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SQL Server Certificates and Asymmetric Keys
Certificates and asymmetric keys are both ways to use asymmetric encryption. Certificates are often used as containers for asymmetric keys because they can contain more information such as expiry dates and issuers. There is no difference between the two mechanisms for the cryptographic algorithm, and no difference in strength given the same key length. Generally, you use a certificate to encrypt other types of encryption keys in a database, or to sign code modules.
Certificates and asymmetric keys can decrypt data that the other encrypts. Generally, you use asymmetric encryption to encrypt a symmetric key for storage in a database.
A public key does not have a particular format like a certificate would have, and you cannot export it to a file.
Note Note
SQL Server contains features that enable you to create and manage certificates and keys for use with the server and database. SQL Server cannot be used to create and manage certificates and keys with other applications or in the operating system.
A certificate is a digitally signed security object that contains a public (and optionally a private) key for SQL Server. You can use externally generated certificates or SQL Server can generate certificates.
Note Note
SQL Server certificates comply with the IETF X.509v3 certificate standard.
Certificates are useful because of the option of both exporting and importing keys to X.509 certificate files. The syntax for creating certificates allows for creation options for certificates such as an expiry date.
Using a Certificate in SQL Server
Certificates can be used to help secure connections, in database mirroring, to sign packages and other objects, or to encrypt data or connections. The following table lists additional resources for certificates in SQL Server.
Explains the command for creating certificates.
Identify the Source of Packages with Digital Signatures
Shows information about how to use certificates to sign software packages.
Use Certificates for a Database Mirroring Endpoint (Transact-SQL)
Covers information about how to use certificates with Database Mirroring.
Asymmetric keys are used for securing symmetric keys. They can also be used for limited data encryption and to digitally sign database objects. An asymmetric key consists of a private key and a corresponding public key. For more information about asymmetric keys, see CREATE ASYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL).
Asymmetric keys can be imported from strong name key files, but they cannot be exported. They also do not have expiry options. Asymmetric keys cannot encrypt connections.
Using an Asymmetric Key in SQL Server
Asymmetric keys can be used to help secure data or sign plaintext. The following table lists additional resources for asymmetric keys in SQL Server.
Explains the command for creating asymmetric keys.
Displays the options for signing objects.
Microsoft provides tools and utilities that will generate certificates and strong name key files. These tools offer a richer amount of flexibility in the key generation process than the SQL Server syntax. You can use these tools to create RSA keys with more complex key lengths and then import them into SQL Server. The following table explains shows where to find these tools.
Creates certificates.
Creates strong names for symmetric keys.
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How do I say "all the usual..." in Chinese, for example."
"At my school we play all the usual school sports."
"The pharmacy had all the usual junk."
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3 Answers 3
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but 'all the usual' in English has a certain nuance that seems to me slightly different from 一般的 or 普通的. That's because 'all the usual' doesn't mean 'all the ordinary' or 'all the general', etc; it means all the xxx that usually occur or are usually found in a particular situation.
For instance, 'all the usual suspects' means 'all the people we usually suspect'. This seems slightly different from 'all the ordinary suspects'. 'An ordinary suspect' is a suspect who is not out of the ordinary; 'a usual suspect' is a person who you usually suspect. If you wanted to say 'We rounded up all the usual suspects', surely 我们围捕了所有一般的涉嫌人 would not work here.
Note that you can speak of 'an ordinary person' but not a 'usual person' -- 'a usual person' doesn't make any sense. 'All the usual people' means 'all the people you would expect', not 'all the ordinary or common people'.
For that reason, I would look at different ways of translating this from 一般的 or 普通的. This could differ from situation to situation. One expression that comes to mind is 常見的.
For 'all the usual', Jukuu gives expressions like the following: 所有通用, 所有一般, 通常的, 通常表现出来的所有, (用尽)司空见惯的, 全是老一套, 日常的, 通常具有的所有, 所有的常客, 尽人皆知的, 平常所有的, 普通...通常具有的, 都有通常的, 各种常见的. While a lot of these sound like translationese, it seems to me that they are trying to express the requisite nuance of 'usually occurring', rather than just 'ordinary' or 'common'.
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yes.. "the usual suspects" is a good example.. it doesn't mean "the mundane suspects" – jsj Mar 10 '12 at 12:51
If you want to emphasise the 'all' (and so you want to keep the 都/全):
The 'all' and 'the usual X' are normally treated separately [rather than both being stacked adjectives in English], and are usually structured as follows:
[一般的、普通的] [X] [都/全].
A casual glance might be misleading though, because 都/全 is acting as an adverb before the verb here, and so is generally followed directly by the verb. Hence you might have the subject of the verb being inserted before [都/全], depending on the sense of the sentence (especially when X is actually the object in the sentence).
[一般的、普通的] [X] [SUBJECT] [都/全] [VERB]
Otherwise, where "all the usual" is exactly the same as "the usual", the 全/都 is dropped, resulting in just the adjective coming before [X].
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Great answer, Michaelyus. Welcome! – Jon Feb 29 '12 at 4:07
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Can you improve your answer by adding some content about why you propose this? – Alenanno Feb 25 '12 at 0:28
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Summary form only given. Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) reactor is frequently used in sterilization with atmospheric pressure plasma in pulsed corona or glow discharge mode. The suggested mechanisms responsible for sterilization include oxygen excited states, ozone, high temperature, UV, and run away electron bombardment. Although which is the key mechanism is yet to be identified due to variations in reactor design and experiment condition, it is generally believed a higher plasma density would facilitate the sterilization process, while a lower ion temperature lessen the surface damage, but the these two imply contradictory output characteristics from the pulsed power supply. Higher pulse voltage or repetition frequency not necessarily creates better sterilization effect. A compact, energy efficient power sup ply is desired in many portable applications, but often energy is wasted as a reflection due to impedance mismatch between transmission line and the impedance of DBD, or dissipated i n the dielectric layer of DBD. This work analyzes the energy efficiency of a pulsed power supply to a DBD reactor by introducing equivalent circuit models in different stages: initiation, pulsed corona, glow discharge, and try to link the performance of the pulsed power supply to the mechanisms responsible for sterilization. One conclusion is high pulse voltage with fast rise time is vital to run away electron generation, but not necessary for excited oxygen generation. Enough repetition rates for needed plasma can save considerable energy, and a DB D reactor with low dielectric layer thickness and low dielectric constant will render the highest electric field across the gap and thus most energy efficiency.
Date of Conference: 1-5 June 2009

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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After surviving a plane crash, you must collect resources to craft weapons and tools, build facilities and houses to withstand the elements of this strange island. Battle through various natural environments like fiery volcanoes, freezing glaciers, etc. and difficult obstacles such as mutant zombies, militias, wild creatures, etc. Do everything you can to get yourself home.
To Survive on this mysterious deserted island, you must form friendships with players from around the world and gather the limited resources.
Upgrade your character to stay alive and experience the excitement of what mother nature has to offer to its fullest.
-A UNIQUE ISLAND
The PVE part of this game is unlike any others. Survive and explore natural sceneries like beaches, tropical rainforests, swamps, and volcanoes. At the same time, you are battling your way through man-made obstacles, such as an expedition ship from the 1980s, many secret research labs, ancient underground ruins, and deadly abandoned temples.
-LEARN TO CRAFT AND BUILD
Collect materials and use them to build your own camp! Learn to craft various types of tools and weapons. You will need them to survive! Build your own unique camp with defensive facilities such as sensory tower, arrow tower, etc. and survival facilities like vegetable patches, where you plant seeds and grow food, or workbenches, where you make tools for hunting or gathering!
-PVP OR PVE
It's your choice! Whether to fight or work with other players!
-GO ON EXCITING ADVENTURES
This game was developed to provide players with the Ultimate experience of surviving on a deserted island. The PVE and PVP elements are something you can never find in any other game!
Can you survive this island and get yourself home?

