text:
Probing the Hidden World of Snow
Beneath winter's white blanket lies a complex community of creatures for which snow means warmth and shelter
JONATHAN PAULI CAN WAX POETIC ABOUT SNOWSCAPES. He can talk about how beautiful the snow is as it blankets the land, how it makes the world seem so sleepy and serene. But he knows better. He knows that, rather than being still and silent, a snowscape actually bustles with energy and life.
A biologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Pauli studies the subnivean zone—the deep snow layer that supports a surprising diversity of animals and plants. He first became interested in that space a few years ago while investigating the decline and northward movement of snowshoe hares in Wisconsin in the wake of climate change. As his attention turned to the snow beneath the hares' feet, he found a region well worth exploring. "It was like this whole world that no one had really paid that much attention to before," Pauli says. Now he worries that climate change may irreparably alter the world under the snow.
That many organisms use snow as a refuge against the cold of deep winter might seem counterintuitive, but in fact the deeper an animal digs into the snow, the warmer the ambient temperature becomes. Near the ground, snow traps heat that rises from the soil, maintaining temperatures that might be just below freezing, while the world above the snow may be bitterly cold. Perhaps more importantly, snow acts as a shield against the vagaries of weather, damping the effects of wind and otherwise wildly fluctuating conditions to create a stable environment. "I like to think of it as a thermal blanket," Pauli says.
A Melting Snow Blanket
Scientists know that the list of organisms taking refuge in the subnivean (above) is long and varied. In the soil, microbes and fungi specially adapted to cold remain active throughout winter, sometimes forming dense mats called snow molds. Some insects, such as snow flies, even breed in snow. Freeze-tolerant animals, such as woolly bear caterpillars and some reptiles and amphibians, take a different tack: They spend winter in a state of torpor, essentially frozen solid.
Under the snow, small mammals (such as this vole) take advantage of air pockets that form next to logs or branches, searching for seeds on which to nibble. Sometimes, weasels or other predators scamper after them in pursuit; foxes and owls might listen from above for the subtle scrabbling of snow-covered rodents. Grouse and ptarmigan plunge into snow on especially frigid nights to stay warm. And larger mammals, from porcupines to wolverines to bears, dig dens in snow for resting between bouts of foraging, raising families or hibernating during winter's duration.
But Pauli worries that climate change threatens to upend this delicately adapted world in a number of ways. In the face of increasing temperatures, snow cover has declined throughout the Northern Hemisphere since 1970. Snow also has started to melt earlier in the year, moving the period of greatest snow cover from February to January. Scientists in Europe predict that the number of days with snow will have decreased by up to 80 percent at the end of the 21st century.
Counterintuitively, warmer winters do not necessarily lead to warmer temperatures for creatures of the subnivean. As winter temperatures increase, Pauli says, "the snowpack will be reduced, and snow density will increase." Because warm air holds more moisture, snow—instead of being dry and fluffy—will become wet, dense and colder. Warmer temperatures lead to a chillier subnivean.
What the snowpack's altered character means for the plants and animals that live in it is unclear. "The subnivean as a habitat is changing rapidly in ways that one wouldn't predict," says Ben Zuckerberg, a University of Wisconsin–Madison biologist who has studied the responses of birds to warming temperatures. Plants subjected to more frequent freezing and thawing could suffer significant tissue damage. For small mammals such as shrews and voles, temperatures that are both colder and more variable could also be bad news. "These animals have very precise energetic requirements," he says. Even small changes that make the subnivean a little cooler could make it inhospitable to them.
For reptiles and amphibians, the consequences could be even more dire. Consider the wood frog. A small amphibian less than 3 inches long, the wood frog spends the winter as a tiny, living ice cube deep in the subnivean. It can withstand this condition because, prior to freezing, it suffuses its vital organs with glucose, a simple sugar that acts as a kind of antifreeze. Even though the frog doesn't breathe and its heart stops beating, it is able to thaw out and hop away when spring arrives. But if the subnivean becomes cooler, the sugars in the frog's tissues will no longer be able to prevent ice from forming in its blood, possibly leading to the frog's death as it hibernates.
Still Diving Into the World Beneath Snow
Pauli notes that, at this time, a lot of these prognostications are still conjecture. "For all of its importance as a winter habitat, the subnivean hasn't been studied all that well," he says. What is needed, he and Zuckerberg agree, is more precise information on just how the subnivean will react to the conditions expected under predicted climate scenarios. To that end, the two biologists have planned a series of experiments for upcoming winters that will help shed light on just that. With that information, they will have a sense of how better to manage species that might face significant habitat loss in the future.
In the meantime, Pauli will continue his own studies of snowshoe hares, porcupines and bears as they respond to changing winters, in some cases shifting their ranges to stay within conditions best suited to their life history. "The subnivean is a vital space for so many animals and plants," he says. "It's fascinating to study, but also sad to see it changing so much."
Writer Eric Wagner is based in Seattle, Washington.


text:
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Sidelights on Relativity (1922), translation by GB Jeffrey and W Perrett of "Äther und Relativitätstheorie" (Aether and Relativity Theory), a talk given on at the University of Leiden, and "Geometrie und Erfahrung" (Geometry and Experience), a lecture given at the Prussian Academy published in Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1921 (pt. 123–130 We find precisely among the heretics of all ages men who were inspired by this highest religious experience; often they appeared to their contemporaries as atheists, but sometimes also as saints.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Contribution Guidelines
-----------------------------

This guide covers ways in which you can contribute to the development
of our products. After reading this guide, you should be familiar with:

-   Using GitHub to report issues
-   Helping to resolve existing issues
-   Contributing to the code

Creation of our products occurred with significant contributions from
several people with changes ranging from a single character to massive
architectural contributions or significant documentation. All with the
goal of making our products better for everyone. Even if you don't feel
up to writing code or documentation yet, there are a variety of other ways
that you can contribute, from reporting issues to testing patches. If
you want to participate in adding new features, or fixes, a good place
to start would be to look at the GitHub Issue Tracking to find issues
that may be of interest to you.

# 1 Reporting an Issue

We use GitHub Issue Tracking to track issues (primarily bugs and
contributions of new code). If you've found a bug, this is the place
to start. You'll need to create a (free) GitHub account in order to
either submit an issue, comment on them or create pull requests.

Bugs in the most recent released versions are likely to get the most
attention. Also, the core engineering team is always interested in
feedback from those who can take the time to test recently committed
code that is currently under development.

## 1.1 Creating a Bug Report

If you've found a problem in which is not a security risk do a search
in GitHub Issues in case it was already reported. If you find no issue
addressing it you can add a new one.

At the minimum, your issue report needs a title and descriptive text.
But that's only a minimum. You should include as much relevant
information as possible. You need to at least post the code sample that
has the issue. Even better is to include a unit test that shows how the
expected behavior is not occurring. Your goal should be to make it easy
for yourself – and others – to replicate the bug and figure out a fix.

Creating an issue like this is mostly to help yourself start on the path
of fixing the problem and for others to confirm it with a "I'm having
this problem too" comment.

# 2 Helping to Resolve Existing Issues

As a next step beyond reporting issues, you can help the core team
resolve existing issues. If you check the [Everyone's Issues][] list in
GitHub Issues, you'll find lots of issues already requiring attention.
What can you do for these? Quite a bit, actually:

## 2.1 Verifying Bug Reports

For starters, it helps to just verify bug reports. Can you reproduce the
reported issue on your own computer? If so, you can add a comment to the
issue saying that you're seeing the same thing.

If something is very vague, can you help squish it down into something
specific? Maybe you can provide additional information to help reproduce
a bug, or eliminate needless steps that aren't required to help
demonstrate the problem.

If you find a bug report without a test, it's very useful to contribute
a failing test. This is also a great way to get started exploring the
source code: looking at the existing test files will teach you how to
write more tests. New tests are best contributed in the form of a patch,
as explained later on in the "Contributing to the Code" section.

Anything you can do to make bug reports more succinct or easier to
reproduce is a help to folks trying to write code to fix those bugs –
whether you end up writing the code yourself or not.

