Afghan burning

What does the murder of 16 Afghan civilians say about the US strategy in Afghanistan? What repercussions will the latest shooting spree have on the relationship between Afghanistan and the US? Why can’t the US pullout its troops immediately, and how is it different from Iraq? CrossTalking with Saul Landau, Gretchen Peters and Cristian Whiton on March 16.


M. Morgan

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OBJECTIVES Whole-genome sequencing potentially represents a single, rapid and cost-effective approach to defining resistance mechanisms and predicting phenotype, and strain type, for both clinical and epidemiological purposes. This retrospective study aimed to determine the efficacy of whole genome-based antimicrobial resistance prediction in clinical(More)
Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) could potentially provide a single platform for extracting all the information required to predict an organism's phenotype. However, its ability to provide accurate predictions has not yet been demonstrated in large independent studies of specific organisms. In this study, we aimed to develop a genotypic prediction method for(More)
The ability to elicit requirements in the design of new technology has proven to be particularly problematic with older generations of users who have not grown up with the same level of familiarity and understanding of present day user interfaces as younger generations have. It is also widely acknowledged that older people are poorly represented in the(More)
BACKGROUND Rare disease patients and caregivers face uncommon, serious, debilitating conditions often characterised by poor prognosis and limited treatment options. This study aimed to explore what they consider of value when choosing between hypothetical therapeutic options and to quantify both their benefit-risk preferences and the influence of disease(More)
BACKGROUND With increasingly intensive treatments and population ageing, more people face complex treatment and care decisions. We explored patterns of the decision-making processes during critical care, and sources of conflict and resolution. METHODS Ethnographic study in two Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in an inner city hospital comprising:(More)
— Cryogenic cooling of receivers to reduce their noise temperature is especially important in radio astronomy, as the antenna noise temperature is determined by the cosmic microwave background radiation (2.725 K) modified by the presence of atmosphere. For frequencies up to 120 GHz direct amplification at cryogenic temperatures is typically employed using(More)
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Göteborgs universitets publikationer

Adolescents integration of identity constructions in on-and offline social contexts

Författare och institution:
Maria Wängqvist (Psykologiska institutionen); Linnea Wrebo (Psykologiska institutionen)
Publicerad i:
Paper presented at the 14th biennial conference of the European Association for Research on Adolescence, Cesme, Turkey, September 3-6, 2014 ,
Konferensbidrag - refereegranskat abstract
Sammanfattning (abstract):
Today, youth experiment with different self-presentations and explore who they are in both on- and offline contexts. Erikson (1968) emphasized that a sense of identity lead individuals to experience continuity between their views of themselves in the past and the future, as well as across social contexts. To establish a sense of coherence between one’s context-specific identities is thus a crucial aspect of identity formation. Online contexts offer new challenges to the individual’s strive to integrate context-specific identities, but little is known about how. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the importance and integration of identity constructions across on- and offline social contexts in adolescents’ formation of a sense of identity. The participants in this study were 128 Swedish high school students (Mage = 16.9, SD = 0.9), 63 women and 65 men. The participants answered questions about their age, gender, and identity usage; filled out the Identity confusion subscale of the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory— EPSI (Rosenthal, Gurney, & Moore, 1981); and an adapted Swedish version of a questionnaire developed by van Hoof and Raaijmakers (2002, 2003) that measure the importance and identity integration across the four social contexts the own home, school, leisure activities, and Facebook. The results showed that the adolescents thought that other people would get to know them better in the offline contexts than they would if they saw them on Facebook. Moreover, the adolescents’ self-descriptions were more similar across the three offline contexts than between offline contexts and Facebook, but higher integration of all four context-specific identities were related to lower identity confusion. There were also individual differences in the importance of Facebook to the sense of identity. The more individuals felt that Facebook was a context where they could express unique sides of themselves and the more time they spent on Facebook, the more did they feel that people would get to know them if they saw them there. However, the participants thought that the internet in general offered better opportunities to express unique sides of the self than Facebook in particular. Nonetheless, Facebook was the most commonly used webpage, followed by YouTube, Google, and Instagram. From this study it may be concluded that integration of on- and offline identity constructions is important to the sense of identity, but that the importance of online contexts to identity formation may differ depending on the specific online context.
Ämne (baseras på Högskoleverkets indelning av forskningsämnen):
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Posten skapad:
2014-10-03 16:02

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How You can Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

So your doctor told you that you have high cholesterol levels? Don’t worry! We are here for your help. But first it is important to understand why it is so bad for you.

LDL or “bad” cholesterol is a fatty substance. Too much accumulation of this substance in the blood can cause arteries to clog, which ultimately results in a stroke or a heart attack.

Cholesterol is produced by the body naturally. However, there are some other factors involved that can cause an increased production of bad cholesterol. It can be genetically inherited from parents and even grandparents. Also consuming foods rich in tans fats and saturated fats can increase cholesterol levels in the body.

LDL is considered very high if you get a reading of 190 mg/dL, even levels ranging from 160 to 189 are considered high, and the borderline levels are from 130 to 159. Cholesterol levels within the range of 100 to 129 are considered optimal. People with a family history of heart disease should maintain their LDL levels up to 70 mg/dL.

How You can Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

Just as too much LDL production is bad for the body in the same way low levels of HDL also known as “good” cholesterol is also not good for your body. Your aim should be to decrease the LDL levels and increase the HDL levels. It is also said that it is easier to push LDL levels down than to raise HDL levels up. HDL levels equal to 60 mg/dL or above are considered to be heart protecting.

By making some lifestyle and dietary modifications you can reduce bad cholesterol levels and at the same time you can increase your good cholesterol levels in the body. Here are some measures you can take.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6


jen smoose

review of rules, tool, and fools at spudnik press cooperative in chicago

"this is the type of science pursued by revolutionaries and artists-- it's a matter of not missing the right moment, of allowing it to propel one into the unknown."
- boris groys

"in order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."
- carl sagan

"there are really two options when thinking about the big, big picture: be humble or be absurd."
- tim urban, wait but why

rules, tools, and fools (installation view)
spudnik press, chicago


The Weider Principles: Holistic Training

Installment eight of the Hardgainers Growth Enhancement System (H.U.G.E): How to use a variety of training styles to maximize muscle growth.

Holistic training doesn’t only apply to moving metal. It can also invigorate your cardio sessions. Altering your style of cardio will activate different muscles and keep your interest elevated. This can be as simple as going from the StepMill one workout to the treadmill the next and to the elliptical the third. However, on occasion, try to incorporate completely different types of fat-burning activities — the sort that typically take you outside the weight room.

These include sprinting intervals, swimming laps, pummeling a speed bag or heavy bag, jumping rope and mountain bike riding, as well as multi-person sports like racquetball, full-court basketball and sparring sessions for boxing or martial arts. In addition to burning calories, these machine-free cardio activities improve the functional skills and balance crucial to athletes, and they can be a lot more fun than another 40 minutes climbing in place.

There are two potential pitfalls:

If you don’t carefully construct your routine, one style of training can hinder the other, instead of aiding it. For example, if you do a week of HIT workouts just before a week of power/speed workouts, the former can detract from your strength in the latter. Instead, break up a HIT week and a power week with a lower-intensity week of circuit training or high reps.

A variety of styles can lead to a loss of focus. You must endeavor to continuously use greater weights or get more reps with the same weight each time you go through the workout rotation.

In Holistic Training’s Favor:

The variety keeps your intensity and interest up.

You can incorporate power and speed training into a bodybuilding regimen, thus you can keep your primary focus on muscle gains but also significantly boost power.

It’s ideal for those who have multiple sports goals. Perhaps you want to maximize your muscularity but also boost your “hops” and quickness for basketball. A holistic approach will let you incorporate plyometric, leaping exercises and speed conditioning into your bodybuilding routine. As another example, perhaps you want to be both a bodybuilder and a kickboxer. Alternating a weight-training workout and a kickboxing-specific session will let you do both.

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Otitis Media with Effusion: Causes, Symptoms & Diagnosis

Otitis Media with Effusion

What Is Otitis Media with Effusion?

  1. Otitis media with effusion describes when the middle part of your ear fills with fluid.
  2. This condition most often affects children.
  3. Muffled hearing is a common symptom.

Normally, the Eustachian tube drains fluid from your ears to the back of your throat. If it clogs, otitis media with effusion (OME) can occur.

If you have OME, the middle part of your ear fills with fluid. It can increase the risk of ear infection.

OME is extremely common. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, about 90 percent of children will have OME at least once by the age of 10.

What Causes OME?

Children are more likely to experience OME due to the shape of their ear tube. Their tubes are shorter and have smaller openings. This increases the risk of clogging and infection. In addition, children’s immune systems may not be well-developed. This makes it harder for them to fight off ear infections that can lead to OME.

While OME isn’t an ear infection, the two can be related. For example, an ear infection can affect how well fluid flows through the middle ear. Even after the infection is gone, fluid may remain.

In addition, a blocked tube and excess fluid can provide the ideal environment for bacteria to grow. This can lead to an ear infection.

Allergies, air irritants, and respiratory infections can all cause OME. Changes in air pressure can close the Eustachian tube and affect fluid flow. These might be due to flying in an airplane or even by drinking while lying down.

A common misconception is that water in the ear can cause OME. This is untrue.

What Are the Symptoms of OME?

Not all children with OME have symptoms. OME isn’t the result of an infection. Many children with OME don’t act or feel sick.