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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A portrait of Frank Conrad in 1921. He is holding a microphone in his hand.
May 4, 1874|
|Died||December 11, 1941
|Occupation||Electrical Engineer, Inventor|
|Employer||Westinghouse Electric Corporation|
|Known for||radio broadcasting Boardwalk Empire -- Episode: Season 1: A Return to Normalcy. A wireless broadcast featured a monologue inspired by Frank Conrad rather extensively.|
Frank Conrad (1874 – 1941) was a radio broadcasting pioneer who worked as the Assistant Chief Engineer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,. He began what are considered the first regular radio broadcasts from his Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, garage in 1916, and is responsible for the founding of the first licensed broadcast station in the world: KDKA.
Early life
Frank was born May 4, 1874 in Pittsburgh as the son of a railroad mechanic. He quit school in the 7th grade, never returning to formal schooling again, and went to work for Westinghouse at age 16. At 23 he began working in the Westinghouse Testing Department, where he developed such inventions as the watt•hour meter. Conrad was awarded more than 200 patents throughout his life.
Early radio experiments
Conrad first became interested in radio in 1912 when, in order to settle a bet on the accuracy of a watch, Conrad built a radio in order to hear time signals from the Arlington, Virginia Naval Observatory. He then constructed, in his garage, a new transmitter, licensed in 1916 as 8XK, whose signal could be heard throughout the Pittsburgh area. In response to popular demand, Conrad began broadcasting for two hours each Wednesday and Saturday night. When all civilian amateur radio operations ceased in 1917, Conrad began using his radio for military purposes during World War I.
Frank Conrad's broadcasts were attended by an increasing number of amateurs who would frequently call Conrad wanting to know when the next broadcast would be. According to S. M. Kintner, later head of Westinghouse and one of Conrad's early colleagues: "Finally these amateurs called up Conrad on the telephone so frequently and at such inconvenient times that he established regular times when he would operate his station. This generally was Wednesday and Saturday nights. The information regarding these concerts of Conrads' was gradually passed by word of mouth until quite a number knew of it."
Conrad resumed his amateur radio broadcasts in October 1919. Most of the content of these early broadcasts was music: Conrad's sons and niece were talented musicians and Conrad played numerous songs from his record collection. He soon ran out of records, however, and struck a deal with a local music store: if the store would supply him with records, he would give the store on-air promotions. This exchange is arguably the first broadcast commercial in airwave history. He has also been called the first DJ in history.
There are also reports of football scores reported, as well as some talk programming. The vice-president of Westinghouse soon saw an ad in the newspaper for a toy store advertising radio sets that could receive Conrad's broadcasts. He saw the potential for mass communication that radio offered, and Westinghouse began manufacturing radio receivers.
The original station was a shack on top of a Westinghouse building in East Pittsburgh. Conrad was not there to witness the historical broadcast, however; worried that the station might go down, he was sitting in his Wilkinsburg garage with his own transmitter as a backup.
Later life
After the great success of KDKA, Conrad turned his attention to the world of shortwave radio. In 1928, Frank Conrad demonstrated a movie-film-to-television converter at Westinghouse. He also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Pittsburgh that year.
He retired from Westinghouse in 1940, and died while on vacation, December 11, 1941, four days after Pearl Harbor.
Today a Pittsburgh based nonprofit is trying to establish a "Broadcasting Museum" in the region. The museum would highlight the achievements made by Westinghouse employee Frank Conrad and the formation of KDKA, the first commercially broadcasted radio station in the world. The museum would also highlight other Pittsburgh TV and Radio stations who also have a presence in the Pittsburgh region. To learn more about the project visits,
- Frank Conrad by J.E. Brittain, Proceedings of the IEEE, June 2007, pp. 1378–1380.
- "Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA, 1920". IEEE milestones.


University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > Microsoft Research Cambridge, public talks > Human Computing and Crowdsourcing in Search
Human Computing and Crowdsourcing in Search
Human Computation is an emerging paradigm that organizes human efforts to carry out a computation or task that computers cannot do well, like detecting objects in videos. In this paradigm, humans become a type of processing unit and crowdsourcing serves as a tool for distributing computations to humans. In recent years, crowdsourcing has been popularized by commercial crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon's Mechanical Turk and has reached an industrial scale, involving millions of Internet users who offer the human processing power. However, unlike CPUs, humans are, well, humans and are influenced by a great many things, including their own motives and aspects of the computation task.
In this lecture we use the evaluation of search engines as a context for studying various aspects of crowdsourcing. In order to measure the performance of a search engine human assessments of search results are needed. Since online search engines involve millions of queries a day and at least 10 times as many retrieved documents, such a task seems like a perfect match for human computing. However, there are many issues to consider, as we will show through a number of experiments conducted using Amazon's Mechanical Turk.
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Support User Transaction in sCrypt Debugger
We are happy to announce that sCrypt debugger now allows users to input their own transactions when debugging. This is essential when a contract written in sCrypt uses checkSig operation, which needs the current transaction to calculate and verify signature.
Below is an example configuration for debugging a contract. Besides attributes introduced before, there is a new attribute txContext with the following fields:
- hex: current transaction to be used in signature verification in hex format. It can be either signed or unsigned
- opReturn: initial data part of a stateful contract in ASM format. Multiple data pushes are allowed such as "00 1122 ffac"
- inputSatoshis: the amount of the UTXO referenced by the input, in satoshis
- inputIndex: index of the input in the transaction that is spending the UTXO containing our contract
Use Transaction from Testnet
We can debug contracts on the Bitcoin network. For instance, we deployed contract HashPuzzleP2PKH onto testnet using this code. It resulted in two transactions: one containing the contract in its output script and the other spending the output. From the spending transaction, we can easily find txContext and entryMethodParams. From the transaction being spent, we can identify constructorParams. The full debug configuration can be found here.


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To compare rates and anatomical patterns of brain atrophy during 3 stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease.
Comparisons of multiple serial brain magnetic resonance images in men without HIV infection and HIV-infected men in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, Ga) stages A, B, and C.
Longitudinal cohort study of the San Diego HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center, San Diego, Calif.
Eighty-six HIV-1–positive (HIV-positive) and 23 HIV-negative men who were similar in age and risk group. The number of HIV-positive men in each CDC stage was as follows: A, 33; B, 19; C, 34. All HIV-positive men were free of clinically detectable opportunistic neurologic illness.
Main Outcome Measures
Regional volumes of serial magnetic resonance images converted to standardized slope estimates of change in regional volumes of interest.
Medically asymptomatic men (CDC stage A) and medically symptomatic men (CDC stage C) had more rapid loss of cortical tissues than did HIV-negative men as manifested by higher slopes (Tukey honestly significant difference test, P=.02 and P=.001, respectively) for cortical fluid volume. Accelerated ventricular volume enlargement occurred only in men with CDC stage C disease. Reduction in the volume of white matter was accelerated in participants with CDC stage C disease compared with participants with CDC stage A disease. Of the gray matter regions, only the caudate nucleus sustained accelerated volume loss during CDC stage C disease. Participants whose systemic disease progressed to a higher CDC stage had significantly accelerated ventricular volume increases and caudate atrophy. Rates of cortical and subcortical fluid volume increases and reductions in the volumes of white matter and the caudate nucleus were significantly related to the rate of decline in the CD4+ lymphocyte count.
In the absence of cerebral opportunistic disease, HIV infection causes progressive atrophy within the gray and white matter in the brain. These changes were most severe in the most advanced stage of disease but were evident even in medically asymptomatic HIV-positive persons. Within the gray matter, the caudate nucleus exhibited progressive volume loss linked to disease stage and the rate of decline of the CD4+cell count. Structural brain changes can begin in the early stages of HIV infection and accelerate during advanced illness.


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Each employee is expected to make an important contribution to the University. A formal performance review is conducted annually to discuss training and professional development needs and interests, to set goals for the coming year that support organizational goals, and to review job performance during the preceding twelve months. Newly hired employees will also receive a performance review within the first 90 days of their employment.
The performance of an employee is reviewed at least annually. To help departments with this process, Human Resources has developed an online performance review and goal setting form.
The electronic performance review form is maintained in the employee's portfolio and may be accessed any time.
The review form is often used as a tool for discussion. Topics for discussion should be both general and specific. Suggested topics include:
- Performance of core position responsibilities;
- Goals for current position;
- Individual strengths;
- Development and training needs;
- Setting and accomplishing departmental priorities; and
- Short and long-term career aspirations.


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Calibrated Propensity Scores for Comparative Effectiveness Estimates with Disease Subject to Misclassification
Keywords: comparative effectiveness, propensity score, misclassification error, prostate cancer
Generally, medical decisions are performed in a highly uncertain environment. For example, this is particularly true in the management of prostate cancer due to two issues. First, the instrument by which diagnosis (i.e. biopsy) is made is prone to measurement error. Second, depending on the risk stratum determined by the biopsy, the individual has two or more potential competing treatment strategies from which to choose. However, only one of these treatment strategies (radical prostatectomy) provides an almost error-free severity measure appropriate for prognosis and decision-making. This means that estimates of comparative effectiveness in this setting are done under measurement error which is usually disregarded. Depending on the type of adjustment for the comparison, regression model or propensity scoring, the problem is one of misclassification in covariates or response. Specimens from radical prostatectomy provide the perfect scenario in which methods for handling misclassification can be evaluated empirically. Based on disease severity measured from more than 3,500 radical prostatectomy specimens, we assess the characteristics of the misclassification in disease severity as per biopsy, we build a calibration model to account for this error, and finally estimate the influence of the misclassification error and calibration models on estimates of biochemical recurrence, a marker of disease progression and treatment success.


