text:
Aquariums California Family Travel Tips Family Vacation Destinations Low Cost Kid Friendly Activities Monterey Museums Theme Parks and Attractions Travel with Babies Travel with School Age Kids Travel with Toddlers & Preschoolers Travel with Tweens & Teens
Save Money, Have Fun With Kids in Monterey, CA
photo credit: Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau
SAVVY TRAVELER ALERT: MONTEREY COUNTY STEPS UP WITH A CACHE OF STEALS & DEALS
FOR FAMILIES THIS SUMMER
-Entertain the Kids without Selling the Farm, 401k or First Born-
MONTEREY COUNTY, CALIF. — Creative travelers know the value of a dollar when it comes to cash-strapped, time-starved vacations for the family. Unleash that inner explorer with a quintessential California getaway – Monterey-style. From economy-priced excursions to offbeat treks and nature adventures, this region can tee up with the best of them. Cash in on this season's top steals and deals with these timely treks.
TOP 10 SUMMER STEALS & DEALS
1) MY Museum – From harvesting faux crops and processing them through a giant maze machine to tweaking hand-eye coordination on the MY Go-Fore Golf Exhibit, this 8,500 sq. ft., menagerie of play is the top stop for families looking to tap off steam. Kids can assist the x-ray tech in the MY Hospital exhibit, put together a play complete with costumes and makeup at MY Theatre and create sandcastles at MY Day at the Beach, a special arts and crafts area for kids under three. New 11/2008. $7.00 adults/$7.00 kids. www.mymuseum.org.
2) Big Sur Guides Family Treasure Hunt – Strap on those boots and binoculars for a family outing certain to kick socks. This new hike – kids go free – combines an easy excursion through the redwood forest and along the spectacular Pacific shoreline in search of lost treasures (strategically placed, of course) with prizes for the top hunters. "It's the perfect mix of adventure and exercise," says owner Steve Copeland. New 6/2009 $75.00/adults, kids free. Lunch $15.00/person. http://www.bigsurhikingguides.com.
3) Stand Up Paddle (S.U.P.) – Water lovers can tap into this exciting sport that is easy to grasp and achieve a sense of accomplishment. Surfer Laird Hamilton's newest thrill has now hit the waves running with classes in S.U.P. – or stand-up paddling. The trend combines surfing with canoe-style paddling in a stand up position, exercising the core and sense of balance. Learn to walk on water via classes covering the basics of balance, strokes and paddling techniques. New 2008. $55.00/person, including equipment. www.kayakconnection.com $50.00/person, including equipment. www.adventuresbythesea.com.
4) Monterey Bay Aquarium/Secret Lives of Seahorses – What's snouty, sexy and can change color in an instant? April 6, 2009 marks the debut of the Secret Lives of Seahorses, showcasing 15 species of seahorses and a bevy of relatives including sea dragons, ribboned pipehorses, dragon pipefish and shrimpfish. Meander through four multimedia galleries and discover how these shy and secretive animals grow up, attract mates and give birth—this is the only family in the animal kingdom in which the males get pregnant! New 4/2009. New: Make ocean-friendly seafood choices via the Aquarium's new iPhone application housing instant Seafood Watch recommendations (free). $29.95/adult, $17.95 (kids 3-12). www.montereybayaquarium.org.
5) Astronomy Hikes/Pinnacles National Monument – Get into the wild with an evening exploring the home of the California Condor and Townsend Big-Eared Bat. Seasonal guided night hikes at Pinnacles National Monument kick off with a moderate 1.6-mile trek along the Balconies Trail followed by a sky talk and telescopic views of the heavens courtesy of Hartnell Planetarium and Astronomy Department. Located off Highway 101 outside of Soledad, the 23 million-year old volcanic rock formations and hidden talus caves that make up the Pinnacles offer an inside look at nature at its naked best. Free. www.nps.gov/pinn.
6) Tee Time on a Dime – Who says Pebble Beach requires a down-payment? Just across the street from the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links lies the Peter Hay Golf Course, an executive nine-hole, 27-par gem delivering great scenery and manicured greens, with the longest hole – #7 – tapping out at 104 yards. Added bonus: It's just a hop to The Tap Room for some adult post-game chill and swill. $25.00/round. www.pebblebeach.com. Other greenback deals for families: Laguna Seca Golf Ranch fires things up with a stunning 71-par, 6161-yard dream course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and Jr., overlooking the scenic Santa Lucia Mountains. Teens can tackle the course's 13-acre natural grass practice facility (voted Monterey County's finest) before going green. $65.00/round. www.lagunasecagolf.com. Pacific Grove sports the "poor man's Pebble Beach" – Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links – with an incredible back nine fronting the Pacific. $40.00 round/midweek; junior can tee up for just $20.00. www.pacificgrove.org.
7) Salinas Rodeo – Pack those cowboy boots and saddle up the family for the 99th Annual California Rodeo Salinas – an edge-of-your-seat thrill set in Steinbeck Country. Free and definitely frivolous are the two Rodeo Horse Parades held in Old Town Salinas with 300+ prancing steeds topped with costumed riders. On tap throughout the week are top pro competitions in steer wrestling, bull riding, tie-down roping, bareback bronc riding and barrel racing. July 16-19, 2009. $13.00/adults, $7.00 (kids 12/under). www.carodeo.com.
8) Earthbound Farms – Get downright dirty with all things squirmy via a Bug Walk or mix it up with a local chef or florist at Earthbound Farm, the nation's largest producer of organic greens. Flowers, herbs and vegetables steal the show on 30 sun-drenched acres in Carmel Valley. Saturdays are a true beehive of activity; morning tours start at 11:00 a.m. (May – September). $5.00/child. http://www.ebfarm.com/.
9) Lighthouse Tours – Set on the edge of the Pacific, Monterey County boasts two stunning light houses, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In Pacific Grove, Point Pinos Lighthouse (1855) holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating light house on the West Coast. Make a day of it by renting bikes on Cannery Row and hitting the Recreation Trail to Pacific Grove, then circle back with a scenic 17-Mile Drive loop. For a more offbeat excursion, catch a star-studded peek of historic Point Sur Lighthouse via the seasonal moonlight tours. A silent sentinel to a by-gone era, Point Sur Lighthouse is the only complete turn-of-the-century light station open to the public in the Golden State. Built in 1887-1889, this stone lighthouse still guides ships through an automated system. The one-mile hike rising 360 feet in elevation delivers an eerie tale of ghosts and lost souls of the sea. April – October. $15.00/$10.00 adults/children. www.pointsur.org. $2.00/donation. www.pgmuseum.org.
10) Outdoor Forest Theater – Carmel has a wealth of alfresco charms, from dog-friendly beaches to scouting some 40+ courtyards, each with its distinct character. As the sun sets, families can tap into another adventure – the Outdoor Forest Theater. Pack a picnic and fleece for seasonal screenings of Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Jurassic Park and Horton Hears a Who at the oldest outdoor community theater West of the Rockies. It's hard to beat the fresh scent of pine trees and crashing surf, even if Gidget is in a skimpy suit. May 26 – July 22. $6.00. www.foresttheaterguild.org.
VISITOR INFO.
Monterey County is located 120 miles/192 km south of San Francisco and 345 miles/552 km north of Los Angeles along the classic California corridor. The region boasts 99 miles of prime Pacific Coastline, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, three historic missions, 40,000 acres of premium vineyards, 25 golf courses and over 200 lodging properties. Monterey County includes the Monterey Peninsula, Big Sur, North County and the Salinas Valley. The Monterey Peninsula Airport (MRY), just three miles from historic downtown Monterey and minutes from the area's major attractions, is served by non-stop flights to and from Denver (DEN), Las Vegas (LAS), Phoenix (PHX), Los Angeles (LAX), San Diego (SAN) and San Francisco (SFO). www.SeeMonterey.com.
« Relaxing Family Beach Vacation in Nantucket, MA
Free Summer Activities in Kid Friendly Detroit »
I recommend the lighthouse tours. I took my family on this trip we loved it. can't wait to get back there
.-= thomas´s last blog ..Harley Davidson Unisex Little Kid Big Kid Boot =-.
Looks like a great place to visit, will surely be going to the top of my holiday list.


When one owns a business, the daily demands of the most pressing managerial duties put everything on the side. The day finishes and an important aspect of the business, marketing, usually gets forgotten. Day after day is no different. Every once in a while, one successfully squeezes in some time, but no one can surely manually keep this up. Get an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant and make that dream you have for your business come true.
You need a software system to tackle marketing and other tasks that add value to your business and do upsell. Good news is no business is too small for Infusionsoft. More importantly, it is not even beyond one's ability to use. What you initially need is assistance in understanding how it works.
Infusionsoft UK is the answer to powerful sales and email automated marketing. Over 24,000 businesses and marketing leaders use this. Combining business needs with CRM, marketing automation, contact management, sales funnels and e-commerce in this one system, world leading entrepreneurs have effectively used this as their platform.
Getting this software from an official Infusionsoft partner means you not only get to securely buy this but you're also entitled to receive technical support. Improved business metrics are guaranteed in 90 days.
If you're interested in working behind the scenes in running your own Infusionsoft campaigns, consider getting hold of an Infusionsoft certified consultant who will help you run your own campaigns with training and coaching packages.
A UK Infusionsoft Certified Partner automates the 5 key elements of any business: marketing, fulfillment, internal communications, sales and finance. Now, if that isn't complete, then, nothing is.
Customers are now very sophisticated. Everyone is using desktops, laptops, mobiles and tablets. You must be able to reach people effectively through all of these mediums.
Many people in the UK are taking the entrepreneurial road. If you are able to get your business going on your own, you know there were disasters along the way. Save yourself these and hire the best Infusionsoft consultant.
It saves time. Tailored emails, sure to attract, are automatically sent to prospective customers.
An Infusionsoft consultant helps in any glitch, if there would be any, in your operations. An expert tells you what you're missing out on.
It saves you operational costs. You won't need to hire a person who is entitled to all the benefits under the law. You don't need to worry making sure your employee stays. Most people hired have tasks capable of being accomplished by Infusionsoft software.
Getting hold of an Infusionsoft certified consultant means you have an expert to show you the ropes, who is also a companion on your Infusionsoft journey and a good sounding board. It's money well invested. Check out http://damianqualter.com.


