text:
Q: Sticky sidebar | Problems with content height I am tring to create a sidebar or section that follows you as you scroll down the page.
It works fine but if height of content shorter than leftsidebar, page became not smooth and structure is broken. How to fix it?!

$(function () {

        var msie6 = $.browser == 'msie' && $.browser.version < 7;

        if (!msie6 && $('.sidebar').offset() != null) {
            var top = $('.sidebar').offset().top - parseFloat($('.sidebar').css('margin-top').replace(/auto/, 0));
            var height = $('.sidebar').height();
            var winHeight = $(window).height();
            var footerTop = $('#footer').offset().top - parseFloat($('#footer').css('margin-top').replace(/auto/, 0));
            var gap = 0;
            $(window).scroll(function (event) {
                // what the y position of the scroll is
                var y = $(this).scrollTop();

                // whether that's below the form
                if (y + winHeight >= top + height + gap && y + winHeight <= footerTop) {
                    // if so, ad the fixed class
                    $('.sidebar').addClass('leftsidebarfixed').css('top', winHeight - height - gap + 'px');
                }
                else if (y + winHeight > footerTop) {
                    // if so, ad the fixed class
                    $('.sidebar').addClass('leftsidebarfixed').css('top', footerTop - height - y - gap + 'px');
                }
                else {
                    // otherwise remove it
                    $('.sidebar').removeClass('leftsidebarfixed').css('top', '0px');
                }
            });
        }
    });
.scrollable {
        height: 100%;
        overflow: auto;
    }
    .max-height {
        height: 100%;

    }
    .no-overflow {
        overflow: hidden;
    }
    .sidebar {
        display: none;
    }
    @media (min-width: 768px) {
        .sidebar {
            position: absolute;
            top: 0;
            height: 100vh;
            bottom: 0;
            left: 0;
            z-index: 1000;
            display: block;
            overflow-x: auto;
            overflow-y: auto; /* Scrollable contents if viewport is shorter than content. */
            background-color: #f5f5f5;
        }
    }
    .main {
        padding-top: 20px;
        height:auto;

    }
    @media (min-width: 768px) {
        .main {
            padding-right: 20px;
            padding-left: 20px;

        }
    }
    .table{
        font-size:x-small;
    }
    .HeaderStyle th{
        text-align:center; /*Заголовки в таблице стоят по центру*/
        background-color:#FFDEAD;
    }

    #wrapper {
        margin: 0 auto;
        width: 100%;
    }
    #contentHolder{
        position:relative;
    }
    #header,#footer {
        background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #CCFFFF;
        color: #000000;
        height: 150px;
        width: 100%;
        clear:both;
        font-size:3em;
        text-align:center;
    }
    .leftsidebarfixed {
        position: fixed;
        top: 0;
    }

...

              <form runat="server">

              </form>

...

Problem:


After checking the availability of the dates you require, you can submit a booking request online through the 'BOOK NOW' form. We will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, sending a Costing Summary with all the information needed to complete the booking.
Price stated on the Calendar refers to a stay for 2 guests. With an extra cost (£15 per person per night) there is space for 2 additional adults or children over the age of 8. When making a booking enquiry, please indicate in the Extras if there are any additional guests.
What these terms cover. We consider these terms and conditions (the "Terms"); together with your Booking Request; our price list; and our Booking Confirmation, as the entire agreement between you and us for the supply of our services to you ("Contract"). We intend to rely upon these Terms in relation to the Contract between you and us.
Why you should read them. Please ensure that you and all members of your party read and understand these Terms before you submit your Booking Request. Please note that by submitting a Booking Request, you and all members of your party agree to be bound by these Terms. This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer. You should print a copy of the Terms for future reference. These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide services to you, how you and we may change or end the Contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information.
We reserve the right to change these Terms at any time and any such changes will apply in relation to any new Bookings Requests submitted made after the changes are posted on the website, at the Site or otherwise brought to your attention. Please read the Terms each time you submit a Booking Request to ensure you understand the Terms which will apply at that time as submission of a Booking Request shall signify that you have accepted to be bound by the latest set of Terms.
Who we are. We are 'The Arc cabin' a sole trader established in England and Wales. Our address is The Island House, Elton, Peterborough, PE86RJ (the "Site").
How we may contact you. If we have to contact you we will do so by telephone or by writing to you at the email address or postal address you provided to us in your Booking Request.
In order to request a booking, you will need to complete and submit the booking form on our website ("Booking Request"). Please take the time to read and check your booking at each stage of the Booking Request process, as it is your responsibility to provide us with the correct information.
Our acceptance of your Booking Request is our absolute discretion and will only take place once we issue a written confirmation (containing a booking reference number) accepting your Booking Request and confirming receipt of your Deposit payment ("Booking Confirmation"). This Booking Confirmation shall signify that we have accepted your Booking Request, subject to these Terms. At this point a Contract shall come into existence between you and us on these Terms.
Subject to any enduring conditions, the Contract will last until you and your party leave our Site (including any extension to your stay and for such time afterwards as may be necessary), unless otherwise terminated in accordance with these Terms.
you agree that you will be responsible for any loss or damage caused by you, any member of your party accompanying you.
Our Contract binds you, (the person named on the booking confirmation) and all members of your party, including children and any day visitors. You must ensure that all members of your party are aware of, and accept these Terms.
Please note that we cannot permit a transfer of a booking to another person or party. The existing booking will need to be cancelled in accordance with these Terms as set out below, and a new booking made.
The maximum number of people occupying your accommodation must not exceed the number shown in the particulars of the Site on our website, or as otherwise communicated to you by us in writing.
Following the submission of your Booking Request, we will send to you an email requesting payment of the applicable Deposit should the dates requested by you be available ("Payment Request")..
If the start date stated in your Booking Request is within 4 weeks from the date your Booking Request was submitted, then the whole amount is payable within 48 hours of you receiving our Payment Request.
If the start date stated in your Booking Request is beyond 4 weeks from the date your Booking Request was submitted, then 50% of the total price is payable within 48 hours of you receiving our Payment Request. The remaining balance, being 50% of the total price, will be payable immediately upon reaching 4 weeks from the start date stated in your Booking Request.
Should you fail to make the full payment of the required Deposit, or other payments as detailed above, by the due date as stated within these Terms, no Contract with you will have been formed and we reserve the right to re-let the Site. Any Deposit amounts paid shall be non-refundable.
Preferred payment methos is Bank Transfer. PayPal is an alternative payment method. However, when using Paypal an additional 3% has to be added to the total cost due to Paypal fees. Upon request, you may be able to pay using alternative methods, however we reserve our right to refuse.
The prices featured on our website are not binding; we reserve the right to modify these prices. You will be informed of the prices applicable upon receipt of our Booking Confirmation. The price stated on the Booking Confirmation is binding.
Cancellations must be notified immediately by telephone or email.
Cancellation by you – If you have to cancel, please inform us immediately and we will endeavour to re-let the cabin, if this is not possible; all Deposit amounts which have been paid will be forfeited. Holiday cancellation insurance should be taken out to cover forced cancellations.
We do not accept liability for consequential losses and suggest you take out travel insurance to cover this.
Change of dates – If you request to change the date of your stay as detailed in our Booking Confirmation, this will be treated as a cancellation and re-booking, see cancellation terms above.
The Cabin is only suitable for 2 adults. With an extra cost (£15 per person per night) there is space for 2 adults or children over the age of 8.
We do not accept children under 8 at Site.
We do not accept dogs or any other pets at Site.
We do not accept more people than has been agreed at the time of booking. This is a strict rule. We will turn you away if you arrive with children, pets or additional adults and will not give you a refund.
When you arrive we'll give you some information about safety in the cabin, the use of the water and log fire, candles and fire pit. Please do not leave a roaring fire or candles unattended. These instructions are particularly important for the health and safety of both yourself and others. It's really important that you follow the instructions given and if you fail to do this we may ask you to leave with no refund offered.
By its very nature the Site is in a natural environment. In working to preserve a sense of freedom which is part of the charm and why many people come, there are natural hazards, such as ponds, tree roots, poisonous plants, and extremely limited lighting after dark, and depending upon weather conditions, cold, wet and slippery surfaces and even frozen water pipes. As such, we do not accept any liability for personal injury caused by you, or other members of your party (to the extent acceptable by law)..
By accepting these Terms you agree to be solely responsible for your children, and any children you are in charge of, together with your own welfare and to take all reasonable precautions against personal injury, injury to others and damage to facilities and the Site.
Damage to our Site or property – Please note that you will be liable for the actual cost of any damage to the site and its contents (this may exceed your Deposit and you will be required to pay any excess). If excessive cleaning is required the additional cleaning cost will be passed onto you. We will provide photographic evidence of the wilful damage or mess within the cabin to you. Please note that in the event that we need to claim further funds from you due to the occurrence of an event listed above, we reserve the right to recover those charges by any means.
We endeavour to maintain high standards of comfort and cleanliness at all times. You therefore undertake to keep all furniture, fittings and effects within the Site in the same good condition as they were found. Smoking is NOT allowed in the cabin on the Site. The Site must be left clean and tidy, all equipment and utensils etc…, must be clean and put away at the end of the hire period. .
We reserve the right to repossess the Site at any time, where you or any member of your party has caused excessive damage or is found to be conducting themselves in an illegal, offensive or immoral fashion. This does not limit our right to claim for the cost of any damages as detailed in these Terms above.
To protect the environment surrounding the Site, the burning of wood is strictly prohibited unless otherwise confirmed by us in writing. Open fires, fire pits and rope swings are also prohibited.
You must check-in to the Site after 4pm (we will either show you around or leave some information and details of where the key is) on the day of your arrival and leave by 10am on the day of your departure. We kindly ask that on the day of departure all the beds which have been slept in are stripped and the sheets left in the kitchen area.
If you have any special requests (for example dietary requirements), please let us know in your Booking Request. We will try and accommodate these but will not accept any liability if they are not.
At the end of your stay please endeavour to turn off all lights, electrical appliances at the wall and turn down heating thermostats to an economic level. Close all windows and close all internal doors and make sure all external doors are locked and secure.
All breakages or damage must be notified immediately. As stated in these Terms above, we reserve the right to charge for any non-trivial damage howsoever caused.
Despite all of our efforts, you could have a genuine complaint that you wish to let us know. You must take up this complaint with us immediately, in order to allow us to solve the matter as soon as possible. Should the complaint not be settled to your satisfaction, then you have the option, up to 14 days after your departure to submit the complaint in writing.
In the event that a court finds that a condition in these Terms is illegal or void, the illegal or void provision will be severed from the remainder of these Terms, which will continue to be valid and have full force and effect.
We would like to make your stay at the Site as easy and as comfortable as possible therefore have tried to anticipate all the things you will need for your stay.
We have provided duvets, bed linen, hot water bottle, torches and additional blankets.
In the bathroom we provide bath towels, hand towels, 2 rolls of loo paper, hand soap and bubble bath (all Eco friendly products).
In the kitchen you will find kitchen cling film, bin bags, washing up essentials (all Eco friendly products), tea towels and hand towels, cooking utensils, pots, pans, crockery and cutlery.
We also have a fridge / freezer.
We provide candles, lanterns for extra lighting.
So basically all you need is your clothes for your stay, and your wellington boots!


