fuel allowing you to continually lean down and continue working for longer efforts
 2. They have a much higher endurance level and are more resistant to fatigue
 3. And slow-twitch fibers recover more quickly when given short rest
These slow-twitch muscle fibers are needed for any ride, but especially rides over 2 hours and endurance events. Cadence will also help with extended climbing and maintaining speed in long inclines and open field sections. Instead of coming out of the saddle and pushing the big gear as hard as you can, pick a gear or two easier and increase your pedal rotation speed. This helps to conserve endurance and energy for later in the ride or race.
On the other end of the spectrum we have fast twitch muscle fibers that require high amounts of glucose energy (of which you have a basic limit of 2000 calories), take longer to recover, and fatigue very quickly because of the high level of output.
Think of it like the difference between a marathon runner (slow-twitch) and a sprinter (fast-twitch).
Using a faster cadence, you reduce the amount of fast twitch muscles being used, decrease the watt output per pedal stroke and normalize the total watt output to a more sustainable level. Using a cadence that is too low will result in building up lactic acid in your legs before it's really necessary. Lactic acid is what creates the burning sensation in your muscles. Using a cadence that is too fast will exhaust your legs from wasted energy on excessive spinning.
Our goal is to find that "sweet spot" in the middle that has a cadence of around 85-95 RPM and is pushing a big enough gear to maintain speed.
How do we improve our cadence?
First off, get a cadence sensor for your cycling computer. If you are new to cadence training, you aren't going to have a clue what RPM you are pedaling at without one. Being able to quickly look down and find out where you're at is a must to improve this technique. My personal choice and suggestion is the Cateye Strada Double Wireless Cycling Computer. It's easy to install and even easier to use.
A lot of improving cadence is muscle memory. You train your legs to spin at faster speeds for much longer periods of time. So we are focused on setting a new rhythm that increases our pedal speed. Here are three ways to do that.
Spin Intervals
Hop on your bike and get a nice 5 minute warm up. Once you're warm, push your cadence to 90 RPM and hold it for 1 minute. After 1 minute, cool back down at your normal cadence then push your cadence to 100 rpm and hold it for 1 minute. Again take a 1 minute break at your normal cadence and then push up to 110 RPM and hold for 1 minute. Now that you're really warm, the fun starts. Take your cadence to 90 RPM and hold it for 1 minute, and after 1 minute go directly to 100 RPM and then on to 110 RPM. After spending 1 minute at each RPM level, take a 2 minute break at your normal cadence. Then jump back in and spend 2 minutes at 90, 100, and 110 RPM. You can keep going, or start a cool down session at this point.
What is Cadence? What is proper cycling form?
Try to keep even pressure in all 4 directions to create a smooth circle or square motion..
Focus on technique
While riding, focus on making a smooth circle or a box with your feet. So as the pedal rotates, you are pushing down at the front, pulling up when it is in the back, and moving it forward and backward along the sides. Check out the image to the right for a better look at how that is done.
Road Riding
As much as it does pain me to say this again, riding on the road is one of the best ways to improve your mountain biking. Long distances in the saddle without trees, creeks and rocks to avoid gives you more focus to put on holding and maintaining a higher cadence. If you're still relatively new to cycling at all, find a long flat road and ride at a cadence of 80 RPM. Then the next week bump that up to 85 RPM. Keep increasing that number until you get comfortable with keeping your cadence at 95-100 for an entire ride. Then increase the gearing so that you have to fight keeping it as high as 85 RPM and work back up the ladder.
Repeat these techniques and you will be blowing your cycling buddies away. If you want to get faster, this is one of the strongest training methods available.
This post is not to say that a high-cadence is better than a slow cadence. Every cyclist has their own "sweet spot" that they perform best at. This is simply to start a discussion about one way that you can improve your mountain biking. Be sure to share this with your riding buddies and let us know your thoughts on how cadence affects your mountain biking.


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Here we offer an interactive calculator that estimates Habitable Zones around Main-sequence stars with effective temperatures in the range of 2600 K - 7200 K. The default values are for the Sun. If you don't know the stellar luminosity, just enter stellar effective temperatures and keep luminosity = 0. That will give just Habitable stellar flux boundaries. If you provide luminosities, you can also obtain habitable zone distances in AU. If you want to calculate HZs for a number of stars, download this FORTRAN code.
If you use the calculator or the code, please acknowledge the following paper:
Kopparapu et al. (2013), Habitable Zones around Main-sequence stars: New Estimates. Astrophysical Journal, 765, 131. (arXiv link)


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Step #1: PrevNext
Get ready for a Halloween robot dance party from outer space!
Step #2: PrevNext
Gather your materials and set up a workspace with dropcloths.
Step #3: PrevNext
Size up the child who will be wearing the costume. Make sure that the boxes you have will fit their body and head. The box should be big enough so that their movements aren't hindered, but small enough to allow them to put their arms down at their sides.
Step #4: PrevNext
- Mark and cut the necessary holes in the boxes.
- For the robot's body, cut a hole for the child's head in the top of the box. Cut two arm holes the same circumference as the ducting in the sides of the box. For the legs, just cut the bottom out of the box entirely.
- Use a smaller box for the robot's head. Cut a hole in the bottom of the box, centered and wide enough so that it will slip over the child's head. Then cut a mouth into the front of the box, large enough for the child to have plenty of room to see.
Step #5: PrevNext
Tape the flaps down after you have cut out the holes.
Step #6: PrevNext
Prep for painting by throwing on some painting clothes. Don't forget to wear your respirator.
Step #7: PrevNext
- Rattle the paint can for 2 minutes to mix the Krylon Premium Metallic. It's a heavy paint, so mixing it well is important.
- Hold the can 10 to 12 inches from the box and press the nozzle down to spray. Use smooth swooping motions to cover the box evenly and without drips.
- Apply 2 coats of paint, allowing 5 minutes for the paint to dry in between. If your box is printed, you might need more layers for a perfect finish.
- Set the painted boxes aside to dry for 20 minutes.
Step #8: PrevNext
Cut the dryer ducting in half and tape one end of each piece into the arm holes. Just reach inside the box from the bottom and secure the inside of the ducting to the inside of the box with duct tape.
Step #9: PrevNext
Attach the faucet handle ears to either side of the head with the nuts and bolts.
Step #10: PrevNext
Cut slots in the front of the box and weave wires through them. Tape the ends down on the inside of the box to hold them in place.
Step #11: PrevNext
Attach the reflectors to the front of the box. The reflectors I used had adhesive backing, otherwise use glue or duct tape.
Step #12: PrevNext
Use the Krylon Short Cuts paint pen to draw the model number of your robot onto the front of the box. To get the paint flowing, press the tip of the pen down firmly. Once it's saturated with paint, use normal pressure to write and draw.