Cat People: Documentary Explores the Lives of Devoted Cat Lovers
Los Angeles based documentary filmmaker Asako Ushio is currently in the final stages of completing Cat People, a documentary about the eclectic and varied lives of people who love and care for cats.
The beautiful film explores the many different ways how humans coexist and share their lives with cats. From America to a small island in Japan, the film examines the many different facets of human feline relationships. "As a longtime owner of cats, I've always thought of myself as the perfect 'mother',"said Asako. "And there are so many others like myself dedicating their time, passion, and money to their love of felines, No other animal on the planet inspires as much loyalty from humans."
However, Asako realized that the feline human relationship was much more complicated than she ever imagined. Cats and humans coexist through multiple levels of domesticity, from household companions to wild street animals to secluded island inhabitants. Cat People explores the evolving challenges facing cats living in a human world.
Act 1: Urban Cat People
Urban Cat People's mission is to care for street cats, and to control the cat population. Feline rescue groups, such as FixNation and Luxe Paws deal with cats from all walks of life: pregnant, injured, and abused. Trapping cats on the street for Spay Neuter is their way of spending a Friday night. Cats don't take days off, and neither do Urban Cat People.
Act 2: Domestic Cat People
Cat lovers may spend hours watching funny cat videos on YouTube, but they often don't always see the true lives of domestic cats. They are often bored and don't really get a chance to be true to their nature. Domestic Cat People provide interesting solution for cats to thrive even in a small confined space like our home. This chapter features our friend Kate Benjamin and unique products that accommodate house cats.
Act 3: Cat Island People
Cats on the Cat Island of Tashiro-jima in the northern part of Japan have an average 5-year life expectancy. "They have no safety bubble, but at the same time, they live a life full of freedom," says Asako. They are neither domesticated nor wild and only loosely connected to the people that share the island with them. Currently, the cat population is 120 and human population is 50. Cat photographer YoshinaoTanaka, frequently visits Cat Island with veterinarian Dr. Cress. Together they take care of the cats and document their environment.
Cat People showcases the close interconnectedness between feline and human lives.
Help make Cat People a reality and support TNR efforts
Asako is currently in the final stages of post production. She needs funding to complete the film! The funding will go toward final writing, music, mix, color, online, and graphic/animation. Askao is professional editor, but she needs to hire other creative talents to take the film to a professional level.
Asako will donate 5% of all funds raised to FixNation's spay neuter clinic, and another 5% to Luxe Paws.
Visit Cat People's GoFundMe page for more information, and to contribute.
2 Comments on Cat People: Documentary Explores the Lives of Devoted Cat Lovers
 1. Mallory
 November 2, 2018 at 12:59 pm (3 years ago)
 Assuming she gets funded is there a timeline for finishing and releasing it? Can't wait to watch.
 - Ingrid
 November 3, 2018 at 5:33 am (3 years ago)
 I'm not sure what the timeline is, Mallory, but I really hope that it will be released, it looks wonderful.
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Q&A: How US results are reported
American voters in San Diego cast their ballots
American voters in San Diego cast their ballots
How will the BBC report the results of the US election? This guide explains where the results come from, what exit polls are, and how states are called.
What is the source for the BBC's election results?
The Associated Press is providing the election result data for BBC News.
The AP is the sole organisation responsible for providing the results for the major American media networks. The information they provide will form the basis for election results but different broadcasters may decide to interpret partial results in different ways.
The BBC will report state results based on AP and one other major US media network, or our close partners ABC News alone.
How do the results take shape and what are "projected results"?
Initially the outcome of the US election is likely to be a "projection", based on exit polls and/or partial results. This means the result will be labelled as projected until all the votes are counted.
The reason for this is that states are often called, or declared, for a candidate, on the basis of incomplete figures. The American electoral system enables each state to release partial results to the public well before they have counted every single vote. Results are later confirmed once all the votes have come in.
For races that are not very close the US networks are likely to project a winner as soon as the polls close, based on exit poll data. For closer races the US networks will wait until there's more actual vote data. It can take hours or even all night.
If a projection is not immediate, it doesn't mean it is 'too close to call', rather it may simply be 'too early to call' because the networks have insufficient data.
Are the projections ever wrong?
Yes, particularly if the election is very close. Most memorably the major US networks, including Fox, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC gave Florida to Al Gore in 2000, only to retract that and then give it to George W Bush, and then to retract that while the result was under dispute.
What is an exit poll?
Exit polls are gathered by speaking to members of the public after they have voted. They are used in two main ways.
They can help predict the outcome of an election before all the votes are counted and they may also include information on demographics. For example, they could show which candidate appealed most to women voters, or who got the most support from the Hispanic community.
This year exit polls are being handled solely by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.
The BBC does not have access to the detailed exit poll data.
Is Washington DC a state?
No. DC, or the District of Columbia, is not a state, but it does receive three electoral college votes. DC is able to vote for president but it does not have senators or congressmen of its own.
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Delta II Poised to Launch NPP
October 27, 2011
NPP spacecraft inside half fairing. Image above: The NPP spacecraft stands atop the Delta II rocket that will lift it into Earth orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Don Kososka, VAFB
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The AJ10 engine for the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is hoisted. Image above: The Delta II rocket stands at Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., soon after being assembled. The NPP satellite and payload fairing have not been attached to the rocket yet in this photo. Photo credit: NASA/VAFB
› Larger image
A technological trailblazer is poised to lift off from a California launch pad to take a place in space to show us what is happening on Earth. Known as the NPP, for National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, the two-ton spacecraft is destined for an orbit 512 miles above the planet where it will be able to see every part of the Earth.
Because it is going into a polar orbit crossing both the north and south poles while the world spins beneath it, the NPP mission will launch from NASA's Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
NPP has two goals, according to James Gleason, NPP project scientist.
"One is to get the data for the weather forecasts, environmental observations and take a whole suite of observations that continue our satellite data records which span from measuring aerosols, you know, dust particles in the atmosphere, how have they changed over the past decade?," Gleason said. "Is the ground greener or browner over time? Has the sea surface temperature changed? Has the ozone changed? These are all data sets that we have that we have multi-decades sets of data sets and we just want to keep adding to that so we can answer the question, is the climate changing?"
Members of NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, have been working at Vandenberg to get the spacecraft ready to launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.
"We began build-up of the vehicle in July of this year, erecting first stage, the nine solid rocket motors, the second stage, putting the payload fairing into the mobile service tower," NASA Launch Director Tim Dunn said.
Once in orbit, the NPP spacecraft is to scan the world with five instruments that track their development through the sensors used on previous Earth-observation missions.
"NPP is a continuation of the earth orbiting satellite systems," Gleason said. "For weather forecasting and for climate predictions, you need to have continuous observations. So what NPP does is continue the data record started by the NASA EOS satellites and improves on the instruments that are used for numerical weather forecasting from the current series of NOAA satellites."
Taking five sensors into orbit lets the spacecraft gather information about a range of aspects of the Earth.
"NPP data will be used by virtually all of the national weather services for all the nations of the world," Gleason said. "And then there are the scientific users who are trying to understand the individual phenomena both at home and abroad."
The instrumentation also requires extra care from the launch team in the time leading up to liftoff.
"Every mission has its own set of challenges, you know, what's challenging about NPP is the fact we have five instruments," said Bruce Reid, NASA's mission manager for NPP. "Some spacecraft have one instrument. And every mission has to go through environmental testing, so now you have to go through environmental testing with five different instruments, which all carry their own set of requirements and restrictions."
With months of preparations behind them, the launch teams will assemble on launch day expecting the payoff of a successful liftoff to begin the NPP's five-year mission.
"By the time you get there on launch day, it's kind of like you've planned a trip and you've packed for the trip and all you have left to do is gas and go," said Bruce Reid, "So that's what we do on launch day, we load the rocket with fuel and liquid oxygen and then we do our final avionics and electrical checks and we push the button and we sit on the edge of our seats."
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0; a very frail person scores 5. Compared to non-frail elderly people, people with intermediate frailty scores (2 or 3) are twice as likely to have post-surgical complications, spend 50% more time in the hospital, and are three times as likely to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility instead of to their own homes.[14] Frail elderly patients (score of 4 or 5) have even worse outcomes, with the risk of being discharged to a nursing home rising to twenty times the rate for non-frail elderly people.
Other populations[edit]
Surgery on children requires considerations which are not common in adult surgery. Children and adolescents are still developing physically and mentally making it difficult for them to make informed decisions and give consent for surgical treatments. Bariatric surgery in youth is among the controversial topics related to surgery in children.
Persons with health conditions
A person with a debilitating medical condition may have special needs during a surgery which a typical patient would not.
Vulnerable populations
Doctors perform surgery with the consent of the patient. Some patients are able to give better informed consent than others. Populations such as incarcerated persons, the mentally incompetent, persons subject to coercion, and other people who are not able to make decisions with the same authority as a typical patient have special needs when making decisions about their personal healthcare, including surgery.
In Low and Middle Income Countries[edit]
In 2014 the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery was launched to examine the case for surgery as an integral component of global health care and to provide recommendations regarding the delivery of surgical and anesthesia services in low and middle income countries.[15] The primary conclusions of the study were as follows:
 - Five billion people worldwide lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. Areas in which especially large proportions of the population lack access include Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia, and to a lesser extent, Russia and China. Of the estimated 312.9 million surgical procedures undertaken worldwide in 2012, only 6.3% were done in countries comprising the poorest 37.3% of the world's population.
 - An additional 143 million surgeries are needed each year to prevent unnecessary death and disability.
 - 33 million people face catastrophic payments for surgical and anesthesia care each year.
 - Investment in surgical and anesthesia services is cost-effective, saves lives, and promotes economic growth
 - Surgery is an indispensable part of health care.
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus, an Egyptian surgical treatise
Sushruta, the author of Sushruta Samhita, one of the oldest texts on surgery
Ancient Egypt[edit]
Surgical treatments date back to the prehistoric era. The oldest for which there is evidence is trepanation,[16] in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, thus exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intra cranial pressure and other diseases. Prehistoric surgical techniques are seen in Ancient Egypt, where a mandible dated to approximately 2650 BCE shows two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessed tooth. Surgical texts from ancient Egypt date back about 3500 years ago. Surgical operations were performed by priests, specialized in medical treatments similar to today.[17] and the use of sutures to close wounds.[18] Infections were treated with honey.[19]
India and China[edit]
Remains from the early Harappan periods of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300 BCE) show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9,000 years.[20] Susruta[21] was an ancient Indian surgeon commonly credited as the author of the treatise Sushruta Samhita. He is dubbed as the "founding father of surgery" and his period is usually placed between the period of 1200 BC - 600 BC.[22] One of the earliest known mention of the name is from the Bower Manuscript where Sushruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas.[23][23] Texts also suggest that he learned surgery at Kasi from Lord Dhanvantari, the god of medicine in Hindu mythology.[24] It is one of the oldest known surgical texts and it describes in detail the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous ailments, as well as procedures on performing various forms of cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery and rhinoplasty.[25]
Instruments resembling surgical tools have also been found in the archaeological sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang Dynasty, along with seeds likely used for herbalism.[26]
Hippocrates stated in the oath (c. 400 BC) that general physicians must never practice surgery and that surgical procedures are to be conducted by specialists
Ancient Greece[edit]
In ancient Greece, temples dedicated to the healer-god Asclepius, known as Asclepieia (Greek: Ασκληπιεία, sing. Asclepieion Ασκληπιείον), functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing.[27] In the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, some of the surgical cures listed, such as the opening of an abdominal abscess or the removal of traumatic foreign material, are realistic enough to have taken place.[6] The Greek Galen was one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye surgery—that were not tried again for almost two millennia.
12th century medieval eye surgery in Italy
In the Middle East, surgery was developed to a high degree in the Islamic world. Abulcasis (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi), an Andalusian-Arab physician and scientist who practised in the Zahra suburb of Córdoba, wrote medical texts that influenced European surgical procedures.[28]
Early Modern Europe[edit]
In Europe, the demand grew for surgeons to formally study for many years before practicing; universities such as Montpellier, Padua and Bologna were particularly renowned. In the 15th century, Rogerius Salernitanus composed his Chirurgia, laying the foundation for modern Western surgical manuals. Barber-surgeons generally had a bad reputation that was not to improve until the development of academic surgery as a specialty of medicine, rather than an accessory field.[29] Basic surgical principles for asepsis etc., are known as Halsteads principles.
Ambroise Paré (ca. 1510–1590), father of modern military surgery.
There were some important advances to the art of surgery during this period. The professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, Andreas Vesalius, was a pivotal figure in the Renaissance transition from classical medicine and anatomy based on the works of Galen, to an empirical approach of 'hands-on' dissection. In his anatomic treatis, De humani corporis fabrica, he exposed the many anatomical errors in Galen and advocated that all surgeons should train by engaging in practical dissections themselves.
The second figure of importance in this era was Ambroise Paré (sometimes spelled "Ambrose"[30]), a French army surgeon from the 1530s until his death in 1590. The practice for cauterizing gunshot wounds on the battlefield had been to use boiling oil; an extremely dangerous and painful procedure. Paré began to employ a less irritating emollient, made of egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine. He also described more efficient techniques for the effective ligation of the blood vessels during an amputation.
Modern surgery[edit]
Hieronymus Fabricius, Operationes chirurgicae, 1685
John Syng Dorsey wrote the first American textbook on surgery
The discipline of surgery was put on a sound, scientific footing during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. An important figure in this regard was the English surgical scientist, John Hunter, generally regarded as the father of modern scientific surgery.[31] He brought an empirical and experimental approach to the science and was renowned around Europe for the quality of his research and his written works. Hunter reconstructed surgical knowledge from scratch; refusing to rely on the testimonies of others he conducted his own surgical experiments to determine the truth of the matter. To aid comparative analysis, he built up a collection of over 13,000 specimens of separate organ systems, from the simplest plants and animals to humans.
He greatly advanced knowledge of venereal disease and introduced many new techniques of surgery, including new methods for repairing damage to the Achilles tendon and a more effective method for applying ligature of the arteries in case of an aneurysm.[32] He was also one of the first to understand the importance of pathology, the danger of the spread of infection and how the problem of inflammation of the wound, bone lesions and even tuberculosis often undid any benefit that was gained from the intervention. He consequently adopted the position that all surgical procedures should be used only as a last resort.[33]
Other important 18th and early 19th century surgeons included Percival Pott (1713 -1788) who described tuberculosis on the spine and first demonstrated that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen - (he noticed a connection between chimney sweep's exposure to soot and their high incidence of scrotal cancer). Astley Paston Cooper (_PHONE_) first performed a successful ligation of the abdominal aorta, and James Syme (_PHONE_) pioneered the Symes Amputation for the ankle joint and successfully carried out the first hip disarticulation.
An operation in 1753, painted by Gaspare Traversi


