text:
Photosynthesis: deserving of our awe or ridicule?
January 9, 2011 · Agnosticism
Source / Courtesy: Alislam-eGazette
After centuries of research, technology has created solar panels. The plant kingdom has been converting solar energy into chemical energy in a much more aesthetic manner. The plants are not only solar panels but are also self generating solar panel factories and much more! They are a source of timber, fuel, food and shelter for animals and human. At the end of their useful life the plant kingdom unlike our solar panels does not pose any environmental risk. As you study the technical details and the miracle of photosynthesis in this article, would you rather support Sir David Attenborough, Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, or Prof. Richard Dawkins. I extensively quote from these three teachers on this ubiquitous phenomenon of nature. Don't be shy or timid to take any of these three positions, because, regardless of your pick you will be in good company, in this terrestrial life. For, Immanuel Kant wrote, "Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me." If you would rather follow a more celebrated intellectual, "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations," wrote Albert Einstein, "There remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious." However, if there is a hereafter that may have different implications! The metaphysics of the Holy Quran, explaining the fundamental nature of our being, the world around and the absolute, should not be imposed on human consciousness in some legalistic manner, rather should be appreciated in a poetic imagination. The Holy Quran states that everything in the earth and heaven glorifies the Creator in one form or the other: "He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise."(Al Quran (59:25) The Quran also claimed in the 7th century when it was not known whether anything existed between the earth and the heavenly bodies: "He is the Gracious God, Who has settled Himself on the Throne. To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, and whatsoever is between them, and whatsoever is beneath the moist subsoil." (Al Quran (20:6-7)
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (pronounced /ˈætənbərə/) OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA (born 8 May 1926 in London, England) is a broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the respected face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. Heexpresses his fascination with the phenomenon of photosynthesisin the following words:
Leaves are the food factories of a plant. The raw materials they use are of the simplest. Carbon dioxide, water and a few mineral ingredients. The first, a gas, is all around them in the air and they absorb it through tiny pores in their surface. Water, and the minerals dissolved in it, is collected by the roots from the ground in which the plant grows. The agents within the tissues of the leaves that process these raw materials are small grains containing that remarkable green substance, chlorophyll. Powered by the energy of the sun, this is able to combine these elements and produce starches and sugars, the foods from which the plant builds its various tissues. The process is called photosynthesis. Its by-product is oxygen. That gas drifts through the leaf pores into the atmosphere to the benefit of animals. For them it is the very breath of life. Since daylight is essential for this process, every plant must, as far as possible, position its leaves so that each collects its share without interfering with any others the plant may have. This may require changing the posture of the leaves throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky. The accuracy with which a plant can position them may be judged simply by gazing up at the canopy in a wood. In an environment where many species live crowded together, as they do in an English hedgerow, plants may have to jockey with their neighbors and rivals for exposure to the sun. Watching them do so on time-lapse film shot over several days is like watching the faces of a packed crowd at a tennis match, where each person is anxious to get a good view of the ball as it passes from one side of the court to the other. In the morning, they face eastwards. As the sun rises, so they crane upwards; and as it sets, so they turn westwards. Overnight, some may fold up, but all realign themselves to be ready to face the sun when it appears once more at dawn in the east. On the floor of a well-established forest, the light may be very dim indeed. Some plants deal with the problem by growing extremely large leaves. The biggest undivided leaf of all belongs to a giant edible aroid that grows in marshy parts of the tropical rain forest in Borneo. One of its heart-shaped leaves may be ten feet across and have a surface area of over thirty square feet. Other members of the same family do not grow such monstrous leaves but maximize the meager light that falls on them in a different way. They coat the underside of their leaves with a purple pigment. This catches the light after it has passed through the thickness of the leaf and reflects it back into the leaf tissues so that the chlorophyll has the second chance to utilize what is left of it. Begonias, which also grow on the floor of these Asiatic forests, have an additional trick. Some cells in the upper surface of their leaves are transparent and act as tiny lenses, gathering the feeble light and focusing it on to the grains of chlorophyll within.[1]
The technique of focusing light through lenses is also being lately used in solar cells to enhance the yield of the solar panels. Professor Richard Dawkins confesses in one of his books, "Whenever humans have a good
idea, zoologists have grown accustomed to finding it anticipated in the animal kingdom. Examples pervade this book; including echo-ranging (bats), electro location (the Duckbill's Tale), the dam (the Beaver's Tale), the parabolic reflector (lim-pets), the infrared heat-seeking sensor (some snakes), the hypodermic syringe (wasps, snakes and scorpions), the harpoon (cnidarians) and jet propulsion (squids)."[2]
Water supply to the leaves for photosynthesis
For photosynthesis in addition to light and carbon dioxide water is needed. David Attenboroughdescribes in his special style how water is pumped up effortlessly and noiselessly upto more than 400 feet by the mountain ash trees:
The mountain ash's scientific name is Eucalyptus regnans which means, accurately enough, the ruling eucalypt. That indeed would certainly be a much better English name for such a magnificent giant. Walking through a forest of them it is difficult to appreciate just how gigantic they are, for the relative proportions of their trunks and branches are very much like those of smaller eucalypt species. In fact they stand over three hundred feet high. The current record holder is said to be one in the Styx Valley of Tasmania which has been measured as reaching 325 feet. Even this is not the tallest that has ever existed. The forests of Australia, like those almost everywhere else, have been plundered for timber ever since Europeans first entered them. Back in 1880, a surveyor measured a mountain ash in Victoria that stood 375 feet high. It was, of course, immediately cut down. Around the same time,an official inspector of forests reported a fallen trunk of one that was 435 feet long.That may well be the tallest tree ever measured. On a hot day, a tree the size of a mountain ash can lose several hundred gallons of water as vapour from its leaves. If those leaves are not to wilt, that water has to be continuously replaced. The tree has to gather it with its roots, raise it several hundred feet in its trunk and send it along its branches and stalks into the leaves themselves. A fireman, perched on top of his tallest ladder, can only get water into his hose if it is pumped up by a huge vibrating engine roaring away on the ground beneath. Yet a tree manages to do a similar thing with no visible movement and in total silence. How? It is only able to do so because the tensile strength of water is very great indeed; that is to say, an enclosed column of it will not break into separate droplets except under enormous tension. The vessels up which the water travels were initially formed by extremely elongated cells. As they grew, these not only thickened their sides with lignin but ultimately broke down the dividing wall where they met, tip to tip, so that together they formed long continuous tubes uninterrupted by any divisions. That done, the cells died. The pipes they created are thus inert and dead. They are also full of water. As the cells in a leaf lose water by evaporation, so it is replaced by water from the top of the tubes and the whole water column is pulledupwards. This, of course puts a huge strain on the sides of the tubes within a tall tree, but their woody walls are rigid enough to withstand it, and the tensile strength of water normally prevents it from fragmenting.[3]
Imagine pumping water to a height of 435 feet through human technology and that should make us stand in awe of the moutain ashbecause ofits or shall we say its Creator's magic of noiselessly pumping several hundred gallons of water every day for years and decades on end, without fail, a miracle in durability still unmatched by human technology, despite centuries of boasting and tall claims!
Mountain ash trees
David Attenborough has captured his fascination with different phenomena in the plant kingdom in a documentary, titled,
the private life of plants. Some parts of it are available on Youtube:
The miracle of photosynthesis and evolution
The miracle of photosynthesis needs to be understood in the three billion year history of evolution on the planet earth. The first to come were the algae and with their particular form of chlorophyll that other plants adapted slightly. When animals evolved from the plants it appears that chlorophyll was adapted into myoglobin and hemoglobin for the different needs of the animals, a creative miracle that the atheists choose to attribute to blind chance or nature and theists have the frame of mind to attribute such a wonderful and ubiquitous adaptation to the Creator of our life.
Encyclopedia Britannica offers us basic information about the structure of chlorophyll:
Chlorophyll is any member of the most important class of pigments involved in photosynthesis, the process by which light energy is converted to chemical energy through the synthesis of organic compounds. Chlorophyll is found in virtually all photosynthetic organisms, including green plants, prokaryotic blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), and eukaryotic algae. It absorbs energy from light; this energy is then used to convert carbon dioxide to carbohydrates. Chlorophyll occurs in several distinct forms: chlorophylls a and b are the major types found in higher plants and green algae; chlorophylls c and d are found, often with a, in different algae; chlorophyll e is a rare type found in some golden algae; and bacterio-chlorophyll occurs in certain bacteria. In green plants chlorophyll occurs in membranous disklike units (thylakoids) in organelles called chloroplasts. The chlorophyll molecule consists of a central magnesium atom surrounded by a nitrogen-containing structure called a porphyrin ring; attached to the ring is a long carbon–hydrogen side chain, known as a phytol chain. Variations are due to minor modifications of certain side groups. Chlorophyll is remarkably similar in structure to hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying pigment found in the red blood cells of mammals and other vertebrates.[4]
Chlorophyll: complex yet elegant
Giant waterlillies in the Amazon have a very dramatic strategy to capture light for photosynthesis, by covering large surfaces of water.The leaves looking like huge circular trays may be as large as 6 feet in diameter, here is some excellent footage by David Attenborough, demonstrating this beautiful miracle of nature:
Giant waterlilliesfrom the Amazoneasily supporting the weight of a baby
As animals evolved from the plants, the molecule of cholorophyll was very creatively adapted to serve as oxygen carrying blood chemicals, hemoglobin and like, includingmyoglobin thatis used forstorage of energy in the muscles. In 1913 Dr. Richard Willstätter, a German chemist, discovered the role of chlorophyll in plant functions, and noted the structural similarity between chlorophyll and heme, the red pigment in blood responsible for transporting oxygen to all parts of the body. Both molecules have complex structures, called porphyrin rings, consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Heme (the oxygen-carrying part of the hemoglobin molecule) differs from chlorophyll primarily by the central atom; iron (Fe) in heme and magnesium (Mg) in chlorophyll.
The mangenese gives chlorophyll the green color and iron gives hemoglobin its red color.
Crabs have blue blood because it is copper based. In some other animals — octopuses, lobsters, and some others — a different molecule, called hemocyanin, carries the oxygen. With this molecule, the blood is blue.
More obscure versions are hemerythrin (violet blood) and hemovanadin (pale green).Long before humans firgured out the concept of recycling papers, glass and plastices, nature had introduced the concept.When red blood cells (RBCs)die the iron in the hemoglobin does not go waste but is recycled through some chemical processes in the liver. Those who are not in the habit of denying the awe of organization and order in our universe, as soon as they understand some of the natural mechanisms involved in the orchestration of the order, see certain religious implications in the subtlety of nature. "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations," wrote Albert Einstein, "There remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious."
Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad
Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad was the international leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from 1982-2003. I have a Google knol about him:
http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/hadhrat-mirza-tahir-ahmad/1qhnnhcumbuyp/319 #
As alluded before, the miracle of photosynthesis needs to be understood in the three billion year history of evolution on the planet earth and that is what Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadhas done in the chapter,
the Essential Role of Clay and Photosynthesis in Evolution,in his book,Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge and Truth.He writesabout the origin of life:
