Location: Bowdoin / Asian Studies / Courses / Fall 2009

Asian Studies

Fall 2009

017. Shanghai Imagined
Belinda Kong T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25 Mass-McKeen Study
Examines literary and filmic representations of 1930s and 1940s Shanghai. Explores how Shanghai imagined itself through its own writers at the time, as well as how it has been imagined retrospectively by contemporary writers and filmmakers, both within mainland China and in the diaspora. Topics include Shanghai’s history of semi-colonialism; conceptions of cosmopolitanism and modernity; intersecting discourses of gender, nationalism, and colonialism; the status of Westerners and the figure of the Eurasian; the Sino-Japanese War and representations of the Japanese soldier; the Jewish ghetto, and hybrid cultural forms such as Shanghai jazz.

019. East Asian Politics: Introductory Seminar
Henry Laurence T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Banister-106

028. The History of Tea in East Asia

209. The Arts of Japan
De-nin Lee M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 VAC-Beam Classroom

213. Introduction to Asian American Literature
An introduction not only to the writings of Asian America, but also to the historical development of Asian American literature as a field of discussion, study, and debate. Begins by focusing on a seminal moment in the formation of this field: the critical controversy sparked by the publication of Maxine Hong Kingston’s "The Woman Warrior" (1976). Then turns to earlier classics as well as more recent fiction and questions of how to reconceive Asian American literature in light of these works. In addition to Kingston, authors may include Amy Tan, David Henry Hwang, Frank Chin, John Okada, Jade Snow Wong, Carlos Bulosan, Chang-rae Lee, and Jhumpa Lahiri, Susan Choi, Lan Cao, and Iê thi diem thúy. Formerly English 284. Note: This course fulfills the literature of the Americas requirement for English majors.

232. Modernity in South Asia
Sara Dickey T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55 Adams-103
What is modernity? How does it differ cross-culturally, and what forms does it take in South Asia? In the countries of South Asia—including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal—many aspects of everyday life are both affected by and shape modernity. Economic liberalization, religious nationalism, and popular media are examined, while investigating changes in caste, class, work, gender, family, and religious identities in South Asia.

233. South Asian Popular Culture
Dhiraj Murthy T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25 Adams-202
Examines transnational South Asian popular culture (encompassing Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka), as a medium to understand larger sociological themes, including diaspora, "homeland," globalization, identity, class, gender, and exoticization. Music, film, and fashion are the prime cultural modes explored. Largely structured around specific "South Asian" cultural products--such as Bhangra, Asian electronic music, and Bollywood--and their circulation between the subcontinent and South Asian diasporic communities (particularly in Britain).

236. India and the Indian Ocean World

239. Violence and Non-violence in Twentieth-Century India

242. Theravada Buddhism
John Holt M 6:30 - 9:25 Adams-406

252. Cultural Topics in Contemporary China
Explores cultural trends in contemporary China with post-socialist condition as the contextual setting and cultural studies the theoretical framework. Discussion topics include rural-urban transformations, experimental art, alternative literature, documentary cinema, fashion codes, and gender issues. Examines how cultural trends reflect and react to China’s social-economic transitions, and how the state apparatus and the people participate in cultural production and consumption.

275. The Making of Modern China

282. Japanese Politics and Society

283. The Origins of Japanese Culture and Civilization

286. Japan and the World
Seminar. Explores Japan’s relations with China, Korea, and Europe in premodern and modern contexts. Also explores larger issues of state identity and cultures in East Asia.Note: This course fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors.

Sree Holt T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55 38 College-Conference Room


Summary: In which, is a series of drabbles, as Sasuke comes to learn certain things throughout his life. Contains mild traces of yaoi, AU qualities, and irate mothers.

Disclaimer: This work is the work of a fan (not the electric kind), having no legal ownership of contents recognizable.

A/N: Hello all, this will be a drabble collection of small events that take place as Sasuke grows up. Some will be humorous, some more serious, and some even romantic! Hell yeah!

And so, I implore you to read and review (and tell me wonderful things).

At age six, I learned that you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.

"Sasuke... what is that floating in your drink?"

The deep voice cut through the usual comfortable silence that took place at mealtime in the Uchiha compound main-house, as attention was soon focused on the man who sat at the head of the table.

Fugaku eyed his youngest son with a raised eyebrow, as he motioned to the glass in question from across the table, demanding an answer.

Sasuke, for his part, blinked in surprise, as he then followed where his father's gaze was set – and did his best to appear as though he had never seen the beverage before in his life.

"You mean this milk, Tou-san?" He asked innocently, pointing to the small glass beside him, as though understanding had only just dawned on him.

Fugaku simply stared at the boy for a moment. "...No. I mean the green vegetable that can be clearly seen resting in the milk, which I could have sworn was on your dinner plate a moment ago."

Silence reigned in the dining room, as every family member at the dinner table looked towards the youngest - and Sasuke remained quiet for a moment, eyes shifty, as he desperately looked for an escape.

"Sasuke… you didn't put your broccoli, which your mother took the effort to cook for you, in your drink – did you?"

Sasuke was silent, the expressions of those around him growing steadily more incredulous, before he stared defiantly into his father's eyes, and asked with all the innocence he could muster;

"…what drink?"

At age seven, I learned that I liked my teacher, because he cries when we sing the Konoha national anthem.

"'With kunai quick, and shuriken sharp, we fight for fire's honor...'"

Muttering the words under his breath with the other children, Sasuke wished the song would end. Standing in neat lines in front of the occupants of Konoha Academy, the boy was endlessly embarrassed as he saw the snickering and pointing that some of the older students directed towards the congregation of first-year students, along with the mocking smiles of most of the teachers.

Casting his eyes around himself with a frown, Sasuke watched as most of the his peers sung loudly and enthusiastically, the anthem for their village well-versed amongst them all. It was humiliating, putting them on display like this – and why? Because they were the youngest? Because they were 'cute'?

Sasuke's expression settled into a stubborn scowl, ready to invent some 'lyrics' of his own and sing them out loud - before his eyes caught suddenly on his teacher across the room.

Standing in the crowd, some ways to the side - Iruka's face was filled with unabashed awe, completely ignoring the laughing and taunting of the older students and teachers, as he watched his class sing; the twenty or so high-pitched voices rising and falling unevenly, and he smiled softly, his eyes wide with pleasure - tears of pride streaming freely down his face.

Sasuke was still as he watched the emotion pour out of the grown man, and after a moment, the boy took a deep, decisive breath.

Eyes never leaving the face of his overwhelmed sensei, Sasuke sang the last verse as loud as the rest.

A/N: Aw, isn't he cute? All young and stuff...

Anyway, if you liked this and want me to continue, I shall! Most 'chapters' will contain two or three of these drabbles, gradually progressing as he grows up. Also, I'm not going to have certain cannon things happen like the Uchiha massacre - unless you want them to! All you have to do is click that pretty, shiny, lonely purple button below and send me kind words!

Thank you all.


Home / Courts Michigan Court of Appeals (Unpublished) / TULL v. STATE APPELLATE DEFENDER OFFICE

June 29, 2004
v No. 244982
Washtenaw Circuit Court

LC No. 01-000756-NM

In this legal malpractice claim, plaintiff appeals as of right from the trial court order
granting defendant?s motion for summary disposition. Although the motion was filed pursuant
to MCR 2.116(C)(8), the trial court looked beyond the pleadings to the evidentiary support for
the claim. Thus, we review the trial court?s decision under the standard applicable to MCR
2.116(C)(10). Blair v Checker Cab Co, 219 Mich App 667, 670-671; 558 NW2d 439 (1996).
We affirm.
We review a trial court?s grant or denial of summary disposition de novo. Spiek v Dep?t
of Transportation, 456 Mich 331, 337; 572 NW2d 201 (1998). A motion for summary
disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10) tests the factual support of a claim, and we must
consider the pleadings, together with any affidavits, depositions, admissions or other
documentary evidence submitted by the parties in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party
to determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists. MCR 2.116(G)(2); Ritchie-
Gamester v City of Berkley, 461 Mich 73, 76; 597 NW2d 517 (1999). The motion should be
granted if the evidence demonstrates that no genuine issue of material fact exists, and that the
moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. MacDonald v PKT, Inc, 464 Mich 322,
332; 628 NW2d 33 (2001).
In this case, defendant failed to timely file an application for leave to appeal plaintiff?s
1995 conviction for felony murder.1 As a result, this Court dismissed plaintiff?s delayed