Step #13: PrevNext
- Poke two holes above the mouth for the LED eyes. Use the Krylon Short Cuts paint pen to draw large circles around the holes, then attach the LEDs.
- The LED eyes are really simple. Drop the leads into the eyeholes, and then slip the battery in between the leads. The long lead on the LED connects to the positive side of the batterythe short lead to the negative side. Tape them together with a bit of painter's tape. They will glow until the battery runs out, at least a couple of days.
Step #14: PrevNext
When it's time for trick-or-treating, the shiny paint can makes the perfect candy bucket.


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Jakarta Post
'Underwater stealth bombers' forced out of Raja Ampat
 - Ricardo F. Tapilatu
Manokwari, West Papua / Sat, January 23, 2021 / 04:04 pm
'Underwater stealth bombers' forced out of Raja Ampat Manta rays in Raja Ampat waters, West Papua. (Sea Sanctuaries/Steve Woods)
Two manta ray species, the oceanic manta ray and the reef manta ray, inhabit the waters of Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua. Each species has distinct morphological characteristics and behaviors, but the most glaring difference between the two is that oceanic mantas grow much larger.
With their graceful and silent speed, clocking in at 3 meters per second (m/s) and even 5 m/s for short distances, manta rays were the inspiration for the world's deadliest stealth bombers. But as temperatures continue to rise in Raja Ampat, these underwater fliers might soon face eviction.
In the beautiful coral paradise off Papua, some oceanic manta rays can grow up to 7 meters in disc width (wing tip to wing tip), equivalent to three people with their arms outstretched. And like stealth bombers, they are difficult to spot, as they often live and feed in waters to depths of 150 meters, where their main food source, zooplanktons, is found.
As the waters of Raja Ampat grow warmer due to climate change, the manta rays' food source migrates to cooler regions. Zooplanktons are known to favor cool waters, and tend to move to the polar regions in both the northern and southern hemispheres when the temperature of equatorial seas rise.
The scarcity of food will thus soon prompt oceanic manta rays to leave the equatorial region of Raja Ampat to head north and south, following their staple food.
With global warming increasing sea surface temperatures, coupled with ocean acidification and dead zones (low-oxygen marine areas), the normally frequent visits of oceanic mantas could change. The oceanic manta will follow their food source north and south, potentially far from Raja Ampat.
Oceanic mantas are very likely to spend more time south of Raja Ampat, where upwelling in the Ceram Trough drives cold and nutrient-rich deep water to the ocean's surface to host a greater density of zooplankton prey.
Sightings of these majestic and stealthy creatures are much less frequent when surface temperatures are warmer in the seas of Raja Ampat. Oceanic manta rays are often sighted in the Dampier Strait from December to March. They will potentially stop using the manta ray cleaning stations in central Raja Ampat completely, and instead spend more time in the Ceram Sea or further south.
A study of the sea surface temperature (SST) between October 2019 and August 2020 gives clues to their potential movement out of Raja Ampat, or to deeper waters in the area.
Records of sightings have been lower than normal or zero since mid-March 2020, due to the limited access to Raja Ampat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, SST monitoring should be compared regularly with sighting records to verify the relationship between SST and the presence of oceanic mantas, through citizen science efforts in the Dampier Strait in Raja Ampat.
The writer is a professor of Marine Biology, Research Center for Pacific Marine Resources, University of Papua (UNIPA), Manokwari.


, Fig. 42, are much alike. The gouge is used for roughing out round corners, cutting oil grooves, or drawing a drill to center.
The round nose chisel may be used for trimming round corners off of sheet metal or for roughing off convex surfaces and round corners. Cold chisels may be any width or length to suit the job.
CHISEL TEMPER (Use.75 to.85 Carbon Steel)
All steel is not suitable for making cold chisels. As a chisel must withstand heavy blows repeatedly, it is not practical to harden the whole tool. After the chisel is forged into the desired shape it is annealed, and the cutting edge is tempered and ground to the desired angle. The temper extends about 3/4 inch from the edge. Flat cold chisels and cape chisels are ground on one face only. The stock used is generally octagon in shape, but round stock is often used.
Mushrooming of the top of the chisel will result from ordinary use. Keep the mushroom down to a minimum by grinding before it spalls off and hurts someone. See Fig. 38 for the correct shape of the head.
Be careful to chip away from anyone working near, and if necessary, give a warning to avoid injuries. Watch for the corner of a chisel to break and fly. Use goggles when chipping.
Figure 43 shows how several cuts are taken off the edge of the piece of metal when chipping. The chip curls ahead of the cutting edge. Taking several cuts is much more quickly and easily accomplished than try to do the job with one cut.
Fig 43.
Fig. 43
1. Explain why a cold chisel is not tempered for the entire length.
2. What is the principal difference between a flat cold chisel and a cape chisel.
3. What should be done to avoid injury from a mushroomed chisel?
4. What chisel should be used when cutting a narrow groove?
5. Name one necessary safety precaution when chipping.
Open End Wrenches
The name "open end" means that the wrench opening, which fits the nut is cut out at the end of the wrench so the wrench may he slipped on the nut from the side instead of setting the wrench down over the nut as is the case with a box type or socket wrench. See Fig. 44.
The wrench may be applied and the nut turned down very rapidly with an open end wrench, but care must be taken to use a wrench of the correct size. The size of the opening is usually stamped on the wrench. Open end wrenches are usually double ended, having different size openings on each end; and the wrenches come in sets.
In Merchant Marine Work when figuring the size of the opening for a snug fit on the nut, the rule is: Diameter of bolt x 1 1/2 + 1/8".
For example: Diameter of bolt 1/2". Size of opening in wrench 1/2 x 1 1/2 + 1/8" = 7/8".
The U. S. Navy Standard size of wrench opening is diameter of bolt x 1 1/2.
Fig 44
Fig. 44
For example: Diameter of bolt is 1/2". Size of opening in wrench 1/2 x 1 1/2 = 3/4 in.
When too large a wrench is used, the corners of the nut are chewed off, making it difficult to get the nut on or off. Wrench opening sizes are always measured across the flat of a nut.
Open end wrenches are designed to withstand a pull on the handle about equal to the same force that the bolt will withstand. Hitting the wrench handle with a hammer is poor practice. A jolt with the palm of the hand should be sufficient to tighten the nut, ordinarily. In special cases a short piece of pipe may be slipped over the wrench to give additional leverage. Be very careful in doing this not to break the wrench, or sheer the bolt.
Never use a wrench as a hammer. A battered wrench always gives trouble.