Prof. Sasisekharan has been a professor of Biological Engineering at MIT since 1996 and served as the Director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology from 2008-12. Sasisekharan received his B.S. in Physical Sciences from Bangalore University, his M.S. in Biophysics from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from Harvard Medical School.
The Sasisekharan Laboratory employs multidisciplinary strategies to develop and integrate technologies to further study complex polysaccharides important to a host of disease processes. A central goal is to ultimately develop novel therapeutic approaches to alleviate suffering from disease and promote overall human health. The Sasisekharan Lab has put forth efforts in building and applying various glycomics technologies.
Under Sasisekharan's direction, his research group has put in place numerous strategies to tackle important problems in glycomics. Critically, the lab tackles fundamental aspects of glycan-protein interactions bringing diverse approaches to bear in this domain. The lab has studied glycan structure on the one hand (both glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and branched glycans) through the use of orthogonal analytical approaches (NMR, MS, enzymology etc.,). In a simultaneous and complementary effort, the group developed approaches to describe protein-glycan interactions using structure-based tools developed by the Sasisekharan LaB, and experimental/heuristic approaches such as through conformational studies using NMR, as well as informatics platform. Finally, the group directly probes important elements of glycan-protein interactions, such as specificity and affinity using a novel set of array and tissue-based studies.
The Sasisekharan Lab originated its efforts with GAGs (such as heparin) to build the needed analytical and enzymatic tools with defined substrate-product profiles to understand their structure-function relationships. It has became ever clearer to Sasisekharan and his researchers that to truly understand glycan-protein interactions as a whole –given the 'analog' continuum of their interaction features – what is needed is to capture diverse sets of interactions to help refine a strategy for this integrated (glycan and protein based) 'glycomics tool' building.
Technologies developed in the Sasisekharan Lab have resulted in the founding of multiple local biotechnology companies. Please read more about this on Sasisekharan's lab website.
Raman, Rahul, Kannan Tharakaraman, Zachary Shriver, Akila Jayaraman, V Sasisekharan, and Ram Sasisekharan. "Glycan receptor specificity as a useful tool for characterization and surveillance of influenza A virus." Trends Microbiol 22, no. 11 (2014): 632-41.
Tharakaraman, Kannan, Akila Jayaraman, Rahul Raman, Karthik Viswanathan, Nathan W. Stebbins, David Johnson, Zachary Shriver, V Sasisekharan, and Ram Sasisekharan. "Glycan receptor binding of the influenza A virus H7N9 hemagglutinin." Cell 153, no. 7 (2013): 1486-93.
Tharakaraman, Kannan, Rahul Raman, Karthik Viswanathan, Nathan W. Stebbins, Akila Jayaraman, Arvind Krishnan, V Sasisekharan, and Ram Sasisekharan. "Structural determinants for naturally evolving H5N1 hemagglutinin to switch its receptor specificity." Cell 153, no. 7 (2013): 1475-85.
Tharakaraman, Kannan, Luke N. Robinson, Andrew Hatas, Yi-Ling Chen, Liu Siyue, S Raguram, V Sasisekharan, Gerald N. Wogan, and Ram Sasisekharan. "Redesign of a cross-reactive antibody to dengue virus with broad-spectrum activity and increased in vivo potency." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110, no. 17 (2013): E1555-64.
Maines, Taronna R., Akila Jayaraman, Jessica A. Belser, Debra A. Wadford, Claudia Pappas, Hui Zeng, Kortney M. Gustin, Melissa B. Pearce, Karthik Viswanathan, Zachary H. Shriver et al. "Transmission and pathogenesis of swine-origin 2009 A(H1N1) influenza viruses in ferrets and mice." Science 325, no. 5939 (2009): 484-7.
Kishimoto, Takashi Kei, Karthik Viswanathan, Tanmoy Ganguly, Subbiah Elankumaran, Sean Smith, Kevin Pelzer, Jonathan C. Lansing, Nammalwar Sriranganathan, Ganlin Zhao, Zoya Galcheva-Gargova et al. "Contaminated heparin associated with adverse clinical events and activation of the contact system." N Engl J Med 358, no. 23 (2008): 2457-67.


text:
La rivière Châtillon est un affluent de la rivière Broadback laquelle coule vers l'ouest jusqu'à la baie de Rupert, au sud de la baie James. La rivière Châtillon coule dans la municipalité de Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, dans la région administrative du Nord-du-Québec, au Québec, au Canada.

Géographie
Les bassins versants voisins de la rivière Châtillon sont :
 Côté nord : rivière Broadback ;
 Côté est : lac Châtillon, lac Frotet, lac Troilus ;
 Côté sud : lac Regnault, lac Dompierre ;
 Côté ouest : rivière Broadback.

La rivière Châtillon prend sa source au lac Châtillon (longueur :  ; altitude : ) qui est situé au nord-ouest du lac Frotet (altitude : ), au nord du lac Regnault (altitude : ), au nord-ouest du lac Dompierre (altitude : ), à l'ouest du lac Mistassini et à une centaine de kilomètres au nord-ouest de Chibougamau. Le lac Châtillon est situé dans la partie est de Eeyou Istchee Baie-James.

À partir de la rive nord-est du lac Châtillon, la rivière Châtillon coule :
 à priori vers le nord-est ;
 vers l'ouest en traversant le lac Lezai (altitude : ) lequel recueille (du côté sud-ouest) les eaux de la décharge du lac Tortigny ; et en contournant par le sud le lac La Saigne (altitude : ) ;
 vers le nord en traversant le lac Catherine (altitude : ) lequel reçoit du côté nord-est les eaux de la décharge du lac La Saigne ;
 sur  vers le nord-ouest en traversant les "Rapides Deux Milles" pour aller se déverser sur la rive est de la rivière Broadback.

La route du Nord passe à l'ouest du lac Châtillon.

Toponymie
Le toponyme « rivière Châtillon » évoque l'un des rameaux de la pairie de la famille de Montmorency-Laval. Au , cette famille formait une branche de l'illustre maison de Montmorency. Famille noble de la Champagne (France), la maison de Châtillon a été titulaire, dès le , du comté de Châtillon-sur-Marne, mais s'est éteinte en 1762. De nos jours, le dénominatif "châtillon", de castillio, mot gallo-romain signifiant "petit château", est répandu dans le centre, l'est et l'ouest de la France.

Ce toponyme a été officialisé le  à la Commission de toponymie du Québec.

Notes et références

Annexes

Articles connexes
 Baie James
 Baie de Rupert
 Rivière Broadback, un cours d'eau
 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (municipalité)
 Jamésie
Liste des cours d'eau du Québec

Liens externes

Cours d'eau au Nord-du-Québec
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James
1Châtillon
Jamésie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Penn State defense and Noah Cain own the night in statement victory at Iowa
Frank Bodani
The Penn State defense did everything it was supposed to do.
It pressured inconsistent quarterback Nate Stanley throughout, hitting him hard even when it didn't sack him.
It turned away one drive after another.
It checked Iowa even on its best efforts. It held the Hawkeyes to two field goals early on when it did get close and forced another miss.
And that defense came up with the would-be, game-turning play midway through the third quarter, recovering a fumble inside the 20 yard line.
But, in the end, it would be the true freshman tailback who helped save this most critical victory in Iowa's Kinnick Stadium.
While this highly-rated defense clamped down on the Hawkeyes in their house, tailback Noah Cain sled-dogged the hardest yards on the Penn State's final two drives in the 17-12 victory Saturday night.
Before all of that, the Penn State defense set up one of the craziest red zone sequences in recent Penn State history — one that loomed large for the rest of the night.
The Lions actually scored three times on the short drive after that third-quarter fumble recovery — each of them erased by the officials. Two were wiped out by holding penalties.
WINNERS AND LOSERS:Highs and lows from Week 7 in college football
SOONERS SHINE:No. 5 Oklahoma with stingy defense prove too much for Texas
SEC SHOCKER:South Carolina knocks off No. 3 Georgia in two overtimes
The other was taken off the board after an officials' review. They overturned a TD catch-and-run by tight end Pat Freiermuth's, saying his knee was down on the 1 yard line — before he stretched the ball into the end zone.
The overturn seemed surprising, even questioned at length by the ABC TV announcing crew.
Penn State settled for a field goal to lead 10-6 after three quarters.
No matter, the night belonged to Penn State's defense. It helped make up for the shakiest of efforts by the other side of the ball.
The defense held its ground despite a few unfortunate slips early on and appeared to get stronger as the game wore on.
They appeared to have Iowa locked down in the final minutes of the first half after a huge sack. But the Hawkeyes were rescued by a downfield holding penalty on senior cornerback John Reid.
Soon after, fellow corner Tariq Castro-Fields stumbled in pass coverage, allowing a Hawk receiver to beat him for a huge catch inside.
That stand helped hold up arguably Penn State's top offensive play of the night. Quarterback Sean Clifford fired quick to KJ Hamler on the right side and the firecracker receiver did the rest. He flew to the sideline, sprinted and then leaped for the end zone.
That play was reviewed, too, but stood.
The Lions led 7-3.
And yet for all of its defensive prowess, the Lions were fired in the fourth quarter by its running game.
Key decisions by Clifford to pull it down and run earned a couple of first downs. And rugged running of Cain put his stamp on the starting spot, once again, by pulling the offense along late.
He gained 102 yards on 22 carries, most of it when it mattered most, and scored the killer touchdown with five minutes to play.
The hard-fought victory was huge for Top 10 Penn State before returning home for its annual white out game with Michigan.
It also was coach James Franklin's first victory in seven tries against ranked teams on the road during his time at Penn State.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Anzia ornatoides är en lavart som beskrevs av Yoshim. Anzia ornatoides ingår i släktet Anzia och familjen Parmeliaceae.   Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Sporsäcksvampar
ornatoides