Remember when the entire world was talking about the girl with the Harry Styles face tattoo? You probably do, because singer Kelsy Karter made headlines recently when she debuted the incredible display of her dedication to the former One Direction member. Wild, right? We thought so too, so when she came clean about the fake tat on her YouTube channel, we weren't exactly surprised. But we gotta hand it to her — the dedication was real, y'all!
In a video uploaded on January 31 titled "How I Rocked The World For $300," the 27-year-old detailed her tattoo prank from idea to reality.
"In April of 2018, I was going through the hardest time of my life," the video began. She explained her dog's passing and the ending of her relationship sent her headfirst into songwriting, but she didn't want to write just another song about what she was going through.
"Ant saw Harry on my lock screen and said, 'Let's write a song about him instead,'" she revealed how the idea for her song "Harry," the obvious basis for the publicity stunt, came to be. She shot and directed the music video for the song shortly after it was written for only $300, and then shelved the whole thing to write the rest of her album.
But she knew she had to make waves for Harry's birthday on February 1 in an effort to promo the track. So after a ton of brainstorming, she enlisted celebrity tattoo artist Romeo Lacoste to help make the whole idea look as real as possible.
After snapping the now infamous photo of the singer's face emblazoned with the tattoo (made as real as possible by a special effects artist), she sent the pic out into the world via social media. The rest, as they say, was history — well, until she had to let everyone in on the secret, that is.


Orgenesis is a vertically integrated cell therapy company focused on treating insulin dependent diabetes patients.
Orgenesis is a vertically-integrated biopharmaceutical company with unique expertise and experience in cell therapy development and manufacturing.
The Company's MaSTherCell subsidiary is a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). Through MaSTherCell, Orgenesis is able to deliver optimized process industrialization capacities to cell therapy companies, and speed up the arrival of these therapies onto the market. MaSTherCell's customers include many of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as research institutions and hospitals involved in cutting edge cell therapy.
Orgenesis is also developing its own propriety cell therapies. Through its subsidiary Orgenesis Ltd., Orgenesis is a pioneer in the process of Transdifferentiation (or cell reprograming), whereby an adult cell is converted into another type of cell, with its distinct phenotype and function. Orgenesis has utilized its proprietary technology/processes to successfully reprogram human liver cells into glucose-responsive, fully functional, insulin producing cells. Converting the diabetic patient's own tissue into insulin-producing cells has the potential to provide a practical cure for insulin dependent diabetes and overcome the significant issues of donor shortage, cost and exposure to chronic immunosuppressive therapy associated with islet cell transplantation.


A good blend of flavors. I liked how the vinegar cut some of the sweetness of the BBQ sauce. A couple of drops of liquid smoke added a nice smokey flavor.
I've been doing this kind of bbq for a while and when the pork is done I throw in about 4 chicken breasts and slow cook in the same juice. After all is cooked it freezes well also.
It was so easy and delicious! Took exactly 8 hours.
I have made this and other variations of Pulled Pork in the crockpot many times over the years. This is not Barbeque. It is not smoked with coals. It is good, though.


Heat Shield - Important ? Necessary ?
Removing water from power steering system.
Wow, is it because the warmer weather or what?
Is a 1985 300SD a good car?
Fan Clutch Repair. Any Success Story?
Anyway to replace 85 300D CC vacuum diaphragms without pulling the dash?
Steering lock stuck, what's the problem?
I drove home on Diesel Kleen!!
How can you tell if turbo is working?????
aiming for high MPG #'s on long trip.
603 head, K1 & K5 code stamped on it. what's the deal? anyone know?
Proper diameter and material for KKK turbo wastegate hose?


Health and Safety at work is the term used to describe controls intended to protect the welfare of people working and also of visitors and members of the public who are affected by work activities.
The aim of the course is to increase student's knowledge and awareness of the dangers associated with poor working practices and the legal, health and cost issues that can result from such practices. Students should also become aware of the implications of their own actions within the workplace.
The objective is that at the end of the course the student should have knowledge of and understand Health and Safety issues and is able to put this information to practical use within the workplace.
This course is run over 6 contact hours and is assessed via a multiple choice examination.


Sandra Amy or rather Sandra Prajin is better known as Sandra Jose to the Malayali audiences. She was born on 5th June and hails from the Idukki district of Kerala. Sandra was trained in classical dance right from a very young age. She has won the Miss Trivandrum title once and has participated in various dance forms during her school days. She is a VJ turned actress who has also done justice to her education. Sandra has graduated in Psychology from H.H. The Maharaja's College for Women in Trivandrum.
Sandra Amy is married to VJ and actor Prajin Padmanabhan while studying in Maharaja's College. It was a pure love marriage which started while both of them were working as a VJ. However her parents were not interested in the marriage and did stay away from the function. The main reason for their disagreement was religion. Sandra is born to a Christian family where as Prajin belongs to a Hindu family. Even though they did not get the consent of their parents, the couple decided to get married and start a life together. They were quite successful in it. Sandra has so far acted in Malayalam and Tamil films. Now she has signed for a Bollywood project which has Emraan Hashmi and Sameera Reddy in the lead roles.
Sandra Amy started her career in the field of acting since her childhood. Her first project was a Malayalam tele film named "Omana Thingal Kidavo". This happened when she was just three years old. As a child itself, Sandra has appeared in many ads, movies and soaps. Therefore she was quite familiar with the field and ofcourse the camera.
Sandra Jose, who has started acting right from her three years onwards finds it much easy to be in the industry even when she has grown up. The real turning point in her career life happened in the year 2003. Sandra was called to appear in a supporting role for the movie "Kasthooriman", directed by renowned director A.K Lohithadas. Meera Jasmine and Kunchako Bobban appeared in the lead roles in this movie. The film which had the element of romance in it was declared a super hit at the box office. In this movie, Sandra gave life to the character 'Sheela Paul'. She was able to perform well as Sheela and did receive a lot of appreciations from her friends, family and fans. Even though the role of Sheela was not a very prominent one, Sandra's acting talents were revealed to the audience. This kick started her growth in the field of large screens.
Further Sandra was again called for yet another Malayalam movie named "Swapnakoodu", directed by veteran director Kamal, in the same year itself. Prithviraj Sukumaran and Meera Jasmine appeared in the title roles of this movies. Here too Sandra was given a supporting role which she managed to do well. Swapnakoodu too was wholeheartedly accepted by the audience and the film was declared a super hit at the box office. In this movie, Sandra appeared as a Tamil girl 'Madurakani'. Then, Sandra was seen in the 2007 Malayalam film "Sooryakireedam", a horror movie directed by George Kithu. Indrajith Sukumaran and Nithya Das appeared in the male and female lead roles respectively. As Sandra was pursuing her studies then, she decided to quit movies for a while until she is done with her studies.
During her college days, Sandra entered into the field of Video Jockey. She was the VJ of the Kiran TV Show, Tamil Hits. As she was good at Tamil, she was able to grab the audience in a short while. Then she took up acting again when she got an offer to act in the role of Janani in Rojakootam soap for Vijay TV. She was then working as a VJ for the Sun TV Show Asatha Povadu Yaaru. Further she appeared as the host for many reality shows in Vijay TV and has acted in many soaps as well. In short she was fixing her feet in the soil of Tamil small screen too. Her actual acting career took a turn when the renowned director Samudhrakani spotted her for the role of Santhi in the movie Poraali. Even though it was her first venture in Tamil film industry, she was able to make her character perfect. This gained her lot of fans and she did get appreciations from around the state. Her acting and dubbing skills were praised by many and that gave her more confidence.
Sandra Amy's next Tamil movie was "6 Melugu Vathigal", directed by V. Z. Durai. It is a crime thriller movie which stars Shaam and Poonam Kaur in the lead roles. In this movie Sandra played the role of Shylaja. This too was a supporting role. This promising actress stepped in as a heroine through the Tamil film "Sivappu Enakku Pidikkum", directed by Youreka. The film is produced and distributed by JSK Film Corporation. It is a message oriented movie were Sandra gave life to the title character, Mahima, a prostitute. It was a really challenging role and she did cent percent justice to her character. This paved her way to greater heights. Sandra is now starring in yet another Tamil movie named Dharani. Here she plays the role of Tilaka, a village girl.
Sandra Amy, the promising actress is all set to act in a Bollywood film directed by Anthony D'Souza. The offer came in as a surprise for her when she was waiting for the release of her Tamil film, were she has appeared as a heroine. The Hindi movie is yet to be named but it is an Emraan Hashmi movie. Sandra will play the role of a Tamil girl friend of Emraan Hashmi. Even though she appears in a supporting role, she is given 15 scenes and is a very prominent role too. Sandra was asked to reduce 5 Kgs for this movie and her command over Hindi will be an added advantage for her. The female lead role in this film is played by Sameera Reddy. May be Sandra's future in Bollywood will be decided by this movie.
From her very first serial itself she was very particular not to be typecast. She says in fact she prefers character roles in soaps as they offer more scope for performance. Moreover she believes that the life span of a character actor is more than that of an actress who appears in the lead roles. Like Taapsee Pannu, Ileana D'Cruz, Tamannaah Bhatia and so on, Sandra Amy is yet another person stepping into Bollywood from South Indian film industry. Let us wait until the release of the movie to see how well this talented girl has performed in the Bollywood movie.


