text:
To check the specific gravity of the electrolyte, it is possible to use a hydrometer (also called an "aerometer") or a digital density meter (also called a "digital hydrometer").
Using a hydrometer
A lead acid battery hydrometer is a special type of hydrometer which looks like a syringe with a bulb. Inside the bulb there is a float which is calibrated for measuring the Specific Gravity (SG). To use the hydrometer, you suck some of the battery acid (H2SO4) out of the battery up into the bulb and read off the value indicated by the float floating in the sample.
Using a digital density meter
A digital density meter (sometimes called a digital hydrometer) can be used to measure the specific gravity of the sulfuric acid electrolyte as long as the measuring cell withstands aggressive acids. The result is typically converted into the right temperature and displayed in the desired unit like SG (Specific Gravity) 80/80 on the digital display.
Density meters (or digital hydrometers) have some advantages over hydrometers: As well as being quicker and giving the result on a digital display already converted to the temperature, cleaning is simpler. Between measurements with a digital density meter cleaning of the cell is not required because the samples are similar, only a rinsing prior to the next measurement is performed. Density measurement on a density meter only requires handling of a small volume of 2 mL.
By following a few simple guidelines it is possible to ensure good density measurement results.


Simple Variable Declarations
Simple Variable Declarations
The declaration of a simple variable, the simplest form of a direct declarator, specifies the variable's name and type. It also specifies the variable's storage class and data type.
Storage classes or types (or both) are required on variable declarations. Untyped variables (such as var;) generate warnings.
declarator :
pointer opt direct-declarator
direct-declarator :
identifier :
identifier nondigit
identifier digit
For arithmetic, structure, union, enumerations, and void types, and for types represented by typedef names, simple declarators can be used in a declaration since the type specifier supplies all the typing information. Pointer, array, and function types require more complicated declarators.
You can use a list of identifiers separated by commas (,) to specify several variables in the same declaration. All variables defined in the declaration have the same base type. For example:
int x, y; /* Declares two simple variables of type int */
int const z = 1; /* Declares a constant value of type int */
The variables x and y can hold any value in the set defined by the int type for a particular implementation. The simple object z is initialized to the value 1 and is not modifiable.
If the declaration of z was for an uninitialized static variable or was at file scope, it would receive an initial value of 0, and that value would be unmodifiable.
unsigned long reply, flag; /* Declares two variables
 named reply and flag */
In this example, both the variables, reply and flag, have unsigned long type and hold unsigned integral values.
© 2015 Microsoft


text:
I was reading Historical Linguistics by Larry Trask Revised by Robert McColl (Chapter I, The fact of language change - Topic: Attitudes to language change) and came across an unfamiliar phrase:
Veins bulging purply from their foreheads
I've never heard it and searching it on Google didn't help.
Here's the paragraph:
This curious (to us) construction was the only possibility in the eighteenth century, and when a few innovating speakers began to say things like My house is being painted, the linguistic conservatives of the day could not contain their fury. Veins bulging purply from their foreheads, they attacked the new construction as 'clumsy', 'illogical', 'confusing' and 'monstrous'. But their efforts were in vain. Today all those who objected to the 'illogical' and 'monstrous' new form are long dead and the traditional form they defended with such passion is dead with them.
Trask was talking about old grammatical constructions that are no longer in use. But the emboldened phrase wasn't one of those constructions. Does anyone know what it means?

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
the two photons. The photons are distributed over a
multitude of transverse positions. For a contact interaction
the interaction leads to a non-zero phase only if the two photons happen to be at exactly the same position (the diagonal
line x1 = x2in the figure), see Eq. (6). The probability of this
occurring is infinitesimal. As a consequence, the effective output phase φ defined by Eq. (7) is always zero, independently
of the strength of the interaction.
where again t has to be large enough such that the
two counter-propagating wave packets are well separated
again after having interacted. One can define the fidelity
F and effective phase φ of the two-photon operation by
projecting the actual output state onto the output state
that one would obtain in the absence of any interaction,
ψ0(x1,x2,t) = f1(z1− vt,xT,1)f2(z2+ vt,xT,2), i.e. one
For Eq. (6) one sees that the interaction-induced phase
is non-zero only if the transverse coordinates of the two
photons coincide, i.e. on a subset of configuration space
that has measure zero, see Fig. 1. As a consequence,
the output state is in fact indistinguishable from ψ0, i.e.
one has F = 1 and φ = 0. In the case of an ideal delta
function potential the effective output phase is exactly
zero, no matter how strong the interaction between the
two photons. This is closely related to the results of Refs.
[7, 12] for the one-dimensional, but co-propagating case.
Note that this result is compatible with a non-zero phase
for classical fields (i.e. large-amplitude coherent states),
which corresponds approximately to replacing the field
operators by classical field functions in Eq. (3), cf. Refs.
[16, 17]. Let us also note that while the delta function
potential is of course an idealization, one finds essentially equivalent results for any interaction whose range is
much shorter than the transversesize of the wave packets.
These results imply that there is little hope for the realization of high-fidelity photon-photon gates due to Kerr
non-linearities in bulk crystals, for example. (See below
for potential solutions based on strong confinement.)
Dipole-dipole interaction. We now show that related
0.00 0.05 0.100.15
FIG. 2: Schematic setup for a photon-photon gate working
with counter-propagating single photon pulses in a medium
under EIT conditions. The pulses interact with each other
through the dipole-dipole force between the Rydberg states
|di?. The inset shows the relevant energy levels of the atoms.
The pulses collide head-on, but they have a transverse extent σ. This leads to a dependence of the interaction-induced
phase for the two-particle wave function on the relative transverse position, resulting in a trade-off between the effective
phase φ of the two-photon operation and its fidelity F. Only
very small phases are compatible with high fidelities.
(though not identical) difficulties arise also for more longrange interactions. This can be seen from our second example, which is motivated by Refs. [11, 18]. It concerns
the interaction between polaritons whose atomic component is in a highly excited Rydberg state in an external
electric field, cf. Fig. 2. This induces a dipole-dipole
interaction between the polaritons,
∆(x1− x2) = C(1 − 3cos2ϑ)/|x1− x2|3,
where C depends on the specific Rydberg states used
and ϑ is the angle between x1−x2and the external field
(along which the electric dipoles of the Rydberg states are
aligned). This is an attractive system because Rydberg
states have large dipole moments, leading to potentially
very strong interactions between the polaritons.
We first consider the case where the external field is
perpendicular to the direction of motion. Using Eq. (4)
as before, the output two-particle wave function is now
ψ(x1,x2,t) = f1(z1− vt,xT,1)f2(z2+ vt,xT,2)
where in the limit of well separated pulses before and
after the interaction, and setting z = z1− z2− 2vt and
xT = xT,1− xT,2, the phase is given by
1 −z3+ 2zx2
By calculating the overlap between ψ and the twoparticle function without interaction ψ0 one can again
determine both the fidelity F and the effective phase φ
0.00.5 1.0 1.52.02.5 3.0
FIG. 3: Introducing a transverse separation between the two
pulses greatly relaxes the trade-off between F and φ, such that
a phase of order π becomes compatible with high F. The dimensionless separation R is defined as
that the interaction strength has to be increased significantly
in order to compensate for the transverse separation.
σ. The price to pay is
for the two-photon operation. For simplicity, in our numerical calculations we consider Gaussian wave packets
of size σ in all spatial dimensions, however our results
do not strongly depend on the size or shape of the wave
packets (note that the dipole interaction has no characteristic length). Since the interaction-induced phase depends on the transverse relative position, increasing the
interaction strength increases the effective output phase
φ, but diminishes the output fidelity F. This leads to
a trade-off between F and φ, see Fig.
phase shifts of order π are completely out of reach if
one wants to achieve high fidelities. Note that most of
the behavior shown in Fig. 2 can be understood by just
considering the first term in Eq. (10), i.e. by setting
tial point is the dependence of the phase on the relative
We briefly comment on the situation when the external field is parallel to the z axis. In this case one finds,
under the same conditions and using the same notation
as above, ϕ(z,xT) =
tion of z. As a consequence, for Gaussian wave packets
the effective overall phase φ is always zero in this case,
independently of the interaction strength. This is in contrast with the results of Ref., where the transverse
degrees of freedom were integrated out from the interacPotential solutions - Transverse separation. We have
seen that the transverse multi-mode character of the
quantum fields, which leads to a transverse relative position dependence of the interaction-induced phase shifts,
has very significant consequences for the fidelity and
phase achievable in photon-photon gates. We will now
discuss two potential solutions for this problem.
first is applicable only to the case of long-range inter-
(xT,1−xT,2)2. The essen-
2, which is an odd funcactions. It consists in separating the paths of the two
photons by a transverse distance D that is much greater
than the transverse size of their wave packets σ.
this case one approaches a situation where the transverse degrees of freedom of the photons can effectively
be treated as point-like. As a consequence, the effect
studied here becomes negligible. This is shown in Fig.
3. The price to pay is that even for dipole-dipole interactions the interaction-induced phase decreases quickly
as the transverse separation is increased. To create the
conditional phase shift of π with a fidelity F ≃ 0.9, for
example, one has to work with R =D
to the parameters proposed in Ref., one would then
have to increase the principal number of the Rydberg
state from n ≃ 25 to n ≃ 75 (note that C ∝ n4), while
reducing the transverse dimension of the pulses from 30
µm to 9 µm, assuming that the group velocity is kept the
same (4 m/s).
Potential solutions - Strong transverse confinement.
The second potential solution, which is applicable both to
short-range and long-range interactions, consists in imposing strong transverse confinement. This corresponds
to adding a transverse potential in Eq.
to the virial theorem, the confinement energy (or more
precisely, frequency) can be estimated from the transverse kinetic term in Eq. (1) and the transverse width σ
of the confined wave function to be of order ωc ≈
In particular this gives the (approximate) energy separation between the lowest confined state and the first
excited state. If the confinement is much stronger than
the interaction, i.e. if ωc ≫ α, where α is the typical
magnitude of the interaction operator ˆ α in Eq. (1) for
the relevant quantum states, then the probability for the
photons to be excited to a transverse excited state is only
of order (α
tions the solutions Eq. (3) and Eq. (4) are no


text:
Macrophages mediate atheroma expansion and disruption, and denote high-risk arterial plaques. Therefore, they are substantially gaining importance as a diagnostic imaging target for the detection of rupture-prone plaques. Here, we developed an injectable near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) probe by chemically conjugating thiolated glycol chitosan with cholesteryl chloroformate, NIRF dye (cyanine 5.5 or 7), and maleimide-polyethylene glycol-mannose as mannose receptor binding ligands to specifically target a subset of macrophages abundant in high-risk plaques. This probe showed high affinity to mannose receptors, low toxicity, and allowed the direct visualization of plaque macrophages in murine carotid atheroma. After the scale-up of the MMR-NIRF probe, the administration of the probe facilitated in vivo intravascular imaging of plaque inflammation in coronary-sized vessels of atheromatous rabbits using a custom-built dual-modal optical coherence tomography (OCT)-NIRF catheter-based imaging system. This novel imaging approach represents a potential imaging strategy enabling the identification of high-risk plaques in vivo and holds promise for future clinical implications.
ASJC Scopus subject areas