1. What is the advantage of an open end wrench?
2. Explain why the correct size opening for the nut should always be used.
3. Where is a nut measured to get the size of the wrench opening?
4. State the rule for finding the size of the wrench opening from the bolt diameter. Commercial? U. S. Navy?
5. Explain how a wrench should be used to draw a nut down snugly.
6. Name some of the troubles encountered with a wrench that has been battered by using the wrench for a hammer.
7. How may the troubles, named in question 6, be avoided?
Drills and Drilling
The outside machinist drills many holes through steel shafting, deck plates, bulkheads, etc. Twist drills are kept in the tool crib for the purpose of filling the mechanics' needs. As these tools are made of high carbon or high speed steel, they may be easily broken. Either the cutting edges may be chipped or the drill may be snapped off short if the workman does not take care to hold the drill steady while drilling.
The action of forcing the drill into the work is called the "feed". Too much force applied to the feed, especially with the smaller size drills, will very likely break the drill.
When drilling at an angle, feed very slowly until the drill is cutting "to size". This means until the drill has entered far enough for all of the drill point to be below the surface of the work and then the drill cannot slip, but it can be leaned sidewise and cramped, causing it to break. Be careful to avoid this.
Up to 3/16" in diameter the drill shank is straight. See Fig. 45. A few drills above 3/16" may be straight, but they are usually tapered. Tapered shank drills hold better in the drill chuck without slipping than do straight shank drills. See Fig. 46.
Taper shanks are not all the same size. Larger drills have larger shanks, and of course provision must be made for the drills to fit the drill chuck. All tapered shank drills are usable in one drill chuck by employing taper sleeves in the chuck. The sleeve has a tapered hole which fits the drill shank taper and the outside of the sleeve fits the hole in the drill chuck. Both sleeve and drill must be securely inserted to prevent slipping. See Fig. 49.
Most shipyard air drilling machines have a flat side in the chuck taper. There is a corresponding flat-on the taper shank of the drill.
There is very little danger that this type of drill will slip in a chuck. See Figs. 50, 51, and 52.
Wipe the hole in the chuck and the shank of the drill With a rag or some clean waste before inserting the drill in the chuck. Never allow dirt or grit to remain on these surfaces. The drill will be thrown out of line and the tapers scored.
When removing the drill from the chuck, use a drift made for the purpose. Never strike the drill to loosen it from the chuck or sleeve.
A drift is a piece of steel tapered like a wedge. The drift thickness fits the width of the slot in the chuck spindle or tapered sleeve. The thin edge of the wedge is inserted in the slot between the end of the drill shank and the upper end of the slot. As the drift (wedge) is driven inward, it forces the drill downward. A light blow is sufficient in most cases.
Always examine drills when getting them out of the tool crib. A dull drill never cuts well and is likely to "burn" (lose its temper) if used. If the drill is dull, have it ground or exchange it for another at once. If by some accident or mishandling the drill is broken or chipped while in use, have it replaced or ground immediately. Do not risk spoiling a job by trying to use a faulty tool. Be sure the tool crib attendant furnishes the size drills requested when applying at the tool crib window for drills.
When drilling cast iron no lubricant is necessary. Use a light lubricant for steel. The lubricant acts as a coolant and prevents the drill from burning. Sometimes a hard spot is encountered in the metal. Continuous drilling on such a hard spot may ruin the drill point. The addition of lubricant will not help the situation in most cases. Use a high speed drill (this does not mean run the drill at high speed) or chip the hard particle out with a gouge or diamond point chisel. If it is found that the metal is hard, stop at once. Hardened metal must be annealed before it can be drilled. An application of heat with an acetylene torch may help, but the metal should be covered and allowed to cool slowly before proceeding. In case heat is not available or a part can not be heated owing to the grade of steel or other parts near by being affected by the heat, use a little turpentine and grind the drill often.
When drilling brass use a very light oil, or drilling compound. The cutting lips of the drill must be ground with a neutral rake to prevent "hogging in". Hogging is very likely to occur when following a pilot hole. Be sure the cutting lips of the drill are ground to the same length.
Drills of 1 1/4" and larger do not start very easily in a center punch mark. The best thing to do in this case is to drill a "pilot hole" first. The size of the pilot hole used is from 3/


Using Next.js and the JavaScript MongoDB driver as an alternative to Mongoose
When choosing a technology to allow your React app to interact with MongoDB, Mongoose always comes to mind. It allows you to create object references and model your database in code. However, this abstraction sacrifices query performance which renders it slower than JavaScript's MongoDB driver. In this tutorial, I'll be going through the process of using Next.js and its easy-to-use API routing system so you can use the driver in your React app, instead of having to rely on an external API.
Setting up Next.js
If you're…
Have you ever wanted to get into AI and machine learning but you don't know how to code, or wanted to streamline your computer vision pipeline into one platform? Fret not, as with the recently released Datature platform, you can create your own computer vision models that can detect objects in images, and much more!
Firstly, what exactly is computer vision?
Computer vision(referenced as CV from here on out) is a subset of artificial intelligence that deals with the visual aspect of the world, identifying patterns and recognising features from image and video data from cameras. Some examples of computer vision in real life are:
 - Face…
Secure your privacy while reaping the benefits!
Personal assistants on the market like Google Home and Amazon Alexa offer a lot of functionality for their value, but work (quite literally) inside a black box. The uncertainty of not knowing how your data is being processed is a genuine concern among many others that can cause users like me to avoid buying such products.
In this post, I will share with you how I used Raspberry Pi and Python's requests library to construct my own voice-activated personal assistant. …
Making sense of IDA* Search and Thistlethwaite's algorithm to solve the cube.
Being into speedcubing myself (solving a variety of twisty puzzles as fast as possible), I've always been fascinated with the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube and how one can reduce it from any of the 43 quintillion scrambled permutations down to its single solved state. While humans have developed various intuitive algorithms for speedsolving purposes, with some examples being CFOP and Roux. However, these human-solvable methods often yield far-from-optimal solutions, so a variety of machine-solvable algorithms have been developed with the goal of producing optimal or near-optimal solutions. In…
Isaac Chen
Stargazer, among other things.
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text:
From the Huffington Post:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger typically attaches a message to bills he signs or vetoes telling lawmakers why he took the action.
A Democratic assemblyman who heckled the governor during a recent event in San Francisco actually received two messages: the veto letter itself and a not-so-subtle rebuke creatively hidden within it.
Like a find-the-word puzzle, the second message was visible by stringing together the first letter of each line down the left-hand margin. It consisted of a common four-letter vulgarity followed by the letters "y-o-u."
Wow. So what's the verdict, people?
Hilarious coincidence or deliberate insult?