Shah Rukh Khan is a doting father and don't we know it? He has often been seen sharing pictures of his kids, be it Suhana, Aryan or AbRam. AbRam happens to be the apple of SRK's eye as he is his youngest son. Recently the Badshaah of Bollywood was gushing over the performance of his tiny tot AbRam on his song 'Yeh Taara Woh Taara' from the film 'Swades'.
SRK, has now shared a pic of Suhana playing with her baby brother AbRam and SRK has given as usual has given it a very witty caption.
The youngsters of Bollywood are hogging all the limelight from their celebrity parents. AbRam, Suhana and Aryan have a huge social media fan following and the audiences are also eagerly awaiting for their film debuts, that is if they choose to take up acting as a profession. While Jahnvi Kapoor has already been launched in Bollywood by Karan Johar, it has to be left to wonder, if KJO would be mentoring Aryan and Suhana as well. Given the fact KJO and SRK have been friends for over two decades and have starred in several films together, it only makes sense if he opts to launch Shah Rukh Khan's children in Bollywood. SRK had even joked about his son AbRam doing a film with Kareena Kapoor Khan's son Taimur Ali Khan.
On the workfront Shah Rukh Khan is busy with Aanand L Rai's 'Dwarf' film. He is also said to be the frontrunner for the role of 'Vedha' in the Hindi remake of 'Vikram Vedha'.


The critical care after the installation is complete.
Resurfacing your pool is one of the largest investments you will have regarding your swimming pool. The resulting appearance and longevity of the pool surface is determined by the care provided in the first four weeks after the installation. Proper steps for curing a new plaster require mandatory procedures such as: timely brushing, constant monitoring and adjusting of the pool water chemistry. Communication between owners and the pool company is of the utmost importance. It is critical that you confirm that the pool will be properly maintained and the job will include the extra work necessary for the curing process.
Why is curing your new plaster important?
The installation of a new plaster surface causes fluctuations in the water chemistry. The alkalinity, pH and calcium levels will rise while the surface is curing. The new plaster is susceptible to staining and discoloration during the first four weeks. The proper curing procedures will help reduce these imperfections plus scaling, pitting and gray streaks or spots. These procedures will also reduce the amount of "plaster dust" on the pool surface and will result in a smoother finish for the pool users to enjoy.
What to look for in a vendor?
There are some pool companies who will offer the plastering job at a lower price; however, the work is usually finished the day that the plaster is installed. You have to discuss the specifics of the curing process with the vendor to be sure it is not omitted after the job ends. The curing process is vital to ensure that this investment will last. We recommend you use a professional firm that comes highly recommended and is financially sound for this type of work. The selection should be a member of the National Plasterers Council (NPC) as well.
What does curing a plaster mean?
Curing plaster refers to a maturation process of the new plaster finish when it strengthens and seals. The pool finish will start to cure immediately after mixing. Sixty percent of the curing process occurs in the first 4 weeks and will continue over the next 8 to 10 months. This is when the final outcome of the surface is determined. If done correctly, you will extend the life of the plaster and ensure the pleasing aesthetics of the swimming pool surface.
What are the steps in curing a plaster?
There are specific "start up" procedures that need to be followed to ensure the plaster cures properly. These steps include filling the pool, turning on the filter system, checking the water chemistry and brushing the pool. During the first 4 weeks it is very important to keep the water balanced. This is done through ongoing testing of the water chemistry and making necessary chemical adjustments. The pool must also be brushed daily.
Due to the variances in the water supply, site specific conditions and environmental factors, the recommended procedures will need to be adjusted to protect the pool finish and produce the best results. We advise all pool owners that the selected vendor follows industry standards outlined by the National Plasters Council and has completed the necessary training. The NPC certification for this work is "Start Up Technician".
What can happen if I do not cure my plaster?
The secret to the long life of any pool surface is properly maintained water chemistry and appropriate surface care. Improper water balance will destroy any pool surface and can be especially harmful to a vulnerable new plaster surface. If it is not maintained properly, the new plaster will be rough and staining or discoloration will occur.
To ensure the investment in a newly plastered pool surface is a sound one, communication between the owner and the installer is of upmost importance. Be sure to address the specifics of the curing process, as it is vital to the longevity of your investment.


text:
Video: Hogwarts Revealed as Scaffolding Comes Down at Wizarding World Hollywood
by Catherine Lai · Published September 17, 2015 · Updated July 3, 2016
If you're someone who can't wait for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to open at Universal Studios Hollywood, you'll be glad to hear that construction on Hogwarts Castle appears to be nearing completion! A new video from Behind the Thrills shows that scaffolding around the castle has almost entirely come down this week. Check it out:
Hogwarts Castle will of course be home to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, which will be presented in 3D.
Back in July, we shared photos that appeared to show Hogsmeade village complete and free of scaffolding as well.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood is scheduled to open in spring 2016. Will you be there?
Catherine Lai
I have been a fan of Harry since 2000, a fan of MuggleNet since 2005, and a MuggleNet team member since 2013. I believe in the power of stories to bring people together, and nothing does that quite like Harry Potter. I'm an annoyingly proud Canadian and live in Toronto.
Next story Ever Wanted to Open Your Own Gringotts Account?
Previous story REVIEW: PEZ "Harry Potter" Collector's Series Set
So many fans visit King's Cross Station to take pictures of Platforms 9 and 10 that the station management erected a sign that says "Platform 9 3/4," which, in the Harry Potter books, is invisible to Muggles but acts as a gateway for witches and wizards.
July 11, 2007 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens in United States theaters.
"Draco, Draco, you are not a killer."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Il prezzo trovato è inferiore del 18% rispetto alla tariffa media di questo hotel che è pari a USD 356 a notte.
All'interno di un contesto di hotel di lusso, la terrazza di questo ristorante merita una visita: a picco sulla caldera, vista mozzafiato, servizio eccellente, cibo buono. Prezzi in linea con il posto, la vista di paga!
Dear Guest, We would like to thank you for taking the time to review our hotel on Trip Advisor. We are thrilled to read about your experience in Aqua Luxury Suites and very pleased that you enjoyed the location, service and food! We are gladly expecting you again for future stays.
Dear Nicolettausa, Thank you for taking the time to review our hotel on trip advisor! Reading that you had a comfortable and relaxed stay and that you have enjoyed our rooms and the breath taking view from our hotel is surely overwhelming. We look forward to welcoming you once again and offer another unforgettable experience!
Hello, please could you let me know if the two bedroom junior suite has a pool/jacuzzi? Also what is the weather like in April? We will be joining you next week for my husbands 50th Birthday. Next week can't come soon enough. Thank you.
My wife and I are looking at staying at this location. Has anyone stayed at one of the Apartment Split Level Suites. We are trying to decide if it is better to get a walk out terrace. We are wondering about getting up to it with drinks etc.
krdaniel from my home city of Austin...there are no "higher floors" the resort is on a cliff. The apartment is a great choice! Unfortunately, it wasn't available when I tried to book my trip. However, this is a truly epic property when it comes to views of the Caldera. You can request a room closer to the main building if you are concerned about getting drinks to the room or suite.
Please tell me if the bedrooms in the Grand Suite have doors? It looks like one bed is the main part of the suite.
Apologies as I had the one bedroom suite & it had a main door then stairs that take you down to the suite.
Hi, I am looking to book the Mare Grand Suite. Does the private terrace offer a view of the sunset from the private pool?
"La piscina a sfioro e' un po' rumorosa rispetto alle piscine idromassaggi normali"
"Aquarelle suite se risolveranno i due problemi principali."