Having examined the amazing significance of dry ringing clay at the preparatory stages of biotic evolution, let us pause and wonder for a while at the dazzling brilliance of the Quranic claim made over fourteen hundred years ago. The idea of the participation of dry ringing clay in the creation of man is so bizarre and unique, and is diametrically opposed to the then prevalent popular tale of the genesis of Adam. One can easily understand the workings of a simple mind, under the influence of such popular tales, to think of God as mixing earth with water, drying it up to a degree, until it achieved the consistency of modelling clay. What remained to be done was the simple exercise of moulding it into the shape of man. And Lo! Adam is raised from dust, complete with all his organic constituents! In that instant sprang into being the entire complex of his body cells furnished with DNA, RNA, chromosomes, genes, somatic cells, reproductive cells etc. Ears, nose and eyes were formed, blood vessels were created, and heart and lungs with all their complexities were completed and set in place. Also, of course, the central nervous and immune systems were completed that instant! All that miracle was created, according to some naive readers of the scriptures, within the space of a single breath of life which, as they understand, the Creator blew into the statue of clay which He had moulded as Adam. This belief is as devoid of brain as blind evolution is devoid of sight. The evolutionists who believe in creation without a God, without a Conscious Supermind, may scorn at the naivety of those who take the account of the Old Testament over-literally. They forget however, that their stance is equally lamentable. If the scripture scenario is literally accepted, then the only conclusion one can draw is that God the Creator is Almighty, but not All-Wise! An All-Wise God could not have conceived such a brainless scheme of creation, in which even a skilful potter could beat Him at His own game! The plan of evolution which antecedes the creation of man is a masterpiece of creative wonders and a work of beauty which knows no parallel. For such a Creator to have forgotten altogether the intricate laws of nature which He Himself had framed, and the bricks of life which He had so dextrously designed and moulded, and the profound wonders He packed into their tiny cells, is absolutely inconceivable. How could He have forgotten a billion years of the history of the evolution of life? Little didheremember, ashewas engaged so seriously in shaping another Adam out of clay, all anew, thathehad already created and perfected him a hundred thousand years before in a far more sensible manner. The earth was already abounding in Homo sapiens—and with what amazement they must have watchedhimengaged in this futile exercise in the garden of Eden! However disdainfully one may reject this naive vision of the creation of man, as held by religious zealots, the case of the secular scientists is no less deplorable. They know full well the limitless intricacies involved in the scheme of creation and the most exquisitely executed plan of evolution. All the same they attribute this most wonderful masterpiece merely to 'chance' who is not only brainless, but is also blind, deaf and dumb! Little does it behove them to laugh and scorn at the religious zealots. The vision of their god, however senile he may have become—after executing his tremendous plan of creation—is out of all proportion superior to the evolutionist's concept of the creative force at work. The most exquisite and unimaginably intricate plan of creation, they believe, was conceived and executed merely by a sightless brainless fashioner of man, the ancient thrower of dice. The image of God as emerges from the Book of Genesis, when taken literally, presents Him no doubt as a doting senile but what the scientists would have us believe is even more exasperating. All through the journey of a billion years of biotic evolution, only a brainless phantom of chance occupied the driving seat, the naturalists insist, steering the wagon of evolution through the uncountable number of twists and turns it took before reaching its ultimate goal. But unfortunately all their profound search for truth comes to a naught when they reach the point where life should begin to emerge in an oxygen-free atmosphere, which then existed, according to Haldane. In agreement with his theory, the scientists believe that a transformation did take place from a non-biotic era to a biotic era despite the absence of oxygen. We believe, on the other hand, that despite their denial of the existence of free oxygen, one must visualize its presence in the atmosphere somehow to the degree that it could support life. For this we have no alternative mechanism to suggest, but our failure to do so does not prove that it did not happen.
The provisions and providences that the atheist writers like to call chances that have gone into presence and development of life forms on our planet earth are countless and possibly grow into billions. Paul Charles William Davies(born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, currently a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, explains the situation eloquently:
The fact that biological systems have very special requirements, and that these requirements are happily, met by nature, has been commented upon at least since the seventeenth century. It is only in the twentieth century, however, with the development of biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, that the' full picture has emerged. Already in 1913 the distinguished Harvard biochemist Lawrence Henderson wrote: 'The properties of matter and the course of cosmic evolution are now seen to be intimately related to the structure of the living being and to its activities; … the biologist may now rightly regard the Universe in its very essence as biocenteric.' Henderson was led to this surprising view from his work on the regulation of acidity and alkalinity in living organisms, and the way that such regulation depends crucially upon the rather special properties of certain chemical substances. He was also greatly impressed at how water, which has a number of anomalous properties, is incorporated into life at a basic level. Had these various substances not existed, or had the laws of physics been some what different so that the substances did not enjoy these special properties, then life (at least as we know it) would be impossible. Henderson regarded the 'fitness of the environment' for life as too great to be accidental, and asked what manner of law is capable of explaining such a match. In the 1960s the astronomer Fred Hoyle noted that the element carbon, whose peculiar chemical properties arecrucial to terrestrial life, is manufactured from helium inside large stars. It is released therefrom by supernovae explosions, as discussed in the previous section. While, investigating the nuclear reactions that lead to the formation of carbon in the stellar cores, Hoyle was struck by the fact that the key reaction proceeds only because of a lucky fluke. Carbon nuclei are made by a rather tricky process involving the simultaneous encounter of three high-speed helium nuclei, which then stick together. Because of the rarity of triple-nucleus encounters, the reaction can proceed at a significant rate only at certain well-defined energies (termed 'resonances'), where the reaction rate is substantially amplified by quantum effects. By good fortune, one of these resonances is positioned just about right to correspond to the sort of energies that helium nuclei have inside large stars. Curiously, Hoyle did not know this at the time, but he predicted that it must be so on the basis that carbon is an abundant element in nature. Experiment subsequently proved him right. A detailed study also revealed other "coincidences" without which carbon would not be both produced and preserved inside stars. Hoyle was so impressed by this "monstrous series of accidents," he was prompted to comment that it was as if 'the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside the stars.' Later he was to expound the view that the universe looks like a 'put-up job,' as though somebody had been 'monkeying' with the laws of physics. These examples are intended merely as a sample. A long list of additional "lucky accidents" and 'coincidences' has been compiled since, most notably by the astrophysicists Brandon Carter, Bernard Carr and Martin Rees. Taken together, they provide impressive evidence it depends very sensitively on the form of the laws of physics, and on some seemingly fortuitous accidents in the actual values that nature has chosen for various particle masses, force strengths, and so on.[5]
This detailed description by Paul Davies reminds me of a few verses of the Holy Quran, for example:
Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and caused water to come down from the clouds, and brought forth therewith fruits for your sustenance; and He has subjected to you the ships that they may sail through the sea by His command, and the riverstoohas He subjected to you. And He hasalsosubjected to you the sun and the moon, both performing their work constantly. And He has subjected to you the night as well as the day. And He gave you all that you wanted of Him; and if youtry tocount the favours of Allah, you will not be able to number them. Verily, man is very unjust, very ungrateful. (Al Quran 14:33-35)
And the following verses reveal that seeing the Creator through the reflection of His creation was also a life style of the Jewish prophets:
This is a Book (the Quran) which We have revealed to thee, full of blessings, that they may reflect over its verses, and that those gifted with understanding may take heed. And We bestowed on David, Solomon who was an excellent servant. He was always turning to Us. When there were brought before him at eventide steeds of noblest breed and swift of foot, he said, 'I love the love of horses because of the remembrance of my Lord.' So great was his love of them that when they were hidden behind the veil, he said, 'Bring them back to me.' Then he began to pass his hand over their legs and their necks. (Al Quran 38:30-34)
The following is whatHadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadwrote about photosynthesis:
As life began on earth, all vegetative growth which contains a green pigmented material—chlorophyll—entrapped the incident sunlight, converting it to chemical energy to synthesize organic compounds from inorganic compounds. During this process they manufactured carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water releasing oxygen simultaneously: 6CO2 + 6H2O——-> C6H12O6 + 6O2 Chlorophyll is of two types, chlorophyll a (C55H72MgN4O5) and chlorophyll b (C55H70MgN4O6). The composition of these formulae has the exact placing of each element in a certain sequence which is reminiscent of the composition of haemoglobin—being no less wonderful in its complexity. Thus writes Steven Rose in his bookThe Chemistry of Life: 'Although chlorophyll is by no means the only photosynthetic pigment, it is the only essential one. … The polar head part of the molecule is in fact very similar in design to that of the haem of the cytochromes and haemoglobin. Like haem it consists of a linked series of four carbon-and-nitrogen containing rings ('pyrrole rings') joined together to form a sort of doughnut with a hole in the middle. This hole is filled in haem by the metal iron: in chlorophyll on the other hand the jam in the doughnut is made of magnesium. The ring structures contain a series of alternating double and single bonds, and the absorption of a given small amount of light (a quantum) of a particular wavelength causes a sort of vibration, or resonance around these bonds. Because of the close packing and stable orientation of the pigment molecules within the lamellae, this resonance energy can be transferred from one pigment molecule to another until it is eventually channelled into a slightly different chlorophyll molecule from which it cannot escape. This final energy-trapping type of chlorophyll can receive an input from as many as 300 of the standard chlorophyll molecules. The energy from the light is thus very highly concentrated at a single site, giving the second molecule the ability to transfer an electron to a non-pigment receptor which in turn passes it, via an intermediate set of carriers, to NADP… In the most complicated huge molecule of chlorophyll, there is an immensely long chain of atoms precisely arranged in a sequence which if altered, at even a single link, will completely destroy the very function and significance of chlorophyll. Life in every form owes its existence to this fundamental trap of energy, but carbohydrates thus produced cannot be utilized by life directly. The chain of all chemical reactions that follow depend on ATP and ADP, chemicals which essentially contain three or two phosphate groups. In both these chemicals the phosphorus groups play the central role. It is this most important ingredient which is present in every living cell of both plants and animals. It runs the immensely vast factory which provides a multitude of organic chemicals needed by the living. In the preceding discussion we have in fact touched upon three mysteries of creation which the routinely familiar eyes of the scientists do not register. But all the great scientists who have tried to unravel the mysteries of the origin of life register these facts and attempt to resolve them. Chlorophyll is an exception to the rule. Instead of attempting to solve the enigma presented by this pigment, they bypass the issue altogether and proceed on to discuss some other hurdles regarding which they have at least some partial solutions to offer. They bypass the issue of chlorophyll because they must have fully realized that this extremely complex pigment could not have suddenly jumped into existence out of nowhere. If on the other hand it had evolved, it must have left behind a very long trail of its evolution. Most certainly it should not have begun to exist out of nothing. But it does exist, and hurls a challenge to all the atheists, philosophers and scientists to explain its sudden emergence and existence. It is easier to conceive the haemoglobin to have evolved. But it is next to impossible to justify the existence of this little pigment.http://www.alislam.org/library/books/revelation/index.html
His description of chlorophyll should not confuse one into believing that he is proposing God of the gapsand some form of creationism as all his life he was a strong proponent of guided evolution, in countless speeches and presentations.The words here are meant to highlight the improbability of blind evolution of the molecule and point one towards how God has guided the evolution of all life forms onour planet earth!
Prof. Richard Dawkins' inability to appreciate the beauty of trees
Now, let usturn to our third contender, Prof, Richard Dawkins, who almost comes across as themain spokesman of atheism. We will review hisperspectiveon photosynthesis, plants and trees.The title of his recent book,