## 2.2 Testing Patches

You can also help out by examining pull requests that have been
submitted to via GitHub. To apply someone's changes you need to
first create a dedicated branch:

````bash
$ git checkout -b testing_branch
````

Then you can use their remote branch to update your codebase. For
example, let's say the GitHub user JohnSmith has forked and pushed to
the topic branch located at https://github.com/JohnSmith/widget.git

````bash
$ git remote add JohnSmith git://github.com/JohnSmith/widget.git
$ git pull JohnSmith topic
````

After applying their branch, test it out! Here are some things to think
about:

-   Does the change actually work?
-   Are you happy with the tests? Can you follow what they're testing?
    Are there any tests missing?
-   Does it have proper documentation coverage? Should documentation
    elsewhere be updated?
-   Do you like the implementation? Can you think of a nicer or faster
    way to implement a part of their change?

Once you're happy that the pull request contains a good change, comment
on the GitHub issue indicating your approval. Your comment should
indicate that you like the change and what you like about it. Something
like:

> I like the way you've restructured that code in generate\_finder\_sql,
> much nicer. The tests look good too.

If your comment simply says "+1", then odds are that other reviewers
aren't going to take it too seriously. Show that you took the time to
review the pull request.

# 3 Contributing to the Code

## 3.1 Sign the Contributor License Agreement
If you have not previously done so, please fill out and submit the CLA
form. You'll receive a token when this process is complete. Keep track
of this, you may be asked for it later! Note that emailing/postal
mailing a signed copy is not necessary. Submission of the web form is all
that is required.

## 3.1 Git Configuration

When contributing to this project, please verify these specific Git
settings are configured for your Git client, appropriately setting your
name and email:

```bash
git config --global user.name "First Last"
git config --global user.email name@server.com
git config --global rerere.enabled true
git config --global branch.autosetuprebase always
git config --global core.autocrlf false
git config --global log.date iso
git config --global merge.log true
git config --global color.diff auto
git config --global color.status auto
git config --global color.branch auto
```

## 3.2 Clone the Repository

The first thing you need to do to be able to contribute code is to clone
the repository:

````
$ git clone git://github.com/nuodb/widget.git
````

and create a dedicated branch:

````
$ cd widget
$ git checkout -b my_new_branch
````

It doesn't really matter what name you use, because this branch will
only exist on your local computer and your personal repository on
Github. It won't be part of our master git repository.

## 3.3 Write Your Code

Now get busy and add or edit code. You're on your branch now, so you can
write whatever you want (you can check to make sure you're on the right
branch with (`git branch -a`). But if you're planning to submit your
change back for inclusion in the project, keep a few things in mind:

-   Get the code right
-   Use standard idioms and helpers
-   Include tests that fail without your code, and pass with it
-   Update the documentation, the surrounding one, examples elsewhere,
    guides, whatever is affected by your contribution

## 3.4 Follow the Coding Conventions

We follow a simple set of coding style conventions:

-   Four spaces, no tabs.
-   No trailing whitespace. Blank lines should not have any space.
-   Follow the conventions you see used in the source already.

Otherwise follow these guidelines for the language of use:

- [Google Style Guide](http://code.google.com/p/google-styleguide/)
- [Java Coding Guidelines](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/codeconv-138413.html)

These are some guidelines and please use your best judgment in using
them.

## 3.5 Add BSD License to New Source Files

Add the following BSD license to all new source files:

````
Copyright (c) 2012, NuoDB, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
      documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    * Neither the name of NuoDB, Inc. nor the names of its contributors may
      be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
      without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL NUODB, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA,
OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE
OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
````

### 3.5.1 Update License Header Dates

Always check the date range in the license header updating the range as
necessary. Retaining the original date for the submission always update
the end date to the current calendar year. For example:

````
* Copyright (c) 2010 - 2012, NuoDB, Inc.
````

## 3.6 Sanity Check

You should not be the only person who looks at the code before you
submit it. You know at least one other developer, right? Show them
what you're doing and ask for feedback. Doing this in private before you
push a patch out publicly is the "smoke test" for a patch: if you can't
convince one other developer of the beauty of your code, you're unlikely
to convince the core team either.

## 3.7 Commit Your Changes

When you're happy with the code on your computer, you need to commit the
changes to git:

````
$ git commit -a -m "Here is a commit message on what I changed in this commit"
````

## 3.8 Update master

It's pretty likely that other changes to master have happened while you
were working. Go get them:

````
$ git checkout master
$ git pull --rebase
````

Now reapply your patch on top of the latest changes:

````
$ git checkout my_new_branch
$ git rebase master
````

No conflicts? Tests still pass? Change still seems reasonable to you?
Then move on.

## 3.9 Fork

Navigate to the GitHub repository and press "Fork" in the upper right hand
corner [(More details of forking)](http://help.github.com/forking/).

Add the new remote to your local repository on your local machine:

````
$ git remote add mine git@github.com:<your user name>/<project>.git
````

Push to your remote:

````
$ git push mine my_new_branch
````

## 3.10 Issue a Pull Request

Navigate to the repository you just pushed to
(e.g. https://github.com/your-user-name/project) and press "Pull Request"
in the upper right hand corner to issue a [pull request](http://help.github.com/pull-requests/).

Write your branch name in branch field (is filled with master by
default) and press "Update Commit Range"

Ensure the changesets you introduced are included in the "Commits" tab
and that the "Files Changed" incorporate all of your changes.

Fill in some details about your potential patch including a meaningful
title. When finished, press "Send pull request." Engineering will be
notified about your submission.

## 3.11 Get Some Feedback

Now you need to get other people to look at your patch, just as you've
looked at other people's patches.

## 3.12 Iterate as Necessary

It's entirely possible that the feedback you get will suggest changes.
Don't get discouraged: the whole point of contributing to an active open
source project is to tap into community knowledge. If people are
encouraging you to tweak your code, then it's worth making the tweaks
and resubmitting. If the feedback is that your code doesn't belong in
the core, you might still think about releasing it on GitHub.

And then … think about your next contribution!