Craft die from CottageCutz featuring the sentiment "Made With Love".
This 2-part die set consists of a large word and a layer die. The word "Love" measures 3" x 1.65", and the layer measures 3.2" x 1.85".
Take a trip to merry old London with this adorable mask! This mask features an edge designed to mimic a classic postage stamp and contains several London city elements to create silhouettes that coordinate perfectly with the firework stamps, along with a large 'London' text and union jack in the shape of a heart. The masks will work perfectly with the stamps, but the fantastic thing about them is they also work great on their own too. All of the masks also have a different border, so you can beautifully frame your projects or create interesting borders and dividers. The masks are perfect to use with distress inks, texture paste, glitter paste, and more. If you?re into inking and colouring, most of the elements on our masks are even big enough to colour through! Size: 5.5" x 5.5".
Craft dies featuring Love Birds. Compatible with most die-cutting machines.
Craft die from Sara Davies featuring a jar with a label and tags. Pack includes 6 metal dies. Largest die size is approximately 1.9" x 2.6".
Mickey and Minnie A Love Story Die. Create beautiful, high-quality layouts using these dies featuring your favorite characters from classic Disney films.


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Find Your Path Here
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Karl Junginger Memorial Library > Programs, Displays and Brochures
402. Programs, Displays & Brochures
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Facebook investigating claims that employee used "privileged access" to stalk women
By midian182
While today marks the start of Facebook's annual F8 developer conference, the company is also busy dealing with a number of other recent issues. First, there was WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum's announcement that he is leaving, reportedly due to clashes with Facebook over privacy concerns. Now, the social network is investigating allegations that one of its engineers used the firm's data to stalk women online.
The accusations arrived yesterday in the form of a tweet from Spyglass Security founder Jackie Stokes. "I've been made aware that a security engineer currently employed at Facebook is likely using privileged access to stalk women online," she wrote. "I have Tinder logs. What should I do with this information?"
I really, really hope I'm wrong about this. pic.twitter.com/NDkOptx8Hv
— Jackie Stokes (@find_evil) April 30, 2018
Facebook confirmed it was aware of Stokes' allegations and was investigating, but said it couldn't comment on any individual personal matters.
"We maintain strict technical controls and policies to restrict employee access to user data," Facebook said, in a statement. "Access is scoped by job function, and designated employees are only allowed to access the amount of information that's necessary to carry out their job responsibilities, such as responding to bug reports, account support inquiries, or valid legal requests."
"We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, and improper behavior results in termination," the company added.
While we don't know all the details, the situation comes at a time when Facebook's approach to how it handles user information is being put under a microscope. The Cambridge Analytica scandal that saw Mark Zuckerberg appear before Congress is still fresh in people's minds, and Koum's decision to leave the company he co-founded was partly a result of Facebook's privacy policies, though it was made before the current data harvesting crisis.
Accusations that a Facebook worker was using their access to company data to stalk women mirrors similar allegations made against Uber in 2016. A lawsuit from one of the ride-hailing firm's former workers claimed some employees monitored the accounts of "high profile politicians, celebrities, and even personal acquaintances," including ex-partners.
https://www.techspot.com/news/74397-facebook-investigating-claims-employee-used-privileged-access-stalk.html
Capaill TS Evangelist Posts: 894 +497
I once worked in a telecom operator where a guy working there used to read all text messages sent to/from his girlfriend to see if she was cheating on him.
This story on Facebook is nothing special - the same abuses of power are happening in hundreds of companies every day.
At least FB appears to be taking the accusation seriously.
VBKing TS Enthusiast Posts: 60 +28
Wait... What? Am I missing something here?
If I'm reading this correctly, it took someone from some OTHER company to notice / find / snoop this out? If so, then Facebook's statement that they have policies and controls in place to prevent this problem is just a lie.
commanderasus TS Addict Posts: 225 +98
FaceMash, Facebook's predecessor, opened in 2003. Developed by Mark Zuckerborg, he wrote the software for the Facemash website when he was in his second year of college. The website was set up as a type of "hot or not" game for Harvard students. The website allowed visitors to compare two female student pictures side-by-side and let them decide who was hot or not.
While writing the software, Mark Zuckerborg wrote the following blog entries:
I'm a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it's not even 10 pm and it's a Tuesday night? What? The Kirkland dormitory facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendiedous facebook pics. I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of some farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive. —2:49 pm
Yea, it's on. I'm not exactly sure how the farm animals are going to fit into this whole thing (you can't really ever be sure with farm animals...), but I like the idea of comparing two people together. —11:10 am
Same same as before nothing changes when your a Borg


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Connecting the Drops: State wide call-in show on water conservation
June 7, 2016 / KGNU / Connecting The Drops, Featured
KGNU in Boulder/Denver and KDNK in Carbondale hosted another state-wide call in show as part of the ongoing Connecting the Drops Series. The focus of the show was water conservation.
Brent Gardner-Smith of Aspen Journalism was the host at KDNK in Carbondale with guest April Long, an engineer and the clean river program manager for the city of Aspen which has been active in water conservation efforts for decades.
Maeve Conran was the host at KGNU, with guest Peter Mayer, a water conservation engineer who prepared water conservation plans for communities in the Roaring Fork Valley in 2014 including Carbondale, Aspen, and Glenwood Springs. He co-authored a new study: "Residential End Uses of Water, Version 2" from the Water Research Foundation.
http://objects-us-east-1.dream.io/kgnu-news/2016/06/06-6-16_Connecting%20the%20Drops%20Call%20In.mp3
waterwater conservation