the Greatest Show on Earth,is a Freudian slip implying that thedifferent forms of life, animals and plants, on our planet earth are the greatest show on earth, exact opposite of the inference that our rationally infalliblePope of atheism would like to draw. Oblivious of his slip, as he returns to his atheistic agendahe starts building a case against a Creator by writing:
"Eyes and nerves, sperm tubes, sinuses and backs are poorly designed from the point of view of individual welfare, but the imperfections make perfect sense in the light of evolution. The same applies to the larger economy of nature. An intelligent creator might be expected to have designed not just the bodies of individual animals and plants but also whole species, entire ecosystems. Nature might be expected to be a planned economy, carefully designed to eliminate extravagance and waste. It isn't, and this chapter will show it."
He believes that any imperfection will suggest lack of a Creator, would he allow the converse that presence of beauty andelegance should argue for a Creator?
Prof. Richard Dawkins
Before he will makehisthesis he begins by arguing against his case and shoots himself in the foot. Let us read it in his own words as he analyzes the complexity, organizationand beuty of photosynthesis:
"Much of the land surface of the Earth is covered by green leaves, which constitute a many-layered catchment for photons. If a photon is not caught by one leaf, it has a good chance of being caught by the one below. In a dense forest, not many photons make it to the ground uncaught, which is exactly why mature forests are such dark places in which to walk. Most of the photons that constitute our planet's minute share of the sun's rays hit water, and the surface layers of the sea swarm with single-celled green plants to catch them. Whether at sea or on land, the chemical process that traps photons and uses them to drive 'uphill' energy-consuming chemical reactions, manufacturing convenient energy-storage molecules such as sugars and starch, is called photosynthesis. It was invented, more than a billion years ago, by bacteria; and green bacteria still underlie most photosynthesis. I can say this because the chloroplasts – tiny green photosynthetic engines that actually do the business of photosynthesis in all leaves – are themselves the direct descendants of green bacteria. Indeed, since they still autonomously reproduce themselves after the manner of bacteria, within plant cells, we can justly say that they still are bacteria, albeit heavily dependent on the leaves that house them and to which they give their colour. It appears that originally free-living green bacteria were hijacked into plant cells, where they eventUally evolved into what we now call chloroplasts."[6]
Having argued the case for his opponents now he is ready to make his case and writes:
"Look at a single tall tree standing proud in the middle of an open area. Why is it so tall? Not to be closer to the sun! That long trunk could be shortened until the crown of the tree was splayed out over the ground, with no loss, in photons and huge savings in cost. So why go to all that expense of pushing the crown of the tree up towards the sky? The answer eludes us until we realize that the natural habitat of such a tree is a forest. Trees are tall to overtop rival trees – of the same and other species. Don't be misled when you see a tree in an open field or garden that has leafy branches all the way down to the ground. It has that well-rounded shape so beloved of sergeant instructors because itisin an open field or garden. You are seeing it out of its natural habitat, which is a dense forest. The natural shape of a forest tree is tall and bare- trunked, with most of the branches and leaves near the top – in the canopy which bears the brunt of the photon rain. And now, here's an odd thought. If only all the trees in the forest could come to some agreement – like a trades union restrictive practice – to grow no higher than, say, 10 feet, everyone would benefit. The entire community – the entire ecosystem – could gain from the savings in wood, and energy, which are consumed in building up those towering and costly trunks."[7]
This is the crux of his argument, why are not all trees no taller than 10 feet? He concludes his argument about solar economy and plants with the following paragraph:
"We are talking individual costs and benefits throughout this argument. The forest would look very different if its economy had been designed for the benefit of the forestas a whole.In fact, what we actually see is a forest in which each tree species evolved through natural selection favoringindividualtrees that out-competed rival individual trees, whether of their own or another species. Everything about trees is compatible with the view that they were not designed – unless, of course, they were designed to supply us with timber, or to delight our eyes and flatter our cameras in the New England Fall. And history is not short of those who would believe just that, so let's turn to a parallel case, where the benefits to humanity are harder to allege: the arms race between hunters and hunted."[8]
He facetiouslysuggests, "Everything about trees is compatible with the view that they were not designed – unless, of course, they were designed to supply us with timber, or to delight our eyes and flatter our cameras in the New England Fall," of course, timber has been an absolute need for human development over the millennia, there is no rationality in denying the benefit of timber. Additionally, he trivializes the aesthetic beauty of trees, forgetting that on the page before he had penned a suggestion for site seeing by writing, "The Pacific Coast redwoods (see them before you die) have probably never been exceeded." The height of trees serves additional functions, for example, higher the tree greater is the dispersion of the pollens when they take off from a higher altitude and tall trees in rain forest over all increase the total volume of the ecosystem for different animals and plants alike. Some animals live exclusively in the canopy and others exploit different aspects of the ecosystems of the rain forest. As Dawkins quibles over the height of the trees he conveniently forgets that photosynthesis or the natural solarpanelshave also given us the fossil fuels. Encyclopedia Britannica reminds us, "Photosynthesis also is responsible for the 'fossil fuels' (i.e., coal, oil, and gas) that power industrial society. In past ages, green plants and small organisms that fed on plants increased faster than they were consumed, and their remains were deposited in the Earth's crust by sedimentation and other geological processes. There, protected from oxidation, these organic remains were slowly converted to fossil fuels. These fuels not only provide much of the energy used in factories, homes, and transportation, but they also serve as the raw material for plastics and other synthetic products. Unfortunately, modern civilization is using up in a few centuries the excess of photosynthetic production accumulated over millions of years."[9] The concern over the shortage, I believe, is a false alarm as God willprovide other means of energy for us also.
So, God has from one compound chlorophyll provided for aesthetic beauty of our planet, food supply for allanimals and humans, blood supply of allanimalsand fuel supply for us not onlyduring the middle ages but our present age of fossil fuel, which has also catered for all the technological advancements of the twentieth century, Dawkins concedes theelegance of life formson our planet by naminghisrecent book, with the title,
the Greatest Show on Earth,butseems, somehow,not fully satisfied, with the creativity of the Creator! Like a stubborn and cryful child he wants the trunks of the trees to be cut short, more specifically he wants them to be 10 feet only, what can I say?
Recycling of elements: the carbon and the nitrogen cycles
Nature has added further layers of complexity and order in co-ordination between plants and animals and in remarkable recycling of different elements on the planet earth without creating any waste, for billion of years, a challenge that 21st century humans find themselves incapable of meeting and have created a catastrophe of global warming for themselves with scores of floods and other disasters in the current decade alone.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, as it describes theCarbon cycle:
Carbon cycle, in biology, circulation of carbon in various forms through nature. Carbon is a constituent of all organic compounds, many of which are essential to life on Earth. The source of the carbon found in living matter is carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air or dissolved in water. Algae and terrestrial green plants (producers) are the chief agents of carbon dioxide fixation through the process of photosynthesis, through which carbon dioxide and water are converted into simple carbohydrates. These compounds are used by the producers to carry on metabolism, the excess being stored as fats and polysaccharides. The stored products are then eaten by consumer animals, from protozoans to man, which convert them into other forms. All animals return CO2 directly to the atmosphere as a by-product of their respiration. The carbon present in animal wastes and in the bodies of all organisms is released as CO2 by decay, or decomposer, organisms (chiefly bacteria and fungi) in a series of microbial transformations.[10]
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, as it describes the Nitrogen cycle:
Nitrogen cycle, circulation of nitrogen in various forms through nature. Nitrogen, a component of proteins and nucleic acids, is essential to life on Earth. Although 78 percent by volume of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas, this abundant reservoir exists in a form unusable by most organisms. Through a series of microbial transformations, however, nitrogen is made available to plants, which in turn ultimately sustain all animal life. The steps, which are not altogether sequential, fall into the following classifications: nitrogen fixation, nitrogen assimilation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification. Nitrogen fixation, in which nitrogen gas is converted into inorganic nitrogen compounds, is mostly (90 percent) accomplished by certain bacteria and blue-green algae (see nitrogen fixation). A much smaller amount of free nitrogen is fixed by abiotic means (e.g., lightning, ultraviolet radiation, electrical equipment) and by conversion to ammonia through the Haber-Bosch process. Nitrates and ammonia resulting from nitrogen fixation are assimilated into the specific tissue compounds of algae and higher plants. Animals then ingest these algae and plants, converting them into their own body compounds. The remains of all living things—and their waste products—are decomposed by microorganisms in the process of ammonification, which yields ammonia. (Under anaerobic, or oxygen-free, conditions foul-smelling putrefactive products may appear, but they too are converted to ammonia in time.) Ammonia can leave the soil or be converted into other nitrogen compounds, depending in part on soil conditions. Nitrification, a process carried out by nitrifying bacteria, transforms soil ammonia into nitrates, which plants can incorporate into their own tissues. Nitrates also are metabolized by denitrifying bacteria, which are especially active in water-logged, anaerobic soils. The action of these bacteria tends to deplete soil nitrates, forming free atmospheric nitrogen.[11]
"Human beings have always been awestruck by the subtlety, majesty and intricate organization of the physical world," so writes Paul Davies, a prolific science writer, "The march of the heavenly bodies across the sky, the rhythms of the seasons, the pattern of a snowflake, the myriads of living creatures so well adapted to their environment–all these things seem too well arranged to be a mindless accident. There is a natural tendency to attribute order of the universe to the purposeful workings of a Deity. The rise of science served to extend the range of nature's marvels, so that today we have discovered order from the deepest recesses of the atom to the most distant galaxies."[12] Davies then goes on to explain away the eleganceof nature and sacrifices it on the altar of religion of science like Dawkins, in an obsession and awe of the scientific method, but, we do not have to, we are free to draw our inferences and write our own metaphysics,explaining the fundamental nature of our being, the world around and the absolute!I find the metaphysics ofDr. Abdus Salam more satisfying not only intellectually but also emotionally and spiritually. He wasa Nobel Laureate in physics and said the following at the time of Nobel ceremony and I have added the reference of theQuranic verses he quoted:
"The creation of physics is the shared heritage of all mankind. East and West, North and South have equally participated in it. In the Holy Book of Islam, Allah says: مَا تَرٰى فِىْ خَلْقِ الرَّحْمٰنِ مِنْ تَفٰوُتٍ فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَۙ هَلْ تَرٰى مِنْ فُطُوْرٍ ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ كَرَّتَيْنِ يَنْقَلِبْ اِلَيْكَ الْبَصَرُ خَاسِئًا وَّهُوَ حَسِيْرٌ 'Thou sees not, in the creation of the All-merciful any imperfection. Return thy gaze, seest thou any fissure. Then Return thy gaze, again and again. Thy gaze, Comes back to thee dazzled, aweary.' (Al Quran 67:4-5) This in effect is, the faith of all physicists; the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze."[13]
I find the metaphysics presented by the Holy Quran and presented here through the mouth of Dr. Abdus Salam far moreholistic andsatisfying thanRichard Dawkins' stubborn insistence on atheism. God of Islam is the Hidden (Al Batin) and Transcendent God, He works through natural mechanisms only and not through supernatural. Even the miracles have natural explanation even though we may not understand them at a given time. So, merely discovering the natural mechanisms underlying the organization and majesty of nature does not take the awe and mystery away, the more we understand the grand scheme of things, the further low we should bow in gratitude to the Almighty. The Holy Quran states:
Do you see the water which you drink? Is it you who send it down from the clouds, or are We the Sender? If We so pleased, We could make it bitter. Why, then, are you not grateful? Do you see the fire which you kindle? Is it you who produce the tree for it, or are We the Producer? We have made it a reminder and a benefit for the wayfarers. So glorify the name of thy Lord, the Great. (Al Quran 56:69-75)
Photosynthesis everywhere: Algae have tools to stick to the rocks despite the waves and the tides!