text:
Maps of Sudan
Blank Maps of Sudan
Sudan is officially the Republic of the Sudan, and likewise referred to as North Sudan, a nation in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Egypt to the north, Eritrea to the northeast, Ethiopia to the southeast, Libya to the northwest, South Sudan to the south and the Red Sea.
It has a population of 45.70 million people as of 2022 as well as occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's third-largest nation by location, and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the biggest country by location in Africa and the Arab Organization till the secession of South Sudan in 2011, given that which both titles have been held by Algeria. Its funding is Khartoum and also its most populated city is Omdurman (part of city Khartoum).
Sudan's history returns to Ancient Greece and the Pharaonic duration, witnessing the Kingdom of Kerma (c. 2500– 1500 BC), the subsequent rule of the Egyptian New Kingdom (c. 1500 BC– 1070 BC) as well as the surge of the Kingdom of Kush (c. 785 BC– 350 AD), which would in turn control Egypt itself for virtually a century. After the loss of Kush, the Nubians developed the three Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia, with the last two lasting till around 1500. Between the 14th as well as 15th centuries, a lot of Sudan was worked out by Arab wanderers.
From the 16th– 19th centuries, central as well as eastern Sudan were controlled by the Funj sultanate, while Darfur ruled the west as well as the Ottomans the east. From the 19th century, the entirety of Sudan was conquered by Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty.
It was under Egyptian rule that Sudan acquired its modern-day borders, and also started the procedure of political, agricultural, and also financial development. In 1881, nationalist sentiment in Egypt resulted in the Orabi Revolt, "compromising" the power of the Egyptian monarchy, and eventually resulting in the profession of Egypt by the United Kingdom.
At the same time, religious-nationalist fervour in Sudan emerged in the Mahdist Rebellion led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, causing the establishment of the rebel Caliphate of Omdurman. The Mahdist forces were at some point defeated by a joint Egyptian-British military force, recovering the authority of the Egyptian emperor.
Nonetheless, Egyptian sovereignty in Sudan would from this point forward be somewhat nominal, as the true power in both Egypt and also Sudan was currently the UK. In 1899, under British stress, Egypt agreed to share sovereignty over Sudan with the United Kingdom as a condominium.
Essentially, Sudan was controlled as a British ownership. The 20th century saw the development of both Egyptian and also Sudanese nationalism concentrating on finishing the United Kingdom's profession. The Egyptian Transformation of 1952 toppled the monarchy, and required the withdrawal of British forces from every one of Egypt and Sudan.
Muhammad Naguib, one of the two co-leaders of the revolution, as well as Egypt's initial President, who was half-Sudanese as well as elevated in Sudan, made protecting Sudanese freedom a priority of the innovative federal government.
The following year, under Egyptian as well as Sudanese stress, the United Kingdom agreed to Egypt's need for both federal governments to terminate their common sovereignty over Sudan, and to grant Sudan self-reliance. On 1 January 1956, Sudan was properly stated an independent state.
Below is a blank printable map of Sudan.
This shows a blank practice worksheet of Sudan.
This map shows the basic outline structure of Sudan.
Here you can see a labeled map of Sudan with cities.
Below is a Physical map of Sudan.
Below is a Political map of Sudan.
Below is a Road map of Sudan.
And here, you can see a Locator map of Sudan.


Last year, The Salvation Army, with the help of numerous generous sponsors, provided holiday gifts to 14,000 children in the National Capital Area. For many of our registered kids, the gifts they receive through the Angel Tree Program will be the only ones they open on Christmas morning!
If you believe every child deserves a Merry Christmas, then please be a 2018 Angel Tree sponsor! Once you register, you will receive an Angel Tree gift tag ornament that will include the child's first name, age, gender, clothing sizes and three gift wish items thoughtfully prepared by the child's parents. The personalized gift wish lists ensure that we are making Christmas extra special for each of our Angels.


Home / Press Releases / Archive by category "Announcements"
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y., (Business Wire) – April 15, 2019 – CVD Equipment Corporation (NASDAQ: CVV), a leading provider of chemical vapor deposition systems, today announced the supply of customized chemical vapor deposition systems to Swiss watch manufacturer TAG Heuer.
The CARBON PLUS™ system, a FirstNano® product, is the second system that CVD has supplied to meet TAG Heuer's specification. CVD's CARBON PLUS™ systems are used by TAG Heuer in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, for the nanotechnology development and the in-house research and production of carbon composites.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y., (Business Wire) – February 7, 2019 – CVD Equipment Corporation (NASDAQ: CVV), a leading provider of chemical vapor deposition systems and materials, today announced that Thomas McNeill has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, effective March 4, 2019.


text:
Guess Which Country is Considering "Nuclear Option" to Deal with Migration!
Italy is thinking about removing thousands of migrants from the country, in what has been described as a "nuclear option," which would involve issuing temporary visas to allow migrants to travel out of Italy into other European Union countries, essentially granting them free movement through the continent.
Over 101,417 migrants have crossed from Africa into Europe during 2017, and almost 85 percent have arrived in Italy.
"If migrants continue to arrive and Italy decides to give them papers to cross borders and leave Italy it would be a nuclear option," said Mattia Toaldo, a senior analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "Italians have lost any hope of getting help from the EU and may say, 'If you won't make it a common challenge, we will.'"
"Letting migrants travel once they reach Italy would create a real problem for our EU neighbors," added Luigi Manconi, an Italian senator in the ruling Democratic Party. "But I hope it would force France to confront the migrant problem head on."
The Daily Caller reports:
The Italian government has threatened to close its ports for foreign ships if other EU countries don't help out.
Senior Italian officials told The Times Saturday that the government has discussed exploiting European Council Directive 2001/55, which was created after the war in former Yugoslavia to give temporary protection to displaced people.
With 200,000 migrants in detention centers across Italy, such a solution could put immense pressure on neighboring countries as the visas would allow them to travel freely across the Schengen Area.


- Solve integration and deployment problems, develop alternative solutions, provisional solutions, classification to solve software problems.
BS/MS degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related subject. At least 4 years of experience in development with mobile applications. General management of Google APIs and third-party APIs. Extensive knowledge in Push Notifications implementation.
Knowledge in pattern recognition (OCR, QR Reader, etc.) Security Knowledge in Mobile Applications. Management of MVP architecture.


Over the final one hundred years, with the industrialization of our meals provide , our diet regime has changed dramatically. Foods such as cooked turnip greens , boiled Swiss chard , raw crimini mushrooms , boiled mustard greens , boiled asparagus and Romaine lettuce supply a broad spectrum of the essential micronutrients that assistance healthier immune function and are as a result suggested as portion of an immune-enhancing diet regime. Other herbal vitamins and immune program supplements that are really advantageous in supporting immunity include echinacea which is good at the commence of a cold, elderberry extract which also helps fight off colds, and probiotics which keep the intestine supplied with excellent bacteria, which are vital for the physique.
Any FDA-approved well being supplement that consists of 100% all-natural ingredients must be safe for your dog's health. Some vitamins have received more focus in the investigation literature considering that they are particularly important to a healthful immune method. In help of that hypothesis, youngsters who develop up in larger families (blessed with germy siblings), reside in the country (about barnyard animals), or attend day care have reduce prices of situations such as asthma, hay fever and eczema. These, it have to be stated, are occasionally essential due to the fact folks have neglected to take the ideal care, that a all-natural wellness life style can supply.
Curcumin is the active ingredient in Turmeric, responsible for the distinct yellow colouring and the impressive list of overall health properties. These who petted a true dog had a significant increase in levels of salivary IgG, an antibody (immune protein) that fights infection. The guidance document has been structured to keep away from overlapping with the common scientific guidance for stakeholders on overall health claim applications.
There are a lot more than 400 species of bacteria residing in the gut, and they have symbiotic relationships with your body." Meydani called the gut flora the forgotten body organ" due to the fact of its vital however underappreciated well being functions. That is your birthright, which can be more readily achieved through a healthful life style, like organic well being medicine containing naturally therapeutic ingredients.


