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Home Other What are the different types of muscular tissue and compare their structure and function?
on March 3, 2021 March 3, 2021 Other
What are the different types of muscular tissue and compare their structure and function?
1 What are the different types of muscular tissue and compare their structure and function?
2 What are the 3 types of muscle tissue What is their function and where can they be found?
3 What are the similarities and differences between the structure and function of skeletal smooth and cardiac muscle?
4 What are the similarities and differences of the three muscle tissue skeletal muscle cardiac muscle and smooth muscle?
5 Which features distinguish the three types of muscular tissue?
6 What are the four most common types of tissue?
Skeletal muscle moves bones and other structures. Cardiac muscle contracts the heart to pump blood. The smooth muscle tissue that forms organs like the stomach and bladder changes shape to facilitate bodily functions.
What are the differences between the three muscle tissue types?
The three types of muscle can be distinguished by both their locations and their microscopic features. Skeletal muscle is found attached to bones. Cardiac muscle is only found in the heart. Its fibers are longer than they are wide, and they are striated, like skeletal muscle fibers.
What are the 3 types of muscle tissue What is their function and where can they be found?
The three main types of muscle include:
Skeletal muscle – the specialised tissue that is attached to bones and allows movement.
Smooth muscle – located in various internal structures including the digestive tract, uterus and blood vessels such as arteries.
Cardiac muscle – the muscle specific to the heart.
What are the 3 main types of muscle tissue?
The 3 types of muscle tissue are cardiac, smooth, and skeletal.
What are the similarities and differences between the structure and function of skeletal smooth and cardiac muscle?
Cardiac and skeletal muscle are both striated in appearance, while smooth muscle is not. Both cardiac and smooth muscle are involuntary while skeletal muscle is voluntary.
What is the structure of muscle?
A muscle consists of many muscle tissues bundled together and surrounded by epimysium, a tough connective tissue similar to cartilage. The epimysium surrounds bundles of nerve cells that run in long fibers, called fascicles. These fascicles are surrounded by their own protective layer, the perimysium.
What are the similarities and differences of the three muscle tissue skeletal muscle cardiac muscle and smooth muscle?
What is the relationship between structure and function in smooth muscle?
Smooth muscle cells have developed a contractile machinery that allows them to exert tension on the surrounding extracellular matrix over their entire length. This has been achieved by coupling obliquely organized contractile filaments to a more-or-less longitudinal framework of cytoskeletal elements.
Which features distinguish the three types of muscular tissue?
Muscle tissue is subdivided into three broad categories: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. The three types of muscle can be distinguished by both their locations and their microscopic features . Skeletal muscle is found attached to bones. It consists of long multinucleate fibers.
What are the six mojor types of muscles?
Skeletal muscle. These muscles are attached to your skeleton by tendons and control the voluntary movements of your body. Examples include walking,bending over,and picking up an object.
Smooth muscle. Smooth muscles are involuntary,meaning that you can't control them.
Cardiac muscle. Cardiac muscle is found in your heart.
What are the four most common types of tissue?
The human body is composed of just four basic kinds of tissue: nervous, muscular, epithelial, and connective tissue. Connective tissue is the most abundant, widely distributed, and varied type. It includes fibrous tissues, fat, cartilage, bone, bone marrow, and blood.
What are the functions of the three types of muscles?
There are 3 types of muscle tissues, the skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle. Each type has a unique role and function in our body. The skeletal muscle moves our bones and other body structures. Cardiac muscles will contract the heart and pumping blood .
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What's the most expensive item you've had to bid for on eBay? Paul Moller's prototype of the 2001 Moller International G90 M400 Skycar can top that. It's being auctioned on eBay right now with a starting bid price of $1 million and a "buy it now" price tag of $5 million. However, it will be more like an artifact for display should anyone happen to win the bid and actually buy it as the FAA hasn't given the Skycar the license to fly.
Paul Moller began developing vehicles capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) in the late 1960s and have unveiled several prototypes. However, all of his prototypes have never proven their flight worthiness as none of them have flown any significant distances. And now, Moller has decided to put one of his prototypes up for auction on eBay. The 2001 M400 Skycar prototype can be directly bought for $5 million. It sounds like a steep price for a prototype that is not permitted to fly but the Skycar has had quite a hefty development investment according to Moller International. "Over the last 30 years, Moller International has spent more than $150 million developing the engine and airframe technology to make this prototype possible". So, interested buyers are actually looking at a bargain price tag.
Despite its no-flight condition, Moller International said on the Skycar's eBay page that the company will support the buyer in obtaining the vehicle's FAA license. By doing so, it will make the Skycar as "the world's first FAA approved VTOL capable flying car".
The M400 Skycar prototype first demonstrated its flight capabilities in 2001 and is claimed to be the first true VTOL flying car. Its 8 Rotapower engines are responsible for the Skycar's vertical take-off and landing features. These engines are claimed to produce 720 horsepower that propels the vehicle up for flight.
At the time of writing, no bids have been submitted for the flying car relic and there are approximately 4 days and 21 hours left to the auction. This is not the first time Moller International has put one of their prototypes to auction via eBay. Back in 2006, the company has offered a modified version of the original M400 Skycar to sale but was not successful in meeting the reserve price.
Selling the M400 Skycar prototype may be Moller International's attempt to hoard in funds for their other flying car designs such as the Neuera 200. It looks more like a UFO spacecraft straight out of a science fiction magazine and Moller himself said that this flying car comes with a $500,000 final assembly cost.
"Many of you have expressed concern regarding our slow progress towards the first tether-free out of ground effect flight of the Neuera 200. This has been primarily due to limited funds. It is estimated that final assembly including participation by a designated FAA inspector could cost up to $500,000".
Should the M400 Skycar be successfully sold, the cash from that purchase will definitely be able to kick things off for the Neuera 200 again.


Mahahual Ecotours offers the following activities run by trained and certified guides in a fun and educative atmosphere.
Guided visits to the Seven Colours Lagoon & Bacalar town: flora, fauna & history. Camping (hammock & tent). Mahahual Ecotours offers the following activities run by trained and certified guides.
Chacchobén, Dzibanché, Kohunlich, Oxtankah. Mahahual Ecotours offers the following activities run by trained and certified guides in a fun and educative atmosphere.
Educative workshops in mayan crafting.
Educative workshops in mayan crafting and building, growing a mayan garden, making coconut oil, among others, are always available.


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Google Assistant Tops Smart Speaker Charts in Ability Test
Dec 24, 2018 by John Heerdink	in Apple View Disclaimer
Loup Ventures, a research company, found in its recent Smart Speaker IQ Test that Google Assistant was the most efficient when compared with its competitors.
The test gave a set of 800 questions to five smart speakers: Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Assistant, Apple's (AAPL) Siri, Amazon's (AMZN) Alexa, and Microsoft's (MSFT) Cortana. The devices were given questions falling into five different sections including local information, commerce, navigation, general info, and commands.
The results showed that Google Assisstant led the way in effectiveness as it answered 87.9% of the questions accurately. In comparison, Siri had only a 74.6& accuracy rate. This was still up from 52% when it was last tested in February, making it the most improved. Alexa came in 3rd with 72.5% and Cortana in the last place at 63.4%.
As the smart speaker war continues to ramp up, Google Assistant's edge in accuracy has been a major factor in why it has been moving in on Alexa's dominance in the home speaker sector.
Study: Google Assistant Still Outperforms Rivals, But Apple's Siri is Improving
For the second year in a row, Google Assistant led the way in a test of voice assistants running on smart speakers….GOOGL..
www.thestreet.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The first step is to find the satellite data. If we browse over to http://thredds.ucar.edu/thredds/, we're presented with the top-level TDS catalog; this has a helpful looking link that says "Satellite Data". Navigating here, we see a large collection of different satellite datasets. We're interested in looking at water vapor imagery, so the "Water Vapor (6.5 / 5.7 um)" link seems most useful. We'll dig further in by navigating into "EAST-CONUS_4km" and then "current", so that we can look at current full CONUS (CONtiguous US) images from GOES East.
Instead, Python to the rescue! We can use Unidata's Siphon package to parse the catalog from the TDS; this provides us a nice programmatic way of accesssing the data. So we start by importing the TDSCatalog class from siphon and giving it the URL to the catalog we just surfed to manually.
Note: Instead of giving it the link to the HTML catalog, we change the extension to XML, which asks the TDS for the XML version of the catalog. This is much better to work with in code.
These different urls provide access to the data in different ways; some support different protocols (like OPeNDAP or CDMRemote), others allow harvesting metadata (e.g. ISO). We're going to start simple, so we want to use the HTTPServer method, which allows downloading the datafile using HTTP. (Other data access methods will be the subject of future posts.) We can take this URL and pass it to the urlopen function from the urllib.request module in Python's standard library. This gives us a Python file-like object, which for the most part we can treat just like a file we opened locally.
GiniFile was able to successfully parse the data and we see (as expected) that we have a 4km CONUS water vapor image from GOES-13 East. While GiniFile itself provides a low-level interface to all the information in the file (useful if checking to see if the file was parsed correctly), we don't need the low level details. Fortunately, the to_dataset() method can convert the data into a form that resembles the Dataset object from netCDF4-python.
We'll stop here for now (to keep this in an easily-digestible chunk). Part 2 will cover plotting this imagery, including pulling all the needed information from the file and setting up CartoPy (and its projections).
thank youfor sharing this post..love it.!