text: This book studies unemployment and inflation in economic crises, first considering the scenario of a demand shock in Europe. In that case, monetary and fiscal interaction would cause widespread oscillations in European unemployment and European inflation. And what is more, there would be equally far-reaching fluctuations in the European money supply and European government purchases. These monetary and fiscal interactions would have no effects on the American economy. Second, it examines the scenario of a supply shock in Europe, in which monetary and fiscal interactions would have no effects on European unemployment or European inflation; there would also be an explosion of European government purchases and an implosion of the European money supply. Monetary and fiscal interactions would produce uniform oscillations in American unemployment and American inflation. Lastly, we would also see an implosion of both the American money supply and American government purchases.


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- The Camera has to be connected and adjusted in advance.
- Ensure data transfer between PC workstation and LCS works proper (Test data transfer with tool 'amcap.exe' in subfolder 'Tools' of the program folder at your individual eurolaser customer CD).
- This procedure requires 3 – 6 pcs. of white card board / paper 140 up to 200g/sheet.
Laser in action! This procedure requires trained personnel for operating the Laser Cutting System (LCS). This short instruction assumes basic user knowledge about the eurolaser LCS (G3/S3 systems) and its user software LaserScout POSITION (or OS Production resp. OS Production & Design).
Fast moving axis possible! Keep safety distance and watch your hands!
Follow the instructions given in order to the numbers:
1. Start the system in normal operational mode.
2. Initialize the Z-axis onto the material support. After OK, lift the nozzle approx. +2 mm up.ESC 1-1-1-2-1 OK
3. Place the sheet (A4 print of test pattern) "Camera Offset_GBR.pdf" (subfolder: "Test jobs\Camera-Offset") at any position of the table (e.g. close to the 0/0-Position of the system)
4. Define a reference position at the lower right corner of the paper: ESC-[F8]-3. Switch vacuum ON and fix the sheet of paper additional with some tape at two points. It should not move at all!
5. Switch the system to 'ONLINE'.
6. Start user software and open file 'Camera Offset_GER.job' (\Test jobs\Camera-Offset of the OS-Program folder).
7. Choose for the layer 'Cutting contours' (green) those parameter setup defined for '200 g. Paper Cut'. Define the layer 'Information' invisible by clicking the eye (crossed). Registermarks (Reg.-Marks) are displayed in red.
8. Click Register: 'Settings / Standard Settings / Register Jog Marks', and set as type Video Marks.Set the size = 6 mm.
9. Open the output device window.
10. Set Number of copies = 1 and Production mode = manually. Click on 'preview'
11. Edit 'Mark settings' and define the Reg.-Marks for the test pattern:
Mark settings / Mark recognition / Normal / OK
Mark settings / Mark type / Circle / OK
12. The preview window pops up and shows the camera live-view. Click-right for open the sub-windows and click 'Default settings/ Mark Recognition'.
13. Move the Camera by using the cursor keys at your PC-keyboard to the first Reg.-Mark closest to the REF point
- A red circle at the video screen indicates, the Reg.-Mark is inside the search radius of the camera.
- A green circle at the video screen indicates, the REG-Mark is already identified. If it does not automatically switch to green click on 'Move to Mark' until it turns to a green circle.
- If the circle still remains red marked, click on the 'Measure' button. Now the Reg.-Mark has been scanned and the 'Mark size' value displayed will be adapted. At the spell State the values in Pixel are shown e.g. D(act) 54,8 PixRes.
- Save those values with a click on the 'Save' button.The window will close now.
14. At the preview window (camera live-view): Click-right for open the sub-windows and click 'Default settings / Set Camera Offset'.
15. Move the axis with the camera by your PC-cursor keys down to the bigger black test circle on the paper and stop approx. in the centre. Click on 'Cut mark' The laser will cut a circle into the paper now.
16. Put a white sheet of paper underneath the test cut circle to increase the contrast.
Caution: The test-pattern paper should not move anyway on the table!
17. Touch any cursor key at the PC shortly. The camera returns now back to the test cut circle. If required control the camera by pressing the cursor keys to a closer area so the identification is confirmed by the green circle. Click on 'Measure'.
- The camera software measures now automatically the difference in X- and Y-axis direction. This defines the new OFFSET values in the window 'Camera Offset'.
- If the measurement is constant about 5 seconds, the measurement procedure is completed.
18. Click 'Save' under 'Camera Offset' to complete the procedure.
19. The Offset assignment is verifiable by activating the Test-Pattern (print on the Paper). Switch the system to 'ONLINE'.
20. Move the axis with the camera (red square in the right window) by your PC-cursor keys down to the closest Reg.-Mark next to the temporary Ref.-Position until the identification is confirmed by the green circle.
- Click on the recognition mark symbol to start the recognition sequence for all Reg.-Marks.
- Those Reg.-Marks signed green are identified by the camera.
21. All identified Reg.-Marks (min. 2 pcs. per each contour, better 3 pcs.) are now signed green andchecked with a checkmark.
Click on 'Run' to accept the Reg.-Marks and start the contours cut out.
If too many Reg.-Marks are not clearly identified, check the following issues:
- shows the area illumination enough brightness and light is diffuse?
- how is the contrast of the test-pattern (quality of print)?
- check the fixing of the paper / card-board. Is the paper / card-board positioned nearly parallel to the axis?
- repeat procedure from no. 17.
22. The preview-window opens. Check the position on the screen and compare with the paper positioned at the table. Note: X-axis on the screen is horizontal!
23. Click on the output icon to start the cutting sequence.
24. After cutting is completed, switch system to 'OFFLINE' mode and move the bar (Y-axis) in a rear position (approx. +500 mm), so you can evaluate the results.
25. If the new offset values are correct, the contour-cuts are centered according the printed frames. Each contour shall show the same thickness of frames to each direction.
26. If the contours are not centered (not placed exactly in the middle position the offset values may need some corrections. Click-right on the preview-screen and open the popup window. Click 'Default setting' / 'Set Camera offset' and make the necessary corrections under 'Camera Offset' X-Y according the X-and Y-arrows on the Test-Pattern print.
- Typically the correction may need some 1/10 [mm] only. Mind the algebraic sign!
- Click 'Save' to confirm the input.
- Place a new Test-Pattern print on the table – same position.
- Repeat the procedure from no.16. until the result is good enough for the next laser application.
Note: In case of lost position proceed as follows:
- Stop and close the Plot-Manager (icon right/lower PC monitor frame)
- Clear the REF-Point at the system's user panel [F8] - 2 and define a new REF-Point [F8] - 3 move manually to the position, than confirm message. Click 'OK'.
- Clear the system buffer memory, 'ECS 2-4-1' / 'OK'
Note: Check the Reg.-Mark identification frequently before starting any high quality jobs. Especially after moduleor lens-system exchange the test procedure for "Checking the camera offset" should be performed.