text:
Writing and distributing whatever I want!
Moira from Moon Rocket Distribution
Can you tell me first of all a little bit about yourself? How old are you, where are you originally from and where do you reside now?
I'm 23, and I've always lived in New Zealand. I grew up in a small town up north, but moved to Auckland when I was 9 and have lived here ever since.
What do you do besides your zine?
Besides my zines, I run a distro (Moon Rocket), make art (mostly in the form of books or other things involving paper and printing), maintain a personal website (www.nutmeg.gen.nz), drink a lot of soy hot chocolate and get excited about things. I also work fulltime as an Environmental Engineer.
For how long have you been running your zine and distro now? How many issues did you put out until now? Are you the only editor or is there a team?
I self-published my first little comic book in early 1999, and started Moon Rocket on 1 January 2000. I've put out various different zines under different titles in that time - my current personal zine is Child That Mind, which I'm working on the second issue of right now. All the zines I've made have been self-edited and published, though one of my zines (Woven, a poetry/literary zine which I published the fifth issue of a couple of weeks ago) is contributor-based.
What made you decide to start this project? How did you come up with the idea and the name?
I wanted to start Moon Rocket because I was starting to get into zines and was really excited about self publishing and zine culture and other distros I'd found online, and I saw the need for something like that in New Zealand. I guess I was inspired by other distros that I was working with at the time, like Adore and Starfiend, as well as by some of the brilliant zines I had been getting in the mail. There's no interesting story behind the name, really, I just liked rockets and thought it fitted with what I was planning. It was partly inspired by Tintin.
What topics are most often discussed in your zine or in the zines you carry?
I carry a really wide range of zines - from personal writing to poetry to arty collages to radical menstruation to superhero parody comics to zine reviews to fiction and all kinds of other things. My distro catalogue is based on my tastes and politics, but isn't really limited to one "genre".
My personal zines tend to discuss whatever I'm thinking about at the time - the last issue of Child That Mind was about cities and personal space and secrets, while the new issue will mostly be about working as an engineer and there'll probably be some stuff about gender roles, I expect.
What do you hope to accomplish by establishing your zine and your zine distro?
With my personal zines, I just want to publish work I'm proud of and create a forum where I can write about whatever I want and get feedback on it without the pressure of having to perfect my writing for publishing. With Moon Rocket, I want to support self-publishing and DIY art forms, to be a reliable source for people to buy independent writing and art from and to generally encourage, support and promote the kinds of projects I get excited about, like zines, independent comics and lo-fi music.
What does zine making, distributing and reading mean to you? What do you love about zine making and distributing? What's the most challenging aspect of making and distributing zines?
Zine making is basically a form of publishing that is really accessible to a lot of people - you don't have to write brilliantly, you don't have to own any fancy equipment or have lots of money and it's not really about profit, so in most cases you don't have to alter your message at all to make a popular or profitable product. So zines can really reflect individuals and talk about peoples interests and thoughts and opinions and emotions in ways that you don't find in a lot of other forums (besides the internet), and there's also a lot more openness to communication between author and reader than there is with novels, for example. A lot of corporate media (mainstream magazines, newspapers, 'reality' television) is really removed from the experience of real people, I think, and sells really stereotyped, normalised versions of what people are supposed to be like. At their best, zines are the opposite of that: published by all sorts of people for all sorts of people, from all different political perspectives and approachable.
What was your first exposure to zines? How did you find out about them? What have they come to mean to you?
I found out what zines were from the internet, though I later realized that I had seen zines before and even owned a few. After I started "Life Sucks", I came across a post on a messageboard about a new zine distro starting up and looking for zines and comics, so I checked out the link and sent Tina my comics, and just started following links from her website, and eventually figured out what zines were. I actually used to buy a lot of local photocopied comics when I was a teenager and had seen really simple comics that made me realise I could make my own, but I didn't know that self publishing was such a big thing until I found zine distros and the zinesters mailing list and stuff.
Do you consider grrrl zines as an important part of a movement of sorts? Do you think zines can effect meaningful social and political change?
I know zines and the culture(s) surrounding them have made me think and continue to challenge my thought patterns, and have taught me so much about politics and identity and the world in general outside my little perspective on it, that I know they have to mean something. In some ways, social and political change only happens like that, through individuals learning and challenging themselves and encouraging those around them to learn. On the other hand, it seems like zines are pretty far under the cultural radar in general, and how can something that so few people (relatively speaking) have heard about instigate widespread social change? And just because zines have meant so much to me, that doesn't mean they will be interesting or useful to everyone. So I don't know, as more zine stuff is done and more zine libraries are set up and they become more visible, maybe zines will be part of a movement for change. Meanwhile I definitely think zine publishing and reading can change people's perspectives on things in positive ways. Um, so yes and no.
What advice would you give others who want to start a zine or a zine distro?
Do it! Well, read up about it first and think about why you want to do it and how other people have done it, then do it! There are tons of good resources on the internet from tips to horror stories to step-by-step guides. I'd also suggest checking out the zine "Stolen Sharpie Revolution" (published by Microcosm Press: www.microcosmpress.com and available from lots of distros all over the world including mine) - it's a resource zine that has a lot of tips on making zines, running distros, zine etiquette and things like that.
What are some of the zines you admire?
I really like "Doris" - Cindy's writing is a really careful, yet effortless blend of personal and political elements and she always talks about interesting and important things. "Hope" is a new favourite, it's really well written and edited and exciting. "subject to change" is always smart and considered and always makes me think. "I Am A Camera" and all of Vanessa Berry's zines are really well written and she's just so prolific, I don't know how she writes so much great stuff. The last issue of "That Girl" was like a novel, such a satisfying read. Those are just a few.
Could you please describe a little bit the grrrl zine community in your country?
I don't think the "grrrl" zine community over here is really seperate from the zine community in general - there are definitely zines that came out of or were influenced by Riot Grrrl specifically, and feminism generally, but I think there's a decent amount of interaction between zinesters who write about different things. The zine community over here is healthy and growing all the time, there are heaps of zines being produced, two mailorder distros that I know of (Moon Rocket and Red Letter in Wellington), a zine reading library in Auckland (The Misfit Theatre) and other projects going on around the country.
Do you define yourself as a feminist? What are the most pressing issues you are confronted with in daily life (as a woman/feminist)?
I definitely identify as a feminist, though I'm always aware that people have different perceptions of feminism and what the feminist movement should be. As a feminist, I think it's important to remain critical and questioning of feminism and what people do under the heading of "feminism" (I'm thinking about the transphobic "womyn-born-womyn" entrace policy in place at Michigan Womens Music Festival and lots of women's centres and spaces around the world as I write this, but there are so many other examples).
What do you think about feminism today? Do you see yourself as part of "Third Wave Feminism" and what does it mean to you?
It's hard to comment on feminism in general today, it's so broad and exists in so many different ways in different places. I don't see myself as part of any "wave" really, a lot of the main figures and ideas behind the 'third wave' have turned out to be as disappointing as some of the second-wavers, and while I think both were important and accomplished a lot, I don't know if I fit in with either. There's been a bit of talk lately about "no wave" feminism as a feminist movement that takes lessons from the past but remains open to critique and dialogue, doesn't create idols whose theory can't be questioned, doesn't excuse oppression in the name of feminism and genuinely tries to be a movement for more than white, middle/upper class women.
Which role plays the Internet for you? Does it change your ideas of making zines and doing/reading/distributing zines?
I started making zines after I'd been doing the personal webpage and online journal thing for a while, so I don't know what my perceptions of zines would be without the internet. I doubt I could run Moon Rocket as successfully without the internet, it's just so much cheaper and easier to have a constantly updated online catalogue than it would be to make a paper catalogue, and to be able to promote my distro through online communities and stuff rather than sending out a bunch of paper ads. Communication with other zinesters is also heaps easier with the option of email - I do still write a lot of letters and send a lot of packages out by mail.
moon rocket distribution
http://www.moonrocket.co.nz
moira's personal web site:
http://nutmeg.gen.nz/zines/
moira [AT]moonrocket.co.nz


Temptation-Waits. . Wallpaper and background images in the 벨라 스완 club tagged: bella swan edward cullen the twilight saga twilight new moon eclipse breaking dawn.
This 벨라 스완 photo might contain 애니메이션, 만화, and 만화책.


Then, in 1975, the guaranteed and enforced the right of children with disabilities to receive a free, appropriate education. In northern Europe this clerical education was largely superseded by forms of elementary schooling following the. Opportunity that would come from learning as much as possible from books and beginning to see that the world focuses on more than just history and English. Now, not only were students guaranteed an equal education, they were provided with viable schooling options and the individualized attention they needed. The Narrators of Barbarian History A.
As we look through the lens of history, we see how philosophies have gained and waned in popularity in society, and how even psychological research is embraced, ignored, or even rejected based on philosophical standings of the time. How is education connected to democracy? Those with wealth could become even wealthier with the help of others who depended on them for survival. In 1837, the Whig former Lord Chancellor Henry Brougham presented a bill for public education. The was developed in central Egypt around 2000 B. The principal lessons that children had to learn were obedience, suppression of their own will, and the show of reverence toward lords and masters. Twenty-First Century: Is the Medium the Message? The author takes a global perspective on the history and philosophy of education, capturing the essence of educational evolution through the biographies of 23 theorists, philosophers, and educators.
Foundation for Early Childhood Education, Inc. Lazarte Date: March 8, 2008 Teaching and learning are complex processes that bring people together. What are the negative outcomes of tracking? What, according to McDermott and Varenne, are the differences between three models of looking at education: deficit model, difference model, culture as disability model? The earliest inscriptions which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century B. A large component of a degree program in philosophical foundations of education is the idea of social justice. To them, the most crucial lessons were punctuality, following directions, tolerance for long hours of tedious work, and a minimal ability to read and write.
Emphasis was placed on developing good memory skills in addition to comprehension oral repetition. Consequently, there is a story behind why the United States school system functions as it does and an ongoing debate on how it could or should be altered. Curzon's plans for technical education laid the foundations which were acted upon by later governments. Thus only a limited number of individuals were hired as to be trained in its reading and writing. Charlemagne's chancery made use of a type of script currently known as , providing a common writing style that allowed for communication across most of Europe. Epidemiology, Exercise, Health 1650 Words 5 Pages decisionmaking. Youth groups members and were utilized to teach.
What does Baldwin mean when he argues that a label says more about the person doing the labeling than about the person being labeled? Anyone could open a school and decide the curriculum. So lots and lots of tax money is wasted, and those headmasters get larger salaries and buy themselves nice sports-cars. National Society for the Study of Education Modern Philosophies and Education 1955 Chicago University of Chicago Press 374Fifty-Fourth Yearbook, Part I 47. Most of the surviving works of classical Latin were copied and preserved by Carolingian scholars. Ireland became known as the island of saints and scholars. He was beaten because of his irresistible drive to play; he was beaten when he failed to learn; he was even beaten when his classmates failed to learn. In the subsequent Roman empire, Greek was the primary language of science.
As more people became literate, they realized that most secondary education was only open to those who could afford it. Borrowman, Merle L The Liberal and Technical in Teacher Education 1956 New York Teachers College, Columbia University 247 9. You have the option of completing these observations at another school and with I another teacher. Barack Obama, Cicero, Education 985 Words 3 Pages. The readings in the philosophical and historical foundations articulate very different philosophies of education, each premised on different visions of the role of schooling in our society. Quoted by Mullhern 1959, p 383. Otherwise my fear is that we will lose the history, the culture, the heroes, the politics and will be left with proving which innovation works in the market place that we now call schools.
They are, instead, products of history. The schools were attended by students representative of all classes of society. To the dismay of many young people, school is one of the most important parts on the road to success for individuals. What is the equality of opportunity argument? Anthropology, Education, Human 1748 Words 5 Pages Historical Foundation of Psychology Functional vs. Concentrating on primary source material, students will read and engage in Socratic dialogue on the best that has been written and said regarding being an educated human being.
Review the links below for more details about employment opportunities. Just as adults put in their 8-hour day at their place of employment, children today put in their 6-hour day at school, plus another hour or more of homework, and often more hours of lessons outside of school. Moreover, Muslims had one of the first universities in history which is Al-Qarawiyin University in Fez, Morocco. Some of the underpaid, ill-prepared schoolmasters were clearly sadistic. You should therefore think of this web page as the start of your education portfolio. Quiz 3 handed out Mon.
The education system in the Greek city-state of was entirely different, designed to create warriors with complete obedience, courage, and physical perfection. In 1820, Samuel Wilderspin opened the first infant school in Spitalfield. The Augustinians opened a school in Cebu in 1565. In the past, Andrew J Coulson and E. Although girls were not provided with formal education in the , they were required to know a large part of the subject areas to prepare them to maintain the home after marriage, and to educate the children before the age of seven. The first act of parliament for education was passed in 1877, and sought to establish a standard for primary education. My definition of education would be to learn or to gain knowledge of something through the teaching of others or through ones self.
In the beginning, for hundreds of thousands of years, children educated themselves through self-directed play and exploration. You will receive a classroom placement in the first weeks of the semester. Percentages without any schooling showed similar patterns. All e-journal submissions should be kept strictly confidential—they are not to be shared with anyone outside of the Class either by the professor or by other students ; if you feel more comfortable, your entries can be directly e-mailed to the professor rather than posted on Blackboard. Most of young America does not understand the importance of education due to the fact that they have not lived life as an adult with responsibilities. In practice, however, only the rich and powerful would be selected. Works on , , , , and were translated.