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Achtung! UK facing looming shortage of linguists
Employers are increasingly seeking job candidates with foreign language skills at a time when the number of UK school leavers with language qualifications is tumbling, according to a new report.
David Sapsted
Research in London by Indeed, the world's largest job site, said that the fall in language students and a slowing in EU migration raised the spectre of a skills gap at a time when employer demand for linguists had risen by 2.7 per cent since 2016 - with jobs requiring a command of Chinese (Mandarin) increasing by 35 per cent over the past three years.
German the most sought after European language for UK employers
Overall, however, the report showed that German had overtaken French to become the language most sought after by UK employers, with Chinese climbing up the table from fifth to third place.Job vacancies specifying German language skills rose by more than 11 per cent between 2016-19, with those seeking Francophones increasing by only 1.17 per cent over the same period.Bill Richards, UK managing director of Indeed, said: "For the past three years, German and French have jostled for the crown of the most in-demand spoken language in UK job titles, and one of the reasons for this lies in the economic ties between the UK and Germany and France."In 2016, Germany was the fourth highest inward investor in the UK and in the same year, exports from the UK to Germany were the second highest behind the USA. The UK also imports more from Germany than any other EU country."Communication is essential in every sphere of work, and language skills in particular have become vital in a fully-connected world in which more businesses than ever operate across borders and in multiple languages.
The perfect storm: fewer languages studied in school plus Brexit uncertainty
"That said, many UK employers who require multilingual staff are becoming increasingly unsettled as a perfect storm brews: fewer and fewer linguists are emerging from our education system just as Brexit uncertainty looks to be deterring workers relocating here from the EU."English is a global language, but that cannot always offset the need for fluent speakers of other languages. While the UK market clearly continues to offer many opportunities for those with additional language skills, there is a danger of a shortfall emerging as insufficient supply butts up against rising demand."The research showed that, in the UK, there were 1,221 job postings per million requiring a command of German, compared to 1,152 requiring French, 643 Chinese, 567 Spanish and 531 Italian. Indeed pointed out that government data showed the number of students taking a language at GCSE level had declined by 45 per cent this century, with German (-67%) and French (-63%) suffering the biggest drops."Meanwhile, the supply of native speakers of European languages is set to wane as the latest ONS figures show net migration from the EU is now at its lowest level for ten years," said Indeed."With the prospect of Brexit pegging back the appetite of EU citizens to work in the UK, Indeed's own research reveals a steady fall in interest in UK jobs among EU-based job-seekers."That decline, coupled with the rapid drop in language learning among UK schoolchildren, is colliding with rising employer demand for linguists and causing a worsening language shortfall."
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Fresh pandandus leaves © MRS.Siwaporn/Shutterstock.com
Mataginifale Women's Group: Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Niue
Volume 31	Safeguarding Pioneers
Birtha TogahaiDirector, Department of Education
Loseligipepe SiakimotuDirector, Mataginifale Women's Group
Mataginifale Women's Group (MWG) was established in Avatele in the 1980s. Originally named Avatele Women's Group, its members decided to change its name in the 1990s to better reflect the unique status of women. Mataginifale was a female warrior from Avatele born around 700 CE and was a great weaver that created local tapa cloth called hiapo.
MWG has been active in and around Avatele over the last three decades. Its members fulfill various church obligations of the Avatele Fellowship of Christian Women and promote culture through language, crafts, traditions, and customs. They work in collaboration with the Avatele Village Council, the Ekalesia Kerisiano Avatele, and other youth groups.
MWG's membership consists of MWG's membership consists of ninety-four women and girls between ages one and eighty-two. Its executive members are elected every three years, and meetings are held quarterly to share ideas and receive updates on various events. MWG works to safeguard Taoga Niue (ICH of Niue). One element is made up of traditional knowledge, customs, traditions, and Avatele history, and the other is traditional food. Vagahau Niue, the official language of Niue, is what underpins them all and upholds Niuean society.
Avatele Community Climate Change Adaptation Plan
The Avatele community launched the Avatele Community Climate Change Adaptation Plan (ACCA Plan) in October 2016 because of their concern with the effects of climate change on the environment. The main goal of the plan is to show how the Avatele community works to develop resilience and adaptability through strategic planning and preparation.
MWG also engages in many activities through the ACCA Plan, including documenting and recording heritage sites; tangible and intangible heritage; and traditional knowledge about fishing, weaving, hunting, planting, and canoe making. Through the ACCA Plan, MWG ensures that Avatele has sufficient tradespeople working as builders, electricians, mechanics, nurses, plumbers, and other professions to make the community self-sufficient and able to use its own workforce for recovery from natural disasters or climate change issues.
Weaving the Life of Niue
Weaving constitutes a big part of Niuean life. Mataginifale women grow various plants and use them to make baskets, hats, wall hangings, tablemats, coasters, decorative ties, flowers, belts, and other items. This not only helps safeguard Avatele ICH but also responds to climate change as the newly planted trees absorb greenhouse gases, such as CO2.
Niue has long been known for its fine weaving, with Avatele having some of the finest weavers on the island. Many of them have passed away, but the art of weaving has been passed on to the current generations. And now, they are ready to teach their skills to the next generation.
Planting and Preparing Pandanus for Weaving
Planting and weaving Pandanus tectorius (pandanus) makes up a big part of Niuean life. Most families cultivate pandanus in their backyards, near their crop plantations, or on land in the seaside. Men usually prepare the land while women plant the shoots. Sometimes, they work in groups by regions to help one another. It takes two to three years to grow and be mature enough for harvest. They are generally just cut and processed. The women clean and prepare the leaves for weaving.
Traditional knowledge plays a large role in weaving with pandanus. For example, the trees are vulnerable to diseases. MWG members have been taught by their grandmothers and mothers how to chop a red leaf growing on clifftops into pieces and to put the pieces in a yellow-spotted pandanus tree to cure the disease.
MWG members often weave in caves as in old times because the cool moist air helps keep the pandanus soft. Some of them still use their family caves for weaving. However, climate change has led to gradual increases in temperature, which has also affected the growth of pandanus trees, making it difficult for the people of Avatele to sustain weaving traditions. But MWG members have employed their traditional knowledge to deal with this problem. For example, they use the bark of banana plants to keep pandanus strips soft.
The Annual Show Day of Avatele
Avatele hosts an annual show day on the first weekend of October. It is facilitated by the village council with contributions from MWG, the men's group, and the youth group. MWG members usually meet at the end of the year to plan the theme of the next event. This helps them determine how much pandanus will be needed in the following year.
Every year, the people of Avatele make innovative handicrafts, distinctive from the previous year's crafts. The annual show day motivates the village with prize incentives for the best and finest handicrafts. An additional incentive is that the show provides opportunities to sell goods at a premium. Avatele is outdoing itself in sustaining its cultural and traditional heritage in comparison to other villages where women stopped weaving due to low economic benefits.
Weaving for a Sustainable Community
MWG goes hand-in-hand with the future of Niue. Its mission lies in the 2016–2026 Niue National Strategic Plan, which explicitly states that "all residents and visitors embrace and respect Taoga Niue, the cultural heritage of Niue. Taoga Niue is integrated from family to national level and helps strengthen the cultural bridge between Niueans and those living abroad."
MWG still needs to strengthen and recruit more members. Avatele women living in other villages must come together as one and continue to grow pandanus and other natural fibers for weaving. They must also document all indigenous knowledge not just for this generation but for the many future generations to come. Then, the Avatele that they dedicated themselves to will someday be a better place for all.
On Intangible Cultural Heritage and Creativity
The Magic Weaver of Killimangalam


Hi, I recently upgraded my install to 1.0.7 before sending out a few new campaigns and noticed that the un-subscribe has stopped working where it was before. Is there any time frame for it being fixed as I can't send out campaigns where people can't un-subscribe.
@richardashe Unsubscribe has always been working. There was a previous bug where a 'space' might be appended in the URL of an unsubscribe link but had long been fixed in 1.0.7.
What do you mean by unsubscribe is not working?
I have sent out a campaign to a test list before planning on sending to the actual client list. Everything is working fine apart from unsubscribe (using the sendy tags at the footer of the email) and link tracking. When I click the unsubscribe link it says it has subsubscribed me but then i check the report and it says 0% for unsubscribes!
I just assumed it was introduced in 1.0.7 as I had tested it before and unsubs worked for me.
Is there anything I can use to narrow down the problem?
@richardashe Please PM me your installation URL, email and password. I'll login to check. Thanks.
@richardashe I received your URL and login credentials, thanks.
As for unsubscribes, I was able to unsubscribe. If you view the report of the last campaign I sent to myself, you'll see that I have unsubscribed.
I saw that you got the unsubscribe feature working with your email but it still isn't working for me when I send out our tests. I still don't get the reports saying anyone has unsubscribed.
@richardashe I figured out what's wrong. I checked your subscriber list and saw that your emails are wrapped in quotes. That's the issue.
I've exported a CSV for each of your list that have emails wrapped in quotes, removed the quotes and re-imported them.
Ah, excellent! Thanks Ben. Nicely found btw.
Actually sorry Ben I just went and tested the email unsubscribe with the 'Thirst test account' list again and it still isn't working. I actually created that list (only two entries) by manually entering each email so the comma problem should be affecting that list.
Very strange. I just added my email address to your third test list and sent a newsletter to that list. I received the newsletter and then clicked unsubscribe. I go to the report and verified that I'm unsubscribed.
You should also receive the newsletter I just sent. When you click 'unsubscribe', you should go to a page where it says 'You're unsubscribed'. Are you on that page?
Yea I saw that come in and unsubscribed and it worked. However when I send the test it doesn't seem to work. Is there something that doesn't work because I'm trying to unsubscribe from the same browser that I'm logged into the admin centre on?
I'll try and send it from a different computer and see what happens.
@richardashe So you're trying to unsubscribe from a 'test email'. The unsubscribe link will not be activated if you 'test send' an email. The unsubscribe link will only work when you send out a newsletter for real.
No I have setup an email list with only two private accounts in it and send to that list so as I can try out the unsubscribe feature. Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?
Also just tried logging out of all sendy accounts and sending the email from another computer and when I unsubscribe it stil doesn't show up.
"No I have setup an email list with only two private accounts in it and send to that list so as I can try out the unsubscribe feature. Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?"
Yes of course you can do that. What I'm saying is, if you click the button 'Test send this newsletter', the unsubscribe link in the email you sent it to will not be activated.
"Also just tried logging out of all sendy accounts and sending the email from another computer and when I unsubscribe it stil doesn't show up. "
You really don't have to do all that. It's really puzzling because when I log in to send a newsletter to your third test list (with my email included), you and I can unsubscribe. But when you send the newsletter, you can't unsubscribe.
For my sanity, I'm going to log into your account again, duplicate the last newsletter and send it to your third test list and see if unsubscribing works.
Ok, I've just duplicated and sent the newsletter to your third test list.
I received the email, clicked unsubscribe and I am unsubscribed.
Can you click unsubscribe and see if you are unsubscribed?
Yes I was able to unsub again. Don't know why it works when it's sent from you logging in.
I just duplicated the last campaign and changed the subject line to 'Test email'.
Can you please send this campaign to 'Thirst test accounts', I will see if I can unsubscribe from the email that I'll receive from you.
Just sent the email again Ben. Tried un subscribing from my end and it didn't work so would be interesting to see if you can.
I received the email, just clicked unsubscribe. I logged into your installation and verified that I'm unsubscribed.
Ah OK, Well whatever it is it must be internal to our network. I'll have to delve deeper when I get a spare min, but at least I can be confident people we email can unsubscribe!
You're very welcome Richard. Sorry I couldn't nail down why you can't unsubscribe when the email was sent by you. Perhaps you may want to re-import your test subscriber list again and see if it works? Or update to the latest 1.0.8 version, then re-import your test subscriber list to test again.