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You are here: Home > Koi Health & Wellness Center > Fish anatomy
Anatomy of Fish
In common with most fishes, Koi are broader at the front than at the tail end. Such a shape streamlines the Koi and minimizes turbulence as it moved through the water. If a cone is placed with the pointed end turned into a current of water, the water swirls at the rear flattened surface, creating turbulence, or drag. If the cone is reversed, so that the flat surface meets the current, the flow of water around it is less turbulent and actually assists its passage through the water. The movement of Koi through the water is similar to that outlined for the second cone.
The External Anatomy
The external anatomy of Koi includes the scales, skin, fins, operculum (gill cover), vent, eyes, nostrils, barbels and lateral line.
Skin & Scales
A koi's skin is covered by a layer of mucus, which not only offers protection against disease but also helps streamline the fish to aid locomotion. This layer of mucus is continually being refreshed as the old mucus sloughs off into the water. Below the mucus lies the top layer of skin know as the epidermis. This is extremely thin and in fact lies above the scales. The epidermis is responsible for mucus production and assists wound repair by multiplying to cover areas of damage.
Under the epidermis is the dermis and this is where the scales are formed. The scales form a lightweight, pliable suit of armor over the surface of the fish. Scales make up a calcified flexible plate; they contain high levels of calcium and offer an extra line of defense. In times of nutrient depletion this calcium can also be used as an extra nutrient source. The front end of the scale is inserted into a deep pocket of skin, the back is quite free and overlaps the front of the scale behind, just as roof tiles overlap.
There are two distinct types of scale pattern found on Koi: completely scaled, and the so-called doitsu, in which the scales are enlarged and arranged along the midline of each side of the body and, usually at the dorsal and anal fin bases. The scales of doitsu are entirely embedded in the skin.
On some koi, the dermis grows from beneath the scale and is seen as 'fukurin.' Varieties such as ogon and asagi typically display fukurin especially on the shoulder area. It appears around the external edges of the scales.
The dermis also contains chromatophores, which are responsible for coloration, as well as nerves, blood vessels and sense organs.
The Immune System
The immune system comprises many elements, the first line of defense being the scales and the mucus which covers them. This has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and is continually renewing itself. Next to the scales lie the dermis and epidermis which constitute the second layer of the fish's external barrier. Many infections take hold by entering through lesions in the skin. The digestive tract also serves as part of the immune system creating an environment that is unfriendly to pathogens.
If these defenses are breached and an infection enters the bloodstream, the next line of defense are the white blood cells which ingest the foreign bodies and carry them to the kidney and spleen. The spleen is responsible for the production of cells that are vital to the fish's immune system, and it also acts as a store for immature red blood cells. In the kidney and spleen antibodies are formed that fight the infection. If the fish has experienced the alien pathogen before, the fish's immune system will react quicker than if it has to combat a new intruder.
The speed of reaction also depends upon the water temperature; lower temperatures lengthen the response time of the immune system, while levels of pathogen activity may still be high. This is why pond heating is so beneficial to their healthcare.
Koi have five sets of fins: the dorsal, anal and caudal (or tail) fins, which are single, and the pectoral and pelvic fins, which are paired. Fish swim using the body muscle, and the fins play an important role in maintaining stability in the water. When erected, the dorsal and anal fins prevent rolling and yawing, and the pectoral and caudal fins control pitching. The pectoral and pelvic fins also control fine movement by counteracting the propulsive forward motion caused by the exhalation of water from the gill covers, thus enabling the Koi to remain motionless.
Operculum (gill cover)
This is a large bony plate that protects the delicate gills. It is free at the rear and lower edges and acts as a one-way valve, allowing water to leave the gill chamber but preventing any backflow of respired, oxygen-deficient water to re-enter the gills. It articulates with the skull and the large hyomandibular bone. (In fishes, this bone forms part of the suspension for the lower jaw.)
Just in front of the anal fin is a large pore, usually termed the vent. The gut and the ducts from either the testes or ovaries terminate at this point. This is not a cloaca, which is a term used to describe a common opening for the digestive urinary and genital systems. Just in front of the vent there is a smaller opening which receives the urinary ducts form the kidneys.
Koi, like many other fish species, have excellent eyesight. Many experts think that they actually see things in a very similar way to humans, and are able to make out shapes and colors.
The position of the eyes on the head gives them almost total 360⁰ vision, enabling them to see above and behind, as well as in front and below themselves. The ability to see above and behind is particularly important because it enables Koi to watch for the approach of enemies while they are feeding.
On either side of the snout are a pair of nostrils, four in all. In cross section, the nostrils are seen to be joined by a U-shaped tube. The water flows in through the front nostril and out through the rear one. The floor of the tube is folded into a series of ridges, which are then arranged in the form of a rosette. The ridges are coated in a skin that is peppered with olfactory, or smelling, cells. These cells are able to detect extremely small quantities of dissolved substances in the water, even from quite distant objects. In fact, the sense of smell is more important to the Koi than eyesight for finding food.
Koi have one pair of barbels on each side of the mouth, a small barbel on the side of the upper lip and a larger one more or less at the corner of the mouth. These fleshy structures are moved by muscles that once operated parts of the jaw and palate and are covered with taste buds that literally allow Koi to taste anything the barbels contact. Like their ancestors, the wild carp, Koi are bottom feeders, using their barbels to locate grubs, insects, crustaceans, worms and water plants in the substrate. (Koi keepers generally feed Koi with floating pellets and sticks, but this is simply to enjoy seeing their spectacular livery as they surface to feed). Thus, Koi use their sense of smell to locate an area where food is to be found, and then detect the individual particles of food using the very sensitive taste buds on their barbels.
Lateral Line Organ
Along the middle of each side of the body there is a row of scales, each pierced by a small pore that connects by way of a small tube to a canal that lies in the skin beneath the scales. This system of canals and tubes forms part of the lateral line organ. On the head, the lateral line organ runs beneath the eye to the snout, its passage being marked by conspicuous pits. The lateral line is a sensory organ used to detect vibrations in the water.
In some doitsu Koi, the lateral line may be seen as a conspicuous line that runs along the middle of the fish, from just behind the operculum to the tail.
Hair cells transmit any vibration via nerve fibers to the spinal cord which sends a signal to the brain. Although the sensory cells of the lateral line are similar to those found in our internal ear, it is difficult to interpret precisely the sensation these cells impart to the fish. It seems that they are sensitive to water movement, waves and disturbances in the water, enabling Koi to avoid other fish, objects and the pond walls.
The Internal Anatomy
The internal anatomy is more complex than the external anatomy, not only because of the number of different organs involved, but also the way these various organs interact.