text:
Is it possible to create a practical sword that's naturally toxic?
While doing research, I stumbled across the alloy "arsenical bronze", in which copper is smelted with arsenic instead of (or in addition to) tin. This apparently gives you "a stronger final product and better casting behaviour" than ordinary bronze, but what interests me is the use of a toxic metal in an alloy that was used, among other things, to forge swords and axes.
Arsenical bronze doesn't have enough arsenic in it to be toxic, but it got me thinking. Poisoned swords/knives are common enough in medieval fantasy stories, but you'd have to keep applying the poison to them, and that's a pain. But what if, by using toxic heavy metals or their various alloys, you could forge a sword that is naturally toxic?
In other words, is it possible to create a sword with the following properties:
Can be forged using medieval technology
Has a blade at least 45cm (18in) long
Is durable enough to survive a swordfight without breaking
Is toxic enough that being cut by it will cause some kind of physiological damage. It doesn't have to be lethal, but it should be more harmful than just being cut by a regular weapon
Ideally does not slowly poison the wielder, so long as they refrain from touching the blade
Things I am willing to handwave or ignore:
Whether the necessary elements/alloys, or their toxic properties, were known or readily available in medieval times
Whether the person who forged the weapon would have been poisoned in the process
Since a few people have asked what the use case for this weapon is: I was thinking it would make a cool unique weapon for my RPG series (hence the "medieval" requirement). A toxic sword isn't particularly useful in a real swordfight, but in an RPG battle where powerful enemies could tank dozens or even hundreds of hits, suddenly it's a lot more handy.
I am aware of this similar question, but it's specifically asking whether you could use pure arsenic to make a toxic sword, and the answer is no (it's too brittle). I'm asking whether there are any alloys that would let you make such a weapon.
reality-check weapons medieval metals
F1Krazy
F1KrazyF1Krazy
$\begingroup$ A swordsman who needs his sword to be poisonous isn't a very good swordsman. $\endgroup$ – Reactgular Jul 14 '18 at 16:57
$\begingroup$ I would think almost by definition that any weapon which continues to deal damage beyond its initial wound would have to leave something behind, meaning that it would wear down with use, hence the need to continually reapply the poison. If the sword's material itself is what's being left behind, I'd think that sword wouldn't last very long. $\endgroup$ – Darrel Hoffman Jul 14 '18 at 17:16
$\begingroup$ It seems to me that a poisonous alloy would be more useful for poisoned arrows than for poisoned swords which the swordsman would usually instantly withdraw from the wound in order to continue fighting the same or another foe. But arrows are usually not withdrawn from living victims by the side that shot them, but instead are withdrawn by the side the victims belong to. That is why war arrows often had barbs so taking them out caused more damage to the victim. Thus poisonous arrowheads would remain the victim much longer and would be more likely to give a big dose of poison. $\endgroup$ – M. A. Golding Jul 14 '18 at 17:46
$\begingroup$ Steel is really poisonous. Stick a steel sword directly into your enemies stomach - see? Instantly poisoned. $\endgroup$ – Whelkaholism Jul 16 '18 at 11:17
$\begingroup$ If it were an enchanted sword that yelled out insults, it wouldn't have to leave anything physical behind to be toxic. $\endgroup$ – Ian MacDonald Jul 16 '18 at 16:00
There's a lot of toxic metals. Most are toxic in fact (including iron technically, if you get enough of it). Almost all of them have issues though:
Mercury: One of the first metals many people think of when they are thinking of poisons. The problem here is quite simply that even those mercury alloys that are solid at room temperature (known as amalgams) are generally not hugely toxic (they were even used classically for dental fillings). In fact, most of the mercury compounds that are toxic are entirely non-metallic (see dimethylmercury for a particularly nasty example), and therefore not very good for swords. The fumes from mercury are, however, rather toxic (they're a slow acting neurotoxin), so maybe you could coat your weapon in mercury (though that would put you at risk too).
Lead: Is a very slow acting toxin, and does not lend itself well to usage for a sword. It's also not very readily absorbed by the body in pure form, with most of the toxic forms being salts (white lead for example) or organic compounds (like tetraethyllead). It's also not good for a sword, it's way too soft, and it tends to soften other alloys (steel with a high lead content has a significantly lower shear strength than steel without much lead in it).
Cadmium: Is also mostly a slow acting toxin. Most of the same issues that lead has for this usage are also problems with cadmium. The biggest difference is that it would be a whole lot more dangerous to the swordsmith to make a sword out of cadmium, because the fumes and dust are far more dangerous than those of lead. Interestingly, cadmium is rather corrosion resistant, so if you were to go with this, the sword would actually not need to be cleaned as thoroughly to keep it in good condition.
Thallium: Most people probably haven't heard of thallium outside of chemistry class as it's not used for much. It's located right between lead and mercury on the periodic table and is actually significantly more toxic than either. It's interestingly one of the few metals which are actually sufficiently toxic in pure form to be dangerous to handle and might work here. Unfortunately, it's not very practical for this because the swordsmith would most likely receive a lethal dose well before he finished forging the sword, and it's also very soft and has a low melting point (just like lead), which means that alloys incorporating behave similarly to those which incorporate lead. Somewhat notably, thallium and its salts were a favorite means of political assassination in ancient Rome.
Osmium: Like thallium, most people won't have heard of this one much outside of chemistry class. Osmium might be the closest to what you're looking for. It naturally oxidizes in air to form osmium (VIII) oxide, which is insanely toxic (concentrations so small you can't tell it's there can cause pulmonary edema and permanent blindness) and also sublimes readily (converts from a solid to a gas). Osmium is also the densest naturally occurring chemical element known to man, so anything made of it is heavy (good for a weapon if used right), and it's also rather durable too (it's used in small amounts in alloys for fountain pen nibs for this reason). The big issues here are that just like thallium, it's liable to kill the swordsmith well before he finishes the weapon, and, more importantly, the weapon would just as dangerous to the one wielding it as the intended target (because of the fumes).
Chromium and vanadium: Both of these are probably already in your steel in small amounts. Both of them have a number of compounds that are very toxic (vanadium more than chromium). Unfortunately, none of these compounds can be produced in a weapon (they're all salts in some way) in any way that wouldn't make the weapon significantly less useful (they would compromise the structural integrity of the weapon).
Nickel, copper, cobalt, silver, scandium, and yttrium: Similar story to chromium and vanadium, just not likely to be in your steel already.
Zinc: Zinc is actually an essential nutrient. Like most metals which are essential nutrients, getting too much is very bad for you. Overabundance of zinc in the body causes all kinds of nasty things, interfering with copper and iron uptake, destabilizing cholesterol levels, and acting as a mild neurotoxin with permanent effects. The problem with using it for something like this is that it's the ionic form, not the metallic form, that causes problems and is readily absorbed. In fact, most of its alloys that are actually practical for swords are pretty much entirely non-toxic. A pure zinc stiletto might be viable for this if you stab someone in the stomach (such that it ruptures the stomach), because stomach acid dissolves zinc, and the resultant zinc chloride solution is really corrosive, but such a weapon would effectively be a single-use affair.
Antimony and arsenic: Not technically metals, though they are found in measurable concentrations in many old steel alloys. Both of these are reasonably fast-acting toxins in their oxide forms and oxidize readily. However, proportionate to how much you can reasonably put in a sword the size you're describing without making the steel useless for a sword, it takes a lot to actually kill someone. They are however persistent toxins (that is, if you get a bit of arsenic or antimony oxide in your body, it's going to stick around for a long time), and do have effects prior to reaching lethal levels (they make the victim tired, because they interfere with energy storage in their cells).
Selenium and tellurium: Similar story to antimony and arsenic, except these generally aren't found in even the oldest steels, and the mechanism of toxicity is somewhat different.
Aluminium: Believe it or not, aluminum is actually toxic to most living things. It's unfortunately impractical for what you want for a lot of the same reasons that aluminum foil doesn't poison people, it forms inert compounds very readily (aluminum oxide is non-toxic and extremely unreactive, and forms readily in air), the metal itself isn't well absorbed by the body, and rather large amounts are needed to cause significant effects.
Beryllium: First off, beryllium is impractical for a sword, it's too light and brittle. There are some other issues with using it for this though, most notably that it's not really all that toxic in its pure form (you should be noticing a theme here by now) or when alloyed (beryllium copper is a good example of an alloy that might work for a sword, but it's generally considered perfectly safe), with the compounds being the biggest issue (except see below). It's also not easy to alloy with most metals, difficult to work, and, most interestingly, is primarily an issue in the form of dust (which has similar long-term effects on your lungs to asbestos).
Lithium: Lithium has similar issues to beryllium, but deserves separate mention form the other alkali metals because it also has some of the same issues that aluminum does (namely, it readily forms inert compounds).
Rubidium and cesium: Both of these are really nasty slow acting toxins if ingested in the form of water soluble salts (for example, chloride or nitrate salts) because the ions interfere with biological processes that normally use sodium or potassium ions. Both of them are really nasty explosives if exposed to air (they react with the moisture in the air just like potassium and sodium react with liquid water, just way more so). THey're also damn near impossible to isolate in their pure form by any means other than modern technology. Given these constraints, they're impractical for what you want.
Strontium and barium: Same issues as rubidium and cesium, except they're not really explosive in air.
Lanthanide metals: All of these are toxic to some slight degree. They also have physical properties that make them unsuitable for use as a blade and are insanely difficult to isolate (to the point that many of them were not isolated in their pure form until the later half of the 20th century).
Radium, uranium, and other radioactive metals: All radioactive, so they violate the requirement that it does not harm the user. Also, actual toxicity other than the radioactivity is not well characterized.
Polonium: Polonium is insanely radioactive. So much so that less than one microgram (one millionth of a gram, that's about 1/60th of the size of a grain of table salt) is enough to kill someone due to acute radiation poisoning. Handling it is dangerous to the point of being almost suicidal. It's also really rare and extremely unstable, so the likelihood of getting enough to do anything practical with in medieval times is essentially nil. Given all this, while it would be very effective, it's also highly impractical. I've mentioned it here separately from the other radioactive metals simply because it's so much more dangerous.
I've refrained from mentioning many of the transition metals above, as they're either not reactive enough to be meaningfully toxic (titanium, platinum, palladium and iridium), too hard to isolate or reasonably work with in medieval times (tantalum, hafnium, niobium, manganese, tungsten and all the ones whose name begins with 'R'), or are just plain impractical for a sword.
So, overall, you're not likely to find a metal that can do what you want just based on metal alloys. There is also the issue of exposure. Cutting someone does not allow for much exposure, because the blade is kind of supposed to remain in one piece without losing much (if any) mass. Even regular blades coated in poison are not particularly reliable in real life, as reliable delivery of the poison is still difficult even if it's a liquid.
Austin HemmelgarnAustin Hemmelgarn
$\begingroup$ Wow. This is as comprehensive an answer as I could have hoped to receive. I've heard of osmium but I didn't know it was that dangerous. I think you're right, that's probably as close as I'm going to get. $\endgroup$ – F1Krazy Jul 15 '18 at 0:32
$\begingroup$ An interesting fact wrt mercury, people used to swallow huge globs of mercury in quicksilver form to treat gastrointestinal blockages (and it worked, since the blob of mushy metal would help push anything out), and the worst that would happen is mild to moderate brain damage many years down the line, not instant death! $\endgroup$ – forest Jul 15 '18 at 1:12
$\begingroup$ I actually have to wonder about the radioactivity harming the user. Because of the inverse square law, you can easily have an amount of radiation that causes severe burns when extremely close (millimeters) but has negligible effect on the person wielding the weapon. The same could apply to alpha or beta radiation where the skin can protect from it to a large extent, but a weapon penetrating the skin would cause extreme internal burns. $\endgroup$ – forest Jul 15 '18 at 1:18
$\begingroup$ You missed a point about polonium. It's so radioactive that a sword cannot be made from it - the self-heating in a mass that size will cause it to melt. It would, however, have the canonical blue glow. Take that, orcs! $\endgroup$ – WhatRoughBeast Jul 15 '18 at 14:57