Summer temperatures trigger mosquito tsunami in Cyprus
killing mosquitoes, Cyprus, spray for mosquitoes, malaria, biological products, insecticides
As the summer temperatures in Cyprus rise, the activity of mosquitoes rises with it. In this article, we take a look at how to treat your home and surrounding areas to kill mosquitoes using organic products to clean drains, garbage skips and other likely sources of mosquito growth.
About Mosquitoes
Mosquitοes are members of the Culicidae fly family with over 3,500 species around the world. While males eat pollen and nectar, the females of many mosquito species eat blood, typically from animals and humans. The process of eating blood involves piercing the skin through a proboscis and sucking blood into the mosquito's abdomen. Part of this process also involves expelling the residue of previous meals. This is the main threat by which diseases caused by mosquitoes are transmitted, such as malaria.
Mosquito eggs are laid on a water or liquid surface. This typically requires a pool of stagnant water, but it can also include vegetation whichis frequently watered; salt lakes; garbage dumps or skips; swimming pools which are not properly treated; and other similar environments.
Key requirements for mosquito growth are humidity and temperature. As humidity and temperature rise in Cyprus, the environment for mosquito birth and growth becomes more suitable.
Some factors that attract mosquitoes include:
 - Movement: mosquitoes can spot movement from up to 10 meters away
 - Humidity and sweat: humid environments, or human perspiration, attract mosquitoes
 - Carbon dioxide: when you exhale, you expel carbon dioxide which attracts mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes can travel over long distances and fly up to 25 feet in height; certain Asian species can fly over 40 feet high.
Mosquitoes are important vectors for disease. Cyprus, for instance, had many cases of malaria until the British administration began spraying DDT in large quantities in the 1950s. In Greece, malaria has been reported around Marathon (site of protected wetlands) as well as in Laconia, Larissa and Biotia.
How to Control Mosquitoes
The most important step to take is to ensure that your immediate environment has been properly cleaned and treated. As temperatures rise, garbage in garbage bins, or stagnant water pools attract mosquitos to lay their eggs and grow in population. If these areas are not cleaned regularly, they become a haven for mosquitoes and vectors for diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, encephalitis and other diseases.
A. Constantinou has a range of biological productsideally suited to killing mosquitoes by cleaning garbage skips, stagnant pools of water and other breeding grounds. Our organic products range include sprays such as DeepClean MultiF, Freshen Plus or liquid solutions such as Biofree, which is ideal for stagnant waters. The characteristics of these products include:
 - Deep Clean Multi F is a liquid biological spray that kills the organic matter that mosquitoes feed on. This is ideal for cleaning dumpsters, garbage bins and skips, and other areas where mosquitoes breed, as well as odours that attract mosquitoes. Carbon dioxide is released by the degredation of organic matter in garbage bins and skips: Deep Clean Multi F is an ideal solution for killing mosquitoes.
 - Freshen Plus isan innovative spray for odour control in and around the household,It provides a powerful combination of a fast-acting neutralizer for immediate odour relief, degrading organic matter in stagnant water and garbage bins.
 - BioFree is a liquid biological product that breaks down organic matter in stagnant water. Adding BioFree to stagnant rainwater, rivers and ponds, abandoned swimming pools, sewage lines and pumping stations, and other water traps eliminates the organic matter that mosquitoes eat.
These three anti-mosquito products are long-lasting: rather than treating the symptom of the problem, they treat the root cause by depriving mosquitoes of sustenance. Using these products avoids the creation of bedbugs by killing the mosquito population.
A. Constantinou provides professional services in Cyprus and internationally, including site visits, for hotels, restaurants, hospitals, food processing plants and other clients that are affected by or are nearby mosquito-infested areas.
Please contact us to learn more about our products. Customers can order DeepCleanMultiF, Freshen Plus and BioFree for delivery in Cyprus or can visit our offices in Larnaca to view our products.
Tel. +357-24-638-486
Email: [email protected]
Recommended Links:
American Mosquito Control Association


text:
How to administer a survey at MIT
Often, MIT IR is approached by a student group or an office on campus who would like to administer a survey. The following is intended to assist those wishing to implement a survey efficiently and productively use their time and resources.
When designing or planning a survey, the most important step is to clearly define the question to be answered by the survey results. A survey is most effective if its purpose can be clearly and succinctly stated. Surveys with vague or overly-broad motivations can become too lengthy or difficult to analyze. Also, a survey may not be the best way to answer your question; focus groups are an example of another research method that may be useful in certain contexts.
Once a target question or topic has been identified, we suggest reviewing existing information to see if it is possible to answer your question using data that has already been collected by another office or by the answers to questions on existing surveys. At this point in the process, we encourage you to contact our office for a consultation. We are happy to discuss how the data we have collected may be able to answer your question or to give you feedback on your survey. Also, if you do find that your question could be answered by an analysis of existing survey data (a particular question broken out by gender, for example), we welcome specific requests for data.
In general, the following list provides a rough guide of the survey process:
1. Authoring survey and creating the population profile
2. Designing incentives (optional)
3. Launching survey
4. Sending out invitations and reminders
5. Collecting the data
If your question cannot be answered by existing sources of data, there are multiple options for using a survey to answer your question. We encourage you to come to us for advice on which option best suits your needs.
Administer the survey yourself. Commercial tools, (e.g., SurveyMonkey) can allow you to create and host a survey yourself.
Have IR administer and host the survey for you. Subject to our availability and existing survey schedule, we may be able to assist you with the design of a survey and then host and administer it for you. This service may be subject to a fee.
Include your questions on a survey already scheduled for administration. In the past, constituencies on campus have appended a limited number of targeted questions to surveys administered to various MIT populations by IR. In these circumstances, IR maintains editorial rights and the right to refuse questions.
Regardless of which option you choose, we are always happy to help you form your survey questions.
Depending upon the population and the topic of your survey, we suggest considering the following issues:
Before administering a survey to a population, and therefore emailing a large segment of that population, it is important to notify and get permission from the senior officer responsible for that population.
For Undergraduate students, that would be the Dean for Undergraduate Education, the Dean for Student Life, or the Chancellor
For Graduate students, the Dean for Graduate Education or the Chancellor
For Post-Docs, the Vice President for Research
For Faculty, the Chair of the Faculty or the Provost
For Staff, the Vice President for Human Resources, the Executive Vice President and Treasurer, or the Vice President for Institute Affairs
Anonymity and Confidentiality
There are different types of surveys: polls that ask for respondents to give input for the planning of an event, a data collection asking respondents to provide information to update their records, or engagement surveys that seek to gauge respondents' attitudes toward a set of topics. Depending upon the type of survey and the subject matter, it is important to determine whether the survey should be anonymous, confidential, or neither.
Anonymous: It is difficult to guarantee anonymity. Many survey platforms log IP addresses, and many individuals can be uniquely identified by a combination of demographic data points that are commonly asked on surveys.. For example, if the combination of age, gender, ethnicity and major would allow the surveyor to know the identity of a specific individual, then the survey does not meet the standard of being anonymous. A downside to an anonymous survey is that it is difficult to restrict the responses to be one per individual. However, for sensitive subject matters, anonymity may yield more honest responses.
Confidential: In MIT Institutional Research, we most often conduct surveys that are confidential but not anonymous. We tend to authenticate our surveys (i.e. we know who is answering using unique links) and maintain some basic identifying information along with the responses. This allows us to analyze responses along a variety of demographic factors, but also gives us the responsibility of guarding sensitive information.
If the administrator of a survey promises or implies that the responses will be treated as confidential that means that the results are confidential to the research team; i.e., the results should never be reported at a level of granularity that would allow someone outside the research team to infer the identity of an individual. In no cases should individual survey responses be shared with a supervisor, an advisor, or anyone who is not part of the research team. Whenever possible identifiers should be separated from the dataset.
There will be cases where the research team includes people in authority or people who have a relationship with individuals being surveyed, such as the personnel administrator for a department or a housemaster. In these cases, it must be made very clear to those invited to take the survey who will have access to the individual responses
Occasionally, existing datasets will be requested for uses beyond the original intent of a survey. For example, a senior officer may want to have additional analysis done on a particular topic or an academic researcher may want to use data collected in a survey for their research. In these cases, the analyst will be bound by the same confidentiality requirements as the original team.
Depending upon the population and needs of your survey, it may be desirable to offer incentives to survey respondents. Two guidelines to consider are that the incentives must be positive (i.e. no negative consequences for non-respondents) and should be relevant to the topic of the survey (e.g., if you are conducting a transportation survey with the purpose of encouraging public transit, free parking passes would not be an appropriate incentive).
Research with Human Subjects
If you or anyone working with the data will be analyzing data that identifies individual respondents, either by name, email address, MIT ID number, or other unique personal information, then those staff members working with the data will need to complete COUHES (Council on the Use of Human Experimental Subjects) training prior to handing sensitive data. This training can be done from any computer with MIT certificates enabled from the URL: _URL_
If the data are to be gathered and used as part of an academic research project, the project will need to be formally cleared with COUHES to ensure that it meets their requirements. If the data are to be used for administrative purposes, it may be exempt from a formal review by COUHES, but the survey must be voluntary and the results kept confidential. Please consult with IR if you have any questions about COUHES requirements.
Testing the survey
It is useful to convene a small group from the population(s) you intend to survey to have them test the survey and survey questions. This can help gauge how the questions you have written will be perceived and answered, and whether the survey is too long or complicated.
Sample vs. Census
When planning a survey, it is important to decide if you will need to administer the survey to an entire population (all MIT seniors, for example), i.e. a census, or to a sample of the population (200 randomly-chosen MIT seniors). This choice can largely be informed by how you want to analyze the results. If you are interested in broad measures, such as overall satisfaction, a sample may suffice. If, however, you want to answer questions about students in Math versus students in Chemistry, you may need a larger sample or a census in order to net enough respondents for your analysis.
Small cell size
It is important to make sure that you do not report results for very small groups of people. For example, if your intended report would break out responses by department, but only 4 people responded from one department, then reporting those responses could jeopardize the privacy of those respondents' answers. IR only reports summary results and uses the standard practice of only reporting cell sizes of 5 or greater.
Representative sample size
While a sample needs to be large enough to protect the privacy of the respondents (see above), it should also be large enough for your results to be considered representative. If you are interested in the responses of women in Math, and you only receive 5 responses from women in Math, (out of 20 women in Math, for example) you could not report with confidence that their summary responses as representative of all women in Math. To calculate the minimum sample size to be considered representative within a given margin of error, visit: _URL_
Keep it simple
The simpler and shorter a survey, the more likely respondents are to answer all questions and answer them honestly. Longer, more complex surveys can annoy respondents and cause them to abandon the survey part-way or begin to pick arbitrary answers to speed to the end. Also, only ask questions that you need and intend to report.
Once you have finished gathering your data, please consider archiving the survey instrument, administration details, and record-level responses with IR. IR maintains a secure server for MIT data and repots, and will be glad to archive data collected at MIT. This can be especially helpful, for example, when a student groups changes leadership. If that student group administers a survey and does not archive the data, the results can be lost instead of used to inform future decision making.
Reporting and Analyzing Results
After you have collected the responses to your survey, it will be necessary