One of the most important features of the internal anatomy, but one which receives the least consideration, is the skeleton. Koi are members of a group of fish known as teleosts, literally meaning 'bony skeleton'. The skeleton has several major functions: it forms a protective and supporting framework for the internal organs and tissues, and enables the fish to move by providing a series of flexible joints and attachment points for muscles.
Parts of the first four vertebrae of the backbone are modified to form the Weberian ossicles, a system of tiny bones that link the swimbladder to the inner ear. Sounds traveling through the water cause the swimbladder to vibrate and he ossicles amplify these vibrations and transmit them to the sensitive hair cells within the liquid-filled semicircular canals of the inner ear. With such and apparatus, Koi can undoubtedly 'hear'.
Koi, like all other


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Boys Last: Birds Control Birth Order
A mated pair of house finches in an aerial display. The bird with the red breast is the male.
CREDIT: Alex Badyaev
Like any protective mother, female house finches try to keep their chicks away from unwanted pests. But they favor their more vulnerable sons over their sturdier daughters, according to a new study.
Blood-sucking mites can infest a finch's nest, jeopardizing the chicks' chances of surviving long enough to leave home. And, "sons are more sensitive to the mites than daughters," said Alexander Badyaev of the University of Arizona.
When breeding female finches are exposed to the mites, their bodies make hormonal changes that help out their more susceptible sons. When a female finch lays eggs, she lays only one per day. The hormone shifts in her body change the order in which eggs are laid—girls first, boys last—and make the male chicks grow faster while they're still in the egg.
"Mothers essentially hid their sons in the eggs," Badyaev said.
Because they have less exposure to the mites, the male chicks born during mite season can grow up just as big and strong as those born during mite-free months, even though they spend less time in the nest, the study concluded.
The research was published last week in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Images: Birds of Prey
- Images: Rare and Exotic Birds
- Mama's Boys Get Better Milk
- Clean Bees Keep Mites Away
- All About Birds
MORE FROM LiveScience.com


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LGBTQ inclusive curricula – University of Birmingham
Uniquely, this best practice guide focusses on the widest range of academic disciplines as well as professional services, and includes:
- terminology relating to gender and sexuality
- an LGBTQ-inclusive 'framework' and exploration of different 'depths' of inclusivity
- subject-discipline specific guidance (examining how LGBTQ inclusion might vary between e.g. Arts and Humanities, STEM or more vocational programmes).
- Examination of the wider learning environment
- FAQs to consider challenging questions ("isn't sex a private issue?")
The guide takes care to break down different approaches to 'inclusivity' and to give practical guidance to teaching and other professional staff on how to ensure a welcoming and supportive environment for LGBTQ students to thrive within their disciplines.
'We hope that all universities could ultimately develop awareness in all three domains – language, role models and curriculum content – about LGBTQ inclusion issues. For some subjects or areas, there may be scope for more transformative content as well.'
The guide is based on extensive research within the University, which included a survey of both staff and students (over 1000+ respondents), 'fact-finding conversations' with staff from a range of professional services departments (including HR, Library Services and Careers Services) as well as staff-student workshops, and in-depth analysis of internal data (such as student applications for admission).
Many of the examples of good practice and case studies included in the guide were as a direct result of the collaborative work, and there were also crucial findings which informed the content and approach of the guide:
"We found that LGBTQ students [at University of Birmingham] were much more likely than their cis/straight counterparts to discontinue their studies and to report poor experiences (such as discrimination and abuse) and that these problems were worse in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects."
Best practice – but not 'one size fits all'
Crucially this guidance has been informed by research amongst the University's own community, and the report's authors strongly recommend institutions ensure that they tailor their own approach to their local context and challenges, and engage critically with their current practice.
However the accessibility and practicality of this guide should prove a strong foundation for institutions seeking to embed and explore LGBTQ inclusive practice within their own teaching and learning spaces.
Building a culture of LGBTQ support
The University of Birmingham has a number of ongoing initiatives aimed at improving the LGBTQ student experience both inside and outside the classroom including:
- An LGBTQ careers mentoring scheme for students (the university is itself in the top 100 of the Stonewall Workplace Index for LGBTQ friendly employers)
- Specific welcome events on campus for LGBTQ students
- Establishing an international conference on LGBTQ inclusive curricula
Download the Guide
The University of Birmingham's publication "LGBTQ-inclusivity in the higher education curriculum: a best practice guide" is available for download directly from the University at the following link [links to external site]: _URL_
*Please note that 'LGBTQ' reflects the chosen acronym in use by the University of Birmingham.


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|Jul29-06, 08:44 AM||#1|
Question on light intensity at the focus of a lens.
From using a magnifying lens under the Sun, I gather it can focus all or most of the light impinging on its surface area to a small spot and that is how it is able to create a greater intensity light at its focus (disregarding absorption in the lens.) Correct? What portion of the total light falling on the lens would be delivered to the focal spot ignoring absorption?
This would be true no matter how far away the focal point. So the normal dimunition of intensity by the square of distance would not apply. So for example if you had a lens of focal distance 1 AU and put this lens right next to the Sun and directed the lens to shine toward the Earth, the full intensity of the Sun at its surface could be delivered to the Earth. True?
In a more realistic scenario if you put the lens some ten to hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Sun's surface so it could survive the heating then the intensity delivered to the Earth would still be many times the Sun's normal intensity at the Earth. So for example taking 1 AU as about 150,000,000 km, if we made the focus of the lens be 1 AU and put it 150,000 km from the Sun. Then the intensity of the light at the surface of the lens would be 1000^2 = 1,000,000 (one million) times greater than that normally at the Earth.
The lens would deliver all or a large portion of the light falling on it to the focal spot on the Earth. If the area of this spot was 1/1000th that of the area of the lens, then the intensity at the focal spot would then be 1,000,000,000 (one billion) times the intensity normally at the Earth.
The intensification of the light at the focus is familiar with a convergent lens, such as with a magnifying lens. But if you had a diverging lens so the focal spot was larger than the lens then the intensity would be less than at the surface of the lens. But the total amount of light delivered to the focal spot would still be all or a large portion of that falling on the surface of the lens. And this would still be true no matter how far is the focal length. Correct?
|Jul29-06, 10:21 AM||#2|
|Jul30-06, 07:44 PM||#3|
You can do a sort of sanity check type of experiment by testing this with an ordinary light bulb as a light source. There is no question that, by moving the lens closer to the source, you can capture more light, BUT you can't focus it as tightly with a longer focal length lens. These are the types of interplays you can test.
Finally I will remark that acheiving intesities 1 billion times greater than normal sunlight at the Earths surface is actually not that significant when you consider that high powered lasers can acheive peak intensities at and above this level.
Nonetheless an interesting thought experiment.