$\begingroup$ @WhatRoughBeast xkcd.com/1114 $\endgroup$ – Brian McCutchon Jul 16 '18 at 4:59
In order for a poison to be effective, it has to be transferred into the target. If the source of toxicity is the metal itself, the sword could only work if with every blow you'd be leaving enough of the blade in the wound to deal meaningful damage.
That's even worse than dipping the blade in liquid poison before battle. Instead of running out of poison and being left with a regular blade, you'd run out of the poison AND the blade, being left with a subpar weapon.
On the other hand, as M. A. Golding said, a disposable blade like an arrow or javelin tip could be an application for a toxic metal. Unfortunately, for a something solid to be readily toxic, it has to react with blood, and if it does that it'll most likely react with air moisture over time, so your arrow tips would decay in storage. Still, not an improvement over surface-applied poison.
The problem with using metals as poisons to get them into the victim's body. Not just get inside physically, but biochemically. Gold here is an outstanding example: gold, in fact, is as toxic as you'd expect from a heavy metal. But it's so unreactive in metallic form that its bioavailability is pretty much zero. But gold salts (actual salts, like gold chloride) are dangerous. Similar (but less shocking) thing is with mercury. How toxic is a drop of mercury once in a lifetime? Hardly. You can play with it with your hands. You can swallow it and you'll crap it out. You can inject it and the worst it can do is mechanical vein blockage. Metallic, it doesn't enter your biochemistry fast enough to be deadly on exposure as short as you have in battle. Only after years of prolonged exposure you can get mad as a hatter. Compare that to dimethylmercury (organic salt): a single drop on a rubber glove clad hand and it's lethal exposure. "One of the strongest known neurotoxins."
Bottom line: toxic metal in a sword is dangerous only to the soldier carrying it. Just like any toxic solid.
Agent_LAgent_L
You don't need any special materials to make a toxic sword.
If you want a sword to be useful for as long as possible, you will make it out of an alloy that is resistant to oxidation. Oiling it here and there and keeping it in its scabbard go a long way into keeping the sword from rusting.
Now sometimes you have a bastard sword, and sometimes you have a bastard swordsman. If you don't take good care of a sword - or if it is just too old - the sword will become rusty. Much worse is someone who would be negligent on blade maintainance on purpose. Anyone who is cut or maybe even just scratched by such a blade will need a shot for lockjaw, a.k.a. tetanus. The rust itself does not cause the disease, but the bacteria that causes it loves rust.
Now remember, vaccines and antibiotics were invented way after medieval times. I've heard historians say that anyone that survived a battle in ancient and medieval times would likely die or lose a limb due to infections (not only tetanus). Cutting a fellow soldier's arm and cauterizing the wound with red-hot iron was a thing in some places.
So there... In ancient times all swords were toxic, but not in the way you probably were thinking.
$\begingroup$ Giving the enemy tetanus is like an eight week damage-over-time attack $\endgroup$ – Schwern Jul 15 '18 at 16:29
$\begingroup$ Pratchett used that one as well (unsurprisingly), in The Light Fantastic: "The jeweller had produced a very large and dirty axe, guaranteed to add tetanus to all the other terrors of warfare." $\endgroup$ – oliver Jul 16 '18 at 12:57
The metals which are pretty nasty when present into wounds do not suit well for making a blade: alkaline metals like sodium can be really dangerous when in contact with water-based solutions, causing burns, but they are pretty soft.
The closest you can get is having a bladed with a rough surface (aside from the cutting edge), where you spread quicklime (CaO) before each battle.
Being highly reactive with water, quicklime would have a nasty effect when dispersed into the wound upon cutting the flesh of the victim.
When the blades clash during the battle would disperse powder of quicklime, which upon landing on the sweaty skin of unprotected fighters could also cause burns or irritation. But then your fighters cannot fight a la 300.
Quicklime was commonly used for building in middle age, and its reactivity with water was known.
$\begingroup$ If I saw a soldier in my unit spreading quicklime all over their weapon, I'd transfer to another unit. I would not want to be near that person when they start swinging, armor or no armor. $\endgroup$ – Schwern Jul 15 '18 at 16:25
According to at least one science fiction authoring team, iron from meteors may possibly be radioactive enough to cause physical damage to people who touch it, but if it is, that damage would still be rather slow. So radioactivity is better reserved for justifying curses than powering death blades. Also, short of lead-lined armor, radioactive blades tend to hurt their wielders more than those they are wielded against.
Bacteria would be my go-to for creating a kill blade. With little more than a layman's understanding of modern germ theory, a warrior could brew up something really nasty using the dead bodies of his previous victims, then carefully contaminate the cutting edge of his swords. Again, death wouldn't be instantaneous, but in a medieval age, it would likely be guaranteed.
Alternatively, a skilled iron-smith could carve ridges into the blade's plains along the surfaces which will contact enemy flesh after the cutting edge has done its job. In those ridges, any number of fast-acting poisons, narcotics or psychedelic compounds can be stored.
Henry TaylorHenry Taylor
$\begingroup$ Obligatory xkcd: Metallurgy $\endgroup$ – Theraot Jul 14 '18 at 16:17
$\begingroup$ Various unsavory types throughout history supposedly used human waste as a vector for bacteria, exactly as you suggest. Mostly this led to the wounds getting infected, which greatly slowed healing if it didn't kill you outright. It's not by any means a fast death, though. $\endgroup$ – Cadence Jul 14 '18 at 20:02
$\begingroup$ "Iron from meteors can be radioactive enough to cause physical damage to people who touch it": Can you provide a source for that? A quick google doesn't turn anything up (and a few sources (eg meteorite.com/meteorite-information/meteorite-facts) saying "They pose no danger at all" $\endgroup$ – Martin Bonner supports Monica Jul 16 '18 at 15:02
$\begingroup$ @MartinBonner, I have no scientific reference to support that claim but I have encountered it in mainstream fiction, most notably in RipTide by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. As your reference is more authoritative than mine, I will modify my answer. $\endgroup$ – Henry Taylor Jul 16 '18 at 15:41
$\begingroup$ I'm not really seeing a lot of answers here that seem much more effective than just using a sword in the normal way would be. $\endgroup$ – T.E.D. Jul 16 '18 at 18:25
I don't think so,
So far, the answers all focus on additives to a standard sword (poisons, additional toxic metals that have to be added or replaced to keep the sword toxic.
Metal Sword
Your question seems to be asking, though, if a sword in and of itself can be a toxic weapon, without having to make and add poisons or heavy metals. Metals that are good for making swords (bronze & iron) aren't in and of themselves toxic; toxic metals known in medieval times (mercury, arsenic, lead) aren't really toxic enough immediately after battle for them to help much. Possibly if you were able to stab someone sixty or seventy days in a row with a lead sword, some bits might get lodged in his body and cause lead poisoning...
Not very practical!
Stone & Wood Swords
Useful toxicity is a strong province of biological agents. Some woods can cause reactions, but really aren't strongly toxic enough in and of themselves to be the weapon you're looking for. Perhaps if you made a sword from fresh manchineel wood. The sap is extremely toxic.
Stone is not terribly toxic either, though compounds that are (lead or arsenic compounds) don't make for very sturdy swords!
elemtilaselemtilas
$\begingroup$ A thought, piggybacking off your wooden swords idea. A Macuahuitl with thin blades of lead in place of obsidian. The blades shatter and get mixed into the cut wounds, poisoning the victim if they can't get the shards out after the battle. Downside is you'd need to periodically replace the lead. $\endgroup$ – MetalJimmor Jul 14 '18 at 23:56
$\begingroup$ @MetalJimmor somewhat doubtful of the effectiveness - people have been shot with bullets containing lead for years and actual lead poisoning has been a negligible factor in GSW lethality. See Austin Hemmelgarn's commentary on lead in his answer. $\endgroup$ – KerrAvon2055 Jul 15 '18 at 1:51
$\begingroup$ @MetalJimmor surely the lead would just bend and not shatter $\endgroup$ – Chris H Jul 17 '18 at 8:42
It's not realistic as poison in general is not very realistic for being useful on a sword. Poison ist for maliciously, and covertly, murdering someone. It's not what you bring to a sword fight.
You would need a very active nerve agent to have any noticeable effect (which is not available in a medieval setting). But then, you had better not accidentially scratch yourself. While poisonous metals exist (abundantly), they are not nearly toxic enough to be useful.
Even coating a sword in curare would not be of much help, as it will take minutes before the poison affects the victim significantly enough to be of advantage. Inhaling or injecting a poison intravenously is not the same as having some traces of poison in a scratch. Also note that bleeding will transport poison out of the victim's body, not into. So, the applicable dose will be rather not so awesome.
Practically, if you are the only one with a sword, then killing the other person is no challenge, no poison needed. If, on the other hand, both of you have a sword, then the other person dying from poison 2 hours later is not much of an advantage. Either you have killed them anyway, or they've probably killed you. In one case, it didn't help, in the other you wouldn't know.
$\begingroup$ Can I have poison arrow frog swords? $\endgroup$ – Joshua Jul 16 '18 at 16:19
$\begingroup$ @Joshua: That would probably work. Batrachotoxin is arguably as good as you can get, if the sources that allege near-instantaneous paralysis are true (though not very likely to be honest, local pain and paralysis is more likely). The main problem will be finding the frogs, the preparation, and the general danger (to the wielder) involved with such a sword. But it wouldn't be a poisonous sword, it would be a poisoned one. $\endgroup$ – Damon Jul 17 '18 at 6:47
Since according to the other commenters, toxic swords do have a lot of problems, I suggest leaving the toxicity to other things, like infections. In medieval times wound care was pretty bad and often lead to infections - often, but not always.
So why not increase your swords chance to inflict infections? A rough cut rather than a clean one is more difficult to treat and has a higher chance of infection - a somewhat dull sword for example. You could also use multibladed weapons (imagine two swords duct taped together side by side). A serrated blade would also work, especially if the teeth are bent at different angles. If you make the sides of the blade (but not the cutting edge) rust a bit it would be quite an unpleasant experience for anyone getting cut.
In addition to the high risk of a really bad infection, they would also have a higher chance to cause the enemy to bleed out.
While similar to applying poison, you could also dip it into dirt, mud, excrement or simply a dirty puddle to increase the chance of infection - this would be made even worse with a rusted blade.
With this, a scratch of an unpoisoned blade has a really high chance of causing death after a couple of days.
SyzygySyzygy
Dissimilar metals. Connect them with a salty liquid (eg blood :) ), and you get a (low voltage*) battery. Which will also send metal ions into that salty liquid. Depending on the kind of metal ions being washed into the bloodstream that way... Electricity in a wound/in the bloodstream is also usually not a healthy thing (and rather painful).
You would need an insulating layer though (eg glass, stone) ... glass to metal sealing is technically done nowadays, of course it would be quite a feat with medieval technique...
*a blade design that keep wet across several "cells" after a strike, but connects the opposite ends of that chain could be quite effective here...
rackandbonemanrackandboneman
Perhaps we can expand the definition of "toxic" to include other forms of harmful long term effects from a short term fight. Instead of strictly poisoning the target, we could instead infect the target with some form of pathogen.
Take, for example, Tetanus. Though it is recognized from antiquity, it would not really have a cure or treatment in medieval times, and it would be a crippling affliction with a ~10% mortality rate.
Tetanus works fairly well specifically because it poses lower risk of infection for the wielder as the risk of infection mostly comes from a wound caused by something with the Tetanus bacteria on it, rather than simple proximity to the source. But, of course opening up this course of action leads to many possible pathogens that we could use.
Another bonus for this form of "toxicity" is that because the vector is a living organism, it can reproduce itself and thus lessen the need to "reload" the pathogen (in the case of bacteria, though viruses could reproduce themselves given a suitable environment)
NyokohNyokoh
$\begingroup$ Hello, Nyokoh, and welcome to Worldbuilding! Please take our tour and visit the help center to learn more about the way the site works. Have a nice day! $\endgroup$ – Gryphon Jul 16 '18 at 16:08
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged reality-check weapons medieval metals or ask your own question.
Is it possible to create a Gas Mask using only Medieval Technology?
How much blood is needed to forge a sword?
Can arsenic make deadly weapons?
Advantages of an electrified sword?
Would a wound from a monomolecular blade instantly heal?
Creating a lightsaber clone
Is an "instant ice pack" sword actually feasible?
Could a society attain 1800s technology if limited to using copper and bronze?
This sword is forged from meteorite iron - but how is that any good?
Use Mercury as quenching liquid for swords?
Making a sword in the stone, in a medieval world without magic
Is there a scientific way to make a metal that can pass through other metals?