Symptoms are often mild or minimal. They can vary based on the child’s age.

One common symptom of OME is hearing problems. In younger children, behavior changes can be a sign of hearing problems. For example, children may turn the television up louder than usual. They may also tug or pull on their ears.

Older children and adults who have OME often describe sound as muffled. They may have the feeling that the ear is full of fluid.

How Is OME Diagnosed?

A doctor will examine the ear using an otoscope. This magnifying glass has a lighted end for looking inside the ear.

The doctor will be looking for:

  • air bubbles on the eardrum’s surface
  • an eardrum that appears dull instead of smooth and shiny
  • visible fluid behind the eardrum
  • an eardrum that doesn’t move when a small amount of air is blown into it

More sophisticated testing methods are available. One example is tympanometry. This test inserts a probe into the ear. It determines how much fluid is behind the eardrum and how thick it is.

An acoustic otoscope can also detect fluid in the middle ear.

How Is OME Treated?

OME often clears up on its own. However, chronic OME can increase your risk of ear infections. Your doctor may recommend taking a low-dose antibiotic if you or your child is prone to frequent ear infections.

If it feels like there’s fluid still lurking behind your ear after roughly six weeks, you may need to see your doctor again. You may need more direct treatment to drain your ears.

One form of direct treatment is ear tubes. These help drain fluid from behind the ears.

Removing the adenoids can also help treat or prevent OME. When enlarged, adenoids can block ear drainage.

How Can I Prevent OME?

OME is most likely to occur in the fall and winter months, according to the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP). Fortunately, there are things you can do to reduce your risk of developing OME.

Preventive techniques include:

  • frequently washing hands and toys
  • avoiding cigarette smoke and pollution, which can affect ear drainage
  • avoiding allergens
  • using air filters to keep air as clean as possible
  • utilizing a smaller day care center, ideally with six children or fewer
  • breast-feeding, which helps your child resist ear infections
  • no drinking while lying down
  • taking antibiotics only when necessary

The pneumonia and flu vaccines also may make you less vulnerable to OME. They can prevent the ear infections that increase OME risk.

What Are the Complications Associated with OME?

Complications Icon

OME isn’t associated with permanent hearing damage, even when fluid builds up for some time. However, if OME is associated with frequent ear infections, more complications can occur.

These can include:

  • acute ear infections
  • cysts in the middle ear
  • eardrum scarring
  • damage to the ear, causing hearing loss
  • affected speech or language delay

What Is the Long-Term Outlook for OME?

Working closely with your doctor can help to minimize long-term symptoms. It’s particularly important to pay attention to hearing problems in young children. These can cause long-term language delays.

OME is very common and most often doesn’t cause long-term damage. If your child develops recurrent and frequent ear infections, consult with your doctor about ways to prevent further infections or OME.

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Lists by Monkfish2001

a list of 524 titles
A list of my favorite movies (rated 7 or higher) that have less than 10.000 votes on IMDBb as of July 2014.
a list of 250 people
A ranking list of my top 250 movie directors according to the votes I have given on IMDb.


Encouraging More Adults to Swim
Featured Picture
Coaching / Drylands / Stroke Technique

Strengthening the Catch

Dryland exercises for more speed in the water

Chris Ritter | March 18, 2015

The catch position and phase of each stroke is paramount to a swimmer’s success. Swimmers who improve their catch will automatically increase their power and endurance without any metabolic training. Once a great catch has been established, it can cover up a lot of other technical flaws in the stroke.

Conversely, swimmers who lack an effective catch will never fully achieve their best performance; you can’t “out-train” a poor catch in swimming.

Strengthening and improving the catch is yet another reason why getting stronger results in faster swimming. Bottom line: start with the catch when making technical changes.

Connect the Core

The first avenue to improving the catch is to encourage active engagement of the core muscles and connect the pull to the core. I think of the core as starting from the ribs all the way through the bottom of the hips. Many swimmers have no idea if they’re activating those muscles to create a solid foundation for force while they’re swimming.

Legendary swim coach Bill Boomer used the analogy of a rubber raft and a kayak to illustrate what it means to connect or activate the core. The rubber raft requires much more effort to move because it’s not tight; rather, it’s flimsy and flops around in the water. By contrast, a kayak takes much less effort to move because it’s tight and transfers energy far more efficiently than a rubber raft.

Think of the core as the foundation and connection for the pull to become even more powerful. You can still swim fast without this connection, but improving it is a simple way to become even faster with very little effort. Use the core progression exercises outlined in a separate article to help your swimmers learn how to activate and connect the core.

Strengthen the Pull

Once the core is connected, the swimmer can focus on actually strengthening the pulling motion through a few different exercises. The point of these exercises is not to perfectly mimic the catch, but to develop muscular strength and endurance in the same movement patterns that are used while catching and pulling in the water.

The mistake many swimmers make is trying to perfectly mimic their catch on land. In the water, you only need a few pounds of pressure for a great catch. On land it’s a better use of time to strengthen the pulling movement as much as possible, which creates more power when swimming. The exercises described below can help improve your catch and all have accompanying video demonstrations.

  • Pull-ups. Use an overhand grip and start at full extension. Pull yourself up so that your chin is all the way above the bar before lowering back down to the starting point
  • Bent knee row + TRX. Using a TRX or other suspension system, place both feet on the ground and bend your knees so that your head, shoulders, hips, and knees are in a straight line. Once you’re in this starting position you can pull yourself up and lower back down to the starting position
  • Speed skiers + band. Holding the handle of a band in each hand, start with your arms extended forward and then pull back with straight arms until your arms are almost touching your legs. Repeat, quickly.
  • Slam + MB. Standing in a tall posture, hold a medicine ball overhead and slam it into the ground directly in front of your feet without bending forward while throwing it down.

USMS Wave Seperator

About the Author—Chris Ritter

Chris Ritter is the founder of RITTER Sports Performance online training programs and the author of the e-book, SURGE STRENGTH, which details how to strength train specifically for swimming performance. Ritter, a swimmer himself, has a degree in kinesiology and exercise science and he specializes in training athletes of diverse abilities, ranging from beginners to Olympians. Follow him on Twitter @RITTERSP or like his Facebook page for updates and training tips.

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The meeting of the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões, where the Amazon forms, Manaus, Brazil.

"Meeting of the waters," where the Amazon River meets the Rio Negro in Brazil.

Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Wedding of the Waters,...where the Rio Solimoes & the Rio Negro meet near Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil to form the Amazon and eventually merge into one color....

Marriage of the Waters, Manaus, Brazil. Where the Rio Solimoes and Rio Negro meet but never mix.

Mom... Can we walk next time? Baby rider vintage

ピンもと：BuzzFeed Community

Community Post: The 20 Most Beautiful Cities In The World

Ah, Rio


[Planner] Colaborative Palnning

Hello, I'm new in Planner. I'm looking for a tool that allows
collaborative management.

I like planner because of its simplicity, but it hasn't all the
features that i need:

it Is possible to share calendars and resources between many projects?
it Is possible to share the projects via web to have remote access to it?
Another useful feature will be that the task assigned to the resources
appear in the resource's working calendar.
thanks and my apologies for my spell (my English is not good enough yet)

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."
Albert Einstein


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The Outlander War: Book Three of the Forever Avalon Series

By Mark Piggott All Rights Reserved ©

Adventure / Fantasy

It is an island frozen in time and space. For more than 3,000 years, the island of Avalon remained hidden from the outside world. It was a place of eternal magic, where the descendants of King Arthur ruled over a land filled with magical creatures, Elves, Dwarves and Dragons. The island was only accessible through a rift in the Bermuda Triangle, where mariners and aviators disappeared throughout history. No one believed Avalon was anything but a myth. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in the heart of a naval exercise, Avalon reappeared suddenly, causing disruptions on both fronts. The U.S. Navy, now circling the mysterious island, wants answers. On Avalon, they fear Outlanders (as they call them) would intrude on their home; and caught in the middle of it all is Lord Bryan MoonDrake, the Gil-Gamesh of Avalon, Knight Eternal and Champion of the magical realm.The Gil-Gamesh was no stranger to the outside world. He was once a U.S. Navy sailor, lost at sea in a freak storm, who found his way to Avalon. After his family followed him to the island, they decided to stay and make this their home. Now they are torn between loyalty to their new home and compassion for their old one.

Prologue-A forgotten battlefield

The field was strewn with the dead; warriors felled by sword and ax, spear and shaft. Blood flowed across the ground, but there were no winners here … Only death triumphed this day. Camlann sat near the western coast of in Wales in Britain. This was the last stand by Mordred and forces loyal to his sorceress mother, Morgana le Fay, against the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The Battle of Camlann was the final conflict between King Arthur and Mordred. The two combatants laid side-by-side on the ground, both men mortally wounded by the other. Morgana’s spell may have kept her son young and beautiful, but the power of Excalibur cut through that enchantment.

As Sir Percival ran to his monarch’s aid, Mordred crawled away, not wanting to wait for the last of the Knights of the Round Table to finish him off.

Percival dropped his sword and lifted Arthur’s head on his lap. “My liege,” he cried. “I am here Your Majesty.”

“Percival … Listen to me,” King Arthur groaned. “Take Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake; it must not fall into the wrong hands!” He handed his sword to Percival, placing the hilt firmly in his hands. “You must do this for me.”

Percival nodded his head as tears began to roll down his face. “I will my King! I will” he assured him. Arthur smiled, his mind at ease. He coughed violently, blood spewed from his lips.