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Date: 25 Jan 2021, Entry id: _PHONE_-2
Healthy Plants: Q&A from Mr Booster
How to get Canistel tree to produce
without dropping flowers and fruit
Q: My Canistel tree is 3 1/2 years old and is growing very well, see the picture below. It gets hundreds of pea sized "berries" but then they fall off. No canistel fruit. What's wrong?
A: You have such a nice looking tree, it is a shame you can't get any fruit to ripen.
In our experience, Pouteria trees dropping fruit prematurely is a very common problem. There may be one of the following reasons, or a combination of them:
- Cold winters may affect production, and while Canistel is generally pretty hardy tropical plant that can easily withstand short periods of chill, the fruit may never form properly if it had a cold winter.
- Lack of water. Canistel tree is pretty drought tolerant, but for the proper production cycle it needs regular irrigation. Especially during hot summer.
- The tree may be not strong enough; young trees drop fruit very often when they don't have enough "fruiting energy" built up in their system.
Your tree looks well established and vigorous, however, flower/fruit drop is often a sign of insufficient nutrients of particular kind, usually Boron (B) and/or Molybdenum (Mo): either when a tree is too young and not strong enough, or because of poor soils and lack of necessary elements.
Here is what can be done, considering you live in a warm, frost-free climate.
1. Provide regular fertilizing program. We recommend liquid fertilizers Sunshine Boosters that are safe to use with every watering and year around. It is beneficial to switch plants from traditional "slow-release" fertilizer to the liquid one because it makes a huge difference in plant growth and flower/fruit quality and quantity. See also:
- Why liquid fertilizers are better than dry
Article about benefits of liquid fertilizers.
Use this plant food for your Canistel tree:
SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Nutrition Booster
2. Apply micro-element remedies that are very effective for improving fruit production, especially when flower or fruit drop occurs:
SUNSHINE Honey - promotes more efficient blossoming and pollination, makes flowers bigger and reduces bud drop.
SUNSHINE SuperFood - improves plant vigor and quality and size of flowers These are all natural, eco-friendly supplements that work great for fruit trees and other edibles.
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text:
Darkness to Light empowers adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. These free online trainings are designed for organizations that serve youth and individuals concerned about safety of children.
CAPS wants to train 100 Adults in Darkness to Light trainings in 100 days! There are four events throughout the month of April that provide exceptional training. The courses include:


text:
Bill Clancey (Chief Scientist, Human-Centered Computing) has been selected for Fellow status in the Association of Psychological Science (APS) in recognition of his sustained and outstanding contributions to the advancement of psychological science.
Clancey has been active in cognitive science since the 1970s. His journal articles include "Heuristic classification," "Simulating activities: Relating motives, deliberation, and attentive coordination," "Roles for agent assistants in field science: Understanding personal projects and collaboration," and "Automating CAPCOM: Pragmatic operations and technology research for human exploration of Mars." His seven books include Situated Cognition: On Human Knowledge and Computer Representations and (in review) Voyages of Scientific Discovery with the Mars Exploration Rovers.
BACKGROUND: APS is a professional international organization dedicated to increasing support for psychological research and the use of science-based psychology in the development of public policy. The APS seeks today to promote convergence of schools of thought—including studies of people in the social world, mental systems of cognition and emotion, and biological mechanisms—to yield an integrated psychological science.
NASA PROGRAM FUNDING: JSC-ARC ITA; V&VFCS/Aviation Safety Program
Contact: William J. Clancey


text:
Packing for the Moon: New Software Aims to Track Supplies
This graphic shows a series of destination nodes within an interplanetary supply chain.
CREDIT: MIT Space Logistics Program
If an outhouse on the Moon ran out of toilet paper, an intrepid settler might have to waddle about 240,000 miles to get a fresh roll back on Earth.
To make sure that doesn't happen, scientists have developed a software tool that tracks and ensures a reliable stream of necessities from the Earth to the Moon.
Released this month, the computer model, called SpaceNet 1.3, will be critical, say the scientists, for establishing a human presence on the Moon by 2020, as laid out in the space vision by President George W. Bush in 2004.
"The further away you get from Earth, the riskier it gets when there are failures of any equipment or shortages of consumables," said co-researcher Olivier de Weck of MIT. "There aren't many back-up options."
De Weck and MIT's David Simchi-Levi developed SpaceNet. The software evaluates several hypothetical missions to the Moon, with each building upon the previous. It's set up as a network of nodes that represent either a source of materials, point of consumption or transfer point for space exploration logistics.
The resulting supply chain would operate similarly to the flow of materials on terra firma. But unlike Earth-based delivery service that can suffer delays of hours or days, goods headed to the Moon could easily be months late. Just witness the frequent delays in getting a shuttle to the International Space Station, which is just a little more than 200 miles away. Plus, shipping capacity will be extremely limited for the expensive, three-day one-way trip to the Moon.
De Weck describes the dilemma in Earthly terms. "If I sent you on a one-month trip, and I said you can only pack what fits into your glove compartment, you would probably still go," De Weck said, "but you'd have a really hard time to pick what to take with you because there are all of these competing demands."
To help make these decisions when packing the lunar version of a glove compartment, the scientists divided supplies into three categories: consumables--such as food, fuel and water--spare parts and exploration equipment. Like any packing vacationer, planners with limited space and delivery opportunities will have to make difficult trade-offs between competing demands for each type of supply.
"For example, you could stay for a shorter time, have fewer crew days and bring more equipment with you. Or you bring less equipment with you but then you stay longer, and that will require more consumables," De Weck said.
The scientists will continue to refine and expand SpaceNet, which they say will ultimately also include a Martian framework analogous to the lunar version of the software. In another project, De Weck said they are developing smart containers implanted with electronic tags to keep track of each shipped item. Of course, the containers would have the ability to signal to Earth when consumables, such as toilet paper, are running low.
- Top 10 Cool Moon Facts
- Images: NASA's New Spaceship
- Images: Future Vision: Lunar Base
MORE FROM SPACE.com