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Hudson Valley Geologist
Random thoughts and opinions of a community college geology professor living in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State.
USGS M2.5+ Earthquakes
Stone Ridge Weather Forecast, NY
Current Solar Image
Blogs I follow...
• All Geo
• Bad Astronomy
• Confessions of a CC Dean
• Earth Science POD
• Northeast U.S. Weather
• Science Seeker
Cheating Students
Interesting, and depressing, statistics from the Online Education Database titled 8 Astonishing Stats on Academic Cheating.
1. 60.8% of polled college students admitted to cheating.
2. The same poll revealed that 16.5% of them didn't regret it.
3. Cheaters have higher GPAs.
4. The public is more concerned with cheating than college officials.
5. Cheating college students likely start in high school.
6. In fact, 85% of them think cheating is essential.
7. 95% of cheaters don't get caught.
8. Top-tier paper mill website average about 8,000 hits a day.
Go read it for more details on each point.
The article does say that math and science classes inspire the most incidents which obviously interests me. Whenever I require a paper now, I require students to submit it to Turnitin first to check for plagiarism - students still try to get away with it, just a couple of weeks ago a student handed in a paper with over 50% directly-copied content (no quotations, no citations).
I'm not naive, I know students cheat and plagiarize each other on assignments and labs. I encourage students to work together, but some take that to mean they can copy off their classmates. I generally know who's doing it (although I can't always prove it) and I always announce to the class that they're not going to be able to work together on the lab exam. And, predictably, a certain number of people fail the lab exam (the same ones I suspect are copying on labs all semester). Since the lab exam is worth a lot more than individual labs, they're only hurting themselves in the end.
I really do hate having to treat all students as potential cheaters. I'd rather be grading or reading something while students are taking exams instead of pacing around watching them like hawks. Unfortunately, past experience has shown that some people do try to cheat and that's not fair to the honest students.
I also surf the web looking at web sites on how to cheat. I'm wise to many of the tricks used!
Posted by Steven Schimmrich at 9:32 AM 1 comments
One year of blogging
I started this blog one year ago with the first post on December 29, 2009. It started off slow and I really wondered if I'd be able to keep it up. I surprised myself.
This is the 278th post, I've had almost 14,000 unique visitors, and I'm sometimes getting over 100 unique visitors a day. Not bad for a blog I haven't advertised much and people generally just stumble upon.
I enjoy writing and it's not usually a chore (sometimes, but not usually). Not sure if anyone enjoys reading any particular post but I do it for my own enjoyment (I can't explain why I enjoy writing, but I do).
I think I'll keep it up for 2011!
Posted by Steven Schimmrich at 12:17 AM 1 comments
Yesterday I discussed tin and its major ore mineral cassiterite (SnO2).
Tin is useful because it can be alloyed with copper to create bronze - typically 88% copper (Cu) and 12% tin (Sn) although ancient bronze pieces can vary in composition. The word is of uncertain origin but this metal alloy was historically important enough that we have a period of human history called the Bronze Age.
The earliest period of Homo sapiens history is called the Lithic or Stone Age (subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic). During this time, humans made tools and weapons from stone - often flaked quartzite, chert (flint), or obsidian which chip into nice sharp edges.
One of the first metals to be used for tools and weapons was copper. Native copper (pure copper metal deposits) occur in a number of areas and copper is relatively soft and easy to work. The use of copper appears earliest in Asia and appears to quickly spread into Europe. In Serbia, a copper axe was found dating to 5300 BC. Ötzi the Iceman, found frozen in the Alps in 1991, had a copper axe and was dated to 3300 BC. Copper working independently arose in the New World appearing in the upper Midwest (from copper deposits in Michigan and Minnesota) and among the Inca in Peru.
Sumerian copper dagger (c. 2500 BC)
The period of time when humans made copper tools is sometimes referred to as the Chalcolithic Age (from the Greek χαλκός for copper). Relatively quickly, somewhere in the Fertile Crescent, it was discovered that if a little tin was added to copper, it made a much harder metal. This occurred around 3500 BC. This was the result of intentional experimentation since copper and tin don't normally occur together as mineral ores. Tin has to be mined and smelted separately (from the mineral cassiterite), and then added to copper to obtain bronze.
Bronze weapons from Canaan (c. 2000 BC)
Copper is available throughout Europe and Asia, but tin is a bit less common. Starting in the early Bronze Age, tin was mined from the Cornwall and Devon areas of southwest England and was eventually traded throughout Europe. Much of the inter-cultural communication throughout Europe and Asia in ancient times was a result of mineral resource trading.
Tin is a metallic element (number 50 on the periodic table) and abbreviated Sn. The word tin is of Germanic origin and the Sn for the symbol comes from its Latin name stannum. Tin is directly above lead (Pb) on the periodic table with which it shares some chemical properties.
Tin has two oxidation states, +2 and +4 with the +4 being more stable. This leads to a common oxide ore mineral of tin, cassiterite, with the formula SnO2 (oxygen has a -2 oxidation so the tin is +4 in cassiterite). The name derives from the Greek kassiteros (tin) derived from the Phoenician word for Britain (Cassiterid), an important source of tin in the ancient world (a topic we'll return to tomorrow).
Cassiterite has a high density and its specific gravity, around 7.0, means its 7 times heavier than an equal volume of water. This leads to cassiterite occuring as placer deposits in many areas. The cassiterite weathers out of rocks and is concentrated by streams into alluvial placer deposits much like gold.
Placer mining was very important in the state of Perak in northwestern peninsular Malaysia near the city of Ipoh (see map). In a very labor-intensive practice, pits were dug into alluvial gravels and the sediments were then washed over boards with riffle traps catching the heavy cassiterite grains (similar to the way placer gold mining is done, see diagram at left as a simple example).
Malaysian tin mining began in the 1840's, provided over 30% of the world's tin around 1980, but is only a minor source today since the price of tin on the world market is too low to make these mines economical.
Tin is not mined in the United States. Most tin today comes from China and Indonesia. In China, deposits occur in an area called the Southeast Yunnan Tin Belt. The Yunnan Province in on China's southern boundary and the tin belt is south of the provincial capital of Kunming and just north of China's border with Vietnam (see map). Tin here occurs in quartz veins associated with Mesozoic-aged granitic intrusions. In Indonesia, tin is mined on Bangka Island ("Tin Island") off the southeastern coast of Sumatra (see map). Much of the mining here are alluvial placer deposits derived from Mesozoic-aged intrusives as well.
Most tin produced today (over 50%) is used as an alloy in solders (metal pipe and electrical connections). Much of the rest is used in tin plating of various metals for corrosion resistance and in various chemicals. Tin was formerly used a lot more in the production of tin cans and tin foil but has now been replaced by aluminum.
Tin is historically interesting because it can be alloyed with copper to create bronze. I'll leave that for tomorrow's post.
Posted by Steven Schimmrich at 1:44 PM 2 comments
Ozzy and Keith
I love to read. Most of what I read is non-fiction and a lot of it is in the genres of science/nature/travel. Occasionally, however, I'll read biographies and autobiographies and I recently read two that surprised me - both from infamous British rock stars.
Keith Richards Life (Little, Brown, & Company, 2010) reads like much of it was transcribed from recordings and could have benefited from some editing to tighten it up (the book is over 500 pages). Many of the stories are simply recitations of what he did when which I found boring to read after a while.
The thing that surprised me the most, not having read much about the Rolling Stones in the past, was how Keith Richards is a complete narcissistic jerk. From the decades of self-indulgent drug use, to criminal child neglect of his son Marlon (who he crashed a car into a tree with when wasted and who he took on tour), to his misogynistic treatment of women, to leaving audiences waiting an hour or more whil he sleeps off his latest drug cocktail, to cheating on his wives, to threatening people with knives who dare criticize him, to an apparent complete lack or sorrow or remorse for all the people he hurt in his life.
In Richard's world, the cops and customs inspectors are all assholes because they keep busting him for drugs and unregistered pistols (which he freely admits to having at the time), women are Kleenex, and his overblown sense of entitlement leads him to expect that a few phone calls will get him out of anything (mostly true - I'd be rotting in prison if I was arrested for the same things). He's a right git.
There were a few interesting and humorous things in the book but not really enough to justify wading through 500+ pages of drivel. As a frustrated guitar player (and "player" is too strong a word), it was interesting to read about the open G tuning which gives many of the Stones' songs their distinctive sound. Keith Richards has also played with a lot of great musicians and there were a few tidbits there. It was also pretty funny when he described his relationship with Jagger. Richards once saw a book by an author named Brenda Jagger and would refer to Mick Jagger to other band mates as Brenda (as in "Brenda's on the rag today") - apparently with Mick being in the room and not realizing they were talking about him. He also talked about having a myna bird as a pet once but had to get rid of it because it was always yelling and screeching at him ("It was like having Mick in a cage in my room", he said).
Can't say as I would recommend the book. It would only be of interest to die-hard fans and, quite frankly, I'm puzzled by a number of the good reviews of it on Amazon. No accounting for taste.
The other book was I am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne (Grand Central Publishing, 2010). I have to say, in contrast to Keith Richard's dreck, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The book is very readable and humorous and Ozzy comes across as a likable guy even though he did a lot of bad things in his life. He came a long way from the dyslexic kid who always got in trouble from a lower-class working family in Birmingham, England.
Like Richards, Ozzy had his troubles with drugs and alcohol but claims to be clean now. It's clear he is sorry for the people he hurt (especially his wife Sharon) and does have remorse for stupid things he's done in the past. Even though he did many of the same types of things Keith Richards did, he still comes across as a more decent character.
Lots of interesting and amusing stories about people and events. Ozzy going into a store the first time in America asking for 20 "fags" (slang for cigarettes in England) and the lady going "What do you want 20 fags for? Get the hell out of here you pervert!" Ozzy also had the reputation for being into satanism which was completely not true and he says it got real tiring dealing with people who took it all seriously (the guys from Black Sabbath wanted to write "scary" music). Once saw a group of satanists in a circle with candles at his hotel. Ozzy goes over to them, blows out the candles, and starts singing "Happy Birthday". Ozzy telling a doctor about all the drugs he did and the doctor turns to him and asks "Why are you still alive?" Sharon telling him to "Fuck off!" first time he proposed to her.
A good read if you're looking for something light and easy reading.
Posted by Steven Schimmrich at 10:38 PM 0 comments