text:
Case Law Chronicle: "To Stay or Not To Stay": Second Circuit Clarifies Procedure Following Successful Motion to Compel Arbitration
by Mark Stadnyk, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP (New York)
In Michael A. Katz v. Cellco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless, Docket Nos. 14‐138 and 14‐291 (July 28, 2015), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the "Court") addressed an important procedural matter under the Federal Arbitration Act (the "FAA"). Namely, does the FAA require a stay of proceedings when all claims are referred to arbitration and a stay has been requested, or do federal district courts enjoy the discretion to dismiss the case outright after granting such a motion to compel arbitration?
Read Full Entry
The Court provided a clear answer to this question: a stay of proceedings is required following a successful motion to compel arbitration of all claims pending before the district court. The alternative—a final order from the district court dismissing the case—would open an avenue for further litigation in the form of an immediate appeal. In Katz, the Court clarified that the FAA and its policy in favor of arbitration leave no room for immediate appeal of a district court decision to compel arbitration
Katz sued Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless ("Verizon"), alleging breach of contract and consumer fraud under New York state law. Katz's agreement with Verizon incorporated an arbitration clause that invoked the FAA. While he conceded the prima facie arbitrability of his claims, Katz contended that "application of the FAA to those claims was, on various grounds, unconstitutional." Verizon moved to compel arbitration and to stay the court proceedings.
The District Court for the Southern District of New York (Briccetti, J.) dismissed the constitutional objections to the application of the FAA and granted Verizon's motion to compel arbitration of all of Katz's claims. However, it then dismissed the action, albeit recognizing that "whether district courts have such dismissal discretion remains an open question in this Circuit."[i]
State of Play Before Katz
On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed the District Court's grant of Verizon's motion to compel arbitration. It then acknowledged that "[t]he question whether district courts retain the discretion to dismiss an action after all claims have been referred to arbitration, or whether instead they must stay proceedings, remains unsettled." The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided the matter,[ii] and the "Courts of Appeals [of the various Circuits] are about evenly divided."[iii] Moreover, even earlier Second Circuit authority on the matter, while not "directly address[ing] the question posed here," nevertheless "suggested different conclusions."[iv]
The Court's Decision – "To Stay or Not To Stay"
The Court held that "a stay of proceedings [is] necessary after all claims have been referred to arbitration and a stay requested." In other words, under the FAA, district courts in the Second Circuit lack the discretion to dismiss an action after all claims have been referred to arbitration.
First, the Court emphasized the language of the FAA, 9 U.S.C. § 3, which provides that when issues are referable to arbitration, a court "shall on application of one of the parties stay the trial of the action until such arbitration has been had in accordance with the terms of the [arbitration] agreement" (emphasis added).[v] Second, the Court acknowledged that a "mandatory stay comports with the FAA's statutory scheme and pro‐arbitration policy."[vi] The FAA, it observed, "authorizes immediate interlocutory review of an order refusing to compel arbitration or denying a stay of proceedings," but "explicitly denies the right to an immediate appeal from an interlocutory order that compels arbitration or stays proceedings."[vii] Yet, the effect of the district court's dismissal was to "effectively convert[] an otherwise‐unappealable interlocutory stay order into an appealable final dismissal order," potentially leading to further litigation in contravention of the policy at the heart of the FAA.
While the Court acknowledged the validity of the judicial concern with "efficient docket management," it held that such interests "cannot trump a statutory mandate, like Section 3 of the FAA, that clearly removes such discretion" from the district courts.
Ramifications of Katz
While Katz was a domestic arbitration, the Court's interpretation of the FAA's Section 3 also clarifies the appropriate procedure in international cases within the Second Circuit. When a motion to compel arbitration has been granted with respect to all claims, and a stay has been requested, the district court has no discretion and must grant a stay of the proceedings. As observed by the Court, a stay is in accordance with the pro-arbitration policy of the FAA, as it curtails further litigation while the arbitration proceeds.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit: Judges Wesley, Livingston, and Carney.
Counsel to Michael A. Katz: William Robert Weinstein (Law Offices of William R. Weinstein).
Counsel to Cellco Partnership, dba Verizon Wireless: Andrew G. McBride and J. Michael Connolly (Wiley Rein LLP).
*The views expressed in this case note do not necessarily reflect the views of Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP or its clients.
[i] Katz at 5. All citations are to the Court of Appeals' opinion in Katz, unless otherwise noted.
[ii] See Green Tree Fin. Corp.‐Ala. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79, 87 n.2 (2000).
[iii] Katz at 7-8, contrasting the Circuit Courts of Appeals "h[o]ld[ing] or impl[ying] that a stay must be entered" (Seventh, Third, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits) with those "suggest[ing] that district courts enjoy the discretion to dismiss the action" (First, Fifth and Ninth Circuits).
[iv] Katz at 6-7 and n. 5.
[v] FAA 9 U.S.C. § 3 provides as follows: "If any suit or proceeding be brought in any of the courts of the United States upon any issue referable to arbitration under an agreement in writing for such arbitration, the court in which such suit is pending, upon being satisfied that the issue involved in such suit or proceeding is referable to arbitration under such an agreement, shall on application of one of the parties stay the trial of the action until such arbitration has been had in accordance with the terms of the agreement, providing the applicant for the stay is not in default in proceeding with such arbitration." (Emphasis added.)
[vi] Katz at 9.
[vii] Katz at 10.


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events throughout the northeast Nebraska area. Take a look at our calendar to see what's upcoming.
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Throughout the year, there are many events hosted by the archdiocese in addition to other events hosted by area parishes, schools and Catholic Organizations. Some are an annual event and some occur several times throughout the year.
The Archbishop's Dinner for Education, which takes place each September, is a celebration of Catholic education in the Archdio cese of Omaha.
The annual 5-day pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. for high school students takes place in January. Pilgrims travel by bus and visit holy and historical sites while learning about the pro-life movement and growing in their faith.
Check out the different events, conferences & retreats.
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A rare invasion of hawfinches from Eastern Europe to Yorkshire in 2017 had bird watchers like me all of a 'twitter' this winter. The colony of more than 100 of these rare finches were spotted feeding on the seeds of hornbeam trees at The Yorkshire Arboretum at Castle Howard.
Hawfinches enjoy a near-mythical status among birdwatchers, since they are the hardest of all British birds to spot. Registered on the RSPB's red list, there are estimated to be just 1,500 resident in the UK. The hawfinch invasion in Yorkshire was part of a UK influx. There were said to have been 50,000 sightings of hawfinches across the UK in late 2017. It is believed these birds migrated to our shores following a harvest failure in Europe's Eastern Bloc, where hawfinches are more prevalent.
To begin with most of the hawfinch sightings were in the south of England, where hornbeam trees are more likely to grow. But when hawfinch sightings were reported near Castle Howard, I began to get very interested. At the Castle Howard Estate is The Yorkshire Arboretum, a botanical tree garden affiliated to Kew Gardens, where a stand of hornbeams is believed to have attracted these hawfinches up North.
I headed to the arboretum in November to see these unusual finches and was instantly hooked. So much so that I approached the arboretum to ask if I could build a hide to watch these birds more closely. I was granted exclusive access whilst the garden was closed to the public for winter.
I set about building a hide at the site so that I could watch these shy birds without disturbing them. I also built a bird table and piled it high with the hawfinches favourite seeds to entice them to feed outside. Then I holed myself in for most of Christmas, watching and photographing these birds up close.
It wasn't until I saw the hawfinches feeding alongside their smaller cousins that I appreciated how big they are. At roughly 18cm long, a hawfinch is twice the size of a greenfinch. This makes it almost big enough to be able to square up to a blackbird!
As an artist I feel particularly drawn to the autumnal plumage of these finches. They have orange-gold feathers on their heads which is complemented by a duller brown on their backs and a softer grey-brown on their bellies. At the tips of their secondary wing feathers is an iridescent black. These wings are unusually short and slightly curved which could be the reason that they fly a little awkwardly. Once the seeds have fallen from the trees, they tend to forage on woodland floors for seeds and are perfectly camouflaged against the leaf litter here.
The most striking feature of a hawfinch is that its head is unusually big for its bodies, giving it a prehistoric, top-heavy look. This is to accommodate a huge over-sized beak that is remarkably strong. The avian equivalent to a fireman's hydraulic cutter, it can shear open tough cherry or damson stones. Scientists have measured the crushing force of a hawfinch bill and found it to exceed 50kg. This is quite extraordinary might for a bird that weighs only 0.05kg. Powered by strong jaw muscles, this ferocious bite gives a hawfinch an advantage over any other finch since there are few stones it can't break.
Even more incredible is the way it uses this huge beak. All finches will lodge seeds in a gap between the cutting edge and the inner ridge of their beaks and pierce the husk with the 'teeth' in their lower bill, rolling the seed with their tongues to peel off the husk. But hawfinches have the added advantage of a bony, serrated protuberance at the back of both upper and lower jaw to clench on a seed from four angles at once.
Amazingly hawfinches eat the seeds inside cherry, plum, yew, elm and hornbeam stones. It would take just three yew stones to kill a human and other bird species only ever ingest them and then eject whole – yet hawfinches consume them like confectionary.
In the summer, surprisingly, hawfinches seem to put aside the power of their famously strong beaks and feed instead on insects.
4. Hawfinches have a soft, quiet song out of keeping with their bulky bodies.
The hawfinch song is soft, halting and unmusical – so quiet and unobtrusive this lack of a distinctive song is partly what makes it so difficult to find hawfinch in its natural woodland habitat. Many birds use their song to attract mates but this doesn't seem to be a requirement between hawfinches. Similarly the male hawfinch's display is quite subtle. It involves the males ruffling their plumage, then drooping and spreading out its wings. The hawfinch call note is easier to pick out against the chatter of other woodland species once you know what you are listening for: a distinctive contact 'whistle' and a loud 'tic' similar to a robin or song thrush.
My photographs and video of hawfinches is due to feature on Winterwatch, BBC2, at 9pm tomorrow. Look out for it.
How fascinating. Cannot wait for Winterwatch tonight!
Great bit of filming! Impressive beaks for dealing with those seeds. Thank you.
Excellent photography Robert! What an impressive looking finch.
I've always thought the greenfinch to be the largest. But it's dwarfed by the hawfinch.
I live in France – down from Toulouse near Castres in the Tarn and I have about ten in my garden today. Have never seen them before and have been here 15 years. I had to look to find out what they are. Have no idea why they suddenly decide to visit my garden – weather is warm and sunny – any information on that would be of interest.
I put out all the usual seeds and nuts for all the birds so was surprised to see something totally different.
We have had one visit our garden for the last 2 days and we're in Suffolk. Hope he stays!