I thought I would try my hand at what is being called "Triple Time Stamping". I love the way this card turned out. I used Naturals Ivory and Gumball Green card stock, ink, and ribbon. I also used some Summer Starfruit ink. The Circle Circus stamp set worked great for this technique. The sentiment came from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and was cut out using the Bitty Banners Framelits.


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Pardosa diasetsuensis este o specie de păianjeni din genul Pardosa, familia Lycosidae, descrisă de Tanaka în anul 2005. Conform Catalogue of Life specia Pardosa diasetsuensis nu are subspecii cunoscute.

Referințe

Pardosa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home Security Crime NSCDC arrest 35-year-old woman, 50-year-old man for stealing goats in Bauchi
NSCDC arrest 35-year-old woman, 50-year-old man for stealing goats in Bauchi
Onyinyechi Iheanacho
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
The Bauchi State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a 35-year-old woman, Zainab Malam Barks of Madara district of Katagum Local Government Area of the state, and a 50-year-old man, known as Usman Abubakar, for allegedly stealing goats.
The state Public Relations Officer of the Command, Garkuwa Y. Adamu who stated this today when he paraded the suspects said that Zainab with the help of Usman Abubakar specializes in stealing goats.
The PRO said preliminary investigations revealed that she stole 22 goats in two batches with the first batch of 8 goats stolen on 23/12/2021 and taken to Hardawa market where she sold them at the rate of N77,000.
READ ALSO: Mother, first son kill younger sibling for yahoo plus ritual in Lagos
"After a week, she went back to the same location and stole 14 goats which she took to Misau market for sale as usual, but luck ran out on her as she was arrested by NSCDC personnel attached to Misau Division. The suspects will be charged to court immediately after investigations.
The PRO also said that the Command under the leadership of Commandant Nuraddeen Abdullahi successfully arrested some suspected political thugs popularly known as (Sara-suka) for acts of thuggery.
He said: "The suspects are part of a syndicate terrorizing Misau town headquarters of Misau Local Government of the state.
Garkuwa said on the 5th of January, 2022 at about 2300 hours, a distress call was received by the Divisional Officer in Misau about the activities of sara-suka gang, and immediately the Divisional Officer mobilized his men to the scene and arrested two suspects among the gang members.
Those arrested and paraded by the Command are: Auwal Usman, 17 years and Ibrahim Ibrahim, 18 years all of Misau town.
The PRO said that Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects used machetes and knives in attacking four people who are currently receiving treatment at FMC Azare as a result of the injury they sustained. They specialize in attacking residents and dispossessing people of their belongings while other gang members are at large, effort is ongoing to ensure that they are arrested."
The Command assured that its personnel will continue to provide security to citizens of the state in collaboration with other security agencies in the state urging residents to be security conscious and report strange characters to the nearest security outfit.
35-year-old
NSCDC
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Casa do Penedo – the Stone House
December 3, 2019 by eMORFES, posted in architecture, bizarre, places
Casa do Penedo is an architectural monument located between Celorico de Basto and Fafe, in northern Portugal. It received its name because it was built from four large boulders that serve as the foundation, walls and ceiling of the house. Its construction began in 1972 and lasted about two years. The residence was initially used by the owners as a holiday destination. Today, Casa de Penedo is a small museum of relics and photographs from Penedo's history. Due to its unusual design and integration into the surrounding nature, the building has become a growing tourist attraction/
info source: wikipedia
By Pablo García Chao – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
By Feliciano Guimarães from Guimarães, Portugal – Stone house revisited, CC BY 2.0, Link
By Feliciano Guimarães from Guimarães, Portugal – The Stone House reinvented, CC BY 2.0, Link
By Feliciano Guimarães from Guimarães, Portugal – Stone house, CC BY 2.0, Link
By Feliciano Guimarães from Guimarães, Portugal – This image was originally posted to Flickr as Stone house, CC BY 2.0, Link
Tagged architecture, bizarre, places
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2 thoughts on "Casa do Penedo – the Stone House"
walachniewicz says:
Love it ! Thanks for sharing
Yoshimiparis Photographie says:
it's absolutely fascinating


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Big Food: The rise of environmentally unsustainable food monopolies
A few giant food companies are responsible for almost all the products we find in our supermarkets. Here's how it impacts the environment.
A handful of powerful companies control the majority market share of almost 80{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of dozens of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans, new analysis reveals.
A joint investigation by the Guardian and Food and Water Watch found that consumer choice is largely an illusion – despite supermarket shelves and fridges brimming with different brands. In fact, a few powerful transnational companies dominate every link of the food supply chain: from seeds and fertilizers to slaughterhouses and supermarkets to cereals and beers.
The size, power and profits of these mega companies have expanded thanks to political lobbying and weak regulation which enabled a wave of unchecked mergers and acquisitions. This matters because the size and influence of these mega-companies enables them to largely dictate what America's 2 million farmers grow and how much they are paid, as well as what consumers eat and how much our groceries cost.
It also means those who harvest, pack and sell us our food have the least power: at least half of the 10 lowest-paid jobs are in the food industry. Farms and meat processing plants are among the most dangerous and exploitative workplaces in the country.
Overall, only 15 cents of every dollar we spend in the supermarket goes to farmers. The rest goes to processing and marketing our food. The Guardian and Food and Water Watch investigation into 61 popular grocery items reveals that the top companies control an average of 64{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of sales. We found that for 85{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the groceries analysed, four firms or fewer controlled more than 40{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of market share. It's widely agreed that consumers, farmers, small food companies and the planet lose out if the top four firms control 40{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} or more of total sales.
Our investigation is based on the analysis of market share data from thousands of supermarkets across the US. "It's a system designed to funnel money into the hands of corporate shareholders and executives while exploiting farmers and workers and deceiving consumers about choice, abundance and efficiency," said Amanda Starbuck, policy analyst at Food & Water Watch.
The consolidation runs deep: four firms or fewer controlled at least 50{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the market for 79{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the groceries. For almost a third of shopping items, the top firms controlled at least 75{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the market share. For instance, PepsiCo controls 88{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the dip market, as it owns five of the most popular brands including Tostitos, Lay's and Fritos. Ninety-three per cent of the sodas we drink are owned by just three companies. The same goes for 73{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the breakfast cereals we eat – despite the shelves stacked with different boxes.
Big food is getting bigger
For shoppers, it might seem like choices galore at the store, but most of our favorite brands are actually owned by a handful of food giants, including Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Conagra, Unilever and Delmonte.
Kraft Heinz, the result of a $63bn mega-merger in 2015, which was backed by Warren Buffett and a Brazilian private equity firm, appears 12 times in the top 4 firms for groceries, with products ranging from bacon, sour cream and coffee to frozen meat substitutes and fruit juice.
The big firms are helped by so-called category captains who represent leading brands or manufacturers and work with major retailers to decide which products get prominent spots on our supermarket shelves. And then there's the slotting fees – payments by big-brand manufacturers for eye-catching product placement. This makes it very hard for new independent brands to get a break. And when they do get a tiny foothold, it often doesn't last.
For example, while hipsters and old-school beer enthusiasts have contributed to a boom in local craft beers, the Belgian company Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired 17 formerly independent craft breweries between 2011 and 2020. It might not be clear to consumers from the labels, but the company owns more than 600 brands, including the mainstream favorites Budweiser, Michelob and Beck's.
Another source of confusion is private labels – supermarkets' own brands, of which little is known about the producer – which appeared in the top four of 77{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the groceries we looked at. For frozen fruits like the mixed berries used for smoothies and desserts, private labels account for 66{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the market share, as well as 56{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of refrigerated whole milk and 54{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of eggs sales.
Millions spent on lobbying politicians
The economic power of the corporations has contributed to their growing political power, which in turn has led to laws that put profits before food and worker safety, consumer rights and sustainability.
During the 2020 election cycle, the food industry spent $175m on political contributions, including lobbying by PACs and individuals and other efforts. The money came from every part of the food chain, including dairy, eggs, poultry, meat processing, farm bureaus, sugar cane, crop production and supermarkets. About two-thirds went to Republicans.
The 2020 total compares to just $29m spent during the 1992 election cycle, which means lobbying by the food industry has increased by sixfold in less than three decades as consolidation across the supply chain has boomed.
Supermarket chains dominate
Less competition among agribusinesses means higher prices and fewer choices for consumers – including where they can shop for food.