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How Spanish Nouns Evolved From Latin
As most readers know, Spanish is one of several languages that evolved from Latin, which was the language of the Roman Empire. This language family is relatively young. They are called, collectively, Latinate or Romance languages. The word "Romance" has nothing to do with romantic, but with Roman.
When the Roman Empire fell, the Latin spoken in the various regions of what had been politically unified began to differentiate. This period is known as the Middle Ages. These late forms of spoken Latin are often called proto-Romance, for early Romance language or, more specifically, proto-Spanish, proto-Italian and so forth.
For whatever reason, the Latin spoken in the central part of the Iberian peninsula (Castile), formed its nouns differently than their cousins in Italy. The Italians formed nouns based on the nominative case in Latin, the form used to denote a grammatical subject. In Castile, on the other hand, the nouns were formed from the form of a Latin noun used as the direct object, known as the accusative case. Latin distinguishes singular and plural by various endings in all the various cases.
Let's take one example. The word homo-sapiens comes from the singular form for man in the nominative case (when man is the subject of a clause). Likewise, homines is the plural, which gave rise to uomo and uomi in Italy, for man and men. In Spain, the accusative case, singular and plural was the starting point for the evolution of hominem and homines (the latter is also the accusative plural) to become hombre and hombres.
Here are the principal stages from hominem to hombre: hominem > homne > hombre. The first step involved the weak pronunciation of the final m and the loss of the brief syllable i. This brought the n and the m together. The next step is curious – the place and mode of articulating (pronouncing) this consonant cluster resulted in a b (the bilabial occlusive m brings the lips together and then an r "sprung up" because of the position and mode of pronouncing the n. Try saying them in sequence and you can almost feel the impact the passage of time has on language!
- The author has more than 20 years' experience teaching and translating Spanish.
This post is part of the series: How Latin Became Spanish
The articles in this series deal with the etymology and evolution of Spanish from its mother tongue. They are written for the non-specialist, for teachers whose students ask the inevitable question "why…" which can only be answered with a "how…"


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A Reference Resource
Orville L. Freeman (1963–1969): Secretary of Agriculture
Orville Lothrop Freeman was born on March 9, 1918, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Freeman attended public school in Minneapolis and then received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1940. During World War II, he served in the Marine Corps, following which he received his A.B. and LL.B. from the University of Minnesota.
Freeman practiced law in Minneapolis, becoming a close political associate of Herbert Humphrey, who was then serving as mayor of Minneapolis and who also had a great deal of influence in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). With Humphrey's aid, Freeman helped make the DFL a powerful political organization that in 1954 would help to overthrow Republican dominance in the state.
In 1954, Freeman became governor of Minnesota, where he earned a reputation as a progressive; he was re-elected to that post in 1956 and 1958. After Humphrey withdrew from the 1960 presidential race, Freeman gave his support to Kennedy-a favor Kennedy returned following his victory in the 1960 presidential election.
Freeman himself had failed win re-election in 1960, allowing Kennedy to appoint him as secretary of agriculture. When Freeman took the post, America was suffering from chronic overproduction that was exacerbated by technological innovations. The Kennedy administration believed it important to have the power to set acreage limitations and to control the amount of a crop actually brought to market. It therefore became Freeman's goal to cut production, increase farm incomes, and distribute, on a large scale, surpluses to the hungry.
Freeman hoped that the department could reduce its budget and focus on other issues, such as rural development, land conversion, and research. Freeman was able to establish a feed-grain reduction program, cut the amount of wheat grown, expand the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act, forge a wheat deal with the Russians in 1963, and complete research on foodstuffs for survival after a nuclear attack. The Food for Peace program became crucial to distributing U.S. farm surpluses overseas and reducing the amount of dollars spent abroad. After serving as secretary of agriculture until January 1969, Freeman became president of the Business International Corporation in 1970.


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Submissions/A framework to visualize wiki-based transclusion
- Review no.
- Title of the submission
- A framework to visualize wiki-based transclusion
- Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)
- E-mail address or username (if username, please confirm email address in Special:Preferences)
- Country of origin
- Personal homepage or blog
- Abstract (please use no less than 300 words to describe your proposal)
We are interested in high level graphical analysis tools to assist wikimedians in writing and reading articles. Transclusion is key to write compound articles and to keep them up-to-date, taking full advantage of an open knowledge environment. We have been working on a MediaWiki extension that provides a graphical user interface to transclude sections between two wiki articles, and a graphical metaphor to visualize the composition of a transcluded wiki article. Our goal is to make the transclusion process more intuitive and to provide a graphical tool useful to analyze its result.
The current built-in MediaWiki transclusion mechanism is oriented towards the exclusion of small portions of text (or inclusion of large portions of text, such as templates) in an article. There is no simple way to transclude only one section (or small portion of text). We thus believe that this process can be improved at least in the following ways:
- By allowing transclusion of sections, or small portions of text (at will).
- By assisting the whole process with a visualization tool.
- By providing a visual metaphor to ease the analysis of how transcluded articles are compounded.
To cover these objectives we introduce a MediaWiki Extension with the following properties, see Figure 1:
- A tagging mechanism to select the portions of text to be transcluded, which requires only a visual interaction. See the visualization system below.
- A parser function that transcludes those portions of text. The function will search the generated id on a portable database system, and will extract the transcluded text from the original source.
- A visualization system implemented in the Processing language involving:
We are currently exploring visual metaphors for the visualization of compound articles and implementing the base system, specifically the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) methods of the transclusion process.
- Track (People and Community/Knowledge and Collaboration/Infrastructure)
- Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
- Probably not.
- Slides or further information (optional)
Our MediaWiki testing site can be found here.
If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with four tildes. (~~~~).