The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life will open the doors of its new museum to the public on Sunday, January 22, 2012, at the museum's new home, 2121 Allston Way (between Shattuck and Oxford), Berkeley, California. Attendees will be able to view the opening exhibitions and the glass-wall open storage, and learn about the role of the Magnes at UC Berkeley. Curators, artists, and staff will be available to talk with attendees.
For more information visit the Magnes Web site. The Magnes Museum also has a Facebook page at facebook.com/magnesmuseum.


Marina di Portofino is located into a little natural inlet which, during summers season, gets very congested with yachts, ferries, and ship tenders.
For this reason we would like to provide some guidelines to facilitate the mooring operations for easier and safer manoeuvring into our Marina.
Reach the mooring point when traffic is less congested. The most congested time bends are approximately midday and late afternoon when sometimes it is necessary to wait outside the harbour for a few minutes.
We advise that, in case more than one unit will be outside the harbour waiting for its turn to moor, priority and entering order are at our Staff discretion.
We suggest you not to choose the last entering time of the day. In case of more than one unit waiting to enter the harbour at the same time, if operations will delay until the night (no more view without diurnal light), the Harbour Master has the right not to allow the procedure.
We hope that all the above suggestions could make your staying in Portofino more easier, safer and happier.


Clinical and epidemiologic research has identified increasingly effective interventions to reduce mother to child HIV transmission in resource-limited settings These scientific breakthroughs have been implemented in some programmes, although much remains to be done to improve coverage and quality of these programmes. But prevention of HIV transmission is not enough. It is necessary also to consider ways to improve maternal health and protect child survival.
A win-win approach is to ensure that all pregnant and lactating women with CD4 counts of <350 cells/mm3 have access to antiretroviral therapy. On its own, this approach will substantially improve maternal health and markedly reduce mother to child HIV transmission during pregnancy and delivery and through breastfeeding. This approach can be combined with additional interventions for women with higher CD4 counts, either extended prophylaxis to infants or extended regimens of antiretroviral drugs to women, to reduce transmission even further.
Attempts to encourage women to abstain from all breastfeeding or to shorten the optimal duration of breastfeeding have led to increases in mortality among both uninfected and infected children. A better approach is to support breastfeeding while strengthening programmes to provide antiretroviral therapy for pregnant and lactating women who need it and offering antiretroviral drug interventions through the duration of breastfeeding. This will lead to reduced HIV transmission and will protect the health of women without compromising the health and well-being of infants and young children.
The field of prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) has given us some of the biggest breakthroughs and achievements in the field of HIV prevention research. Notably, clinical and epidemiologic research in this field established that antiretroviral drugs are effective agents of HIV prevention. This field has also given us some the most heartbreaking disappointments and missed opportunities for resource-poor areas. Prominent among these are the increased child mortality among both infected and uninfected infants that has resulted from encouraging HIV-infected women to shorten the duration or abstain from all breastfeeding. Missed opportunities include the failures to implement widely effective antiretroviral and counselling interventions. Recent findings provide important new evidence to policymakers in crafting sound programmes for PMTCT and infant feeding.
Prevention of HIV transmission is not enough. It is necessary also to consider ways to improve maternal health and protect child survival. In this report, we review the available data and conclude that the key to future success in most resource-limited settings is to provide counselling and support for breastfeeding while strengthening programmes that provide antiretroviral therapy for pregnant and lactating women who need it and offering antiretroviral drug interventions throughout the duration of breastfeeding. This will lead to reduced HIV transmission and will protect the health of women without compromising the health and well-being of infants and young children.
The field of PMTCT can be credited with what is perhaps the biggest breakthrough in HIV prevention research. Fifteen years ago, clinician-scientists in the US and France demonstrated that zidovudine alone could reduce mother to child transmission of HIV from 25% to 8% in a non-breastfeeding population . The use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV transmission was controversial at the time, but the results were compelling. However, it was not clear how the complex and expensive regimen tested in the first trial could be made applicable to the health care circumstances in sub-Saharan Africa, where it was needed most.
Through the dedication and determination of investigators in the field, the successes of PMTCT research continued. Through well-coordinated and collaborative trials, breakthroughs continued, and studies in west Africa and Thailand demonstrated that short courses of oral zidovudine were effective in reducing transmission [2,3]. A landmark study in Uganda demonstrated that single-dose nevirapine was effective in reducing mother to child HIV transmission . These two findings provided the first proof that feasible and effective antiretroviral prophylaxis could be implemented in developing areas, where health system resources were highly limited.
Active research in this area produced continued refinements in prophylactic antiretroviral drug regimens. Studies in Malawi and South Africa demonstrated how post-partum prophylaxis could be effective for the large number of infants whose mothers had not accessed optimal antenatal care [5,6]. A pivotal study in Thailand was particularly useful in demonstrating the improved outcomes with combination zidovudine and nevirapine prophylaxis . With the remarkable increases in access to effective HIV treatment among adults in many African countries, studies began to clarify how best to integrate adult treatment and PMTCT activities . Recently, two important studies demonstrated that using extended infant prophylaxis could reduce transmission through breastfeeding [9,10].
The demonstration that effective PMTCT is achievable has inspired civil society. Demands for programmes to provide access to antiretroviral drugs to prevent transmission to infants mobilized community organizations and the medical community in South Africa in 2001, resulting in the establishment of a national PMTCT programme. But investigators in this field have also been targets of attack and have borne the brunt of unfair accusations about poisoning babies and neglecting women. It has taken great courage to move these results into programmes.
In part through strong support from the international community, PMTCT has now been implemented in almost every African country . There have been several sites with creative methods to adapt the interventions to be appropriate to the specific health service needs . For example, in rural Uganda, a special pre-packaged formulation of the infant nevirapine dose was used to ensure that women who delivered at home could give their infants the nevirapine . In Zambia, establishment of rigorous data management systems and careful analysis of routine data has allowed on-going strengthening of programmes to improve coverage and quality [14,15]. Implementation of PMTCT also helped leverage resources for HIV treatment programmes and has provided a platform to help treatment programmes get started.
Despite these encouraging successes, major gaps in PMTCT implementation exist. We are a long way from widespread implementation of interventions shown to be effective in clinical trials. Equitable and universal coverage is lacking in most countries. The global average is estimated to be that about 45% of women who need PMTCT have access to it , and this is highly skewed towards women living in certain urban areas. There is weak or non-existent coordination between PMTCT and adult treatment programmes in many places, and both continuity of care and follow up is very often poor. Quality of counselling, particularly as it relates to infant feeding, is of poor quality and often confused .
So, despite successful and clinically relevant PMTCT research, the human toll of infection among women of child-bearing age and among children remains high. The human toll is mostly borne by the young mothers with HIV who have to grapple with the terrible fear of transmitting HIV to their infants. A mother living in Soweto participating in an early infant diagnosis programme typifies the dilemma: "I told myself that just like in soccer ... I should prepare myself to either win or lose, positive or negative."  This mother teaches us that despite the formidable opponent of HIV, we should not give up hope.
In the absence of any interventions, about a third of infants born to HIV-infected mothers acquire HIV infection. About 20% of infants born to HIV-infected mothers acquire HIV during pregnancy or delivery, usually referred to intrauterine and intrapartum transmission (or together as perinatal transmission) . Approximately 14% of infants who are breastfed for the typical duration of 18 months will acquire HIV through breastfeeding . These rates, which use the number of infants born to HIV-infected mothers as the denominator, have been known since the late 1980s and have been confirmed with more sophisticated study designs and with the latest HIV diagnostic methods [21,22].
If we re-express these rates using the number of infected children as the denominator, breastfeeding accounts for about 40% of all infant infections (Figure 1A). Careful epidemiologic studies over many years have identified several risk factors for transmission, the strongest of which are maternal CD4 count and viral load. Additionally, it has now been firmly established that breast milk transmission is substantially enhanced by the amount of virus in breast milk, and the quality and duration of breastfeeding [23,24]. Susceptibility factors, including innate and acquired immune responses in the child, in the mother and in breast milk, protect against HIV transmission [25,26].
Antiretroviral interventions given only during pregnancy and peri-partum reduce transmission occurring during pregnancy and delivery, and largely leave postnatal transmission untouched. While there may be some short-term benefits for early postnatal HIV transmission of some peri-partum antiretroviral drug interventions , they have only minor impact on transmission occurring throughout the full duration of breastfeeding.
For the purpose of illustration, consider the implementation of antiretroviral intervention that reduces intrauterine and intrapartum transmission to 8%. Assuming breastfeeding transmission risk is unaffected, an additional 14% acquire infection postnatally, bringing the total transmission rate to 22%. In this scenario, postnatal transmission now constitutes 64% of all infections, even though the total number of infections has shrunk. Many highlight the 64% statistic to emphasize the importance of postnatal transmission. But it is easy to misinterpret these numbers because of shifting denominators.
Transmission rates are expressed as the number of infected infants divided by the number of infants born to HIV-infected mothers. However, it is important to emphasize that the 64% statistic includes a different, more limited denominator - only infected infants born to HIV-infected mothers (Figure 1B). This distinction becomes essential to understand for health education, where messages about the actual magnitude of postnatal HIV transmission may become exaggerated.
It is an unfortunate reality that breakthroughs in confirming interventions to reduce HIV transmission through breastfeeding have been made only relatively recently. As result, the 14% or 64% [sic] postnatal HIV transmission rates remain unmodified in most education and training materials for PMTCT programmes. Thus the information that is provided is out of date and fuels the fear of women and counsellors (and often policy makers) about breastfeeding.
There have, however, been three crucial breakthroughs in understanding how to prevent postnatal HIV transmission that now confirm that it is possible to reduce postnatal HIV transmission to ~1%. These effective interventions include: (1) lactation counselling and support; (2) use of triple antiretroviral drug regimens for women that are either continued life-long as therapy or continued through breastfeeding as prophylaxis; and (3) extended regimens of antiretroviral prophylaxis to the infant.
The new millennium brought remarkable new insights from the Durban group, demonstrating that the quality of breastfeeding practices affects postnatal HIV transmission [24,28]. It showed that the risk of postnatal HIV transmission was reduced among women who breastfed their infants only breast milk and nothing else (exclusive breastfeeding) to three months, and was higher among women who introduced other foods and liquids earlier than three months while continuing to breastfeed [24,28]. The benefits of exclusive breastfeeding in reducing postnatal transmission have subsequently been confirmed, and refined, in at least four other large studies [29-32]. The biological basis of this association remains unknown and is likely to be multi-factorial .