1 Plaintiff?s appeal as of right was dismissed by this Court on December 5, 1996, because his
request for appellate counsel was untimely under MCR 6.425(E)(1)(c); that is, he failed to

application for leave to appeal pursuant to MCR 7.205(F)(3), because the application was not
filed within twelve months and none of the exceptions to the rule set forth in MCR 7.205(F)(4)
were applicable. Plaintiff then filed this legal malpractice claim against defendant, alleging that
defendant had committed malpractice by irretrievably losing his right to appeal. Plaintiff alleged
that but for defendant?s negligence, he would have succeeded in his appeal of the underlying
action, i.e., his criminal conviction. Defendant moved for summary disposition pursuant to MCR
2.116(C)(8), alleging that: 1) plaintiff was required to offer expert witness testimony to establish
that defendant?s actions constituted legal malpractice; 2) plaintiff failed to name an expert
witness; and 3) without expert witness testimony, plaintiff did not make out a prima facie case of
legal malpractice, thereby failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. At the
hearing on defendant?s motion for summary disposition, there was no oral argument. Rather, the
trial court noted that it had reviewed defendant?s motion, and characterized defendant?s
argument as ?center[ing] around [sic] the question of whether there?s any testimony on the
breach of the standard of care.? The trial court granted summary disposition in favor of
defendant, and plaintiff now appeals that ruling.
On appeal, plaintiff first argues that the trial court erred in granting defendant?s motion
for summary disposition because the trial court failed to respond to his motion for guidance. We
disagree. Plaintiff, who represented himself in the lower court, insists that he could only proceed
with providing a list of expert witnesses after the trial court had answered his questions regarding
how to proceed with expert testimony. The fundamental problem we observe with this argument
is that the questions posed to the trial court were, in essence, a request for legal advice. The
motion for guidance asked the trial court:
If Plaintiff does in fact need an expert witness:
a. What would be the purpose?
b. What would their qualifications have to be?
c. Would an attorney suffice?
d. Would the attorney have to be an appellate specialist?
Michigan courts must maintain their independence from the litigants before the court.
The Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 2A requires a judge to avoid all impropriety and
the appearance of impropriety. Canon 2B requires a judge to promote public confidence in the
integrity and impartiality of the judiciary at all times. Moreover, as a general rule, a trial judge
may be disqualified if there is an appearance of bias towards one of the parties such that the
judge is ?unable to hold the balance between vindicating the interests of the court and the
interests of the [affected party].? Ireland v Smith, 214 Mich App 235, 250; 542 NW2d 344
(1995) (citations omitted). Therefore, if the trial court heard plaintiff?s motion for guidance and
answered plaintiff?s questions, the court would not be remaining impartial or independent ? it
would be giving legal advice to a party on how to proceed. Thus, plaintiff?s argument that

request counsel within forty-two days of his November 14, 1995, sentence.

summary disposition was inappropriate because he was waiting for the court to answer his
motion for guidance is without merit.
Next, plaintiff argues that expert testimony was unnecessary because any lay person
could see that MCR 7.205(F)(4) was violated when defendant failed to file the claim of appeal
within twelve months of plaintiff?s criminal sentence. While that may be true, it is insufficient to
support a claim for legal malpractice.
The elements of a legal malpractice action are: (1) the existence of an attorney-client
relationship; (2) negligence in the legal representation of the plaintiff; (3) that the negligence was
a proximate cause of an injury; and (4) the fact and extent of the injury. Charles Reinhart Co v
Winiemko, 444 Mich 579, 585-586; 513 NW2d 773 (1994), quoting Coleman v Gurwin, 443
Mich 59, 63; 503 NW2d 435 (1993). ?As in other tort actions, the plaintiff has the burden of
proving all the elements of the suit to prevail.? Id. at 586. With regard to the third element, the
plaintiff/client must prove that, but for the attorney?s negligence, he would have prevailed in the
underlying suit:
As in any tort action, to prove proximate cause a plaintiff in a legal malpractice
action must establish that the defendant?s action was a cause in fact of the claimed
injury. Hence, a plaintiff ?must show that but for the attorney?s alleged
malpractice, he would have been successful in the underlying suit? In other
words, ???the client seeking recovery from his attorney is faced with the difficult
task of proving two cases within a single proceeding.??? To hold otherwise would
permit a jury to find a defendant liable on the basis of speculation and conjecture.
Although the ?suit within a suit? concept is not universally applicable, it applies
where the alleged negligent conduct involves the failure of an attorney to properly
pursue an appeal. [Id. at 586-587 (internal citations omitted).] Our Supreme Court explained: ?[t]hus, essential to the determination of proximate cause in a
legal malpractice action is the plaintiff?s ability to show that the appellate court even would have
addressed the issue: ?Specifically, the plaintiff must show that an appellate court would have had
jurisdiction to hear the appeal, that the appellate court would have granted review when review is
discretionary, and that the trial court?s judgment would have been modified on review.?? Id. at
587 n 15, quoting Comment, Attorney malpractice: Problems associated with failure-to-appeal
cases, 31 Buffalo L R 583, 589 (1982).
In the instant case, plaintiff failed to create a genuine issue of material fact on his
malpractice claim inasmuch as he failed to plead any facts or come forward with any competent
evidence to establish either component of the ?suit within a suit? analysis. It is undisputed that
defendant failed to timely file for leave to appeal on behalf of plaintiff. However, there is
nothing in the record to indicate that this Court would have granted leave to appeal, or that if this
Court granted leave, that he would have prevailed on appeal. Plaintiff?s complaint does not even
address whether this Court would have granted leave to appeal, and merely sets forth conclusory
assertions concerning his success on appeal:
As a direct and proximate result of the breaches of the duties already
listed, Plaintiff has been affected in the following respects:

a. He has lost his opportunity to appeal his conviction and sentence
by leave in the Michigan Court [o]f Appeals.
b. He may never be able to have the merits of his appealable issues
heard, which would condemn him to a natural life sentence, when clearly, his
appeal would have been successful.
c. He remains convicted of first degree felony murder, when his
appealable issues clearly show that he would have received substantial relief on
appeal. [Emphasis added.] Further, to create a fact question, plaintiff would have had to rely on some expert opinion that the
appeal would have been granted and successfully resulted in a favorable decision for plaintiff.
There is no such support for plaintiff?s claim. Therefore, the trial court?s grant of summary
disposition in favor of defendant was proper.
We affirm.
/s/ E. Thomas Fitzgerald
/s/ Richard A. Bandstra
/s/ Bill Schuette

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Light tunnel at high speed

The world gets weirder the closer you get to the speed of light.

Nikada/Getty Images

When we were kids, we were amazed that Superman could travel faster than a speeding bullet. We could even picture him, chasing down a projectile fired from a weapon, his right arm outstretched, his cape rippling behind him. If he traveled at half the bullet's speed, the rate at which the bullet moved away from him would halve. If he did indeed travel faster than the bullet, he would overtake it and lead the way. Go, Superman! In other words, Superman's aerial antics obeyed Newton's views of space and time: that the positions and motions of objects in space should all be measurable relative to an absolute, nonmoving frame of reference.

In the early 1900s, scientists held firm to the Newtonian view of the world. Then a German-born mathematician and physicist by the name of Albert Einstein came along and changed everything. In 1905, Einstein published his theory of special relativity, which put forth a startling idea: There is no preferred frame of reference. Everything, even time, is relative. Two important principles underpinned his theory. The first stated that the same laws of physics apply equally in all constantly moving frames of reference. The second said that the speed of light -- about 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second) -- is constant and independent of the observer's motion or the source of light. According to Einstein, if Superman were to chase a light beam at half the speed of light, the beam would continue to move away from him at exactly the same speed.

These concepts seem deceptively simple, but they have some mind-bending implications. One of the biggest is represented by Einstein's famous equation, E = mc², where E is energy, m is mass and c is the speed of light. According to this equation, mass and energy are the same physical entity and can be changed into each other. Because of this equivalence, the energy an object has due to its motion will increase its mass. In other words, the faster an object moves, the greater its mass. This only becomes noticeable when an object moves really quickly. If it moves at 10 percent the speed of light, for example, its mass will only be 0.5 percent more than normal. But if it moves at 90 percent the speed of light, its mass will double.

As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass rises precipitously. If an object tries to travel 186,000 miles per second, its mass becomes infinite, and so does the energy required to move it. For this reason, no normal object can travel as fast or faster than the speed of light.

That answers our question, but let's have a little fun on the next page and modify the question slightly.


Password Security for Financial Accounts

Recently I saw a discussion on password security (specifically password security at Vanguard). There was much information on long passwords, password generation services, password storage services, etc.

Well, I thought I’d chime in with some input because I think the main threat was being missed, and it isn’t how complex your password is. Plus, I’ve been in the computer security world off and on for a very long time now so I have some experience here that is relevant.

Understand that many account compromises are not people cracking passwords directly. The perpetrators are stealing passwords with malware on target machines, bogus sites to phish, capturing passwords in unencrypted network traffic, etc. If they aren’t doing the above, then they are directly compromising the servers of the company to get to user access credentials, etc. (none of which the user’s password can prevent except by never reusing passwords for critical sites).

Brute force cracking of passwords on most sites won’t work due to automated lock-out procedures. Plus, it always raises huge red flags which the thieves do not want. So let’s put to rest the idea that a really complicated password is going to save you in all cases because it might not.

Put Your Password in Your Wallet

For computer users the best thing they can do is to pick a reasonably good password for critical sites like banking, etc. and never reuse them (here’s a great explanation on picking a good password). They also must run anti-malware software religiously to keep problems off their machine. If you get malware on your machine then it’s game over and I don’t care what kind of password you pick.

I’ll even go so far as to say you should write down your complicated passwords and put them in your wallet if you want. Yes, this is counter to a lot of advice. But consider that if your wallet goes missing it is obvious and you can change your passwords quickly. However if someone online steals one of your re-used passwords that was easy to remember you won’t notice for some time. Realize that you don’t need to write down the website that the passwords belong to if you don’t want. You can put a simple codename next to it if you want to jog your memory. If someone steals you wallet and finds a list of random passwords with no website next to them, how are they going to know what they belong to? And will they figure it out before you change them or report the account compromise potential to your broker/bank?

Avoid Malware

If you are very worried you may want to keep a beater machine around that you only use for doing financial transactions and you don’t use for any other reason so it has less chance of being infected. If you don’t want to do this (and most don’t), then don’t let your kids use your main machine. Get your kids their own computer to screw up and don’t let them use yours because they’ll probably get it infected doing whatever it is they are doing. Also, stay off pirate sites, torrents, adult sites, etc. These are all good places to get malware the same way hanging out on Skid Row is a great way to pick up things anti-biotics won’t cure.

Outside of this, there isn’t much the average person can do. Sure, use a good password and change it every now and then. Log onto your account every week or so to make sure there isn’t anything weird going on. Run anti-malware checks. Etc. Those are things you can control. Other than that, I’m sad to say it’s out of your domain and this is why companies carry insurance for security incidents.

Vanguard and Multi-Factor Authentication

In respect to Vanguard and other online brokerage’s password security. Realize that one of Vanguard’s issues is that they are not using multi-factor authentication like banks in Europe and other places often do. So stealing a password along with answers to some simple questions is enough to be an issue. And if malware steals your local environment and security cookies, then they could bypass these extra checks and just use the password. Even though this is a risk, realize that Vanguard is not going to let anyone add on a new account to wire money out to Romania so there is still some protection. Maybe someone could log in and execute trades maliciously though so that is an issue.

If you use things like Google Gmail, consider setting it up for multi-factor authentication. There is a Google Authenticator app you can download for free. Once your account is setup you have to enter a password and an authenticator code that rotates every 60 seconds. You can also keep a list of codes printed out in your wallet to use for backups. Without the authenticator codes it is significantly harder for malware to compromise your account at Google. If you have online banking, brokerages, etc. you can call them up and see if they offer multi-factor authentication systems. Most of them don’t in the U.S., but it doesn’t hurt to ask if you are concerned.

Ideally, Vanguard and other brokerages would use multi-factor authentication (I’d love for them to do something simple with my cellphone and an app for instance). However, there are technical and support issues involved and I’m sure they looked into all of these options and probably decided it isn’t worth it to them. Perhaps internally losses have not become a big enough problem to justify the costs to make additional security improvements. The reality is that financial companies get burned with hacks from time to time but they don’t publicize it. It’s just a cost of doing business and they weigh that cost against inconvenience of lots of security for their customers.

Hope the above brain dump on the realities of passwords helps you out…

Craig Rowland

I own the place.


The Art Of Photography
Home | Pages | Galleries

The Art Of Photography

Many images presented here are beyond normal expectations and they are a gift to you! Solarization, moon images, sunlight natural enhancements and many other variations. In the business it is referred to as backlighting or using direct sunlight to enhance your image without lens interference.

This all depends upon your frequency to capture what you can not see.

The ability to seize evaporating ocean water in a digital image is one example; the harmonic vibrations of the sun; the chemical disbursement of clouds according to the sun's energy and placement; the energy stored in bolders along the ocean shore line and there ability to enhance actual sun rays to display there energy packets. There is a gallery showing you how to capture quantum light spatter. And finally, images generated by a computer using piano music harmonics and random photographs which allowed it to create a mindlink with the user to produce, without software, images of reality-one such image is of the Cleff sign used in music-science that has to have been researched-the hidden truths. One secret is that as the sun travels through space it does leave a trail of energy waste. But who would have known? Basic math proves this theory and there is a picture of it in the Computer Mind Link Gallery. I was forunate to capture an image of sunlight radiating the foundation of the ocean bottom in its actual colors of energy. This is how various forms of colored coral grow by that one cycle of energy hitting it, be it white, red or blue. The ability to corral flying orbs to pose for a picture that revealed their faces, helmets and communication techniques in a photogtraphic image on the beach tops the charts on FB with a few posted here.

This hologram is an amazement of interconnected life forms and of universal interactions. The next generation will be shown, not taught how the program works. Here you have some puzzle pieces to play with.

There are size limits of certain photographs due to low light.

Standard dimensions are 8" x 10", 12" x 16" and 20" x 30".

Pricing start at $10.00.

With 9 Florida State juried awards for placement in public buildings-sales on line are very poor.

I've enjoyed the venture but it is time to retire.

Thank you for visiting.

The Lightbox tab allows you to store your selected images by clicking Sign In and then registering first.

The piano music is my own composition of an improv movie theme.

The artist retains copyright to all images.

David Kramer

(c) DGKPhotography 2015

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Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell ran for short touchdowns and the New York Jets kept their postseason hopes alive with a 17-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

The Jets (6-7) were shut out at halftime for the second consecutive week, but they didn't need to change quarterbacks to spark the offense this time around.

Online: and


Statement by President Barack Obama on Egypt

As provided by the White House

Story Continued Below

The United States continues to believe firmly that the best foundation for lasting stability in Egypt is a democratic political order with participation from all sides and all political parties —secular and religious, civilian and military. During this uncertain period, we expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts.  Moreover, the goal of any political process should be a government that respects the rights of all people, majority and minority; that institutionalizes the checks and balances upon which democracy depends; and that places the interests of the people above party or faction. The voices of all those who have protested peacefully must be heard – including those who welcomed today’s developments, and those who have supported President Morsy. In the interim, I urge all sides to avoid violence and come together to ensure the lasting restoration of Egypt’s democracy.

No transition to democracy comes without difficulty, but in the end it must stay true to the will of the people. An honest, capable and representative government is what ordinary Egyptians seek and what they deserve. The longstanding partnership between the United States and Egypt is based on shared interests and values, and we will continue to work with the Egyptian people to ensure that Egypt’s transition to democracy succeeds.


Rebuild the Buddhas of Bamiyan?
Rebuild the Buddhas of Bamiyan?
Arts, entertainment, and more.
Jan. 18 2002 11:04 AM

Wonders Never Cease

Bamiyan Buddha
Bamiyan Buddha

Can the Bamiyan Buddhas be put back together again? Afghanistan's new government wants to restore the giant pair of carved Buddhas destroyed last year by the Taliban. "They need to be rebuilt," Raheen Makhdoom, Afghanistan's new minister of information and culture, told the press. Makhdoom characterized the ancient Bamiyan statues—one was 1,800 years old; the other dated from the 5th century—as "a sign of our identity and a sign of our tolerance and our history."

Modern Western travelers failed entirely to appreciate the statues' value. Robert Byron, in his 1934 account of Central Asian art and architecture, The Road to Oxiana, wrote of the statues that "Neither has any artistic value. But one could bear that; it is their negation of sense, the lack of pride in their monstrous, flaccid bulk, that sickens. … A host of monastic navvies were given picks and told to copy some frightful semi-Hellenistic image from India or China. The result has not even the dignity of labor."

So how did the carved Buddhas of Bamiyan go from reviled grotesquerie to "things which are valuable to humanity and its heritage," indeed so valuable they must be rebuilt? There's nothing like a staged spectacle of barbaric destruction to transform otherwise obscure artifacts. Such an act provides relevant and apparent meaning to a work even as it destroys that work. The Taliban actually alerted the world to their impending act, allowed it to be recorded, and released the images, multiplying the effect with drama.

There is of course a very long history of intentionally destroyed art. Sometimes the destruction involves works acknowledged to be art, even by the destroyer; sometimes, as in the Taliban's case, the issue of "art" is beside the point. But whether the perpetrators have been Nazis destroying "degenerate" art, French or Russian revolutionaries destroying religious work, or the many examples of iconoclastic uprisings and library burnings, the story usually ends the same way: The lost artifacts leave behind them a shadow of martyrdom, a meaning that will long outlive the destroyer.

Bamiyan Buddha, after
Bamiyan Buddha

Will replicated Buddhas serve the purpose of rewriting the country's recent history, "erasing" the Taliban's record? That may not be the goal of rebuilding the Buddhas, though it might be its effect. If so, there's an impossible burden of erasure remaining. Working out of the sight of cameras, the Taliban reportedly destroyed thousands of artifacts in Kabul's museum, hammering at statues for days and replacing Afghanistan's history with an appalling pile of rubble.

Just this month, Raheen Makhdoom met to discuss the Buddhas' future with UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura; Makhdoom had an even more surprising plan to announce. On Jan. 12, Matsuura told reporters what they'd talked about. "The minister of culture prefers ... reconstructing the same Buddhas in the same area but not in the same place—on another mountain nearby," he said.

How will "reconstructing" the statues "not in the same place" result in the "same Buddhas"? That's not just a preservation question, nor is it a history riddle. That is, rather appropriately, a koan.

Charles Paul Freund is a senior editor forReasonmagazine, where a different version of this piece appeared.

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FORUMS › Toys Sexy Clothes and more › Sex Toys › Who to invite
TOPIC: Who_to_invite
Created by: cumberland_bi_couple The original post for this thread was deleted.
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Roy..... my suggestion would be to ask the opinion of other invited guests. If you have a few couples that DO look for single males, it shouldn't be a problem. If you have, let's say, 10 couples, and none of them are interested in single males, don't do it, or you would end up with some couples cancelling out on you. If you have 5 out of 10 couples actively looking for single males, it could be okay to have, say 5-10 single males invited. In my opinion, a toy party that includes couples, it should be open to single males. It shouldn't matter if people are looking to play with a single male that night or not. Toys are for everyone, not just females.

Just my opinion.

Pittston Township PA
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TOPIC: Who to invite


International Programme on Chemical Safety

Dioxins and dioxin-like substances

Dioxins and dioxin-like substances, including PCBs, are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) covered by the Stockholm Convention. They can travel long distances from the source of emission, and bioaccumulate in food chains.

Human exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like substances has been associated with a range of toxic effects, including immunotoxicity, developmental and neurodevelopmental effects, and changes in thyroid and steroid hormones and reproductive function. Developmental effects are the most sensitive toxic endpoint making children, particularly breast-fed infants, the population most at risk.

These substances are byproducts of combustion and various industrial processes, such as chlorine bleaching of paper pulp and smelting. While manufacture of PCBs should have been discontinued, release into the environment still occurs from disposal of large scale electrical equipment and waste. Human exposure to dioxin and dioxin-like substances occurs mainly through consumption of contaminated food.

Actions to reduce emissions of these substances are required by the Stockholm Convention. Interventions to reduce human exposure include:

  • identifying and safely disposing of material containing or likely to generate dioxin and dioxin-like substances such as electrical equipment;
  • ensuring appropriate combustion practices to prevent emissions;
  • implementing FAO/WHO strategies to reduce contamination in food and feed; and
  • monitoring of food items and human milk.

Short information documents for decision makers

Tools for action

Norms and guidance values

Fact sheets

Educational material


Zarya - Soviet, Russian and International Spaceflight
carousel image

Tyneside, UK
2015 Nov 26
Thursday, Day 330

Maintained by:

Space Chronicle

History, radio tracking

Providing Space Information 1999-2014 is a hobbyist website managed from the South Tyneside area of the UK. Here you will find things that interest me..... current space events, the Soviet/Russian space programme, satellite tracking. You will also find frequency lists. They are spin-offs from my satellite tracking activities with which they go hand-in-hand. For some more about the site and its roots, look here.

What's Going Up?

imageThe summary of upcoming events is more than a list of upcoming launches - see what's going on overhead, and follow the links to background information and webcasts of launches and landings.

This section is dormant. It is based on a Google Calendar but, in 2014, Google changed the way of extracting information for use elsewhere. It has proved too complex to use here.

If you are an expert in the Google API v3 and can help, please contact via the 'mail' icon towards the upper right of the page.

What's In Orbit?

imageSee Zarya's launch lists for satellite descriptions, launch records, detailed orbits and histories of orbital manoeuvres.

Entries appear within hours of launches happening and orbit details are updated with similar timeliness. Information is derived fron data provided by SpaceTrack and from independent tracking undertaken by amateur satellite observers.

There are also detailed lists of satellites in Geosynchronous and Sun Synchronous orbits.

What's Coming Down?

imageRe-entries can produce spectacular fireballs. Larger objects coming back into the Earth's atmosphere do not always burn up completely so there is a possibility of fragment hitting the ground.

Tables show recent re-entries as well as predictions of forthcoming events. Information comes from SpaceTrack and is updated as new data comes in.

Social Media

Twitter has both a Twitter feed and a Facebook page. They run in parallel and carry similar up to date notes on what's happening and timely reminders of events such as launches and dockings.

It is not necessary to subscribe to both.

Talks and Lectures

imageIf some of the material on the website interests you enough, and you represent a local astronomy society, club or any other group in the UK, or even in Europe if a low-cost flight is available, then a talk or lecture can probably be arranged.

Use the 'mail' icon towards the upper right of the page if you are interested.

Copyright © Robert Christy, all rights reserved
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited


Student Services

    Financial Assistance

    The College of Continuing and Professional Education (CCPE) is pleased to provide information on financial assistance, and the companies that provide it, to those individuals registering for our programs. These companies provide education financing services for career training, part-time education and distance learning. To learn more about how you can get the training and education you need through the use of low-interest financing, please contact the Student Services Center at 562-985-5561.

    CCPE is providing this information as a service to our students and is not affiliated with any financial assistance companies.

    Private Education Loans

    There are a variety of lenders that offer non-federal, or private, education loans. Approval of the loan is typically based on your credit rating and debt-to-income ratio and may require a co-signer. The interest rates are variable, meaning they can change on a monthly basis, and are determined by the information in your credit report.

    Looking for a Private Loan?

    Here are some questions you should ask:

    1.) Is a co-signer required?

    2.) Are there any enrollment requirements (Full-Time, Half-time, less-than half-time, Satisfactory Academic Progress)?

    3.) Interest Rate:
       What is the current rate?
       Is it fixed or variable?
       If variable, how often will it be adjusted?
       Is there an interest rate cap?
       Are there reduced interest rates for on-time payments?
       When does interest capitalize and how often?
       Will I need to pay the interest while enrolled in school?
       Will having a co-signer lower the interest rate?

    4.) Fees:
       Is there an application fee?
       Is there a disbursement fee?
       Are there any repayment fees?

    5.) Repayment:
       When does repayment begin?
       What is the length of the repayment term?
       What will the minimum payment be?
       Is there a pre-payment penalty?
       Are there options available to postpone payment in the event of financial hardship?

    6.) Disbursement of Funds:
       How long does it take for the funds to disburse to the school?
       Will the loan funds be sent electronically or by check?
       If sent as a check, will it be payable to the student, or the school?

    New Truth in Lending requirements:

    New provisions in the Truth in Lending Act, implemented February 14, 2010, have resulted in a number of changes in the process for applying for and receiving private education loans. Lenders who provide these loans must comply with the following requirements:

    • Lenders must provide three separate loan disclosures to borrowers--one at the point of application, one when the loan is approved, and one before the loan is disbursed.
    • A waiting period of three business days is required between the time the borrower receives the final loan disclosure and the time that the loan is disbursed.

    • Students must also sign a self-certification form and submit it to the lender before the loan can be disbursed.

    Your lender should provide you with all of the information you need to know about these requirements, but if you have questions, feel free to contact our office.

    Information not on main campus site that pertains to CCPE students:

    • Since our Non-Credit and Open University programs are self-support and not government or state funded, FAFSA will not be able to apply to these programs.
    • CCPE/Open University students should mention to their lender choice upon application that they are enrolling into career training, professional development, etc.


An online clean technology database

Water user groups

© ClimateTechWiki and respective owners
Adaptation Technologies per Sector
Agriculture, livestock, fisheries

A Water User Association (WUA) is an organisation for water management made up of a group of small and large-scale water users, such as irrigators, who pool their financial, technical, material, and human resources for operation and maintenance of a local water system, such as a river or water basin. The WUA is usually run out of a non-profit structure and membership is typically based on contracts and/or agreements between the members and the WUA (IWMI and SIC ICWC, 2003). WUAs play a key role in integrated approaches to water management that seek to establish a decentralised, participatory, multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary governance structure.

A WUA is a unit of individuals that have formally and voluntarily associated for the purposes of cooperatively sharing, managing and conserving a common water resource. The objectives of a WUA commonly include:

1. Conservation of water catchments;

2. Sustainable water resource management;

3. Increase availability of water resources;

4. Increase the usage of the water for economic and social improvements;

5. Development of sustainable and responsive institutions,

The core activity of a WUA is to operate the waterworks under its responsibility and to monitor the allocation of water among its members. Key functions of a WUA include:

  • Exchange information and ideas on water resource use;
  • Monitor water availability and use (Box 1);
  • Provide technical assistance in areas such as soil, water and crop management, livelihood diversification, marketing, finance and savings;
  • Discuss potential projects and developments (including climate change) that may affect water usage;
  • Operate and maintain a water service or structure (such as water mill, canal, or irrigation);
  • Management of a water distribution system, including setting tariffs and collecting fees;
  • Resolve conflicts related to water use;
  • Representation of stakeholder needs at higher institutions of water management.

A WUA can contribute to adaptation to climate change by providing a cooperative mechanism through which the following activities can be undertaken:

  • Monitor the impact of climate change on water resources.
  • Empower water users and decision-makers to manage and allocate water resources with consideration for climate change, the environment and other technical information through consultative processes.
  • Promote basin-level participation in national climate change and water management processes.
  • Develop and disseminate awareness materials on the implications of climate change and various likely water resource scenarios among local authorities, decision makers, communities and the private sector.
  • Provide data for modelling possible environmental, economic and social impacts of climate change resulting from changes in water resources.
  • Prioritise investment needs for water management adaptation strategies, such as irrigation, and monitor their effectiveness.
Advantages of the technology top

WUAs can play a critical role in changing from centralised control of natural resources to local management. This is particularly important for climate change adaptation efforts whereby local monitoring of water resources, improvements in infrastructure (such as canals and irrigation) and public participation in decision-making leads to more reliable and equitable distribution of supplies. This can lead to improved agricultural productivity, which in turn helps to raise incomes and contributes to local and national food security. An analysis of seven schemes in Nepal found that by supporting livelihood diversification and making improvements to water management infrastructure, WUAs had a direct role in increasing agricultural productivity and income-earning opportunities of farmers (INPIM, 2010). In the province of Mendoza in Argentina, the organisation of 21 WUAs to administer inspections of a canal that supplies water for 13 985 hectares of agricultural land has led to annual benefits estimated at US$ 41 000, 2.1 times the annual budget of the inspections (Chambouleyron, 1989). The formation of a WUA can also generate positive impacts for the environment. For example, improvements to canal and irrigation schemes can reduce water logging and salinity problems. By providing technical assistance to local farmers, WUA members can also have a direct impact on improving soil, water and crop management practices (UNESCO, no date).

Disadvantages of the technology top

The cooperative model of organisation on which the WUA approach is based can have disadvantages if the area of operation does not match a hydraulic boundary and may actually stimulate conflict over resource use (for example, in the Cauvery River in Southern India). Conflicts related to irrigation farming occur between upstream and downstream farmers when the upstream farmers are (perceived as) using too much water. A WUA could heighten conflict between users where its membership is based on an existing community boundary rather than a representative selection of all water users within a particular system.

Financial requirements and costs top

The cost of establishing and maintaining a WUA will depend on its size, management structure, area of operations and functions. WUAs usually levy a joining fee, and then an annual membership fee. During initial formation phase, additional financial support may be required to ensure the establishment of the WUA. Where the establishment of WUAs is supported by national policy (such as a Water Act or Irrigation Act) there may be a mechanism in place for provision of this funding support. Furthermore, this funding support may be on-going, especially in countries where WUAs are considered part of a government-led decentralisation programme.

International development donors, such as USAID, the EU and the Asian Development Bank, have also provided funding to WUAs. Independently, WUAs can generate income by charging for water supply and distribution services and provision of agricultural outreach services, such as technical assistance for improved crop management or marketing advice. WUAs may also initiate their own commercial activities, such as fish or bee-keeping.

Institutional and organisational requirements top

WUAs are generally run out of institutions that have previous experience with collective water management, such as irrigation boards.  Where an appropriate national framework is in place (usually a Water Act or Irrigation Act), a WUA can become an independent legal entity upon approval of an application to a higher authority such as the Ministry of Water Resources.  The WUA is then able to establish a governing document or constitution, a membership and a bank account.  A WUA can be established by taking the following main steps:

1)    Select host institution and register the WUA with the relevant national authority

2)    Identify stakeholders within the common water resource catchment, raise awareness of the roles and responsibilities of the WUA amongst possible members and recruit

3)    Identify water management problems via a participatory diagnostic analysis

4)    Establishment of a business plan and constitution

5)    Elect en Executive Committee and recruit management staff

6)    Provide training to members, for example, in planning, budgeting, and civil works construction

In terms of organisational structure, a WUA tends to comprise:

  • ·A General Assembly, comprised of all WUA members with the main function being to vote on issues of key importance and to elect the Executive Board
  • ·An Executive Board or Council to supervise and provide strategic direction, prepare plans, budgets, submit reports to donors and establish policies.
  • ·A manager responsible for day-to-day activities and for making recommendations to the Executive Board
  • ·Operation, maintenance, administrative and financial staff (IWMI and SIC ICWC, 2003; UNESCO, no date).

The WUA will interact with other actors involved in water management such as water catchment authorities, national ministries and the private sector.

It is likely that the activities of a WUA will be relevant to more than one government department, such as the Ministries for Water Resources, Agriculture and Land.  The success of the WUA will therefore depend on support from a range of different government actors and will include financial, technical and operational assistance and collaboration.

Legislation ultimately underpins all aspects of WUA formation and activity. It follows that the absence of appropriate legislation will negatively impact WUA sustainability, even if it permits WUAs to be formally established (Hodgson, 2007).

Knowledge and monitoring requirements include:

  • General business and legal skills required to set-up and maintain the functioning of the WUA as an institution. This will include general awareness-raising amongst members about their roles and rights as well as more targeted training for individual members assigned to carry out specific roles such as bookkeeping, financial reporting, report writing, conflict management and leadership.
  • Training in water management systems. This can include infrastructure construction and maintenance, such as canal maintenance, pump operation and the monitoring and collection of water use charges.
  • Training in agricultural production (crop, soil, water and livestock management) depending on the characteristics of local livelihood activities. Training in the provision of outreach services to community members could also be required.
Barriers to implementation top

Experience suggests that if the WUAs are established using a top-down approach, they are weak and have a high risk of failure. WUAs should rather be established through a bottom-up consultative approach working with grassroots level farmers/ water users (IWMI and SIC ICWC, 2003). Other barriers include legal constraints (such as appropriate regulatory frameworks, land and water rights), funding constraints if mobilising funding from year to year becomes a problem, and lack of effective coordination between the WUA and other relevant authorities and actors. Likewise a lack of capacity in the design and implementation of projects can limit the ability of a WUA to secure funding. In a survey of WUAs in India (UNESCO, no date), members cited funding constraints water availability and government support as the main obstacles to effective WUA implementation.

Opportunities for implementation top

WUAs can offer an opportunity to contribute to the reconstruction of communities through conflict resolution and to involve women in decision-making processes. WUAs also provide a suitable organisational structure through which to support a range of participatory initiatives (such as water resource monitoring) that can help strengthen local capacity to make decisions about natural resource management and agricultural production options in the face of possible climate change scenarios.

References top

Chambouleyron, J. (1989) The reorganisation of Water Users Associations in Mendoza, Argentina, Irrigation and Drainage Systems 3: 81-94.

INPIM (2010) Demonstrating Enhanced Productivity of Irrigated Agriculture System through Multifunctional Water Users Associations, Mid-Term Report, INPIM Nepal.

IWMI (International Water Management Institute) and SIC ICWC (the Scientific Information Centre Interstate Commission for Water Coordination) (2003) How to Establish a Water Users Association, IWMI and SIC ICWC.

UNESCO, Water Users Association for Sustainable Water Management: Experiences from the irrigation sector in Tamil Nadu, India, UNESCO, no date.


Imperial Tobacco Group Plc

WHO urges stiff regulatory curbs on e-cigarettes

WHO urges stiff regulatory curbs on e-cigarettes

The WHO launched a public health campaign against tobacco a decade ago, clinching the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Since entering into force in 2005, it has been ratified by 179 states but the United States has not...


Subglacial water system under Thwaites Glacier

Figure showing transition from swamp-like water to stream-like water beneath Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

AUSTIN, Texas — In a development that will help predict potential sea level rise from the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists from The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics have used an innovation in radar analysis to accurately image the vast subglacial water system under West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier. They have detected a swamp-like canal system beneath the ice that is several times as large as Florida’s Everglades.

The findings, as described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, use new observational techniques to address long-standing questions about subglacial water under Thwaites, a Florida-sized outlet glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment considered a key factor in projections of global sea level rise. On its own, Thwaites contains enough fresh water to raise oceans by about a meter, and it is a critical gateway to the majority of West Antarctica’s potential sea level contribution of about 5 meters.

Without an accurate characterization of the bodies of water deep under Thwaites, scientists have offered competing theories about their existence and organization, especially in the rapidly changing region where the glacier meets the ocean.

Map showing Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica

Map showing Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.

Scientists have attempted to use ice-penetrating radar to characterize subglacial water for many years, but technical challenges related to the effects of ice temperature on radar made it difficult to confirm the extent and organization of these water systems. Schroeder’s technique looking at the geometry of reflections solves this problem, because the temperature of the ice does not affect the angular distribution of radar energy.

“Looking from side angles, we found that distributed patches of water had a radar signature that was reliably distinct from stream-like channels,” said Schroeder. He compared the radar signature to light glinting off the surface of many small interconnected ponds when viewed out of an airplane window.

Figures showing pond-like and stream-like water formations under Thwaites Glacier.

Cartoon representations (above) and radar images (below) of the distinct swamp-like and stream-like water systems observed beneath Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

Distinguishing subglacial swamps from streams is important because of their contrasting effect on the movement of glacial ice. Swamp-like formations tend to lubricate the ice above them whereas streams, which conduct water more efficiently, are likely to cause the base of the ice to stick between the streams. (The effect is similar to the way rain grooves on a tire can help prevent a car from hydroplaning on a wet road.)

“This is where ocean and ice sheet are at war, on that sticking point, and eventually one of them is going to win,” said co-author Don Blankenship, a senior research scientist from the Institute for Geophysics.

Observations of the subglacial stream-and-swamp dynamic and the sub-ice topography suggest that Thwaites Glacier is stable in the short term, holding its current position on the continent. However, the large pile of ice that has built up in the transition zone could rapidly collapse if undermined by the ocean warming or changes to the water system.

Radar images of subglacial water system under Thwaites Glacier.

Radar images (left) of the swamp-like and stream-like water systems in the context (right) of the specularity content (a measure of the mirror-like character of radar reflections) of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

“Like many systems, the ice can be stabilized until some external factor causes it to jump its stability point,” said Blankenship. “We now understand both how the water system is organized and where that dynamic is playing itself out. Our challenge is to begin to understand the timing and processes that will be involved when that stability is breached.”

The findings rely on radar data acquired during airborne geophysical surveys over West Antarctica by the Institute for Geophysics, with operational support from the National Science Foundation. The analysis was enabled through intensive supercomputing supported by the university’s Texas Advanced Computing Center.

The research was funded through grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA, with additional support from both the Vetlesen Foundation and the Institute for Geophysics, which is a research unit of the university’s Jackson School of Geosciences.


Customizing Lisp Indentation

The indentation pattern for a Lisp expression can depend on the function called by the expression. For each Lisp function, you can choose among several predefined patterns of indentation, or define an arbitrary one with a Lisp program.

The standard pattern of indentation is as follows: the second line of the expression is indented under the first argument, if that is on the same line as the beginning of the expression; otherwise, the second line is indented underneath the function name. Each following line is indented under the previous line whose nesting depth is the same.

If the variable lisp-indent-offset is non-nil, it overrides the usual indentation pattern for the second line of an expression, so that such lines are always indented lisp-indent-offset more columns than the containing list.

The standard pattern is overridden for certain functions. Functions whose names start with def always indent the second line by lisp-body-indent extra columns beyond the open-parenthesis starting the expression.

The standard pattern can be overridden in various ways for individual functions, according to the lisp-indent-function property of the function name. There are four possibilities for this property:

This is the same as no property; the standard indentation pattern is used.
The pattern used for function names that start with def is used for this function also.
a number, number
a symbol, symbol
The position at which the line being indented begins.


adrenal fatigue

Energy Healing and Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue occurs when your adrenal glands are functioning below a normal level. High stress levels and serious illness can bring on adrenal fatigue. One of the key symptoms of adrenal fatigue is a lack of restorative sleep. You also have a general feeling of weakness or malaise. You may depend on stimulants like coffee or tea to get you through the day which can make it even harder on your adrenals.

People with extreme adrenal fatigue feel as though they can barely function, sometimes unable to get out of bed for more than a few hours. Some may also experience an “adrenal crash” with feeling of light lightheadedness, nausea, dizziness, heart palpitations, cold sweats, free floating anxiety, body jerks, and hypersensitivity to loud noises or bright lights.

What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?

Adrenal fatigue occurs when your body is unable to handle stress of almost any kind. That includes physical stress or emotional stress. Living a high stress, fast paced lifestyle as many people do, can bring on adrenal fatigue. Also going through a major illness, job loss, unemployment/underemployment, moving, or losing a loved one can bring on adrenal fatigue. The adrenal glands are responsible for the hormones that are released during stress. If your body no longer produces these hormones then you experience the symptoms of adrenal fatigue.

What are some of the key signs of Adrenal Fatigue?

Feeling weak or tired for no reason
Difficulty getting up in the morning
Feeling overwhelmed or stressed out all the time
Craving sweet or salty snacks
Feeling more awake after 6pm

How can I heal Adrenal Fatigue if I have it?

If you have already taken the typical supplements for adrenal fatigue with little or no relief from the tiredness, weakness, and other adrenal fatigue symptoms then you may be interested in something called Energy Healing.

Energy Healing is known in almost every culture on the planet. It is a way of restoring the body’s energy system back to normal. In healing adrenal fatigue this is a process that takes time just as it would for almost any other disease. You may have heard about energy healing on the Dr Oz show. He is a strong proponent of energy healing and is known to use energy healing during his surgeries. Energy healing is so effective that many of the top hospitals in our nation are now incorporating it into their complimentary medicine programs.

How does energy healing work to restore the adrenals?

The energy healer sends energy to the adrenal glands and also to the pituitary, pineal, and hypothalamus glands. These are the key glands that help in regulating stress. This energy is known as Bio energy, life-force energy, chi/qi (eastern) prana (India), reiki, zero point, or quantum energy. This is truly the energy that your body needs to heal itself. This energy is present to some degree in fresh living foods and supplements which are very helpful. An energy healing session however can make immediate changes to your state of well being. Once your energy level is raised your stress level goes down and you are able to function better.

I specialize in remote or distance energy healing. This type of healing is typically done by phone or Skype. How is this possible? I understand that it is a stretch of the imagination for many people to believe that hands on energy healing can even be possible. This takes energy healing to another level. I have found that energy healing can be done just as easily over the phone as it can be done in person. I have helped people all over the world using the techniques I have learned to relieve stress and revitalize their energy. It works similar to the way a cell phone works, you simply dial the persons number and you have contact with them. That is the easiest way for me to describe how the healing energy gets from me to you with a remote energy healing session.

How does a typical energy healing session work for Adrenal Fatigue?

You book a one hour remote healing session right here on my site. I contact you for the most convenient time for your session. I call you at the agreed upon time and take some history on when the adrenal fatigue started, how your energy level feels from 0-10, zero meaning you have no energy whatsoever. I also ask where you feel any pain/discomfort in your body and how intense it is from 1-10.

I ask you to close your eyes and relax as I begin to send the energy to areas where it is needed most IE adrenal, hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal glands. We then work on any areas of discomfort/pain until you feel relief. I send healing energy to raise your overall energy level so that you are able to function more normally. Several sessions are often needed to get you to a level where you are consistently functioning normally and have a feeling of overall well being. I recommend doing this in conjunction with a nutritional supplement program to restore the adrenals.

If you are experiencing adrenal fatigue and would like to feel more energetic, more peaceful and just functioning at a higher level then please contact me now for an energy healing session.

Health Blessings

Energy Healer Steve

You can book your remote energy healing session for adrenal fatigue here now then call me at 702-768-1804, Skype mrsteve.levine, or email me at for the most convenient session time:

Energy Session Rates

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PBS to Air New Mini-Series ATTENBOROUGH'S LIFE STORIES, Beg. 1/23

January 2
2:37 2013

Sir David Attenborough was eight years old in 1934 when he saw his first natural history film. It featured the popular naturalist Cherry Kearton, one of the earliest pioneers of wildlife photography and filmmaking. "Kearton's films captured my childish imagination," says Attenborough. "It made me dream of traveling to far off places to film wild animals."
Years later, those dreams became an illustrious reality. For over half a century, Attenborough has been at the forefront of natural history filmmaking, witnessing an unparalleled period of change in our planet's history. His first-hand accounts offer a unique perspective on the natural world.

As he marks his 60th anniversary on television, Nature presents Attenborough's Life Stories, a three-part retrospective of his life and work, airing on consecutive Wednesdays, January 23, 30, and February 6, 2013 at 8 pm (ET) on PBS (check local listings). The mini-series focuses on three areas that he believes have been transformed most profoundly during his time: filmmaking, science, and the environment. After the broadcast, each episode will stream at

Nature is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET for PBS. WNET is the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, New York's public television stations and operator of NJTV. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.

With distinctive eloquence and enthusiasm for his subject, Attenborough is our incomparable guide in a lifelong journey through the natural world. How do you trap a Komodo dragon? Can a lion take down an elephant? Why are animals distributed in the way they are around the world? How do animals communicate with one another? What is climate change? How can the health of the planet be insured?

Attenborough answers these questions and more, recounting with wit and humor all the wonders of the natural world he has been able to share with his viewers - wonders sometimes never before seen on television. The 86-year old veteran of wildlife filmmaking returns to key locations that played a part in his remarkable body of work, shares old photos, anecdotes and rare footage from the early days in his television career. Informed by a Lifetime devoted to understanding and documenting the natural world, Attenborough also shares with viewers his unique personal reflections about nature and the earth.

Episode one: Attenborough's Life Stories: Life on Camera

Attenborough revisits key places and events in his career and shows how a succession of technical innovations in filmmaking led to remarkable revelations about our planet and the creatures that inhabit it. The introduction of video cameras in underwater photography was a huge breakthrough in extending the time cameramen have to capture the most dramatic shots of animal behavior, such as swimming with dolphins and marlin hunting, without artificial lights.

Returning to his old haunts in Borneo, Attenborough recalls the challenges of filming on a seething pile of guano in a bat cave, especially when the lights went out, and how to catch a komodo dragon. He also shows how the invention of infrared film cameras made it possible to film one of the most amazing nocturnal hunting sequences ever recorded and proved that a pride of lions can kill an animal as big as an elephant.

Other innovations include the stabilizing camera mount, remote controlled camera, time lapse photography, and digital slow motion cameras. The latter, recording what is impossible to see with the naked eye, caught one of Attenborough's favorite moments: tricking a lovesick hoverfly into thinking that the objects Attenborough was shooting out of a peashooter were females whizzing by.

Episode two: Attenborough's Life Stories: Understanding the Natural World

Attenborough shares his memories of the scientists and the breakthroughs that helped shape his OWN career in translating these discoveries into film. Attenborough is seen interviewing Austrian scientist Konrad Lorenz who studied animal behavior and geese in particular. Lorenz determined that if he was the first thing young goslings saw when they hatched, they would follow him as they would a parent. This process, known as imprinting, was a boon to filmmakers who could film animals behaving naturally in the wild.

Demonstrating some of the thrilling attempts to bring new science to a television audience, Attenborough is seen standing in the shadow of an erupting volcano as lumps of hot lava crashes around him. He's describing how continental drift, caused by volcanic eruptions on the sea bottom, explains why a closely related group of animals can occur on both sides of an ocean.

Following up on his boyhood fascination with a book illustration showing a bird of paradise being Hunted by native tribes, Attenborough ventures to New Guinea in search of the elusive bird and is charged by a group of armed tribesmen until he offers a handshake signaling his peaceful intent. Eventually his cameraman filmed a plumed male and unplumed female, possibly the first film ever taken of a bird of paradise displaying in the wild, but Attenborough returned 40 years later with better cameras and the ability to shoot high up in the trees. Among other topics featured are DNA fingerprinting, chimpanzee behavior and Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Episode three: Attenborough's Life Stories: Our Fragile Planet

Attenborough reflects on the dramatic impact that WE have had on the natural world during his lifetime, such as the disappearing rain forests and coral reefs, endangered species such as the blue whale, manatees, sea otters, chimpanzees, and orangutans. He notes how the vulnerable Panamanian golden frog is now quarantined for safety so it doesn't succumb to a highly infectious fungus which has already made the Monteverde Toad from Costa Rica extinct.

He tells surprising, entertaining and deeply personal stories of the changes he has seen, from his early travels with the London Zoo collecting animals; showing viewers the world's rarest living animal, the giant Galapagos tortoise, Lonesome George; to covering the work of Dian Fossey, whose life's mission to study and protect the endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda inspired him to become a conservationist.

But Attenborough also reviews the revolution in attitudes towards nature that has taken place around the globe. He cites the creation in 1961 of the World Wildlife Fund, the first international organization to spend money on conservation projects around the globe, and protections put into place in Borneo and Malaysia to protect birds and turtles.

He concludes with a warning about the consequences of sea ice melt: exposing the dark sea water that doesn't reflect the sun's heat to keep earth cool. Unlike ice and snow, it absorbs the sun's heat, raising the sea temperature and its level. Climate change, he says, is already affecting the lives of not only wild animals, but ourselves.

Attenborough's Life Stories is a co-production of THIRTEEN and BBC in association with WNET. Alastair Fothergill is executive producer. David Attenborough is presenter. For Nature, FrEd Kaufman is executive producer.

Nature has won almost 700 honors from the television industry, the international wildlife film communities, and environmental organizations, including 11 Emmys, three Peabodys and the first award given to a television program by the Sierra Club. The series received two of the wildlife film industry's highest honors: the Christopher Parsons Outstanding Achievement Award given by the Wildscreen Festival and the Grand Teton Award given by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Recently, Nature's executive producer, FrEd Kaufman, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Media by the 2012 International Wildlife Film Festival is the award-winning web companion to Nature featuring streaming episodes, filmmaker interviews, teacher's guides, and more.

Major corporate support for the original public television broadcast of this Nature program was provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc. Additional support was provided by the Arnhold Family in honor of Clarisse Arnhold, the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust, the Filomen M. D'Agostino Foundation, Susan Malloy and the Sun Hill Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by the nation's public television stations.

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Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge
which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.

–Martin Luther King, Jr.

This 4th, Honor Our Founders' Vision Of Small Gov't

usflagPerhaps the most remarkable thing about the Declaration of Independence, which was approved on July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress, is the mere fact that it exists.

Nowhere, ever, had a people offered to the world an open moral defense of their revolutionary, law-breaking intentions, at a moment when their actions on the battlefield appeared more suicidal than hopeful.

And nowhere, ever, before or after, has the cause of freedom been presented more perfectly, poetically or beautifully.

All the men who signed the Declaration knew they were possibly signing away their lives and everything else dear to them. What was "revolution" for them was treason from the English Crown's point of view, and the punishment if they were caught would be torture and death at the hands of English soldiers — the most lethal military in the world at that time.

The macabre seriousness of the occasion was forever memorialized in the closing line of the Declaration, as the signers pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor." Their pledge remains somewhat famous. But often people forget to whom the pledge was made: They pledged all they had not to God and not to the citizenry at large. Their pledge was to one another.

They knew well that if any betrayed the trust among them, the revolution would fail and freedom would have to wait for another time, another place. But their loyalty to each other and to the cause of freedom was unbreakable. And we today are the beneficiaries of their mutual loyalty.

The moral and political premise of the Declaration of Independence was a simple yet radical idea: Every human being — regardless of the time or place of birth, or gender, or the color of one's skin, or the language one speaks, or the gods one worships — possesses by nature a body that houses a free mind. In this way, all men truly are created equal. That's the simple part.

From this simple observation flow radical implications: If a body is home to a free mind, then that mind is the only truly rightful governor of that body. Self-government is right because it is woven into the fabric of human nature.

Any form of slavery or tyranny — any attempt of the mind of one person to own, control or abuse the body of another — is therefore wrong. Every moral wrong between human beings is a testament to the rightness of human equality.

Further, if a free mind directs the body it governs to create something, invent something, produce something useful, then the fruit of that labor belongs solely to the mind that made it. It belongs to no one else. Here we see that the idea of property is less economic, emphatically moral.

No one has a right to any property or any wealth that has been produced or earned by someone else. The inventions of some people are never the rights of others.

Consider: No one knows what future products or services technology might invent. But we know that no one has a right to them. You're free to work and earn and save in order to buy them, of course. But you have no right to them. If you did, then others would have an obligation now to invent them. Who has such an obligation? Answer: no one. And therefore no one has a right to anything that might be invented or produced by others, now or later.

From all this, a radical new vision of government arose in America: The purpose of government would be limited to protecting the natural freedoms, natural rights and property of those who mutually and voluntarily consent to form a government.

A government of limited purpose should be a government of limited power, which is precisely why the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified — to enumerate the few powers We The People grant to the government we created, and to make clear that government may not rightfully do anything else. Period.

More: Citizens have good reason to trust one another, because none has any legal authority to take anything away from or harm others. But government is different. Every law, every regulation, every rule and order and decree issued from government is ultimately backed up by the barrel of a gun. Government is a monopoly of force.

So while government may always be necessary, it's also always dangerous. A people who are wise and expect to remain free might extend civic trust to one another, but they should bind their government officials by the chains of the Constitution.

And if ever government exercises unjust and unauthorized powers, and we have no peaceful remedy available to us, we always reserve the natural right to choose revolution once again, just like we did on July 4, 1776. That's what freedom looks like. And that's what Independence Day is all about.

So let us celebrate this Fourth of July, 2014. As you enjoy the fireworks after sunset, let them be a reminder of the explosive fighting and dying required to establish the freedom you enjoy today. Remember how they fought, that for which they fought, and why we all are better off for it.

• Krannawitter is a former professor of politics at Hillsdale College and now president of Speakeasy Ideas. His latest book is "Crisis of Our House Divided: A Guide To Talking Politics Without The Noise."

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Total Time
Prep 5 mins
Cook 5 mins

One of my favorite lunches. Got this recipe from the grocery store.

Ingredients Nutrition

  1. Cut pitas in half and form a pocket in each.
  2. Divide roast beef, sprouts, tomatoes and cucumbers equally between the pitas.
  3. Drizzle with ranch dressing.


Twigs present an interesting video starring a Bane-looking fellow sporting a face mask made up of pieces of an Air Jordan V. The man is krumping it up to the soothing sounds of the song ‘Ache.’ The song and the slow motion visuals are pretty soothing when combined. Check it out!


The Holy Qur’ân is an ocean of sweet water without shore. Many become hesitant about plunging into it. Few have delved into it, appreciating its beauty and its vastness, and tasted its sweetness. It is the Self-Disclosure of the Mighty, Self-Sufficient, veiled Reality. It is a Divine Discourse in its absolute purity. Its words are the Speech of the Exalted Deity spoken to a human being – Muhammad (pbuh), the one who was worthy to hear that Voice, who understood it and conveyed it to humankind (53:3–5).  Its verses are flawless Pearls, a gift from the Lord of Affluence, of unlimited Grace and immense Mercy (56:75–82).  He is calling you from far and beyond, “I am nearby indeed” (2:186); I am nearer to you than your jugular vein (cf. 50:16); if you only pay heed and can listen to His call. He intends to exalt you in eminence by means of His Commandments (cf. 7:176), bless you with felicity and sanctify you. He invites you to leave behind your doubts, your conventional and limiting beliefs, go beyond blind faith, and follow His way that shall lead you to reach the certainty of the existence of the All-Merciful, His Awe (55:46), His Magnificent Greatness, His Grand Kingdom and His Sovereignty, and to raise you to take a seat in His presence (cf. 28:51; 81:27).

How can your limited intellect know the Limitless and Formless without His Self-Disclosure and how can you find your way groping in the utter darkness without a guiding Light? Those who have pondered on its verses, who have reflected on them with unprejudiced mind and pure heart, have discovered that guiding Light, which illuminates the path that leads to the proximity of the True Lord.

You can never know His Essence, but He discloses to you some of His Attributes, which closely adhere to His Essence, and He invites you to share them with Him. Once you have found the key that unveils this secret, you will be experiencing His Loving Powers, His overflowing Generosity, and His Majesty; you will at last overcome your own inability to know Him.

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ

Allâh is the Extensive Light of the heavens and the earth [the Light that envelops all worlds of bodies and non-bodies, and it leaves no shadows]” (24:35).

When you open the closed door of your mind to admit this Light, that Light shall enter and shine on your heart and illuminate it. You will feel that you are sitting in His Company. “When you extend your graceful arms with cupped hands towards Him, you can look at all that amorous light you can catch that will lift your soul and let your soul get loose” (Hâfiz Shîrâzî).


Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia offers exhibitions that explore the commonwealth's social and cultural history. The exhibition program promotes interest in and use of the collections and services of the Library of Virginia. In addition to using materials from the Library's collections, the exhibitions also incorporate materials from the larger library and museum community. Online versions include key themes and artifacts from past exhibitions.

Current Exhibition icon CURRENT EXHIBITION

Marking the end of the 150th commemoration of the American Civil War, Remaking Virginia: Transformation through Emancipation explores how the end of slavery and emancipation affected every Virginian, forcing people to renegotiate and transform their relationships. Remaking Virginia focuses on how African Americans made the change from property to citizens and explores the societal transformation experienced by all Virginians through labor, church, education, families, political rights, military service, and violence.

Past Exhibitions icon PAST EXHIBITIONS

The Library of Virginia maintains online versions of many of its past exhibitions that can be helpful when exploring topics on Virginia's history and culture. These pages include digital images of some collection materials, as well as notes on additional resources.

Exhibitions by Topic icon EXHIBITIONS BY TOPIC

We've organized our exhibitions into some topics of common research interest. So, if you're looking for exhibition material on African Americans, maps, women's history, or another subject, look here!


What Is Homeostatic Imbalance?

Homeostatic imbalance occurs when the human body’s internal environmental variables become disturbed. The condition can be attributed to a number of factors which include the aging of the person’s organs and the organ’s control systems or feedback mechanisms, which can cause them to malfunction or not perform up to the standard that has been normal throughout the majority of the person’s lifetime. Homeostasis can also be disturbed when certain pathological situations are present in the body and overwhelm the controls and mechanisms that have been behaving in a healthy and life-sustaining manner. The stability of the homeostatic mechanism is achieved, for the most part, by a series of mechanisms that balance the input and output of signals, chemicals, and fluids. Most diseases can be at least partly attributed to the presence of homeostatic imbalance within the system.

The inefficiencies in homeostatic balance caused by the aging process are the main culprit in normal signs of aging like the breakdown of skin, the dulling of mental processes, and the decreased ability of the person to perform physical activity. In addition, the inevitable increases in homeostatic imbalance lead to many of the serious diseases associated with the aging population like diabetes, gout, and heart failure. In the example of heart failure, the negative feedback systems associated with heart and circulatory function are overwhelmed and destructive positive feedback mechanisms take over, contributing to the serious and sometimes fatal nature of the condition. Homeostatic control mechanisms control the imbalance of toxins in the bloodstream as well. When increased amounts of substances are introduced into the system and homeostatic imbalance is present, as in the example of gout, a buildup of toxic uric acid is the primary cause of the painful and chronic symptoms of the disease.

Another example of a pathology often contributing to homeostatic imbalance is diabetes mellitus, a condition that results from either the over-production or, in some cases, the hyper-activity, of the hormone insulin. When no homeostatic imbalance is present, the body is able to regulate its blood sugar levels efficiently. When diabetes mellitus is present, however, after a person has eaten a meal, the insulin needed for regulation is either totally absent or present in inadequate levels. Low or absent levels of insulin caused by dysfunction of the homeostatic mechanism make it harder for all cells in the body to absorb the hormone. When insulin is not absorbed, blood glucose levels can remain dangerously high.

In the case of this type of diabetes, as with other pathologies associated with homeostatic imbalance, medical intervention is often times needed to correct input and output ratios in order to restore balance. Gout can be treated with medications to reduce the buildup of uric acid. The common condition of dehydration is often times attributed to homeostatic imbalance as well, and is treated simply by introducing electrolyte-rich fluids back into the system to reestablish homeostasis.

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The most promising technology for cleaning up ocean plastic is a giant wheel

The Sea
The Sea

This post has been updated.

There are at least one million tons of plastic in the ocean. Creative solutions abound, but few strike marine conservation experts as practical or praise-worthy. Too often, says ecologist Andrew David Thaler, projects like floating plastic-filter machines amount to little more than “concept art.”

According to Thaler, a marine science PhD and ocean-science website editor, the first “truly feasible” contraption to reduce ocean plastic is already in use: a solar-powered water wheel in Baltimore, Maryland.

(Healthy Harbor Baltimore)

The machine was installed in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, a landmark seaport on the Mid-Atlantic coast of the US, in May. The wheel sits at the outlet of one of the major rivers that flows into the harbor. Trash and debris from this river are lifted out of the water and into a dumpster barge via a conveyor belt.

“Major cites with tightly controlled tributaries are the perfect candidates for this technology,” says Thaler. The water wheel can capture debris from an entire watershed and prevent them from flowing into the ocean if it’s placed correctly, as it has been in Baltimore.

A video of the wheel operating during a rainstorm has accumulated one million views on YouTube. Representatives from Baltimore’s Healthy Harbor initiative, which is partly responsible for the wheel’s installation, said they plan to add lighting to make the wheel more visible at night. They are also thinking about installing a webcam so people can watch the wheel work from anywhere.

The wheel also has a Twitter account: Follow @MrTrashWheel to get a sense of what it’s like to eat trash all day.

The original version of this story incorrectly stated that there are at least “one billion” tons of plastic in the ocean. It should have said “million.”

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Common IBS Trigger Foods

wheat bread, IBS, Food Cures

Wheat (Gluten)

Some people have difficulty digesting compounds in wheat and wheat flour (unrelated to insoluble fiber), both of which contain a protein called gluten that can be difficult for some individuals to digest. Common foods include white and whole wheat breads, crackers, pasta, cereals, and baked goods.


Digital Signal Processing of Weak Signals Buried in Noise

by Darrel Emerson, AA7FV and G3SYS.
Also appeared in the proceedings of the 11th AMSAT-NA Annual

(Copyright on the original article is held by the ARRL)

This article describes the use of digital signal processing to pull the AMSAT AO-13 ZRO test signal out of the noise. In the ZRO tests, a signal is transmitted from the Oscar 13 satellite at progressively lower power levels, in 3 dB steps. The challenge is to decode successfully the weakest possible signal. The signal from the receiver audio was digitized using a Sound Blaster card, then filtered with a modified FFT routine. The modification was to allow the pre-detection filter to follow the slowly drifting signal. After using the matched, sliding filter before detection, the post-detection signal was passed through another matched filter. Finally, a cross-correlation technique comparing the detected, filtered signal with every possible combination of ZRO signal was applied, taking also into account a gradual drift of CW sending speed. The final, statistically most probable, solution turned out to be correct. This gave the only successful detection of level A transmissions from Oscar 13 so far (Aug 1996.) The extensive digital processing partly made up for the relatively poor receiving antenna; a 10-element 146 MHz Yagi, part of the Cushcraft AOP-1 combination.

False-colour plot of receiver noise spectrum vs. time, during the ZRO-A test

The false colour image above shows the frequency spectrum against time, during 100 seconds including the end of the ZRO9 and the entire ZROA test. Time increases from bottom to top, and frequency, left to right, covers a range of 400 Hz. Each pixel represents a half-second of data, with a frequency resolution of 2 Hz. A combination of changing Doppler shift, receiver and transmitter drift causes the signal to drift a few tens of Hz to the right of the plot during the transmission.

For a full account, please consult the original article, either in the January 1994 issue of QEX (published by the ARRL) or in the Procceedings of the 11th AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium (available from AMSAT).

Explanation of the AMSAT ZRO tests.
Raw data files.

Even weaker signals, from the Mars Global Surveyor Relay test.
AA7FV top page


Nobel Scientist, Wash U Professor Dies In Rome

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who announced her death in a statement, called it a great loss “for all of humanity.” He praised her as someone who represented “civic conscience, culture and the spirit of research of our time.”

Italy’s so-called “Lady of the Cells,” a Jew who lived through anti-Semitic discrimination and the Nazi invasion, became one of her country’s leading scientists and shared the Nobel medicine prize in 1986 with American biochemist Stanley Cohen for their groundbreaking research carried out in the United States. Her research increased the understanding of many conditions, including tumors, developmental malformations, and senile dementia.

A petite woman with upswept white hair, she kept an intensive work schedule well into old age. “At 100, I have a mind that is superior _ thanks to experience _ than when I was 20,” she said in 2009.

Levi-Montalcini was born April 22, 1909, to a Jewish family in the northern city of Turin. At age 20 she overcame her father’s objections that women should not study and obtained a degree in medicine and surgery from Turin University in 1936.

She studied under top anatomist Giuseppe Levi, whom she often credited for her own success and for that of two fellow students and close friends, Salvador Luria an Renato Dulbecco, who also became separate Nobel Prize winners. Levi and Levi-Montalcini were not related.

After graduating, Levi-Montalcini began working as a research assistant in neurobiology but lost her job in 1938 when Italy’s Fascist regime passed laws barring Jews from universities and major professions.

In 1947 Levi-Montalcini was invited to the United States, where she remained for more than 20 years, which she called “the happiest and most productive” of her life. She held dual Italian-U.S. citizenship.

During her research at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, she discovered nerve growth factor, or NGF, the first substance known to regulate the growth of cells. She showed that when tumors from mice were transplanted to chicken embryos they induced rapid growth of the embryonic nervous system. She concluded that the tumor released a nerve growth-promoting factor that affected certain types of cells.

The two shared the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1986.