Pope Benedict XVI calls astronauts
CBS News
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--Pope Benedict XVI called the combined crews of the shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station Saturday, wishing commander Mark Kelly's gravely wounded wife, Gabrielle Giffords, a steady recovery and asking station flight engineer Paolo Nespoli how he endured news of his mother's death in the isolation of space.
Pope Benedict XVI speaks to the combined shuttle-station crews form the Vatican. (Credit: NASA TV)
Speaking from a desk at the Vatican, the pope focused on the role of science and technology in solving problems on Earth and inspiring young people.
The International Space Station crew, in blue shirts, and the Endeavour astronauts, in black shirts, chat with Pope Benedict. (Credit: NASA TV)
"From the space station, you have a very different view of the Earth, you fly over different continents and nations several times a day," he said, reading prepared remarks. "I think it must be obvious to you how we all live together on one Earth and how absurd it is that we fight and kill each (other).
"I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a serious attack and I hope her health continues to improve. When you're contemplating the Earth from up there, do you ever wonder about the way nations and people live together down here, about how science can contribute to the cause of peace?"
"Thank you for the kind words, your holiness, and thank you for mentioning my wife, Gabby," Kelly replied. "It's a very good question. We fly over most of the world and you don't see borders, but at the same time we realize that people fight with each other and there's a lot of violence in this world and it's really an unfortunate thing."
Kelly said people frequently fight over resources, pointing out that "the science and technology that we put into the space station to develop a solar power capability gives us pretty much an unlimited amount of energy. And if those technologies could be adapted more on Earth, we could possibly reduce some of that violence."
Pope Benedict asked the astronauts about their impression of the environment from the vantage point of space, wondering if "you see signs of phenomena to which we need to be more attentive?"
"It really is an extraordinary vantage point we have up here," station flight engineer Ronald Garan said. "On the one hand, we can see how indescribably beautiful the planet we have been given is. But on the other hand, we can really clearly see how fragile it is. The atmosphere when viewed from space is paper thin. And to think that this paper thin layer is all that separates every living thing from the vacuum of space is really a sobering thought."
The pope spoke in Italian to station flight engineer Paolo Nespoli, who's mother died in Italy May 2.
"Dear Paolo. I know that a few days ago your mom left you and in a few days you will come back home and you will not find her waiting for you," the pope said in translated remarks. "We're all close to you. Me too, I have prayed for her. How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station? Do you feel isolated and alone? Or do you feel united amongst ourselves in a community that follows you with attention and affection?"
"Holy father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here," Nespoli replied. "My colleagues on board the station were very close to me at this important time for me, a very intense moment, as well as my brothers and sisters, my uncles, my aunts, my relatives were close to my mom in her last moments. I'm very grateful for this. I felt very far, but also very close. And the thought of feeling all of you near me at this time has been a great relief. I also want to thank the Italian and American space agencies that had given me the opportunity so that I was able to speak with her in her last moments."


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- average amount in a deposit account, equal to the sum of daily deposit balances during an accounting period, usually a month, divided by the number of days.
- method of computing credit card finance charges, computed by taking the daily beginning balance, adding new charges for that day, and subtracting any payments applied to purchases. The resulting total, divided by the number of days in the billing period, is multiplied by the finance charge.
method for computing interest or finance charges on bank deposit accounts, credit cards, and charge accounts. Deposit accounts use the daily closing balance divided by the number of days in the period and apply the interest rate to that. Credit and charge cards divide the balances owed each day by the number of days and apply the finance charge. The average daily balance method, widely used by department stores, is less favorable to the consumer than the adjusted balance method used for interest earned on bank deposit accounts but more favorable than the previous balance method used by most credit cards.


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The Round Table
For centuries the site of the Roman amphitheatre in Caerleon was known as 'King Arthur's Round Table'.
Back in the 1587 Thomas Churchyard wrote of Caerleon:
In Arthur's tyme, a table round,
Was whereat he sate:
As yet a plot of goodly ground,
Sets forth that rare estate...
It would surely have been an excellent place for a leader to address his followers.
Our theory is that somewhere in time the meaning shifted from 'a round meeting place' to a 'round table'.
Read the full text of Churchyard's poem


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Christopher Street-Sheridan Square
The Greenwich Village Murals, 1994
Ceramic mosaic on platform walls
Depicting vignettes of community history, The Greenwich Village Murals consist of children's composite drawings inspired and guided by an artist concerned with "identity" and its portrayal. Lee Brozgol first intended to devote each of the four panels to one famous person. "But the village is so rich in amazing characters who shaped America that picking only twelve was impossible," he says. With students from Greenwich Village's P.S. 41, he found space for some forty people arranged in four groupings: Founders, Providers, Bohemians, and Rebels - bending time to group them together. Deborah Lewis, a teacher at P.S. 41, helped Brozgol select nine fifth and sixth graders for the project. The resulting presentation recognizes the many individuals who gave the neighborhood its reputation as a cauldron of artistic and political activity.
- Google Translate


What are reserves?
An account reserve is an amount of money that is on hold in your PayPal account to cover potential financial risk such as payment reversals you may receive like chargebacks and claims. PayPal uses three types of reserves: rolling reserves, minimum reserves and jumpstart reserves.
 - A Rolling reserve is a reserve where a percentage of each transaction you receive each day is held and then released later on a scheduled basis. This is the most common type of reserve.
 - A minimum reserve is a specific minimum amount of money that's held in your reserve balance. The minimum reserve is either taken as a percentage of money held until a certain amount has been reached, or a one-time amount.
 - For example, 5% of your daily transaction volume is held until a balance of $5,000 is reached.
 - A Jumpstart reserve is when funds are held from your available balance immediately.
 - For example, if we make the determination to keep a $10K jumpstart reserve and there is $20K in the PayPal account balance, $10K is moved to reserves straight away.
We may also use a combination of a reserve types on your account.
Why does PayPal use reserves?
Reasons for placing reserves
Reserves are a common industry practice. They are used to minimize losses and to create a safer shopping experience. If you would go out of business or would be otherwise incapable of covering your financial obligations, we would still need to pay back the buyer. If a buyer contacts PayPal or their financial institution because they didn't receive what they ordered, we're responsible for making things right. A reserve can be placed on your account for a number of reasons and is set on a case-by-case basis. PayPal considers a list of factors to determine this including:
 - Your processing history with PayPal and other providers
 - Whether your industry has a higher likelihood of chargebacks or refunds
 - Whether your account has an elevated number of customer claims and disputes
 - Your business and/or personal credit history
 - Whether you are selling products or services in advance (preselling orders).
 - Your delivery time frames - whether there are extended delivery timeframes
PayPal will periodically review the account to determine whether the reserve placement and amount needs to be adjusted. Reserves may be eligible for the reduction or removal with positive changes to key areas such as performance, industry, claims reduction, etc.
When will I get my money?
Once a reserve is placed, you will receive communications outlining the terms of your reserve. Your terms are also outlined in your account. When your money will be released depends on what type of reserve you have.
If you have a rolling reserve, the funds will be released after a certain period of time. For example, if you have a 90 day rolling reserve, funds from Day 1 sales will be available on Day 91.
For minimum reserve, reserves are reviewed every 90 days. PayPal proactively reviews reserves and based on improvements to your business performance it is possible that your reserves could be adjusted or removed.
How to prevent reserves from being placed on an account
Reserves may be a necessity throughout your relationship with PayPal. Preventing reserves isn't always possible, and depending on your industry and your credit history, you might never be able to fully remove a reserve from your account.
Seller Best Practices
Some best practices to follow are:
 - Monitor your buyer complaint rates regularly and try to keep complaint rates below 1% of your sales.
You can also access additional information on account reserves by reviewing our Business Resource Center.


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MONITORING LOW LEVELS OF FORMALDEHYDE IN AMBIENT AIR
Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a pungent odor. Formaldehyde levels above 0.1 ppm can cause formaldehyde allergy and acute health problems, e.g. sore throat, skin irritation, nausea, scratchy eyes and cough. Formaldehyde is also classified as highly carcinogenic compound. Exposure to moderate amounts of formaldehyde has been linked to cancer, such as leukemia.
Standalone system with built-in gas exchange system
Easy-to-use one button operation
Portability that enables field use
GASERA ONE FORMALDEHYDE photoacoustic gas analyzer is based on combining ultra sensitive cantilever enhanced photoacoustic detection technology with quantum cascade laser source operating at a Mid-IR fundamental spectral absorption line of formaldehyde. This combination provides enough sensitivity to reliably measure ambient background levels of formaldehyde. It also gives an exceptionally high level of stability with a re-calibration period ranging from several months up to several years, and thus it offers a low total cost of ownership.


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Iron on instructions:
- Set your hand iron at temperature 190 degree Celsius for preheating 5 minutes. DO NOT USE STEAM DURING APPLICATION!
- Place your applique or embroidered patch in the desired position and place a pressing cloth (such as a handkerchief, sheet or pillowcase fabric) over top.
- Press the iron firmly for 25 seconds with a slow circular motion and as much constant pressure as possible
- Turn the garment inside out and repeat steps 2 & 3.
- Allow the applique or embroidered patch to cool down completely.
Care attention: Laundry washing in cold water under 40 degree Celsius with mild detergent


Unilateral Transfer
What is a 'Unilateral Transfer'
A unilateral transfer is an economic transactions between residents of two nations over a stipulated period of time, usually a calendar year. Typically, these transactions consist of gift exchanges, pension payments and the like, but they can encompass other goods and services as well.
BREAKING DOWN 'Unilateral Transfer'
Unilateral transfers are included in the current account of a nation's balance of payments. They are distinct from international trade, encompassing such things as humanitarian aid and payments made by immigrants to their former country of residence.