The powerful insight provided by these observations is that a simple behavioural intervention of improving breastfeeding quality is as effective in reducing HIV transmission as the short-course antiretroviral drug regimens used for PMTCT. This is not to say that counselling should replace antiretroviral interventions. Rather, they are complementary interventions that should be implemented together. The benefits of lactation management and support extend beyond reductions in HIV transmission. Exclusive breastfeeding is best for all infants, regardless of their HIV status, and is associated with decreased infant mortality . Another advantage of lactation counselling is that simple and consistent infant feeding messages can be given to both HIV-positive and HIV-negative women.
Treating pregnant women with combination antiretroviral drugs is highly effective in reducing vertical HIV transmission, including transmission through breastfeeding [35-39]. There are a number of ways in which antiretroviral therapy can be used. Standard treatment regimens can simply be given to all HIV-infected pregnant women, regardless of their clinical stage or CD4 count. This is an attractive approach for its simplicity, and it has been shown to be effective [35-39].
Another approach is to optimize the regimens to avoid toxicity and drug-resistance problems. Important new results showing the benefit of this approach from Botswana were recently presented . A highly attractive approach is one based on rational integration of adult HIV treatment with PMTCT programmes . In this approach, HIV treatment is provided only to women who need it for their own health. The effectiveness of this approach was demonstrated in the MTCT-Plus programme in Cote d'Ivoire . This is a win-win intervention that treats the mother while preventing transmission.
It is important to understand why rational integration of adult HIV treatment programmes and PMTCT is so effective to reduce postnatal transmission through breastfeeding. It is clearly established that CD4 counts are a very strong predictor of postnatal transmission: the lower the CD4 count, the higher the transmission. In our study in Zambia , the postnatal HIV transmission rate through breastfeeding was 20% in women with CD4 counts of <350 cells/mm3 and around 4% in women with CD4 counts above 350.
Combining these two populations together yields the estimate of ~12%, usually quoted as the risk of postnatal HIV transmission through breastfeeding. Marked differences in the distribution of CD4 counts across study populations also explain why studies utilizing similar interventions may report such different transmission rates. With the distribution of CD4 count observed in our cohort in Zambia, more than 80% of all postnatal infections occurred among women with CD4 counts of <350 (Figure 2A).
If antiretroviral treatment is provided to all pregnant women with CD4 counts below 350, the available data indicate that postnatal transmission will be reduced to 1-2%. Even if no additional postnatal interventions are provided for women with higher CD4 counts, the transmission rate in the population as a whole will still decline to <5%.
It is possible to reduce the transmission rate even further by providing additional interventions for those women with higher CD4 counts who do not need antiretroviral therapy for their own health. Two new studies from Malawi have shown that extended prophylaxis with nevirapine to the infant substantially reduce postnatal transmission through breastfeeding. In the first study, prophylaxis was used for only 14 weeks . In the second study, prophylaxis was used for six months and was as effective as triple antiretroviral drug regimens given to the mother as prophylaxis in reducing postnatal transmission . It will be important to investigate whether prophylaxis can be extended further to cover the normal duration of breastfeeding.
Despite these important scientific breakthroughs, there is unfortunately a dark cloud. And this dark cloud is provided by the shifts in infant feeding practices that have occurred in many places, inspired by the fear of HIV transmission. In many places, HIV-infected women in communities that previously had good uptake of full breastfeeding have shifted away from breastfeeding or have opted to wean their infants much earlier than they usually would have.
In sobering new data from rural Rakai, Uganda, mortality among infants born to HIV-infected mothers who elected to abstain from all breastfeeding was increased six-fold compared with infants born to mothers who elected to breastfeed . In a clinical trial in Botswana, mortality among uninfected infants born to HIV-infected mothers was doubled among those randomized to abstain from breastfeeding compared with those randomized to short breastfeeding . These two reports together suggest that the excess mortality due to replacement feeding is higher in programmatic than in clinical trial settings.
However, even in a clinical trial conducted in a country with more resources and where reasonable efforts were made to provide appropriate measures for "safe" formula feeding, a two-fold increase in uninfected child mortality was reported . HIV researchers have now learned the same lessons as studies in the 1960s and 1970s that demonstrated that shifts away from breastfeeding increases infant mortality .
Is "no benefit" equal to "no harm"?
In the Botswana trial, mortality among uninfected infants less than six months of age was increased about two-fold among those whose mothers were randomized to abstain from breastfeeding compared with those randomized to breastfeed. But abstinence from breastfeeding was able to reduce HIV transmission. Sadly, adding together these competing risks, there is no net benefit in terms of HIV-free survival of abstinence from breastfeeding .
We have recently completed a clinical trial in Lusaka, Zambia, which examined the period of four to 24 months in greater detail. We, like the Botswana group, also reported no net benefit of shortening the usual duration of breastfeeding on HIV-free survival . When we investigated why we observed no benefit of early cessation of breastfeeding by examining what the women in the intervention and control groups actually did, we found that the risk of uninfected child mortality to 24 months was increased about three-fold if women stopped breastfeeding early compared with breastfeeding for 18 months or longer . Stopping breastfeeding earlier than normal did reduce transmission. In other words, the benefit of HIV prevented was canceled out by the harm of uninfected child deaths caused by other infectious diseases (Figure 3).
These results are not reassuring about the safety of abstinence from breastfeeding or early weaning. To the contrary, "no benefit" does not mean the same thing as "no harm". A key point is that both of these examples are in the absence of effective antiretroviral regimens. When we provide antiretroviral drugs (using almost any of the approaches described above), postnatal transmission is substantially reduced.
Viewed in this context, the elevations in uninfected child mortality caused by abstinence from breastfeeding or caused by early weaning are no longer justified by HIV prevention efforts. The numbers of HIV infections prevented are now considerably less than the numbers of replacement feeding-related deaths caused. When antiretroviral drugs are provided, what was previously "no benefit" now becomes harm. This is not because the antiretroviral drugs are harmful, but because in the delicate risk-benefit balance, mortality caused by abstinence from breastfeeding or shortening the duration of breastfeeding is now greater than the amount of HIV prevented (Figure 3).
This can be seen most clearly among women who have high CD4 counts and do not meet criteria for antiretroviral treatment. This group of women is at lower risk of transmitting even if no interventions are provided. As we observed in our cohort in the Zambia Exclusive Breastfeeding Study, for women with higher CD4 counts, there were worse infant outcomes if breastfeeding was shortened. In this group, where the HIV transmission rate is lower, the risks of prematurely truncating breastfeeding outweigh any benefits to prevent transmission .
Should we burn down the forest to save the trees?
In the quest for eliminating HIV transmission, we need to be cautious of the steps we take to get there. We can save the child from HIV, but have to be careful that we do not increase their risk of dying from other diseases. HIV prevention is not enough: the goal should be healthy children. The integration of adult HIV treatment with PMTCT has shown that it is possible to address both maternal health and prevent mother to child transmission. We should now turn to integrating these activities with programmes to protect child survival.
The HIV-exposed uninfected child living in environments where HIV is the most prevalent is at risk for many diseases, not only HIV. We add to the jeopardy of this child by some of the interventions we provide as part of PMTCT programmes. This jeopardy is increased with a single-minded focus only on HIV prevention without consideration of broader inventions that improve infant health and development.
The unprecedented resources that have been made available to address HIV have overshadowed the resources available for routine child survival. Many simple interventions known to be of benefit to high-risk children in low-resource settings are not being implemented, perhaps because they do not have the cache and the advocates that HIV prevention has. The HIV-exposed uninfected child is also different to all other uninfected children because his or her mother is HIV positive. This has profound social ramifications of stigma, familial loss and deterioration of maternal health, all of which may affect the well-being of the uninfected children .
It also appears that there might be biological deficits associated with having been exposed to HIV . Those who look for correlates of protective immunity in the natural context have written of the immunologic advantage among those lucky enough to have escaped HIV infection [25,26]. But there may be an immunologic disadvantage that makes exposed, uninfected infants more vulnerable to other diseases . We are yet to properly understand what the long-term clinical consequences are for the hundreds of thousands of children exposed to HIV, but who survive uninfected.
The PMTCT field can be credited with some of the most important breakthroughs in HIV prevention research. We have much to celebrate, but there are many challenges ahead. HIV treatment and PMTCT programmes should not be implemented as distinct and competing programmes, but can and should work hand in hand so that maternal health is addressed alongside prevention of HIV.
The first priority should be to provide access to HIV treatment for all pregnant and lactating women with CD4 counts of <350 cells/mm3. Every effort should be put into programmes to ensure that this happens. For children born to mothers with higher CD4 counts, there are several options, either extended maternal regimens or infant prophylaxis. Both work to prevent transmission. But this is not enough.
These programmes also need to link with child survival programmes, including high-quality counselling to support lactation, so that prevention of HIV can occur in a context that ensures the health and well-being of children.
Connor EM, Sperling RS, Gelber R, Kiselev P, Scott G, O'Sullivan MJ, VanDyke R, Bey M, Shearer W, Jacobson RL, O'Neill E, Bazin B, Delfraissy J-F, Culnane M, Coombs R, Elkins M, Moye J, Stratton P, Balsey J, for The Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocol 076 Study Group: Reduction of maternal-infant transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 with zidovudine treatment. N Engl J Med 1994, 331:1173-80.
Dabis F, Msellati A, Meda N, Welffens-Ekra C, You B, Manigart O, Leroy V, Simonon A, Cartoux M, Combe P, Ouangre' A, Ramon R, Ky-Zerbo O, Montcho C, Salamon R, Rouzioux C, Perre P, Mandelbrot L: 6-month efficacy, tolerance, and acceptability of a short regimen of oral zidovudine to reduce vertical transmission of HIV in breast fed children in Co^te d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso: a double-blind placebo-controlled mutlicentre trial. Lancet 1999, 353:786-92.
Shaffer N, Chuachoowong R, Mock PA, Bhadrakom C, Siriwasin W, Young NL, Chotpitayasunondh T, Cherskul S, Roongpisuthipong A, Chinayon P, Karon J, Mastro TD, Simonds RJ, on behalf of the Bangkok Collaborative Perinatal HIV Transmission Study Group: Short-course zidovudine for perinatal HIV-1 transmission in Bangkok, Thailand: a randomized controlled trial. Lancet 1999, 353:773-80.
Guay LA, Musoke P, Fleming T, Bagenda D, Allen M, Nakabiito C, Sherman J, Bakaki P, Ducar C, Deseyve M, Emel L, Mirochnick M, Fowler MG, Mofenson L, Miotti PG, Dransfield K, Bray D, Mmiro F, Jackson B: Intrapartum and neonatal single-dose nevirapine compared with zidovudine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in Kampala, Uganda: HIVNET 012 randomised trial. Lancet 1999, 354:795-802.
Taha TE, Kumwenda NI, Hoover DR, Fiscus SA, Kafulafula G, Nkhoma C, Nour S, Chen S, Liomba G, Miotti P, Broadhead RL: Nevirapine and zidovudine at birth to reduce perinatal transmission of HIV in an African setting: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2004, 292:202-9.
Gray GE, Urban M, Chersich MF, Bolton C, van Niekerk R, Violari A, Stevens W, McIntyre JA, for the PEP Study Group: A randomized trial of two postexposure prophylaxis regimens to reduce mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission in infants of untreated mothers.
AIDS top killer disease in China last year: govt.