In Christianity, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Let's leave aside for now any discussion of the historicity of Jesus and simply assume the Biblical account of his birth is correct. Is there scriptural evidence that Jesus was born on December 25? The short answer is no. Shepherds weren't out in the fields in December. They were out March through October. If Jesus died at 33 1/2 years old, on Passover, his birthdate would have been in mid-September. A Google search will clearly reveal that a number of people (some better qualified to do so than others) argue rather strongly for one date or another, but no one seriously argues for December 25 (and he was likely born sometime around 2-5 BC as well).
Why do we celebrate on December 25? Because once the early Christian church became powerful enough, it sought to stomp out all the old pagan beliefs and mid-December was a time of feasting and celebration in ancient Europe. It's when the winter solstice occurs, the turning of the year, and the church couldn't have people engaged in Sun worship so, in 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ's birth would be celebrated on December 25. Many of the old pagan traditions were hard to stomp out, however, and carried over into our modern Christmas celebrations.
Holly, ivy, and mistletoe are all plants associated with pagan mid-winter celebrations. Mistletoe has an interesting cultural history. European mistletow grows as a semi-parastitic plant on oak trees (sacred to the druids) and remains as a green crown on the seasonally "dead" trees in winter. It was seen as a powerful fertility symbol. The waxy white berries were identified with drops of semen - think about that next time you kiss under the mistletoe. I've read that mistletoe was banned from early Christian churches due to its pagan associations.
Yule logs are another of the pagan holdovers (a Norse tradition). So are wreaths and cuttings of evergreens (Germanic). Pagans did not erect Christmas trees (probably because they wouldn't cut down a living tree and bring it into a house) but there is a long pagan history of decorating living trees. As an aside, some fundamentalist Christians refuse to have a Christmas tree in their home because of Jeremiah 10:1-5.
While the Santa Claus legend is usually attributed by Christians to St. Nicholas of Myra in the 4th century, Santa has a lot of parallels to the old Germanic/Norse legends of Odin. Around Yule, Odin would lead a great hunt riding an 8-legged horse named Sleipnir that could leap great distances (kind of like magical reindeer). Odin also was referred to as having a long beard. Children would place boots filled with carrots or straw near the fireplace for Sleipnir to eat and Odin would leave gifts in return (like hanging stockings by the fire).
I'm half Finn and in Finland Santa is called Joulupukki which literally means "Yule Goat". This likely comes from an old pagan tradition of evil spirits that wore goat skins and horns and came in the night to demand gifts. This later morphed into a more jolly figure. Joulupukki is where we get the reindeer, the red and white suit, the helper elves (Joulutonttu), and the cold North Pole origin (Lapland in Finland originally).
Bottom line is that what we call Christmas is a mish-mash of European traditions, both Christian and pagan. So, despite what you hear in church, Christ is not the only reason for the season (I think he'd be horrified by the greed and commercialism of the holiday anyway - see Matthew 21:12). The tilt of the Earth's axis in the European mid-latitude climate is the real reason we have a seasonal celebration - it's ultimately astronomical!
Monkeys in business suits
Oklahoma and Kansas are apparently battling it out to see who has the stupidest state legislators.
The Durant Daily Democrat newspaper (I had to look - Durant is a town in southern Oklahoma just over the border north of Dallas/Fort Worth, TX) published an opinion piece by recently-elected Oklahoma State Senator Josh Brecheen.
Here's his article: Brecheen discusses evolution and Darwinian Theory.
Looking past the bad grammar (the "its" vs. "it's" confusion really annoys me), he makes some amazingly stupid comments. Biologists would be very surprised to learn that if the theory of evolution were true, monkeys would be expected to climb out of trees and put on business suits (since we don't see that, Brecheen claims, evolution is false, QED). We also don't see insects turn into mammals - a bizarre idea the State Senator called "phyla cross-over" that's mysteriously been left out of biology textbooks.
I feel sorry for school kids in places like Ohlahoma or Kansas. They're in for quite the shock when they get to a real science class in college.
There are many other genuinely stupid things in Brecheen's article - see P.Z. Myers amusing comments at Phyrangula. There's no crime in being a moron. It is inadvisable, however, to write newspaper articles to put it on public record.
Busy couple of days
Didn't post yesterday but I've been busy.
Went to Atlantic City with the wife Monday night - not because we're gamblers (we're low rollers and spent about $25 in the slots before giving up) but because we can get a nice hotel room cheap ($44 at Ballys on the 40th floor with ocean view) and get some time away from our kids (who've been really annoying lately!).
After the 4+ hour drive back on Tuesday, I went out to sit up all night with some heathens around a fire to mark the Solstice and celebrate the return of the Sun rising over the Hudson River (very apropos after teaching Ancient Astronomy this semester). It's a connection to my Germanic pagan ancestry.
In between all of this, I had to read and grade final papers (some horribly written and one blatantly plagiarized) and calculate final grades. Oh yeah, our carbon monoxide detector in the basement went off and we had to have an emergency furnace cleaning. And our living room television went "pop" and is no more.
Like I said, busy couple of days.
This poll by Gallup has been done a number of times since 1982 (click to enlarge or click on the Gallup link).
Bottom line is that 4 in 10 Americans believe God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden a few thousand years ago. Gallup doesn't ask, but I presume many, if not most of these respondents also believe in a young-Earth. In other words, they completely reject virtually all of modern science - once you throw a young-Earth in there, geology and astronomy are also out along with biology. In addition, to support a young-Earth creationist (YEC) model, chemistry and physics don't work either (e.g. the superfast plate tectonic model of some YECs or the "vapor canopy" model for flood waters is complete nonsense according to rather simple thermodynamics).
The way YECs explain things is much like the cartoon below.
I guess one could say there's good news in that 40% is the lowest it's been in decades. It is rather sad, however, that 4 in 10 Americans believe scientists are liars engaged in a global conspiracy. It's a good thing science is not decided by popular vote.
Solstice eclipse
The winter solstice will occur this Tuesday, December 21, at 2338 UTC (6:38 pm EST). This is, of course, when the Earth's Northern Hemisphere has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It's the shortest day of the year with only 9 hours or so of sunlight (because of the tilt, sunlight doesn't even wrap halfway around the Northern Hemisphere), and the Sun is lowest in the sky (making it cold since it has to heat a larger area).
There's also a full Moon on the solstice (it's full at 0813 UTC or 3:13 am EST). How common is that? Well, first we have to specify a specific time zone. While the full Moon occurs on the solstice day in the contiguous U.S., the point of the full Moon occurs at 10:13 pm on December 20 for Hawaii (the date before the solstice).
Just looking at a December full Moon such that it occurs on the solstice in the UTC time zone (time at longitude 000° which runs through Greenwich, England), it's occurred on December 21, 1980 and December 22, 1999. Since it also occurs on December 21, 2010, you can see it's not evenly spaced (19 years and then 11 years). Next time it occurs will be on December 21, 2094, a gap of 84 years. And, even more interesting, a total lunar eclipse will again occur on that date (but visible in Europe and Asia, not in North America like this one).
So what makes this cycle so complicated? It's because the synodic month, the cycle of lunar phases, is 29.530589 days and the tropical year, length of time from December solstice to December solstice is 365.242740 days. They generally, but not exactly, line up every 19 years (19 * 365.242740 days = 6939.61206 days / 29.530589 days = 234.997 which is damn close to 235. In other words, there are almost, but not quite, exactly 235 synodic months in 19 tropical years. It's called the metonic cycle and, despite being named after the ancient Greek astronomer Meton of Athens, this cycle was known even earlier to the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia.
Full Moons on the solstice are not too common, even more uncommon is a total lunar eclipse on the solstice. The last time this happened was December 21, 1638 and the next time will be December 21, 2094. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Lunar eclipses only occur on the full Moon and only when the Moon lines up with the Sun and Earth. Why not every month? Because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted by about 5° to the plane of the ecliptic. A lunar eclipse only occurs when the Moon is passing up or down through the ecliptic while it's full. This Tuesday morning, three different cycles all line up for us to view.
Of course, and I could have predicted this, the Hudson Valley will be partly cloudy overnight. I'll try to peek out to see what I can see but I'm not optimistic.
Men of Salt
Just finished an interesting book - Men of Salt: Crossing the Sahara on the Caravan of White Gold by Michael Benanav (Lyons Press, 2006). Benavav spent 40 days riding camels with a salt caravan across the Sahara from Timbuktu to the salt mines of Taoudenni in the African country of Mali.
Armchair travelers, like myself, ofen dream of doing things like this but I have to say as much as I'd love to see the desolate scenery of the Sahara, the reality is I'd hate the experience.
Benavav describes the open sores on his ass from riding a camel, traveling some 20 hours a day (the caravans hurry because if you don't, you'll die out there), the lack of food (one meal a day of rice and, if you're lucky, some dried goat or camel meat), using sand for toilet paper (imagine doing this after having "issues" due to rancid goat meat which the author experienced), drinking nasty water scooped from camel troughs, eating camel offal (guts) as an honored guest.
No thanks, if I ever get the chance to visit (not likely), I'll take the tour that uses a Range Rover and carry freeze-dried meals and toilet paper.
It is a great story though and a gripping read. It's interesting to learn about the men who work during the cooler parts of the year (when the temperature only gets to 120° F) to dig salt which was once as highly valued as gold. Caravans used to travel north from Timbuktu to the Mediterranean with gold and slaves and south with salt from the desert. No more gold on the caravans, slaves are now basically workers trapped in never-ending poverty, but salt is still highly valued and used as a form of currency in this part of Africa.
A salt mine and caravan of salt-laden camels are shown below.
Notice that the layer of white salt (the mineral name for rock salt is halite) has to be reached by digging down a couple of meters through the overlying rock. Imagine doing this on a substandard diet, weeks from civilization, in a remote outpost with no medical care, in 100° F plus temperatures. Not very fun.
Why is there this layer of rock salt in Taoudenni, Mali many hundreds of miles from the ocean? I didn't do any detailed reseach but it appears to be a salt pan, a dry desert lake bed. We know that the Sahara was once more temperate in climate, with grasslands, a few thousand years ago. A lake must have once existed here while it was becoming a desert climate. A lake in a basin with no outlet, losing water only be evaporation, and leaving behind a layer of salt.
Below is a picture of my wife and daughter on the Bonneville salt flats in western Utah near the Nevada border. Same thing happened here. Only difference is that in Mali the salt layer is under another couple of meter of sediments so has to be mined out.
While the conditions are hellish, the scenery in Mali can be beautiful. I thought it amusing, however, that the camel drivers laughed at the author when he declared the scenery beautiful - to them it was a terrible place of death.
It's like the early pioneers in the U.S. They believed that chopped down trees and farmed land was beautiful, the wilderness was not. It's hard to appreciate the scenery when you're struggling to survive!
I love reading travel books (not like I can go to many of these places). Anyone have any recommendations of good ones?
