Legislative Teacher Resources

Find Legislative educational ideas and activities

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Learners examine how citizens can influence legislation. They watch a video, develop a list of how citizens can influence legislation, answer video discussion questions, conduct Internet research, and write a recommendation for change to the No Child Left Behind Act.
Students examine the historical background of Supreme Court decisions and the basic principles behind legislation. As part of the instructional activity, students discover legal concepts and terms and write sentences using the vocabulary they have discussed.
Learners examine the roles of each of the branches of U.S. government. In this checks and balances lesson, students watch Discovery video segments and discuss the concept of federalism as they create a school-wide policy for government which affords specific powers to individual classrooms.
Students gain an introductory into the branches of government. Students research all parts of government and use Frames to create a public service announcement to teach others the parts of government and how they work.
Student demonstrate understanding of both sides of the argument between Jefferson and Marshall that led to the strengthening of the Judicial Branch through the creation of judicial review. Unit is comprised of five lessons and fits into the larger unit of study on the creation and development of the three branches of government in the United States.
Students explore the role of President of the United States. In this executive branch lesson, students play an online game that requires them to consider the needs of Americans as they act as president.
Students explore the role of state government. In this civics lesson, students play an online game that requires them to consider the needs of state residents and the structure of state government.
Students study our framework for government and examine the actual document ans see its direct impact on their lives. Groups act as a branch of government and role play the powers granted to them in Articles I, II, or III of the Constitution.
Fourth graders participate in a game in that helps them review the branches of government
High schoolers examine the general concept of representative democracy, and compare/contrast the American representative democracy to the monarchical system. They research the role of legislative bodies in serving the government, particularly in Nebraska.
Students study the powers and limitations of the three branches of the American government. They explain how the system of "checks and balances" protects the individual citizens. They explain how the amendments to the Constitution function today.
Eighth graders explore and explain the responsibilities and limits of our national system of government. After reading various selections documenting the viewpoints of the federalists and anti-federalists and the separation of power, 8th graders give explanations as to why our division of power in the government is appropriate.
Twelfth graders explore the functions of the Federal Court System. In this Judicial Branch lesson plan, 12th graders examine the needs for courts as they discuss justice and rights, read an excerpt from Hamilton's Federalist Papers and complete the provided handout.
Jeopardy games are great ways for students to review concepts in an interesting way. This Game covers the Amendments, 3 Branches of US Government, and miscellaneous terms related to American independence and law.
Here is a phenomenal lesson on the three branches of government for your second and third-graders. It presents this often-confusing information in an easy-to-understand format. Many excellent activities and worksheets are embedded in the plan, including coloring in the reverse side of the South Dakota State Quarter and identifying the four famous faces on Mt. Rushmore.
Eighth graders explore the processes, purpose and components of a good and just constitution. They focus on the Constitution of the United States of America. Students discuss the purpose of a constitution and reasons why the Constitution of the United States of America was written. They create their own constitution.
Pupils create a "Who's Who" compilation of local, state, national and international leaders that advocate, introduce legislation, and lobby for the deaf. They use internet research to create a catalog of biographies and then conduct a correspondence with one of the leaders. The results from the project are presented in a Power Point slide show for community members.


Nuclear Power

Nuclear energy is a clean, safe way to make electricity. It does not burn any fuel like coal so there are no pollutants released into the air.

Nuclear energy is energy that is stored in the nucleus or center core of an atom. The nucleus of an atom is made of tiny particles of protons (+ positive charge) and neutrons (no charge). The electrons(- negative charge) move around the nucleus. Nuclear energy is the force that holds the nucleus together in an atom.

How it works

In order to use this energy, it has to be released from the atom. There are two ways to free the energy inside the atom.

1. Fusion

Fusion is a way of combining the atoms to make a new atom.

For example, the energy from the sun is produced by fusion. Inside the sun, hydrogen atoms are combined to make helium. Helium doesn't need that much energy to hold it together, so the extra energy produced is released as heat and light.

2. Fission

Fission is a way of splitting an atom into two smaller atoms. The two smaller atoms don't need as much energy to hold them together as the larger atom, so the extra energy is released as heat and radiation.

Nuclear power plants use fission to make electricity. By splitting uranium atoms into two smaller atoms, the extra energy is released as heat. Uranium is a mineral rock, a very dense metal found in the ground and it is non-renewable. Non-renewable means we cannot make more of the substance. Currently, it is a cheap and plentiful fuel source. Power plants use the heat given off during fission to generate electricity.

Fission creates heat which is used to boil water into steam inside a reactor. The steam then turns huge turbines that drive generators that make electricity. The steam is then changed back into water and cooled down in a cooling tower. The water can then be used over and over again.


Guest Article #13

Frozen seeds - safeguarding global food supplies

World population grows and, thus, the demand for food. At the same time, climate change poses a threat to food supplies, particularly in poorer parts of the world. Subsistence crops are vulnerable to, amongst other things, desertification, temperature increases, changes in rainfall patterns and flooding, i.e. phenomena that are expected to become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change.

Through the proper conservation and utilization of genetic material the world will be better prepared to adjust food production to new climate conditions. With the help of genetic diversity we can develop new varieties of crops that are able to withstand more extreme climate conditions.

It is primarily the responsibility of the developed world to combat threats posed by our changing climate. The Nordic countries have put in place a range of measures to tackle the situation, including the creation of a global seed bank and efforts to promote similar gene banks in Africa and Central Asia. One key Nordic objective is to safeguard global food supplies through the conservation and sustainable utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture.

The Nordic countries benefit from one of the most comprehensive systems of regional partnership anywhere in the world. The Nordic Council of Ministers serves as the official body for intergovernmental cooperation and the Nordic Council as the official body for inter-parliamentary cooperation. The initial focus was on integration, but Nordic cooperation has become increasingly outward-looking in the age of globalisation, especially on genetic resources, a field in which NordGen (the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre) takes the practical lead in a well-established partnership.

NordGen manages the Global Seed Vault, located on the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic. Popularly known as ‘Noah's Ark for seeds,' this unique facility is capable of storing up to 4.5 million samples. Its purpose is to safeguard the world's seeds and food supplies in the event of natural disasters, war or other threats.

The huge storage capacity makes it possible to store seeds from almost all the crops of the world. The three chambers extend deep into the bedrock, offering optimal conditions – the permafrost guarantees that the seeds will remain frozen even during a power cut. The vault is owned by Norway, but operated under a tripartite agreement among Norway, the international Global Crop Diversity Trust and NordGen.

Global interest has been massive, and seed samples from over 100 countries in Africa, Asia and South America have already been sent to Svalbard. It has also received samples from FAO's International Agricultural Research Centres, which house some of the largest and most important seed collections in the world. One key aim has been to involve developing countries where vulnerability to climate change impacts and extreme weather events, as well as political instability may threaten biological diversity.

In addition, the Nordic Region plays an active role in the development of gene banks in Africa and Asia.

So why is it so important to conserve our genetic resources and use them in a sustainable fashion?

Firstly, the Svalbard vault in particular and gene-bank partnerships in general are ways of restoring important species lost due to events such as natural disasters, which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Modern agriculture uses advanced plant varieties based on the most productive genetics. The original land races and wild forms produce lower yields, but their greater genetic variation contains a higher diversity and could be used to produce more climate-resilient crops. High-yielding modern crops are therefore vulnerable when a new disease arises.

The consequences for genetic diversity will be dire if we fail to preserve such valuable genetic resources, especially in an era of climate change. It is vital that both ancient and new species are conserved in secure environments, and this applies to the cultivated parts of our biodiversity as a whole – forests and farm animals as well as crops.

However, seed banks are not just a back-up in the event of disaster. One of the aims of our work in Africa, for example, is to encourage researchers, plant breeders and farmers to use them on a regular basis in order to adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as increased water salinity or drought.

The countries of the world will gather in New York in May for the 17th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The agenda will include Africa, agriculture and desertification, and the Nordic countries will present their solutions for safeguarding global food supplies.

Superman built an Arctic fortress to protect his possessions. In the same way, we must protect and preserve our global genetic resources in order to promote global food security and help us on the road to a world free from the fear of famine.


Performance Schema Event Timing

Events are collected by means of instrumentation added to the server source code. Instruments time events, which is how the Performance Schema provides an idea of how long events take. It is also possible to configure instruments not to collect timing information. This section discusses the available timers and their characteristics, and how timing values are represented in events.

Two tables provide timer information:

Each timer row in setup_timers must refer to one of the timers listed in performance_timers.

Timers vary in precision and the amount of overhead they involve. To see what timers are available and their characteristics, check the performance_timers table:

mysql> SELECT * FROM performance_timers;
| CYCLE       |      2389029850 |                1 |             72 |
| NANOSECOND  |            NULL |             NULL |           NULL |
| MICROSECOND |         1000000 |                1 |            585 |
| MILLISECOND |            1035 |                1 |            738 |
| TICK        |             101 |                1 |            630 |

The TIMER_NAME column shows the names of the available timers. CYCLE refers to the timer that is based on the CPU (processor) cycle counter. If the values associated with a given timer name are NULL, that timer is not supported on your platform. The rows that do not have NULL indicate which timers you can use in setup_timers.

TIMER_FREQUENCY indicates the number of timer units per second. For a cycle timer, the frequency is generally related to the CPU speed. The value shown was obtained on a system with a 2.4GHz processor. The other timers are based on fixed fractions of seconds. For TICK, the frequency may vary by platform (for example, some use 100 ticks/second, others 1000 ticks/second).