May 23 2011
Category: Medical Supplies
Power WheelchairsThere are many differences between a power chair and a motorized scooter. The major differences involve indoor vs. outdoor use and the degree of body strength, posture integrity, and walking ability experienced by the user. Price should also be included in the comparison since most power wheelchairs are more expensive than scooters. Power wheelchairs are also more likely to be covered by Medicare and scooters are usually not.
A power wheelchair or electric wheelchair is best used in the home for routine activities of daily living and for getting around from room to room. A power chair is ideal for someone who has very limited mobility and, without the power wheelchair, would not be able to move around without someone helping them most of the time.
A mobility scooter can be used in the home, but it is better for outdoor use, since scooters are usually too large and difficult to maneuver through narrow rooms and small areas. Also, the person who uses a power scooter must be able to support their own body for a long time and be able to steer a handlebar. Scooters are usually for people who have just a slight problem with walking for long periods of time.
Tags:,,,
One Response to "What is the difference between a power wheelchair and a power scooter?"
 1. Angela H. says:
 Nice definition, but I have one caveat.
 A Medicare beneficiary may be eligible to receive a portion of their money back from Medicare when they purchase a scooter. But, in order to qualify, they must have Medicare Part B coverage and they must meet certain medical coverage criteria as determined by their doctor. So, sometimes, a power scooter will be covered by Medicare. It all depends on the individual's needs, the doctor's diagnosis, and Medicare's specific guidelines.
Challenge this Answer and/or Discuss


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I saw on the Simile mailing list recently a thread discussing possible uses of relationships between user-supplied tags in an information system. This idea is intriguing to me. I've long believed we don't use the relationships recorded in our library-land controlled vocabularies in our systems for end-users to anywhere near their potential. A digital library collection I've been involved with demonstrates ways in which we might use these relationships. The methodology used is documented in this paper.
Yet I'd never thought about relationships for folksonomic vocabularies before. I think it's a fantastic idea, however. The same strategies for improving end-user discovery based on term relationships can be used no matter where these relationships come from. Relationships determined by methods such as this could be used in the same way human-generated relationships in a formal thesaurus could be used. I wonder if these relationships might be even more important in a folksonomic environment, as a method by which the vocabulary control us library folk hold so dear could be achieved.


The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist
TheDifferentGirlIn Gordon Dahlquist's new novel The Different Girl, Veronika, Caroline, Isobel and Eleanor are four young girls who live on a small island with their two adult caretakers Irene and Robbert. The girls are completely identical aside from the color of their hair: one is blond, one brunette, one red, and one black. They don't know exactly why they're on the island; all they've been told is that their parents died in a plane crash so Irene and Robbert are raising them there. Each day passes more or less like the last: the girls wake up, do a number of learning exercises under the guidance of the adults, help with meal preparation, and go to bed.
Everything changes when a different girl arrives on the island under mysterious circumstances. She looks different, she speaks differently, she knows and says things the other girls don't understand. Gradually everything begins to change as the four girls learn more about their true nature and their origins.
The best way for you to decide whether you'll enjoy The Different Girl is by reading the long excerpt recently posted on and then decide if you're up for reading another two hundred or so pages in the same style. The excerpt, which comprises the entire first chapter, will give you a good idea of the tone and pace of the novel. More importantly, at the very end of the excerpt you'll get a solid hint of what's really going on. Another hint can actually be found right on the cover. (I love that cover design, by the way, even though the placement of the button is somewhat inaccurate.)
The main problem with The Different Girl is that the entire novel is told from the same, very limited perspective as that opening chapter. While this consistency is in itself admirable, it results in a narrative voice that's incredibly, almost bizarrely monotone. The girls have no frame of reference because they are literally learning how to think on their island. They're being familiarized with basic cognitive processes:
After breakfast we would cross the courtyard to the classroom, but on the way we would take what Irene called a "ten-minute walk." Robbert's building was actually right next door, but we always started our trip to school the same way. This meant we could go anywhere we wanted, pick up anything, think of anything, only we had to be at the classroom in ten minutes, and then we had to talk about what we'd done or where we'd been. Sometimes Irene walked with us, which made it strange when we were back in the classroom, because we'd have to describe what we'd done, even though she'd been with us the entire time. But we learned she was listening to how we said things, not what, and to what we didn't talk about as much as what we did. Which was how we realized that a difference between could and did was a thing all by itself, separate from either one alone, and that we were being taught about things that were invisible.
This frequently leads the girls to insights about consciousness and reasoning that they simply don't have the vocabulary to express:
I was outside of everything they said, like I listened to their stories through a window. I could imagine everything they said—I understood the words, but the understanding happened in me by myself, not in me with them.
Again, it's admirable that Gordon Dahlquist chose to tell this story entirely from the point of view of one of the girls. It's a fascinating thought experiment, and it creates intriguing puzzles and mysteries for the reader to solve. As the story progresses, you'll be able to figure out more about what happened in the past and in the wider world, about the girls, about their two caretakers, and about how they all ended up on the island. Most of this is set in motion with the arrival of the mysterious new girl. As a plot and a backstory it's actually not all that original, so when all's said and done the main attraction of the novel is unfortunately the way it's narrated.
The Different Girl is basically over two hundred pages full of introspection and basic reasoning by a character who barely has a personality. She wonders in detailed but very simplistic language about why everything happens, why she is becoming different, why she stayed somewhere for 90 minutes when she was only told to stay for 45, what this implies, and so on and so forth. She has no frame of reference for anything except for what she's seen on the tiny island that she's been on all her life. All of it reads like a child's attempt to narrate a psychological novel. The best word I can think of to describe this novel's narrative voice is "droning." As a concept it's somewhat interesting, but in practice, much as it pains me to say it, the end result isn't.
As an example: there are little or no metaphors or similes, because the girls don't understand them and haven't been trained to use them. There's actually a point late in the novel where the narrator is confused because one of the adults sometimes describes things differently "from what they actually were," saying things like it's "hot enough to fry an egg," which is hard to comprehend for the girls because there actually aren't any eggs being fried anywhere outside. The entire novel is told this way: no imagination, no humor, no emotion. Of course that's more or less the point of the story and, again, the consistency Dahlquist brings to The Different Girl is commendable, but the end result is simply too dry and boring.
In the novel's Acknowledgments, the author mentions that The Different Girl started out as the libretto for an opera. I could actually see this story working well in that format. A musical, visual version of the events narrated by Veronika would probably have much more impact and could be enchanting if executed well. Unfortunately, as a novel, it's less than successful.
This review was originally published at on February 20th, 2013. (All this time, I somehow forgot to cross-post it to FBR.)
3 Responses to The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist
 1. Redhead says:
 I read his Glass Book of the Dream Eaters years ago, I suppose it's time to give him another try, and this new one sounds delightfully strange.
 2. Becky says:
 I actually quite enjoyed THE DIFFERENT GIRL. I thought the limited narration was clever and didn't find it dry or boring at all. I'm a bit biased because I loved GLASS BOOKS and was definitely excited about this foray into YA for him, but I've got it down as a favorite for this year. I guess it just hit me at the right time in the right mood.
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Alternative Instruction Program
The Alternative Instruction Program (AIP) provides an appropriate educational setting for students with diagnosed learning disabilities and/or attention disorders. While the standard-sized classroom works well for many students, the learning needs of some are better met in a small group environment providing more frequent interaction and closer supervision.
For admission into the AIP, the student must have a recent or updated diagnosis of a learning disability and/or attention disorder. Other data will also be taken into consideration as part of the admissions process such as standardized test scores, academic ability, observations, input from classroom teachers, work samples, and emotional or behavioral factors. Student progress in AIP is assessed regularly to ensure that enrollment in the program adequately meets the student's educational needs.


Skip to definition.
Noun: conjurer kón-ju-ru(r) or kún-ju-ru(r) [N. Amer], kún-ju-ru(r) [Brit]
 1. Someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience
 - magician, prestidigitator, conjuror, illusionist
 2. A witch doctor who practices conjury
 - conjuror, conjure man
Derived forms: conjurers
Type of: performer, performing artist, witch doctor
Encyclopedia: Conjurer


Scientists create fully electronic 2-D spin transistors
Nanowerk September 17, 2019 Using gold electrodes, researchers in the Netherlands were able to send a pure charge current through graphene and generate a spin current, referred to as the Rashba-Edelstein effect. This happens due to the interaction with the heavy atoms of the TMD monolayer (in this case, tungsten disulfide). The charge current induces a spin current in the graphene, which they could measure with spin-selective ferromagnetic cobalt electrodes. The charge-to-spin conversion makes it possible to build all-electrical spin circuits with graphene. They showed that the efficiency of the generation of the spin accumulation can be tuned by the […]


The Journal of Economic History
City-Farm Wage Gaps in Late Nineteenth-Century France
Pierre Sicsica1
a1 Centre de Recherche of the Banque de France, 39 rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, 75001 Paris, France.
Wage gaps between farm and city are used to assess whether industrialization in late nineteenth-century France was choked off by peasants' alleged reluctance to move. If industry suffered due to labor scarcity, wage gaps should have been large and rising. It turns out that the wage gap, when adjusted for costs of living and computed as an average of 20 regional wage gaps, was nil in 1852 and about 25 percent in 1892. Thus wage gaps were rising but were far smaller throughout the late nineteenth century than they were in England during similar stages of industrialization.