1. Suppose C is a junction object which has master detail relationship with A and B objects. Then from which object does C inherits all sharing settings and other features of master detail relationship.
A, if A was the first Master Detail relationship field because that will be the primary object in M:M relationship.
2. What is Merge Statement?
6. What is mean by Winning Records and Losing Records in triggers?
7. What is parallel approval process in Salesforce?
9. How can we reset the governor limits within a test class?


PostgreSQL: Re: Is ECPG's SET CONNECTION really not thread-aware?
Re: Is ECPG's SET CONNECTION really not thread-aware?
>> thread change the current connection in another thread?
code for this feature myself.
> So the doc seems to need fix. The patch is attached.
Rafia Sabih 2017-06-06 10:29:30 Re: Proposal : For Auto-Prewarm.
Neha Sharma 2017-06-06 10:18:02 Re: Proposal : For Auto-Prewarm.


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The Gardens Trust
Research Conserve Campaign
Topics covered so far….
Individual Houses, Gardens and Landscapes
Gardeners, Garden Makers and Designers & Plant Hunters
Flowers,Plants & Trees
Animals in the garden
Gardens and Art/Literature
General History and Conservation
Garden Technology & Buildings
← Temple Newsam
Harry Higgott Thomas →
Capability Brown and Africa… did you really say Africa?
Posted on 07/05/2016	by The Gardens Trust
Capability Brown – but standing where? photo courtesy Nicholas Marsh
I've just returned from a month in southern Africa and was bowled over by the range of plants and landscapes that I encountered in the western Cape and Namibia. I can't stop enthusing about what I saw but wondered how on earth I could legitimately fit that excitement into a blog that's about historic parks and gardens in Britain.
Then I hit upon the answer. I'd link it to everyone's man of the moment – Lancelot 'Capability' Brown.
Up until now I've rather avoided writing much about him because of his ubiquity. You can't open a serious newspaper or magazine this year without someone famous mentioning Brown and his genius, Brown and his influence on land sculpture or art or the English imagination, or almost anything else for that matter. Up until now, because I couldn't think of anything original to say, I thought probably best to keep my mouth shut….until a couple of my fellow P&G trustees suggested I ought at least to try. After all we at P&G are going to play host to the Capability Brown Festival archive when the tercentenary is over.
Rhinos at Longleat http://www.millfarmglamping.co.uk/in-this-area/longleat/
So here goes. I'm going to write about the links between Capability Brown and Africa. Will such a harebrained scheme work? Can I find 1500/20 words of wisdom to inform or amuse? Well read on to find out…
detail from Unknown man out shooting with his servant, ca. 1765, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art,
I can see puzzled faces thinking Brown and Africa – and of course the idea is absurd. Brown never went there. He used no African trees in his plantings schemes, could have drawn no inspiration from its sweeping landscapes and wide horizons,and apart from encountering a few of its enslaved population in the grand houses he visited on his travels around the country, probably hardly gave the continent a second thought unless perhaps when he saw newly imported plants in the orangeries and stove houses of his patrons.
[How am I doing? 309 words so far …mmmm better press on]
Lancelot in Cape Town
photo courtesy of Nicholas marsh
So is this post going to be about some newly discovered postcard from him that shows he had nipped over to Cape Town on a Club 18-30 holiday when everyone else thought he was visiting Kirkharle or Stowe, so proving that Brownian 'clumps', shelter belts and serpentine lakes are pale imitations of the Karoo or rhino-filled waterholes? Not really I'm afraid. Not even I would try to stretch your credulity that far, not even on April Fools Day, which is when this post was planned for – I just didn't manage to get it finished in time[altho I wish I had!]
There two interesting things that do, however, link Brown to Africa. One is the relatively straightforward temporal overlap between the opening up of the Cape for botanizing and Brown's career and projects and I'm going to deal with that in another post soon. The other is much more difficult theoretical question: why do Brownian landscapes have such powerful aesthetic appeal, and where does it come from?
The formal and informal landscape at Harewood….
static.guim.co.uk…
What was going on that drove the landed aristocracy to pay for the transformation of huge swathes of the English landscape? There's the economic argument of course: formal gardens are expensive to maintain, and while landscaped parks a la Brown are expensive to build they are, in comparison, very cheap to maintain and they can be used for productive agriculture and forestry.
Burghley http://www.spectator.co.uk/2011/04/lancelot-of-the-lake/
We also know the standard history of the evolution of the landscape park which was , beautifully summed up by Tom Stoppard in Arcadia. He has a character says: "English landscape was invented by gardeners imitating foreign painters who were evoking classical authors. The whole thing was brought home in the luggage from the grand tour. Here, look — Capability Brown doing Claude, who was doing Virgil. Arcadia!"
Northumbrian scenery nr Wooller http://www.arthurlea.com/Gallery/Northumberland/3.jpg
Pastures and woodland near Kirkharle, © Copyright Mike Quinn, 2007 and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Of course there's slightly more to it than that. Brown was conditioned by his upbringing and childhood surroundings, as we all are. His native Northumbria "is big-sky country with long views across open, grassy landscapes dotted with clumps of trees, neither hilly nor flat, but ridgy and rolling." [Matt Ridley, Times, 28th Dec 2015] Brown walked through it everyday, how could he not be affected?
The Chatsworth landscape- formal and informal – photo by Austenonly at https://austenonly.com/2011/03/10/book-review-the-omnipotent-magician-lancelot-capability-brown-by-jane-brown/
Put these three things – economics, the Grand Tour, and love of one's native patch – together and perhaps you are heading for an explanation of the changes that took place BUT not necessarily an explanation of why there is an overwhelming and innate sense that the English landscape park feels natural, right and proper to so many people, and not just in Britain. After all we don't really feel the same innate love of things like Georgian carpets, fashion or cooking . So where does the love of the park landscape come from?
https://snakes-sunrises-and-shakespeare.com
One man at least thinks he has the answer. He is Gordon Orians and I was recently introduced to a book of his that I'd never normally even have glanced at let alone picked up and looked at seriously. Its called Snakes, Sunrises and Shakespeare – well would you have picked it up either? Nor was the subtitle that appealing either: How Evolution shapes Our Loves and Fears. At first I though, oh no another off-the-wall explanation of the meaning of life, but then saw that Orians is emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle so maybe not quite so oddball after all. So I did what most people do these days and 'googled' him. I would usually shie away a bit from terms like behavioural ecology/ environmental psychology but reading interviews with him quite a few things seemed to make sense, although its quite difficult to precis for the purposes of this blog!
And hang on in because Capability Brown does feature in his thinking, albeit a way down the line.
Gordon Orians from https://snakes-sunrises-and-shakespeare.com
Most of Orian's early career research was about habitat selection in birds, but from there he began to wonder if similar principles applied to human choice of habitats as well. Let's start with a quote from a recent interview with him:
Skip this next bit if you want – but maybe instead take a look at the some of 2 minute videos he has made to accompany the book which explain the key factors in his argument. Links below…
."The basic premise of both evolutionary psychology and behavioral ecology is that emotions, which are the prime motivators of behavior, coevolve with fitness. That is, organisms evolve to prefer to do things that improve their survival and reproductive success and to avoid doing things that have the opposite effects. This premise must, of course, be tested. It has! Such coevolution is obvious with respect to sex and food. Both eating and sexual intimacy are highly rewarding; one does not need elaborate tests to know that those of our ancestors that found neither activity rewarding would have been under-represented genetically in subsequent generations. The same argument applies to habitat selection. Those of our ancestors who elected to settle in ecologically poorer environments would have survived and reproduced less well than those who settled in better habitats."
The full interview can be found at: https://mindshapedbox.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/an-interview-with-behavioral-ecologist-gordon-orians-explains-our-innate-loves-and-fears/
There are a series of very short video interviews with Orians …
Stages of Habitat Selection
Choosing Places To Live
In the book Orians analyses a whole series of human environmental preferences. For example most humans have a marked preference to be in 'green' natural surroundings whenever possible rather with a harder 'greyer' urban one. There is a universal appeal for having water in the immediate environment – think prices for properties with river views, or hotel costs for rooms overlooking the sea. Most humans also prefer living somewhere that has long distance views rather merely across to a blank wall or the view of a block of flats.
Of course I can hear you mutter that's all pretty obvious and not exactly news, but explanations of exactly why this should be the case are relatively recent. Jay Appleton, Professor of Geography at Hull set the groundwork in The Experience of Landscape in 1975. He posited the idea that certain landscapes were preferred because they offered "prospect and refuge": you can see a long way, but you can also hide away from potential dangers. Others contributed to the debate until in 1992 Gordon Orians and a colleague Judith Heerwagen developed a broad hypothesis about the kind of landscape that most humans would find naturally pleasurable.
Links to the short videos:
Applications of Prospect/Refuge Theory
More Applications of Prospect/Refuge Theory