Until the 1990s, most people shopped in local or regional grocery stores. Now, just four companies – Walmart, Costco, Kroger and Ahold Delhaize – control 65{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the retail market.
"Corporate consolidation can drive up food prices and reduce access to food," said Starbuck. "Supermarket mergers drive out smaller, mom-and-pop grocers and regional chains. We have roughly one-third fewer grocery stores today than we did 25 years ago, according to the US census bureau." As countless mom-and-pop stores struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic lockdowns, revenue for Walmart US hit $341bn – almost 3{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} higher than the previous year.
Grocery chains and superstores are also the main beneficiaries of government aid for Americans struggling to feed their families. In 2020, 82{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of all food stamps were spent in supermarkets and superstores like Krogers, Walmart, Costco and Sam's Club, which means the taxpayer contributed $64bn to their revenue.
The meat market – and sticky commodity prices
A spate of mega-mergers means that meatpacking plants are now controlled by just a handful of multinationals including Tyson, JBS, Cargill and Smithfield (now owned by the Chinese multinational WH Group). Proponents of capitalism claim mergers and acquisitions generate efficiencies that cut costs for farmers and benefit consumers by keeping prices down. But the tight grip these companies have over the industry means farmers have little choice about whom they sell to and how their animals are raised
Consumers pay more while profits for mega meat processors are booming: in 2020, the Brazilian firm JBS reported $51bn in revenue – a 32{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} rise compared with the previous year. China is driving much of the company's growth, and JBS accounted for 50{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of beef exports from the US last year. The proportion of arable land dedicated to producing meat is expanding but this is largely to feed consumers overseas. Per capita meat production flatlined in the US between 2005 and 2020, while the value of exports almost doubled.
Consumers are also hurt by so-called sticky prices. Commodity prices can rise due to shortages caused by unexpected events such as floods or drought that disrupt the supply chain – which happened at the start of the pandemic. When this happens, supermarkets are quick to increase prices to ensure profit margins remain intact, but when commodities go down, consumer prices are often much slower to decrease.
Farmers squeezed … and desperate
America's farmers have become increasingly dependent on government aid.
Farmers received $424.4bn in subsidies between 1995 and 2020, of which 49{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} were for just three crops: corn, wheat and soybeans, according to the Environmental Working Group. Corn subsidies are the largest by a long way – $116.6bn – accounting for 27{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the total. Very little corn grown in the US is eaten these days. Instead, more than 99{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} goes into animal feed, additives like corn syrup used in sugary junk food and, increasingly, ethanol, which produces toxic air pollutants when burned with gasoline.
It's a cruel paradox, according to some campaigners, as subsidies incentivise farmers to grow just a handful of cash crops, a practice that floods the market, depresses prices and keeps them hooked on government aid.
Commodity prices peaked in mid-2012 and plunged by about 50{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} by the end of 2019. This is good news for big corporations like meat processors, as it reduces costs, but bad for many farmers: total farm debt has reached levels not seen since the 1980s farm crisis.
Advocates say that a toxic mix of financial woes, climate chaos and trade wars have contributed to a mental health crisis among farmers. At least 450 farmers died by suicide across nine midwestern states between 2014 to 2018, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. Calls to a crisis hotline operated by Farm Aid, a non-profit agency trying to help farmers keep their land, almost doubled over the same period. In 2020, 552 farmers filed for bankruptcy – 7{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} fewer than the previous year, as commodity prices and government aid increased during the pandemic, but still the third-highest figure over the last decade.
"The economic power of these corporations enables them to wield huge political influence, so we have a system in which farmers are on a treadmill just trying to stay afloat. Basically, there's a handful of individuals in the world, mostly white men, who make money by dictating who farms, what gets farmed and who gets to eat. Consumer choice is an illusion; the transnationals control everything in this extractive agricultural model," said Joe Maxwell, president of Family Farm Action.
Less than a third of farms – mostly big ones – benefit from USDA subsidies in part because the system has a long history of descrimination against farmers of color and small farms without the time, resources or expertise to dedicate to online applications.
Food industry workers: low pay, high hazards
At least half of the 10 lowest-paid jobs in the US are in the food industry, and they rely disproportionately on federal benefits. Walmart and McDonald's are among the top employers of beneficiaries of food stamps and Medicaid, according to a 2020 study by a non-partisan government watchdog.
Even before the pandemic, farms were among the most dangerous workplaces in the country, where low-paid workers have little protection from long hours, repetitive strain injuries, exposures to pesticides, dangerous machinery, extreme heat and animal waste. Between 50{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} and 75{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of the country's 2.5 million farmworkers are undocumented migrants who have few labor rights and limited access to occupational healthcare.
Covid exposed and exacerbated the risks faced by frontline food workers, especially those working in meatpacking plants. As of last week, at least 58,898 meatpacking plant workers had tested positive for Covid, according to data collected by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (Fern), and many of the outbreaks led to community spread in rural areas. This is a massive undercount as the majority of states do not collect or share the data, nor do the big companies.
"The meatpacking industry is much more dangerous now than in the 1990s, and the biggest factors are consolidation and cutting corners of worker safety," said Debbie Berkowitz, director of the worker health and safety program at the National Employment Law Project.
About half of the planet's land and 70{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of freshwater withdrawals are for farming, which is increasingly industrialized. Industrial agriculture is focussed on extracting maximum profits for minimum costs – an exploitative model with grave consequences for animal welfare, water, land and global heating.
Agriculture is responsible for more than a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, making food production a major contributor to the climate crisis. Across the board, the carbon footprint for animal-based foods – beef, lamb, chicken, cheese – is higher than for plant based food, which is mostly due to the consequences of deforestation to create space to grow feed crops, fertilizer used for these crops and methane emissions.
Despite the community, environmental and economic benefits of supporting local sustainable producers, transporting food is a very small contributor to greenhouse gases: it's really what you eat, not where it comes from that's key to reducing your dietary carbon footprint.
Here in the US, there were 1.6bn animals living on 25,000 factory farms in 2017 – a 14{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} rise in just five years. Together, these animals produced about 885bn pounds of manure annually – equivalent to the human sewage generated by residents of 30 New York Cities.
Incentivising farmers to grow the same crops has reduced the productivity of some of the country's most fertile lands, as monocropping depletes soil of nutrients and can lead to significant erosion. The practice requires synthetic fertilizers to compensate for the lost nutrients, and pesticides to combat fungi and insect predators that thrive in these conditions. Indigenous and subsistence farmers have always rotated multiple crops because it's the best way of ensuring healthy soil and good yields.
Agricultural runoff is now responsible for 80{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of excessive nutrients in our freshwater and oceans, which cause dense growth of plant life like algae that block oxygen from reaching fish and other animals. In 2019, agriculture and aquaculture were identified as a threat to 24,000 of the almost 28,000 species threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red List.
In the 1970s, President Richard Nixon's agriculture secretary told farmers to "get big or get out". This investigation has examined the far-reaching consequences of government support – political and economic – for big corporations that now dominate every part of the food chain.
Last week Joe Biden signed an executive order to tackle the rampant concentration across the US economy – including food and farming. Biden called on government agencies to enforce existing antitrust laws and consider rolling back recent mega-mergers which boosted profits and power for a handful of corporations while hurting the rest of us. The order specifically directs the USDA to take swift action to protect farmers including by making it easier for them to sue meat processors for alleged abuses.
But the problems in the current system run deep. "From farm to fork, America's food system has been rooted in the exploitation of women, Native Americans and people of color. This is at the heart of capitalist food politics – big corporations taking as much as they can and paying as little as possible for it," said Raj Patel, academic and author of Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World's Food System.
In addition to executive actions, which could be overturned by the next president, such deep-rooted injustices need sweeping reforms by Congress. But bills banning new mega-mergers and factory farms currently lack bipartisan support, despite public opinion supporting them.
It's time to support small-scale regenerative farmers, regional food hubs and grocery coops, according to Starbuck. "Alternatives already exist. We just need to boost public funding and resources to help sustainable, affordable, more equitable food systems take root."
Original source: https://www.theguardian.com