I'm so depressed
Gave a geology final exam today and put an easy question on it (I thought it was a gift to the students). "What is the age of the Earth in Ma?" "Ma" as they all should know, means mega annum or million years and it's how ages are reported on their geologic time scales. Anything between 4,500 and 4,600 Ma would have been accepted for credit but most missed it. The age of the Earth was only mentioned a dozen or more times since the first day of classes (when I mentioned the age of the Earth is one of the main important themes in geology). We also had a 90 minute lecture on radiometric dating and the age of the Earth. I guess no one was listening. Oh, did I mention this was a lab Physical Geology course for science or education majors? Sigh.
Orpiment & realgar
Two very pretty, and related, minerals are called orpiment and realgar. Orpiment is a yellow to orange mineral whose name derives from auripigmentum (aurum means "gold" and pigmentum means "pigment" or "color") due to its deep yellow color and use as a paint pigment.
Realgar is a ruby-red mineral whose name comes from the Arabic rahj al-ġār which means "powder of the mine" probably due to its use as a pigment as well.
So what do orpiment and realgar have in common? Turns out they're both arsenic sulfide minerals:
Orpiment = As2S3
Realgar = As4S4
The minerals can also occur together.
Historically orpiment was used as a bright yellow pigment for painting before the development of cadmium yellow. Realgar was used as a ruby-red pigment with one imporant drawback - it fades to a yellow powder after long exposure to light (old paintings where realgar was used now have a yellow color in place of the red the artist intended). Also, one of the major problems with orpiment and realgar pigments is that they're highly toxic, being arsenic compounds.
The fading of realgar pigments also affects the mineral specimens. Realgar needs to be kept in a dark box or drawer, if you leave it out on a bookshelf the mineral will start to break down into a yellow mineral called pararealgar (AsS). I've read that it's the green wavelengths of light that will break down realgar but have no idea why (something I need to research).
Both orpiment and realgar occur in low-temperature hydrothermal veins (fractures in rock in which hot water precipitated minerals), in hot spring deposits, and as sublimates from gasses emitted from volcanic fumaroles. In some areas, these minerals occur with galena (lead sulfide - PbS), gold, and silver deposits. Most of the arsenic produced worldwide comes from these two minerals and another called arsenopyrite (FeAsS).
What use is arsenic? Historically, it was an important poison (it's been called the "Poison of Kings") but today autopsies can detect its presence with some simple chemical tests if it's a suspected cause of death. Victorian women used to ingest arsenic to make them look paler (unlike the tanned commoners who had to work outside). Obviously not a recommended practice. Arsenic was also once used to treat syphilis and other medical conditions. Its poisonous properties have led to its use as a wood preservative (now phased out in the U.S.) and insecticide and fungicide. One high-tech use is in the manufacture of certain semiconductors (notable those made of GaAs - gallium arsenide).
Even though orpiment and realgar are arsenic compounds, they're not really hazardous in a geology lab. Don't chew on the minerals, wash your hands after handling them, and they're fine.
Grading comic
I love this comic by Samantha Folkchurch from College Misery (click to enlarge).
Are we depriving our homeschooled children?
My wife and I homeschool our two children. We're pretty open about it even though some people feel the need to share their disapproval with us. This is, of course, something I don't do when talking to other people about how they choose to raise their kids but whatever ("Hey Bill, how come little Courtney dresses like such a tramp?"). Anyway, yesterday someone mentioned something about homsechooling that has now come up at various times from three different people at my job (people who work in higher educations).
It seems that we're depriving our children of the experience of getting the shit kicked out of them by bullies. Evidently this is character-building and teaches kids how to "take care of themselves." I think back to my experience in public school. I was a shy, thin, kid who liked to read and did well on exams. I was made fun of for that by many of my peers. Starting around 4th grade, and extending up until 8th grade, I was not just picked on mercilessly, but also physically beaten up at times. The useless advise from my mother - "Ignore them and they'll leave you alone" is complete bullshit in the Lord of the Flies world of young boys.
It's only when I was about 13 years old that, one day, in the hallway, I slammed one of the bullies into a locker in a violent rage and truly wanted to kill him. I grew large enough, and had endured enough, and finally fought back. Generally I was left alone after that except for the verbal taunts and general ostracism. One of the reasons I dropped out of high school at 14 (16 officially, but stopped attending pretty much in 9th grade). I can truly understand teen suicide from bullying.
You know what? Ever since I left high school I have never, ever been in a physical fight (and I used to hang out in a biker bar years ago). Given my size, and the fact that I regularly lift weights at the gym, I think I could handle myself today but don't feel any macho bullshit reason to do so. Now maybe I'm projecting my bad experiences onto my kids, but I don't think so. My nine-year-old son is much like I was at his age. Shy, a little odd sometimes (in a good way, in my opinion), and he reads more and better than most adults. He would be bullied at school. Maybe he'd learn to handle it, maybe he'd learn to hide the fact that he's smart and likes "nerdy" things, or maybe he'd get bitter and drop out of school like I did.
This doesn't mean we raise our kids in a vacuum, far from it. Between Aikido, history class, Muset orchestra, choir, library programs, Numeracy Club, local nature programs, homeschool co-op and other things we participate in, our kids associate with both homeschooled and public-schooled kids of a variety of ages. Sometimes kids get into arguments and even a shove or hit on occasion although parents quickly step in and defuse the situation. What doesn't occur is mob cruelty and repeated physical and mental abuse of the children.
When I hear of other people's kids crying and telling their mothers they don't want to go to school because they get picked on all day I think we're making the right decision (not just for this, but for a myriad of reasons). I don't think learning to fight is an essential life skill (although they do take Aikido lessons - which is more for self-defense). And, like I said, I've never had to physically fight with anyone, and have not been mercilessly tormented, ever since I left public school. And I don't think it's character-building (at least not in a good way) to be bullied for years of your life.
Perhaps my wife and I should do the following...
Posted by Steven Schimmrich at 6:58 AM 16 comments
Sulfur mines
Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy brought this to my attention and I can't resist sharing it here. Photographer Olivier Grunewald took stunning images of sulfur miners working in truly hellish conditions in the crater of Kawah Ijen volcano in Java, Indonesia.
Next to a sulfuric acid lake (pH measured at 0.5!) in the caldera are a number of vents emitting volcanic gasses like sulfur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). These gasses are channeled through ceramic pipes which results in the condensation of liquid sulfur as the gas cools. Deep red molten sulfur pours out of the pipes, cools to the yellow mineral and is then carried out of the area by miners in baskets. The miners work without protective equipment, obviously suffer respiratory problems, and have to hike up and down out of the volcanoes caldera twice a day. Typical miners earn the equivalent of $13 U.S. per day.
Check out the images by Grunewald - they're incredible and look like they were taken on Jupiter's moon Io!
GRE scores and majors
Really interesting plot from Razib Khan's Gene Expressions blog regarding GRE scores and majors (see his blog post for more information and plots). The GREs (Graduate Record Exams) are exams undergraduates take when applying for graduate school (similar to the SATs that high school students take to get into college). Quant refers to the quantitative portions of the GRE (think math and logical reasoning skills) and verbal is self-explanatory. Click plot for a larger image.
Social workers probably can't understand this plot (just kidding!), philosophers are great with language (ever read philosophers? They use their skills for evil), and math and physics majors have great quantitative skills (no surprise there). Anthropologists (blogged about yesterday) and psychologists are not so good at math (art and performance majors outscore them in quant for god's sake - is this why these two fields are filled with so much woo?). Unfortunately, education majors all seem to be below the mean.
Earth science (my field) and biology are middle of the road. Pretty weak in quant when compared to hard sciences like chemistry and physics and those in technical fields like engineering and computer science. Of course these are generalities. Someone majoring in geology but going into geophysics, for example, would have to have great math skills. It's a liability for field geologists, on the other hand, to be very bright (they actually enjoy wearing the same set of underwear for weeks on end and have killed off most of their brain cells with alcohol).
Anthropologists admit anthropology is not a science
Well, at least some of them, others are not so happy about it.
See this interesting New York Times article "Anthropology a Science? Statement Deepens a Rift."
The problem, and I think it is a problem because I believe most fields of study are best when undergirded by the scientific method, is that many cultural/social anthropologists have ideological agendas and see themselves as advocates rather than objective researchers (although, like in many of the social "sciences", there are anthropologists who argue that the whole concept of scientific inquiry is fundamentally flawed since there's no such thing as an objective researcher or absolute truth).
Here's another article Anthropology Without Science at Inside Higher Ed. Check out this quote from the article:
Still, the change seemed to resonate uncomfortably with some more scientifically oriented anthropologists, who perceived a broader shift in the discipline that they say began decades ago. "It's become so dominated by, not so much humanistic scholars, but by scholars who are actively hostile" to science, said Raymond Hames, chair of anthropology at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and a cultural anthropologist who favors a scientific approach.
Here's another quote discussing a sociocultural anthropology PhD student blogger who:
...argued that continuing to use the term "science" in the association's mission statement had become a concern because it maintained "the colonizing, privileging, superior positionality of anthropology that continues to plague the discipline."
In other words, science is a tool of oppression that old white guys use to beat down indiginous cultures.
The article No Science Please, We're Anthropologists in Psychology Today is also interesting and has a number of links to other reactions in the blogosphere.
This controversy caught me eye because, during my first semester at college, I was an anthropology major since I had an interest in archaeology (still do). I remember the professor in my physical anthropology class saying, in a bitter voice, something like "I hope none of you are anthropology majors, there are absolutely no jobs for you when you graduate." Didn't realize it at the time, but it's quite possible he was an adjunct (part-time) instructor - the slave labor of higher education employment.
Anyway, people are complicated, that's why I like studying rocks - doesn't matter if you're Chinese or American, doesn't matter if you're Christian or atheist, doesn't matter if you're male or female, doesn't matter if you're black or white, a granite is a granite. Sure geologists argue over geological interpretations, but the final arbiter is always hard, physical, DATA and not clever ideological arguments.