Ampthillhttp://www.landscapeinstitute.org/news/celebrating_300_years_of_capability_brown
This ideal landscape would have large areas of open low-growing grassy spaces interspersed with groups of trees and thickets of bushes. There would be obvious signs of water, vital for survival, either within sight or suggested. There would be at least one open view into the far distance if not the horizon. There would be animals and birds living there, and there would be a variety of plants of all kinds, including fruiting and flowering ones.
The Wimpole landscape,
Does this sound at all familiar? I'd suggest that it bears a very strong resemblance to almost any Brownian landscape. As Laura Mayer points out in her article on our database 'A Most Pleasing Serenity': The Aesthetics of Lancelot Brown, his " approach evolved, in his own words, from 'all the elegance and all the comforts that mankind wants in the Country'… It included open expanses of turf, scattered with individual trees and tree clumps, surrounded by a perimeter belt, and ornamented with serpentine water and perhaps a smattering of garden buildings. Circuit drives wove in and out of the wooded shelter belt… providing visitors with a series of constantly changing scenes."
Capability Brown's 1782 plan for the grounds at Heveningham Hall, . Image from kimwilkie.com.
So does that mean that Orians thinks that the ideal landscape originated in the 18th English park? Of course not, in fact rather the reverse. His hypothesis is that the ideal landscape had a lot in common with the savannas and woodlands of East Africa where much of early human evolution is thought to have occurred, and that over the millennia this has become part of the human psyche, so ingrained and widespread, that its origins are completely obscured. This theory has become known as "the Savanna Hypothesis."
If you want to read Orian & Heerwagen's original piece it's in Barkow, Cosmides, & Tooby, (Eds), The adapted mind:Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York, Oxford University Press 1992]
from Summer & Summit, Cross-National Rankings of Tree Shapes [full reference below]
Of course Orians theories are not without their critics: actuallyplenty of them. But its all a bit complex and theoretical to go into in detail for a blog on garden history, but if you want to know more about the counter-arguments just google "Savannah Theory" or "Savannah Hypothesis" and be prepared to spend a few hours sorting out the jargon and academic debates.
However each part of Orian's argument has apparently been tested in various studies. Perhaps the most intriguing from a garden point of view was the preference shown by people in cross-cultural studies when given a choice of tree shape: it was the acacia from the savannah than proved most popular rather than the oak, palm, pine or eucalyptus. Then, when offered a choice of shapes within the acacia family it was low trunk height, and wide, layered canopies that were selected. Why?
Cedar of Lebanon planted by Brown at Compton Verney, http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Cedar-1-Front-Lawn.jpg
Those who support the Savannah hypothesis argue its because such trees are easier to hide in, provide better shelter and still offer long distance views across surrounding land. There were no African acacias in 18th Britain but, as it happens those same shape and style preferences, are also surprisingly reminiscent of what must surely be Brown's signature tree: the cedar of Lebanon.
[For more , actually rather overwhelmingly more, detail a good starting point is Summer & Summit, Cross-National Rankings of Tree Shapes, in Ecological Psychology, Vol.8 (4) 1996, pp. 327-341]
America's Most Wanted from the People's Choice series, 1994, Komar and Melamid – See more at: http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/vitaly-komar-exploring-the-lines-between-us/#sthash.dEO7OglI.dpuf
Another interesting supporting argument comes from the evidence of a visual study carried out by two Russian artists, Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid in the 1990s. This was designed to study the artistic preferences of people in ten countries. Almost without exception, the most-wanted painting was a landscape with water, people, and animals. The project has much much mocked – and probably rightly so when you read deeper into what they were doing, [eg see NYTimes articles at:
BUT there are a few underlying truths…for it did reveal one stunning fact. People in very different cultures around the world not only preferred the same general type of picture: a landscape with trees and grassy open areas, water, dotted with human figures, and animals but more remarkable still from Kenya to Iceland and China they preferred landscapes of a fairly uniform type. Now go back to picture, take away the people, and replace the deer with antelopes or zebras and maybe the landscape could pass for one of the more mountainous areas of East Africa,
Humphry Repton, 1752-1818. Vinters in Kent, a seat of James Whatman Esqr., 1797. folios 14v-15r (overlay down), http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/2038962
Now think of the transformations effected by Brown on any of his great parks or the 'befores' and 'afters' in a Repton Red Book. Repton adds a herd of cows, opens up views, introduces water and plants clumps of trees, in other words making the landscape he is working on more like the ideal of Orian's theory.
Humphry Repton, 1752-1818. Vinters in Kent, a seat of James Whatman Esqr., 1797. folios 14v-15r (overlay up), http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/2038962
A giraffe basking in the sunshine at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire – not quite African weather though! http://www.itv.com/news/west/update/2012-07-24/weather-picture-tall-shadows-at-longleat/
I could go on, but I won't because I've already gone well past my usual word limit …. but even if the whole thing strikes you as a little unbelievable it still makes you ponder on two questions… why are these landscapes so innately popular across the world? And why do Brown landscapes make good safari parks? Laura Mayer has promised another article about how novel Brown's style was, and significantly and where it came from. I wonder if she will include Africa as a possible inmate inspiration?
Lancelot at work in the garden at Franschoek & doing a pretty good job. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Marsh
Lancelot on the terrace at Frranschoek admiring the distant prospect and the shelter belt…and waiting to present his bill? Photo courtesy of Nicholas Marsh
Whatever you think and whatever the outcome of the debate about the sacannah theory, when the celebrations come to a head at the end of August on Brown's 300th birthday [ok baptism day] like Matt Ridley "I shall raise a glass to a humbly born county boy, who mixed Northumberland with the Serengeti to produce Arcadia and gave us the archetypical English landscape."
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This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Arcadia, Capability Brown, Cedar of Lebanon, Grand Tour, South Africa. Bookmark the permalink.
2 Responses to Capability Brown and Africa… did you really say Africa?
cboot says:
I have, for a long time (well, since I first saw them forty+ years ago), felt that the lake at Longleat is immeasurably improved by the hippos and sea-lions in the water and the gorillas on the island. Ok so that may not have sea-lions on the savannah, but I think I know what i mean. I really approve the rhinos browsing the 'Brownian' grasslands.
Pat Webster www.siteandinsight.com says:
Great piece, David! Really enjoyed it. I've read a bit about the Savannah Theory and about tree shape preferences. Love that you linked it to Brownian landscape parks.
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text:
Q: hook_form_alter not working Im using drupal 6.16. The below code for hook_form_alter is not working. Im simply trying to change the 'Log In' to 'Sign In' on the submit button of the user login form
<?php
//$Id$

function helloworld_form_alter($form_id,&$form) {
  switch ($form_id) {

      case 'user_login_form':

    // Change 'Log in' to 'Sign in'.
    $form['submit']['#value'] = t('Sign in');

      break;
  }
}

Any way to fix this ?
Please help.
Thank You.

A: There are two errors in your code:

*

*Your function signature is wrong, as already pointed out by hfidgen (+1). It needs to be yourModuleName_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id), so in your example the switch on the form id will never trigger.

*You check for the wrong form id. There are two form ids you need to check in this case, and both are different from the one you're using:

*

*user_login_block for the small login form available as a block (commonly used on most pages)

*user_login for the explicit login page (usually found under 'user/login')

Both forms are mostly identical in structure, so you can usually change both within the same hook_form_alter implementation - just add another case statement to check for the second version.

A: I find it easier to use theme functions to alter the forms - in your theme's template.php just create this:
function YOURTHEMENAMEHERE_user_login_form($form) {
    $form['submit']['#value'] = t('Sign in');
    //dsm($form);
    return drupal_render($form);
}

the commented out line (dsm) is for the Drupal devel module - which I'd also recommend installing. Once you've installed this and set permissions on your admin role so that you can use it, you'll get a new tab which shows you exactly how the page is constructed and which arrays do what.
Follow the trail within the arrays and you can pretty much theme anything on your site.
EDIT - oh ok :P  The one thing I notice, not having used this hook before, is that the example in the API has 3 variables in the function, but you've got 2! Having a mismatch means you're probably being fed the wrong variable:
function modulename_form_alter(&$form, $form_state, $form_id) {
  switch ($form_id) {
    case 'contact_mail_page':
    $form['submit']['#value'] = t('Sign in');
    break;
  }
}

A: For such a trivial change, you should not write a module. The price you pay in terms of performance hit and time wasted is simply to high for the target goal.
You can perform a string replacement that will affect string that are handled by the t() function. This is done is the settings.php configuration file of the site.
Here is how you could replace "Log In" with "Sign In" ...
$conf['locale_custom_strings_en'] = array(
  'Log In'      => 'Sign In',
);

This will affect the English strings only. Feel free to replace the trailing _en with a specific language code (_fr, _ja, _es) to do the same for other languages.