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Fast Drafting & Detailing
TurboCAD LTE Pro is rich in fundamental drawing tools and drawing aids that speed design. A variety of visual styles are also available so that materials, fills, even transparent fills and gradients can to be used to add effects and visual clarity. Lines and custom line styles allow for color or width by layer. Polyline segments may have differing starting and ending line widths. Other speedy features include the quick and easy creation of views and viewports of any size and shape, and access to extensive paper space and printing capabilities, marker and schedule tools, leaders, multi-leaders, dimension tools, and symbols content.
Extraordinary Drafting Palette
The Drafting Palette is one of the most powerful features for advanced drafting and detailing in TurboCAD LTE Pro. It works with solid or surface models, turning 3D designs into associative 2D views and detailed sections in a single click, even when working on an Xref. This means your sectional views and elevations in layout (paper space) will update automatically as the model changes. These object views can also be dimensioned and annotated rapidly. For added productivity, Drafting Palette items may be locked, essentially caching them until unlocked. This allows modeling to continue at speed – particularly important with larger models that have numerous sections, elevations, and views. Each section may be regenerated individually or all simultaneously.
Improved Associative Viewport Dimensions
Add dimensions to an object through a viewport in paperspace and the dimensions will update if the model changes.
New Entity Marks
Create custom marks to track, or count, objects and add information using Property Sets and Multi-View blocks.
Property Set DefinitionsCreate custom information for objects, and derive custom information from object geometry.
Multi-View Blocks – Define composites of blocks that can vary their appearance depending upon the viewpoint.
Powerful Parametric Constraints
The D-cubed constraint engine in TurboCAD LTE Pro gives you greater control and productivity, empowering your creativity. By setting up geometric and dimensional constraints, you can enforce design intent, making it easier to very quickly modify a design. Use them to get more done, create part families faster, incorporate red-line changes more quickly, and have the flexibility to evaluate different designs with ease. Geometric constraints determine the relationship of two pieces of geometry with each other. Geometric constraints supported by TurboCAD LTE Pro include:
- point to point coincident
- point to line coincident
- mid-point constraint
Dimensional constraints determine the size of geometric entities. Dimensional constraints supported by TurboCAD LTE Pro include:
- equal radius
- equal length
- equal distance
Parametric Parts Manager
Create and consume parts that remain parametrically controlled even after insertion into your drawing. There is also a method to draw variably constrained parts and convert them to parametric parts using a wizard. Because the parts can be saved individually, like a symbol, libraries of.PPM objects can be created, shared, and reused from project to project.
Easy Design Director
This palette streamlines work and enhances productivity with advanced controls for Layers, Layer Filters, creating Layer Sets, setting and saving Work Planes, controlling Named Views, and more.
New Associative Arrays / Pattern Tools
Now users can rapidly create parametric patterns from 2D Objects and 2D Blocks.


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SC Native Americans – Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown
South Carolina SC Native Americans SC Indian Tribes SC Wassamasaw Indians
- Alternate spellings: Wasamasaw may have been the orginial spelling, but over time it has changed to Wassamasaw. The group is also known as the Varner Town (or Varnertown) Indian Community.
- Possible meanings: Wassamasaw may mean "connecting water"
- Language family: Muskogean
- Active – Group received state recognition in 2005.
SC Location, Territory
- Traditional: Berkeley County, Charleston County, Dorchester County
- Today: Headquartered in Moncks Corner, Berkeley County
The Varner Town Indian Community is located in Moncks Corner on 17A about ¼ of a mile from the intersection of US 17A and SC 176 (Carnes Crossroads). Members of the tribe have lived in or near this location for hundreds of years, though they have also lived in the neighboring counties of Charleston and Dorchester.
- The Varnertown Indians are descendants of the Etiwan and Edisto tribes, which were members of the Cusabo family of tribes. They also descend from the Catawba and Cherokee tribes, as well as other tribal entities.
- Known as "Settlement Indians" in several historical records, the Varnertown Indians maintained a close and friendly relationship with the colonial settlers and lived among or near the colonial settlements. Several Native American families of Catawba and Cherokee heritage also settled in the same area in the late eighteenth century and became part of the community. In addition to helping defend colonists against invading hostile Indians during the Yemassee War, the ancestors of this community continued to defend the colonists against hostile Indians for many years after the war. Several ancestors also served in the Revolutionary War and some were members of Marion's Brigade.
- 1880s to 1960s – Before desegregation, there were a total of five Indian schools that served the children of the Varner Town Community from 1883 to around 1963. Four of these schools were located on US 17A from the corner of Galliard Road in St. Johns Berkeley to the intersection of US 78 and US 17A in Summerville.
The Varner Indian School was located in Varner Town and was established by the South Carolina Board of Education in the 1930s. The school closed in 1963 forcing integration of its pupils into the public school system. The Indian school located in St. Johns Berkeley was known as the Barrows Mission School and operated from 1887 until the 1920s or 1930s. The Pine Ridge or Ridge School was located on 17A between Carnes Crossroads and Ridge Baptist Church. The Red School, part of the St. Barnabas Mission, was located in Summerville at the intersection of US 17A and US 78; it operated from 1883 until the 1940s. The fifth school, the Pine View Indian School, was located in the Ten Mile Hill area (present-day Rivers Avenue) in North Charleston. This school was created for the children of some family members who moved to that area to find work in the 1930s and early 1940s.
- October 7, 2007 – The Varner Town Indian Community received a Berkeley County Historical Marker near Carnes Crossroads at US 17A and SC 176 in Berkeley County. The roadside marker pays tribute to the tribe's history and culture. Read the Post and Courier article documenting the event.
The front of the sign reads: "Varner Town (or Varnertown) is a distinct Native American community including descendants of the Etiwan, Catawba, Cherokee, Edisto, and other area tribes. This area, located near Carnes Crossroads and Goose Creek, was named for William Varner (d. 1927) and his wife Mary Williams Varner (d. 1924).
The back of the sign reads: "Several Indian schools served this community. The Varner School, also called the Varner Indian School, was built here in 1939 and closed in 1963. The church nearby has been the center of the community for many years. Nearby Williams Cemetery was named in honor of William W. Williams, an Indian ancestor.
- The following photos were taken in 1938 by Marion Post Wolcott. They show Geneva Varner Clark and her family, their home, and their grinding mill. According to Bo Petersen, reporter for the Post and Courier newspaper, Ms. Clark "was the only resident who identified herself as an Indian. Today, her photo is the only one of a Lowcountry Indian in the Library of Congress."
You can click on the thumbnails of all these photos to enlarge them.
Indian family near Summerville, South Carolina
Home of Indian family near Summerville, South Carolina, with sorghum cane grinder in foreground
Grinding mill for sorghum cane made by Indian family near Summerville, South Carolina
Mud chimney on home of Indian family near Summerville, South Carolina - shows children in front of the Varner porch
Mud chimney on home of Indian family near Summerville, South Carolina - shows mud chimney and children
Beliefs and Practices
Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indian People
(Submitted by Heidi Varner, 2005)
The Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians is a Native American group consisting of bloodline members from the Varnertown Indian community. The Varnertown Indians are descendants of ancient historical tribes that were in the areas of Charleston and Berkeley Counties including Catawba, Cherokee, Edisto and Etiwan, and other tribal entities. The Varnertown Indian Community has over a 150 year history of existence in the Berkeley County area as a Native American Tribal community.
In early times, most of the families were farmers, and the community also established its own local church and the extended family opened their own stores and bars in the community. Other historical documentation includes pictures of family member Geneva Varner Clark and her family. They were taken in 1938 by Marion Post Wolcott. A picture is currently in the Library of Congress entitled "An Indian Family Near Summerville."
The mission of the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians is to provide economic enhancement to the Varnertown Community, to educate its members in their history and culture, to provide opportunities for its people to share their arts, to preserve the history and traditions of its ancestors, and to promote public awareness of the community's existence and contributions to the general population.
Varnertown Indians are proud to be one of the five organizations recognized in 2005. We hope this is the first step in the process to bring programs and services to the Native Americans in this State.


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Taking a people-centred approach to understanding user behaviour, digital interactions and communication needs for a range of individuals and community networks, the forum will address two major topics – 'Social Digital' and 'Community Unity. From re-engaging citizens, social entrepreneurship and support for tech start-ups and getting design into public services, design plays a significant role in making meaningful connections in data and translating data into insights and actions. We will explore:
- What are the emerging trends in digital and communications technologies?
- And, what are the impacts on individuals, businesses, organisations, governments and societies?
- How might governments strategically deploy digital technology to improve public services, public interface, policy-making process and engagement with the citizens?
- What is the role of data in the design of future cities and communities?
- What is the future of Artificial Intelligence and robotics? How do these technological breakthroughs transform the way we experience and connect with the world?


New discoveries on oldest fossil reptiles
This is a short music video about Hylonomus.
From the Journal of the Geological Society of London:
Ecology of earliest reptiles inferred from basal Pennsylvanian trackways
Trackways representing the earliest evidence for the origin of reptiles (amniotes) are reported from the basal Pennsylvanian Grande Anse Formation, New Brunswick, Canada. Amniote characters include pentadactyl manus and pes, slender digits whose relative lengths approximate a phalangeal formula of 23453 (manus) and 23454 (pes), narrow digit splay (40–63°), putative transverse scale impressions on digit pads, and straight tail drag. The trackways occur in the deposits of a seasonally active dryland river channel. Sedimentological context suggests, for the first time, that early amniotes existed in water-stressed environments, where the cleidoic egg would have presumably conferred reproductive advantage.
According to Dutch daily NRC of 18 October 2007, the tracks are probably by the early lizard-like reptile Hylonomus lyelli. And they are about 315 million year old, over a million years older than that species was thought to be so far.
See also here. And here.
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Sally and Nick are trying to guess which game Harvey the guinea pig might like to play with them. The Cat takes them to meet his friend Katie the cavy, a wild guinea pig. But when they try to ask her, she playfully runs off! With the help of three animals with very different ways of seeing, they finally find Katie and discover a guinea pig's favorite game--hide-and-seek!
Some animals can see in special ways: Andean condors can see things far away, llamas can see beside and behind themselves, dragonflies see multiple images to spot movement, and rainbow boas "see" heat in the dark.
Nick and Sally are waiting for Mom to come back so they can play in the pool. The Cat suggests that playing on water is even more fun! A trip to Splishy Splashy Pond to meet Walker the water strider reveals how he's able to stay on top of the water with the help of air bubbles.
The water strider uses air bubbles to walk on the surface of the water and vibrations to help it jump.