“Find Mordred, Percival,” he choked out. “He must not be allowed to take the throne of Camelot. You must …” King Arthur coughed again as he gasped for each breath. Percival did his best to comfort the dying monarch.

“Do not fear, milord. As long as there is breath in my body, he will never sit on the throne. This I swear!”

King Arthur took one last breath before his body went rigid, his eyes stared into the stars above. His arms went limp as the king fell back and died. Percival cried as he closed the king’s eyes and set him gently down on the ground.

He looked over to Excalibur and knew he had a promise to keep. He reached for the sword but it was quickly scooped up by the hands of Merlin the Magician. The sorcerer and advisor to King Arthur took the sword and, without a word to Sir Percival, walked toward the top of the hill.

“Merlin, what are you doing?” Percival screamed as he leapt to his feet. “I must return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. It was the king’s final command.”

Merlin said nothing. He quickened his pace to the reach the top of the hill. He walked past the bodies of the dead knights, laying where they fell in battle. Percival became irritated at the wizard. He ran up and grabbed him by the arm.

“Dammit Merlin, answer me!” he commanded. Merlin spun around and pointed his staff at Percival to ward him off. The twisted shaft of Wych Elm had three branches at the top, looking like a trident, with crystals of rose, smoky and white quartz embedded in those branches. The crystals glowed, as magical energy hovered between them, threatening the knight to stay away.

“We don’t have time Sir Percival,” Merlin exclaimed. “I must act quickly to save us all.”

The old wizard turned away, his long gray beard swayed with each step, as he continued up the hill. Percival was confused by Merlin’s statement. “Time for what? Merlin, what do you mean?” he shouted as he chased after him.

“The age of magic is coming to an end, and so is our world,” he explained. “With Arthur’s death, the magic that fills our realm is already starting to fade. I must act quickly if I am to stem the tide.”

“But how?” Percival asked. “How can you do that?”

“There is a spell, one of the first ever written,” Merlin began to explain. “If I focus that spell through Excalibur, it will bring all magic together in one place.”

“Where Merlin? Where are you sending it?”

Merlin stopped as he reached the summit. “To Avalon, my boy! To Avalon! There, I will summon all the magic, magical creatures, and beings into one place, hidden from the rest of the world.”

The wizard rammed his staff into the ground in front of him. He took Excalibur and placed the hilt between the branches, allowing the sword to hang down from the staff. Merlin stood behind them and started chanting. It was an ancient language, unknown to this day and age. He repeated the spell until he got into a rhythm, chanting as magic began to erupt from the ground around him, swirling into a vortex of magical energy.

Percival stood back as watched the ritual unfold before him. The magic around Merlin grew brighter and brighter as the spell reached its zenith.

“No!” shouted a voice from behind. Percival drew his sword as he turned to see who was shouting at them.

Mordred charged up the hill, bloodied and wounded from his fight with King Arthur. His blonde hair was dirty and matted, but his golden armor—a gift from his mother to protect him from harm—still shined brightly in the glow of the magic that surrounded Merlin.

“I will have Excalibur,” he shouted. “By birthright, I am now King!”

Percival stepped between Mordred and Merlin. “You will never be king, Mordred. My descendants and I will always stand between you and the throne.”

“You will not stop me, Percival,” Mordred chastised as he drew his sword. “No matter where you go, I will take Excalibur in my hands, I will sit on Arthur’s throne … I will be King!”

Percival leaped at Mordred, bringing his sword down at him as Mordred raised his to counter the attack. As steel clanged together, the magic around Merlin exploded in a brilliant flash of light. In an instant, they were all gone. Across England and around the world, anything and everything touched by magic just disappeared; faded into myth and legend, never to be seen again, or so they thought.

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How Old Is Yoga? The History of Modern Yoga Asana

A private yoga lesson in front of the Maharajah's Palace, Ananda in the Himalayas, The Palace Estate, Narendra Nagar, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India. Matthew Wakem/Stone/Getty Images

One of the more pervasive assumptions about yoga is that it is very old. When we begin to practice yoga asanas, we are often encouraged to believe that the shapes our bodies are taking are part of an ancient tradition, the same postures having been assumed by initiates over the course of centuries. But while there has been something called "yoga" for a long time, it bears almost no resemblance to what we now mean by the word.

Just how old are most of the postures that we encounter in a modern yoga class? As it turns out, probably not so very old.

Asana in Ancient Texts

There are several texts that are referenced over and over as the philosophical basis for the physical side of yoga, but little mention of yoga postures is made in them. In the Bhagavad Gita, for instance, the word asana is used to mean seat. Likewise, in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, asana, one of yoga's eight limbs, refers to a steady and comfortable sitting posture for meditation, according to yoga scholar Mark Singleton, author of Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice (2010), in which he explores the evolution of yoga into the mainstream. Another ancient source, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, "describes fourteen postures, eleven of which are seated postures. It recommends four of them above all others (siddha, padma, simha and bhadra): these are all seated meditation postures," says Singleton.

Recent Advent of Asana

So if not described in ancient texts, where did yoga poses come from? Singleton's research concludes that yoga asana as we know it today came into being in comparatively recent history, through a confluence of factors including the international physical culture movement of the 19th century, which ushered in many new techniques and emphasized the morality of fitness, the influence of colonial British gymnastic conditioning (particularly on standing poses) in India, and the rise of post-colonial Indian nationalism, which sought to identify and promote an indigenous form of exercise.

Singleton's narrative reinforces the powerful influence of T. Krishnamacharya on modern postural yoga. Krishnamacharya's teaching, made possible by the patronage of the Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar of Mysore, flourished in the 1930s and 40s at the Mysore Palace as part of the education of young boys, mostly of the elite class.

The Importance of Mysore

N.E. Sjoman's 1996 study, The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace, offers an in-depth look at the set of circumstances that allowed Krisnamacharya's style of yoga to evolve and promulgate, particularly through his influential students B.K.S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois. Sjoman, a Sanskrit scholar who lived in India for many years, including five years in Pune during which time he studied with Iyengar, was allowed by the Wodeyar family to publish a section of a manuscript from the Mysore palace entitled Sritattvanidhi. Created sometime between 1811 and 1868, this manuscript depicts and names 121 asanas. Many are recognizable as postures we practice today, though most under different names.

Sjoman points out the influence of the training methods used by Indian wrestlers on many of the poses, as well as offering evidence that Krishnamacharya was exposed to a European-style gymnastics curriculum during his time running the yogashala at the Palace. Neither Sjoman nor Singleton finds evidence the Yoga Korunta exists, the ancient text that Krishnamacharya and Jois claimed as the source of the method that Jois called Ashtanga Yoga.

A Dynamic Tradition

If you look at videos of young Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar practicing the flowing style of yoga as developed by Krishnamacharya (available on YouTube), it's interesting to note how much asana practice has changed even in the past 60 years. Though Jois and Iyengar are undeniably masters of asana, their movements seem clunky, even awkward. There is none of the dancer-like grace that we have come to admire in more recent years. The evidence indicates the transformation of yoga asana from a handful of seated poses to the flowing dance from posture to posture to which we are accustomed has largely occurred in the past 200 years, gaining momentum in the past half-century, fixating on tradition seems misguided. Understanding change as an intrinsic part of yoga can allow us to loosen our attachment to the importance of history and observe how the practice continues to develop. Sjoman refers to this as a dynamic tradition, aptly capturing yoga's roots in the past and constantly evolving nature.

Singleton, Mark. Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Singleton, Mark. Personal correspondence, October, 2012.

Sjoman, N.E., The Yoga Tradition of The Mysore Palace. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi. First Edition 1996, Second Edition 1999.

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- KNIA / KRLS - http://kniakrls.com -

Update on Water Line Break

Crews are currently making repairs to the water line break that’s impacting Marion County Rural Water customers. The break occurred to a six inch pipe south of Knoxville. If that’s the only break on the line, which officials believe it is, then water service should be restored to customers sometime this evening.

However, those customers will then be under a boil order advisory. The boil order covers customers in Attica, Pershing, areas to the north and west of Bussey, areas south of Flagler, and areas south of Knoxville. If you lost water or had a decrease in water pressure at all during the past day, you’re being impacted by the boil order.

Due to the potential for bacterial contamination, it is being recommended that the water be boiled before using for drinking or cooking or that an alternative source such as bottled water be used.

It is recommended not to drink the water without boiling it first. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.