A: It is best to do this before you start any form alter: Look at the source code of your form and check for the value of the hidden field form_id - this gives you the exact form_id that you need to use.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The wine is named after the brothers or fratelli, Antonio and Raimondo Levis, who founded the winery in 1938. Both had a passion for the Nebbiolo grape, which led them to the Langhe region. The brothers' driving philosophy was "quality at any cost" and they worked tirelessly to meet that goal. It was thought that their ambition to make quality wine was even more so due to the fact they were both hearing impaired and used their wine as a form of expression. In 2002, Raimondo Levis died and as a result, Antonio partnered with the esteemed Sartirano Family who has been making wine in the region since 1871. The Sartirano Family handles all aspects of the winemaking while still holding true to the Fratelli's original ideals- producing honest, classically styled wines.
No chemical fertilizers are used in the vineyard. A manual harvest and sorting is rigorous. De-stemmed and crushed with fermentation in stainless steel tanks at moderate temperatures (less than 28 degrees Celsius). Maceration on the skins for 8 days with daily pump-overs. Aged for 8 months in second hand 225L barrels, Lightly fined and filtered.
Traditional style, yet easy and flavorful with hints of earth and smokiness, pleasing and focused.


text:
Juan Alfonso Joins Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters' Production Company As Head Of TV
Ben Powers Dies: 'Good Times' Actor Was 64
By Kinsey Lowe
Kinsey Lowe
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Ben Powers, best known for his role as Keith Anderson on the Good Times sitcom that aired on CBS in the middle to late 1970s, has died. Powers was 64 and died April 6 in New Bedford, MA.
His character was the football player husband of Thelma Evans, who was played by BerNadette Stanis on the hit series from producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. Powers also played the character Moochie on another CBS series, The New Mike Hammer that starred Stacey Keach. He also appeared in guest roles in the series Gimme A Break, Laverne & Shirley, The New Odd Couple and The Great American Hero plus appeared in a couple of telefilms. His feature movie resume included Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Things Are Tough All Over and The Man Who Loved Women.
Alton A. "Ben" Powers born in Brooklyn, NY on July 5, 1950 and was raised in Providence, RI where he sang in his church choir and later attended the Rhode Island School of Design. He began his acting career at Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence. He sang and did impressions in standup comedy routines until he was discovered by a Hollywood agent and went on to perform at Playboy Clubs in New York, Los Angeles and Boston. Those gigs led to appearances on NBC's Laugh-In which led in turn to his work in TV series and movies.
A memorial is planned for May 3 in Providence.


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Hoarding is not just drama created for television. It is a very real issue that more people than you realize suffer from. Hoarders typically pack their homes with so much stuff that it starts to interfere with daily function and maintenance. This creates a very dangerous and unsanitary environment for the hoarder and any occupants of the space. Cleanup of a hoarder's property often requires professional assistance due to the sheer difficulty of the task and potential safety hazards.
Very rarely is cleanup initiated by the hoarder. Often times, it is family or friends who push for that first step towards cleanup of the property. But regardless if you are the hoarder coming to terms with your compulsion or if you are a loved one assisting in the process, it is important to understand that an effective cleanup is a very involved process due to the physical difficulty, the safety risks and the overall emotional stress of the situation. It is important to proceed with caution and avoid underestimating how big of challenge it may be. In cases of extreme hoarding, it is advised to consult a hoarding cleanup company in New Jersey for professional assistance.
Cleanup of a distressed property in New Jersey like that of a hoarder means more than just throwing out some junk, wiping down some counters and vacuuming. Hoarding situations lead to a variety of sanitation concerns, safety risks and maintenance problems.
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text:
3 players set to announce themselves against Ireland this month
We've picked out a trio of rising stars in the Samoa, Australia and New Zealand squads.
By Murray Kinsella Friday 1 Nov 2013, 8:00 PM
Nov 1st 2013, 8:00 PM 5,484 Views 5 Comments
https://the42.ie/1157132
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Former sevens star Piutau is one to watch out for.
Image: Kin Cheung/AP/Press Association Images
WITH JUST OVER a week to go until Ireland kick off their November test series against Samoa, we've decided to take a look at a trio of the lesser known players who could be causing Ireland grief over the coming month.
The more renowned names like Kahn Fotuali'i, Quade Cooper and Kieran Read bring qualities we know all about, but here are a few of the guys who could cause surprises for Ireland.
Charles Piutau (New Zealand)
YouTube credit: RugbyRecon
Having made his international debut during the summer, Piutau already has seven caps for New Zealand but will feel he still hasn't had a chance to show his true ability. The Blues fullback came off the bench in five of the All Blacks' Rugby Championship games, but a total of 77 minutes weren't sufficient for him to explode into life.
A product of the New Zealand Sevens' set-up, the 22-year-old had a sensational Super Rugby season in 2013, scoring five tries in 16 games. He possesses all the traits one would expect of a former sevens specialist; dazzling footwork, searing pace and excellent stamina.
What marks Piutau out from other players who haven't crossed codes so successfully is his strength in contact, understanding of when to counter-attack and ability to field kicks. While there is still an element of rawness to his skills, Piutau will be desperate for starting chances this autumn.
Jack Lam (Samoa)
YouTube credit: superugby2011
A cousin of Connacht coach Pat, the openside flanker only made his international debut in June, starting all three of Samoa's games at the Quadrangular tournament in South Africa. At 25, Lam had given up hope of winning caps for his native New Zealand and took up the Samoan's offer of international rugby.
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Not to suggest that Lam – who also represented Australia at Schools level – gives anything other than 100% commitment for his country. On the contrary, the Hurricanes back row was hugely aggressive and visible in his three caps against Scotland, Italy and South Africa. Lam is devastatingly effective at the breakdown, and pilfers the ball with regularity.
With three seasons of Super Rugby under his belt, the Waikato man has also developed a strong offloading game, and he invariably gets the hands free when he goes into contact. An intelligent, hard-working, dynamic flanker; Ireland will have their hands full ensuring Lam doesn't have a telling impact on the result.
Tevita Kuridrani (Australia)
Kuridrani (left) helped the Brumbies to beat the Lions. Rob Griffith/AP/Press Association Images.
The Brumbies centre made his international bow as recently as August in the Rugby Championship, coming off the bench against the All Blacks. There have been four more caps since, and a first try for Australia in the thrilling 41-33 loss to New Zealand two weekends ago.
Kuridrani has improved with each showing for the Wallabies, much like he has done for the Brumbies in Super Rugby over the last two seasons. Standing 6ft 4ins tall and weighing around 102kg, the Fiji-born 22-year-old is very much in the mould of the modern centre. His power was evident in a brilliant performance against the Lions in June.
That sheer strength makes Kuridrani a hard man to put to deck in the tackle, and also means he can offload with regularity. There are certainly still areas where the Namatakula native – the same village that produced Lote Tuqiri – can improve, and Brian O'Driscoll would enjoy the challenge of opening up gaps on either side of him.
Who are the players you think Ireland need to watch out for this month? Beyond the big stars, who are the guys likely to do damage to our chances of recording wins?
Like rugby? Follow TheScore.ie's dedicated Twitter account @rugby_ie >
Irishman plotting Ulster's downfall as Lam readies Connacht
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text:
Home | Industries
Shandong wigmakers advancing into high-end market
By Yu Xiaoming | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-07-18 14:07
Wigs, made from human hair or synthetic fiber, are becoming increasingly popular, not only in the entertainment industry but also in daily life. [Photo/IC]
Wigmakers in Juancheng county, East China's Shandong province, are making great strides toward the high-end market after several years' stable development.
Juancheng is a small county with a history of 2,200 years in Shandong province, and has a history of more than 40 years in the hair-processing industry.
Hair-processing is one of the pillar industries for Juancheng, which is known for hair products, and also an important raw material distribution center and processing and export base for wig products. Currently, Juancheng has a population of 900,000, among which 75,000, or nearly one-in-12 work in the hair-processing industry.
According to Juancheng's official website, 220 hair-processing enterprises have been set up in this county, processing more than 15 million units of wig products annually. In 2017, the hair-processing industry achieved 1.09 billion yuan in import and export, accounting for 74.67 percent of the total.
In the peak season, there were nearly 2,000 small and micro businesses engaged in wig production, a man surnamed Liu from a local wig company told Chinese financial news outlet Yicai.
Wigs, made from human hair or synthetic fiber, are becoming increasingly popular, not only in the entertainment industry but also in daily life.
China's wig producers have high regional concentration, and mainly focus on Henan and Shandong provinces, according to Northeast Securities. In 2017, Henan's export in wig products was $1.61 billion, accounting for 50.7 percent, while in Shandong, exports reached $768 million yuan, accounting for 24.16 percent.
According to Liu, his father began to get into this industry in 1988. In 2011 when Liu graduated from university, he started a company with his father. Last year, the export value of his company was 48 million yuan, and more than 90 percent of products were exported to Europe, Africa and the United States.
"Our raw material mainly comes from Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, as well as Myanmar, India, and Ukraine," Liu said, adding that the price of domestic raw materials is higher than that of imported raw materials.
There is stiff competition among domestic wig producers, who reduce the price to compete for market share, squeezing profit margins, Liu said. His company is reducing business in the African market because the net profit margin is only about 3-4 percent.
Compared with wigmakers in Japan and South Korea, Chinese enterprises should enhance their market competitiveness in high-end wig products, Liu said.
In the United States, local customers prefer high-end products made from real hair over cheaper fiber wigs. Liu said his company plans to put more investment in real hair this year, and has employed several veterans as products advisers.
In Europe, wig products usually have higher prices and profit margin. A delicate wig can be priced at 1,000 - 1,500 pounds sterling, which is the price of a Louis Vuitton bag, Liu said, adding that the European market is one of priorities in his company transformation.
Domestic wigmakers have to transform more actively, put more effort into research and development, and promote brand awareness, Liu added.
Hair transplants growing in popularity
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Men add fizz to race for perfect makeovers
Leaving a permanent impression