text:
Q: type or namespace name 'IBehavior' could not be found on TFS Build Server I'm currently working on a Windows 8.1 Store application.
In my development environment, the solution builds successfully. But when the solution is built on a TFS Build Server, it fails with messages :
behaviors\MultiSelectBehaviorBase.cs (1): The type or namespace name 'Xaml' does not exist in the namespace 'Microsoft' (are you missing an assembly reference?)

behaviors\MultiSelectBehaviorBase.cs (28): The type or namespace name 'IBehavior' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

Note that my project references the Windows Extensions : "Behaviors SDK (XAML)" (Version 12.0). I followed tutorial TFS Continuous Integration for Windows 8.1 Store Apps with SDK dependencies.
Without MultiSelectBehaviorBase.cs, it build correctly on TFS Server (even if the project has reference to BehaviorSDK).
MultiSelectBehaviorBase.cs (copied from Managing Multiple selection in View Model) :
public class MultiSelectBehaviorBase<T>: DependencyObject, IBehavior
{
...
}

A: I know this was posted some months ago, I had a similar problem "The type or namespace 'IBehaviour' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly)". Most at times when this kind of errors happens, they are due to an omission of a reference. To solve this problem, I got this information from http://julmar.com/blog/programming/behaviors-in-windows-8-1-store-apps/
Under your project in the solution explorer, double click reference and enable the behavioural SDK as demonstrated on the image belowBehavioural SDK demo
Note there are instances when such reference can not be found there, you can attempt to download from NuGet Package Manager. I hope this helps.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I saw that it was intended for production by Amazon a while ago, and just noticed that The Hollywood Reporter is saying that it's a GO! GO! GO!
I read the books, well began reading them, many years ago. I remember thinking the cover to the first one, The Eye of The World, looked my kind of thing and got hooked, especially as I'd read his stories in the Conan series.
I was lucky enough to meet him, at a book signing in Leeds after the paperback publication fo the fourth book, I think it was number four. He was a lovely chap, very big, 'large,' shall we say. I remember asking him how many more there would be, and I think he reckoned on nine-plus, as he'd got material or ideas enough for that many. He died, as you may know, leaving a couple of books unfinished. They were completed, or worked on, by Brandon Sanderson. The Wheel of Time eventually stretched out to fourteen books, with also a prequel novel and two companion books. As the books are right door-stoppers, that's a lot of reading!
Anyway, I/we can look forward to Amazon spending the other half of their trillion Dollars – after upping their workers' wages – on the adaptation.


(Vienna, 14 June 2018) Cancer is a burden to those affected by it and a growing challenge to the political sector. In 2017, WHO therefore issued an international resolution to safeguard the quality of cancer treatment, and access to it, in every country in the world. The European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) has now put forward an innovative concept for implementing this resolution. Experts are calling for more investment in cancer prevention, early detection and infrastructure, guaranteed access to adequate cancer treatment and the creation and expansion of international networks in the areas of oncologic professionals and joint research.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, represented by its Head, Christoph Zielinski, and by Gerald Prager, Head of the Colorectal Cancer Unit (CCC-CRC) and the precision medicine platform (Platform for Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment in Oncology) of the CCC, are taking a leading role in the development of this expert paper. The paper was recently published in ESMO Open.
Globally, around 8.8 million people a year die from cancer. This means that every year cancer claims more victims than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Experts estimate that the number of cancer cases will double by 2035.
In order to drive forward implementation of the WHO resolution, the ESMO, as the only international organisation currently in this area of healthcare, has now put forward an implementation concept. This makes provision for a series of concrete measures and recommendations to national health authorities.
1) The financial aspects of cancer diagnosis and treatment: for example, the authors recommend that countries invest in cancer prevention and early detection.
2) Access to treatment from a geographic, financial and socio-cultural perspective. MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital's CCC is already implementing some aspects of this point via its "Community Oncology" programme. By providing telemedicine offerings and consultancy services, this allows patients to be cared for close to their homes.
3) The establishment and safeguarding of fundamental services, such as providing awareness programmes, instruments for evaluating the therapeutic benefit of drugs and the introduction of cancer registers.
4) Guaranteeing the highest possible quality of treatment: this primarily concerns personnel management, advanced training measures and joint international research initiatives.
The concept is intended as an instrument and guideline to be used by representatives of health authorities in planning their future strategies.
Says Prager: "The Cancer Resolution provides a guideline for all countries, be they rich or poor, for what they can do, within the means available to them, to ensure that their populations receive the best possible care. This even applies to countries such as Austria. For example, people who live in geographically remote areas should not receive a lower standard of care than patients in urban centres."
Service: "Global cancer control: responding to the growing burden, rising costs and inequalities in access."
Prager GW, Braga S, Bystricky B, Qvortrup C, Criscitiello C, Esin E, Sonke GS, Martínez GA, Frenel JS, Karamouzis M, Strijbos M, Yazici O, Bossi P, Banerjee S, Troiani T, Eniu A, Ciardiello F, Tabernero J, Zielinski CC, Casali PG, Cardoso F, Douillard JY, Jezdic S, McGregor K, Bricalli G, Vyas M, Ilbawi A.
ESMO Open. 2018 Feb 2;3(2):e000285. doi: 10.1136/esmoopen-2017-000285. eCollection 2018.