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Title: Young carers
Date: Around 1890
Images like this horrified many Nineteenth Century observers, who were only just beginning to realise the extent of child poverty. At this time there was very little state provision for the poor, and no'safety net' to ensure everyone a minimum standard of welfare. The Waifs and Strays' Society was one of the first organisations to try and alleviate child poverty on a national scale.
Rights: © The Children's Society


What Were The Clans Of Scotland?
Are Scottish people Celtic?
What are Scottish people known for?
Scottish people are also a talented, creative and forward-thinking bunch. Our little country has more than it's fair share of famous people and many of the things we take for granted today were invented by Scots. Scottish inventions include the TV, telephone, radar, penicillin and many more.
Do Scottish Highlanders still exist?
In the space of 50 years, the Scottish highlands became one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe. … Today, there are more descendants of Highlanders outside Scotland than there are in the country.
What are the 7 Celtic Nations?
Did Scots wear under their kilts?
Traditionally, men would not wear any underwear while wearing a kilt – and many still don't. According to your-kilt.com, the no underwear traditions started with the Scottish Highland Regiments, and found it's way into the civilian population. … Many say that a "true" Scotsman will never wear underwear under their kilt.
This is because there is a shared root between the native languages of Ireland (Irish) and the Scottish Highlands (Scots Gaelic). Both are part of the Goidelic family of languages, which come from the Celts who settled in both Ireland and Scotland.
What are the major clans in Scotland?
The Great Clans of ScotlandGlencoe, The Macleans. Motto: "Death or Life" … Isle of Skye, The MacLeods. Motto: "Hold Fast" … John O'Groats, The Sinclairs. Motto: "Commit Thy Work to God" … Inverness, The Mackintoshes. Motto: "Touch Not the Cat Without a Glove" … Ross & Cromarty, The Mackenzies. Motto: "I Shine Not Burn"
What is the oldest clan in Scotland?
What is a Scottish girl called?
Synonyms, crossword answers and other related words for SCOTTISH GIRL [lassie]
What is the most Scottish name?
Olivia and Jack remain the most popular baby names in Scotland, and Smith, Brown and Wilson the three top surnames, according to figures published today by National Records of Scotland (NRS).
What are typical Scottish facial features?
As for looks, the Scottish and people of Scottish descent tend to have these following physical features: average/tall in height, usually thin (women; proportionately curvey), light skin, blue eyes, wavy hair, although the Scottish do have blonde and red hair… most have brunette shades.
Why are Scottish clan mottos in French?
How do you know if you are Scottish?
35 Ways to Know That You're ScottishYou consider scattered showers with outbreaks of sunshine as good weather.The only sausage you like is square.You were forced to do Scottish country dancing every year at secondary school.You have a wide vocabulary of Scottish words such as numpty, aye, aye right, auldyin, and baltic.More items…•
Did the Vikings settle in Scotland?
By the end of the 9th century the Vikings came to Scotland to raid and settle. It is curious that the Vikings settled so quickly in Scotland and Northern and east Ireland, and slower in England. … To this day you can find Scottish Clans with direct Viking (Norse) descent.
How many clans of Scotland are there?
Join a clan society There are over 500 clan and family associations registered around the world, who regularly host clan gatherings to celebrate their Scottish heritage.
Are all Scots part of a clan?
In Scotland (and indeed all of UK) only individuals, not clans, possess a heraldic coat of arms. Even though any clansmen and clanswomen may purchase crest badges and wear them to show their allegiance to his or her clan, the heraldic crest and motto always belong to the chief alone.
Who was the most feared Scottish clan?
Clan Campbell of Breadalbane"Then move forward fifty years, and the situation may be reversed." According to Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor, convener of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, there are a number of possible contenders for the title of the most feared clan. Number one is Clan Campbell of Breadalbane.
What is the language of Scotland?
Scottish GaelicEnglishScotland/Official languages
Do Scots still say Ken?
"To ken" the Scots version of the verb "to know", and is one of the non-standard-English words you hear in most dialects of Scottish English. … It survived in Scots and in some Northern English dialects, and as a fossil word in expressions such as "beyond one's ken".
Where did most Scots settle in America?
North CarolinaMore than 50,000 Scots, principally from the west coast, settled in the Thirteen Colonies between 1763 and 1776, the majority of these in their own communities in the South, especially North Carolina, although Scottish individuals and families also began to appear as professionals and artisans in every American town.
Is the Fraser clan real?
Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. It is not to be confused with the Clan Fraser of Lovat who are a separate Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands (though with a common ancestry).


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News tagged with speech
As a bird sings, some neurons in its brain prepare to make the next sounds while others are synchronized with the current notes—a coordination of physical actions and brain activity that is needed to produce...
Neuroscience Feb 27, 2013 | not rated yet | 2 |
Secrets of human speech uncovered: Study shows brain exerts symphony-like control of vocal tract during act of speaking
A team of researchers at UC San Francisco has uncovered the neurological basis of speech motor control, the complex coordinated activity of tiny brain regions that controls our lips, jaw, tongue and larynx as we speak.
Neuroscience Feb 20, 2013 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0 |
A century and a half ago, French physician Pierre Paul Broca found that patients with damage to part of the brain's frontal lobe were unable to speak more than a few words. Later dubbed Broca's area, this...
Neuroscience Oct 16, 2012 | 3.8 / 5 (5) | 1 |
Scientists have long believed that human speech is processed towards the back of the brain's cerebral cortex, behind auditory cortex where all sounds are received -- a place famously known as Wernicke's area...
Neuroscience Jan 30, 2012 | 4.6 / 5 (18) | 6 |
Non-musicians who speak tonal languages may have a better ear for learning musical notes, according to Canadian researchers.
Psychology & Psychiatry Apr 02, 2013 | 5 / 5 (4) | 2 |
Children with brain lesions suffered before or around the time of birth are able to use gestures – an important aspect of the language learning process– to convey simple sentences, a Georgia State University researcher...
Psychology & Psychiatry Feb 20, 2013 | not rated yet | 0 |
Aphasia, an impairment in speaking and understanding language after a stroke, is frustrating both for victims and their loved ones. In two talks Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013, at the conference of the American...
Neuroscience Feb 16, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
(Medical Xpress)—Stroke victims affected with loss of speech caused by Broca's aphasia have been shown to speak fluidly through the use of a process called "speech entrainment" developed by researchers...
Neuroscience Jan 16, 2013 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0 |
(Medical Xpress)—A new form of iron may hold the clue that leads to treatment for a fatal inherited nervous system disease that can cause gait disturbance, speech problems, heart disease, diabetes and other...