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Legacy Opinions are a different set of 13 indicators that previously were used to form the Barchart Opinion for all asset classes on the website. On July 15, 2019, we released a new set of strategies for all asset classes except futures contracts. Site users may, however, still access these "legacy Opinions" for Stocks, ETFs, Forex, and Funds.
Barchart Opinions show traders what a variety of popular trading systems are suggesting in terms of going long or short the market. The Opinions takes up to 5 years' worth of historical data and runs these prices through thirteen different technical indicators. After each calculation, the program assigns a buy, sell or hold value for each study, depending on where the price lies in reference to the common interpretation of the study. For example, if the price is above the moving average of the security then this is generally considered an upward trend or a buy.
Note: A security needs to have more than 200 active trading days in order to generate an Opinion reading; for futures, the contract must have more than 100 active trading days.
Opinions are updated every 20 minutes throughout the day, using delayed data from the exchanges.
The Overall Average Signal, Strength and Direction is shown at the top of the page. This represents the average of the 13 popular indicators detailed in the table below.
The table groups the 13 indicators based on Short, Medium, and Long Term time frames.
- Indicators in the Short Term group generally are used to interpret price movement that happens over the last 20 days.
- Medium Term indicators interpret price movement that happens over the last 50 days.
- Long Term indicators interpret price movement that happens over the last 100-200 days.
- Trend Seeker® is in its own group and represents a composite look at price movement.
The Short, Medium and Long term indicators are grouped together and calculated separately for their groups. The overall indicator is a composite of all 13 studies listed on the page.
- A Buy is assigned 1 point
- A Sell is assigned -1 point
- A Hold is assigned 0 points
The indicator value is determined by adding up the totals for the different groups and dividing this sum by the number of studies in the group. The indicator is expressed in terms of a percentage. If the total is greater than zero, then this is a "Buy". If the total is zero, then this is a "Hold". If the total is less than zero, then this is a "Sell".
To keep the results in a more logical format, we factor the overall opinion by 1.04 to keep the end result in multiples of 8 percentage points, with the exception of a 100% buy or sell. This is why the opinion indicators will be displayed as 8%, 16%,... 88%, 96% and 100%, for example, rather the exact percentage value.
Support and Resistance
This section shows a snapshot view of the Trader's Cheat Sheet with the Last Price, and six separate pivot points (3 Support Levels, and 3 Resistance Points). The Last Price shown is the last trade price at the time the quote page was displayed, and will not update every 10 seconds (as the Last Price at the top of the Quote page does). The Last Price will update only when the page is refreshed.
Pivot points are used to identify intraday support, resistance and target levels. The pivot point and its support and resistance pairs are defined as follows, where H, L, C are the current day's high, low and close, respectively. Support and Resistance points are based on end-of-day prices and are intended for the current trading session if the market is open, or the next trading session if the market is closed.
- Pivot Point: (PP) = (H + L + C) / 3
- 1st Resistance Level: (R1) = (2 * PP) - L
- 2nd Resistance Level: (R2) = PP + (R1 - S1)
- 3rd Resistance Level: (R3) = H + (2 * (PP - L))
- 1st Support Level: (S1) = (2 * PP) - H
- 2nd Support Level: (S2) = PP - (R1 - S1)
- 3rd Support Level: (S3) = L - (2 * (H - PP))
The signal strength is a long-term measurement of the strength of the signal compared to the strength of the signal over the past 200-trading sessions. For futures contracts, the measurement uses the past 100-trading sessions.
The Overall Opinion Strength can be one of the following readings:
Maximum is the strongest this signal has been in the historical period, and minimum is the weakest the signal has been in the historical period. The stronger a signal strength, the less volatile the signal. For example, a maximum buy signal is less likely to change to a hold or a sell signal than a weak buy signal.
Each of the 13 indicators also have a Strength reading, and can be one of the following:
A hold signal does not have any strength.
Buy/Sell Signal Direction
The signal direction is a short-term (3-day) measurement of the current movement of the signal. Direction is a short indication of how the signal is performing based on most recent available data.
It compares the current divergence of the signal against the divergence of the nearest 3 trading sessions, and if the divergence is increasing this signifies a strengthening of the trend, whereas if the divergence is decreasing this signifies the trend is weakening.
The buy/sell direction can be one of the following five readings:
- Minimum (found only on the Legacy Bollinger Band Opinion)
A buy signal with a "strongest" direction means a buy signal which is becoming stronger. Similarly, a sell signal with a "strongest" direction is becoming stronger. The direction goes with the signal.
Hold Signal Direction
The signal direction of a hold signal is a short-term (3-day) measurement of where the signal is heading, be it toward a buy signal or a sell signal. The hold direction can be one of the following five readings:
A bullish hold signal indicates that the signal is heading toward a buy configuration, and a bearish hold signal indicates that the signal is heading toward a sell configuration.
Barchart Opinion & Trading Performance
Barchart Opinions add market-timing information by calculating and interpreting signal strength and direction. Unique to Barchart.com, Opinions analyzes a stock or commodity using 13 popular analytics in short-, mediumand long-term periods. Results are interpreted as buy, sell or hold signals, each with numeric ratings and summarized with an overall percentage buy or sell rating. For example, a price above its moving average is generally considered an upward trend or a buy.
Each Opinion requires six months' worth of trading activity and run the prices through 13 different technical indicators.
- Composite Indicators: Shows the signal for TrendSpotter, a proprietary Barchart indicator.
- Short Term Indicators: Shows signals for the 5 short-term indicators, with an overall short-term average signal. Also includes a 20-day Average Volume.
- Medium Term Indicators: Shows signals for the 4 medium-term indicators, with an overall medium-term average signal. Also includes a 50-day Average Volume.
- Long-Term Indicators: Shows signals for the 3 long-term indicators, with a overall long-term average signal. Also includes a 100-day Average Volume.
- Overall Average: Shows the overall average signal for all indicators, with Support, Resistance and Pivot Point.
This widget shows how the overall Barchart Opinion has changed over the last 3 periods (yesterday, last week and last month).


The Queen Mother's teeth: Why were they so bad?
THE QUEEN MOTHER is one of the most famous Queens in British history, after she stood by her husband's side during his unexpected and difficult rise to the throne.
The Queen Mother was known as the Smiling Duchess, due to her strong character. However, her smiles have caused some to comment on her discoloured teeth in later life. So, why did they look this way?
Matthew Rose, our Restorative Dentist spoke to the Daily Express to give some insight into why this is the case and a look at historic Dentistry.
To read the article in full, click here, and if you want to leave a comment, please do!
Considering Dental Implants?


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These Gasometer buildings, in Vienna, Austria, have just finished being converted into a giant community of shops, apartments, hotels, restaurants, etc. interconnected by a series of soaring skywalks and underground passages. Originally the four gasometers, constructed in 1899, supplied gas to the whole city until 1970, when Vienna converted its supply to natural gas. The gas tanks were consequently dismantled and remained abandoned until 1995 when it was decided to use these historical structures for residential and commercial purposes.
The Blue whale in Gothenburg, Sweden
Need one of these shaped like Bubbie from Flapjack.
Process drawing for reading spaces
by Marcel Maslowski


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Melanins and Melanosomes: Biosynthesis, Structure, Physiological and Pathological Functions
August 2011, Wiley-Blackwell
This price is valid for United States. Change location to view local pricing and availability.
Other Available Formats: E-book
The surface pigmentation of vertebrates is controlled by specialized cells able to synthesize a variety of pigments collectively known as melanins. Recent research has shown that melanins are produced not only in the skin but also in many other sites such as the eye, inner ear, muscles, etc., - where they are engaged in some unanticipated roles. The details of the synthetic pathway, the complexities of its regulation and biological significance that have been unravelled in recent research comprise a fascinating story and are of key importance in understanding the nature of diseases, including malignant melanoma one of the most rapidly spreading cancers.