Cardiant is a Finnish heavy metal band. It was established in city of Hämeenlinna in 2000, but most of band members have been replaced and the current assembly has been working since 2008. In the early years, the band recorded several demos until the it signed a contract with the record company Underground Symphony. The first album, Midday Moon, was released in 2005, but the record company did not released it in Europe. However, other record company, Marquee/Avalon, released it in Japan.
Cardiant went through several changes of lead vocals, until a drop-out idols competitor Erik Karhatsu was chosen as a new lead singer in 2008. Next year, the band released its second record Tomorrow's Daylight. As the previsous record, this was also released only in Japan, and elsewhere Cardiant had to settle for selling it from their own online store. The band released their first music video Stars upon your life in 2010. Later in the same year, the band was selected to the semi-finals of Finnish national selection for Eurovision 2011 as one of three entries voted from a group of 277 participants with the song Rapture in Time. In January 2011, Cardiant qualified for the Eurovision Finnish national finals on 12 February.


text:
use crate::Path;

// TODO: this trait is necessary, document it
// see impl Resource for ServiceRequest
pub trait Resource {
    /// Type of resource's path returned in `resource_path`.
    type Path: ResourcePath;

    fn resource_path(&mut self) -> &mut Path<Self::Path>;
}

pub trait ResourcePath {
    fn path(&self) -> &str;
}

impl ResourcePath for String {
    fn path(&self) -> &str {
        self.as_str()
    }
}

impl<'a> ResourcePath for &'a str {
    fn path(&self) -> &str {
        self
    }
}

impl ResourcePath for bytestring::ByteString {
    fn path(&self) -> &str {
        self
    }
}

#[cfg(feature = "http")]
impl ResourcePath for http::Uri {
    fn path(&self) -> &str {
        self.path()
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: remove all punctuation except hyphen & underscore of a string I want to remove all punctuation from beginning and end of a string except hyphen,underscore.
Example:if input is spice-b32. Or lg_b32; Then string after using preg_replace(); should be: spice-b32 and lg_b32;
i'm also tried to use preg_match('/^[A-Za-z0-9]/',$inm) for data validation use  $inm=preg_replace('/^\PL+|\PL\z/','',$inm); but, when input a!-read_ result is a!-read
but output should be: a-read
if this preg_replace() OR preg_match() is not correct,then plz help..

A: If I understand correctly what you want, then something like this will do for you:
$inm=preg_replace('/[,.!?]*([-_]+)[,.!?]*/',
                  '\1',
                  preg_replace('/\b[.,?!]+|[.,!?]+\b/', '', $inm);

Feel free to add other characters that need to be stripped off to the character groups.

A: How about
$arr = array('spice-b32.', 'lg_b32;', 'a!-read_');
foreach ($arr as $str) {
    echo preg_replace('/^[^\P{P}_-]+|[^\P{P}_-]+$/u', '', $str),"\n";
}

This will remove all punctuation (except _ and -) from the begining or end of a string.
output:
spice-b32
lg_b32
a!-read_


text:
Caron Butler is tired of being on entertaining teams, he'll take dull and a ring
By Kurt HelinAug 17, 2010, 12:56 PM EDT
Variations of this theme seem to play out wherever Caron Butler goes.
Last season heading into the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks looked like the team ready to test the Lakers. Dallas was the two seed, they had won 7 of 10 including five in a row. There was a quiet, veteran confidence around the team.
Then the San Antonio Spurs bounced them in the first round.
Butler doesn't like it. He was on teams that were fun to watch with the Heat, the Lakers and there were a lot of "what could have beens" in Washington. Dallas felt different, but it wasn't. He said it is time for a change.
"You've got the war wounds," Butler said from his Washington D.C. home last week. "You've been through the trying times off the court not achieving your goal. You've been working hard all summer long then to fall short, that hurts. It's time to feel the other side of that and let somebody else feel this."
That's why Butler has been in the gym and riding his bike, why he's heading up to Tim Grover's in Chicago to work out with the guru for a month. He wants the taste of champagne in his mouth through next summer.
And he believes Dallas is close. They just need to get more stops.
"Controlling the glass, focusing on defense," need to be the focus, Butler said. "Because we can score with the best of them. We have a great player, we have a Hall of Fame point guard and whole bunch of other guys that want to get it done and are willing to sacrifice whatever to win. We've just got to put it all together and we will."
Having centers like Brendan Haywood and bringing in Tyson Chandler helps with that, he added.
"Tyson is a guy who brings a lot of energy and athleticism to our front line. I'm looking forward to playing along side of him and pushing toward the ultimate goal of winning a championship," Butler said.
Dallas, with their efficient offense, can be fun to watch — but no team Butler was on was probably more fun to watch than the Miami Heat in 2003. That squad had Butler, Lamar Odom, Eddie Jones, Brian Grant at his peak, a young Dwyane Wade and was just bursting with promise.
"It was fun, it was real fun," Butler said of those days. "I obviously really miss Miami, but I have great guys there, I have friendships with Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, my big brother Eddie Jones and obviously our man Dwyane Wade."
But Butler went to Los Angeles (along with Odom) as part of the Shaquille O'Neal trade. A trade that brought a ring to Miami. But does Butler ever think about what might have been if the Heat had let that young core ride?
"At times I do, but you don't want to think about it too much," he said. "And you never know what could happen, you could team up with those guys again."
Butler went to Los Angeles, where he and Kobe Bryant became tight and the Lakers started to show promise — then Butler was shipped to Washington with Kwame Brown (who eventually was traded for Pau Gasol, bringing titles to L.A.) In Washington Butler was teamed with Gilbert Arenas and Antwan Jamison on a squad that looked on paper like it should have been better than it was. Then last season that team imploded around the Arenas gun charges.
But Butler landed on his feet, traded to a contending Dallas squad and… well, we've been down that road.
Butler has too, and he wants a change.
"I definitely have been on some real good teams that had the talent to make it to that next level, but somehow some way fell short," Butler said. "I don't want that to be the situation here in Dallas. I look forward to taking it to the next level."


It's early still, but the warmth of my bedroom wakes me not long after the sun has risen. I roll out of bed, walk over to the kitchen, and begin making coffee. I turn on my shortwave to the BBC and listen as I pour my coffee, stopping to rub the sleep out of my eyes.
As I sip, I look through my window to the wreckage of the abandoned dry port of Nepal. I can hear someone singing in a temple through a loudspeaker. The sites and the sounds make this place beautiful.
This is my last day in Birganj.
Moments later, I'm at Himanchal Cabin, looking over the Kathmandu Post and Himalayan Times with yet another cup of coffee and eggs and toast on the way.
With the kids working here, I joke and answer questions about the photos in the papers. They know me and sit at my table when they have downtime. I have known many of them for more than a year, a few for more than two.
After breakfast, I walk across Maisthan past the newspaper man who waves to me from his shop. I wave back.
Further down the block, there is a man who sits on his patio with a radio held to his ear. I have seen him nearly everyday since I coming to Birganj. His hair is now shoulder length.
I have never met him or spoke to him, but every time we see one another we mouth, Namaste.
I turn west for one block, and then south one more block to the Internet cafe. As soon as I walk in, the young computer nerd turns on a computer and I wait for it to boot.
After a moment, I log on and read my emails. The keyboard totters and bangs loudly on the uneven desk as I type. I send a few emails and then sign-off. I'm there for just 15, 20 minutes.
Outside, I jump on a rickshaw and head back north past Maisthan, the clock tower, and my neighborhood, Ranighat, towards the water tank area, Murli Gardens, my previous neighborhood.
I get off in front of my first flat and immediately notice that nothing looks different, except that someone else's laundry hangs from my balcony. This is me. I am coming, I am going.
Rajesh and his family make lunch, Nepali daal bhat, and we sit together, eating lunch and drinking whiskey, perhaps a bit early. This is a goodbye I knew would be hard. I have a little whiskey and realize all those misunderstandings were my misunderstanding.
A flood of memories pours over me, and I feel shame thinking of their patience and friendliness towards me. All I do, though, is compliment the food and ask for another drink, smiling.
Two hours are gone and, as I walk back towards the main road, I stop at Mira's for tea and a scolding. It has been nearly a week since my last visit, a period of absence that they find entirely unacceptable, and I smile as they hassle me. Still smiling, I ask for a biscuit with my tea. They tell me not to leave. They say I will forget them.
Mira, who gave me bhai tikka, I won't forget you.
I know that in small ways, I will remember them, but I will probably never see them again.
They opened their home to me. I feel that my friendship and occasional gifts were completely inadequate, so I almost wish they would hassle me more. They don't. They just give me more tea.
After I finish prolonged goodbyes, I walk to Ashish's. He lives where a British VSO once lived. She was a friend and showed me much of Birganj.
Now Ashish lives in her flat. I think about my flat and the Australian who lived there before me. I wonder if this cyclical nature of volunteers coming, working, and leaving is good. We fly in, from far away places, try our best to improve things, and then leave just as suddenly as we came. Again and again.
There are already several volunteers from out of town at Ashish's for the big farewell party. Oh, and St. Patrick's Day.
There's green Carlsberg beer ready and water buffalo meat cooking. Just after dark, the music gets louder and the dancing begins. This has happened so many times that I can't help but be sad to know that this, again, is a last.
Before it's too late, I walk alone back to my flat. The streets are empty and the houses are dark. I notice (as I always have) how the fluorescent lights hanging as along the way eerily illuminate the crumbling streets and gloomy homes.
It's beautiful. I walk across the abandoned dry port, past a building that was bombed by Maoists, arrive in Ranighat and finally home.
As soon as I walk in, I notice my packed bag sitting in the kitchen, waiting for tomorrow's departure. I can't sleep, so I go to the roof to look over sleeping Ranighat.
I can't look in any direction without remembering encounters with people, street food I ate, places I went and others I didn't, the houses of kids I knew. They will not see me again, and soon I won't remember many of them.
The next morning, I get in a jeep headed to the airport. After a few moments, we are outside of Birganj and passing through places like Parwanipur, Jitpur, and finally Simra.
I may not see the clock tower and think, This is a last. I may not notice the Bollywood movie posters that used to catch my eye.
This part of my life is over (or rather ending very soon), and I will never live again in this city full of contradictions—and that makes me sad. Very.
But a new chapter in my life is opening, and I'm turning the page, anxious for a new beginning.
This entry was posted in Birganj, Close of service, Service and tagged Ghantaghar, Himanchal Cabin, Jitpur, Maisthan, Murli Gardens, Parwanipur, Ranighat, Simra, The Himalayan Times, The Kathmandu Post, VSO on Mar 17, 2004 by Scott Wallick.