text:
LWF Providing Assistance in Central African Republic Crisis
N'DJAMENA, Chad/GENEVA
| 8/1/2014
Newly arrived refugees from the Central African Republic receive a hot meal in Dosseye camp in southern Chad. Photo: LWF Chad/S. Dalou
Hot Meals and Non-Food Items Provided
(LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) is providing emergency assistance to thousands of people fleeing the violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) that heightened at the end of 2013.
Jan Schutte, DWS country representative in Chad, said the LWF is continuing to monitor the situation while working with the government to assess the needs.
In partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), DWS is providing hot meals for CAR refugees fleeing to Chad. According to DWS, during December the crisis in CAR escalated and over the past weeks more than 1,000 people were killed in sectarian violence in Bangui alone.
The African Union has sent 4,000 troops to CAR, while France, the former colonial power, has deployed 1,600 soldiers.
Because of the increasing violence, on 21 December the Chadian government began evacuating by air and road its nationals who want to leave CAR. Several hundred thousand Chad nationals have lived in CAR, many for generations, while Chad hosts 70,000 refugees from CAR.
LWF Chad said that 15,000 persons have been evacuated thus far, mostly women, children, the wounded and the elderly. Eight transit centers have been set up. Between 3,000 and 7,000 persons await evacuation from Bangui in CAR to Chad.
Over the past couple of weeks, thousands of Chadians have fled the violence in CAR to return to Chad.
CAR has been wracked by violence since the overthrow of then-President Francois Bozize in March 2013, and the conflict is becoming increasingly sectarian in tone with the mostly Muslim Seleka militia clashing with Christian groups, media reports say.
The Government of Chad is requesting international organizations as well as its own population to assist those fleeing CAR with shelter, transportation and psycho-social support. Mohammed Abdiker of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it is ready to assist but needs funding.
"We must stress to our donors and partners that migrants' lives are at great risk," he said.
For its part, the LWF is expecting a new shipment of non-food items from Lutheran World Relief consisting of 13,500 quilts, 1,500 layettes and 2,500 school kits, and will make some of these items available to those affected by the crisis. The LWF Chad program continues to monitor the situation.
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There are three methods for extracting water from wells. A large majority of them use gravity from wells above the water tanks with a siphon hose to fill the tank. Other wells are spring filled straight into a tank or pool. A third category need to have pumps which are usually fuelled by petrol. In the past, the water would have been extracted from most of these wells by using a hand operated shades or lever. However, with the growing availability of cheap, reliable petrol driven pumps, most Bedouin now use them instead for water extraction.
However, this has made well owners not only reliant on fuel for the motor, but also on a source of spare parts and mechanical expertise, to enable them to continue using their wells. Another issue with petrol driven pumps is that they are a potential source of pollution because of the fuel and oil that is used in their operation.
Furthermore, the Egyptian government has recently started to reduce the subsidy on fuel, which has resulted in the price of fuel nearly doubling over the last 12 months. The price of fuel is expected to increase even more in the near future. This, along with overall increases in costs of living, has make repairs and maintenance of the petrol driven pumps rather expensive.
Hence, to assist the Bedouin, the Makhad Trust has started a new project, where solar powered pumps are installed as replacement for the petrol driven pumps. This method allows automatic pumping of water into a water tank, but it is also sustainable, and does not produce noise or pollution.


In 1979, the USA men headed south of the border to Mexico City, Mexico, with gold on their minds. Coached by Ken Anderson of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the USA arrived in Mexico looking for its third straight World University Games gold medal. The Americans returned home with a 7-1 record and the gold medal.
Opening the preliminary round in impressive fashion, the USA roared past Jordan by 110 points, 144-34, then crushed Saudi Arabia 147-25. Scoring a USA record 173 points, the most points ever scored by a USA team in a major international tournament, Sudan was demolished 173-14. The U.S. team in its first three one-sided wins averaged 132.3 ppg. while only allowing 24.3 ppg. for an amazing average margin of victory of 108 points.
However, the U.S. was derailed as a 19-point advantage slipped through its hands and Yugoslavia stormed back to capture a 79-73 victory. Needing to win its three remaining games if the gold medal dream was to be again realized, the USA did just that as future NBA all-star Andrew Toney lead the U.S. to an 86-76 win over Canada, a 138-79 romp past Bulgaria and a semifinal round victory over Mexico 75-67.
Advancing to the gold medal game and a rematch against Yugoslavia, the U.S. was looking to avenge its earlier loss to the Yugoslavs. The Americans came out gunning from the start and by half had a 42-30 edge. Remembering only too well Yugoslavia's comeback in the earlier contest, the USA kept the pressure going and behind Toney's 22 points and 12 more from future Boston Celtic great Kevin McHale, cruised on to an 88-70 win for the 1979 gold medal.
While the U.S. captured the gold and Yugoslavia earned the silver, Cuba upended host Mexico 71-57 to win the bronze medal.


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IDETEC Unmanned Systems Reports Success with MicroPilot Autopilot Solution
IDETEC successfully integrates and flies its sUAS Stardust with MP2128g2 autopilot. The agriculture-mapping UAS flew at over 4000 meters for 48 minutes.
September 15, 2013 – MP2128g2, a professional unmanned aerial systems (UAS) autopilot, successfully directed flight of an agriculture-mapping UAS at above 4000 meters, earlier this month. The UAS autopilot company, headquartered in Stony Mountain, Manitoba, Canada, released its MP2128g2 earlier this year.
The sUAS Stardust is a product of IDETEC Unmanned Systems, based in Chile. IDETEC's Stardust is used primarily for precision agriculture, orthomosaic imaging, and 3D Mapping. The UAS's payload options include thermal IR, RGB visual range, multispectral NIR, and HD video cameras. Electrically powered, the system has an endurance of 90 minutes.
During the UAS's design phase, IDETEC chose MP2128g2 autopilot for its reliability and flexibility. The MP2128g2 is equipped with twenty input/output pins, which can be configured as digital in/out, pulse-width modulation (PWM) in/out, or serial in/out. MP2128g2 weighs 24 grams, including its GPS receiver, and measures ten by four centimeters. The autopilot also comes with a 150-mips RISC processor.
The Stardust flight completed successfully, despite windy conditions. The UAS faced 30-kilometer-per-hour wind and maintained 65-kilometer-per-hour cruise speed. The Stardust took off at 4030 meters and maintained a cruising altitude of 4330 meters during its 48-minute flight.
"The performance was excellent," reports Juan Francisco Sainz V., IDETEC CEO. "We are very satisfied with the system's navigation functionality, even in windy conditions."