Which are the Rarest Dog Breeds in the World? VOSD
The rarest dog breeds in the world
The Rarest Dog Breeds in the World
For a long time, people have been absolutely fascinated by different breeds of dog, especially unique dog breeds. While we are still trying to figure out what the rarest dog breed is (we think it's the New Guinea Singing Dog), dog breeds rarely make the news these days for being one of a kind. In a way, the focus on breeding can cause medical issues because of unethical methods, inbreeding, and bad treatment meted out to dogs in puppy mills. But it still helps to know about ancient and rare dogs to understand the rich and diverse history of the canine species.
We talked about the new guinea singing dog here, and the fascinating story behind its rediscovery. But people have been breeding dogs for centuries, and now there are certain breeds that have become rare dogs and hard to spot. We give you the lowdown on some unique dog breeds here. Take a journey with us to understand rare Ridgebacks, Sighthounds, Spaniels, Terriers, and other cool dog breeds.
The Basenji actually looks very much like an Indian breed of dog! It is one of the most ancient breed of dog, originating in the Congo. The Basenji was used for hunting. It is named after the original pygmy tribes that bred and raised them. One of the most interesting facts about the Basenji is that it has maintained certain "primitive" characteristics, like being unable to bark. Colonisers from England (where else?) were interested in bringing the dog and widening its gene pool to England, but they were unsuccessful for a long time because all the dogs started to suffer from distemper.
Basenjis have short coats, are of medium height, and are lean. They are extremely active (usefulf for hunting) and need to be physically and mentally stimulated often. They can be stern and aggressive. (source: _URL_
Bedlington terrier
This adorable and distinctive breed of dog is originally from Northumberland, in the English countryside. These terriers look like lambs, with a curved back and a gentle face. They love to run around and play, but are also gentle and sweet in disposition. Bedlington terriers were the possible result of crossing a few other breeds – the Rothbury terrier, the Dinmont terrier and the Whippet. Bedlingtons are some of the cutest dogs in the world and have been bred since 1825. They are popular in dog shows. Bedlingtons have been used for dog sports, dog racing, and to hunt for vermin like rats, mice, rabbits, small foxes, and other pests that are considered harmful to farms.
Tibetan mastiff
One of the most interesting histories belongs to the Tibetan Mastiff. These large, hairy, shaggy dogs with somber faces may have originated anywhere, but somehow ended up in Central Asia after traveling with invading armies. According to petfinder, there has been evidence of the existence of these rare dogs from as far back as 1100 BC, which is really cool! They could have also come to China with the legendary invader, Gengis Khan, or even Attila the Hun.
Tibetan mastiffs then ended up in Tibet, near the Himalayas, and became effective guard dogs for the mountain folk. During British Raj, the Viceroy of India is said to have gifted Queen Victoria with a Tibetan Mastiff.
This Mastiff is large and thick, and has a double coat that allows it to endure extreme weather conditions from cold to warm. They are quiet and reserved dogs but can be friendly towards their families, human or otherwise.
Related Article – Know Your Indian Dog Breeds
Thai ridgeback
Firstly, a ridge on the back of a dog is a line of hair that grows against the general direction of the rest of the hair on a dog's body. The Rhodesian Ridgeback has this feature and is more well known than the Thai Ridgeback. The Thai Ridgeback possibly originated in Thailand, as the name suggests, and is said to have been bred on the Asian island in the 17th century. They are medium-sized dogs with short, dark hair, and are very agile and athletic. They have a skinny, upward-curving tail. The Thai Ridgeback is great for guarding and hunting due to its athletic nature. It is one of the more rare breeds of dogs in the world.
Lagotto Romagnolo
This little cutie is super-rare and one of the best known Italian breeds of dogs in the world. The Lagotto Romagnolo is also known as the Italian Water Dog and was bred to hunt for waterfowl in the marshlands of Italy (specifically Romagna). They are hairy with thick coats, and have an extremely keen sense of smell. Today, they are used to spot truffle for Italian restaurants! They are small (growing up to a height of about 15 cms). An interesting fact: Lagotto Romagnolos might have been around for centuries, and are found in a few Italian paintings. Could they have been a part of Italian royal families? Hopefully someone will find this out for us!
Norwegian lundehund
The catchily named Norwegian Lundehund is a type of Spitz, and is medium sized. These dogs are found in Norway. "Lundehund" means "puffin hound" or "puffin dog". They are flexible, agile, and clever dogs, able to climb into the ridges of cliffs and caves in Norway to hunt for puffin birds. How are these dogs adapted to this role you might ask? The Norwegian Lundehunds have some evolutionary genetic traits that allow this to be possible – they have two extra toes (one on each foot) and are so flexible they can flex or bend their head in order to touch their back. The Lundehunds are highly independent dogs, and could be difficult to train. They also have two less teeth than other dogs.
New guinea singing dog
We already spoke about the return of the New Guinea Singing Dog here, and yes – they might be making a comeback. These dogs are known for their distinctive "singing" sound and the way they synchronize with other dogs from their pack. Efforts have always been made to breed these dogs in captivity, but now there are signs that they might be around and thriving in the wild! It is closely related to the Australian dingo, and is considered one of the most unique dog breeds in the world.
Czechoslovakian wolfdog
Bear with us while we try to pronounce this mouthful. The Czechoslovakian wolfdog is a beautiful, graceful dog that looks like a wolf, with grey fur and light eyes. They make great guard dogs, and are strong, agile, and intelligent. The breed is relatively new, having been bred in the 1950s to guard the Czechoslovakian border. They are now imported to the United States for similar border patrol duties and other active roles.
These sighthounds look like proper royalty, with their tall, lean, and dignified presence. They are thin dogs, and have high back and long legs. The Azawakh originated in West Africa, in the Azawagh Valley near the Sahara desert. The Azawakh was bred by nomadic tribes and has been around for many centuries. These tall dogs can grow up to a height of 75 cm and look regal when they hunt or walk or do anything, really. The Azawakh is dark brown or fawn in colour, with a white belly. But they or their cousins, are seen around Africa in different colours as well. The Azawakh is also related to the Basenji (see above) and pariah dogs from the African continent.
Bergamasco shepherd
Another Italian breed, the Bergamasco Shepherd dog is one of those beautiful breeds that resemble sheep. They are, as a result, used to guard flocks of sheep and can often disappear into that role! They are medium sized dogs with fur that becomes matted up into clumps. These Shepherd dogs are muscular and broad, and are strong enough to withstand cold winters. These rare dogs are related to German Shepherds, and could have originated in the 1800s, in order to perform herding tasks.
Brazilian mastiff/ fila brasileiro
The Fila Brasiliero is one of the largest dog breeds in the world. They are huge, energetic, and make great guard dogs. It is likely that they were bred from Bloodhounds, the English Mastiffs, and Bulldogs in the 17th century. Brazilian Mastiffs are banned in several countries because of their potential aggressive nature, but just like all dogs, early socialization can help the dog get along with humans and other dogs. They are mostly found in Brazil and can be brown, fawn, or black in colour. They are suitable to large, open spaces. These dogs are instinctively guarded and wary, so it might take a while to socialize them.
There you go! Some of the world's rarest breeds in the world are definitely also the most fascinating. It's strange to think that many of them might not exist in a few years, which is why it's important to conserve their genetic traits (without inbreeding and other unethical methods). Still, as they say, "adopt don't shop" and if you come across these rare breeds and want one, don't purchase


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Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Wafer Thins
The Art of Chocolate
Sussex / England
Lizzie's work is grounded in process and a direct relationship with materials. Based in Sussex, the artist plays with form, colour and space, to build compositions. Her work reflects the immediate and tangible experience of cutting and arranging paper - screen-printing, looking and then adding the next layer or shape. Lizzie builds her abstract compositions piece-by-piece and makes intuitive decisions along the way, striking a balance between the precise yet improvised.


Nihon Shoki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A page from the Heian period
''Nihon Shoki'' (日本書紀 Nihon shoki?, The Chronicles of Japan), also known as the Nihongi (日本紀?), is an early book about the history of Japan up to 720 A.D.[1] It is one of the national history books which are together called the Rikkokushi.[2]
History[change | change source]
Nihon Shoki is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It includes details that are not in the Kojiki, which is the oldest historical record of ancient Japan.[1]
This book is important to people who study the history of Japan because it has information about the early rulers not found in other books.[3]
Dates in the Nihon Shoki before the late 7th century were likely recorded using the Genka calendar system.[4]
Related pages[change | change source]
References[change | change source]
 1. 1.0 1.1 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Shoki" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 709.
 2. "Rikkokushi" at pp. 789-790.
 3. Aston, William George. (1896). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD 697, pp. xiii-xvi.
 4. Barnes, Gina Lee. (2007). State Formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-Century Ruling Elite, p. 226 n.5.
Further reading[change | change source]
 - Sakamoto, Tarō. (1991). The Six National Histories of Japan (tr. John S. Brownlee). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.


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The wick has always been the most important part
of the candle, even when centuries ago the candle wick was just a piece of reed
stuck into a bowl of tallow. Today wicks are made from cotton fibers woven
together, which come in various sizes and types.
As the wick is lit, the melted wax is drawn up
through the fibers to create a lasting flame. When making a taper candle, the
wick is the core support of the candle, as it's dipped over and over again into
Often times, when your candle doesn't burn
correctly it's because the wick is not the right size, so choosing the right
wick is important. There are three basic wicks we're going to take a look
at, Flat braid, Square Braid and Cored.
Flat Braids, are used mostly for small
diameter pillar candles, beeswax rolled sheets and tapers. They are made by
weaving together three strands of cotton together and are measured in plies per
strand. The larger the ply, the larger the melt pool and the faster the burn.
Square Braids, can be used for beeswax
candles, large diameter pillars and novelty candles. They range in sizes by
numbers (from 1 - 10 ). The number you choose depends on the diameter of
Cored Wicks have a piece of metal that
runs through the cotton wick to provide support, often times this type of wick
is used in votives.
To choose the right size wick for your project
be sure to read Types of Wicks and Uses.