Medical research Nov 23, 2012 | 5 / 5 (4) | 0 |
(Medical Xpress)—Health professionals may soon have a new method of diagnosing Parkinson's disease, one that is noninvasive and inexpensive, and, in early testing, has proved to be effective more than 90 percent of the...
Parkinson's & Movement disorders Nov 20, 2012 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0 |
A new study has revealed that those with congenital amusia (commonly refereed to as tone-deafness) have trouble decoding emotions in speech and find it hard to pick up on emotional cues in conversation.
Psychology & Psychiatry Oct 30, 2012 | 1 / 5 (1) | 0 |
Help is on the way for people who suffer from vocal cord dysfunction. Researchers are developing methods that will contribute to manufacturing voice prostheses with improved affective features. For example, for little girls...
Psychology & Psychiatry Oct 24, 2012 | not rated yet | 0 |
New research links motor skills and perception, specifically as it relates to a second finding—a new understanding of what the left and right brain hemispheres "hear." Georgetown University Medical Center researchers say...
Neuroscience Oct 14, 2012 | 5 / 5 (7) | 1 |
Applying information theory to linguistics suggests 'functional design' in cross-language variations
The majority of languages—roughly 85 percent of them—can be sorted into two categories: those, like English, in which the basic sentence form is subject-verb-object ("the girl kicks the ball"), and those,...
Psychology & Psychiatry Oct 10, 2012 | 5 / 5 (3) | 1 |
(Medical Xpress)—Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and the University...
Psychology & Psychiatry Sep 18, 2012 | 5 / 5 (7) | 1 |
Speech is the vocalization form of human communication. It is based upon the syntactic combination of lexicals and names that are drawn from very large (usually >10,000 different words) vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units. These vocabularies, the syntax which structures them, and their set of speech sound units, differ creating the existence of many thousands of different types of mutually unintelligible human languages. Human speakers are often polyglot able to communicate in two or more of them. The vocal abilities that enable humans to produce speech also provide humans with the ability to sing.
A gestural form of human communication exists for the deaf in the form of sign language. Speech in some cultures has become the basis of a written language, often one that differs in its vocabulary, syntax and phonetics from its associated spoken one, a situation called diglossia. Speech in addition to its use in communication, it is suggested by some psychologists such as Vygotsky is internally used by mental processes to enhance and organize cognition in the form of an interior monologue.
Speech is researched in terms of the speech production and speech perception of the sounds used in spoken language. Several academic disciplines study these including acoustics, psychology, speech pathology, linguistics, cognitive science, communication studies, otolaryngology and computer science. Another area of research is how the human brain in its different areas such as the Broca's area and Wernicke's area underlies speech.
It is controversial how far human speech is unique in that other animals also communicate with vocalizations. While none in the wild uses syntax nor compatibly large vocabularies, research upon the nonverbal abilities of language trained apes such as Washoe and Kanzi raises the possibility that they might have these capabilities.
The origins of speech are unknown and subject to much debate and speculation.
For more information about Speech, read the full article at
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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PSD schools with Dual Language Immersion programs
Harris teaches the PSD standards-driven curriculum in both English and Spanish. The school's goal is for every student to become fully bilingual and biliterate. The dual language instructional model at Harris has received state and national recognition. The school maintains a 50/50 ratio of native Spanishand English-speaking students.
The Irish Elementary program includes a 50/50 group of native English/Spanish speakers. The program's goal is to have students leave Irish bilingual, biliterate, and bi-cultural. Language of instruction for math, science, social studies, and social skills alternates between Spanish and English each week.
Boltz Middle School extends the Dual Language Immersion program for students that have an elementary dual language background. Students in the program receive core instruction in Spanish for their social studies class and a Spanish language arts class. Students in the program are part of a cohort group that progress through all three years at Boltz. The AP Spanish language and composition test serves as the capstone goal for eighth grade students and successful completion of that will ensure their Colorado State Seal of Biliteracy. This program begins with sixth grade only beginning in the fall of 2019.


Thursday, September 29, 2011
Back Button Focusing, What? Why? And How?
Excuse the quality of the picture, this is the best I could get out of my wife's P&S
So you've heard about BBF or Back Button Focusing and was wondering what BBF is. Maybe you also heard that once you get used to it you will never go back. In this post I will tell you what is BBF and why it is one of the best things that makes using a DSLR more practical and enjoyable.
BBF is short for Back Button Focusing, which means that you will move the focusing function from the shutter button to one of the buttons at the back of the camera (usually the "*" button on a Canon), check the picture of my Canon 60D at the top, you will find three buttons on the top right part at the back of the camera (Rebels or xxxD series only have two).
Usually half pressing the shutter button initiates auto-focusing and auto-metering, and completing the press snaps the picture, the whole idea of BBF is to remove this focusing function from the shutter button and move it to a button on the back, but why would anyone want to do that?
For one very simple reason, in order not to let the camera focus everytime you press the shutter button to take a picture. You are going to tell me "but I can easily switch the lens to manual focus and achieve the same result", true, you can, but can you do the the same as in the scenarios that I will mention below?
But before that, I must tell you how I have assigned the buttons on my camera first, so that you can imagine what I am talking about when I am describing the scenarios.
 - A half press of the shutter starts metering (exposure calculation).
 - A full press on the shutter will snap the picture whether it is in focus or not.
 - A press on the "*" button at the back will engage auto-focusing (will focus and lock the focus once if "Single Shot" is chosen, will keep focusing and tracking if "AI Servo" is chosen).
 - AEL button remains as it is, locks exposure when pressed.
The above configuration is not the only available configuration, you can shuffle the different functions between the buttons as you wish, I have 10 different possible combinations on my 60D.
One advantage of the xxD and xD series Canons over the xxxD (Rebel) series is the extra "AEL" button, if you have an xxxD camera, you'll have to sacrifice the exposure lock function in order to use the "*" button at the back for focusing instead.
You can change the button assignment on your Canon via the custom functions "C.Fn." menu under the settings, they are listed on this Canon's Learning Center page for different cameras.
There's an easier way to do it on the 60D through the quick menu, press the "Q" button, go to button assignments and you will find something that looks like this.
Custom controls quick menu on a Canon 60D
For Nikon users I found this link that describes how to set it up, if you can't do it on your Nikon, please tell us in the comments and Mic will be glad to help.
[Mic: For Nikon, the process is similar, although it varies by camera model. In some higher-end cameras such as the Nikon D300 there is an independent AF-ON button. The camera will focus when that button is pressed. However, by default the camera will also focus when the shutter is half-pressed. To use BBF, you disable the focus of the half-pressed shutter. This is an option listed under the Autofocus options. In the D300, it's option a5 AF Activation.