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by Silviu Miloiu · Published 17/11/2020 · Updated 17/11/2020
President of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies, E-mail: silviu.miloiu@valahia.ro
On 28-29 May 2020 in full Coronavirus pandemic upsurge and lockdown conditions the Eleventh Conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies gathered on Zoom instead of The Palace of Culture and The Middle Age Citadel of Târgu Mureș as initially planned. The meeting was summoned in partnership with Rethinking Europe in order to reflect, from the perspective of the Baltic Sea Region, upon the Old Continent in the context of Brexit and the pandemic. Questions on the impact of the recent evolutions on Baltic and Scandinavian states have been raised, but the perspective was much wider looking on how the countries of this region responded to structural changes or alterations of the international environment over time.
The two plenary sessions on the EU after Brexit: Perspectives on the Future of Europe and Constructions of Christian Identity and the Idea of the Holy Land in the Northern Periphery: The Sawley World Map in Twelfth-Century England appropriately mirrored the sequential diversity of the conference. Panels have been devoted to Encounters, fantasies and perceptions in shaping Europe, Rethinking Europe in Nordic and Baltic cultures, Rethinking the Baltic Sea Region in Europe during the interwar period, Rethinking Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region in Europe during the two world wars, Intercultural relations in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Reception of Nordic literature, New perspectives on Norwegian literature, Teaching and use of Nordic languages. The main theories, concepts and ideas presented are resumed in the Book of Abstracts published before the conference, while the full papers are assembled in volume 12, issues 1 and 2 of our biannual peer review journal.
The Honorary Chair of the Conference, Her Excellency Dr. Violeta Motulaitė, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania in Romania and Bulgaria, Honorary President of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies, has focused in her lecture, published in this issue, on the Lithuanian perspective of the current European Brexit and Covid crisis, professing that:
"Lithuania is interested in a deeper cooperation in the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), especially in the crisis management, the prevention of hybrid threats and disinformation, the transatlantic partnership, the neighborhood policy development; the common market, especially in the services area; the protection of external borders, the strengthening and development of the Schengen area; the energy security; the transport policy; and eventually the health policy, having in mind lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic."
This issue publishes five research articles clustering political science analyses, cultural studies and historical research. Luiza Filimon deals with discriminatory discourses in the parlance of the Scandinavian radical right parties and concludes that the rhetoric utilized during the 2015 refugee crisis "falls into the coded register or at the very least purposefully attempts to veer away from the radical excesses which are marginalizing and self-exclusionary." Ildikó Varga reconstructs the activity of the La Fontaine Society from the perspective of a convergence locus of Romanian, Hungarian and Finnish literature. Roxana Ema Dreve tackles Thorbjørn Egner's book People and Robbers of Cardamon Town as a showcase of how children's behaviour is influenced by adults' expectations on Scandinavian rules of modesty. Costel Coroban recalls "the change in women's mentality towards the concept of war and their own role in it according to autobiographical sources such as was journals, diaries, letters or autobiographical novels authored by women who were present at the front during the Great War." In her article of debut Andreea Dahlquist approaches for the first time in historiography the Romanian-Swedish economic relations during the Second World War, successfully reflecting on the expectations and evolution of trade combined with politics and war. This issue ends with Crina Leon's interview of Andreas Sønning, a Norwegian flute soloist, Associate Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the owner and artistic director of Sønning Music Performance in Oslo, and a book review of Epp Annus' "Soviet Postcolonial Studies: A View from the Western Borderlands".
Editorial Foreword 5
Luiza-Maria Filimon
Nordic dog whistles. Analyzing discriminatory discourses in the parlance of the Scandinavian radical right parties 7
Roxana Ema Dreve
Standing out vs. standing still? Children, adults and Janteloven in Thorbjørn Egner's book People and Robbers of Cardamon Town (Folk og røvere i Kardemomme by) 41
Costel Coroban
Conflicting attitudes to the war in Europe in women's diaries from the Great War 53
Ildikó P. Varga
Finnish Literature Meets Romanian Literature in Hungarian. The case of the La Fontaine Literary Society 67
Andreea Dahlquist
Economic relations between Sweden and Romania during the Second World War 81
Violeta Motulaitė
Rethinking Europe: the Lithuanian Perspective 113
Andreas Sønning – Keys to Concert Productions and Creative Entrepreneurship 121
Epp Annus, Soviet Postcolonial Studies: A View from the Western Borderlands 131
Call for Papers 137
Full text in pdf: https://balticnordic.hypotheses.org/files/2020/11/The-Romanian-Journal-for-Baltic-and-Nordic-Studies-12-1-2020.pdf
ReThinking Europe in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region. The 11th annual international conference on Nordic and Baltic Studies: new deadlines
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When people suspend their self-interest for the requirements of the team, their demeanor is fundamentally co-operative. If co-operation between team members is the hallmark of effective teams then competition between members is its nemesis.
When people are competing, they are operating win/loose engagements with other team members which will eventually turn the ambiance of the team into a conflict-ridden and hostile one. The outcome of this is that very quickly winning as a team member is pursued even at the expense of the overall success of the team.
The behaviour associated with competition between members of the team can best be described as 'playing the man and not the ball'. The reason for this is that the competitive team member engages other team members in a series of win/lose engagements with the intent of winning. This intention means that the competitive team member wants to come first, and the there member therefore by definition have to come second. This person engages the other with the intent to put the other down, to negate the significance of the other.
By contrast, a constructive team member confirms the significance of other team members. This does not mean that they are obsequious. It does not imply that they are putting themselves down in order to affirm the other. It is rather than they have made their own significance irrelevant. Rather, in every interaction with the other team members they grant significance to the other.
The single word that captures this skill of granting significance to the other is respect. This is associated with behaviours such as patience and listening. The reason for this is that a patient person who is able to listen is able to suspend their own agenda in order to give attention to the agenda of the other.
Learn more about collaborative teams in our Team Excellence section.


Every week, Glasgow Paranormal Investigations receives a high volume of photographs and video clips from our followers asking if they have caught paranormal activity on film. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for us to answer this conclusively from a single photograph or short video clip. There are so many other factors that can create anomalies on film that all we can do is give an educated guess based on our experience. Capturing paranormal activity on film is quite rare – we've been trying to do so for many years, with only a handful of 'unexplained' pieces of footage. However, while we usually offer suggestions which could debunk the anomaly, we will always be respectful of such material – there was something that prompted you to turn on the camera and without being there at the time we cannot say what that was. With that being said, a large percentage of the images submitted to us for review are concerning 'Orbs'. The consensus among our team is that around 99.9% of all orbs are nothing more than dust, moisture or bugs. It is a very polarizing topic in the paranormal community, so we thought we would offer a little more detail into our thoughts on Orbs.
Orbs are round, translucent anomalies that often appear during flash photography or while recording video in low light conditions. They mostly appear white but can also be a range of other colours. Depending on what type of airborne article is causing the orb, it may have a fuzzy edge or a halo effect. Orbs are almost unheard of when using 'old-fashioned' film, the effect is a relatively modern one caused by digital photography. There is a highly technical explanation as to how digital cameras work and why they are most likely to produce orbs, but we won't go into that here! If you are interested, it is relatively easy to find an explanation online.
It is unclear who first determined that orbs were evidence of the paranormal, or why, but it seems that after the initial excitement most paranormal investigators have come to agree that orbs have a logical explanation rooted in the science of photography. However, there are still many people who believe orbs are a paranormal event despite evidence to the contrary.
Why Do Orbs Appear in Images & Videos?
There are a number of different environmental factors that can contribute to the appearance of orbs in flash photography. These include, but are certainly not limited to: small insects, rain, snow, pollen, dust and other airborne particles. Orbs show up in everyday photographs all the time – not just those taken in haunted locations.
When discussing orbs with guests on our investigations, or people who have submitted their pictures to us for review, we often come across the same questions on a regular basis. We've decided to answer some of these here.
Q – Are You Saying My House is Dirty?
A – When told that the orbs in their photo/video are likely just dust many people do get a little defensive and think we are saying they don't keep their home clean! This is certainly not the case. No matter how often you dust and vacuum there will always be dust and other airborne particles present in the air. Humans are constantly shedding dead skin and hair. If you have pets, they will also produce large volumes of dander. Every time you move a cushion, curtain, or duvet cover you will disturb airborne particles – it's unavoidable. It is also important that when we say 'dust' we are also including things like pollen or even moisture in the air.
Q – Why Are There Faces in my Orbs?
A – One of the things that often convinces people they have captured a spirit manifestation rather than an orb is that they are able to pick out faces, letters or other shapes in the middle of the anomaly. This can almost always be explained by pareidolia, a natural psychological reaction where the brain attempts to process data into a shape it recognizes. The best example we can give of pareidolia is how we are often able to pick out the shapes of animals and other objects in the clouds. We know there isn't really an elephant in the sky, but our brain convinces us we can see the shape of one in the clouds. The same applies to orb images. If you look at the same zoomed in orb for any length of time, your brain will begin to pick out shapes.
Q – Why Are my Orbs Coloured?
A – Some people believe that if an orb is coloured then it is not only an indication of a spirit presence but also a guide to what type of spirit it is. For example, red is often considered an angry spirit. However, when colourful orbs appear on film, it is most often caused by moisture. The atmosphere is always filled with moisture that we cannot see with our naked eye, but cameras are particularly adept at capturing them and depending on the frequency of light it can create a stunning array of colours.
Our own research and experience in investigating the paranormal have led us to believe that the majority of orbs are caused by small foreign objects. However, we do not claim to be infallible and we would encourage you to be your own investigator. Ask questions. Consider the surroundings and the circumstances that culminated in your orb picture. Were you moving around and therefore likely to have disturbed debris in the air? Was there a source of light causing reflection (Phone cameras are notoriously bad for this)? Is there a reasonable cause for doubt that this is paranormal? Asking these sorts of questions will help you to form your own conclusions about orb photography.
In closing, we would like to add that there was probably a reason you reached for the camera. Perhaps you felt a presence, saw a shadow or heard a sound? These are things we are unable to ascertain from a still photo or 10-second video clip. The presence of orbs in your capture may not be evidence of the paranormal, but that doesn't mean you haven't encountered a spirit. Why not try other ways of communicating? In any situation, the best evidence of paranormal activity will always be personal experience. Ask the questions. Debunk as much as possible and what you will be left with is those unexplained moments we are all searching for!
*** Disclaimer *** Paranormal research is largely about making educated guesses. Modern science has yet to pinpoint conclusive proof to support or debunk paranormal activity. As such, anything we discuss here cannot be taken as an absolute fact. All we can do is offer our own opinion, based on our own experiences in the paranormal. We encourage you to always ask your own questions and to seek out your own evidence.