Nicole Holland, D.D.S., M.S., is an Assistant Professor and Director of Health Communication, Education, and Promotion in the Department of Public Health and Community Service at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. She developed and implemented the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine Health Literacy Intensive Dental Education, Literacy, & Community Partnership program, a curriculum for health literacy in dental education. She is the principle investigator of the Health Literacy as a Component of Pre-Doctoral Education for Candidates in Dental Medicine – Student Focus Group to Inform Curriculum Development, a project that determines pre-doctoral dental students' attitudes, values and beliefs regarding health literacy in patient communication. She has presented numerous lectures on the topic to a variety of audiences. Dr. Holland is a member of the International Health Literacy Association and the American Dental Association's National Advisory Committee on Health Literacy in Dentistry. In 2014, she received the Tufts-Emerson Health Communication Program Emerging Leader Award for Leading Change and Innovation in the Field of Health Communications.


You should pedal with the ball of your foot, not your arch. The ankle is the fulcrum for the force you generate with your feet. The ball of your foot is further away from the ankle than your arch so you generate far more force with the ball of your foot.


text:
class UserModel(Tower):

    @model_property
    def inference(self):
        x = tf.reshape(self.x, shape=[-1, self.input_shape[0], self.input_shape[1], self.input_shape[2]])
        # scale (divide by MNIST std)
        x = x * 0.0125
        with slim.arg_scope([slim.conv2d, slim.fully_connected],
                            weights_initializer=tf.contrib.layers.xavier_initializer(),
                            weights_regularizer=slim.l2_regularizer(0.0005) ):
            model = slim.conv2d(x, 20, [5, 5], padding='VALID', scope='conv1')
            model = slim.max_pool2d(model, [2, 2], padding='VALID', scope='pool1')
            model = slim.conv2d(model, 50, [5, 5], padding='VALID', scope='conv2')
            model = slim.max_pool2d(model, [2, 2], padding='VALID', scope='pool2')
            model = slim.flatten(model)
            model = slim.fully_connected(model, 500, scope='fc1')
            model = slim.dropout(model, 0.5, is_training=self.is_training, scope='do1')
            model = slim.fully_connected(model, self.nclasses, activation_fn=None, scope='fc2')
            return model

    @model_property
    def loss(self):
        loss = digits.classification_loss(self.inference, self.y)
        accuracy = digits.classification_accuracy(self.inference, self.y)
        self.summaries.append(tf.summary.scalar(accuracy.op.name, accuracy))
        return loss

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Mr L Ntshayisa (AIC) did come to apologise because of some internal meetings he had to join.
Mr L Ntshayisa (AIC) asked when the operator had been appointed, since there was lack of capacity. When had the Department appointed women tractor drivers?
Mr L Ntshayisa (AIC) asked what SASCOC is doing to manage the drop in revenue received from the NLC.
What plans are in place with regard to (a) the building of schools and (b) provision of transport for learners who live on farms?
What does his department do to stop corruption and misuse of funds given by the SA Football Association's (SAFA) national office to SAFA's regional offices?
Chairperson, I've got only two issues to present. The first issue is well-known by hon Jackson Mthembu.