On older cameras such as the Nikon D70, you can use BBF but you have to use the AE-L button as the BBF button, thus giving up AE-L. To enable BBF, find the option for selecting the function of the AE-L button and change it to AF-ON. Enabling that option automatically disables the focus on half-pressing the shutter.
On still other cameras, such as the Nikon D80, there is no dedicated AF-ON button but there is a user-selectable Fn button that can be used for BBF. Alternatively, you can assign the AE-L function to the Fn button and use the AE-L button as the BBF button. The process is similar to that of the Nikon D70.]
I have read almost all of the posts and the forum topics that talk about BBF, and some of them list some possible usage scenarios that are straight out of science fiction books. I will tell you about the real life situatioins where BBF has helped me.
- Focus & Recompose: Imagine you're shooting someone using the focus and recompose method, you've already focused the picture, moved the camera a little to a composure of your liking and took the picture. Now imagine that the person in front of you made an interesting face or you said some instruction to them and want to take another picture, if you press the shutter again the camera will try to focus again compromising the focus you've already set, and you'll have to focus and recompose from the start again, while if you're using BBF you can happily shoot away while the focus remains set from the first time.
- Tripod Shooting: Imagine you have the camera on a tripod shooting some product, you have the focus set and you're taking several pictures, unless you change the focus button to manual, everytime you press the shutter button (and it is way more annoying when you're using a remote release) the camera will try to auto-focus and ruin your set focus.
- Difficult Focusing Situations: This happened to me a lot with the Canon G11, I was shooting some dark women dresses for an ad, the dress' position was fixed and I was standing in the same position, when I tried to focus the camera, it kept hunting and giving me the red rectangle which means it can't focus (dress is dark and has no contrast to help the camera focus), so I increased the room lights, the camera focused correctly, I turned the lights down and took my first picture, you can imagine what happened next, when I tried to take another picture the camera started hunting for focus (again!) and threw my correct focus away, ARGH!
If I had BBF then, I would set the focus once and shoot as many pictures as I like.
I assume you got the idea by now, the MAIN advantage is that you can set your focus, and shoot as many pictures as you like without the camera trying to focus again. However there are other useful scenarios for BBF:
- Canon's USM technology enables you to use the focusing ring at anytime even if the focusing button is set to "auto", that way using BBF you can focus manually at will and start shooting pictures without the camera trying to auto-focus, that way you can forget about the lens focus setting (manual or auto). A counter argument in this case would say "but I can set the lens to manual focusing and do the same thing", but there's a difference, sometimes (especially when shooting macro, and the camera's AF struggles) I quickly press the "*" button at the back to get the focus in the vicinity of correct focus, then resume focusing manually myself, after I''m satisfied with the focus, I know that when I press the shutter button the camera won't try to auto-focus and ruin my efforts.
- Finally, one great benefit for us Canon users (not sure about Nikon, Mic?*) is that we can use one focusing setting to either capture still or moving subjects. Let me explain, on Canon cameras we have three focusing settings (not entirely sure about the 7D and the 1D), Single Shot, AI Focus and AI Servo.
Single shot focuses once and stops when focus is achieved, AI Servo keeps focusing and tracking whatever it is that you're focusing on, and AI Focus is supposed to be an intelligent mode that detects whether it should use single shot mode or track subjects if they're moving, but I never had reliable success with it.
With BBF, I leave my camera on AI Servo all the time, that way I can use it as a single shot or track something without changing any settings, pressing the "*" button would focus until I release the button (when the subject is still), or I can keep the button pressed to track a moving subject.
[*Mic: For Nikon, we have similar options, although it varies by camera. At a minimum, there is a manual focus mode (M), a single focus mode (S), a continuous focus mode (C). The function of the continuous focus mode can be changed from always attempting focus (similar to Canon's AI Servo), a mode called AF-A where it's similar to single but will switch to continuous when the subject moves (similar to Canon's AI Focus). On some cameras there is a separate button for AF-A, whereas on other cameras AF-A is selected in the menus. Some older cameras such as the D70 don't have AF-A at all.]
I will tell you a little story, when I saw all the rage about BBF, and all the "I tried it and I never went back" stories I was excited to try it myself, and I first tried it on my 550D I used for one or two times and decided that I hated it and it slowed me down and


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The Wildlife Conservation Society has announced the birth of the first genetically pure bison calf ever produced by embryo transfer through a program aimed to establish a breeding herd of non-introgressed bison (without cattle genes) for restoration projects and zoos. Using female bison from the American Prairie Reserve herd, a healthy calf was born this summer to a happy and protective mother.
From the Wildlife Conservation Society:
The Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo has announced the birth of the first ever genetically pure American bison calf produced by embryo transfer.
The success is the result of collaboration between Colorado State University, USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the American Prairie Reserve, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
In the fall of 2011 WCS arranged for a group of female bison originating from the American Prairie Reserve to be sent to the CSU's Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory facility in Fort Collins, Colo. to serve as recipients for fertilized embryos from a herd of genetically pure bison managed by USDA-APHIS. Dr. Jennifer Barfield, a CSU reproductive physiologist, and her team collected the embryos non-surgically and implanted them into the surrogate bison.
An ultrasound exam performed two months after the embryo transfers confirmed that one animal was pregnant. "This science illustrates that we can engineer breeding of pure-bred bison so that their valuable genetics can be incorporated into other herds or used to create new herds," said Dr. Barfield, CSU Assistant Professor. "We are able to produce bison that have pure genetics and are also free of any diseases that can afflict the bison population at Yellowstone."
The pregnant bison and her herdmates were moved to the Bronx Zoo in early April and the calf was born on June 20. The mother, calf, and herd continue to do well and are maintained in a section of the zoo that is not open to the public. Although this group and the calf will not go on exhibit, zoo visitors can see American bison on the Bronx Zoo's bison range.
A second round of embryo transfer will be attempted with the herd of surrogate females in the fall, with the goal of eventually establishing a breeding herd of genetically pure bison.
"The Bronx Zoo played an important historical role in the recovery of the American bison, and by establishing a pure herd, the zoo will be, in essence, returning to its roots," said Dr. Pat Thomas, WCS Vice President/Bronx Zoo General Curator and Associate Director. "The offspring of these bison will be used in future restoration programs and to establish herds in other AZA-accredited zoos."
The bison is an American conservation success story. In the early 1900's, the bison was on the verge of extinction – numbering less than 1,100 individuals after roaming North America in the tens of millions only a century earlier. In 1907 and 1913, the Bronx Zoo sent two herds of bison out west to re-establish the species. Today, bison number in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. and are found in state and national parks, wildlife refuges, and on tribal and private lands. However the vast majority of present-day bison have traces of domestic cattle genes, a reflection of past interbreeding efforts when western ranchers tried to create a hardier breed of cattle.