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6.3 Fellow Historians
Penelope Corfield assesses the intellectual approach of a number of leading twentieth-century historians who were known to her and whose work she admired. Together, these scholars began with variants of a broadly Liberal-Left agenda – but, while they rejected old-style conservative histories about kings, queens and battles, they emphatically did not agree amongst one another. Indeed, some considerably modified their views over time, either moving from Left to Liberal/Centre, or from Liberal/Centre to Right.
6.3.1 Fisher, F.J. 'Jack' (1908-88)
6.3.1.1 F.J. Fisher and the Dialectic of Economic History (1990; 2018), Pdf46
This essay is an abridged and updated text of PJC's appreciation of the LSE historian F.J. (Jack) Fisher in P.J. Corfield and N.B. Harte (eds), F.J. Fisher: London and the English Economy, 1500-1700 (1990), pp. 3-22. An intellectually brilliant and witty man, Fisher was a leading economic historian, who helped to propel the subject into its high noon in the postwar years. He fused insights from economics, sociology, and critical philosophy to recast interpretations of sixteenth-century England not as a period of rampant capitalist growth but as an era of persistent underdevelopment. In his later years, Fisher was saddened when changing intellectual and cultural trends led to economic history losing its previously great research allure, with the 1960s/1970s rise of urban, social, gender and later cultural history instead. Those developments muted the long-term diffusion of Fisher's work. Yet he remains a beacon of critical historical engagement, not least for his readiness to challenge all cases of sloppy logic and loose generalisations.
6.3.1.2 Two Historians who Influenced Me, PJC BLOG/15 (Dec. 2011)
PJC's tribute to the intellectual impact of two very different historians, the meta-critic Jack Fisher (see 6.3.1.1) and the innovatory, volcanic E.P. Thompson (see 6.3.5.1).
6.3.2 Hill, J.E.C. always known as Christopher (1912-2003)
There is some content overlap in the essays on Christopher Hill, which were written for different journals and readerships; but they are posted here since each has some new material. For PJC's personal memories of Christopher Hill, see also Pdf47
6.3.2.1 Christopher Hill: Methodism and Marxism (2005), Pdf48
This short account assesses the impact upon the Marxist historian Christopher Hill, made by his family upbringing within York Methodism, and particularly by the radical sermons of an impressive circuit preacher, T.S. Gregory. He saw elements of the Divine in every individual, stirring the egalitarian impulses of the young Hill. And it was also T.S. Gregory who warned that great ideologies, initially experienced as liberating, could over time become codified, restrictive, deadening and even deadly.
6.3.2.2 "We are All One in the Eyes of the Lord": Christopher Hill and the Historical Meanings of Radical Religion (2004), Pdf5
This essay draws upon PJC's personal memories of discussions with the eminent Marxist historian Christopher Hill to reassesses his philosophy of history. His fundamental belief was in the equality of all humans, derived from his personal response to his Methodist upbringing. As a student at Oxford in the early 1930s, he transmuted his egalitarianism into a life-long commitment to Marxism and to studying History 'from below', as a means of understanding oppression and people's struggles for liberation. Hence his commitment was to a humanist and liberal rather than a Stalinist Marxism, while, over time, the specifically Marxist elements and terminology in his analysis notably faded.
6.3.2.3 Christopher Hill's Intellectual Trajectory: From Biblical Protestantism to Humanist Marxism (2003; 2005), Pdf50
This essay reprises the intellectual trajectory of the Marxist historian Christopher Hill, from Methodism to Marxism, and from orthodox Marxism to a looser Marxist humanism. Some of the content overlaps with the earlier essay Pdf5 'We are All One in the Eyes of the Lord'. Nonetheless, this text is included here as a companion piece, because it contains a range of further commentary, including a direct critique of Hill's 1986 claim about the material origin of words. ('Things precede words'). Did he really mean that real-life dragons must have preceded the word 'dragons'? Hill's materialist approach at this point seems to have overcome his common-sense. A rare lapse.
6.3.2.4 "What is the Greatest Sin in the World?" Christopher Hill and the Spirit of Equality (BLOG/ 95, Nov. 2018)
This short commentary is the text of PJC's encomium at the First Hill Memorial Lecture in November 2018, held at Newark's National Civil War Centre. It highlights Hill's life-long belief in human equality, which outlasted both his youthful commitment to Methodism and his subsequent adherence to Communism (until his resignation from the British Communist Party in 1957). Can be read in conjunction with Pdf5 and Pdf50.
6.3.3 Russell, Conrad S.R. – 5th Earl Russell (1937-2004) Remembering Conrad Russell, Historian of Stuart Britain and "Last of the Whigs", BLOG/ 72 (Dec. 2016)
PJC remembers Conrad Russell as a distinctive personality, congenial colleague, and thought-provoking historian, although she argues that his excessively literalistic reading of documents ultimately distorted his interpretation of seventeenth-century history.
6.3.4 Thompson, Dorothy, née Towers (1923-2011) Dorothy Thompson & the Thompsonian Project (2011), Pdf/19
PJC recalls with affection her first encounter with Dorothy Thompson as colleagues at Birmingham University in 1969. She was a role model of calm feminist engagement and commitment to empirical research. Those qualities of temperamental calm and bracing research were hallmarks of Dorothy Thompson's contribution to 'History from Below' as practised both by herself and her husband/ fellow historian E.P. Thompson.
6.3.5 Thompson, Edward P. (1924-1993)
6.3.5.1 E.P. Thompson, the Historian: An Appreciation (1993; 2018), Pdf45
A heterodox figure and a polymath, in personality both innovative and volcanic, the historian E.P. Thompson drew upon varied intellectual roots which he welded into his distinctive vision of cultural Marxism. This essay analyses those roots as Thompson's deep love of English literature; his argumentative relationship with the evolving corpus of Marxist thought; and his heritage of secularised religious dissent. See also further reflections by PJC in 6.3.1.2 'Two Historians Who Influenced Me'.
6.3.5.2 'Worst and Best Academic Lectures that I've Heard', PJC BLOG/26 (Jan. 2013)
PJC's reflections on the quality of academic lectures that she has heard delivered by historians, ranging from the utterly inadequate to the outstanding. The most brilliant was a gem of literary-cum-historical analysis by E.P. Thompson, given without ostentation to an adult-education conference in Preston sometime in the mid-1980s. Thompson began by reading a short poem by William Blake; then analysed its contents; and then read the poem again, with added emphasis. The second version was a revelation. It was like going from monochrome to colour. An example of how a master lecturer can encourage an audience to see an entire world even in 'a grain of sand'.
6.3.6 Thompson, F.M.L. 'Michael' (1925-2017) Michael Thompson's Intellectual Outlook (2018), Pdf51
This appreciation was originally delivered as a speech and then revised for publication in History Workshop Journal, 86 (Autumn 2018), pp. 306-10. The same issue also contains sympathetic obituaries of F.M.L.T. by David Feldman (HWJ, 86 (2018), p. 303; and by Martin Daunton (HWJ, 86 (2018), pp. 304-6. https://academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/hwj/dby028/5058075.
PJC examines the intellectual roots of Michael Thompson's classic liberal values, which were laced with Quaker egalitarianism. He translated those values into a liberal empirical approach to history. He hated all loose and erroneous pseudo-historical generalisations that claimed to have the answer to everything, especially when such sweeping and inaccurate views were used by politicians as an excuse to bash Universities (for example for not being 'enterprising' enough). Mike Thompson's own research was dogged and detailed, looking at unfashionable themes to provide broad-brush interpretations of the organised complexities of history. He stood upon the intellectual middle ground, not in the perilous sense of someone-about-to-be-run-over-by-the-traffic-from-left-and-right (as in Nye Bevan's cutting phrase) but in the balanced stance of someone seeking the Aristotelian Golden Mean.
6.3.7 Honouring Vera Bácskai (1930-2018) PJC BLOG/109 (Jan. 2020)
PJC reflects on the life and career of Hungarian urban and social historian Vera Bácskai. She lived in the eye of Hungary's political macro-storm as a supporter of internal reform in 1956; was abruptly exiled to Romania by the Soviet Army; but came back and made a successful career, initially as an archivist, still living under a political cloud, and then as a leading academic in Budapest. Her stoical commitment, her freedom from dogma, and her capacity for outreach form part of an important strand of liberal/radical/internationalist thought in Hungarian intellectual life and politics, to which this testimony pays warm tribute.


By most accounts, the smart money is on the Hayward fault for the Bay Area's next big quake. Now a new map of the shaking during the fault's last big one shows which East Bay neighborhoods are at greatest risk from the next one.
The last big Hayward fault earthquake struck in 1868, was between 6.7 and 7.0 in magnitude and killed 30 people, making it the 12th deadliest jolt in U.S. history. It was known as the Great San Francisco Earthquake until it was eclipsed in 1906.
The Hayward fault has been relatively quiet during the 139 years since. But the peace could end any minute in an outburst that would undoubtedly be far more lethal than the last one.
By digging for evidence of past earthquakes in trenches across the Hayward fault, scientists have put the average time between the last five major earthquakes at 140 years, with the shortest interval at 95 years.
The new shake map of the 1868 quake could depict a preview of what is to come in the next big Hayward earthquake. USGS geologist Jack Boatwright updated the map by sifting through historical accounts of the damage done by the quake, working with East Bay historians and visiting cemeteries.
In one Lafayette cemetery, he found that half of the headstones with dates prior to 1868 were damaged by the quake. Because grave markers are usually repaired instead of replaced and can easily be dated, they can help piece together how intense an earthquake was in different areas.
One historical account from a man who was walking down a road in San Lorenzo when the quake hit described hearing the earthquake and seeing the ground move. The man also saw a team of six mules knocked over. Many descriptions of damage to buildings helped as well.
The strongest shaking was in Hayward, where wooden structures were thrown from their foundations and concrete and masonry were extensively damaged. San Leandro and Fremont saw slightly less destruction, but still experienced strong shaking.
San Francisco and Oakland fared a little better, where chimneys toppled and weak masonry crumbled. In San Francisco, the damage was similar to that experienced during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
"What's really surprising is that Oakland wasn't shaken more strongly," Boatwright said. He suspects this may be because that portion of the fault didn't rupture as much as the southern section did.
If the shaking in a future quake is similar to the last one, it could destroy 14,000 buildings worth $6 billion in Hayward alone, Perkins said.
"We're talking about a great deal of money at risk here," she said.
The most vulnerable buildings are often affordable housing units that are built on top of garages, a configuration that is prone to collapse.
Betsy Mason covers science and the national laboratories. Contact her at 925-952-5026 or bmason@bayareanewsgroup.com.