Why turkey has the same name as Turkey
in ancient Egyptian religion, the personification of one of the attributes of the creator god Re-Atum; the term is usually translated as "magic," or "magical power," though its exact meaning pertains to cult practice as well. Heka was believed to accompany Re in his solar boat on its daily trip across the heavens; it could also be given to and used by common men. The Egyptians believed that heka was the primordial force present at the creation of the world, that it could be summoned up during the observance of religious ritual, and that its chief function was the preservation of the natural world order
Learn more about heka with a free trial on
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Christina Mrozik's Stylized Nature Drawings
by Nastia VoynovskayaPosted on
Christina Mrozik creates detailed mixed-media drawings that reimagine her experiences with nature. She makes beauty out of the chaos of the animal kingdom, stylizing birds' bodies to fit into still life-like arrangements ornamented with flowers, bones and branches. But despite the stylistic similarities to still lifes, Mrozik's cranes and owls appear highly animated. She depicts the animals' struggles to survive, rendering the battles between species with graceful choreography that almost resembles a form of dance.
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Polyglot Files: A Hacker's Best Friend
And how to hide executable PHP code in JPEG files.
Hello! Thanks for clicking on this blog post. Today, we're gonna talk about a topic that has always fascinated me in the cybersecurity world: polyglot files! We're going to take a look at what they are, how they confuse applications, how they are used in an attack scenario.
What are polyglots?
Polyglots, in a security context, are files that are a valid form of multiple different file types. For example, a GIFAR is both a GIF and a RAR file. There are also files out there that can be both GIF and JS, both PPT and JS, etc.
Polyglot files are often used to bypass protection based on file types. Many applications that allow users to upload files only allow uploads of certain types, such as JPEG, GIF, DOC, so as to prevent users from uploading potentially dangerous files like JS files, PHP files or Phar files.
One example of a polyglot file is a Phar-JPEG file. Phar files are used to carry out PHP object injection attacks.
This type of attack can lead to RCE. However, it requires the attacker to be able to upload a readable Phar file, and Phar files are not often allowed by file upload functionalities. So a Phar-JPEG file allows the malicious upload to look like a harmless JPEG file to bypass upload restrictions, but still retain the capabilities of a Phar file.
File format specifications
First, it is important to understand that different file types are simply chunks of bytes that follow a predefined structure.
Phar archive format
For example, let's look at the PHAR (PHp ARchive) format. For a Phar file to be valid, it needs to follow a certain structure: it contains a stub section, a manifest section and finally, a file content section.
 - Stub: the stub is a chunk of PHP code which is executed when the file is accessed in an executable context. At a minimum, the stub must contain __HALT_COMPILER(); at its conclusion. Otherwise, there are no restrictions on the contents of a Phar stub.
 - Manifest: this section contains metadata about the archive and its contents.
 - File contents: this section contains the actual files in the archive.
 - Signature (optional): for verifying archive integrity.
JPEG format
On the other hand, JPEGs are structured very differently. (The complete specifications of JPEG images are beyond the scope of this article, but you can read about it here.) But for the purposes of this article, keep in mind that:
 - A header of a JPEG image looks like this:
typedef struct _JFIFHeader
 BYTE SOI[2]; /* 00h Start of Image Marker */
 BYTE APP0[2]; /* 02h Application Use Marker */
 BYTE Length[2]; /* 04h Length of APP0 Field */
 BYTE Identifier[5]; /* 06h "JFIF" (zero terminated) Id */
 BYTE Version[2]; /* 07h JFIF Format Revision */
 BYTE Units; /* 09h Units used for Resolution */
 BYTE Xdensity[2]; /* 0Ah Horizontal Resolution */
 BYTE Ydensity[2]; /* 0Ch Vertical Resolution */
 BYTE XThumbnail; /* 0Eh Horizontal Pixel Count */
 BYTE YThumbnail; /* 0Fh Vertical Pixel Count */
 - JPEG files start with a "Start of Image (SOI)" marker which contains the bytes FF D8 .
 - The application marker APP0 contains the bytes FF E0 .
 - The length field is the size of the image.
 - The identifier field contains "JFIF" with a trailing NULL byte.
 - The version field specifies the JFIF specification version.
 - And finally, JPEG files end with an "End of Image (EOI)" marker, FF D9 .
So… How do polyglots work?
So, how exactly do polyglots fool the applications that process them? How does a Phar-JPEG appear as an image to an image processor and file upload security checker, yet still be able to be used as a Phar file?
To understand why polyglots are possible, we have to look at how applications detect file types.
How do applications determine file type?
An application can utilize several ways of checking the file type of a file: by looking at the file extension, by looking for specific magic bytes, and by validating certain file signatures.
 1. Extension based detection
The simplest way to detect a file's type is to look at its file extension, for example, puppies.jpeg is a JPEG file. However, this method of detection is not always reliable. Files can be renamed and files could come without an extension. So this method is often only one of many methods that applications use to validate file types.
 1. Magic bytes detection
For some file types, there are magic bytes at the start of the file that indicates that the file is of a certain format. Some forms of file type detection make use of this information. Some of these examples are:
 - JPEG files begin with FF D8 and end with FF D9 .
 - PDF files start with "%PDF" (hex 25 50 44 46).
 1. File signature validation
Still, some more sophisticated file validators will perform checks based on specific signatures of the file. For example, they might check if a JPEG file contains all the necessary header fields.
How polyglots become two file types
Polyglots become polyglots when they pass all the validity checks for more than one file type. To an application that is looking for image files, it bears all the signatures of an image file. To another application that is looking for different indicators, it becomes something else and checks all the boxes as well.
For a Phar-JPEG file, it has to pass all the JPEG validity checks when it is uploaded, then still be used as a PHP archive when the attacker calls it to start a PHP object injection attack.
Constructing a Phar-JPEG
A Phar-JPEG file is possible due to the flexibility in the Phar format's specifications. Specifically, there are no restrictions to the stub section of a Phar besides that it must end with __HALT_COMPILER();.
This means that the stub section of the Phar can be used to inject dummy data in order to disguise the file as a JPEG. Let's say we inject a valid JPEG image in the stub section of the Phar before __HALT_COMPILER();. Now the file looks something like this:
\xFF\xD8......................JPEG DATA.....................\xFF\xD8
__HALT_COMPILER();............PHAR DATA............................
To an image processor, the file is a JPEG image because it contains all the signatures of a valid JPEG file: a Start of Image marker, headers, and an End of Image marker. Most image processors will stop processing the file at this point and will not look beyond the JPEG.
But when used with a Phar stream wrapper phar://, the file seems like something entirely different: it looks like a file with a valid stub section, a valid manifest and some files in the contents section. Therefore, when operating on the file, PHP still performs an unserialize() operation on the Phar file's metadata. The attacker thus achieves RCE through a successful PHP object injection.
Isn't that super cool? :)


text: Compassion is a complex skill involving both psychological (invisible) components and behavioral (visible) manifestations. In a new generation of Social-Emotional Learning programs that target compassion like Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning (SEE LearningTM), these skills are hypothesized to both develop naturally and to be cultivated intentionally through enrichment efforts. The challenge is that few developmentally appropriate, behavioral performance-based measures of compassion exist to test the primary impact of compassion cultivation programs for school-aged students on their compassion, a primary effect hypothesized to mediate secondary-order program impacts (resilience, social-emotional wellbeing, physical health, and positive relationships) in students. Furthermore, the challenge is to create new measures in an ecologically valid manner that assesses both the underlying skills and behavioral outcomes in developing children. The model of compassion we use has implicit in it a series of developing subskills that comprise compassion across development. In the proposed study, we aim to design and test the reliability and validity of a performance-based measure of compassion for school-aged children. We will also examine the measure for sensitivity to intervention via an evaluation of the SEE Learning program. We hope that this measure is used by anyone interested in assessing compassion in children.


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People are living longer. The average mortality rate has gone up by almost twenty years over the last century. Advancement in technology, medical procedures and treatment has made this possible. The need now is to make sure that the quality of life for the aged doesn't degrade. That is the purpose of geriatric rehabilitation. It offers the aged a means to live a quality life for as long as they can.
How does geriatric rehabilitation help?
Communication, movement and non impairment of mental faculties are what the aged require. As people get old, their hearing and eyesight become impaired. Their movement may get restricted due to wear and tear in the joints, osteoporosis and other age related factors. Another cause for concern for geriatrics is malnutrition. Older people need an excess of certain nutrients to balance their health. Good nutrition promotes healing and provides energy and improves quality of life. Life slows down for the aged, and for the active, this can lead to a feeling of not being a useful contributor to society. This, in turn, can lead to depression. Hence, attending to the mental health of geriatrics is as important as managing physical health.
Different kinds of geriatric rehabilitation
The geriatric rehabilitation includes a wide range of treatments and medical help for a variety of ailments that the aged face.
1.One of the major problems that geriatrics deal with is decrease in movement. Earlier, stiffness in the joints, and aches and pains were taken as part and parcel of getting old. But these days, with joint replacement procedures, and physical therapy the aged can get past these problems.
2.Loss of hearing and vision can be addressed these days with simple procedures like laser treatment, advanced hearing aids etc., that help restore or at least better eyesight and hearing.
3.There are specialized dieticians for geriatrics who will prescribe a food plan that includes foods and supplements to ensure that they are getting all the nutrients their body requires.
4.As a person ages, small activities like eating or bathing become difficult. Occupational therapy focuses on helping the aged stay independent. The goal is to help them learn to help themselves.
5.The awareness among doctors and the aged that geriatric mental health needs to be addressed is a boon to the aged. Counselling is available for older people and this can help them adjust to a difference in lifestyle.
Focused geriatric attention
Many hospitals have geriatric departments which focus completely on geriatric health and rehabilitation. They take a holistic approach to the health and wellness of the aged. They have regular medical check-ups for older people and a complete and comprehensive battery of tests that will keep an eye on the person's health so that preventive action can be taken at the first sign of an illness. This is a boon to the patients as they can live their life comfortably in the knowledge that their health is in safe hands.


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"juxtapose" is a series of original satellite shots of sparsely populated places in the world taken from Google Maps. Simultaneously side by side, they reveal the poetic strength of the forces of nature in comparison to technologies used for the rationalized documentation of our world. The different weather conditions and seasons are disparities which evolve from Google's automatic algorithms for updating the pictorial material. These discrepancies analyze the influence of dilating technologies on our perception of space and time and finally uncover the blinding appearance of reality. – km temporaer
All images were taken directly from Firefox 16.0.2, without subsequent postproduction, editing or color correction.


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A review was undertaken of how climate change was mainstreamed in the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) of Kenya's 47 County Governments. This review contributed to the development of recommendations of how to improve the mainstreaming of climate change in the 2017 CIDPs. This is particularly relevant with the enactment of the Climate Change Act, 2016, which requires that County Governments mainstream climate change actions and interventions in the their CIDPs (Section 19). This report shows that there is a readiness and an experience to build on to improve the integration of climate change in their new CIDPs.
This report first provides definitions and background on climate change, and then sets out an analysis of climate-relevant sectors, recognizing that climate change is a cross-cutting that that impacts on various sectors that are discussed in CIDPs. The report then reviews the climate change impacts identified in the 47 CIDPs, and identifies mitigation and adaptation priorities. The final section provides recommendations to improve mainstreaming in the 2017 CIDPs.


text: This book discusses and compares the effect of culture on the different definitions and management of infertility and its treatment by different actors in both a modernising and late modern society with Nigeria and Britain as case studies. It begins with an introduction of the issue by examining the different definitions of the condition and the infertility situation in both societies with their causes. The two health systems and available treatments are examined along with the determinants of help seeking by affected couples. Studying and comparing the different experiences of infertile couples in both countries and how culture determines or interferes with choice of treatment achieved this. Also the social consequences of being infertile in societies that are so interested in procreation are examined. The study reveals that culture to some extent affects the perception of infertility and it's chosen remedies. From the answers to the questions drawn from the study, it is clear that infertility is a common issue in both societies and can be a traumatic experience for the couple involved, and treatment-seeking behaviour determinants vary (not totally gendered, as it may seem).