AGOV comes prepackaged with Zen Responsive theme. This theme is the one we have been using for years as the base for building our own sub-themes. Simply put it means the site will display well on mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop and cuts down a lot of the hard work that web designers often need to do to get a website looking good at many screen sizes and varying browser platforms.
AGOV comes with established content types for Blogs, Events, Media Release, News Articles, Promotions, Publications & Standard Pages. This makes it even speedier (and as a result cheaper) for us to deploy a new website for our clients, cutting out a lot of the time consuming, boring work and allowing us to do more exciting things with our time on your project.
Site Editor, Site Builder, Content Approver & Content Editor - we can easily change the permissions of any of these roles (or add new ones if required) to provide different levels of access to your staff; stakeholders and clients.
The Workflows set up with AGOV make it easy to set up moderation for site administrators.
AGOV comes with Login Security, Password Policies and SPAM protection; helping to protect your website even more. The Login Security can block people trying to log into your website who do not have the correct username/password credentials. We can configure this for you to make it as strict as you might like. The password policy; if activated forces users on your website to reset their password at set times (e.g. every 90 days).
Once you are logged into your site as an Administrator we set it up so you can view your Google Analytics within your website. In addition to this you can always use the WCAG Validation Reporting tool on site to do a quick review of new content to make sure you are still AA compliant. When we hand the website over to you we use several tools to make sure you are AA compliant; but it is easy to let Standards slip - so having a tool onsite is really handy to do a quick check.
AGOV comes with an internal link checker; allowing you to do a review of the Broken Link report whenever you need to confirm your website content. LinkChecker can be set up to review both internal and external links.
All AGOV content can be set up to use scheduling; allowing you to set publishing dates for content; and removal dates for content as required.
The content area has several tabs splitting General Content from Blocks, Comments, Files, Webforms and Scheduled Content. This makes it easy to jump to what you are looking for and do a specific search for the exact type of thing you are looking for. Once found you can edit and/or delete.
On the Files tab you can even see where they are used on the website making it easy to identify which Files can be removed and which ones are still in use.
Media Module allows you to easily upload new images; but it also reminds you to add your ALT and Title tags to ensure you stay AA compliant. This is awesome on its own; however Media Module also has a Library containing already uploaded files onto the site so you don't need to keep adding the same image again and again. It also allows you to add Files, Audio and can even be set up to embed Vimeo and YouTube clips.
From our tests AGOV is cutting out a lot of the work required to make a site accessible according to the WCAG AA compliance checklist. On average our accessibility testing time has dropped to 10% of our build time (review our Anatomy of a website development project for a breakdown).
We started using AGOV in October last year; and have now built 9 websites with AGOV. One of these websites was for a major disability service provider. They completed their own audit on the website - the feedback has been that visually impaired staff found the site easy to navigate and desired content easily accessible.


During the late 1980's and early 1990's, John Lear, a Lockheed L- 1011 Captain and son of the famous inventor of the Lear Jet, started coming forward with some startling revelations concerning the subject of aerial phenomena and Unidentified Flying Objects. During his lecture at the 1989 MUFON conference in Las Vegas, titled 'UFO COVERUP, HISTORY AND CURRENT SITUATION' during which he spoke to an audience of over 400 of the nations leading UFOlogists, Lear made some startling comments.
One man who we will refer to extensively elsewhere claims to be a deep level intelligence operative within the U.S. Government who has access to some very sensitive and top secret information concerning the government's involvement with 'alien' studies. This individual, who refers to himself only as 'Commander X', made the following comments concerning John Lear and his possible intentions and motives for his outspokenness.
"...One can't help but be impressed with the name John Lear. After all, his father, William was the famous aviation pioneer who built the Lear Aircraft Company, which today holds down many defense contracts and employs thousands.
"Lear - the son - is also highly regarded in aviation circles, having flown a variety of over 150 test aircraft, and having won every award granted by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Until a few years ago (early 1980's) John Lear had little or no interest in UFO's--he hadn't thought terribly much about the subject, which seemed 'way out' to him. Then he chanced to talk to a friend who had been stationed in England when a UFO touched down at a military complex there, and was seen by U.S. servicemen on duty--small creatures and all. Intrigued, Lear began asking around and found some of his former associates in the CIA--for whom he had flown a number of missions--willing to confirm that government leaders knew a great deal more about UFO's...then the public was being let on.
"Lear discovered to his utter amazement that the U.S. military actually possessed craft (ie. aerial craft of unknown origin - Branton), some of the vehicles were even in partially working order. Apparently, the Americans had initially gotten their hands on these... disk-shaped devices as far back as the late 1940's, upon recovery of a 'saucer' that the Nazi's had somehow captured during World War II. Apparently, some of the lethal 'death weapons' we subsequently developed were based on facets of this (recovered) technology.
"Furthermore, Lear believes that any number of flying discs 'fell' into our hands when they crashed in the southwest in the late 1940's and early 50's.
"Scattered around the various crash sites were the bodies of small humanoid beings, the EBE's. At least one alien was found still alive and he, along with his badly burned budies, were flown to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, home of the infamous 'Hanger 18'; this final destination, the so-called 'Blue Room', (is the one) which Senator Barry Goldwater has not even been permitted to penetrate.
"According to friend and foe alike, John Lear wears a variety of masks. Sometimes what he has to say lacks credibility, but just when you think you've caught him with his jump suit down, evidence pops up that what he has to say may not be so totally off the wall. For example, others with military connections have recently come forward to verify part of his amazing saga..."


text:
French Limestones
By Steve Turner • February 3, 2017
French Limestone Blocks for Canterbury Cathedral
6 sides sawn
French Limestone
French Quarries
The Lavoux limestone quarry in France has been supplying "six sides sawn" blocks for the renovation work in several UK cathedrals including Canterbury cathedral.
Canterbury cathedral was originally founded in 597 AD. It was then completely rebuilt using Caen limestone around 1070 AD in the early days of the Norman Conquest. The design was based on the Abbaye de St Etienne in Caen in Normandy, France.
With good supplies of Caen limestone becoming more difficult to get, Lavoux limestone was approved for the recent renovation of the Great South Window in the cathedral. It will also be used in the next phase of renovation work.
Lavoux is similar in character and appearance to Caen stone and had already been approved for the restoration work in York Minster and Winchester Cathedrals some years earlier.
An example of French limestone supplied as "six sides sawn" blocks
The new blocks of limestone were delivered to the Cathedral's own stonemasons as "six sides sawn" blocks in the dimensions that they specified. The masons then set to work to transform them into the complicated shapes required for the tracery sections of the The Great South Window. In the mason's workshop, the pieces are far more intricate than one would imagine when looking at the finished window.
Lavoux tracery stone prior to installation in the Canterbury Cathedral Great South WIndow
Canterbury's masons did an astounding job of shaping each block of stone as every piece had to be custom made to fit an exact location.
Mason Emlyn Harris shows me the Lavoux limestone tracery sections in place in the Great South Window
The stained glass, some of it dating back to the 11th century, was restored and re-installed once the window had been rebuilt. (The work to restore the stained glass throughout the cathedral is an ongoing process and has been running for at least 20 years already.) The skill of the masons and the glass people is hugely impressive and probably goes unnoticed by the majority of visitors to the cathedral. During the restoration, I was lucky enough to be invited up to the top of the scaffolding to get a close up view of the inside of the window. From there, it's easier to appreciate the detail and the care that went into the work.
The Lavoux French limestone has been used in several different areas of the cathedral and further work with Lavoux has now been approved. In addition, two new statues on display outside the cathedral were carved from Lavoux limestone.
Nina Bilbey said of the Lavoux stone, "probably the most beautiful blocks of stone I've had the pleasure of carving"
The statues of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were also carved from the same Lavoux limestone. Nina Bilbey, the sculptor, was very complimentary about the quality of the stone blocks that she used for the sculptures. If you have ever wondered how such sculptures are created, Nina's web site describes this fascinating process. I would urge you to visit Nina's site and scroll through her series of photographs: www.ninabilbey.com
The Canterbury and Historical Archaeology web site has a page on the Lavoux limestone. Visit their site: Canterbury Archaeology Org
If you want to know more about French limestone, please call or email. We will be pleased to hear from you.
steve@pierreheritage.co.uk
Office: +44 (0)345 260 8070
Download our brochure and learn more about timeless French limestone
Pierre Heritage GB (t/a TBS Ltd)
Pudding Lane Nursery
Arborfield, Berkshire RG2 9HP
© 2020 Pierre Heritage GB (t/a TBS Ltd)


text:
Концепція динамічного стримування — концепція представника американської геополітичної школи Коліна С. Грея, що присвятив цій проблемі декілька робіт, витриманих в джерелі обґрунтовування гегемоністських домагань США на світовій арені. У своїй книзі «Геополітика ядерної ери» він дає нарис військової стратегії США і НАТО, в якому ставить планетарне місцерозташування ядерних об'єктів в залежність від географічних і геополітичних особливостей регіонів.

В середині 70-х рр. Грей назвав геополітику наукою про «взаємозв'язок між фізичним середовищем в тому вигляді, як вона сприймається, змінюється і використовується людьми та світовою політикою».На думку Грея, геополітика торкається взаємозв'язку міжнародної політичної потужності та географічного чинника. Під нею йдеться про «високу політику» безпеки та міжнародного порядку; вплив тривалих просторових відносин на піднесення і занепад силових центрів; то, як технологічні, політико-організаційні та демографічні процеси позначаються на вазі й впливі відповідних держав.

Джерела
 Gray, C.S. The Geopolitics of Super Power. – Lexington, 1988.