"The Hole Argument and Some Physical and Philosophical Implications"
John Stachel
1 Introduction
1.1 Why should we care?
1.2 Summary: Where we are headed
1.3 Outline of the article
2 Early History
2.1 From the special theory to the search for a theory of gravity
2.2 From the equivalence principle to the metric tensor
2.3 From the metric tensor to the hole argument
2.4 From the hole argument back to general covariance
2.5 The point coincidence argument
2.6 From general covariance to Kretschmann’s critique
2.7 The Cauchy problem for the Einstein equations: from Hilbert to Lichnerowicz
3 Modern Revival of the Argument
3.1 Did Einstein misunderstand coordinate transformations?
3.2 Einstein’s vision and fiber bundles
4 The Hole Argument and Some Extensions
4.1 Structures, algebraic and geometric, permutability and general permutability
4.2 Differentiable manifolds and diffeomorphisms, covariance and general covariance
4.3 Fiber bundles: principal bundles, associated bundles, frame bundles, natural and gauge-natural bundles
4.4 Covariance and general covariance for natural and gauge-natural bundles
5 Current Discussions: Philosophical Issues
5.1 Relationalism versus substantivalism: Is that all there is?
5.2 Evolution of Earman’s relationalism
5.3 Pooley’s position: sophisticated substantivalism
5.4 Stachel and dynamic structural realism
5.5 Relations, internal and external, quiddity and haecceity
5.6 Structures, algebraic and geometric
5.7 Does “general relativity” extend the principle of relativity?
6 Current Discussions: Physical Issues
6.1 Space-time symmetry groups and partially background-independent space-times
6.2 General relativity as a gauge theory
6.3 The hole argument for elementary particles
6.4 The problem of quantum gravity
7 Conclusion: The Hole Argument Redivivus
A Nijenhuis on the Formal Definition of Natural Bundles
B Appendix to Section 4: Some Philosophical Concepts
B.1 Things: Synchonic states and diachronic processes
B.2 Open versus closed systems: Determinism versus causality
B.3 Properties: Intrinsic and extrinsic
B.4 Relations: Internal and external
B.5 Quiddity and haecceity

2 Early History

Einstein attributed his success in formulating the special theory in 1905 in no small measure to his insistence on defining coordinate systems that allowed him to attach physical significance to spatial and temporal coordinate intervals:

The theory to be developed – like every other electrodynamics – is based on the kinematics of rigid bodies, since the propositions of any such theory concern relations between rigid bodies (coordinate systems), clocks and electromagnetic processes. Not taking this into account insufficiently is the root of the difficulties, with which the electrodynamics of moving bodies currently has to contend (Einstein, 1905, my translation).

His subsequent attempt to include gravitation in his theory focused on the equality of gravitational and inertial mass, and led him to adopt the equivalence principle: Inertia and gravitation are “wesensgleich” (the same in essence), and must be represented by a single inertio-gravitational field.5 The distinction between the two is not absolute (i.e., frame independent), but depends on the frame of reference adopted.

In particular, he noted that a linearly accelerated (rigid) frame of reference in a space-time without a gravitational field is physically equivalent to an inertial frame of reference, in which there is a uniform, constant gravitational field: both result in equal acceleration of bodies moving relative to their respective frames.

He concluded that, in order to include gravitation, one must go beyond the special theory, with its privileged role for inertial frames, and look for a generalized (“verallgemeinerte”) theory of relativity. In the simplest case, linearly accelerated frames in Minkowski space, the usual time coordinate loses its direct physical significance; and in uniformly rotating frames, a global time cannot even be defined. In the latter case, the spatial coordinates also lose their direct significance: the measured spatial geometry is no longer flat.

I soon saw that, according to the point of view about non-linear transformations required by the equivalence principle, the simple physical interpretation of the coordinates had to be abandoned. …This recognition tormented me a great deal because for a long time I was not able to see just what are coordinates actually supposed to mean in physics? (Einstein 1933, translation from Stachel, 2007, p. 86).

The equivalence principle

made it not only probable that the laws of nature must be invariant with respect to a more general group of transformations than the Lorentz group (extension of the principle of relativity), but also that this extension would lead to a more profound theory of the gravitational field. That this idea was correct in principle I never doubted in the least. But the difficulties in carrying it out seemed almost insuperable. First of all, elementary arguments showed that the transition to a wider group of transformations is incompatible with a direct physical interpretation of the space-time coordinates, which had paved the way for the special theory of relativity. Further, at the outset it was not clear how the enlarged group was to be chosen (Einstein, 1956, my translation).

2.2 From the equivalence principle to the metric tensor

Einstein first attempted to develop a theory of the gravitational field produced by a static source, still based on the idea of a scalar gravitational potential. His earlier work had led him to consider non-flat spaces; this work led him to consider non-flat space-times: He found that his equation of motion for a test particle in a static field can be derived from a variational principle:

∫ { 2 2 2 2 2 }1∕2 δ [c(x, y,z)]dt − [dx + dy + dz ] = 0, (1 )
where he interpreted c(x,y,z) as a spatially-variable speed of light.6

Already familiar with Minkowski’s four-dimensional formulation of the special theory, he realized that this variational principle could be interpreted as the equation for a geodesic (i.e, an extremal) in a non-flat space-time with 2 2 2 2 2 1∕2 ds = {[c(x, y,z)]dt − [dx + dy + dz ]} as its line element. By explicitly introducing the flat Minkowski pseudo-metric ημν, this ds can be rewritten in an arbitrary coordinate system. Einstein then made a big leap: He generalized the geodesic equation using a non-flat Riemannian pseudo-metric gμν, and assumed that it would still describe the path of a test particle in an arbitrary non-static gravitational field. The gravitational theory he was seeking must be based on such a non-flat metric, which should both:

  1. determine the line element, ds2 = gμνdxμdx ν representing the chrono-geometry of space-time;
  2. serve as the potentials for the inertio-gravitational field.

While a student at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic, Einstein had learned about Gauss’ theory of non-flat surfaces, and realized he needed a four-dimensional generalization. His old classmate and new colleague, the mathematician Marcel Grossmann, told Einstein about Riemann’s generalization of Gauss’ theory and about the tensor calculus (“absolute differential calculus”), developed by Ricci and Levi-Civita to facilitate calculations in an arbitrary coordinate system.

Still identifying a coordinate system with a physical frame of reference, his goal of extending the principle of the relativity led Einstein to investigate the widest possible group of coordinate transformations. With Grossman’s help, he succeeded in formulating the influence of the inertio-gravitational field on the rest of physics by putting these equations into a “generally covariant” form.

The one exception was the gravitational field equations, the problem to which they now turned. “General covariance” then meant covariance under arbitrary coordinate transformations,7 so they turned to coordinate-invariant tensors formed from the metric. The concepts of covariant derivative and Riemann tensor were based on the theory of differential invariants, and lacked a simple geometrical interpretation.8 Nevertheless, Einstein seriously considered the Ricci tensor, the only second rank contraction of the Riemann tensor, for use in the gravitational field equations. He tried, in linear approximation, setting it equal to the stress-energy-momentum tensor of the sources of the gravitational field; and even realized that, in order to obtain consistency with the vanishing divergence of the source tensor, the Ricci tensor would have to be modified by a trace term.9

However, after coming so close to the final form of field equations of GR, he retreated. His earlier work on static fields led him to conclude that, in adapted coordinates, the spatial part of the metric tensor must remain flat [see Eq. (1View Equation)], which is easily shown to be incompatible with field equations based on the Ricci tensor. So, as he later put it, he abandoned these equations “with a heavy heart,” and began to search for non-generally-covariant field equations.

2.3 From the metric tensor to the hole argument

Einstein soon developed a meta-argument against a generally covariant set of field equations for the metric tensor. Why did he formulate this argument in terms of a hole – a finite region of space-time devoid of all non-gravitational sources?10 It was probably the influence of Mach’s ideas. One of Einstein’s main motivations in the search for a generalized theory of relativity was his interpretation of Mach’s critique of Newtonian mechanics. According to Mach, space is not absolute: It does not have any inherent properties of its own, and its apparent influence on the motion of a body – as manifested in the law of inertia, for example – must result from an interaction between the moving body and all the rest of the matter in the universe. Mach suggested that the inertial behavior of matter in the region of empty space around us is the effect of all the matter in the universe that surrounds this region, or “hole.”

When Einstein adopted the metric tensor as the representation of the potentials of the inertio-gravitational field, he interpreted Mach’s idea as the requirement that metric field in such a “hole” be entirely determined by its sources – that is by the stress-energy tensor of the surrounding matter.11

The hole argument purports to show that, if the field equations are generally covariant, this requirement cannot be satisfied: Even if the field and all its sources outside of and on the boundary of the hole are fully specified, such equations cannot determine a unique field in the interior of the hole. Conclusion: the gravitational field equations cannot be generally covariant.

We present the argument here in Einstein’s original coordinate-based formulation (see Section 4 for a modern, coordinate-free form).

Let the metric tensor be symbolized by the single letter G, and a given four-dimensional coordinate system by a single letter x. Suppose G(x) is a solution to a set of field equations. If both the coordinates and components of the metric tensor are subject to the transformation

′ x → x = f(x) (2 )
from coordinates x to another coordinate system x ′, then G ′(x ′) represents the same solution in the new coordinate system. This presents no problem – Einstein is quite clear on this point.12

But if the field equations are generally covariant, Einstein noted, it follows that G ′(x ) must also be a solution. He emphasized clearly that G (x) and ′ G (x) represent two mathematically distinct solutions in the same coordinate system.13

Now consider a “hole” H – a bounded, closed region of space-time, in which all non-gravitational sources of the field – represented by the stress-energy tensor Tμν – vanish; and suppose the field G(x) and all its sources Tμν are specified everywhere outside the hole and on its boundary, together with any finite number of normal derivatives of field on the boundary. This still does not suffice to determine a unique mathematical solution inside the hole. For there are coordinate transformations x → x′ that reduce to the identity outside of and on the boundary of H, together with all their derivatives up to any finite order; yet which differ from the identity inside H. Such coordinate transformations will leave T μν unchanged, and the resulting G ′(x) will still equal G (x) outside of and on the boundary of H; but G(x) will differ from G ′(x ) inside H.

In short, if the field equations are generally covariant, then specification of the gravitational field together with its sources outside of and on the boundary of such a hole do not suffice to determine the field inside. Einstein concluded that generally-covariant field equations could not be used to describe the metric tensor field, and began a search for non-covariant field equations.

Now the question became: If Lorentz invariance is too little (equivalence principle) and general covariance is too much (hole argument), what is the widest possible group (if it is a group!) of coordinate transformations, under which one can demand the invariance of such equations? The hole argument is not valid for the inhomogeneous Lorentz (Poincaré) group; and Einstein concluded that the invariance group of the field equations should be extended only up to – but not including – the invariance group, for which the hole argument becomes valid in coordinates adapted to this group.

2.4 From the hole argument back to general covariance

Because of problems unrelated to the hole argument, in mid-1915 Einstein abandoned the search for a non-covariant theory of gravitation and returned to the Riemann tensor. After several intermediate steps, by November of that year he adopted the set of generally-covariant equations now known as the Einstein equations. His successful explanation of the anomalous perihelion advance of Mercury convinced him – and many others – of the profound significance of the resulting theory, known today as general relativity.

What about the hole argument? Einstein realized that, to avoid it, he had only to drop one of the premises that he had tacitly adopted: the assumption that the points of space-time in the hole are individuated independently of the metric field. If that assumption is dropped, it follows that when the metric is dragged-along by a coordinate transformation, all the individuating properties and relations of the points of space-time are dragged along too.14 While G ′(x) does differ mathematically from G(x) inside H, they are merely different representations of the same physical solution. Properly-specified conditions outside the hole will suffice to specify a unique physical solution inside the hole.

2.5 The point coincidence argument

In order to better illustrate the flaw in the hole argument, Einstein developed a counter-argument, the point-coincidence argument.15 There are actually two versions of this argument, which have been called “the private” and “the public” one.16 First I shall cite the private version. In letters to friends, Einstein explained why the argument no longer applies to general relativity:

Everything in the hole argument was correct up to the final conclusion. It has no physical content if, with respect to the same coordinate system K, two different solutions G (x) and ′ G (x ) exist [see Section 2.3]. To imagine two solutions simultaneously on the same manifold has no meaning, and indeed the system K has no physical reality. The hole argument is replaced by the following consideration. Nothing is physically real but the totality of space-time point coincidences. If, for example, all physical events were to be built up from the motions of material points alone, then the meetings of these points, i.e., the points of intersection of their world lines, would be the only real things, i.e., observable in principle. These points of intersection naturally are preserved during all [coordinate] transformations (and no new ones occur) if only certain uniqueness conditions are observed. It is therefore most natural to demand of the laws that they determine no more than the totality of space-time coincidences. From what has been said, this is already attained through the use of generally covariant equations (letter to Michele Besso, 3 January 1916, in Schulmann et al., 1998, p. 235, translation cited from Stachel, 1989Jump To The Next Citation Point, p. 86).

Einstein’s argument consists of three points; in modern language, they are:

  1. If two metrics in their respective different coordinate systems differ only in that one is the carry-along of the other, then physically there is no distinction between them.
  2. Generally covariant equations have the property that, given a solution, any carry-along of that solution in the same coordinate system is also a solution to these equations.
  3. In the absence of a metric tensor field, a coordinate system on a differentiable manifold has no intrinsic significance.17

Note that points 1) and 2) were included in the original hole argument (see Section 2.3). Point 3) is the crucial new element. It follows from the three points that the entire equivalence class of carry-alongs of a given solution in the same coordinate system corresponds to one physical gravitational field. Thus, the hole argument fails.

As will be seen in Section 4, point 1) constitutes a coordinate-dependent version, applied to the metric tensor, of what I call the basic or trivial identity; point 2) constitutes the coordinate-dependent version, applied to the metric tensor, of my definition of covariant theories. I would apply the term generally covariant to the conclusion that an entire equivalence class of carry alongs corresponds to one physical solution. The coordinate-independent versions of all three concepts are obtained by substituting basis vectors for coordinates and diffeomorphisms for coordinate transformations.

Einstein’s 1916 review paper presents the public version of the argument to justify the requirement that any physical theory be invariant under all coordinate transformations:

Our space-time verifications invariably amount to a determination of space-time coincidences. If, for example, events consisted merely in the motion of material points, then ultimately nothing would be observable but the meetings of two or more of these points. Moreover, the results of our measurements are nothing but verifications of such meetings of the material points of our measuring instruments with other material points, coincidences between the hands of a clock and points on the clock-dial, and observed point-events happening at the same place at the same time.

The introduction of a system of reference serves no other purpose than to facilitate the description of the totality of such coincidences. We allot to the universe four space-time variables 1 2 3 4 x ,x ,x ,x in such a way that for every point-event there is a corresponding system of values of the variables x1 ...x4. To two coincident point-events there corresponds one system of values of the variables x1...x4, i.e., coincidence is characterized by the identity of the co-ordinates. If, in place of the variables x1...x4, we introduce functions of them, ′1 ′2 ′3 ′4 x ,x ,x ,x, as a new system of co-ordinates, so that the systems of values are made to correspond to one another without ambiguity, the equality of all four co-ordinates in the new system will also serve as an expression for the space-time coincidence of the two point-events. As all our physical experience can be ultimately reduced to such coincidences, there is no immediate reason for preferring certain systems of coordinates to others, that is to say, we arrive at the requirement of general covariance (Einstein, 1916, pp. 776–777, reprinted in Kox et al., 1996, pp. 291–292).

In this version of the argument, there is no mention of dynamical equations or even of fields. Indeed, he proceeds to illustrate it with a version of the trivial identity applied to a system of particles, rather than fields, the model being any set of particle world lines, without any requirement that they satisfy equations of motion. Einstein also mentions “the requirement of general covariance;” but here it amounts basically to point 3) together with a generalization of point 1) to any objects used in a physical theory, whether or not they obey any field equations. It is essentially a coordinate-dependent version of the basic identity, extended from metrics to all geometric object fields of a certain type (see Section 4.2).

We see here the origins of two differing usages of the term “general covariance” – one involves the field equations, the other does not. This difference has occasioned some confusion in recent discussions of the hole argument. (see Section 5.2 for an example of their conflation). My use of the term always involves the field equations.

In later years, Einstein explicitly rejected any positivistic interpretation of the point coincidence argument. He wrote to Schlick:

Generally considered, your presentation of the [point coincidence] argument does not correspond with my conception of it since I find your entire conception too positivistic, so to speak. Physics indeed provides relations between sense experiences, but only indirectly. For me, its essence is by no means exhaustively characterized by this assertion. Physics is an attempt at the conceptual construction of a model of the real world, as well as of its lawful structure. Indeed it must represent exactly the empirical relations between the sense experiences that are accessible to us; but only in this way is it linked to the latter (Einstein to Moritz Schlick, 28 November 1930; cited from Engler and Renn, 2013, p. 18, my translation).

2.6 From general covariance to Kretschmann’s critique

In 1915, even before Einstein completed the general theory of relativity, Erich Kretschmann (1915a,b) had undertaken an investigation that led him to a version of the trivial identity.
Kretschmann (1917Jump To The Next Citation Point) uses Einstein’s public point coincidence argument to conclude that any theory could be put into a form satisfying Einstein’s principle of general covariance. Einstein (1918Jump To The Next Citation Point) concedes the point, but argued, not very successfully,18 that an added criterion of simplicity gives the principle a heuristic significance. Evidently, he was not himself clear on the difference between his two arguments: While the public point coincidence argument does not provide a criterion for singling out theories, the criterion of general covariance in the private argument does.19

Of greater future significance was Kretschmann’s suggestion: use four invariants of the Riemann tensor to fix a unique coordinate system (an individuating field in my terminology). Section III.1 of Kretschmann (1917Jump To The Next Citation Point) discusses the use of the principal directions of the Riemann tensor to fix the coordinate directions;20 and Section III.2 proposes the use of four mutually-independent invariants of the Riemann tensor and metric as the space-time coordinates.21

Apparently unaware of Kretschmann (1917Jump To The Next Citation Point), Arthur Komar (1958) also suggested the use of four invariants of the Riemann tensor as coordinates. In subsequent discussions of the problem of true observables in general relativity, they are often referred to as Kretschmann–Komar coordinates. Stachel (1989Jump To The Next Citation Point, 1993Jump To The Next Citation Point) noted their use as a way of individuating the points of space-time, and they have subsequently figured in many discussions of the hole argument.

Kretschmann (1917) notes that: “This system of [principal] directions …naturally may be indeterminate or otherwise degenerate;” and that the four invariants may be used as coordinates “only by postulating that in no finite four-dimensional region are [they] mutually dependent.”

Section 6.1 discusses the treatment of such cases, in which the symmetry or isometry group of an equivalence class of metrics is non-trivial.

As we have seen, in 1913 Einstein formulated his argument against generally covariant equations in terms of the non-uniqueness of the field in a “hole” in space-time. David Hilbert, the renowned mathematician, became interested in the problem of a unified gravitational-electromagnetic theory and followed Einstein in arguing against generally covariant field equations. Instead of a hole, however, he formulated the argument in a mathematically more sophisticated way, using a space-like hypersurface.22 He showed that there is no well-posed Cauchy problem for generally covariant equations; i.e., no finite set of initial values on such a hypersurface can determine a unique solution to these equations off the initial hypersurface.23

After Einstein returned to generally covariant field equations, Hilbert dropped this argument against them, and Hilbert (1917) is the first discussion of the Cauchy problem in general relativity; but the analysis is far from complete.24 It was not until 1927 that Georges Darmois gave a reasonably complete treatment.25 His discussion included the role of null hypersurfaces as characteristics, the use of the first and second fundamental forms on a space-like hypersurface as initial data, and the division of the ten field equations into four constraints on the initial data and six evolution equations. Most post World-War II discussions of the Cauchy problem in general relativity are based on the work of André Lichnerowicz,26 but he acknowledges his debt to Darmois:

In 1926 in Belgium, Darmois gave a course of four lectures on “the equations of Einsteinian gravitation” in the presence of De Donder. The monograph version (Darmois, 1927) …became my bedside reading. In this book …is the first rigorous analysis of the hyperbolic nature of the Einstein equations, i.e., the foundation of the relativistic theory of gravitation as a theory of wave propagation, With profound understanding, the splitting of the Einstein equations relative to the Cauchy problem into two sets is clearly discussed: one treats the initial conditions, and the other deals with time evolution (Lichnerowicz, 1992, p. 104).

Many current discussions of the non-uniqueness problem in general relativity are formulated in terms of the Cauchy problem rather than the original hole argument (see, e.g., Belot and Earman, 2001Jump To The Next Citation Point; Rickles, 2005; Lusanna and Pauri, 2006).

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Gregor Mendel’s Experiment With Garden Pea:
III. F2 Dominants are of Two Types
Ben G. Bareja, Nov. 11, 2013

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Initial results of Gregor Mendel’s monohybrid experiment on seed form or shape (round- x wrinkled-seeded parents) showed that the cross-fertilized garden peas (F1, his ‘hybrid’) exhibited only one character (he called it dominant) of either parent, that is, the round seededness. He likewise found that the other parental character (wrinkled seeds) is only hidden in the F1 but reappeared in the F2 and in the succeeding generations. He called this character recessive. This observation was also true to the six other sets of characters that he investigated.

He demonstrated that the F2 progeny consisted of two phenotypic types: the dominants and the recessives. The dominants are those which exhibit the dominant character only while the recessives are those which exhibit the recessive character only. They occured in the average proportion of 3:1. Thus, as to seed shape, 3 were round-seeded and 1 was wrinkled-seeded in every four. But he did not stop right there. He proceeded further, and made more discoveries.

He continued growing pea plants using seeds harvested in each generation and properly recorded his observations. Since garden pea is a naturally self-pollinated plant, the next progenies (example F2) are largely selfed progenies of the next preceding generation (i.e., F1).

He evaluated the F3 progeny and found that the recessive plants bred true, that is, the resulting F3 progeny exhibited the same recessive characters. For example, the F2 plants that were propagated from wrinkled seeds also produced wrinkled seeds. Similarly, all F3 plants that were raised from seeds of F2 plants with terminal flowers also produced terminal flowers.

But the dominant F2 plants consisted of two types: the pure dominants and the hybrid dominants. The pure dominants are those in which the genotype is homozygous for the dominant character, like the round-seeded pea with the genotype RR. The characters remain constant in the next generation. The hybrid dominants are heterozygotes in which the genotype consists of a gene pair in which both contrasting alleles are present, like a round-seeded pea with the genotype Rr where capital R denotes the allele for the dominant character and small r is the allele for the recessive character. Hybrid dominants exhibit the dominant characters but the next generation is a mixed population of dominants and recessives.  On the average out of three dominants, Mendel found that two were hybrid dominants and one was pure dominant, equivalent to 2:1 ratio.

As to the hybrid dominant plants (heterozygote), they yielded offspring consisting of a mixed population exhibiting the dominant character (e.g. round seeds) and recessive characters (wrinkled seeds) at 3:1 ratio. This showed that F2 hybrid dominants produce the same phenotypic ratio in the next succeeding generation as the hybrid or F1 plants.

To be clear, however, it is not possible to identify by visual inspection whether a dominant plant in any generation after the F1 is a hybrid dominant (for example, a pea plant with axial flowers, genotype Tt) or a pure dominant (for example, a pea plant with axial flowers, genotype TT). Mendel did otherwise by looking further into the characters of the offspring of each plant in question.

As to position of flowers on the stem, he first selected 100 F2 plants with axial flowers and obtained 10 sample seeds from each. He then planted the seeds and evaluated the resulting offspring. If all ten F3 sample plants have axial flowers, then the F2 plant from which the seeds were obtained was a pure dominant. Otherwise, if the ten sample plants consisted of a mixture of plants with axial flowers and others with terminal flowers, that F2 plant was a hybrid dominant or a heterozygote. This was how he arrived to his 67:33 or 2.03:1 hybrid-to-pure dominant ratio using 100 F2 test plants and 10 samples per test plant (see Table E(II)-1.).

Table E(II)-1. Summary of Gregor Mendel’s data showing the composition of the seven F2 dominants in his experiments with garden pea (source: Mendel 1865).

F2 Phenotype (Dominant Characters)

Number of F2 Plants Evaluated

Numbers of F2 Hybrid Dominants
and Pure Dominants

F2 Hybrid Dominant to Pure Dominant Ratio (heterozygote to homozygous dominant ratio)
1. Round or roundish seeds 565 plants with round seeds 372 hybrids (yielded 3:1 smooth to wrinkled seeds), 193 pure dominants (produced round seeds only)

2. Yellow cotyledon 519 plants with yellow cotyledons 353 hybrids (yielded 3:1 yellow to green seeds), 166 pure dominants (produced seeds with yellow cotyledons exclusively)

3. Grey-brown seed coat* 100 plants** 64 hybrids (plants had offspring with grey-brown seedcoats and some with white seed coats), 36 pure dominants (all F3 sample plants had grey-brown seed coats)

4. Inflated pods 100 plants** 71 hybrids (plants had offspring some of which yielded inflated pods and some with constricted pods), 29 pure dominants ( all F3 sample plants had inflated pods)

5. Green pods 100 plants** 60 hybrids (plants had offspring some of which yielded green pods and some yellow, 40 pure dominants (all F3 sample plants had green pods)***

6. Axial flowers 100 plants** 67 hybrids (plants had offspring some of which yielded axial flowers and some with terminal flowers, 33 pure dominants (all F3 sample plants had axial flowers)

7. Long stem 100 plants** 72 hybrids (plants produced offspring some of which had long stems and some with short stems, 28 pure dominants (all F3 sample plants had long stems)

*Seeds with gray-brown seed coats formed from violet-red flowers; white seedcoats from white-flowered plants.

**100 F2 plants displaying the dominant character were selected. Ten (10) seeds from each plant were planted for evaluation of the offsprings.

***Mendel repeated this particular experiment because he thought that the ratio of 1.5:1 departed so much from the rest of the results. In place of 60 and 40, 65 and 35 were obtained, equivalent to 1.85:1 ratio. With the new ratio (1.85:1), the computed average ratio for the 7 experiments is 2.1:1 instead of 2.05:1.

Mendel explained that the large deviations in 5 experiments (Experiments 3-7) was due to the small number of 100 test plants. He emphasized that the two experiments which yielded the ratios 1.93:1 and 2.13:1 gave an average ratio that is almost equal to 2:1 and that these experiments were more reliable because of the large numbers of test plants used. But without the correction, the computed average ratio would have been 2.05:1 instead of 2.1:1.

He concluded that of the F2 plants which exhibited the dominant character, two-thirds thereof have the hybrid character, that is, similar to the F1 (heterozygous, for example having the genotype Tt) while one-third has the homozygous dominant character (for example having the genotype TT). This is equivalent to 2:1 ratio.

Therefore, each hybrid dominant (heterozygote, for example with genotype Tt) produces the next generation which consists of homozygous dominants, hybrid dominants, and homozygous recessives. The ratio of pure dominant to hybrid dominant to recessive, or homozygous dominant to heterozygote to homozygous recessive (for example, the genotypic ratio TT:Tt: tt), is 1:2:1. This ratio, as well as 3:1, has found common application in Mendelian genetics.

MENDEL G. 1865. Experiments in Plant Hybridisation. (Translated by the Royal Horticultural Society of London). Retrieved Nov. 2, 2013 from https://ia600409.us.archive.org/15/items/experimentsinpla00mend/experimentsinpla00mend.pdf.

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Finding the Way

Waterfowl have amazing navigational abilities that guide their migrations

Photo © Avery Live

By J. Dale James, Ph.D., and Andi Cooper

Many of us have used a GPS (global positioning system) to find a "duck hole" in the timber, a pothole off the beaten path, or simply an out-of-town destination.

And before GPS, we depended on maps or road atlases for our navigational needs. Waterfowl, on the other hand, have no need for any of these. They've been winging their way from their breeding grounds to wintering areas and back again for eons. How do they find their way?

While our understanding of navigational mechanisms is limited by the difficulty of studying migrating waterfowl in the field, there are several things we do know. To begin, navigation during migration is primarily an extension of the homing ability found to various degrees in all birds. This ability enables birds to locate their nests or frequently used feeding and roosting sites. In long-distance migrants such as waterfowl, this ability allows them to find specific wintering and breeding sites from year to year with remarkable precision.

We also know that the navigational ability of birds is the result of both innate (genetic) and learned influences. This combination of behaviors provides birds with an extremely adaptable navigational system that can be adjusted based on their environment. This enables them to find their way remarkably well in highly variable conditions and across great distances.

The first basic element of avian navigation is orientation, or the innate ability to adjust direction. Orientation alone, however, cannot get a bird to a precise destination.

Precision in navigation—how a duck or goose gets from Point A to Point B—is generally a learned behavior, which is why immature birds get lost from time to time.

Most research to date has been aimed at answering questions about how birds find their way via these two concepts. In general, these studies indicate that birds employ a variety of cues to aid their navigation, including visual landmarks, the sun, the stars, and geomagnetism.

Landmarks provide birds with directional cues rather than north-south orientation. Prominent geographic features like mountain ranges, coastlines, and major waterways are visible to migrating waterfowl day and night. If you take a close look at the major geographic flyways proposed by Frederick Lincoln in the mid-1930s, you can easily identify the significant landscape features that define each path. The Atlantic and Pacific flyways roughly follow their respective coastlines. The Mississippi Flyway follows the Mississippi River, and the Central Flyway roughly follows the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, swinging out through the southern Great Plains along the Platte River and on to the Gulf Coast at its southern terminus.

Research has revealed that birds use the sun to migrate by using the axes of polarized light to determine the position of the sun. This information is then processed to achieve a solar compass orientation. Likewise, nighttime migrants often navigate by stellar maps. Remarkably, experiments conducted with birds in darkened planetariums have shown that spring migrants will orient themselves to the north according to the visual representation of the stars. If the night sky image is rotated so that the North Star is actually in the south, birds move toward the south rather than true north.

Scientists have determined that birds also may use nonvisual cues such as magnetic fields for orientation, although how birds do this is poorly understood. Researchers have shown that magnets placed on the heads of captive birds interfered with the birds' ability to fly in the correct direction, even on sunny days. Another study showed that migrating birds changed both direction and altitude when a powerful underground antenna was turned on, interfering with the earth's magnetic field.

The instinct and capability to return to the same location and area has important ramifications for waterfowl. It makes sense for a hen to return to a location where she has experienced nesting success, but what if that location has been converted from native prairie to corn production while she was away?

Waterfowl face the same problem on their wintering grounds. Northern pintails, for example, exhibit high site fidelity (the tendency to return to a specific site) to wintering areas. Research has shown that survival rates vary greatly from one wintering area to the next. In the San Joaquin Valley of California, survival rates of female pintails are much lower than for those wintering in the Sacramento Valley to the north. This difference is likely due to the greater availability of flooded rice fields and refuge habitats in the Sacramento Valley. For pintails winging their way to the Gulf Coast, this loyalty to habitat may soon spell disaster as coastal marshes and rice agriculture are both disappearing at rapid rates.

The tendency of waterfowl to migrate to and from the same areas year after year is one of the many reasons Ducks Unlimited uses the best available science to guide its habitat conservation efforts. Identifying and conserving the most important and imperiled waterfowl habitats across this continent is essential to sustaining the birds' traditional migrations and maintaining their populations at healthy levels now and in the future.

Homeward Bound

Some ducks return to the precise location where they nested the previous spring, while others return to the same wintering area year after year. The ability of migratory birds to find these specific locations after being away for several months is a form of navigation known as homing.

Homing rates vary among waterfowl species. For example, up to three-quarters of adult female canvasbacks return to the same pothole where they nested the previous year.

Cavity-nesting species like wood ducks, buffleheads, and goldeneyes also return at high rates to prior nesting sites. In contrast, blue-winged teal have one of the lowest homing rates of all ducks. Only 5 to 15 percent of female bluewings return to their former nesting grounds the next year.

Amazing Migration Facts
  • Some Pacific brant migrate nonstop from a staging area in Alaska to their wintering grounds in Baja California—a journey of about 3,000 miles. The birds lose almost half their body weight in this 60- to 72-hour flight.
  • Not all populations of a given species are migratory. About one-third of the wood ducks in the eastern United States and nearly three-fourths of the Pacific Flyway wood duck population are nonmigratory.
  • Birds fly at varying altitudes during migration. Skeletons of pintails have been found at elevations of 16,000 feet on Mt. Everest, but most birds migrate at altitudes of between 500 and 2,000 feet.
  • Mallards migrating at 55 miles per hour burn 1 gram of body fat for every four miles they fly.
  • A mass migration of waterfowl—known as a grand passage—is often triggered by a severe winter storm. During one of these events in November 1995, so many ducks and geese were on the move that radar operators at several major midwestern airports couldn't distinguish flocks of waterfowl from airplanes.

Dr. J. Dale James is manager of conservation planning and Andi Cooper is a communications specialist at DU's Southern Regional Office in Ridgeland, Mississippi.


France ponders its own takeover panel

17 October 2005

The French government will this week outline plans for a new body based on the UKâs Takeover Panel to tighten rules on company takeovers.

Philippe Marini, spokesman for France’s Commission des Finances, the economic advisory body to the government, will propose amendments to company law that would introduce a French version of the Takeover Panel. Marini has said he is impressed by the UK body, which can force companies to declare if they are considering bidding for a company when there are strong market rumours.

François-Régis Benois, an administrator at the French Senate and adviser to Philippe Marini, said: “The amendments to be announced will be in the spirit of the UK Takeover Panel and particularly the put up or shut up rule.”

The French government has been investigating ways to resolve takeover issues after the phantom bid during the summer by PepsiCo for Danone, which sent the French company’s share price soaring by up to 30%. The French regulator, the AMF, is investigating share dealing in Danone and will report later this year. The government announcement on takeover bids is being made as France prepares to adopt the European takeover directive, scheduled to come into force next May.

Marini will also clarify the French position on hostile bids, including a clause stipulating that companies can ask the government to block a bid if the foreign predator is itself protected from takeover by its own government. Benois said the government would also propose diluting rules requiring bidders to acquire at least 95% of the voting rights in the target company to squeeze out minority shareholders. He said the level would be reduced to about 90%, the same as in the UK.

In tandem with the government plans, the AMF last week set up a working group to detail how France can introduce the new takeover law and meet EU requirements.

The group, consisting of financial industry representatives, lobby groups and legal advisers will examine what information companies should be required to produce in the event of a takeover bid. The working group is expected to report its findings before the end of December.

Keep up with FN


Why DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) Is In News?

Thomson Reuters, a distinguished brokerage company, has placed a 52-week price target of $72.05 on DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) shares after it surveyed top market analysts. Calculating estimated earnings after taking into consideration different elements, it is predicted to come at $3.03 for the next fiscal and $N/A for underway quarter. Valuation Estimates Analysts take into account the price to earnings ratio to estimate the firm’s valuation. This ratio, which is also called as the P/E ratio evaluates the company on relative expense factor. The formula to calculate ratio is stock’s latest price/ per share earnings. The P/E ratio of DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) stands at 28.54. Analysts also work out Price/Earnings Growth ratio in an attempt to estimate the valuation of a firm. This ratio commonly known as the PEG ratio implies the stock’s valuation compared to earnings growth potential. Investors look to invest in the stocks with a lower PEG ratio. For DISH Network Corporation, the PEG ratio for coming 3-5 years is -195.89. Technical Analysis The technical analysis highlights that DISH Network Corporation current price is trading $1.08 points away +2.06% from $52.34, which stands as the 50-day moving average of the firm. The stock’s 200-day MA is $48.80 and, for now, the stock price is trading $4.62 or +9.48% away from that point. The 52-week high of DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) was $69.82 while lowest point recorded in 52-week was $38.85. It implies if stock price makes a movement of over $-16.40, it will record a new 52-week high. In the case of $+37.50% points drop, it will touch a new 52-week low.

1 Chart Pattern Every Investor Should Know

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virgo Picture

Done for my nephew Jonty. Not my best, drawn while on the road, with limited materials (pen nibs aren't allowed on planes, jars of ink are also difficult to travel with, so watercolour has been used instead), smaller than usual as it was drawn on a travel sketch pad.

Sun in virgo. Virgo is Persephone, so she is holding an ear of wheat and a pomegranate. Behind her Charon is punting the dead across the river Cam to Kings College (Jonty was born in Cambridge). Above her Saturn (father time with his scythe) is in Libra. Going clockwise: Mercury in Virgo. Mercury is the god of communication as well as merchants and thieves, so he has a mobile phone as well as his more usual winged hat and sandals and caduceus. Jupiter is in Pisces. As king of the gods I have seated him on a sky blue throne and given him the traditional thunderbolt. Uranus the god of the sky is also in Pisces. I haven't found many good pictures of uranus, so I have modelled him on the Hindu god Varuna (blue, four arms, riding on a flying monster). Varuna and Uranus are believed by some to be one and the same. Greek, Norse, Celtic and Hindu mythologies all originate from the same Indo European culture. Neptune, the sea god with his trident is in Aquarius. Pluto the cartoon dog is in Aquarius. Moon in Scorpio. Venus in Scorpio. I have modelled her on Botticelli's birth of Venus. Mars is in Libra. Mars is god of war so I have given him a kalashnikov.
Cupid Omega
Urano e Gaia
Ayakashi Ghost Guild - Furiae


Glucose Test Wagner Home Wellness Fair Info

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles.

There are 18.2 million people in the United States, or 6.3% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 13 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, unfortunately, 5.2 million people (or nearly one-third) are unaware that they have the disease.

In order to determine whether or not a patient has pre-diabetes or diabetes, health care providers conduct a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Either test can be used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends the FPG because it is easier, faster, and less expensive to perform.

With the FPG test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has diabetes.

In the OGTT test, a person's blood glucose level is measured after a fast and two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage. If the two-hour blood glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl, the person tested has pre-diabetes. If the two-hour blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dl or higher, the person tested has diabetes.

Major Types of Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes
Results from the body's failure to produce insulin, the hormone that "unlocks" the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes
Results from insulin resistance (a condition in which the body fails to properly use insulin), combined with relative insulin deficiency. Most Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women - about 135,000 cases in the United States each year.

Pre-diabetes is a condition that occurs when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. There are 41 million Americans who have pre-diabetes, in addition to the 18.2 million with diabetes.

Source: American Diabetes Foundation


Sodalite # SD-019-12-P

$ 30.20

Sodalite is a rich royal blue tectosilicate mineral. Well known for its blue color, sodalite may also be grey, yellow, green, or pink and is often mottled with white veins or patches.

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Size: 3/4" (19mm)

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In this subtraction worksheet, students practice subtracting one-digit numbers from two-digit numbers in forty-two mathematical problems.

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July—September 2011

The Quest for Identity - Editorial

Why should the search for a sense of who we really are be so problematic? Perhaps because the discovery of our true identity is, as is true of all achievements in consciousness, an unfolding process, not an isolated event.

The Five Groups of Souls - Part I — Djwhal Khul

S. T. Coleridge and Gerard Manley Hopkins - Part III—Michael Srigley
As Basil Willey notes, "In his later years Coleridge often regretted that he had not taken Holy Orders." If we are right, he did, as Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Sunrise - Because the Earth Turns — Peter Seebeck

What is the Underlying Relationship Between the Heart and the Mind?—Wendy Boyd
When the mind is subordinated to the heart, it allows itself to be tamed by the heart and so yields itself to the Master in the heart, and a heart-infused consciousness is created, opening a door into the higher mind and the intuition.

On Spiritual Individuality — J. S. Gordon
Plato reminds us that "all is remembrance". In other words, all consciousness—at all levels of being, no matter how high or how low—comprises the spectrum of Universal Mind.

Wolfgang Pauli - From Intellect to Intuition — Mintze van der Velde
Pauli and Jung became fascinated by the same thought: that there exists a deeper reality behind quantum physics which has the character of the unconsciousness. If this were true, then physics and depth psychology should be able to meet each other somewhere and hence penetrate deeper into the secrets of matter.

The Triangle of the Soul — Joseph Lovejoy
There is, as HPB states, "a centre of consciousness, a self-sentient and self-conscious centre; a state, not a conditioned individual". This idea of a centre of consciousness, a centre of force, is probably the shortest definition that can be framed of the word "soul".

Identification — Ginny M. DeAngelis
Identification is the anchor of thought that reveals the quality of individual consciousness.

The Uses of Distinction and Synthesis—A Student
It is necessary for the personal self to "know the difference" and to distinguish between. However, as the synthetic sense and appreciation of Oneness deepens and the individual becomes more sensitive to the inner causes and meanings, the outer differences fade in importance and the inner Life is increasingly revealed taking on greater importance in the soul’s Path.

Books and Publications


The constellation Draco (from the Greek Drakon, meaning dragon) is identified--funnily enough--with some dragons in Hellenic myth but not others. There are quite a few creatures, after all, who would qualify as a dragon in Hellenic myth. For a dragon or hydra not connected to the constellation, think of the one Kadmos vanquished, for example, or the one Apollon vanquished at Delphi, or even the dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece and was slain by Iásōn. In truth, only two dragons were associated with the myth in ancient times, most notably by Hyginus in his Astronomica: Drakon Hesperios, the Hesperian Dragon, and Drakon Gigantomakhios, the Gigantomachian Dragon.

The first of the myths associated with the constellation is the legend of the Drakon Hesperios (Δρακων Ἑσπεριος), who was slain by Hēraklēs during one of his Labours. I will tell the whole myth of the labour soon enough, but I will share what Hyginus wrote about this labour, and Hēraklēs' encounter with Ladôn (Λαδων), as the dragon was often called.

"This huge serpent is pointed out as lying between the two Bears. He is said to have guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, and after Hercules killed him, to have been put by Juno [Hera] among the stars, because at her instigation Hercules set out for him. He is considered the usual watchman of the Gardens of Juno. Pherecydes says that when Jupiter [Zeus] wed Juno, Terra [Gaea] came, bearing branches with golden applies, and Juno, in admiration, asked Terra to plant them in her gardens near distant Mount Atlas. When Atlas’ daughters kept picking the apples from the trees, Juno is said to have placed this guardian there. Proof of this will be the form of Hercules above the dragon, as Eratosthenes shows, so that anyone may know that for this reason in particular it is called the dragon." [II.3]

The sole other dragon this myth is linked to is Drakon Gigantomakhios (Δρακων Γιγαντομαχιος), who rose up during the Gigantomachy. When the Olympians rose to power, they first fought the Titans during the Titanomachy. Vanquishing them, the Theoi thought They had won. Yet, there was one who sought revenge for the defeat of his father: Typhôeus, the most-feared son of Tartaros and Gaea. Some versions of the myth say that Typhôeus was actually the Drakon Gigantomakhios, or one of his offspring. Hyginus shares what happened to the dragon:

"Some also say this dragon was thrown at Minerva [Athena] by the Giants, when she fought them. Minerva, however, snatched its twisted form and threw it to the stars, and fixed it at the very pole of heaven. And so to this day it appears with twisted body, as if recently transported to the stars."

The constellation Draco is visible at latitudes between +90° and −15°, and best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of July. Tomorrow, we will talk a little more about the types of dragons in Hellenic myth, because I suddenly realized the association with medieval dragons is very easily made when reading 'dragon', but I assure you, the ancient Hellenes were unaccustomed to giant, fire breathing, lizards.


Correction Appended

For more than a century, from the wave of immigrants in the 19th century to the election of the first Catholic president in 1960, American Catholics overwhelmingly identified with the Democratic Party. In the past few decades, however, that allegiance has largely faded. Now Catholics are prototypical ''swing voters'': in 2000, they split almost evenly between Al Gore and George W. Bush, and recent polls show Mr. Bush ahead of Senator John Kerry, himself a Catholic, among white Catholics.

There are compelling reasons -- cultural, socioeconomic and political -- for this shift. But if Catholic voters honestly examine the issues of consequence in this election, they may find themselves returning to their Democratic roots in 2004.

The parties appeal to Catholics in different ways. The Republican Party opposes abortion and the destruction of embryos for stem-cell research, both positions in accord with Catholic doctrine. Also, Republican support of various faith-based initiatives, including school vouchers, tends to resonate with Catholic voters.

Members of the Democratic Party, meanwhile, are more likely to criticize the handling of the war in Iraq, to oppose capital punishment and to support universal heath care, environmental stewardship, a just welfare state and more equitable taxes. These stances are also in harmony with Catholic teachings, even if they may be less popular among individual Catholics.

When values come into conflict, it is useful to develop principles that help place those values in a hierarchy. One reasonable principle is that issues of life and death are more important than other issues. This seems to be the strategy of some Catholic and church leaders, who directly or indirectly support the Republican Party because of its unambiguous critique of abortion. Indeed, many Catholics seem to think that if they are truly religious, they must cast their ballots for Republicans.

More important, given the most distinctive issue of the current election, Catholics who support President Bush must reckon with the Catholic doctrine of ''just war.'' This doctrine stipulates that a war is just only if all possible alternative strategies have been pursued to their ultimate conclusion; the war is conducted in accordance with moral principles (for example, the avoidance of unnecessary civilian casualties and the treatment of prisoners with dignity); and the war leads to a more moral state of affairs than existed before it began. While Mr. Kerry, like many other Democrats, voted for the war, he has since objected to the way it was planned and waged.

Second, politics is the art of the possible. During the eight years of the Reagan presidency, the number of legal abortions increased by more than 5 percent; during the eight years of the Clinton presidency, the number dropped by 36 percent. The overall abortion rate (calculated as the number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44) was more or less stable during the Reagan years, but during the Clinton presidency it dropped by 11 percent.

There are many reasons for this shift. Yet surely the traditional Democratic concern with the social safety net makes it easier for pregnant women to make responsible decisions and for young life to flourish; among the most economically disadvantaged, abortion rates have always been and remain the highest. The world's lowest abortion rates are in Belgium and the Netherlands, where abortion is legal but where the welfare state is strong. Latin America, where almost all abortions are illegal, has one of the highest rates in the world.

None of this is to argue that abortion should be acceptable. History will judge our society's support of abortion in much the same way we view earlier generations' support of torture and slavery -- it will be universally condemned. The moral condemnation of abortion, however, need not lead to the conclusion that criminal prosecution is the best way to limit the number of abortions. Those who view abortion as the most significant issue in this campaign may well want to supplement their abstract desire for moral rectitude with a more realistic focus on how best to ensure that fewer abortions take place.

In many ways, Catholic voters' growing political independence has led to a profusion of moral dilemmas: they often feel they must abandon one good for the sake of another. But while they may be dismayed at John Kerry's position on abortion and stem-cell research, they should be no less troubled by George W. Bush's stance on the death penalty, health care, the environment and just war. Given the recent history of higher rates of abortion with Republicans in the White House, along with the tradition of Democratic support of equitable taxes and greater integration into the world community, more Catholics may want to reaffirm their tradition of allegiance to the Democratic Party in 2004.