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Description: The tuatara is the only living member of an ancient group of reptiles. Today tuataras are found only on a few small islands off the coast of New Zealand.
Although they resemble lizards, they are quite different in many ways. Their metabolism allows them to function well at temperatures which are much lower than the temperatures required by most reptiles.
Skull characteristics are an important tool for reptile classification. The skull of the tuatara has two large openings, one above the other, in the side behind the eye socket. Lizards have only one such opening and turtles have none. Compare the skull of the tuatara with that of the bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), a typical lizard.
Tuataras have acrodont teeth, attached to the edge of the jaw, without roots. They have two large incisor-like teeth at the front of their jaw, and two additional rows of teeth on the roof of the mouth.


SMWCon Spring 2015
smartMediaWiki - smart extension of SMW
Talk details
Description: Extending Semantic Media Wiki in smart ways
Speaker(s): Wolfgang Fahl
Slides: see here
Type: Talk, Presentation, Regular talk
Audience: Everyone
Length: minutes
Video: not available
Give feedback
 - SMW has lots of features.
 - SMW is complicated.
 - SMW can be very useful.
smartMediaWiki is an approach to get extended results from the use of SMW. The goals are:
 - simplicity
 - staying on the problem side
 - allowing to specify the problem in a way that SMW results can be derived "right there in the wiki".
At SMWCon Spring 2015 smartMediaWiki is presented on all three days:
 1. on the first day there will be a tutorial which is not about smartMediaWiki but is using it for educational purposes to explaing concepts of the semantic web
 2. on the second day there is a talk on smartMediaWiki itself
 3. on the third day there is the option to meet with people interested in applying the smartMediaWiki approaches and dive into details
1st day Tutorial[edit]
see Introduction to Semantic_Concepts
. This is a tutorial for people generally interested in using Semantic Mediawiki and learning more about the background of it.
 - What does Semantic Web mean?
 - What is a semantic wiki?
 - How is semantic data stored in a semantic wiki?
 - What are triples?
 - How do i query data?
 - What import and export options are there?
 - How do I present query results?
2nd day smartMediaWiki talk[edit]
 - Why is a smart approach to using SMW necessary?
 - What is smartMediaWiki?
 - How does it work?
 - What can I do with it?
3rd day smartMediaWiki meeting[edit]
Meeting with people interested in applying the smartMediaWiki approaches and dive into details.
About the Speaker[edit]
Wolfgang Fahl is founder and owner of BITPlan, Germany. He teaches Softwarearchitecture but is also involved with software development projects a lot. Wolfgang has been using MediaWikis since 2007. He was e.g. involved with during his Newzealand Sabbatical in 2008.
You'll find Wolfgang on the web at:


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Recently our very own USA Community Evangelist _USER_ got to chat with Dani Kennis and get the inside scoop on how she adapted Kahoot! to her special education classroom, and why it's become a mainstay of her lesson plan.
Dani's classroom is unique in that many of her students are on the Autism spectrum or have behavioral disabilities, and every student has an individualized education plan.
A snapshot into a good day with her students is one where everyone is excited, happy, engaged, and connected to each other with group learning. Some days, though, can be particularly hard for them, and motivation is just a little harder to muster up in class.


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|Cyprus Table of Contents
Livestock products, including poultry and milk, made up a significant part of the gross output by value of the agricultural sector. In 1989 there were 49,000 cattle, 325,000 sheep, 208,000 goats, 281,000 pigs, and 2,475,000 chickens in the governmentcontrolled area. During the 1980s, livestock production roughly doubled, as a result of subsidies, strict import regulations, and government-sponsored research that improved both the quality of livestock and its management. Although Greek Cypriots had become self-sufficient with regard to pork and poultry, it was necessary to import beef, veal, and mutton to meet domestic needs. Specialists believed that the gradual lifting of import restrictions, as required by the EEC Customs Union Agreement, would put many inefficient breeders of livestock out of business.
Source: U.S. Library of Congress


mod_xbsunclock v1.0.1
3rd Dec 2016
SunClock is a novel clock. Rather than displaying the time since midnight, it displays the time since the last sunrise, and optionally time to the next sunset or sunrise.
Midnight as the start point for timing a new day is a bit arbitrary and doesn't easily relate to anything you can simply detect in the real world. Notionally 12 hours after the sun reaches its zenith in the sky - you could determine midday using a sextant or similar instrument and start a timer to count 12 hours from then. But midnight itself is not something you can directly observe.
Much more natural to use sunrise as the defining point for the start of a new day and then count time from that point.
Of course you can define sunrise in different ways, but at least it is something you can directly observe.
One consequence of this is that the length of the day varies slightly throughout the year, during spring when the sun rises earlier each day the length of the day will be slightly less than 24 hrs, correspondingly during autumn it will be a few minutes more than 24 hrs. The precise amount will depend on your latitude and the time of year.
As well as displaying the time since the last sunrise you can also optionally show the time until sunset, or since the sun set if it has already gone down.
You can also display the duration of the sun being up and down and the total length of the day between sunrises.
In addition you can display a count of days since the Winter Solstice or from the previous or until the next solstice or equinox. You can also display the calendar dates of the next four equinox & solstice events.
All of these options are shown in the example on the right. The simplest use just shows the hours, minutes and seconds since sunrise.
You need to set your latitude and longitude in the parameters (simple way to find the lat/long for any location is to drop a marker on Google Maps and copy down the numbers it gives you). You can also set various other options - additional text to be displayed in the module, layout options etc.
If you want to change the names used for the solstices, eg Alban Arthan for the winter solstice, then you can find them and edit in the language file (language/en-GB/en-GB.mod_sunclock.ini)
There is a style sheet (found after installation in media/mod_suntime/css/suntime.css). Classes in this sheet are prefixed with "sut_". Set the prefix to a space in the options to use any corresponding template class names, or to "xyz" to disable the style sheet. More simply you can override the style sheet colours in the module settings (Styling tab)
NB The time is updated by a javascipt window timer. Hence you can only display one instance of the module on a page or the 1 sec timer gets confused and the clocks get updated wrong.
v1.1.0 30th Dec 2016
Added solstice and equinox dates. Improved timing routines.
v1.0.0 8th Dec 2016
 First release version


text: Communicating on a battle field is crucial. As the battlefield becomes more complex, more information needs to be shared and more people need to know about it. Secure, undetectable communication is a holy grail of battle field communication. If the enemy knows what you are telling others, then they can take appropriate action. The next best solution is to at least know someone is in the area and talking. That alone can help the enemy figure out what the other side knows and is talking about, or preparing to do. The shorter the transmission, the harder it is to locate the transmitter. Like homing in on a sound in a dark room.


hashtags would be just enough.
9. Learn the World of Different Social Media
how to become famous overnight
Learn what various platforms are presented on the web, what are their key features and advantages. Thus it becomes clear, what type of content is most suitable for each of them. For example, Twitter and Instagram are perfect places for something light and funny as videos, gifs, quotes, photos and stories. LinkedIn is a well-known channel of professional content and job news. Facebook is kind of universal and serves to many purposes. The knowledge of how the popular social media function will help you understand what you should get from one or another.
So, now you have an idea of how to become famous overnight. Perhaps, you used to think that getting famous online is much easier than being a famous, let's say, artist, musician or actor. Now you can be sure that even though it seems plain, it is also subject to the certain laws, understanding of which can make the way to fame closer.
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Definitions for earliest
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word earliest
(comparative and superlative of 'early') more early than; most early
"a fashion popular in earlier times"; "his earlier work reflects the influence of his teacher"; "Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera"
with the least delay
"the soonest I can arrive is 3 P.M."
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'earliest' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4802
Images & Illustrations of earliest
Find a translation for the earliest definition in other languages:
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Learning forms an integral part of Archaeology Scotland's activities. Our aim is to encourage understanding of and promote involvement in Scotland's archaeological heritage for all ages and levels of interest for formal and informal learners.We do this through offering resources for learner groups and providing signposting to other resources.
You can follow the links on the left hand side to find these resources on our website:
Online resources and activities - our online resources are designed to help educators use archaeology with their learning groups. They cover different aspects of archaeology, such as surveying and interpreting evidence. In addition, there are short hands-on activity ideas which can be used to introduce learners to the principles of archaeology
Hands-on loans - we have developed a range of hands-on artefact investigation kits which contain real and replica artefacts and help bring the past closer. Each kit comes with activity ideas and information packs
Equipment loans - subject to availability, we also have some equipment which can be loaned out to help with archaeological activities. Please contact us for further information using the contact details below
Teacher Information base - This is where we have information about what archaeology is and how it links into the Curriculum for Excellence, as well as how it can be used to deliver specific areas of the curriculum. There are also links to other websites which you may find useful.
Youth Engagement Information base - This page is for youth workers, illustrating how they can use archaeology to deliver informal education activities as part of any youth programme. The page provides supoprt and a forum with activity ideas for youth groups and news; it is a place where youth workers can engage with and learn from Archaeology Scotland and each other.
Advice and Support - the team at Archaeology Scotland are always here to help with advice and support for any projects which you may be undertaking, whether it be a class project or units of work, developing archaeology learning activities for your group or looking for ideas for a youth group session.
Continuing Education Research: Click here for Archaeology Scotland's Continuing Education Research ProjectFinal Report. This research project examined the provision and availability of archaeology as a subject for study in adult education in Scotland over the 2010-11 academic year.
Click on the links below to discover more about Learning at Archaeology Scotland or you can either contact us by calling 0845 _PHONE_ or email the Learning team.
Information for Teachers