Lithium's an interesting element. It's one of the few elements that formed along with hydrogen during the Big Bang at the origin of the universe and is number 3 on the periodic table. It's one of the alkali metals found in Group I (the first column) of the table. These are silvery, soft, low density metals that have one lone electron in their outermost shell and are highly reactive with water (they are generally stored in mineral oil or kerosene).
Mix lithium with water and you get a highly energetic reaction:
2 Li (s) + 2 H2O (l) → 2 LiOH (aq) + H2 (g)
Take lithium hydroxide (LiOH) and mix it with tallow (animal fat) and you get lithium stearate (LiC18H35O2), a component of grease (ever greased wheel bearings?).
Lithium hydroxide is also useful in spacecraft, submarines, and scuba rebreathers where it helps scrub carbon dioxide (CO2) from exhaled air.
2LiOH + CO2 → Li2CO3 + H2O
Astronaut checking lithium hydroxide canisters on the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-126)
The product of this reaction is lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), a very useful industrial chemical used in glassmaking for bakeware, in ceramic glazes, as an ingredient in cement to help it set faster, in tile adhesive, and other applications.
Lithium carbonate is also used as a medication. It turns out that that it acts as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorders. It's not well-understood why it works (but certainly shows how chemistry affects our moods). In 1929, lithium citrate (Li3C6H5O7), also used as a mood stabilizer, was placed into a soda originally called "lithiated lemon-lime soda." Today we know it as 7-Up (no lithium in it anymore!).
A huge use of lithium is for batteries. Most lithium batteries use lithium for the anode (negative end) and manganese dioxide (MnO2) for the cathode (positive end) of the battery. Lithium batteries are used in applications that require relatively low current (but can deliver high current pulses) and a long-life. In other words, a lot of consumer electronics.
I've read that lithium scavenged from old batteries can be used in the production of methamphetamine. This has led to completely ridiculous restrictions (like those for Sudafed) in some localities restricting the amount of batteries you can purchase at one time.
Lithium, being so reactive, is never found as a metal by itself naturally, it's mined from ore minerals like spodumene - LiAl(SiO3)2 - a proxene group mineral. Spodumene forms in lithium-rich granite pegmatites - igneous rocks which form from cooling magma at depth and grow relatively large crystals due to the presence of water and other volatiles dissolved in the molten rock.
Single crystals of spodumene as long as 50 feet have been reported from the famous, but now defunct, Etta Mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Below is a cross-section of the mine showing the spodumene crystals in the central ore body, an historic photo of a 47 meter long spodumene "log" excavated in 1904, and a photo I took of a tunnel at the Etta Mine a few years ago.
Spodumene has two gem varieties. One is pale, emerald green hiddenite first found in North Carolina by eploration geologist William Earl Hidden. Hidden was actually searching for sources of platinum in the area for Thomas Edison in 1879 (which was a failure). Specimen below is from Pakistan.
The second variety of spodumene of note is kunzite, a pink to pale purple variety. Kunzite has a tendency to fade in bright light leading to its nickname of "evening stone" when used as jewelry. First found in California in 1902, it's named after the famous mineralogist George F. Kunz who worked for both the American Museum of Natural History and the Tiffany Company among other things. Below is some kunzite from Pala, California.
Another mineral containing lithium is a variety of Elbaite tourmaline (named for deposits in Elba, Italy) called "watermelon tourmaline" for its zoned red/green color. Elbaite has the horrendously complex formula Na(Li,Al)3Al6Si6O18(BO3)3(OH)4.
Tourmalines (the name denotes a whole group of minerals) are also found in granite pegmatites and often occur in association with spodumene. The sample above is from the famous Plumbago Mountain deposit in Maine.
Like I said, it's an interesting element.
Why do you homeschool?
People sometimes ask me why I homeschool. Could be due to seeing results like the one below comparing the U.S. to other developed (and not so developed) countries around the world.
Could also be due to fact that the majority of our students require remedial English and math (sometimes they require READING courses) even though they're local high school graduates.
There's something horribly wrong with education in the U.S. We spend something approaching $20,000/year/student for our local high school and some of the students who graduate are functionally illiterate. The public should expect better results for that amount of money spent.
Many of these recent graduates can't read or write well enough to take Freshman English 101 at a community college (they can't write a coherent paragraph on a placement exam). They can't place into something we call College Algebra (a course which is indistinguishable to what I took as algebra in the 9th grade 30+ years ago). Yet they have NYS Regent's diplomas. What the fuck? I think "No child left behind" is better stated as "No child too damn ignorant to graduate".
Maybe I should start teaching my kids Chinese so they'll prove useful to our Asian overlords in another decade or two.
A response to students who complain about all the different courses they have to take in college...
The liberal arts are not merely indispensable; they are unavoidable. Nobody can decide for himself whether he is going to be a human being. The only question open to him is whether he will be an ignorant, undeveloped one or one who has sought to reach the highest point he is capable of attaining. The question, in short, is whether he will be a poor liberal artist or a good one.
Robert Maynard Hutchins, Great Books of the Western World. Volume 1: The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education (1952)
NASA scientists eviscerated
Great analysis of the Science paper and NASA press conference last Thursday (see post 1 and post 2) by Dr. Rosemary (Rosie) Redfield who runs a microbiology lab at the University of British Columbia.
A bit technical but well worth reading if you're interested in NASA's claims about these supposedly arsenic-based bacteria. A couple of great quotes:
"Bottom line: Lots of flim-flam, but very little reliable information... If this data was presented by a PhD student at their committee meeting, I'd send them back to the bench to do more cleanup and controls."
"I don't know whether the authors are just bad scientists or whether they're unscrupulously pushing NASA's 'There's life in outer space!' agenda. I hesitate to blame the reviewers, as their objections are likely to have been overruled by Science's editors in their eagerness to score such a high-impact publication."
Love it - this is how science works! Put your idea out there, give other people the chance to criticize it, and if it's a good idea supported by evidence it becomes accepted science. If not, which I think is the case here, it dies.
What's unfortunate is that our tax dollars are going to support bad science by people more interested in grabbing headlines.
Doll's eyes
A botanical picture from last summer I found while looking through my stored images. It's a neat plant called doll's eyes or white baneberry (Actaea pachypoda). The specific name pachypoda ("big foot") refers to its thick underground rhizome.
It was growing in the Mohonk Preserve near Spring Farm. The berries are poisonous - they're cardiogenic, interfere with the function of the heart, leading to cardiac arrest and death (birds eat them without ill effect, however). The name "white baneberry" should provide a clue that the berries aren't too good!
Supposedly Native Americans made a medicinal tea from the roots of this plant to relieve pain after childbirth - the roots have the active ingredient of β-sitosterol glucoside which reduces menstrual cramping. This preparation is sometimes called white cohosh since it's similar to black cohosh (from the roots of the related plant Actaea racemosa) sold as an herbal supplement used to relieve vasomotor symptoms of menopause.
I wouldn't recommend use of this plant, however, since the entire plant is considered poisonous (most medicines are, after all, lower dosages of chemicals that will kill you - the problem is getting a correct dosage with something like tea from a plant root!).
I just thought it was a neat-looking plant that I had never noticed prior to this past summer.
Solar filament eruption
Over the next few months, we're moving into an active phase of the Sun's 11-year cycle. There have been some big sunspots visible lately - this picture is from around noon EST today:
There's also been a huge solar filament stretching around the Sun's southeastern limb (the image above is upside down since that's the way it's seen through the telescope so the filament is actually associated with that large sunspot visible in the picture).
The filament was 700,000 kilometers in length (that's about the radius of the Sun!) and erupted today. Most of the energy was directed away from the Earth so shouldn't result in any auroras but here's some spectacular footage from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Click on the image to view as a movie.
Our Sun is an active place!
Aluminum (aluminium for UK and Canadian readers) is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust and the most abundant metal. It's found combined with other elements in hundreds of different minerals.
As a metal, it has a myriad of uses and is notable for being resistant to corrosion. Discovered in 1825, but difficult to extract from its mineral ore, aluminum was as highly valued as gold or silver for a time due to its shiny, light-weight, corrosion-resistent properties.
In the mid-1800s, the French Emperor Napolean III served his most distinguished guests on aluminum plates rather than gold ones since aluminum was the rarer metal. In 1884, a six-pound pyramid of aluminum was placed atop the Washington Monument (picture at left). It wasn't until around 1890 that industrial processes were developed which allowed aluminum to be refined more easily and it become a more pedestrian metal we encounter on a daily basis.
Most aluminum is extracted from the ore bauxite - a rock composed of several different aluminum hydroxide minerals (minerals with OH in the formula) typically formed from extreme soil weathering in tropical climates.
When iron (Fe) is exposed to air, iron oxide (Fe2O3) rust forms. The soft rust flakes off exposing more iron to air forming more rust and the iron eventually corrodes away. Aluminum, however, is a different story. When metallic aluminum is exposed to air, it almost instantly forms a coating of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) a few atoms thick. This substance is incredibly hard (the only thing harder are diamonds) and result in aluminum being so resistant to corrosion.
Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) also forms naturally as a mineral called corundum.
Corundum isn't much to look at, typically forming brownish hexagonal, barrel-shaped crystals, but its extreme hardness makes it very useful as an industrial abrasive.
South of Peeksill, NY, in the mid-Hudson Valley, is a deposit of emery formed 430 million years ago (Silurian Period) when blocks of the Manhattan Formation schist (the same rock exposed in Central Park in Manhattan) were metamorphically altered by intruding magma forming what's called the Cortlandt Complex. This altered rock is called emery and composed of corundum mixed with some other minerals species and mined for use an an abrasive (women who do their nails know what emery boards are). There aren't many emery mines around, one of the biggest is on the Greek island of Naxos.
Throw a little chromium (replace Al3+ with a few Cr3+) in corundum as an impurity and you have a variety known as ruby.
Rubies are relatively rare with the best historically coming from Burma (Myanmar). The word corundum, by the way, comes from the Tamil (a language in India) word kuruntam meaning ruby.
Sapphires, which come in a variety of colors are another form of corundum due to impurities substituting for the aluminum ions. If iron (Fe2+) and titanium (Ti4+) substitute, a deep blue color results.
Simple aluminum oxide... Corrosion protection for aluminum metal, abrasive material we've all used in sandpaper and emery boards, and fantastic gemstones like rubies and sapphires.
This poll by Gallup has been done a number of time...
Anthropologists admit anthropology is not a scienc...
Kentucky's monument to ignorance
More unwarranted hype from NASA
NASA to announce ???
Academics vs. Enrollment