TIMER_RESOLUTION indicates the number of timer units by which timer values increase at a time. If a timer has a resolution of 10, its value increases by 10 each time.

TIMER_OVERHEAD is the minimal number of cycles of overhead to obtain one timing with the given timer. The overhead per event is twice the value displayed because the timer is invoked at the beginning and end of the event.

To see which timer is in effect or to change the timer, access the setup_timers table:

mysql> SELECT * FROM setup_timers;
| wait | CYCLE      |

    -> WHERE NAME = 'wait';

mysql> SELECT * FROM setup_timers;
| wait | MICROSECOND |

By default, the Performance Schema uses the best timer available for each instrument type, but you can select a different one. Generally the best timer is CYCLE, which uses the CPU cycle counter whenever possible to provide high precision and low overhead.

The precision offered by the cycle counter depends on processor speed. If the processor runs at 1 GHz (one billion cycles/second) or higher, the cycle counter delivers sub-nanosecond precision. Using the cycle counter is much cheaper than getting the actual time of day. For example, the standard gettimeofday() function can take hundreds of cycles, which is an unacceptable overhead for data gathering that may occur thousands or millions of times per second.

Cycle counters also have disadvantages:

Currently, MySQL works with cycle counters on x386 (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and other Unix flavors), PowerPC, and IA-64.

The setup_instruments table has an ENABLED column to indicate the instruments for which to collect events. The table also has a TIMED column to indicate which instruments are timed. If an instrument is not enabled, it produces no events. If an enabled instrument is not timed, events produced by the instrument have NULL for the TIMER_START, TIMER_END, and TIMER_WAIT timer values. This in turn causes those values to be ignored when calculating the sum, minimum, maximum, and average time values in summary tables.

Within events, times are stored in picoseconds (trillionths of a second) to normalize them to a standard unit, regardless of which timer is selected. The timer used for an event is the one in effect when event timing begins. This timer is used to convert start and end values to picoseconds for storage in the event.

Modifications to the setup_timers table affect monitoring immediately. Events already in progress may use the original timer for the begin time and the new timer for the end time, which may lead to unpredictable results. If you make timer changes, you may want to use TRUNCATE TABLE to reset Performance Schema statistics.

The timer baseline (time zero) occurs at Performance Schema initialization during server startup. TIMER_START and TIMER_END values in events represent picoseconds since the baseline. TIMER_WAIT values are durations in picoseconds.

Picosecond values in events are approximate. Their accuracy is subject to the usual forms of error associated with conversion from one unit to another. If the CYCLE timer is used and the processor rate varies, there might be drift. For these reasons, it is not reasonable to look at the TIMER_START value for an event as an accurate measure of time elapsed since server startup. On the other hand, it is reasonable to use TIMER_START or TIMER_WAIT values in ORDER BY clauses to order events by start time or duration.

The choice of picoseconds in events rather than a value such as microseconds has a performance basis. One implementation goal was to show results in a uniform time unit, regardless of the timer. In an ideal world this time unit would look like a wall-clock unit and be reasonably precise; in other words, microseconds. But to convert cycles or nanoseconds to microseconds, it would be necessary to perform a division for every instrumentation. Division is expensive on many platforms. Multiplication is not expensive, so that is what is used. Therefore, the time unit is an integer multiple of the highest possible TIMER_FREQUENCY value, using a multiplier large enough to ensure that there is no major precision loss. The result is that the time unit is picoseconds. This precision is spurious, but the decision enables overhead to be minimized.


Crunchyroll Streams Epic Fantasy Anime "Guin Saga"

Remarkably influential series comes to Crunchyroll

Kaoru Kurimoto's 130-volume epic fantasy novel series Guin Saga is a landmark in Japanese pop culture. Specifically, it was a key influence on works like Kentaro Miura's Berserk. More generally, in the early '80s, author Kaoru Kurimoto, along with Vampire Hunter D's Hideyuki Kikuchi, helped shape the template for light novels. A lot of the pacing and world building that helped define the medium come from those fantasy works.

Now, its 2009 anime adaptation is streaming on Crunchyroll. Atsushi Wakabayashi directs the Satelight (Macross F) work, with music by Final Fantasy's Nobuo Uematsu.

Currently episodes 1-4 of the 26-episode series can be viewed by all visitors. The rest are currently available to premium subscribers. Regional restrictions apply.

From Crunchyroll's description:

On the run from an army that destroyed their kingdom, the twin heirs to the Parros throne must avoid a magical land filled with incredible dangers. They are surrounded on all sides-by warring armies, an apelike tribe of desert creatures called the Sem, and the ruthless Langon clan. Giant sandworms, glowing, malevolent creatures, and powerful wizards mastering in the dark arts threaten them at every turn. If they were alone, they would surely perish. But in a dark forest, they are discovered by a mysterious stranger, a powerful warrior wearing a cursed leopard mask he cannot remove. His name is Guin. He becomes their protector and companion, though he remembers nothing of his life before meeting these young runaways. Together, they begin a treacherous quest to find safety for the royal twins-and the answers to Guin's secret origins. Based on the bestselling novels, this magical, animated epic is now available in one complete, sweeping set!

The first five volumes of the prose series and one of its manga spin-offs have been released in North America by Vertical Inc.

guin saga
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Latest Virgo Cluster Stories

2010-08-19 12:25:00

Astronomers studying this black hole and its effects have been struck by the remarkable similarities between it and a volcano in Iceland that made headlines earlier this year.At a distance of about 50 million light years, M87 is relatively close to Earth and lies at the center of the Virgo cluster, which contains thousands of galaxies. M87's location, coupled with long observations over Chandra's lifetime, has made it an excellent subject for investigations of how a massive black hole impacts...

2009-05-20 09:45:00

Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have succeeded in measuring the size of giant galaxy Messier 87 and were surprised to find that its outer parts have been stripped away by still unknown effects. The galaxy also appears to be on a collision course with another giant galaxy in this very dynamic cluster. The new observations reveal that Messier 87's halo of stars has been cut short, with a diameter of about a million light-years, significantly smaller than expected, despite being...

2008-10-07 11:49:00

2006-10-05 17:57:14

A gigantic sonic boom generated by a supermassive black hole has been found with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with evidence for a cacophony of deep sound. This discovery was made by using data from the longest X-ray observation ever of M87, a nearby giant elliptical galaxy. M87 is centrally located in the Virgo cluster of galaxies and is known to harbor one of the Universe's most massive black holes. Scientists detected loops and rings in the hot, X-ray emitting gas that permeates...

2006-04-06 11:59:14

First results from the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) suggest the discovery of a new dark galaxy.  The AGES survey, which started in January 2006, is the most sensitive, large-scale survey of neutral hydrogen to date.  Neutral hydrogen is found in most galaxies and it is a key tool in the search for dark galaxies as it can be detected even when there are no stars or other radiation sources to "shine a light" on matter.  The new candidate dark galaxy is located near...

2005-09-21 14:39:56

CLEVELAND Ã‚ -- Case Western Reserve University astronomers have captured the deepest wide-field image ever of the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies, directly revealing for the first time a vast, complex web of "intracluster starlight" -- nearly 1,000 times fainter than the dark night sky -- filling the space between the galaxies within the cluster. The streamers, plumes and cocoons that make up this extremely faint starlight are made of stars ripped out of galaxies as they...

2005-02-24 00:45:00

Latest Virgo Cluster Reference Libraries

2010-09-16 15:18:29

2010-09-13 16:56:08

2010-09-08 16:10:01

Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies forming part of the Virgo Cluster. The galaxies get their name because when viewed from earth they form a curved line. The other part of the name comes from the Armenian astrophysicist, B. E. Markarian. Markarian discovered their common proper motion in the mid 1970s. Member galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. It's located at RA 12h 27m and Dec +13Â° 10"². Photo...

2004-10-19 04:45:40

Virgo Cluster of Galaxies -- This giant agglomeration of galaxies is the nearest big cluster of galaxies, the largest proven structure in our intergalactic neighborhood, and the most remote cosmic objects with a physical connection to our own small group of galaxies, the Local Group, including our Milky Way galaxy. This structure is another discovery by Charles Messier, who noted behind his entry for M91 The Virgo Cluster is extremely rich in member galaxies, with over 2000 large and...

2004-10-19 04:45:40

Virgo A Galaxy -- Discovered 1781 by Charles Messier. The giant elliptical galaxy M87, also called Virgo A, is one of the most remarkable objects in the sky. It is perhaps the dominant galaxy in the closest big cluster to us, the famous Virgo Cluster of galaxies (sometimes also called "Coma-Virgo cluster" which is more acurate, as it extends into constellation Coma), and lies at the distance of this cluster (about 60 million light-years). M87 lies well in the heart of the Virgo cluster...

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Word of the Day


productivityThorin Klosowski poses an interesting question over at Lifehacker: Are phones good productivity tools? Klosowski argues that, for almost every productivity task he needs to accomplish, there is a desktop or tablet app that will do it quicker and more efficiently than his phone.

“None of this is to say that I don’t appreciate a smartphone for what it is,” he hastily reassures us. “I still take pictures all the time, I listen to podcasts, dink around on Twitter, and look up oddball questions in the browser. But none of those things are actually productive.”

I suppose that for me, it all comes down to what you define as ‘productive.’ I don’t have enough appointments that I necessarily need an app to remind me of them, but that’s not about a phone or not a phone. I wouldn’t have a desktop app for that either. One thing I do spend a lot of time on, both for work and for personal enjoyment, is reading and a phone absolutely makes me more productive in that regard.