The revolutionary X range of reach trucks from Linde represents the first truly seismic change in the design concept for reach trucks in over fifty years. By relocating the battery under the operator's compartment the Linde designers were able to double the space in cab to provide a spacious working environment previously unknown in the reach truck world. In addition the battery relocation also enabled an entirely new mast concept to be developed resulting in a panoramic 'window' between the mast uprights which is twice as wide as conventional designs. Another break with convention is the fact that the mast is fixed to the chassis and does not reach backwards and forwards. Instead a unique traversing fork carriage carries out this function resulting in a superbly stable mast for outstandingly seamless and stable load handling at high lift with shorter cycle times. Apart from the advanced and proven features such as finger tip, joystick Linde Load Control twin accelerator pedals and twin accelerator pedals, the X range also includes a new super-comfort 'armchair' seat with two adjustable armrests. The left armrest incorporates a compact electric steering wheel while the left armrest incorporates the fingertip joystick controls. This superb working environment combines with the revolutionary features of the Linde X range to provide the competitive edge for any business requiring narrow aisle trucks.


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text:
If The Founding Principles Were So Great, How'd We Get To Where We Are? Part I
by BriggsPosted on June 12, 2018 June 14, 2018
First, the founding principles of America were whatever they were; that is, there were principles stated and then there were principles actually adhered to (and these might be the same): the principles adhered to were the actual founding principles. Second, we are where we are; that is, accelerating on the slippery slope to Hell wearing greased shoes supplied and mandated by the State.
If you want to argue that we are where we are because of what the founding principles were, you have a case. We started from somewhere, and we ended up here. We did not start from some point other than the point we started from. That starting point was the actual founding principles, by definition. We are where we are, by observation. Therefore, there is a path from the actual principles to the point at which we now stand.
If you want to argue that we are where we are in spite of the founding principles, you can still make a case, but you have a much harder time of it. You can say that at some point we abandoned the founding principles, and so necessarily adopted other guiding principles in their place, and from those foreign guiding principles we ended up where we are now. But then you have to explain how the founding principles could not possibly have given way to the foreign principles. But the founding principles did in fact lead to the foreign principles. Even if it is not so the founding principles are exactly synonymous with our current degrading situation, the founding principles did allow the entrance of the foreign principles. The founding principles may not rhyme with our current state, but there is assonance.
Another way is to say the foreign principles were imposed by force, as in a war, by invaders who Believed Differently. There is no historical justification for this. Saying people through time came to a different understanding, and saw a gradual abandonment, of the founding principles is the same as saying the founding principles gave rise to foreign principles, etc. You can also argue, with some force, that no matter what founding principles are started with, any government instituted by men will come to a bad end. But that doesn't explain how so many governments who have adopted principles which seem to be like ours have come to the same bad end, arriving from more or less the same path.
You can say the founding principles were not really the founding principles, but were something else. This could be so. We adopted as a definition of founding principles the principles that were in place at the founding, whatever they were. But those actual principles might be difficult to tease out. We don't know what everybody then was thinking. What we do have are direct statements from the founders which say, "These are our founding principles." That does not mean, of course, that these statements were the actual principles used by the government and people. But they could be, or there could only be overlaps.
That tortuous introduction was necessary to bring us to the current debate on the right about "liberalism", which is said to be one of the declared if not actual founding principles. If "liberalism" (as yet undefined) was an actual founding principle, then there is a path from liberalism to where we are now. If instead liberalism was only a stated but not actual founding principle, then there was no path, and so it may be a good thing to actually try it.
Vincent Philip Munoz's NRO article "Defending American Classical Liberalism" is as good an entry point to this deabte as any other. He contrasts "'radical' Catholics" (I lost count of the number of times he put scare quotes around radical) with classical liberals like himself. Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule, and others say liberalism was an actual founding principle, and thus the path from it to here necessarily exists and is plain. Munoz, and many others, also say liberalism was an actual founding principle, but that liberalism did not have to lead to where we are. This is a counterfactual argument, meaning any number of premises can make it true. But the problem is, as our second premises insists, we are where we are and we are not where we are not. So really what Munoz has in mind, without understanding it, is that true liberalism was not an actual founding principle.
Munoz says the radicals deny that one of the founding principles was objective truth, and for evidence against this cites the Declaration of Independence which states "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights." From this it is obvious the founders held the principle of objective truth. Munoz asks "In what sense are men created equal?" and answers quoting Jefferson:
All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.
From this tortured (and generally untrue) paragraph, Munoz concludes "Both the Declaration and Jefferson in his commentary on it ground the truth of human equality in the created order of nature." Equality and rights are thus claimed to be actual founding principles and to be true.
The radicals agree that equality and rights were actual founding principles, but disagree that those principles are true. Men are not created equal. No set of observations has yet verified equality; it has to be believed by theory alone. Radicals also say that it is more proper to speak of men endowed by their Creator with a certain inalienable nature or essence. This emphasizes duty over rights.
If insisting on equality and rights are what liberalism is, it is also clear that the path from liberalism to now is self-evident. Alexander Solzhenitsyn described the path as well as anybody. The end of the path is reached at Anthony Kennedy infamous words: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life." Munoz calls this (what it is) an "abomination". But it is obvious to radicals, as it is not to Munoz, that Kennedy began with equality and rights and ended at an abomination. Munoz does not offer which principles he believes whence this abomination sprang.
Munoz next claims that it was an actual founding principle, and a theorem of equality and rights, that "consent is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition of legitimate rule of man over man." In support, he quotes Virginia's Declaration of Rights: "All men are born equally free and independent…" and thus consent follows. Munoz says "To reject the necessity of consent, which some 'radical' Catholics seem to do, is to reject natural equality."
A radical Catholic would say Rousseau himself could have written Virginia's Declaration. A radical would therefore agree that consent is a theorem of equality and rights, but disagree that consent is necessary, or even attainable or desirable. Rousseau was wrong: men are not born free nor independent. Children do not (necessarily) consent to be ruled by their parents, nor do the aged, infirm, inducted, imprisoned, mentally feeble always give consent, and the rest of us do not always (and with decreasing frequency) consent to the rule of the State. Yet ruled we still are. Try standing on the street tomorrow and say "I withdraw my consent" and see what happens. (Hint: nothing.)
A difficulty here is it is now next to impossible to envisage a state that is not all-powerful, as ours is becoming. So when you try to imagine a different political system, such as, say, a monarchy, in which consent in the classical sense is absent, you are liable to see it as also all-powerful, and therefore tyrannical. This is an understandable but bad habit that colors all political discussions.
Munoz next claims it was an actual founding principle to distinguish "liberty from license." The founders, he said, "understood liberty to be the exercise of freedom consistent with the precepts of the natural law; license was understood to be the exercise of freedom contrary to the natural law's precepts."
Allowing for differences in interpretations of natural law, radicals agree with these definitions of liberty and license. Radicals say, though, that these were not actual founding principles. They couldn't be because there is no way to derive equality and our obsession of "rights" from natural law. The two cannot co-exist at the same time and in the same place. It's one or the other, and the actual choice was equality and rights. Of course, since the natural law is true, and equality are rights are false, the natural law will time and again assert itself, just as gravity does to the man who claims it's not fair that physical laws restrain him. This is why we can hear the Founders scorn license, but why we everywhere see it. The Founders could claim to adopt natural law as a principle, but without a rigorous explication of what the natural law was and meant, people were free to apply equality and rights to it, and we end up with Kennedy's definition—which I'd bet he argues follows from what he means by "natural law."
In Part II, obligations and religion and constitutionalism.
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Exring says:
I will start with something short. I see the principles of the Founding Fathers as an address of "Human Nature". That is an attempt to understand and give us the tools to protect ourselves and, at the same time, ban together when it is important to protect our way of life, to accomplish that end. They could NOT put limitations on the individual without taking Freedom away. In that way we needed to accept responsibility for our selves (or we would not be Free). This will leave a percentage to "bad choices" but that is their responsibility. My only responsibility is to participate if I see fit but not compel anyone else to do so unless they chose.
Kent Clizbe says:
The founders assumed that the players (American citizens) would have a solid grasp of the fundamental rules of the game–citizenship, civics, history, God, duty, freedom, etc.
The founders assumed, or aspired to, that voting citizens would be well-educated and understand the value of their freedom, liberty, and republican democracy.
"[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God."
Gouverneur Morris, Penman and Signer of the Constitution.
"All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."
"A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district–all studied and appreciated as they merit–are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty."
The destruction of our culture, which Solzhenitsyn (thanks for that link, never appreciated him before) observed and predicted, required the destruction/subversion of our American-citizen system of education.
That destruction is very nearly absolute now.
Combine the subversion of education with like-minded messages promulgated in the media (including entertainment/music) and Hollywood, and you have injected poison into the lifeblood of a formerly free, proud, and self-regarding culture.
And there's the answer to your question: That's how we got to where we are today.
How did we get where we are: affluence. Having it all leads to throwing it all away every time.
"Having it all leads to throwing it all away every time."
Any case studies to support that assertion?
How about case studies that disprove it?
Saudi Arabia: culture built on Wahabbi principles of religion.
Economic changes: In 50 years, went from one of the poorest nations in the world, to become one of the richest.
Cultural changes? Culture is still built on Wahabbi principles of religion. They have not "thrown it all away."
Another?
Brunei. Culture built on a foundation of Malay traditions overlaid with Islamic practices.
Cultural changes? Culture is still a foundation of Malay traditions overlaid with Islamic practices. They have not "thrown it all away."
Affluence does not lead to "throwing away" traditional culture every time, or even usually. Both of the above example, and many others, carefully and assiduously rejected foreign cultural influences that came with their new-found affluence. Their cultural and education efforts are focused on nurturing and promulgating their traditional cultures.
Rejection of traditional culture requires aggressive attacks from the inside against the foundations of the culture. These aggressive attacks must be prolonged, targeted, and never-ending in order to succeed in destroying the normal culture. Nothing to do with affluence.
BRIGGS SAYS: "Therefore, there is a path from the actual principles to the point at which we now stand"
AND: "We are where we are, by observation."
He goes on to talking about what the 'founding fathers' had in mind, and as one expects by now weaves in religion — we can conclude the ethical state of affairs in the country is part of the concern.
The U.S. was founded on an undefined notion of "all men are created equal" — by founders that, at that time, undoubtedly considered "men" unequal from and superior to "women." That aside for the moment, their primary focus was on forming a republic with the government's powers checked by the structure of government (so called "checks and balances") and a federal government with limited enumerated powers.
Morals and moral values were something they had, but were not so much anything they put into formal law. This is where Briggs has "gone off the rails" — the "principles" that started the country ONLY matter in the form of actual laws that resulted.
So how did we get to where we are?
Lawyers.
Case in point: Wickard v. Filburn (SCOTUS case)
In Wickard v. Filburn the Supreme Court determined that crops a guy grew on his farm affected interstate commerce because the guy didn't buy crops from across a state border, and because of this the amount of trade occurring across state borders was affected. And because of this, the SCOTUS ruled that the Federal government, with an enumerated power limited to the regulation of interstate commerce, could regulate what this guy did within the confines of his farm located entirely within the border of a state.
Many of us consider this a travesty of judgement and judicial overreach enabling federal overreach.
But it was but one such decision. One that is at the core of the relatively recent ability of the Feds to impose the Affordable Care Act on the entirety of society. Not to mention many other powers that exceed the original intent of the Constitutionally ill-defined enumerated powers.
The absence of definitions of what they meant when they wrote the laws guaranteed that redefinition was sure to come. Consider some harsh & capital punishments — clearly the founders, some of whom participated in or witnessed duels, etc. had a certain idea. There was a "principle" there taken for granted. Today, what we know they accepted is now "cruel and unusual" — a new principle.
The founders never envisioned how technology would speed the transfer of ideas and how very succinct words in a document (Constitution, Bill of Rights) could be perceived so differently from what they took for granted. Even the need for the Bill of Rights was debated — many thought this to be superfluous.
Add up the impacts of numerous incremental legal decisions and incremental nibbling away at old notions for new notions in the form of new laws, usually unnoticed except by a very few, with such court decisions in a Common Law system building on precedents, and things incrementally get different. Social influences like education and so forth create such notions … but its the lawmakers and case law precedents that impose those in some form with real staying power.
And here we are. Which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
There was a case in the last decade or two (I forget which) where a SCOTUS justice argued that overturning a much older wrong SCOTUS decision would have such a far-reaching and disruptive ripple effect that maybe they shouldn't…and maybe they didn't. That indicates that lawmakers and the judiciary — at least two-thirds of the branches of Fed'l govt — will be at times disinclined to correct, or refuse to correct, old wrongs … so not only "here we are" but "here we might stay"….
Right. Lawyers when they were elevated to the judiciary. Lawyers might (and do) only argue for a warping of principle. Judges make it law and empower the State to enforce their decisions.
To Kent Clizbe-I see your points but, in my opinion, it all comes back to the simplest explanation that the attempt was to make the entire system address "Human Nature" and that doesn't get complicated by education, politics even religion. The attachment to the Christian Religion was going to be the choice of the "FREE" but the Responsibility was attached to every member of the Genus and Species (Homo sapiens, to address the person that suggested that it was a gender issue, which it was not)!
When Kurt Godel was applying for US citizenship, he studied dug into everything he could about local and national government. When he was handed a copy of the Constitution, he discover that the US could "constitutionally" become a dictatorship!
https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-mathematician-who-showed-how-the-us-could-be-made-a-1607024259
Munoz is not convincing. For example, he doesn't provide any details about how Justice Kennedy got it wrong in Casey. Or a second example, there are no details about how consent works. If someone doesn't want to support some of the subsidies (say Solyndra) how is consent withdrawn? What would that mean?
If that's the best defense, I'm inclined to pessimism.
"Norms have changed about what you can do to someone against their will" – William Jefferson Clinton
We used to tar and feather politicians and judges who ruled against common sense and the best interests of the the nation. We stopped doing that. Then we started importing millions of foreigners. They brought their native cultures and attitudes with them.
For every drop of vinegar poured into wine, the wine becomes more vinegar and less wine.
Gary in Erko says:
Don't blame your US Constitution. Western Europe, Canada, Australia – we're all going through the same stupidity. If you remove the golden rule, "thou shalt do unto others", from its context of being a divine decree and let unrestrained 'enlightened' sophistry build whatever it dreams upon it . . .
The result – a tyrant can force you to bake a gay wedding cake.
Glenn Ellmers says:
This is a very interesting essay, but elides too quickly over one explanation. Briggs writes, "Another way is to say the foreign principles were imposed by force, as in a war, by invaders who Believed Differently. There is no historical justification for this. " Why not? And who says foreign principles have to be imposed by force? (Meaning, presumably, military force.)
Machiavelli shows that it is often easier to conquer through the back door.
Foreign principles (mainly German, mainly expounded by Hegel) — which sought to replace nature with History, elevate "the State," establish an independent bureaucracy, and embody the popular will in a "leader" — were absorbed by influential Americans such as Woodrow Wilson, and were spread through academic programs in political science explicitly modeled on the German approach.
Now… WHY this foreign invasion of bad ideas was so successful, and why the Founders' plans were not more resistant to it, is a more interesting and much more difficult question.
I continue to submit that the price of FREEDOM is the assuming of Responsibility by the Individual. Without that we are NOT truly FREE. First, the removal of responsibility takes place, say in the form of "free stuff". Then Freedom is replaced, piece by piece, with control from outside our lives by others.
Pingback: If The Founding Principles Were So Great, How'd We Get To Where We Are? Part II – William M. Briggs