Browse Dictionary by Letter
Dictionary Suite
grandiose pretentious, pompous, or ridiculously grand. [2 definitions]
grandioso in a grand, majestic style (used as a musical direction).
grand jury a jury of twelve to thirty-three citizens who are gathered to determine whether there is enough evidence against accused persons to indict them and bring them to trial.
Grand Lama see Dalai Lama.
grand larceny the theft of goods or property exceeding a certain amount of money set by law. (Cf. petty larceny.)
grandma (informal) the female parent of one's parent; grandmother.
grand mal a kind of epilepsy characterized by convulsions and loss of consciousness. (Cf. petit mal).
Grand Master the head of a military or fraternal order. [2 definitions]
grandmother the female parent of one's parent. [2 definitions]
grandmotherly of or concerning a grandmother or grandmothers. [2 definitions]
grandnephew a son of one's niece or nephew; great-nephew.
grandniece a daughter of one's niece or nephew; great-niece.
grand opera a usu. serious opera that has the entire text set to music.
grandpa (informal) the male parent of one's parent; grandfather.
grandparent the father or mother of one's parent.
grand piano the largest of pianos, usu. supported on three legs and having a large harp-shaped case in which the strings are strung horizontally.
Grand Prix (sometimes l.c.) any of several automobile races over a long, difficult course, esp. an international one using the same course each year.
grand slam in bridge, the taking of all thirteen tricks by the bidder. (Cf. little slam.) [4 definitions]
grandson the male child of one's child.
grandstand the rows of seats for spectators at a sports stadium, racetrack, or the like; often, a roofed section of the stands. [5 definitions]


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The Knotting of Equilateral Polygons in R-cubed
It was proved in that the knotting probability of a Gaussian random polygon goes to 1 as the length of the polygon goes to infinity. In this paper, we prove the same result for the equilateral random polygons in R3. More precisely, if EPn is an equilateral random polygon of n steps, then we have
P(EPn is knotted) > 1 - exp(-n∊)
provided that n is large enough, where ∊ is some positive constant.
Diao, Y. (1995). The knotting of equilateral polygons in R-cubed. Journal of Knot Theory and Its Ramifications, 4(2), 189-196. DOI: 10.1142/S0218216595000090


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Rancang Bangun Sistem Informasi Bank Sampah di Desa Paguyangan
Garbage is the residual material resulting from a production process, both industry and households. Based on Brebes district's statistical data, the Paguyangan sub-district is in fourth place with an average of 249.62 m3 of garbage per day. Paguyangan is one of the villages in the Paguyangan sub-district. Paguyangan has a garbage problem where people still have the habit of throwing garbage in the river and yards around the house. Based on this, the Paguyangan Village Hall plans to build a garbage bank to overcome the problem. A garbage bank managed activities such as recording savings transactions. This study conducted a web-based design of the Garbage Bank Information System (SIBS). SIBS is an information system used to help process garbage transactions at a garbage bank. The purpose of this SIBS is to facilitate officers and customers in processing services at the garbage bank. The methodology used in system development is the Waterfall method. SIBS development uses PHP as a programming language and MySql as the DBMS. The result of this research is a garbage bank information system. SIBS can be used in the management of garbage management transactions. Testing the system using Blackbox Testing and MOS. SIBS is easy to operate from the test results obtained.


Okomfo Anokye, the greatest ever Akan shaman (medicine man)
July 2011
Even if anyone contests the claim that Anokye was and still is the greatest medicine man (shaman) the Akan have known, it is without doubt that he is the most well known medicine man who lived among the Akan. The Akan book and website project will be incomplete without mentioning this man whose exploits have come to be known by all Akan since the 17th century. In the Akan language, the word "Okomfo" (or "Ɔkomfo"/"ƆkomfoƆ" ) is used to refer to one who is a traditional priest, a medicine man of sorts, who works with the spirits (abosom). Anokye was a master of elemental magic and could perform feats that some will just not believe. Some of those feats are documented below, and photos of his explots will also be published below.
To this day, there is a sword planted in the ground in Kumase (capital of Asanteman, the Akan-Asante kingdom) which no one has been able to pull out. English folklore talks about "Merlin's Sword", the Akan actually have a real version of this, Anokye's Sword, which was planeted in the 18th century by this great medicine man, and which remains planeted, no one having been able to pull it out over the centuries (see photos below). This was only one of his many exploits.
This article is almost entirely based on a small but important book written by Amos Anti which was published in 1971. The author of the book says his research into the life of Okomfo Anokye started in October 1925 and was completed in August 1965, so that's almost 40 years of research. During this time the author not only had access to published works but also collected and collated many oral accounts from among the Akan people in Akuapem and Asante to put together his book. The result was the 100-page title Akwamu, Denkyira, Akuapem, and Ashanti in the lives of Osei Tutu and Okomfo Anokye (Ghana, past and present). I shall hereafter refer to this book as "ADAA-OTOA". I managed to find a copy of this book in a large public library. It is my aim to share Mr. Anti's works insofar as they describe the actual magical feats of Okomfo Anokye.
There are several different accounts of where Okomfo Anokye originated from. I shall touch upon the Akan accounts, although some Ewe people also say they have accounts of his origins.
According to the Akuapem people, Anokye originates from a town called Awukugua which used to be the capital of Kyerepong (ADAA-OTOA, p. 6). Anti also says in a footnote on this page, "Awukugua was originally known as Okyereso and the people were called Okyere KpƆnkpƆ - hence the corruption to Kyerepong"
The Guan and the Kyerepong were earlier arrivals to the area now known as 'Akuapem' in Ghana. Larteh and Awukugua were respective strongholds for these two groups. These people have very old traditions and relationships with the spirits of the land.
According to Anti (ADAA-OTOA, pgs 8-10):
"Traditions both in Akuapem and in Ashanti appear to agree what Okomfo Anokye was older than Osei Tutu -- most probably by ten years. According to recent research Osei Tutu died in about 1717. If Osei Tutu died at the age of 72, according to the same sources, then his year of birth must have been 1645. On this supposition, Okomfo Anokye would have been born in about 1635.
The real name of Okomfo Anokye was Kwame Agyei; his other names were Firempong Manso. His appellation Kotowbere is known and used mainly in Ashanti: thus he was called Kwame Agyei Firempong Anokye Kotowbere. In Ashanti he was claimed to be the grandson of a man called Amoa Gyata from Bona-Bom, Adanse. Others claim that he was the son of a man called Kyei Birie and a woman called Dwirawira Kwa, an Asenie woman from Adanse-Akrogyere.
According to Akuapem tradition, Okomfo Anojye was the son of one Ano, a quiet and physically weak father, and Manubea, an energetic, setimental and talkative mother. They were natives of Awukugua, a town in the Nifa (Right) Division of the Akwapem state.....It is said that when Okomfo Anokye was born in Awukugua he was already holding in his right hand a short white tail of a cow (bodua); and he had so firmly clenched the fist of the other hand that no one could open it. The woman who went to deliver the labouring mother tried to open it because she suspected there was something in it. The father was called in to assist, and immediately the fater came in and touched the hand Okomfo Anokye opened his eyes and, staring at the father, quickly opened the mysterious hand, showing it to the father and saying "Ano....Kye" (Guan language) meaning "Ano...see" and gave to the father what was in it. It is alleged that it was a talisman. From this incident Kwame Agyei got his name "Anokye".
...Some other traditions state that when Kwame Agyei was born, he already had teeth and a beard, and was able to speak and walk. It is also said that one night, when Kwame Agyei was still a child, his parents were roused from sleep by the cry of a child...They went out and found that it was Kwame Agyei who was crying and walking aout in the yard. On consulting [a medicine man], they were told that the child "went out to eat". Oracular interpretations further revealed that the child was not an ordinary human being, but a god [i.e. perhaps a nature-spirit entity incarnated into a human body?], who had been born for a special mission, and that if he were not properly taken care of, his mother would die and the people of Awukugua would become poorer. But if they took proper care of him, he Kyerepong people would become great and pwowerful."
Now I shall jump the life activities of this great medicine man and go straight to his miracles, what I wanted to be the main focus of this article.
THE MIRACLES OF OKOMFO ANOKYE IN AKUAPEM (ADAA-OTOA, pgs. 35-37, this is reproduced from chapter 10 of the book)
Anti wrote,"In THIS chapter, I shall describe as many of the miracles alleged to ahve been performed by Anokye as I have been able to collect in Akuapem"
1.Anokye could arrange a number of empty dishes one on top of another, and command that all the dishes be filled with fufu (a local Akan dish).
2. Once before a big crowd, Anokye caused a plantain to be cooked; when the plantain was well cooked, he planted it. It immediately germinated, grew, ripened and was harvested.
3. Anokye tied a very long thread between two poles, and walked on it with his wooden sandals ("nkronnua").
4. He could be locked in a room, but would come out while the room was still locked.
5. He would command the rain to stop falling until the celebration of a festival was ended.
6. Anokye would jump over a live snake, and the snake would immediately die.
7. One day at Awukugua, Okomfo Anokye's mother had no meat for food so Anokye told his father that he would give them meat. He asked his mother to prepare palm-nut soup. When the soup was well cooked and the fufu was about to be pounded, Anokye went into a trance, and when he became conscious he ordered his father to go out to the back of the house near the bush; when the father went there he found two big antelopes lying asleep. The father killed them and brought them home.
8. Once at Awukugua, [as a boy], Anokye and his parents went to their farm. A heavy rain fell till late in the night, when it was very dark. Anokye went into a lonely place nearby and brought some leaves. He gave one to each person and asked them to put [these leaves] under their armpits and [to] close their eyes. As soon as they did so and opened their eyes they found themselves at home [i.e. teleportation]
9. Once, at Awukugua, Okomfo Anokye asked his servants to go into the pool Asenee, about two miles away from the village, where they would find two strangers, a man and a woman, sitting in a brass pan and floating on the surface of the pool. When the servants arrived there, they saw the