Sure, I may wait until I’m at the computer to save articles to Evernote or read Web-based content—itis more efficient on the desktop, and my phone’s data plan is not very robust. But cross-device e-book synccing has been the tech world’s gift to me in the last few years. The ability to sneak in a chapter while I’m on the bus, and then resume it at home on the book-sized screen of my choosing, is absolutely magical.

Sure, I see his point to a degree. I’m not going to whip out my iPhone and start word processing on it. But if I have a few minutes to kill, mid-commute, and I can choose between a book or a game of solitaire, it’s clear to me what the more ‘productive’ choice is.


For years, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been harping on Google, saying the search giant makes it too easy for pirates to find and download music and media they haven't paid for. Despite continued pressure, there's some evidence that the RIAA continues to bark up the wrong tree — a new report from the nonprofit Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) claims removing "undesirable" search results would not substantially alter or prevent piracy. "The solutions to online infringement have little to do with search," the report goes on to state. The study found that copyright-infringing sites receive little traffic from search, and evidence supports the notion that search terms like "mp3" or "torrent" are infrequently used — instead, pirates search for broader terms like an artist's name, something harder to weed potentially illegal results out of.

"The solutions to online infringement have little to do with search."

According to a few Internet data sources cited by the CCIA, only 15 percent of traffic to so-called "rogue sites" came from search, and data from Alexa showed that only about eight percent of traffic to The Pirate Bay comes from search. Operators from The Pirate Bay confirmed, this, saying that "a very low amount of our traffic actually comes from search engines like Google." Further data was collected from Google's own Trends tool. When comparing the number of people searching for a specific artist or song title compared with those searched for that same artist or song with "mp3" or "downloaded" included, the latter was so low it was practically insignificant.

It's worth noting that the CCIA's report only looked at a few popular songs, including Rihanna's "Diamonds" and Ke$ha's "Die Young" — there's a chance more rare or less popular music could show different results. While the CCIA only analyzed a few songs, it did point out that it looked at the same ones cited by the RIAA in a recent report claiming that Google wasn't doing enough to stop piracy. As for how the RIAA might be able to make better use of search to combat piracy, the CCIA suggests that the organization work with lawful online music vendors like Spotify to increase their prominence in search results — if more people are aware of legal options, they may be less likely to resort to piracy.


Oxidation of Alcohol

If you strip off hydrogens from the right carbon of ethanol in the presence of oxygen, you get acetic acid, the main component in vinegar. The molecular structure of acetic acid looks like this:

where C is carbon, H is hydrogen, O is oxygen, the hyphen is a single chemical bond between the atoms and the || symbol is a double bond between the atoms. For clarity, the bonds of the three hydrogen atoms to the left carbon atom are not shown. When ethanol is oxidized to acetic acid, two protons and two electrons are also produced.

Types of Devices: Alcosensor III or IV

Modern fuel-cell technology (which may power our cars and even our houses some day) has been applied to breath-alcohol detectors. Devices like the Alcosensor III and IV use fuel cells.

The fuel cell has two platinum electrodes with a porous acid-electrolyte material sandwiched between them. As the exhaled air from the suspect flows past one side of the fuel cell, the platinum oxidizes any alcohol in the air to produce acetic acid, protons and electrons.

Operators of any breath alcohol testing device must be trained in the use and calibration of the device, especially if the results are to be used as evidence in DWI trials. Law enforcement officers can carry portable breath testing devices that use the same principle as full-size devices. Court cases can turn on the perceived accuracy of a breath test, however, so prosecutors rely on the results obtained from full-size devices.

For more information on Breathalyzers and related topics, check out the links on the next page.


European Union

In fiscal 2013, U.S. exports of food and farm products to the European Union were valued at $11.5 billion, making it our fifth-largest agricultural export market. In June 2013, the United States and the EU launched an ambitious and comprehensive negotiation, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), to liberalize bilateral trade. A successful negotiation will yield significant opportunities for U.S. agriculture and promote international competitiveness, jobs and economic growth.


Beauty Products: How Much Do You Really Need?

sunscreen Back Next
Marko Metziner/Studio D

Amount estimate: The size of 1 tablespoon (for face); 1 shot glass (for body)

Sunblock is the one product you should never shy away from. “If you’re using only one bottle for the entre summer, you’re not using enough,” says Wexler. Apply a chemical sunscreen at least 30 minutes before stepping outdoors. With a physical block (one that contains zinc oxide and titanium dioxide), you can just slap on and go. Liberally smear sunscreen over any exposed areas and reapply every two hours.


Needed materials

Saw – skilsaw or crosscut saw
Tape Measure
2 inch long exterior wood screws
1 inch long exterior wood screws
1/8 drill bit for pilot holes
2 c-clamps
Hardware cloth
Framing square
Barrel bolt

The laying boxes of my chicken coop are made out of 1x12s. After building the coop I had a piece of 1×12 that was 44 inches long. The left over piece for the laying boxes was cut in half, that was there was no waste.

Cut the hole in the side of the coop about 1/8 higher then what the doors measure and about 3/8 wider then what the doors measure.

How wide is the window? Add 7 inches to the width and cut a 1×4 to length. Lets say the window is 11 inches wide (2 1x6s), cut a single 1×4 18 inches long.

Insert the 1×4 into the coop, align the bottom of the 1×4 with the top edge of the the hole for the window, clamp in place.  This is called a backer.  3/8 plywood is too weak to hold a screw.  so you add a backer for the screws to run into.

Run a couple of 1 inch long screws through the 3/8 plywood and into the 1×4 backer.

Do the same thing for the side backers.

Time to cut the hardware cloth

Whatever size you cut the hole for the window, add 5 inches and cut your hardware cloth.  The 5 inches is for 2 1/2 inches of overlap on each side of the window.

From the edge of the window, measure over 2 1/2 inches for the overlap.  Hold the hardware cloth in place, secure with a few 3/4 galvanized staples.

The second half of this video talks about how to make a window for a chicken coop

Its time to install the outside window frame

Cut 1 1×4 the width of the window.

Cut 2 1x4s the height of the window plus 3 1/2 inches.

I like to start on the right hand side of the window.  Install the outside frame, secure with some 2 inch long exterior screws.

To start with, install only a couple of screws, as the screws for the hinges will add extra strength.

Install the hinges on the boards that will cover the window.  I tried to space the hinges equally on the door.  If the door is 21 inches long, the hinges were spaced 7 inches apart.

Install the doors on the window.

When the windows were installed on the frame, I used 2 inch long screws on the frame side, and the screws that came with the hinges on the window covers.  2 inch long screws are long enough to go through the hinge – 1×4 frame – hardware cloth – 3/8 plywood – 1×4 backer.  This ensures that all the pieces of the window are sandwiched together.

With the 2 inch long screws going through the hardware cloth, this ensures that nothing can push the hardware cloth loose and get inside the coop.

Install the barrel bolt in the middle of the windows to keep them closed during bad or cold weather.  I usually close the doors of the chicken coop when harsh weather is on the way.

Post your comments and questions about a window for your chicken coop in this forum thread – How to build a window for a chicken coop.

Chickens for term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI survival

Raising chickens for shtf / teotwawki

Barred Rock on perch inside chicken coop

If there is one farm animal that is capable of taking care of itself, it has to either be the pig of the chicken. Since this article is talking about chickens, lets talk about chickens.

Todays domesticated chicken is a descendant of the jungle fowl and grey jungle fowl.. Its estimated that the chickens were first domesticated in china at around 6,000 BC. That means humans have been raising chicken for close to 8,000 years.

Think about that for a few minutes. Humans have been keeping chickens before written language, before the rise and fall of the Egyptian and Roman empires, and before life as we know it ever existed.

Chickens, like pigs, are omnivores, meaning they eat just about anything.

One of the reasons why humans first domesticated chickens is because the jungle fowl came close to human encampments to eat the scraps. People soon realized that its easier to catch the jungle fowl and keep it in cages then to hunt it.

From a SHTF / teotwawki survival situation, is it better to have your food close at hand, or have to go hunt your food. That is where chickens come into play.

While animals like goats and cows produce milk, chickens produce eggs. Eggs are a whole lot easier to collect then to milk a cow or goat.

Eggs store better then milk.

Milk needs to be pasteurized to be safe to drink, eggs need to be cooked. Cooking eggs is a lot easier to do then pasteurization of milk.

Eggs are easier to handle and transport then milk.

Eggs contain more protein then milk.

Eggs contain a wider range of trace nutrients then milk.

While cattle and goats need certain things in their diet, chickens eat just about anything.

In my opinion, goats are a close second to chickens. But if you want a well rounded farm animal, its going to be difficult to beat chickens.

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Kevin Felts


Winckworth Sherwood

UK 200 2013 position: 94

Admissibility of covert recordings

G was employed by the bank until her resignation in January 2013. In April 2013, she lodged a claim at the employment tribunal, alleging sexual harassment, sex discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal.

Prior to her resignation, she attended a grievance hearing in November 2012 and a disciplinary hearing in January 2013. She recorded both ‘public’ and ‘private’ conversations connected with those hearings. The recordings were disclosed to the bank in July 2013. The bank objected to the use of the private contents of those recordings (but not to the use of the recordings of the public discussions at the hearings) as evidence in the employment tribunal. The private elements were discussions between members of the panel hearing the grievance, when G was out of the room, primarily during a break in the grievance hearing when the recording ran to 15 minutes. The private discussion to which the bank objected at the disciplinary stage was only some 30 seconds…

Minerva House
5 Montague Close

Turnover (£m): 25.70
Total Lawyers: 125


How did farming improve?