No cash sign at Yellow Fever in Venice, April 4, 2018.
VENICE BEACH (CBSLA) — While SoCal businesses "going green" has been in the news a lot lately, some are eschewing a different kind of green altogether, which might make "cash only" a thing of the past.
At Yellow Fever in Venice, you won't find any greenbacks in the register.
They went "cashless, which means we accept everything but cash," owner and chef Kelly Kim told CBS2 News. She said they accept Apple Pay, Android Pay, credit cards, debit cards and gift cards — just not legal tender. The reason behind her restaurant's shift to cashless currency is that the bank started charging them for making cash deposits.
While some cash-only businesses said they stick to cash to avoid credit cards fees, Kim said she's fine paying those, citing benefits such as more expedient service at the register.
Tender Greens went cash-free a few months ago for the same reason, and they actually put it to the test. They found out it takes 4 to 5 seconds longer to pay with cash versus credit card, especially with those not requiring a signature for anything under $25.
Still, some proprietors and patrons will surely stick with the "cash-only" practice.
"Feels good, like handing somebody a tip or actually cashing out and knowing, 'This is where my hard-earned money is going,'" Adrian Bernardo, a customer at Downtown L.A.'s Original Pantry, told CBS2. The nearly 100-year-old diner only takes cash.
Kim, however, extols the virtues of going cashless, adding it avoids counting mishaps from the front of the house staff.
Plus, "Money is the dirtiest thing you can touch," Kim said laughing.
She's not wrong. A study out last year found over 100 strains of bacteria on dollar bills in New York City.
To be fair to your George Washingtons, however, an older study found one in 10 bank cards have bacteria from human waste on them.


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