Singing Lessons In Burns Arizona

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— Feature —

Seeing into the future

A blind disability advocate explains how he sees Oliver — and how his neighbourhood sees him

“Common among all minorities is the fact that you have to work harder to be seen as competent,” Workman says. “He was saying, ‘I’m impressed by you only in the sense that I expected less, and you exceeded that.’ I’ve heard it many, many times.”

It’s complicated, though, because Workman is doing okay for himself. In Canada, he says, a blind person living independently is rare, and in many cultures it’s unheard of. Workman, in contrast, lives on his own. He subscribes to a visual-assistant app called Aira, and uses his iPhone’s screen-reader, called VoiceOver, to navigate his smartphone. He has a sister he’s close with who helps him with tasks, like updating his wardrobe. Around 70 per cent of blind people are unemployed, and half live on less than $20,000 a year. Workman is different.

Still, although he has a career, it took more than 100 applications and 22 interviews. “I don’t want to say that I could have gotten every single one of

“These things aren’t inevitable. That’s why we have to change our environment to make them less likely. That’s evidence for why we need to act.”

those jobs,” he says, “but it’s equally ridiculous to say blindness played no role in any of those decisions.” In 2015, he was denied service at a restaurant in Red Deer, which is illegal under Alberta’s Service Dogs Act. (He happened to be with the CNIB’s director of public affairs; they filed a complaint with the Red Deer RCMP and called the Red Deer Advocate.) Even as he lives independently, the world insists on seeing him a certain way.

Workman has a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, and it progressed quickly. He was five years old when he was diagnosed. He figures he was legally blind by age 10. (“Legally blind” means he had 20/200 vision; he could see at 20 feet what someone with 20/20 could see from 200 feet.) Although he has light perception in his right eye, he has no vision at all in his left.

While blindness has been a part of him almost his entire life, it wasn’t until university that he thought about it philosophically. It started with a course on equality and social justice. “There was nothing about disability in there,” he says, “but it felt familiar.” He Googled “philosophy+blind.” The U.S. National Federation of the Blind (NFB) came up. Before, he’d seen disability as something unfortunate that happens to people. “The NFB talked about how the problem isn’t the inability to see—it’s the attitudes, social situations and environments that make it harder for someone who’s blind.” With a master’s degree in political science already in his quiver, Workman pursued a PhD in philosophy. But soon he learned he’d rather be advocating in the non-academic world. He wanted to see his community change—so he set out to do it.

It’s two and a half blocks from Workman’s apartment to the Grandin LRT station – north a few steps, then along 99 Avenue past Grandin Elementary School, where children almost always shout “Doggy!” at Bella. He recently started a new position with the government, where he’s worked for almost four years, so he can walk to his job now. But the train is still vital for getting anywhere else in the city. He has a few strategies for walking: He remembers if the last number of an address is even, the building will be north of the avenue. The grid setup downtown

“For the visually impaired, the giant parking lots can be dangerous and disorienting”

helps him navigate, just like numbered streets. When he feels he’s about 20 feet from the intersection, he begins listening for cues that tell him when to cross, like which direction traffic is moving in, or the beep of audible signals. Not all intersections have them, of course, so he’ll pay attention to stationary vehicles, too. If this idling vehicle had the opportunity to turn right and didn’t, he thinks, it must be turning left or driving straight through.

But every walk has its obstacles – often the kind with four wheels and an engine. According to the City of Edmonton, a pedestrian’s chances of survival are only 45 per cent if hit by a vehicle moving at 50 kilometres per hour, so he has to be especially vigilant. Quiet vehicles are a problem, too: According to the Guardian, compared to conventional vehicles, quiet-running electric cars are about 40 per cent likelier to hit a pedestrian, and 93 per cent of blind and partially sighted people have had issues with them. Still, Oliver is more accessible than most neighbourhoods in Edmonton, Workman says, but it’s missing things like the yellow tactical strips so prominent in San Francisco, or the prevalence of audio signals at intersections in Vancouver. “I’ve probably had a few close calls, but I wouldn’t necessarily know,” he says, chuckling. “There have been a couple times where I ended up on a totally different corner than I intended to.”

Even the train he’s arriving for can be challenging. In August 2012, a blind woman named Zaidee Jensen, whom Workman went to university with, died after she fell from the ledge of University station. The station’s platform didn’t have the same kind of bumps, which warn people who are visually impaired, as other stations did. The warning strips were upgraded about a year later, but there are still impediments. Edmonton’s LRT has two kinds of trains, and the buttons on each one are located in different spots. And neither of the two train types have doors that open automatically. To decipher which one is approaching, Workman has learned to differentiate them by an almost imperceptible difference in pitch. “I don’t get it 100 per cent of the time,” he says. Workman has inquired about making the doors open automatically but the City rebuffed him. The next step would have

“While much of Oliver is fairly accessible, Oliver Square and the Brewery District are outliers”

been to take the issue to city council, and he knows there would have been resistance. “That’s one I considered fighting more for,” he says, “but I kind of let it go.”

Pick your battles, he learned.

While much of Oliver is fairly accessible, Oliver Square and the Brewery District are outliers. For the visually impaired, the giant parking lots can be dangerous and disorienting. It’s difficult to tell which direction vehicles are moving in, and slower driving makes them hard to hear. Workman avoids these spaces altogether.

This gets to something fundamental about how we build our neighbourhoods. Whether it’s the noiseless electric vehicles or oceanic parking lots, there’s a continuous rivalry between drivers and pedestrians, between making our communities more walkable and encouraging urban activity, or making them more drivable and easier to park in. The issue of accessibility highlights this opposition, because people with disabilities are adversely affected. When build more parking lots, when we favour cars over pedestrians, we should ask: Who benefits, and whose lives are we risking?

Workman, with Bella at his left, heads to his tailor’s. Rather than turning off Jasper Avenue at the stairs, the pair walk to the end of the block and turn around so he can count the steps. A man across the street yells at no one in particular and Workman turns his head. A piece of sidewalk sticks out skyward, threatening to trip someone who’s distracted or, for that matter, visually impaired. Here, by 112 Street, with five lanes of traffic whirling by, it can be disorienting for anyone.

But Jasper is actually easier for Workman to navigate. Downtown cores usually are. The traffic signals are more accessible, and he has a better sense for which direction vehicles are moving in. More than that, though, is how dense the avenue is, and how different that is from areas like Oliver Square and the Brewery District. It’s easier to find stores, which are right along the avenue and unencumbered by parking lots.

“A community that makes it harder for blind people to interact will naturally create blind people who feel more isolated”

Jasper Avenue represents our city in full. The cacophony isn’t a bug but a feature. The density, walkability, abundance of businesses, the fact that 20,000 people residents share the space is what makes our neighbourhood livable. That’s part of why Workman moved here, but it’s also part of what brings thousands of us here from other cities, or from rural and suburban communities. Downtown, we’re connected by what we have in common; what makes it livable for Workman makes it livable for the rest of us, too.

Of course, cities can be lonely, too— and more so for people with disabilities. People who are blind are more than three times as likely to experience depression. A community that makes it harder for blind people to interact will naturally create blind people who feel more isolated. “But these things aren’t inevitable,” Workman says. “That’s why we have to change our environment to make them less likely. That’s evidence for why we need to act.”

It’s difficult to build better communities, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be as simple as automatic doors and tactical strips, or not assuming someone with a disability is less capable. Oliver, the centre of a flourishing, young, multicultural city, is more than just a neighbourhood: It’s a promise to be inclusive and respect each other while living in close quarters. Someone saying “Considering you’re blind” breaks that promise. When Workman advocates for a more accessible neighbourhood, or when he responds to a crass comment, he’s not asking anyone to bend over backwards to accommodate him. He’s reminding us that every citizen, without fail, has a right to these streets, these services, this community, and the dignity that comes with it—and that once we realize we’ve broken that promise, we have two choices. We can give up, but it’s easy to give up. Why not live up to it instead?


At Whitehouse Electrical & Sons we want you to be certain that you and your family are safe should there be a threat of fire in your home. We can advise on and install smoke and fire detectors correctly in your home.

What Are Various Grade Systems?

The BS 5839: Pt.6 standard places different alarm types into Grades A to F. For Domestic fire alarm system the minimum grade is D – mains smoke & heat alarms with a battery back-up supply. All new-builds require smoke and heat alarms complying to Grade D.

What Type Of Sensors Are Available & What Are The Differences?

Smoke alarms either contain an Ionisation or an Optical sensor. Each type of alarm senses fire in a different way and are better suited for different situations.

Ionisation Alarms

Ionisation Smoke Alarms contain a small sealed ionising source which causes a small electrical current to flow through the air in the smoke chamber. Smoke particles entering the chamber reduce the current, thus sensed by the electronics and when a pre-set threshold level is reached the alarm will sound. These alarms are best suited for detecting fast flaming fires and are better suited in rooms where there is a high risk of fire (except the kitchen). Ionisation alarms are more prone to false alarms due to their sensitivity and therefore ideal locations for these alarms are living room and bedrooms.

Optical Alarms

Optical Smoke Alarms send a pulsed beam of infra red light through the smoke chamber periodically. If visible smoke is present, it scatters the light on to the photo diode light receiver and this is detected by the electronics causing the alarm to sound. These alarms are better on escape routes and designed to detect smoldering fires. This type of detector is less prone to false alarms.

Heat Alarms

Heat alarms are incorporated in to a fire alarm system. As the name implies heat alarms only detect heat and not smoke.


News Segment

Our first news story is a very interesting service outage from Facebook – not exactly interesting on the surface, but part of the outage disabled Facebook photos and instead replaced the photos with internal Facebook tags, a.k.a. how Facebook’s AI automatically labels photos. The tags were, well – it’s a lot to take in. Tags include “one person,” “people dancing,” “wedding,” “indoor,” “people smiling,” “cat,” “beard,” and more. We’ve known that Facebook uses tags like these for some time, but there has never been such an obvious example before. We’re still not quite sure how these tags figure into Facebook’s algorithm or why they need to tag like this, so many questions still remain unanswered!

Second, YouTube is handing more power over to viewers with new features that allow for greater control over your YouTube homepage and what videos are likely to pop up next after you finishing watching something. The homepage will offer personalized suggestions and broad topics in addition to videos, and you can tailor the options further by removing suggestions you don’t want to see, or look more closely at exactly why YouTube is offering.

Finally, take a moment to check out some of the latest targeted monochromatic color schemes for websites, and see if any would make a good fit for your brand.

But now it’s time to check in with our guest for this episode, Bruce Pobocik from TBX, a creative design firm that specializes in “change” for digital brands: That means shifting focus, rebranding if necessary, and creating plans to get businesses over the gaps to their online goals. Today, we’re going to talk specifically about the website experience and how websites can develop a great user experience

UX vs. UI and More

UX stands for User Experience, and UI stands for User Interface. But what does that mean? UX is generally a very broad term that applies to all the different ways a website is designed – and how users feel about. It’s about a top-down map for website architecture, navigation, and usability.

UI, meanwhile, is more focused on the website aesthetic – the style and graphics it uses to display content. The colors, effects and other visual aspects of the website make up UI.

Of course, the two aren’t always separate! There are a number of website choices that will affect UX and UI at the same time, especially when choosing the design for things like menus, layouts and buttons. Overall, the goal of both UX and UI is to make content easy to access.

How Do You Pick the Right User Experience?

Businesses are not always great at understanding user experience, or what it requires. There are best practices for user experience, but every website needs to be designed based on brand goals and choices.

So, that means the first steps are finding out how the brand is using their website, what their primary goals are (sales, subscriptions, information, etc.) and how they want the audience to interact with their site. This may sound simple, but it can take a surprisingly amount of time depending on the client (websites by committee can be a headache). The key is to avoid getting pulled in too many directions and developing a clear vision before making the smaller decisions.

However, to talk about trends for a moment – video is, unsurprisingly, very big right now. People watch videos all the time when browsing websites! It’s a great way to help keep them on a webpage for longer and get visitors engaged with content, not just on the video but throughout the site. If you aren’t using videos on your webpages, now is a great time to start.

Do You Use Past Data To Build Websites?

It depends. One common issue we come across is that replacing old sites with new sites requires a total overall. The old sites are often so behind the times or sometimes nonfunctional that analytics, if available, don’t really tell you anything worthwhile. The most analytics can say in these situations is “This website was poorly designed.”

However, in some cases we update or redesigned newer, better websites that have been collecting regular traffic analytics and other information that we can use. On our side, we try to gather a lot of heat pathing analysis and similar data to study user behavior and find out where the weak points are. On these occasions, the problem may be with the design (putting buttons in different places) or with content (the content isn’t drawing visitors or isn’t explained well enough).

What Other Major UX Trends are You Seeing Now?

One quickly rising trend is what we call “resource hubs” or sources of information on sites (often, blogs, but it can take varying forms). These resources hubs are where people can go to find specific information or deep-dive down into a topic. The hub is where all sorts of in-depth content lives, and businesses can push this content to other pages as needed to help explain or announce important things. We’ve found that it’s a great way to describe and map content for sites that want to improve.

But now it’s your turn. What have you learned about user experience and your website in the past? Were there any UX realizations that helped you understand how visitors used your site? Let us know on social media @21handshake – we’d love to hear from you!

If you liked this episode (we know you did), please give us a digital like, subscribe to the podcast, and review or share as you can. It can make a big difference! Thanks.


The Check Point

Develop the Analyst in Every Employee

The Pruning Effects

Rhododendron is a fairly hardy plant. Under the right conditions, it grows and blossoms without much care. The plant does require pruning to keep it from becoming too ‘bushy.’ As an amateur gardener, I learned a few things from pruning. Instant Gratification With a pair of scissors in hand, I… [More]


import pywinauto
import time

from pywinauto.keyboard import send_keys

repeat = int(input("Input how often this should run :")) #int= integer meaning it is an number. If you combine this with Input the user input gets taken as a number not Text
msg = input("Input message to send: ")#Here we define the message to send and asign it to msg this means each time we call msg in trouth we call the userinput stored in msg
sleep = int(input("How much pause per type(in seconds) exp: 0.5 :"))
for i in range(repeat): # this basically tells this should repeat so many times as the repead variable tells it to
   time.sleep(3)#time.sleep lets us wait 3 seconds
   send_keys(msg)# here we call msg, | msg has stored the user input and now tells the code to type the userinput
   send_keys("{ENTER}")#here we tell the libary not to send the text {ENTER} but send a command to press the enter key
   time.sleep(sleep)#time.sleep only takes integers and not text thats why we did the input sourrunded by int. now we call this input
this is just for learning although it is functional this is a simple proof of concept
leave a +rep for dis


Still Sad About Pluto? Meet The Goblin!

Damn, that’s elongated.

So how does it work? (Broadly.)

Not actual size.

Exciting stuff.

Ooh, It’s Been a While. Also: STAR WARS

Catch you soon!

Some Elk are Shy, and Evolution Is Quicker Than You Think

Some fascinating articles on the animal kingdom in the New York Times recently.

First, a delightful story about elks and magpies helping each other out, at ‘Shy Elk and Bold Birds Become Partners in the Wilderness‘. But only the nice, shy elk, not the bold curmudgeonly ones!

They get along, so to speak, because the elk needs grooming and the magpie is looking for dinner. But they may have never entered into this partnership if it weren’t for their particular personalities…

Robert Found, now a wildlife biologist for Parks Canada, discovered over years of observing their personalities that bold elk stayed, while shy elk migrated. But he noticed something else in the process of completing his research: As elk laid down to rest at the end of the day, magpies approached.

There appeared to be a pattern: elk of some personality types aggressively rejected magpies. Others didn’t. “Sometimes the magpies will walk around right on the head and the face of the elk,” Dr. Found said.

Also, ‘Things Looked Bleak Until These Birds Rapidly Evolved Bigger Beaks’

But the number of snail kites in the Everglades grew over the decade following the invasion of the larger snails. The reason, according to a study published Monday in Nature Ecology and Evolution, is that the snail kites have rapidly evolved larger beaks and bodies to handle the bulkier snails.

Wait. One decade?

[Scientists] analyzed 11 years of morphological data they had collected on the birds. Because snail kites can live to the relatively old age of 8, that time period represented fewer than two generations for the birds. Nonetheless, the researchers found that beak and body sizes had grown substantially (about 8 percent on average, and up to 12 percent) in the years since the invasion.

Good news! Perhaps in thirty years humans can rapidly evolve to have webbed feet, to better survive the Waterworld-style post-climate change archipelago of the future. Maybe gills too!

“It’s not as great as it sounds.”

FiveThirtyEight has a wonderful story about how August 17th was pretty much the biggest day in astronomy history.

On that day, astronomers bore witness to the titanic collision of two neutron stars, the densest things in the universe besides black holes. In the collision’s wake, astronomers answered multiple major questions that have dominated their field for a generation. They solved the origin of gamma-ray bursts, mysterious jets of hardcore radiation that could potentially roast Earth. They glimpsed the forging of heavy metals, like gold and platinum. They measured the rate at which the expansion of the universe is accelerating. They caught light at the same time as gravitational waves, confirmation that waves move at the speed of light.

That’s a big day!

Richard O’Shaughnessy, an astronomer at the Rochester Institute of Technology, describes the discovery as a “Rosetta stone for astronomy.” “What this has done is provide one event that unites all these different threads of astronomy at once,” he said. “Like, all our dreams have come true, and they came true now…”

“It’s a wonderful time, it’s a terrifying time,” O’Shaughnessy said. “I can’t really capture the wonder and the horror and glee and happiness.”

Coincidentally The Wonder and The Horror and Glee and Happiness would be what I’d call a barbershop quartet, if I were in one. Or they were still a thing.

Sunday Roundup

Happy Sunday, folks!

Down in San Antonio, the winners of the 2017 World Fantasy Awards have been… well, awarded. Lovely to see Terry Brooks get a lifetime achievement nod. Shame I almost certainly won’t get around to reading many of these books for years, if ever.

In at #1 in the chart of movies I’m looking forward to that aren’t actually real: Black Panther vs. Wolverine!

That is probably the most lovingly created fan mashup trailer I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot.

I haven’t seen Thor: Ragnarok yet (probably will on Tuesday) but if it’s even half as funny as James Corden’s Thor: Ragnarok 4D, it’s going to be hilarious.

“She’s crushed your special hammer!”

(Mild spoilers, but nothing you can’t guess if you’ve seen the trailers.)

Meanwhile, Amazon are in talks to produce a live action Lord of the Rings TV show. Personally, I’d much rather they spent their billions producing an adaptation of a never-before-filmed series: how about a Bas-Lag series based on China Mieville’s novels, or a Malazan series based on Steven Erikson and Cam Esslemont’s world? Push the envelope, Bezos!

Finally, over at the Wertzone, or rather at one of his other blogs Atlas of Ice and Fire, Adam has completed another series of wildly ambitious maps of G. R. R. Martin’s SoIaF world. That’s dedication.

Have a good week!

Monday Morning Multiverse

Morning, gang. Let’s get those science synapses firing with some layman’s terms explanation of why ‘The Multiverse is Inevitable and We’re Living in It‘:

Imagine that the Universe we observe, from end-to-end, is just a drop in the cosmic ocean. That beyond what we can see, there’s more space, more stars, more galaxies, and more everything, for perhaps countless billions of light years farther than we’ll ever be able to access. And that as large as the unobservable Universe is, that there are again innumerably more Universes just like it — some larger and older, some smaller and younger — dotted throughout an even larger spacetime. As rapidly and inevitably as these Universes expand, the spacetime containing them expands even more quickly, driving them apart from one another, and ensuring that no two Universes will ever meet. It sounds like a fantasy picture: the scientific idea of a Multiverse. But if the science we accept today is correct, it’s not only a valid idea, it’s an unavoidable consequence of our fundamental laws.

…the Multiverse is a theoretical prediction that comes out of the laws of physics as they’re best understood today. It’s perhaps even an inevitable consequence of those laws: if you have an inflationary Universe governed by quantum physics, this is something you’re pretty much destined to wind up with.

Thus proving what I always knew: DC Comics were right all along!

The Universe Might Be Very WHIM-sical

What a terrible pun. Anyway, a quick one from the Guardian, ‘Astronomers find half of the missing matter in the universe’:

The distribution of galaxies in the universe follows a web-like pattern and scientists have speculated that the missing baryons could be floating in diffuse gaseous filaments and sheets linking the galaxy clusters in the cosmic web.

Theoretical calculations suggest these gaseous threads, known as the warm–hot intergalactic medium, or the Whim, ought to be around a million degrees celsius. A mist of gas at this temperature is too cold to emit X-rays that could be spotted by ordinary telescopes from the Earth – but not cold enough to absorb significant amounts of light passing through it.

This Whim stuff sounds a bit like aether to me. Very nineteenth-century.

Back in the Guardian:

The initial measurements still do not account for all the ordinary matter, and some believe the remaining portion could be made up by exotic unobserved objects such as black holes or dark stars. Cosmologists are also still yet to discover the nature of dark matter, which makes up even more of the universe.

I, for one, have faith that our cosmologists will solve this mystery, as soon as they complete their 1960s Soviet-era spacewalks and come on home.

Wait, that’s cosmonauts.

Space, it turns out, is much like getting a beach-ready body while having it all at work and learning sizzling sex moves: dominated by Cosmo.

Sunday Roundup

Hey, did you know there’s a Justice League movie coming out soon? No? You didn’t?

I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. BvS: DoJ was pretty relentlessly grim and… whatever the opposite of uplifting is. Downdropping? But I’m hopeful that DC will have taken on board what made Wonder Woman so popular and leaned into the more positive themes that made the League so popular in the comics. Bringing Jos Whedon on board to captain the ship after Zack Snyder’s sad departure was a good choice, too.

Meanwhile, check out the Pacific Rim: Uprising trailer for HOT ROBOT VS. ROBOT NINJA SWORDFIGHTING ACTION:

Over at io9 they have news on Amazon’s upcoming series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams:

“I don’t like to call it episodes, I like to call it a series of 10 movies,” showrunner Michael Dinner said.

Aslo at io9, we discover Scott Snyder is working on a new Batman book:

Here’s how Snyder describes Last Knight:

Batman suddenly wakes up and he’s… young. But he wakes up in this post-apocalyptic wasteland, crawling out of the sand in this Gotham City that’s been ruined. He’s got the Joker’s head chained to his belt, but it’s alive and like, ‘You gotta move, kid!’ It’s got old Wonder Woman, Baby Superman—it’s like my Lone Wolf and Cub Batman story.

The Atlantic has a very interesting–and somewhat worrying–piece on satellites, on Sputnik’s sixtieth anniversary.

And what if they all fell out of the sky tomorrow?

Fingers crossed for no, then.

Finally, in vaguely fantastical but mostly just hilarious TV news: you should be watching The Good Place.

When Eleanor Shellstrop finds herself in the afterlife, she’s both relieved and surprised that she’s made it into the Good Place. But it doesn’t take long for Eleanor to realize she’s there by mistake.

Oh my word is it funny. Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, sharp writing, great acting all around. Season one is on Netflix now. Check it out!

Our Whole Universe Was In a Hot, Dense State

A quick science read to get the brain moving in tandem with your morning coffee: over at Medium, The Big Bang Wasn’t The Beginning, After All.

“Wait, what?”

Space, time, and all the matter and energy within began from a singular point, and then expanded and cooled, giving rise over billions of years to the atoms, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies spread out across the billions of light years that make up our observable Universe. It’s a compelling, beautiful picture that explains so much of what we see, from the present large-scale structure of the Universe’s two trillion galaxies to the leftover glow of radiation permeating all of existence. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong, and scientists have known this for almost 40 years.

“Great, so this is another topic where my physics teachers were just lying to me throughout school. Thanks, childhood.”

Anyway, tell us more!

[However, some] specific things you would expect from the Big Bang didn’t happen. In particular:

  1. The Universe doesn’t have different temperatures in different directions, even though an area billions of light-years away in one direction never had time (since the Big Bang) to interact with or exchange information with an area billions of light-years in the opposite direction.
  2. The Universe doesn’t have a measurable spatial curvature that’s different from zero, even though a Universe that’s perfectly spatially flat requires a perfect balance between the initial expansion and the matter-and-radiation density.
  3. The Universe doesn’t have any leftover ultra-high-energy relics from the earliest times, even though the temperatures that would create these relics should have existed if the Universe were arbitrarily hot.

Theorists thinking about these problems started thinking of alternatives to a “singularity” to the Big Bang, and rather of what could recreate that hot, dense, expanding, cooling state while avoiding these problems. In December of 1979, Alan Guth hit upon a solution.

1979? Six years before I was born, we knew about this. I’m outraged. I won’t spoil the reveal, but go read the full article–it’s fascinating, slightly head-scratching stuff.

Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

I’ll never watch The Big Bang Theory in the same light again.


Lily's Kitchen Everyday Favourites Multipack for Cats 8 x 85g

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This 8 pack contains 4 different, equally delicious, wholesome and healthy Lily's Kitchen cat food recipes. Whichever complete recipe you choose, it'll be packed with 65% meaty greatness (the real meat, fish and offal that cats thrive on) along with vitamins, chelated minerals and essential taurine for heart and eye health.

As cats haven't evolved to eat grains, each recipe is completely grain free. You can trust each recipe to be expertly created and full of healthy, natural ingredients to provide the ultimate nourishment for your cat.

Key Benefits

65% meaty greatness
No meat meal, bone meal or animal derivatives
Grain free recipe
Natural ingredients
Perfect balance of moisture for hydration with vitamins and chelated minerals for optimal absorption
By serving up this dish, you're looking after your cat's world, too. We use sustainably sourced ingredients, no animal derivatives and the tray is completely recyclable

Product Information

Meaty greatness is the delicious goodness your cat thrives on; muscle and organ meat and nothing else! At Lily's Kitchen, we believe that the majority of a cat's diet should be made up of wet food as it more closely replicates a cat's natural diet. We recommend you feed our delicious wet food as a companion to our dry food for added crunch and variety.

Recommended for

Adult cats aged 1-6 years

Classic Chicken Dinner: Chicken 65%, Salmon Oil, Chelated Minerals
Hunter's Hotpot: Chicken 25%, Game 15%, Pork 15%, Turkey 10%, Salmon Oil, Chelated Minerals
Lovely Lamb Casserole: Lamb 30%, Chicken 20%, Pork 15%, Salmon Oil, Chelated Minerals
Poultry Pie: Turkey 50%, Duck 15%, Salmon Oil, Chelated Minerals

Typical Values Analytical Constituents:
Crude Protein 10%
Crude Oil & Fats 5.5%
Crude Ash 2.2%
Crude Fibres 0.3%
Moisture 82%
Taurine 723 mg/kg
Nutritional Additives (per kg):
Vitamin D 100 IU
Trace Elements (per kg):
Zinc Chelate of Amino Acids Hydrate 40 mg
Cupric Chelate of Amino Acids Hydrate 2 mg
Manganous Chelate of Amino Acids Hydrate 1.6 mg
Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 0.78 mg
Technological Additives (per kg):
Carrageenan 5.3 mg

Always ensure fresh drinking water is available. Food should be served at room temperature. This is a guide only and will depend on how active your cat is.

Feeding Guide

Cat Body
Wet Trays
Wet Trays +
Dry Grams
2-3 kg 2-3 1 + 25-40g
3-4 kg 3-4 1 + 40-55g
4-5 kg 4-5 2 + 30-45g


V5 Form Follows Physics

[THESIS 2012]
The aim of Khang’s thesis is to integrate structural engineering and architecture to design innovative structural systems for Christchurch, specifically solutions that perform dynamically in an earthquake. He has studied natural structures that move with the aim to derive efficient solutions that dissipate seismic forces and incur minimal damage. His thesis operates as a catalog by combining Christchurch soil conditions, the zoning code, existing seismic technology and the natural structures to inspire innovative design solutions. Khang proves that Christchurch can be rebuilt, more so with interesting architecture that is safe and affordable to repair following an earthquake.

Khang Phuong, November 2012

[THESIS 2012]
What does the the tail of a seahorse, a glass sponge, and a dragon fly wing have to do with Christchurch?

Khang Phuong is a thesis student at The University of Auckland’s School of Architecture. His thesis is about designing innovative structures for Christchurch given an understanding of the physics of the local ground conditions and potential seismic forces. His objective is to integrate architecture and engineering to derive innovative designed structures. The designs will move away from the standard Cartesian grid systems, which are inherently rigid, and instead they will aim to achieve flexibility and resilience through elastic structures. Khang is studying how structures found in nature have evolved to move, and from them he is proposing possible design solutions for Christchurch.

Khang’s midterm thesis paper can be read here. (link)


Transportation in 2030

In 2030, the Town of Huntersville envisions a transportation system that supports the multi-modal travel demand of its residents, while reinforcing a sustainable land use pattern that focuses higher intensity development generally within two miles of I-77 and at identified mixed-use village centers. Vehicles (including mass transit), pedestrians and bicyclists will be accommodated within an integrated transportation system that provides connectivity between commercial and residential uses. Transportation policies will support these goals and include a prioritized capital improvement program for both the maintenance of existing travel routes and the development of new ones. Finally, the transportation system will incorporate appropriate landscaping, lighting and pedestrian safety features to reinforce and complement the Town’s desired land use development pattern.


Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation - for the 1st time in India, performed at Dr Rao's ENT Super Speciality International Hospital

Dr Rao’s ENT Super Speciality Hospital is proud to be the first ENT Hospital in India to offer Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation procedure which is widely used globally to treat Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. In our constant quest to bring the best global ENT practices and standards to India, we have recently started offering the surgical procedure at our state of the art international super speciality ENT hospital.

Dr GVK Chaitanya Rao, our Managing Director and member of American Rhinologic Society (ARS) and European Rhinologic Society (ERS) explains what is Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, what is the procedure for Balloon Dilation and other details about the surgery.

What is Eustachian Tube

The eustachian tube, also known as the pharyngotympanic tube, is an anatomical structure 3-4 cm long that extends from the middle ear to the nasopharynx region. The main functions of the eustachian tube are –

  1. To ventilate the middle ear,
  2. Facilitate the drainage of secretions produced in the middle ear, and
  3. Prevent the reflux of nasopharyngeal secretions into the middle ear.

What is Eustachian Tube Dysfunction?

  1. To ventilate the middle ear,
Know more

How is Tubal Dysfunction diagnosed?

There are several tests to evaluate the functionality of the eustachian tube; however, there are still no defined criteria for the diagnosis of tubal dysfunction. Tympanometry and Sonotubometry are the most commonly used tests.

Tympanometry evaluates the ability of the tympanic membrane to transmit sound energy through the middle ear. After examining the external ear with an otoscope to ensure that the path to the eardrum is clean and that there is no perforation in the eardrum, the test is performed by inserting an instrument (tympanometer) into the ear canal. The device changes the pressure in the ear, generates a pure tone and measures the responses of the eardrum to sound at different pressures. This procedure generates a series of data which is plotted on a computer. The resulting graph is cataloged as one of the following 3 groups: normal, low, or excessive.

Sonotubometry is based on the application of a sound source in the nostrils with the placement of a microphone in the external auditory canal to measure the sound transmitted when the eustachian tube opens and closes. This diagnostic test has the advantage of allowing the assessment of eustachian tube regardless of the condition of the tympanic membrane.

What are the indicators of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction?

Many of the chronic pathologies of the middle ear are caused because of improper functioning of the eustachian tube leading to reduced ventilation of the middle ear. Balloon dilatation of eustachian tube improves the patency of cartilaginous part of eustachian tube and acquires great value in the treatment and prognosis of serous otitis media, tympanic membrane perforation, chronic otitis media, and cholesteatoma.

What is the procedure for Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation?

Balloon dilatation of the eustachian tube can be performed under general or local anesthesia. This procedure involves the introduction of an inflatable catheter into the eustachian tube through the nasopharynx. Once the catheter is inserted, the balloon at its distal end is inflated by the introduction of saline solution, up to a pressure of 10 atmospheric pressure. The balloon is kept inflated at this pressure for two minutes. Then, the balloon is deflated and the catheter is removed under endoscopic vision. The postoperative period is practically painless, allowing patients to return to their normal lives within a few hours.

This procedure is based on the idea that temporary dilatation of the eustachian tube can improve symptoms (loss of hearing, pain and auditory fullness, otorrhea, tinnitus, and dizziness) of patients with tubal dysfunction.

Know more

What is the clinical effectiveness of Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation?

The data on the effectiveness of balloon dilation are based on several comparative studies. In all the studies an improvement was observed in the evaluated variables (tympanometry, mucosal inflammation, improvement of general symptomatology, quality of life).

The proportion of patients whose tympanogram results were classified as A (normal) after the intervention varied between 90-97% (1) (2). The duration of follow-up ranged between 2 months and 4.2 years.

With regards to the findings obtained with the otoscope, it was evidenced that 100% of the patients who presented with retractions of the tympanic membrane before the procedure were free of them after the intervention (2).

To evaluate the improvement of symptoms, a group of German researchers used a composite scale whose values ranged from 0 to 10; Values above 5 indicated functional Eustachian tubes. The mean preoperative value was 2.71 and the postoperative value at 2, 12 and 24 months of follow-up was 5.46; 6.07; and 6.14, respectively (3) (4). In the studies that used this scale, 78% of the eustachian tube balloon dilatation treated patients showed an improvement at 2 months of follow-up.

Several studies have evaluated the inflammation of the middle ear mucosa on a scale of 1 (normal) to 4 (severe), obtaining a pre-surgical mean of 2.8 and 1.4 after the eustachian tube balloon dilatation intervention, evidencing an improvement in the inflammation after surgery in more than 80% of patients (1).

Regarding long-term results, 87% of the population showed persistent improvement of symptoms at 34 months of follow-up (5). The need to repeat the procedure was similar in different studies (2) (5) (6), within a range of 8-10%.

After the eustachian tube balloon dilatation intervention, the quality of life of patients improved both in general health and specifically in relation to the disease. In a study using the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) questionnaire, a statistically significant improvement was obtained in the global score, in the “general health” subscale and in the “physical health” subscale (7).

What are the risks involved?

Based on the available studies, the safety and tolerability of balloon dilation in adults is good, presenting with mild adverse effects in very few cases. These effects are usually self-limiting or can be treated with local decongestants.

The most frequent adverse event has been the appearance of slight bleeding in the nasopharyngeal region. Otitis media and emphysema have also been observed in the facial area in some cases.

  1. Silvola J, Kivekas I, Poe DS. Balloon Dilation of the cartilaginous portion of the Eustachian tube. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2014;151:125-30.
  2. McCoul ED, Anand VK. Eustachian tube balloon dilation surgery. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2012;2:191-8
  3. Schröder S, Reineke U, Lehmann M, Ebmeyer J, Sudhoff H. Chronic obstructive eustachian tube dysfunction in adults: long-term results of balloon eustachian tuboplasty. HNO. 2013;61:142-51.
  4. Sudhoff H, Schröder S, Reineke U, Lehmann M, Korbmacher D, Ebmeyer J. Therapy of chronic obstructive eustachian tube dysfunction: evolution of applied therapies. HNO. 2013;61:477-82.
  5. Catalano PJ, Jonnalagadda S, Yu VM. Balloon catheter dilatation of Eustachian tube: a preliminary study. Otol Neurotol. 2012;33:1549-52.
  6. Poe DS, Silvola J, Pyykko I. Balloon dilation of the cartilaginous eustachian tube. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2011;144:563-93.
  7. Bast F, Frank A, Schrom T. Balloon dilatation of the Eustachian tube: postoperative validation of patient satisfaction. ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec. 2013;75:361-5.


Holgurn was a diminutive Gamorrean who worked for Jabba the Hutt as a messenger. He was more articulate than most of the Gamorreans within Jabba's ranks. Prior to the Battle of Yavin he delivered a message to Han Solo from Jabba asking him to help recover the Yavin Vassilika.


Many adults who want to pick up English fall out of the habit sooner than later, and give up on their plans without even trying very hard to stick with the learning. Experts believe that, for adults to persevere in English language learning, incorporating the process into everyday life is a crucial step that must be taken.

Connect language learning with everyday living to make it interesting and amusing

To incorporate English into your everyday life, try building the habit of thinking how a particular thought should be expressed in English before you say the same in Chinese.- Dr. Yun-pi Yuan, Vice Dean of the College of Foreign Languages at Fu Jen Catholic University

Dr. Yuan says sometimes there’s no direct English equivalent for something we say often in Mandarin Chinese. For example, a while ago her husband asked her how “thick-skinned” (厚臉皮) should be expressed in English. She couldn’t think of an immediate answer, but she did some research and the information she found not only provided her with the answer, but she now understands the expression more deeply.

How can English learning be made more fun? Dr. Yuan suggests watching videos like TED Talks on a variety of topics but turning off the subtitles for the time being. After you’ve watched the video once or twice, turn on subtitles to look for words you may not be familiar with. You can even shadow the video and attempt to copy the speaker in order to sound more natural in terms of both pronunciation and intonation. This method of practice will also help you remember vocabulary and figures of speech.

Expert tips on stress-free English learning

Apart from incorporating language learning into everyday living, how can adult learners set their own pace and engage in stress-free study? Adam Malster, Senior Teacher for Adults at the British Council has a solution. First, you have to set a specific goal. For example, you might want to get ahead in the workplace or pass your exams. You might hope to attain fluency in English speaking or polish your writing skills. Whatever the reason, you must have a clear, specific goal so you know exactly what to do to get there.

Perseverance is another key to successful learning. Adam Malster reminds adult learners to not study too intensely for long periods of time, because you can easily become burned out and lose focus, which will in turn affect your learning efficiency. The best approach you can take is to pace yours learning process according to the lifestyle you lead and the intensity of your job. Make a study plan and stick to it, because “saving a little energy for learning every day will enable to persevere.”

Adam Malster observes that many Taiwanese prefer studying alone; they tend to coup themselves up in a room reading or training their listening abilities. There’s nothing wrong with this approach as one element of a learning program, but finding a partner with the same purpose, building interpersonal relationships, and even making friends can make learning much more fun and efficient. “Think about all the other things you have done in your lifetime, such as sports or learning to play a musical instrument. Everything is much more fun and you make much better progress if you have friends and partners by your side.”

myClass 職場英語會話課程，專業商用英文會話、口說訓練，立即體驗

For the Slash Generation: English opens the way to more and better opportunities

Learning English well means opening another door to more and better opportunities, and expanding both your horizons and international perspective. Xuan Liu, an iconic member of the “Slash Generation” known as a writer/DJ/radio show host and more, shares with us his profound personal experience. He says that good English skills not only contribute to interdisciplinary thinking and work, but give him unique advantages in terms of professional competency.

For example, when he used to be a DJ, he had more work opportunities because of his English proficiency and ability to communicate with foreigners. At parties thrown by big fashion brands, he is able to speak directly with the clients to discuss their preferences for styles and genres of music. “That became my unique advantage.”

If you want to embrace the slash lifestyle, polish up your English skills because you’ll need them!—Xuan Liu, writer/DJ/radio show host

Adam Malster, Senior Teacher for Adults at the British Council concurs. He says learning English is not just about improving your English communication skills. It’s a window through which you can look upon the world from a different perspective so you can perceive things differently. This means you are able to work your way around problems using different approaches, because “learning a new language will help you better understand where other people are coming from.”

Tailored-made English courses for every stage of life: let English be your source of confidence and competitive advantage

Adam Malster has also discovered something adults usually experience when they achieve their English learning goals. “Their life skills improve along with their advancements in English proficiency because attaining these goals has given them multiple boosts of confidence.”

Adam Malster gave us an example of a student who is in the hospitality business where English communication is a vital skill. The student followed every suggestion Adam gave him diligently and meticulously, including assessing his own abilities, setting appropriate goals, and making adjustments to his personal learning schedule.

 “You could see him improving day by day. Now he’s more confident than he has ever been,” says Adam Malster. The student, having acquired the requisite language skills, was not only able to engage in further studies in Europe, but is now able to lead and teach the staff working under his supervision.

If you’re pursuing a career, why not take a moment to focus on what you want out of life? English for every stage of life is a course that’s free of rigid curricula and stressful exams and allows you to turn leisure hours into time well spent. Learn English at a pace that’s tailored just for you, hone your language skills into a professional competency and source of confidence, and look forward to a better life with wider perspectives and extended horizons.


Today in Botswana, a six team Twenty20 tournament began. With the expansion of T20I status to every ICC member already in place for women's teams, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Sierra Leone all made their women's T20I debuts.

In the morning, Namibia restricted Malawi to 53-8 from their 20 overs before chasing their target down in just 5.2 overs to win by 9 wickets. Meanwhile, hosts Botswana batted first against Lesotho and scored 164-4, then bundled their opponents out for just 40 - with extras making up 26 of those - to win by 124 runs.

The hosts then took on Malawi in the afternoon, again batting first, this time scoring 128-6. Extras was again the "top scorer" for their opponents with 29 as they were bowled out for 70 to lose by 58 runs. Also in the afternoon, Sierra Leone bowled Mozambique out for 99, Zainab Kamara taking 4-7 in 1.5 overs. Sierra Leone then chased down their target in 18.3 overs, winning by 6 wickets.

Despite these being official T20Is, the International Cricket Council - the sport's governing body - has not (at the time of writing) published scorecards on their website, with the host Gaborone Cricket Club the only source for the scorecards. This raises questions about how the ICC will handle the increased amount of matches with "full" international status, especially where they take place outside ICC run events.

Already, a bilateral series has happened between the Malaysia and Singapore women's sides with nobody being aware of if the matches were T20Is or not. The three ICC members taking part in the upcoming Women's South American Championship have been told that their matches against each other in that event will be T20Is, but the fixture list on the ICC website has no mention of them.

The ICC has the tendency to rely on third parties such as Cricinfo to provide statistics for international cricket to the general public. But third parties - even ones with the backing of a major name like ESPN - have a bottom line to take care of, and they are only going to live score matches that will get traffic to their website or that the ICC provides them for free. And as important as the four matches today are to the participants, an England v India Test or Ireland v Afghanistan T20I is seen as more important to the general public.

The matches that took place in Botswana today count towards player's career records. They count towards the ICC"s player rankings. Eventually they'll start to count towards the team rankings. The ICC can't always rely on third party websites, national cricket boards and host clubs to provide coverage. Resources are limited, and whilst today the Gaborone Cricket Club has a volunteer updating their website, they may not this time next year.

As the non ICC events with T20I status for women - and for men from January - increase over the years, it will become more and more important for the ICC to ensure that scorecards and statistics from these matches are made available.

This goes beyond T20Is, and one could argue that the ICC should have a full database of all matches that they sanction as official internationals, including Tests, ODIs, T20Is and other internationals including regional qualifiers, World Cricket League matches and similar for both men and women. An official scorecard of every sanctioned international match is sent to the ICC - it's time they did something with them.


Sacred Space

While I was growing up, my parents always had one room of our current house or apartment set apart from the rest. This room was always quiet, kept in a neat order, and showed a much greater attention to detail that the rest of the living space: the nicest furniture, only a few tasteful paintings on the wall, careful lighting. Strict rules were enforced in this room: no eating, no shoes, no yelling or running or fighting with your sister.

The reason why this room was so special was the altar at one end. This was always placed directly across from the entrance, so that it was the first thing you saw when you entered the room, and everything else was positioned in a way to compliment this altar. On it were my family’s deities, and a few framed portraits. Small wooden arches carved like Hindu temples housed them. For a few years, our tulsi plant stood next to the altar. My parents tried to worship the deities regularly: bathing them and changing their clothes, giving them offerings of food and flowers, performing arotika and kirtana.

The reverence for this room, its sparse decoration compared to the rest of our crowded home, and the presence of these deities gave it a qualitatively different feel from anywhere else. Guests seemed to sense the difference of this room even when they didn’t understand the altar, and I was often embarrassed when trying to explain what everything was to my friends.

Over the years this room changed as my parents became less rigorous in their religious practice. At first, it was neglected; then it began to be invaded by foreign objects: musical instruments. At first this seemed to make sense, since after all this was where we kept the kartalas, harmonium, and drums for kirtana, but then it began to hold instruments that we didn’t use for sacred music. Tambalas, a recorder, my mother’s flute, my sister’s harp, and then a growing number of keyboards. Next to the shelf where religious texts like the Srimad Bhagavatam were kept, we placed musical scores and other music books.

Then, when we moved to our current house a few years ago, we didn’t set up the altar, and we bought our first real, acoustic piano to put in its place. But the room’s feel did not change. We still had the shelf of religious books, and the fragility of the expensive instruments made most of the same rules of conduct for the room still apply. Only where before the room had been silent, now you could hear, daily, the sound of scales and arpeggios on the piano.

However, I think some of the reason why the room did not seem to change even after its contents were exchanged is because of my parents’ values. Once, they valued those deities very highly, and respected their presence. But long before my parents even knew what these deities represented or felt devoted to any religion, they loved music. They honored their instruments and the space that held them as something that you might call sacred. And although the room has now moved into the attic to escape the encroachment of Chrysoberyl and Topaz’s toys, you can still sense their feelings about music there in the care that they take.

For a long time I have had a dream that, when I have my own home, I want to have a room set apart. At first, I expect that this will have to be only one part of a room, as it was for my parents, but I want to create a space that feels qualitatively different: someplace respected, somewhere sacred. I want people to see or walk into this space and feel the change, the attention to detail that I have worked on.

In my sacred space, I will not have musical instruments or an altar with deities. What I truly value, and have loved for as long as I can remember, are books. Books are my passion: old or new, paperback or hardbound, worn or crisp, illustrated or pristine, stories or nonfiction. I loved the way that books smell, their weight in my hands, the neatness of words on the page. I walk into a library or a bookstore and see the walls lined with shelves, and I am overcome with awe every time. I can spend hours just browsing through books, touching every cover, and relishing in the endless possibilities for reading. My friends know how dangerous a bookstore is for me: I spend far too much time and money in them if I am not careful, regardless of whether or not I can afford these luxuries. I leave a library with my shoulders bowed under the weight of as many books as I can carry.

I want people to step into this room in my house and feel the same way they do when they walk into a nice library or store. I want to find shelves that reach to the ceiling and line the walls with them, and fill them with books on every subject, organized into neat rows so you can always find what you want. I will fill the middle of the room with more shelves, and a few comfortable chairs and couches for sitting on, next to convenient end tables and reading lamps. It will be a quiet room, perfect for browsing, reading, and contemplation.

This is not something that I want to do as a writer. I will not be able to write in a room like this: the weight of all those other voices around me would be too overwhelming, and I could not squeeze out a single word for fear that I would not sound as profound as the authors whose works were around me. If anything, I might have some little closet next to this sacred room, with nothing but a desk, a computer, and a good dictionary & thesaurus set, close enough so that I could venture forth into the forest of words and look up some reference when I need it; but I would have to have a door I could shut to block all those words out. This is something for me as a reader. If I am lucky enough to add one of my own books to that collection someday, I’d be happy, although I might feel a little self-conscious about being among so many great works myself. When I walk into that room, I will think only about books and words and the smooth feel of paper underneath my hand as I turn the page.

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Beyond the Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas

ISBN : 9780198701293

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough
352 ページ
135 x 216 mm

In the dying days of the eighth century, the Vikings erupted onto the international stage with brutal raids and slaughter. The medieval Norsemen may be best remembered as monk murderers and village pillagers, but this is far from the whole story. Throughout the Middle Ages, long-ships transported hairy northern voyagers far and wide, where they not only raided but also traded, explored and settled new lands, encountered unfamiliar races, and embarked on pilgrimages and crusades.

The Norsemen travelled to all corners of the medieval world and beyond; north to the wastelands of arctic Scandinavia, south to the politically turbulent heartlands of medieval Christendom, west across the wild seas to Greenland and the fringes of the North American continent, and east down the Russian waterways trading silver, skins, and slaves. Beyond the Northlands explores this world through the stories that the Vikings told about themselves in their sagas.

But the depiction of the Viking world in the Old Norse-Icelandic sagas goes far beyond historical facts. What emerges from these tales is a mixture of realism and fantasy, quasi-historical adventures, and exotic wonder-tales that rocket far beyond the horizon of reality. On the crackling brown pages of saga manuscripts, trolls, dragons, and outlandish tribes jostle for position with explorers, traders, and kings.

To explore the sagas and the world that produced them, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough now takes her own trip through the dramatic landscapes that they describe. Along the way, she illuminates the rich but often confusing saga accounts with a range of other evidence: archaeological finds, rune-stones, medieval world maps, encyclopaedic manuscripts, and texts from as far away as Byzantium and Baghdad. As her journey across the Old Norse world shows, by situating the sagas against the revealing background of this other evidence, we can begin at least to understand just how the world was experienced, remembered, and imagined by this unique culture from the outermost edge of Europe so many centuries ago.

1 Inroads from the Sea
2 Fire and Ice
3 In the Lands of the North
4 North of all Northmen
5 Where the Wild Things Are
6 Westward Ho!
7 New World
8 The Way the World Ends
9 Eastern Promise
10 Set in Stone
11 Far-Travelling Beasts
12 Journey to the Centre of the Earth
13 Sailing to Byzantium
14 World's End
Sagas in Translation

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough is Assistant Professor in Medieval History and Literature at Durham University. In 2013, she was chosen as one of ten BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers, in a competition to find young academics with the potential to turn their research into programmes for broadcast. Eleanor's research often takes her to the chilly Nordic climes of Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland. Whilst researching this book, Eleanor had many far-flung adventures of her own: bumping along on the back of an Icelandic horse whilst exploring Norse ruins in Greenland, sailing ice fjords under the midnight sun with a caribou hunter, and searching for Norse rune-stones in Sweden. Her proudest moment came when travelling across Arctic Norway, where she was knighted with a walrus penis bone in Hammerfest and became a member of the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society.


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Going Rogue: Cheating Death, #1

117 pages1 hour

We all die. Some of us sooner than later.

Alexa Cross never thought her existence would revolve around death. In life, as a nurse, she helped save people. But life has a funny way of throwing the unexpected because, in the afterlife, she spends her time watching people die and collecting their souls. As much as she wants to stop the deaths, she knows death is inevitable, and it cannot be stopped.

However, when a serial killer decides to take up shop in her district, Alexa can't sit back and do nothing. No one should die like that, and she's determined to alter Death's timeline. But, to do that, she needs to embrace who she is now and break some rules. It's the only chance she has of stopping the person responsible for the vicious murders.

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While the 2019 state legislative session concluded several weeks ago, discussion continues to swirl around one of the more controversial new measures approved this year — the so-called "Green Light" law.

The new law, which formally takes effect on Dec. 14, would permit illegal/undocumented immigrants to apply for standard driver’s licenses using forms of foreign identification. The majority of New Yorkers are against the idea and prior to the senate vote on the bill, I heard from a great number of constituents who voiced strident opposition.

I voted NO on the bill because the thought of giving a driver’s license, a secure identification document, to someone who is intentionally breaking the law is inconceivable. This measure is bad public policy that could put lives in danger, rewards lawbreakers, and sends the wrong message to those who take the legal path to citizenship.

As I said, a number of my constituents expressed their thoughts to me regarding this bill, including several who recently came to our country LEGALLY or had close family members who have gone through the process. They were among the most offended. They are now proud United States citizens, who followed the law, and take it as a personal affront that others are exploiting a shortcut.

The New York Association of County Clerks formally opposes the legislation, saying they lack the proper training or experience in recognizing foreign documents. The change would be a substantial unfunded mandate from the state leaving counties to pick up the tab for hiring and training employees to deal with an influx of applicants.

New York also uses the DMV to enroll voters, creating new concerns over voter fraud. New York does not have any voter identification laws, unlike 35 other states. The states that permit illegal immigrants to obtain licenses require substantially tighter proof of identification and may impose limitations on driving to incentivize naturalization. None of those states relies solely on foreign documents for identification purposes.

While advocates claim that states freely grant licenses to illegal immigrants, that claim is patently false. Twelve states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico offer driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. However, what is left unspoken in the "Green Light" argument is that eight states require illegal immigrants to provide their state’s Department of Motor Vehicles with a tax identification number, tax returns, or proof that the applicant is a dependent of a taxpayer residing in the state.

For example, Utah only allows illegal immigrants to obtain licenses for a period of one-year; the District of Columbia offers limited purpose licenses; and Connecticut requires that an illegal applicant file for citizenship.

The New York "Green Light" law does none of those things and creates a disincentive to naturalization when coupled with other initiatives passed this year, like free college tuition for illegal immigrants. It also does nothing, as advocates claim, to insure that someone here illegally will remain at the scene of a serious accident if it could involve a potential felony charge that could lead to deportation.

Perhaps the people of Oregon got it right on this topic. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Oregon lawmakers passed legislation in 2013 allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. The measure proved to be so unpopular with the public that voters suspended the law 67 percent to 33 percent in a referendum the following year.

Recently, Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law and he may not be alone. Several other county clerks around the state are considering joining Kearns’ suit or filing separate actions. One of the main reasons the clerks are opposed to the state law is that it would force them to break federal law. I stand with the clerks and fully support their efforts.

It is time we reprioritize in Albany and focus on jobs, lowering taxes, repairing our infrastructure, and putting law-abiding citizens first.

State Sen. James Seward, R-Oneonta, represents the 51st Senate District.


Buying a House: The Cost If You Waited

We often talk about the potential cost of waiting to buy a home. Today, we want to look at the actual cost for someone who waited over the last year. We used a 10% increase in house values as prices have gone up by double digits in the country on average. We looked at approximate mortgage rates last year compared to this year. Here is the impact on a monthly mortgage payment (principal and interest):


How do advertisers use sensory information

There is vast evidence for the existence of both, but the evidence is based on a methodology that is by nature not pure scientific. But because the method is extremely difficult and time consuming to learn, by the s it began to lose ground to American Sign Language as the dominant teaching method.

Our senses must also regularly meet and greet in the brain to provide accurate impressions of the world. Use "Explore Time" before experimenting To encourage student participation in planning and conducting experiments, first provide Explore Time or Brainstorming Time.

Supposedly, the subjects will reveal their hidden needs by seeing what they want to see. Foreword Advertisements bombard every minute of our lives. For example, if a patient has cut a finger badly, a neurologist may test for two-point discrimination at the time of injury to see How do advertisers use sensory information the nerve was cut.

The answer is no. Thanks to a one-pound beeping oversized softball and some tweaks to the game, players can hit a home run without ever seeing the ball.

How do you prove to the jury there are screaming faces hidden ice cubes?

Sensory Integration

According to Key, this defense mechanism operates automatically and invisibly. This process, called nociceptionusually causes the perception of pain.

Sensory cortex[ edit ] All stimuli received by the receptors listed above are transduced to an action potentialwhich is carried along one or more afferent neurons towards a specific area of the brain.

However, he has urged caution in the use of such device and keep an eye on "other uses.

The Power of Sensory Marketing in Food Ads

Arguments Against As with every theory, there are people who argue against subliminal perception. It is the proof. Research Biases The existence of a subconscious mind and subliminal perception is still a controversy today.

At a science symposium I have attended to present a research poster, I have listened to another presentation about the effects of subliminal stimuli on the left logical side of the brain. To form a representative picture of this in our minds, the different sensations must all "get together" somewhere in the brain, and one place this happens is in cortical neurons called feature-detecting neurons.

Sensory nervous system

ATF holds that this type of advertising technique is false and deceptive, and is prohibited by law. Tachistoscope projectors, which can flash words or images onto the screen with a duration of several milliseconds, are used to display the stimuli.

The psychologist would lead and direct the discussion so people would reveal their fears and desires. They may recoil from the textures of certain foods. Visual cortex[ edit ] The visual cortex refers to the primary visual cortex, labeled V1 or Brodmann area 17as well as the extrastriate visual cortical areas V2-V5.

This is the situation when a person is physically capable of performing the action automatically but cannot do it on command voluntarily. Finally, the third level is where we not only are not aware of our true attitudes and feelings but would not discuss them if we could. For alcohol or soft drink ads, advertisers like to depict their drink in either the bottle or a glass, half filled ice cubes and half with the drink, with condensation drops oozing down the sides of the glass.

They use the sound the ball emits to orient themselves, make contact using a bat, and run to base. The most often used argument against this phenomenon is that it is "inherently unlikely, anthropomorphic, unparsimonious, physiologically inexplicable, and based upon shaky methodology.

Researchers have designed tests to quantitatively measure the physiological responses of the body while subjected to subliminal stimuli. Neuroscience Laboratory and Classroom Activities. A sensory integration challenged child may be deprived of a rich sensory diet for many different reasons.

· Do advertisers really put subliminal messages on their ads? Let's explore this topic. Advertisers use subliminal techniques to influence the second and third level of consciousness.

Sensory Processing Disorder

They target the consumer's fears and desires, manipulating them in ways never thought possible. the retina's neural layers encode and analyze the sensory  · The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information.

A sensory system consists of sensory neurons (including the sensory receptor cells), These photosensitive ganglia play a role in conscious vision for some animals, and are believed to do the same in humans. Mechanoreceptors  · What are symptoms of sensory nerve damage?

"NINDS Peripheral Neuropathy Information Page." How do autoimmune diseases cause nerve damage? /qa/what-are-symptoms-of-sensory-nerve-damage. · Four types of sensory neuron. The cell bodies of the sensory neurons are located in the dorsal ganglia of the spinal cord. This sensory information travels along afferent nerve fibers in an afferent or sensory Ototoxic drugs are drugs which affect the cochlea through the use of a toxin like aminoglycoside antibiotics, which poison hair  · Aradhna Krishna, University of Michigan, discusses how marketers can use sensory marketing to improve food advertising.

MSI. Welcome: Guest Create an Account The Power of Sensory Marketing in Food Ads. Eating is a multisensory experience. Why not use that in food advertising? Yet food advertisers seldom bring attention to This is at the core of everything we do at Brain Balance Achievement Centers. It is crucial to improve motor skills, sensory detection, and processing before any higher learning, behavioral or academic changes can truly /sensory-motor.

How do advertisers use sensory information
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