During the years 1700 to 1770, farming improved by introduction of the four year rotation method for crops, and the weather changed for the better for improved harvests. Thanks!

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Soil science

Organic farming

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) but excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers, pesticides , plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, genetically modified organisms, human sewage sludge, and nanomaterials.

Agriculture in the United Kingdom

Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses around 70% of the country's land area and contributes about 0.7% of its gross value added. The UK produces less than 60% of the food it eats. Despite skilled farmers, high technology, fertile soil and subsidies, which primarily come from the European Union (EU), farm earnings are relatively low, mainly due to low prices at the farm gate. With each generation, fewer young people can afford the rising capital cost of entry into farming and more are discouraged by low earnings. The average age of the British farm holder is now 59.

Recently there have been moves towards organic farming in an attempt to sustain profits, and many farmers supplement their income by diversifying activities away from pure agriculture. Biofuels present new opportunities for farmers against a background of rising fears about fossil fuel prices, energy security, energy sustainability, and climate change. There is increasing awareness that farmers have an important role to play as custodians of the British countryside and wildlife.

Tropical agriculture

Sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the act of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. The phrase was reportedly coined by Australian agricultural scientist Gordon McClymont. It has been defined as "an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will last over the long term" For Example:

Agronomy Weather Environment

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Abby and Whitney

Abby WhitneyWhitney comes to the realization that she has to grow up and work harder so she can go to TCC and become a nurse. Abby was raised by her father who is supportive but she had to develop the confidence in herself to succeed.

Listen to Abby and Whitney's story.


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Old 08-15-2008, 10:15 PM   #118
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Connecticut
Location: East Haven, CT
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,402
Re: "Aiki" in Russian Video Clips

Does he receive merely, or does he express a countering touch or adjustment?
Dan can do either/both.

His ability to stay so super balanced while moving and attacking is the #2 reason I have been so impressed with him. His students' abilities are the #1 reason.

My making it simple was to get a sense of if you can do it as well at the simplest level, and if your students could. I'm assuming (no offense - everyone is assuming the same) that you cannot do the same - unless you state otherwise.

Sorry about my boundry issue, feel free to start a new thread in any thread devoid of "non-aikido" in the title and I'll discuss it as far as I can (admittedly, I'm not sure how far that is, but I'd be willing to try).

As far as someone else doing it - I think that is a terrible idea.
I think the only reasonable idea to do it and have it be worth reading is to actually meet with Dan or one of the other guys and THEN model to your hearts content. Then, show that model to students and tell us about their improvement. IF they do improve to anywhere near the ability of the people using "jargon" everyone will become completely interested. Until then, I think you are asking to describe a truth - no one believes you have any true insight into - and seem to be wondering why no one knows how to help collaborate with you.

I know you want "truth" - I think we (those using jargon) just want what is "best" and your attempt at "truth" doesn't seem to be what's best which makes it difficult for us to consider it "truth".


What is W x H equals F x L?

W x H equals F x L is an unsolvable equation, because there are only variables and no constants. Enjoy!

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Mathematical analysis

Mathematical analysis is a branch of mathematics that includes the theories of differentiation, integration, measure, limits, infinite series, and analytic functions. These theories are usually studied in the context of real and complex numbers and functions. Analysis evolved from calculus, which involves the elementary concepts and techniques of analysis. Analysis may be distinguished from geometry. However, it can be applied to any space of mathematical objects that has a definition of nearness (a topological space) or specific distances between objects (a metric space).

Elementary algebra

Elementary algebra encompasses some of the basic concepts of algebra, one of the main branches of mathematics. It is typically taught to secondary school students and builds on their understanding of arithmetic. Whereas arithmetic deals with specified numbers, algebra introduces quantities without fixed values, known as variables. This use of variables entails a use of algebraic notation and an understanding of the general rules of the operators introduced in arithmetic. Unlike abstract algebra, elementary algebra is not concerned with algebraic structures outside the realm of real and complex numbers.

The use of variables to denote quantities allows general relationships between quantities to be formally and concisely expressed, and thus enables solving a broader scope of problems. Most quantitative results in science and mathematics are expressed as algebraic equations.

Ordinary differential equations

Applied mathematics

Social sciences

In logic, syntax is anything having to do with formal languages or formal systems without regard to any interpretation or meaning given to them. Syntax is concerned with the rules used for constructing, or transforming the symbols and words of a language, as contrasted with the semantics of a language which is concerned with its meaning.

The symbols, formulas, systems, theorems, proofs, and interpretations expressed in formal languages are syntactic entities whose properties may be studied without regard to any meaning they may be given, and, in fact, need not be given any.

Variables Equation
Partial differential equation

Applied mathematics

Social sciences

Equation solving

In mathematics, to solve an equation is to find what values (numbers, functions, sets, etc.) fulfill a condition stated in the form of an equation (two expressions related by equality). These expressions contain one or more unknowns, which are free variables for which values are sought that cause the condition to be fulfilled. To be precise, what is sought are often not necessarily actual values, but, more in general, mathematical expressions. A solution of the equation is an assignment of expressions to the unknowns that satisfies the equation; in other words, expressions such that, when they are substituted for the unknowns, the equation becomes an identity.

For example, the equation x + y = 2x – 1 is solved for the unknown x by the solution x = y + 1, since substituting y + 1 for x in the equation results in (y + 1) + y = 2(y + 1) – 1, a true statement. It is also possible to take the variable y to be the unknown, and then the equation is solved by y = x – 1. Or x and y can both be treated as unknowns, and then there are many solutions to the equation, some of which are (x, y) = (1, 0) – that is, x = 1 and y = 0 – and (x, y) = (2, 1), and, in general, (x, y) = (a + 1, a) for all possible values of a.

Education Politics

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Assessments of the Energy, Mass and Size of the Chicxulub Impactor

In 1980 there was no known impact structure, which could be responsible for this extinction. It was not until 1991 that an international group of researchers proposed that a circular structure between 180 and 200 km, buried under Tertiary deposits in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, was the crater formed by the impact proposed by the group of Alvarez (Hildebrand et al., 1991). It is very probable that an impact of this magnitude have had large effects on the surface and in the environment. To study these effects, it is necessary to estimate the characteristics that the impactor had.

The literature often mentions the nature of the impactor, and has been proposed both an asteroid and a comet, and even a comet shower that produced periodic extinctions. However, the physical parameters of the impactor are not limited, so the aim of this study is to estimate the most relevant features of this one such as the size, mass and kinetic energy. We found that the kinetic energy of the impactor is in the range from 1.3e24 J to 5.8e25 J. The mass is in the range of 1.0e15 kg to 4.6e17 kg.

Finally, the diameter of the object is in the range of 10.6 km to 80.9 km. Based on the mass of the impactor and iridium abundance in different types of meteorites, we calculate the concentration of iridium, which should be observed in the K/Pg layer. When compared with the measurements, we concluded that the best estimation is that the impactor was a comet.

Hector Javier Durand-Manterola, Guadalupe Cordero-Tercero (Submitted on 19 Mar 2014)

Comments: 11 pages, 3 figures, 2 Tables

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:1403.6391 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1403.6391v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history From: Hector Javier Durand-Manterola [v1] Wed, 19 Mar 2014 19:08:09 GMT (6379kb)

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The purpose of the paper is to describe a cooperative system which was designed to provide intelligent assistance in the domain of diagnostic radiology. The approach taken includes the collection and analysis of human performance data, cognitive modelling of the interaction between perception and problem solving. incorporation of this knowledge into a blackboard-based architecture. implementation of a prototype system and testing and evaluation of the prototype. These stages are described, and then discussed in the context of issues particularly relevant to the study of human-machine cooperation.

Computer Sciences

URL: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/csse_fac/171


Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to rent a moonbounce?
  Our rentals start as low as $175 plus sales tax for the first hour and $10 plus sales tax for each additional hour.
Do I have to have the moonbounce delivered or can I pick it up myself?
  Unfortunately, you cannot pick the moonbounce up yourself. Due to safety concerns, we are required to set up and take down every rental. This ensures your safety, as the units can be very heavy, as well as allows us an opportunity to review the rules and regulations regarding the operation of the unit. SAFETY FIRST!
Are your units clean?
  Yes, our units are vacuumed and sanitized prior to each use.
How large are your moonbounces?
  Most of our units are 15' x 15' plus a 2' step. This makes them approx 15' x 17' overall.
How much room do I need to set up?
  Most of our units require a 20' x 20' area that is semi-level, clear of any rocks, sticks, roots, etc that could puncture the bounce. Also, if you have an in-ground sprinkler system, make sure it is turned off and the sprinkler heads are not engaged.
We live in an apartment/townhouse and don't have a yard large enough, how can we still have a party for our child?
  It's true, many apartments/townhouses don't provide a lot of room for a bounce. However, there are alternatives. Some potential ideas:
  • Use the common area or two parking spaces side by side.
  • Use a relative's house for the party.
  • For communions and other church related events, look into using your church grounds.
  • If for a birthday, combine parties with your child's friend that has a birthday close to your child's.
  • Local parks can usually be used for parties. There is generally a small hourly fee associated with this. We have generators for rent and will be more than happy to help you work out the details with the city or county park authority.
How many kids can safely bounce at once?
  This depends on the size of the inflatable, however we provide the following maximum capacity numbers:
Unit Size
Children 8 and under
Children 8 - 12
15' x 15'
How does the bounce stay inflated?
  The bounce is inflated with a fully enclosed blower motor unit that must stay on the entire time the bounce unit is being used. The design of the blower is such that no moving parts are exposed. This is a very important safety feature that you should take into account whenever considering a rental. The blower unit must be located within ~75 feet of an electrical outlet.
Can we set up the bounce on concrete or asphalt?
  Yes, however for safety reasons, we prefer that the bounce be placed on a level, grassy area.
How do you keep the bounce from floating away?
  While they are full of air, the bounces themselves are quite heavy. However, they do need to be staked down to avoid them "walking" around. To accomplish this we use large sandbags at each corner when setting up on concrete or asphalt. When setting up grassy areas, we use large stakes that are driven into the ground. While these stakes do not go deep enough to hit utility lines, please let us know if we will be setting up near items such as drainage lines or sprinkler lines.
The location that we wish to use is not close to electrical power, I guess we can't have a bounce?
  Don't let that stop you. We have generators available for rent, including a full tank of fuel, that will power the blowers that inflate the bounce.
Can I cancel my reservation?
  We realize that plans can change and we will gladly refund 100% of your deposit when provided with at least 7 days notice prior to your reservation date. If provided less than 7 days notice, we will not refund deposits. Weather related cancellations are only determined on the day of the rental and will result in a complete refund of any deposit.
  If the local forecast is calling for high winds (> 20 MPH), or rain on the morning of your reservation, we will contact you via phone to reschedule your reservation for another day or to provide a refund of your deposit. Rescheduling is based on availability for the day requested. If you feel that rain or wind is a concern, please bring this to our attention PRIOR to us arriving at your location. No Refunds will be provided once the bounce is set up. Hop On Pop's MoonBounce reserves the right to cancel a rental and provide a full refund of your deposit if it is raining or rain is inevitable.
What do we do if there is an emergency?
  In the case of an emergency, have everyone exit the bounce calmly and quickly and contact Hop On Pop's MoonBounce at 703.986.3515 ext. 2.
Does Hop On Pop's MoonBounce have insurance?
  Definitely! Due to the high cost of insurance, there are many companies out there that choose to not carry insurance coverage. However, at Hop On Pop's MoonBounce, we believe that this is the most important requirement for running a moonbounce rental business. As such, we are fully insured with a liability insurance policy covering injury due to Hop On Pop's MoonBounce's gross negligence. This statement in no way implies legal responsibility. Please read your rental agreement. We are happy to provide a copy of our insurance binder upon request.
What are my responsibilities as the renter of the bounce?
  Our contract requires that an adult be home when the bounce is setup. We will review the features of the bounce with this individual, as well as our safety regulations. Additionally, we will review our emergency procedures with this individual at the time of setup. An adult MUST accompany the bounce anytime the bounce is inflated. This person is responsible for the safety of the children, as well as, the care of the equipment by making sure that ALL safety rules and regulations are followed. Aside from safety items, it is the responsibility of the renter to provide for electrical power within 75 feet of the bounce and a level, open 20' x 20' area to set up on.
Can you provide an attendant with our rental?
  Absolutely! We will happily provide an attendant for your rental to free you from having to worry about who is watching the bounce. This must be requested at least 10 days prior to your reservation day and there is an attendant charge of $35/hour.
How safe are moonbounces?
  As long as the safety rules are followed, bounces are very safe. In fact, most accidents that arise from the use of moonbounces are a direct result of the renters not following the posted safety rules by allowing the unit to be overloaded, allowing the unit to be used in high winds, etc.
How do I reserve a unit?
  Call or email us at 703.986.3515 or and we will be happy to process your reservation request. We will then tentatively reserve your unit, fax or email you a rental agreement and Safety Rules and Regulations agreement for you to sign and return. Once we have received your signed documents and your deposit, we will finalize your reservation.
How much of a deposit is required to confirm a reservation?
  While you may pay up to 100% of the rental fees up front if you like, we require that you provide a deposit equal to 30% of the total charges or provide a credit card in order for us to confirm the equipment for you.
How can I pay for the unit?
  Our preference is a check, but we also accept cash, Visa, and Master Card. Payment is due in full at the time of setup. The delivery person will provide you with a copy of the rules, review the safety procedures with you and collect final payment prior to setting up the unit.
What is your delivery area?
  Our primary delivery areas are the Greater Washington DC area: Northern Virginia, Washington DC and parts of Maryland, Charlottesville, VA, Richmond, VA and Raleigh, NC.
Do you provide special pricing to schools, churches and other non-profit organizations?
  Absolutely! Please email or call us at 703.986.3515 for details. We would love to work with you. Please note that a moonbounce can make a great compliment to a non-profit fundraiser, such as a carwash or other event. While the parents are getting the car washed, it provides some fun for the kids and also provides instant "curb appeal" for your function.


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CRS Annotated Constitution

Fourteenth Amendment -- Table of ContentsPrev | Next

Guilty Pleas.—A defendant may plead guilty instead of insisting that the prosecution prove him guilty. There are a number of different reasons why a defendant may be willing to plead guilty, perhaps because of overwhelming evidence against him, perhaps because, while the evidence leaves the outcome in doubt, should he go to trial and be convicted his sentence will be more severe than if he pleads guilty, perhaps to secure some other advantage. Often the defendant and his attorney engage in “plea bargaining” with the prosecution so that he is guaranteed a light sentence or is allowed to plead to a lesser offense. While the government may not structure its system so as to coerce a guilty plea,63 a guilty plea that is entered voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly, even to obtain an advantage, is sufficient to overcome constitutional objections.64 The guilty plea and the often concomitant plea bargain are important and necessary components of the criminal justice system,65 and it is not impermissible for a prosecutor during such plea bargains to put a defendant to a hard choice, requiring him to forego his right to go to trial in return for escaping what is likely to be a much more severe penalty if he does elect to go to trial.66

The court must inquire whether the defendant is pleading voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly,67 and “the adjudicative element inherent in accepting a plea of guilty must be attended by safeguards to insure the defendant what is reasonably due in the circumstances. Those circumstances will vary, but a constant factor is that when a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled.”68

Prosecutorial Misconduct.—When a conviction is obtained by the presentation of testimony known to the prosecuting authorities to have been perjured, due process is violated. The clause “cannot be deemed to be satisfied by mere notice and hearing if a State has contrived a conviction through the pretense of a trial which in truth is but used as a means of depriving a defendant of liberty through a deliberate deception of court and jury by the presentation of testimony known to be perjured. Such a contrivance . . . is as inconsistent with the rudimentary demands of justice as is the obtaining of a like result by intimidation.”69 The quoted language was dictum in the case in which it was uttered,70 but the principle enunciated has been utilized to require state officials to controvert allegations of convicted persons that knowingly false tes[p.1759]timony had been used to convict,71 and to upset convictions found to have been so procured.72 Extending the principle, the Court in Miller v. Pate73 upset a conviction obtained after the prosecution had represented to the jury that a pair of men’s shorts found near the scene of a sex attack belonged to the defendant and that they were stained with blood; the defendant showed in a habeas corpus proceeding that no evidence connected him with the shorts and furthermore that the shorts were not in fact bloodstained, and that the prosecution had known these facts.

Furthermore, in Brady v. Maryland,74 the Court held “that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.” In that case, the prosecution had suppressed an extrajudicial confession of defendant’s accomplice that he had actually committed the murder; the accomplice’s confession could have influenced the jury’s determination of punishment but not its judgment of guilt. But this beginning toward the development of criminal discovery was not carried forward,75 and the Court has waivered in its application of Brady.

In finding Brady inapplicable because the evidence withheld was not material and not exculpatory, the Court in Moore v. Illinois,76 restated the governing principles. “The heart of the holding in Brady is the prosecution’s suppression of evidence, in the face of a defense production request, where the evidence is favorable to the accused and is material either to guilt or to punishment. Important, then, are (a) suppression by the prosecution after a request by the defense, (b) the evidence’s favorable character for the defense, and (c) the materiality of the evidence.”

In United States v. Agurs,77 the Court summarized and somewhat expanded the prosecutor’s obligation to disclose to the defense exculpatory evidence in his possession, even in the absence of a request, or upon a general request, by defendant. The obligation is expressed in a tripartite test of materiality of the exculpatory evidence in the context of the trial record. First, if the prosecutor knew or should have known that testimony given to the trial was perjured, the conviction must be set aside if there is any reasonable likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury.78 Second, if the defense specifically requested certain evidence and the prosecutor withheld it, the conviction must be set aside if the suppressed evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial.79 Third (the new law created in Agurs), if the defense did not make a request at all, or simply asked for “all Brady material” or for “anything exculpatory,” a duty resides in the prosecution to reveal to the defense obviously exculpatory evidence; if the prosecutor does not reveal it, reversal of a conviction may be required, but only if the undisclosed evidence creates a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt.80

Supplement: [P. 1760, add to text after n.80:]

This tripartite formulation, however, suffered from two apparent defects. First, it added a new level of complexity to a Brady inquiry by requiring a reviewing court to establish the appropriate level of materiality by classifying the situation under which the exculpating information was withheld. Secondly, it was not clear, if the fairness of the trial was at issue, why the circumstances of the failure to disclose should affect the evaluation of the impact that such information would have had on the trial. Ultimately, the Court addressed these issue in the case of United States v. Bagley.24

In Bagley, the Court established a uniform test for materiality, choosing the most stringent requirement that evidence is material if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the outcome of the proceeding would have been different.25 This materiality standard, found in contexts outside of Brady inquiries,26 is applied not only to exculpatory material, but also to material which would be relevant to the impeachment of witnesses.27 Thus, where inconsistent earlier statements by a witness to an abduction were not disclosed, the Court weighed the specific effect that impeachment of the witness would have had on establishing the required elements of the crime and of the punishment, finally concluding that there was no reasonable probability that the jury would have reached a different result.28

A prosecutor does not violate the due process clause when, in negotiating with a defendant to obtain a guilty plea or some other action that will lessen the trial burden, such as trial before a judge[p.1761]rather than jury, he threatens and carries out the threat to seek a more severe sentence, either by charging a greater offense or recommending a longer sentence.81 But the prosecutor does deny due process if he penalizes the assertion of a right or privilege by the defendant by charging more severely or recommending a longer sentence.82 The distinction appears to represent very fine line–drawing, but it appears to be one the Court is committed to.

63 United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570 (1968) .
64 North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1971) ; Parker v. North Carolina, 397 U.S. 790 (1970) . See also Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970) . A guilty plea will ordinarily waive challenges to alleged unconstitutional police practices occurring prior to the plea, unless the defendant can show that the plea resulted from incompetent counsel. Tollett v. Henderson, 411 U.S. 258 (1973) ; Davis v. United States, 411 U.S. 233 (1973) . But see Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U.S. 21 (1974) . The State can permit pleas of guilty in which the defendant reserves the right to raise constitutional questions on appeal, and federal habeas courts will honor that arrangement. Lefkowitz v. Newsome, 420 U.S. 283 (1975) . Release–dismissal agreements, pursuant to which the prosecution agrees to dismiss criminal charges in exchange for the defendant’s agreement to release his right to file a civil action for alleged police or prosecutorial misconduct, are not per se invalid. Town of Newton v. Rumery, 480 U.S. 386 (1987) .
65 Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 71 (1977) .
66 Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357 (1978) . Charged with forgery, Hayes was informed during plea negotiations that if he would plead guilty the prosecutor would recommend a five–year sentence; if he did not plead guilty, the prosecutor would also seek an indictment under the habitual criminal statute under which Hayes, because of two prior felony convictions, would receive a mandatory life sentence if convicted. Hayes refused to plead, was reindicted, and upon conviction was sentenced to life. Four Justices dissented, id. at 365, 368, contending that the Court had watered down North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711 (1969) . See also United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368 (1982) .
67 Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 (1969) . In Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637 (1976) , the Court held that a defendant charged with first degree murder who elected to plead guilty to second degree murder had not voluntarily, in the constitutional sense, entered the plea because neither his counsel nor the trial judge had informed him that an intent to cause the death of the victim was an essential element of guilt in the second degree; consequently no showing was made that he knowingly was admitting such intent. “A plea may be involuntary either because the accused does not understand the nature of the constitutional protections that he is waiving . . . or because he has such an incomplete understanding of the charge that his plea cannot stand as an intelligent admission of guilt.” Id. at 645 n.13. See also Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63 (1977) .
68 Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262 (1971) . Defendant and a prosecutor reached agreement on a guilty plea in return for no sentence recommendation by the prosecution. At the sentencing hearing months later, a different prosecutor recommended the maximum sentence, and that sentence was imposed. The Court vacated the judgment, holding that the prosecutor’s entire staff was bound by the promise. Prior to the plea, however, the prosecutor may withdraw his first offer, and a defendant who later pled guilty after accepting a second, less attractive offer has no right to enforcement of the first agreement. Mabry v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 504 (1984) .
69 Mooney v. Holahan, 294 U.S. 103, 112 (1935) .
73 386 U.S. 1 (1967) .
76 408 U.S. 786, 794–95 (1972) . Joining Justice Blackmun’s opinion were Justices Brennan, White, Rehnquist, and Chief Justice Burger. Dissenting were Justices Douglas, Stewart, Marshall, and Powell. Id. at 800.

Supplement: [P. 1760, add to n.76:]

See also Wood v. Bartholomew, 516 U.S. 1 (1995) (per curiam) (holding no Due Process violation where prosecutor’s failure to disclose the result of a witness’ polygraph test would not have affected the outcome of the case).

77 427 U.S. 97 (1976) .
78 Id. at 103–04. This situation is the Mooney v. Holohan type of case.
79 Id. at 104–06. This the Brady situation.
80 Id. at 106–14. This was the Agurs fact situation. Similarly, there is no obligation that law enforcement officials preserve breath samples which have been utilized in a breath–analysis test; the Agurs materiality standard is met only by evidence which “possess[es] an exculpatory value . . . apparent before [it] was destroyed, and also [is] of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means.” California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 489 (1984) . See also Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51 (1988) (negligent failure to refrigerate and otherwise preserve potentially exculpatory physical evidence from sexual assault kit does not violate a defendant’s due process rights absent bad faith on the part of the police).
81 Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357 (1978) ; United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368 (1982) . In the former case, during plea negotiations, the prosecutor told defendant that if he did not plead guilty to the charges he would bring additional charges, and he did so upon defendant’s continued refusal. In the latter case, defendant was charged with a misdemeanor and could have been tried before a magistrate; he refused to plead guilty and sought a jury trial in district court. The Government obtained a four–count felony indictment based upon the same conduct and acquired a conviction.
82 Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U.S. 21 (1974) . Defendant was convicted in an inferior court of a misdemeanor. He had a right to a de novo trial in superior court, but when he exercised the right the prosecutor obtained a felony indictment based upon the same conduct. The distinction the Court draws between this case and Bordenkircher and Goodwin is that of pretrial conduct, in which vindictiveness is not likely, and posttrial conduct, in which vindictiveness is more likely and is not permitted. Accord, Thigpen v. Roberts, 468 U.S. 27 (1984) .

Supplement Footnotes

24 473 U.S. 667 (1985) .
25 473U.S. at 682 473U.S. at 682.
26 See United States v. Malenzuela–Bernal, 458 U.S. 858 (1982) (testimony made unavailable by Government deportation of witnesses); Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (incompetence of counsel).
27 473U.S. at 676–77 473U.S. at 676–77.
28 Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263 (1999) .
Fourteenth Amendment -- Table of ContentsPrev | Next


[violence] general

Violence against women and girls is a human rights and public health emergency worldwide. We call on you to join us to take action to end violence against women and hold our governments accountable for women’s access to health!
Violences conjugales, "crimes d'honneur", situation des femmes et des filles au sein de la famille et dans la sphère "privée", etc...
The International Crisis Group strongly condemns the brutal police attack on Asma Jahangir and other rights activists participating in a peaceful gathering in Lahore, Pakistan, on 14 May 2005.
Rappel de l'affaire de l'imam de Vénissieux avec le journal Lyon Mag qui avait publié un article rapportant les propos de l'imam sur la lapidation et le fait de battre sa femme ....
This report is part of a project to analyse and research discrimination and violence against women in the GCC countries. In July and August 2004, Amnesty International (AI) delegates carried out research in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE.
This toolkit aims to offer guidance to those seeking to establish legal justice for survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV), as well as for those in settings where legal justice is not yet a possibility.
Dans cet Appel à l’action, le RMFDR insiste sur la responsabilité du secteur de la santé publique à fournir une prévention et des soins fondés sur l’approche des soins de santé primaires et qui soient centrés sur les femmes.
لَقِّم المحتوى


Posts Tagged ‘historical fiction’

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

imageOver the last couple of years, I have had quite a few books connected with the Civil Rights movement come across my TBR pile.  Most of them have been excellent, and I have learned something from all of them, whether I was reading historical fiction or historical accounts.  Rita Williams Garcia introduced me to yet another aspect of those years that I knew next-to-nothing about in her novel One Crazy Summer (Scholastic 2010).

Delphine leads her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, to visit the mother who left them.  They fly across the country to Oakland, California, for the summer of 1968, to get to know the mysterious Cecile.  Even once they are living in her house, Cecile remains a mystery, but Delphine is not stubborn and bossy for nothing.  She will do whatever it takes to protect her sisters and get answers from Cecile.  She might even learn something about herself  along the way.

Delphine’s first surprise (after Cecile kicks them out of the house for the day) is her encounter with the Black Panthers.  Behind the headlines she heard back in New York City, she discovers that the Black Panthers distribute food to hungry children in the neighborhood and run a day camp for kids at the Community Center.  Before she quite knows how it happens, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are practicing parts to perform in a demonstration at the community park.  Before the demonstration is over, will encounter even more surprises.

Williams-Garcia tackles some serious issues in this novel–racism, abandonment, and families–and she does it with wit and humor.  Delphine is an unforgettable character, who is much stronger than she realizes.  As she finds her voice, she discovers the power of poetry and the power of the people and the power of herself.

Tiger, Tiger by Lynne Reid Banks

imageLynne Reid Banks brings the streets and palaces and circuses of Ancient Rome to life with an unforgettable cast of characters in Tiger, Tiger (Laurel Leaf Books 2004).  Aurelia, The Emperor Caesar’s daughter leads a pampered, if lonely, life.  She is thrilled when her father gives her a young tiger cub for her birthday.  With the help of its trainer Julius, Aurelia learns to earn the tiger’s trust.  She also learns to trust Julius and welcomes his company as much as she does Boots.  Her only other companion is her young cousin Marcus, who wants to impress but often falls short.

Aurelia may be pampered, but she is tender-hearted.  She is horrified by the acts of the Circus, wanting nothing to hurt the amazing animals she sees there.  She is also strong-willed, even daring to speak her mind (with caution, of course) to her father, who has the ultimate authority of life and death over every citizen in Rome.  While Marcus comes across as spoiled and petulant, he is only acting his age–ten.  When he most wants to impress Aurelia, he suggests a prank that goes horribly wrong.  Boots escapes into the city of Rome.  Now Julius must pay with his life as he faces another tiger in the arena–the tiger named Brute.

The streets of Rome swirl with controversy and violence.  While Aurelia lives above the dirty streets, she is not immune to their controversy.  She is fascinated by the new sect of believers who call themselves Christians.  Even though she could have grown up as cold and cruel as her father, Aurelia is kind, especially to animals.  Since we experience the circus through her eyes, Banks tempers the excitement and blood lust of the crowds with the horror she experiences at its violence and death.  Tiger, Tiger would make a good introduction or companion to the study of Ancient Rome.

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

imageWhen I first heard the buzz about The Lions of Little Rock (Scholastic 2012), I thought it would be set during 1957, the first year of school integration and the story of the Little Rock Nine.  I was wrong.  Instead Kristin Levine weaves a story of friendship that is set during the following year of 1958, when Little Rock closed their high schools in order to prevent further integration of the schools.

When Marlee and Liz becomes friends that year, they never dream that their friendship will test not only their loyalty to each other, but will also take on segregation and put their families in danger when Liz is caught “passing” for white at Marlee’s middle school.  No matter that the world is set against their friendship Liz and Marlee reach out to each other and help each other.

Marlee tells the story of their friendship, which is quite remarkable considering that Marlee is too frightened to talk to most people.  She even freezes up with her own mother.  Liz, however, pushes Marlee to find her voice and to speak up for herself.  Marlee teaches Liz how to be quiet.  Together, they face the tumultuous changes that come.  Marlee misses her big sister Judy, who is sent to live with a grandmother so she can go to school.  Liz finds a bit of romance.  Marlee joins The Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools and the Stop This Outrageous Purge campaigns and learns to talk to her mother.  Together, they learn that “a friend is someone who helps you change for the better” (289).

More I Survived by Lauren Tarshis

The I Survived series of historical fiction has been extremely popular in my classroom this year.  For students who are not sure about historical fiction, they provide a short (less than 100 pages), quick introduction to the genre.  Lauren Tarshis chooses some of the most exciting, most dangerous times in history to write about–the Battle of Gettysburg, the Japanese tsunami, the Nazi invasion of Europe.  With these dramatic historical events as the background, Tarshis creates a young character who must survive.  Whether an escaped slave or a young American overseas, each character is both believable and relatable for modern readers. I already had six of these titles in my classroom library.  Now I have extra copies of those six plus three new adventures to share.  Here is where–and when–the latest titles will take you.

I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 (Scholastic 2013) imageThomas and his little sister Birdie are slaves on a Virginia plantation.  When they hear that their master wants to sell Thomas, they flee into the woods to search for freedom.  They are lucky enough to meet up with some Union soldiers who take them in.  Corporal Henry Green looks out for Thomas and Birdie as they travel with the army and tells them stories of his home in Vermont.  Soon the army receives orders to march to Gettysburg.  Will Thomas and Birdie survive this bloodiest, deadliest battle of the Civil War?

I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 (Scholastic 2014) When my students first start reading about the Holocaust, many of them ask why the Jews didn’t fight back.  The answer is that some Jews–along with Resistance fighters from different countries and faiths–did fight back.  Max looks out for his little sister Zena (and she looks out for him, too) while they are trapped in the Jewish ghetto in their town in Poland.  After a daring escape, they encounter Resistance fighters, including one who surprises them.  As they are traveling to the secret camp deep in the forest, German fighter planes drop bombs throughout the forest and German soldiers sweep through the trees with machine guns.  Will Max and Zena survive the explosions and fire and be able to reunite with their family?

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 (Scholastic 2013) imageBen, his little brother Harry, and their mother are visiting their dad’s hometown in Japan.  The visit brings back painful memories of Ben’s dad, who died a few months earlier in a car crash.  But Ben’s memories of his dad and his dad’s stories from the Air Force give Ben the strength and courage to survive the devastating earthquake and tsunami that swept across Japan.  The roiling waters rip Ben from his family and he must fight to survive all alone.

If you want even more about these survival stories, check out the Scholastic I Survived Website.  You can learn more about each of the disasters, see what I Survived book is coming up next, and even take a quiz to test your survival skills.

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

imageI first met Deza Malone when I read Bud, Not Buddy.  When I learned that Christopher Paul Curtis had written her story, too, I couldn’t wait to read The Mighty Miss Malone (Scholastic 2012).  Not only is it a fun story with memorable characters, but it also opens eyes to the challenges of the Great Depression and echoes the challenges that many children and their families face today.

Deza is smart and determined–the perfect narrator to introduce her family and share their story.  At first it is a story filled with laughter.  Mr. Malone constantly speaks with over-the-top alliteration.  Big Brother Jimmie is always up to something–usually something that leads to trouble.  Mrs. Malone is the heart of the family and the hope that draws them together no matter how far apart they are.

I laughed through much of this book as Curtis brought to life the entertainment of the Great Depression, from the Joe Louis-Max Schmelling boxing bouts to the Negro Leauge baseball games and singing at speak easies.  But It only takes one bit of bad news to throw a family off track–or in this case on the tracks to a hobo camp.  No matter how bad their circumstances, Deza never forgets that she is something special.  Even as she clings to her promise, she learns to let go.

I enjoyed sharing bits and pieces of this story with my students throughout the day last Friday.  I hope I have convinced some of them to give historical fiction a chance.

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

imageI want a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository.  It’s like a library, but it lends out objects of all kinds–teacups and spoons, paintings and sculptures, clothes and wigs (even one of Marie Antoinettes’s  wigs).  Deep in its basement is a secret collection–the Grimm Collection–where there are shelves and cabinets filled with magical objects straight out the tales from the Brother’s Grimm.

Elizabeth is thrilled when her history teacher recommends her for a job at the Repository, and she can hardly believe it when she learns that magic is real.  As is usually the case with magic, things start to go wrong.  Some of the items from the Grimm Collection are disappearing or losing their magic.  Someone on the inside must be helping the thief, but who can it be?  Who can Elizabeth trust?  Surely she can count on her new friends Anjali, Marc, and even Aaron.  All of them are hiding secrets, and soon their paths lead them to adventure and danger and even romance–but not too much.

I loved this modern take on fairy tale fantasy.  What could be more magical than a room full of charmed objects?  Well, I would not want the magic mirror (from Snow White’s stepmother) hanging in my bedroom, though I did laugh at the evil images it showed.  It may not be able to lie, but that doesn’t mean it has to tell the whole truth.  There are fairy tale tropes–an act of kindness to a homeless woman leads to Elizabeth getting the job, and the act of kindness is repaid in a magical way in her time of need.  There are evil witches (want anyone turned into a doll? )  and annoying little sisters.  There’s even a stepmother and stepsister who, while not evil, make life difficult for Elizabeth.

You never know what you might find lurking in the stacks or flitting between the pages of The Grimm Legacy (Scholastic 2010) by Polly Shulman.

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

imageFeathers (Puffin Books 2007) is a quiet book packed with the power of hope.  You know hope–the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.  Jacqueline Woodson weaves this snippet of poetry from Emily Dickinson throughout Frannie’s story, and in reading it, I find that hope is weaving its way into my thinking, too.

Frannie has much to hope for–or worry about–that snowy winter in the 1970s when she is eleven.  Mean girls make fun of her older brother Sean because he is deaf.  Her mother is pregnant, and everyone worries she might lose this baby, too.  At school, a new boy–a white boy–moves into her class and challenges all of them to reconsider who belongs. She doesn’t hold go much to church, but her best friend Samantha sees Jesus in the new boy.

Through it all, Frannie thinks and thinks and thinks.  Woodson’s lyrical prose doesn’t provide all the answers for faith and family and friendship life and death and racism, but her words do sing with hope.

Risked by Margaret Peterson Haddix

imageJonah and Katherine hope to have a little time to spend in the twentieth century before going on another time adventure, but the past catches up with them when Daniella (Anastasia Romanov in 1918) shows up on their doorstep with their friend Chip.  Before they know it, Gavin (formerly Alexei Romanov) has whisked them back to Russia on July 16, 1918, where time is running out for the Romanov family.  How can Jonah and Katherine save their friends without a fully working Elucidator and without any contact with time agents.  Is there any hope at all when modern day scientists have discovered the remains of the entire family, including the bones of Alexei and Anastasia?

Just like the first five books in the series, Risked by Margaret Peterson Haddix is packed with nonstop action and history.  Just when Jonah and Katherine come up with one solution, ten more problems pop up, including bad guys Gary and Hodge, who have escaped from time prison and are determined to make their money from selling the missing children from history.  As the series progresses (and as the characters grow through their experiences), Haddix explores more of the philosophical issues of time travel and fate and destiny and God.

Of course, we still don’t learn who Jonah was in history, but we do know who he is through his time adventures.  We still have a lot of missing children to account for and to save from history.

Graphic Novel Roundup

Pandemonium (Scholastic graphix 2012) by Chris Wooding and Cassandra Diaz

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

1 2 3 9


STATE FRUIT AND PIE

                            APPLE AND APPLE PIE

No. 15 of the Acts of 1999, effective May 10, 1999, designated the apple pie
as the official State Pie and the apple as the official State Fruit.  When
serving apple pie in Vermont, a "good faith" effort shall be made to meet one
or more of the following conditions: (a) with a glass of cold milk, (b) with
a slice of cheddar cheese weighing a minimum of 1/2 ounce, (c) with a large
scoop of vanilla ice cream.


Friday, August 1, 2014

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Does Africa Really Work?

Chabal and Daloz challenge conventional Western analysis in "Africa Works: Disorder as a Political Instrument".
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Do politicians like Sani Abacha (right) undermine the argument of Chabal and Daloz?

Providing a breath of fresh air from the normal doom and gloom of literature that surrounds Africa, Patrick Chabal and Jean-Pascal Daloz argue that Africa is not in fact broken – it just operates in a different way. With the aim of presenting a paradigm devoid of moral and judgemental undertones, Africa Works explains Africa’s failure to develop in line with Western expectations from a culturally relative perspective. It is an indispensable read for anyone attempting to decipher current day Africa, and provides an alternative explanation for modern day Africa’s shortcomings.

In a continent often characterised by governments that lack competence or commitment, Africa Works looks beneath the modern state in the belief that it was the transition from colonies to independent states that holds the key to unlocking modern day Africa. Although not a book aimed at desecrating the colonial powers, the weakness of the modern African state is largely accredited to the failure of Western institutions to become ingrained during the colonial era.

In particular, Chabal and Daloz believe that it was "questionable whether colonial administration did much to lay the foundations for a properly emancipated state". Similarly to Robert Jackson and Carl Rosberg’s categorisation of African states as "quasi states", Chabal and Daloz argue that the rushed process of decolonisation resulted in African states coming to power without the required features for statehood. They expand on this idea by stating that this weakness, when coupled with the rushed wave of decolonisation that occurred during the 1960s, has allowed for such structures to become "Africanised" after independence.

In contrast to Western predictions that ethnic loyalties would disband with the creation of the state, the two systems instead operated side-by-side, creating a blend of formal and informal structures and a myriad of perceived problems. It is this inability of institutions to withstand social pressures following independence that creates the crux of Chabal and Daloz’s thesis.

Chabal and Daloz focus largely on the correlation between weak states and corruption. Specifically, they argue that it is the weakness of the central state that has acted as a major catalyst for corruption to flourish since independence. This in turn allows for patron-client relationships, as seen prior to colonialism, to continue to be a legitimate function, even "an integral part of the social fabric of life". Although the reality of corruption as a legitimate practice is highly contentious, Chabal and Daloz argue that, if redistributed along socially acceptable lines, it can in fact be an acceptable practice. With this in mind, they warn us that we must "avoid reasoning simplistically in terms of the bureaucratic ideals which we, in the West, assume to have universal relevance".

Africa Works therefore poses a puzzling question: within inefficient states, can informal networks supersede the government as the major service provider? In countries in which resources are scarce, vertical chains of redistribution assist in meeting the needs of the people. Although the patron within this vertical chain undoubtedly finds this relationship to be profitable, there is a social expectation that a percentage of such profits will then be redistributed along kinship or ethnic lines. Relationships are therefore seen as mutually beneficial, for not only the client in need of favours, but also for the patron to uphold their positions of prestige within the community. Within such a relationship, "public opinion legitimises the right kind of personalised exchange" with a failure to distribute being met with suspicion and disdain within the community. Whilst not necessarily fair or equitable, in the absence of a functioning state Chabal and Daloz believe that this is the manner in which Africa works.

Though an interesting theory, Chabal and Daloz’s argument is weaker in practice. For example, in Nigeria capital flight and mass accumulation of wealth by the elite - at the expense of the poor - is clearly evident. Reports that former Nigerian President Abacha and his allies sent billions of dollars offshore between 1988 and 1994 while more and more citizens lived in poverty makes the argument that Africa is "working" questionable.

Although supporters of this thesis will take comfort in such a realisation, it is important to understand that this comes as a major blow to prospects for governance and the creation of strong states. Leaders have a personal stake in maintaining the chaotic systems of governance over which they preside. In a disheartening realisation for many, for Africa’s big men to maintain their complex patron-client networks, the existence of the ineffective state – referred to in Africa Works as the "political instrumentalisation of disorder" – must remain.

Written at a time of rejuvenated Western interest in Africa’s development, Chabal and Daloz’s adoption of a counter-normative approach to analysing Africa offers an interesting, and at times controversial, insight into modern day Africa. Africa Works' attempt to provide a continent-wide appraisal, appealing for those aiming to gain a general overview, does lend itself to contestation. In spite of this, Chabal and Daloz provide an interesting alternate viewpoint for which to view Africa.

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Fantastic review article, very well written. Really sums up the main essence of the book well in a short space and unpacks its complex elements in a straightforward and very readable way. Well done.


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Lion Head meatballs

Lion Head meatballs

Lion Head meatballs

Watch Easy Chinese: San Francisco
Friday the 1st, at 09:20

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Serves: 12
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients Tick boxes to send shopping list to email

For the meatballs:

For the assembly:

For the basic glutinous rice:

Lion Head meatballs

Notes: This dish was said to be an imperial dish that the emperor ate. It is called Lion Head meatballs because, once cooked, the meatballs are surrounded by Chinese cabbage, and the meatball is said to resemble the head of the lion, while the long pieces of cabbage resemble the 'mane' of the lion.

My mother can be quite superstitious and when she cooked this dish when I was younger she told us that we would be as strong as lions if we ate it. It worked. This is something I plan to cook and share if I have children one day.

Serve with steamed rice, as the rice helps to soak up the juices of the broth.

1) For the meatballs: put the ground beef, rice wine, garlic, spring onions, egg, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornflour, salt, and white pepper into a large bowl to combine, stirring in the same direction.

2) Using wet hands, scoop a large mound of the ground meat mixture, and mold it into a ball. The size should be a little larger than a golf ball. Transfer the meatball to a plate and repeat with the remaining mixture.

3) For the assembly: pour the groundnut oil into a large deep pan, and heat over a high heat. Using a metal ladle, carefully lower each meatball into the oil, and spoon some of the oil over the meatballs. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until browned.

Cook's Note: Steamed or glutinous rice is a perfect accompaniment to this dish.

6) Heat a pan, add the rice and water, cover, and cook over high heat for 15 minutes.

7) Reduce the heat to very low, and cook for an additional 3 minutes, making sure all the water has evaporated. Remove from the heat and, using a spatula, fluff the rice. It is now ready to serve.


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chlorine(Cl), chemical element, second lightest member of the halogen elements, or Group VIIa VIIA of the periodic table.

Chlorine is a toxic, corrosive, greenish yellow gas that is irritating to the eyes and respiratory system; it is two and a half times heavier than air. It becomes a liquid at -34° C (-29° F). First prepared from hydrochloric acid and manganese dioxide in 1774 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, it was considered a compound until Sir Humphry Davy showed (1810) that it cannot be decomposed and that muriatic (hydrochloric) acid consists of hydrogen and another true element that he named chlorine.

Chlorine constitutes about 0.013 percent of the Earth’s crust. Free chlorine has been reported as a very minor constituent of volcanic gases, of which hydrogen chloride (q.v.) is a fairly common component. Chlorine, as the chloride ion Cl-, is the main negative ion in ocean water (1.9 percent by weight) and in inland seas such as the Caspian Sea, the Dead Sea, and the Great Salt Lake of Utah; it is found in evaporite minerals, for example, combined with sodium, as rock salt (halite) and in the minerals chlorapatite and sodalite. Natural chlorine is a mixture of two stable isotopes: chlorine-35 (75.53 percent) and chlorine-37 (24.47 percent). The Chloride chloride ion is present in the body fluids of higher animals and as hydrochloric acid in the digestive secretions of the stomach.

Chlorine molecules are composed of two atoms (Cl2). Chlorine combines directly with almost all the elements (exceptions are oxygen, fluorine, nitrogen, carbon, and the noble gases) , except for the lighter noble gases, to give chlorides; those of most metals are ionic crystals, whereas those of the semimetals and nonmetals are predominantly molecular. Besides the -1 oxidation state of the chlorides, chlorine also exhibits +1, +3, +5, +7 oxidation states, respectively, in the following ions: hypochlorite, ClO-1.5PT; chlorite, ClO-2 ; chlorate, ClO-3 ; and perchlorate, ClO-4 . Four Five oxides, chlorine monoxide (Cl2O), chlorine dioxide (ClO2), chlorine perchlorate (Cl2O4) dichlorine hexoxide (Cl2O6), and dichlorine heptoxide (Cl2O7), all highly reactive and unstable, have been indirectly synthesized. Chlorine can displace the heavier halogens, bromine and iodine, from their ionic compounds and undergoes addition or substitution reactions with organic compounds. Chlorine enters directly or as an intermediate into the synthesis of many organic chemicals that are used as solvents, dyes, plastics, and synthetic rubber.

atomic number17atomic weight35.453melting point-103° C (-153° F)boiling point-34° C (-29° F)density (1 atm, 0° C)3.214 g/litreoxidation states-1, +1, +3, +5, +7electronic config.2-8-7 or 1s22s22p63s23p1s22s22p63s23p5