Посилання
 http://studies.in.ua

Геополітика


text:
Choon Seong Leem
EmailLEEM@YONSEI.AC.KR
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics where Choon Seong Leem is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Ubiquitous computing Engineering & Materials Science
Information systems Engineering & Materials Science
Ubiquitous Computing Mathematics
Monitoring Engineering & Materials Science
Customer satisfaction Engineering & Materials Science
Evaluation Mathematics
Wear of materials Engineering & Materials Science
The impact of technology capability, human resources, internationalization, market resources, and customer satisfaction on annual sales growth rates of Korean software firms
Lee, S. H., Leem, C. S. & Bae, D. J., 2018 Sep 1, In : Information Technology and Management. 19, 3, p. 171-184 14 p.
An empirical analysis of issues and trends in manufacturing productivity through a 30-year literature review
Lee, C. H. & Leem, C. S., 2016 Jan 1, In : South African Journal of Industrial Engineering. 27, 2, p. 147-159 13 p.
Research issues and trends in industrial productivity over 44 years
Jin, J. B., Leem, C. S. & Lee, C. H., 2016 Mar 3, In : International Journal of Production Research. 54, 5, p. 1273-1284 12 p.
Research trends
A visual interactive method for service prototyping
Bae, D. J. & Leem, C. S., 2014 Jul 8, In : Managing Service Quality. 24, 4, p. 339-362 24 p.
Interactive methods
Evolution of online social networks: A conceptual framework
Kim, J., Leem, C., Kim, B. & Cheon, Y., 2013 Mar 28, In : Asian Social Science. 9, 4, p. 208-220 13 p.
Contact Choon Seong Leem


Asphalt is a man made product used for the construction of road surfaces formed from a mix of crude oil, sand and aggregate. Dependent on how old and how hard the asphalt was rolled (reducing air pockets within) will determine the compressive strength and subsequently will determine its abrasive characteristics. In addition to asphalt this category of diamond blades are used for extreme abrasive applications such as Green concrete light weight blocks cement screed.


text:
VP&S White Coat Ceremony Welcomes Class of 2026
By Rose Spaziani
VP&S Class of 2026
On Aug. 19 at The Armory, the 140 members of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) Class of 2026 gathered for the White Coat Ceremony, an annual event at which Columbia's incoming medical students are cloaked in white coats by faculty members for the first time. Of the members of the entering class, 31% belong to groups underrepresented in medicine, surpassing the record-breaking 28% in last year's Class of 2025.
Members of the VP&S Class of 2026 are cloaked in their white coats.
The Arnold P. Gold White Coat Ceremony was established at VP&S in 1993 by the late Arnold P. Gold, MD, professor of clinical neurology and clinical pediatrics, to reinforce a strong commitment to humanistic practice. The importance of the tradition was emphasized by Katrina Armstrong, MD, dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who addressed students in her first White Coat Ceremony at Columbia.
"As you put on your white coat today, I want you to remember that the coat itself symbolizes the deepest tension that exists in medicine," said Armstrong. "The tension between truth, based in science and limited by our current understanding, and hope, based in humanity and inspired by what could be. You wear it not because there are no tensions, no divisions, no differences ahead of you. You wear it because, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'The test of a first-rate physician is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and retain the ability to function ... to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.' You wear it to sit at the bedside and hold both truth and light."
Students also heard from Michelle Morse, MD, MPH, the ninth Fern Feldman Anolick-Gold Foundation lecturer. She is chief medical officer and deputy commissioner for the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"Your choices matter," said Morse. "How you show up and what you stand for matters. Disrupting the status quo matters."
The Class of 2026 continued a tradition begun last year by reciting their own Class Oath. Their words were carefully crafted to update the Hippocratic Oath to better reflect the values they wish to uphold as they enter their medical training.
"We affirm that all patients deserve compassionate, equitable care that places their needs, values, and personhood at the center," said the incoming medical students. "We further acknowledge that compassion is an action that requires a daily commitment."
Incoming medical students recite their Class Oath.
The class has 66 men and 74 women.
The class includes 10 students enrolled in the Columbia-Bassett Program, which combines traditional medical education in New York City at VP&S and hospital-based outpatient and inpatient clinical education at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, New York.
The class includes 14 students who will train as physician-scientists in the MD/PhD dual degree program. Two students are entering the accelerated three-year PhD-to-MD program, and two students are entering the MD-Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery program.
Members of the Class of 2026 come from 27 states and 14 countries (including the United States). Almost 8% of the incoming class is the first generation in their family to attend college.


text:
The Growing Privacy-Publicacy Fault-line -- The Tension Underneath World Data Privacy Day
Given that January 28th is World Data Privacy Day, its instructive to examine why there is such increasing tension underneath the surface of the Internet over the issue of privacy. I believe there is a growing "faultline" between two opposing tectonic forces -- one that believes in online privacy and the other which believes in the opposite -- online publicacy.
(I coined the term "publicacy" in my July 2008 House testimony on online privacy because Internet technology has created the need for an antonym to describe the opposite of privacy.
Many in the Web 2.0 community believe in the "publicacy ethos" where if technology innovation can make information public, it should be public and that there should be no permission or payment required to access, use or remix this new 'public' information.)
I. Why are there opposing tectonic plates of privacy and publicacy?
A. The growing pressure for privacy is captured in a Consumer Reports Survey from 9-28-08: "Consumer Reports Poll: Americans Extremely Concerned About Internet Privacy: Most Consumers Want More Control Over How Their Online Information Is Collected & Used."
"Americans are clearly concerned with how their personal information is being collected and used by internet companies," said Joel Kelsey, policy analyst with Consumers Union. "The vast majority of consumers want more control over their personal information online and want the ability to stop internet companies from tracking and profiling them."
"...72 percent are concerned that their online behaviors were being tracked and profiled by companies."
"The poll revealed that 93 percent of Americans think internet companies should always ask for permission before using personal information and 72 percent want the right to opt out when companies track their online behavior."
So what type of private information are we talking about?
ComputerWorld has a new excellent and disturbing new piece which catalogues "What the Web knows about you."
It underscores the big disconnect between the privacy perception people have (captured in the poll above) and the publicacy reality of the Web.
B. The growing pressure for "publicacy" comes in large part from the Silicon Valley/Web 2.0 movement which sees privacy as an unrealistic expectation in the Internet age. This publicacy ethos was best captured by then Sun Microsystem's CEO Scott McNealy's famous quote in 1999: "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it."
Those who advocate the publicacy ethos for the Internet tend to be from the Silicon Valley/Web 2.0 community for two big reasons:
First, they view privacy not as a responsibility, but as a problem, cost or inefficiency to the Web 2.0 business model, innovation and growth.
Second, they view publicacy as the monetization engine, or the Goldmine of the web, because the information that the average person wishes to be private is exactly the information that is most valuable to the publicacy business models -- since it enables extremely targetted advertising and micro-marketing.
Moreover, the most intimate private information is by definition the most valuable information on the Web, because it represents a previously-hidden, and/or deeply personal intention, feeling or belief -- that can be taken advantage for monetary gain.
In other words, why is there such a steady and marked erosion of privacy on the Internet? That's because much of the Silicon Valley/Web 2.0 business model is fueled by privacy/publicacy arbitrage.
II. Why are pressures on the privacy/publicacy fault-line only going to increase in the future?
First, the Web 2.0 trend towards ever-more-sophisticated uses of Internet information on people "is the basis of an emerging field called collective intelligence," per John Markoff's excellent NYT article: "You're leaving a digital trail. Should you care?" Every succession of Web 2.0 technology innovation is finding ever more powerful and lucrative uses for peoples' private information.
Second, the continued trend towards a more digital paperless society, means eventually most of everyones information -- including their most private information about their health -- will be digitized and more available to publicacy-based businesses. The economic stimulus's multi-billion dollar investment in digitizing the nation's health records in five years will put potentially the most valuable private trove of personal infomation ever, into the digital/Internet domain for the publicacy business models to exploit.
Third, the move towards cloud computing heralded in Nicholas Carr's great book, "The Big Switch," means that less and less of our private information, documents, etc. will reside on our own hard disks, which we have control over, but will increasingly reside in multiple copies in data centers around the world -- outside of an individual's physical control.
Fourth, the trend towards measuring a company's comittment to privacy, by how short a time they retain private data records before they are partially anonymized, represents a clever publicacy misdirection from the real privacy issues that matter. Do consumers truly control how their private information is used? What information is collected and for what specific purpose? How is it used? What system of safeguards or internal controls are in place to protect private information from breaches or abuse?
Fifth, the trends towards search personalization and GPS location driven search add whole new dimensions of private information that will become available to the publicacy business models to exploit.
Tension is growing on the fault-line between the public's expectation of, and need for, privacy protection, and the publicacy business community, which views privacy expectations as a cost/inefficiency -- and a threat to their business model.
The mega-trends of collective intelligence, digitization of records, cloud computing, privacy misdirection, search personalization, location-driven search, and others are all adding pressure to the privacy/publicacy fault-line -- which means it is only a matter of time before there is a public earthquake over this issue.


text:
Q: XML Serialization - Raw Text ( escape & Char) I need to Serialize an object which has string field, the value of the string is " Applicable", when the object it is serialized i get " Applicable". how do i escape & and anyone knows what value ("&#4") it is and correct way to produce it.
I know it is Illegal XML, but that's how the application accepts.

A: I have used IXmlSerializable interface to create custom data type ad described in this
https://stackoverflow.com/a/38109865/3575100
public class CustomDataType : IXmlSerializable
{

    public string Value { get; set; }
    public XmlSchema GetSchema()
    {
        return null;
    }

    public void ReadXml(XmlReader reader)
    {
       Value = reader.ReadInnerXml();
    }

    public void WriteXml(XmlWriter writer)
    {
        writer.WriteRaw(Value);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange