Journaling is a powerful tool for improving mental health and emotional wellbeing. Writing about our thoughts, feelings, and experiences can help us process difficult emotions, gain clarity and insight, and reduce stress and anxiety. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of journaling and how you can get started with this powerful practice.
First and foremost, journaling can help us gain a better understanding of ourselves. By writing about our thoughts and feelings, we can identify patterns, triggers, and behaviors that may be holding us back or causing us distress. This can help us make positive changes in our lives and improve our relationships with ourselves and others.
Journaling can also help us manage stress and anxiety. By writing down our worries and concerns, we can release them from our minds and create a sense of distance and perspective. This can help us feel more grounded and in control, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Finally, journaling can be a form of self-care and self-compassion. By taking the time to write about our experiences and emotions, we are acknowledging and validating our own feelings and experiences. This can be a powerful form of self-acceptance and self-love, which can improve our overall wellbeing and quality of life.
If you’re interested in starting a journaling practice, it’s important to find a format and approach that works for you. Whether you prefer free-form writing, prompts, or structured exercises, there are many resources available to help you get started. Remember, journaling is a personal and private practice, so don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or making everything sound perfect. Just write from the heart and let the words flow.


Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives. We use it to connect with friends and family, share our thoughts and experiences, and stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends. But what if we told you that social media has a dark side that’s secretly affecting your mental health?
However there is a shocking truth about the dark side of social media and how it’s impacting your mental health.
The addictive nature of social media: social media platforms are designed to keep you hooked and constantly checking your feeds, leading to addictive behaviors and negative impacts on mental health.
The effects of social comparison: social media encourages us to constantly compare ourselves to others, leading to feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, and depression.
Cyberbullying and online harassment: cyberbullying and online harassment on social media are a very real problem, which can have serious impacts on mental health and well-being.
The impact on sleep: social media use can interfere with sleep patterns, leading to insomnia and other sleep disorders that can negatively impact mental health.
The role of social media in the spread of misinformation and fake news: social media has been used to spread misinformation and fake news, leading to increased anxiety, confusion, and stress.
Don’t let social media take control of your life – take back control today and protect your mental health!


With the start of Lupus Awareness Month, we’re offering up a snapshot of our growing lupus research community and one of the many people who has joined to make the work possible.
Since we launched our Lupus Research Study we’re already more than halfway to reaching our goal of enrolling 5,000 people living with lupus.
Launched last year in collaboration with Pfizer Inc, the study is meant to help better understand the genetics of this insidious autoimmune disease, which affects almost 1.5 million in the United States alone. Symptoms for lupus can range from joint inflammation to sores and skin rashes – often in the form of blotchy red marks on the face. The symptoms can progress to other issues including damage to the kidneys, heart or lungs.
While the cause of lupus is unknown, several studies indicate that a number of factors, including genetics, hormones and the environment all play a role. Lupus also impacts women more than men – 90 percent of the cases are women – and it often hits them between the ages of 15 and 44, although a significant percentage of cases hit people in childhood.
Lupus is a serious condition, but we are inspired by the positive attitude of many of those who are participating in this research. One of the several thousand people who’ve enrolled in 23andMe’s Lupus Study is Mary Frances, a California mother who was first diagnosed in college.
Despite the challenges she’s faced along the way, she remains positive.
You have to think – someone else has it worse than me and turn your attention to the challenge,” she said.
Learn more about our study.


An engrossing history of life in the Royal Navy at the height of its power.
During the nineteenth century Great Britain ruled the waves. But what was it like sailing aboard her ships?
Men and boys travelled across the oceans of the world in Her Majesty’s ships, from the snows of the Arctic to the malarial swamps of the tropics. They fought the Queen’s enemies on sea and land, chased pirates and slavers, and made contributions to the mapping of the world. They experienced all the brutal conditions that Mother Nature could throw at them, as well as the brutal punishments that were dealt out by their officers.
Yet life as a sailor in Nelson’s navy was very different to that of a sailor at the beginning of the twentieth century, with steam replacing sail and iron replacing wood. John Winton charts these changes as well as the reforms that took place over the century to give insight into how the life of sailor evolved during this period.
Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor draws upon a wide range of sources, from sea ballads to Victorian melodramas and advertisements, from admirals’ dispatches to sailors’ diaries, to provide a comprehensive study of life on the lower-deck in the nineteenth century Royal Navy.
‘Bulging with interesting facts and sidelights and ranging from Arctic rigours to the stoker’s lot on the Road to Mandalay, this is an excellent account of conditions afloat.’ The Observer


Report on Tungurahua (Ecuador) — 23 January-29 January 2002
Smithsonian / US Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report,
23 January-29 January 2002
Managing Editor: Gari Mayberry
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2002. Report on Tungurahua (Ecuador). In: Mayberry, G (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 23 January-29 January 2002. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
1.467°S, 78.442°W; summit elev. 5023 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Based on information from IG, the WashingtonVAAC reported that during 23-29 January several small ash emissions occurred at Tungurahua. The highest reported cloud rose to a height of ~7.5 km a.s.l. During 15-23 January incandescence was visible in the crater.
Geological Summary. Tungurahua, a steep-sided andesitic-dacitic stratovolcano that towers more than 3 km above its northern base, is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Three major edifices have been sequentially constructed since the mid-Pleistocene over a basement of metamorphic rocks. Tungurahua II was built within the past 14,000 years following the collapse of the initial edifice. Tungurahua II collapsed about 3,000 years ago and produced a large debris-avalanche deposit to the west. The modern glacier-capped stratovolcano (Tungurahua III) was constructed within the landslide scarp. Historical eruptions have all originated from the summit crater, accompanied by strong explosions and sometimes by pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached populated areas at the volcano's base. Prior to a long-term eruption beginning in 1999 that caused the temporary evacuation of the city of Baños at the foot of the volcano, the last major eruption had occurred from 1916 to 1918, although minor activity continued until 1925.
Sources: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)


Margaret Thatcher (13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British stateswoman who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the office. She was nicknamed “The Iron Lady” for her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970–74 government. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition, the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. On becoming Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election, she introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high unemployment and Britain’s struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an ongoing recession. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment, until victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983.
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Discover how to use museum resources and methods to bring new excitement into your classroom. Many Smithsonian museums offer scheduled classes for educators as well as customized training.
History & Culture
Oh Freedom! Online Conference: Teaching Civil Rights through Smithsonian Collections
Explore Civil Rights and Smithsonian collections with curators, experts, and educators in live presentations, demonstrations, and moderated forums.
Air Mail to Airlines
The activities in this National Air and Space Museum workshop help to build mapping and sequencing skills. Designed for teachers of grades 3–5. Call 202.633.2540.
Black Wings: African American in Aviation, 1920 to the Present
Discuss events of World War II with experts. Receive lesson plans in both history and language arts. This National Air and Space Museum workshop is for teachers of grades 6–10. Call 202.633.2540.
Summer Institutes: Teaching the Humanities through Art
Be inspired this summer at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, D.C. Join teachers of grades 6-12 for an exploration of the connections among American art, social studies, and language arts. The week-long institutes will be held July 10-14 and July 24-28, 2017. Applications due April 2.
Learn more or apply
Free Online Conferences
Find an archive of online conferences from the Smithsonian. Titles include “Abraham Lincoln,” “Climate Change,” and “Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts.” Learn more
Teaching with Primary Sources
Delve into National Air and Space Museum documents, photographs, objects, and oral histories to help your students understand the historical process. Designed for teachers of grades 4–12. Call 202.633.2540.
Check these sites for additional programs.
Scholars in the Schools
Smithsonian Institution Event Calendar
The Smithsonian Associates


Written by Joseph Heller in 1961
"Catch-22" is a novel written by Joseph Heller and published in 1961. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest works of American literature in the 20th century. The book is set during World War II and follows the experiences of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier.
The central theme of the book is the absurdity and irrationality of war and military bureaucracy. The title of the book refers to a military rule, Catch-22, which states that a soldier is considered insane if he continues to fly combat missions, but is also considered sane if he asks to be relieved of duty. This catch creates a paradox that Yossarian and other characters are unable to escape, leading to a sense of hopelessness and frustration.
The book is characterized by its dark humor and satire, and it is widely regarded as one of the earliest and greatest examples of anti-war literature. The characters in the book are a diverse group of soldiers and officers, each with their own quirks and motivations, and their interactions and experiences serve to highlight the madness of war and the military system.
Overall, "Catch-22" is a powerful and timeless work that offers a unique perspective on war and the human condition. Its themes of absurdity, desperation, and the struggle for survival continue to resonate with readers today and it remains a must-read for fans of contemporary literature and anyone interested in the human experience of war.
Buy Catch 22 now on Amazon


This video zooms into a view of the center of our Milky Way galaxy, and ends on a new photo obtained by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam)…
…at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The DECam image covers around 4 x 2 degrees (an area about 8 times as wide as the full Moon).
For the first time, over 250 million stars in our galaxy’s bulge have been surveyed in near-ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared light, opening the door for astronomers to reexamine key questions about the Milky Way’s formation and history. Using ultraviolet data, and with 450,000 individual images, the team was able to measure the chemical composition of tens of thousands of stars spanning a large area of the bulge. The vast dataset can be explored in spectacular detail in this image.
The mysteries of the Milky Way are revealed in spectacular detail, thanks to the efforts of a team of astronomers who have observed 250 million stars in the bulge at the heart of the Milky Way using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). DECam, primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is mounted on the Víctor M.Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab. By detecting the ultraviolet light from stars in the bulge known as Red Clump stars, they were able to analyze the chemical composition of over 70,000 stars over an area of sky 1,000 times as large as the full Moon (an area larger than 20 x 10 degrees stretching over the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius).
The data are hosted and served to the community by NOIRLab’s Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), also a program of NSF’s NOIRLab, which handled the more than 7,000 DECam exposures, comprising more than 3.5 trillion pixels. A color-composite showing a main part of these data is shown in this image, and can be explored in all its whopping 50,000 x 25,000 pixels in this zoomable version.
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One of the pillars of Meingast’s Logic was his celebrated irrelevance logic, developed around 1895, in an attempt to systematize some of the bolder and more speculative metaphysical ideas he was espousing at that time. A key tenet of irrelevance logic was the much-debated principle of closure under irrelevance. The principle stated that if Q is irrelevant to P, then P is irrelevant to P (and is thus irrelevant simpliciter). Meingast claimed that seriously reflecting on what would be involved in the denial of this principle would instantly reveal the principle as evident to the light of reason.
Not everyone were convinced, and some critics (most notably Brentano and Boltzmann) have even found the principle counterintuitive. It should, however, be noted that the principle follows, more or less directly, from Meingast’s doctrine of The Rational Magnetism of Being, on which every genuine aspect of reality exerts a rational pull on everything else. Consequently, if Q does not exert a rational influence on P, then P cannot pick out a genuine aspect of reality, and is thus irrelevant. Meingast maintained that Being, and hence relevance, does not admit of a logical articulation. Logic can only circle around Being but Being cannot be spoken of in a logical way. With the possibility of demonstrating relevance foreclosed, irrelevance becomes the fundamental logical relation.
Meingast’s confidence in his irrelevance logic was dramatically shaken in 1897, when a telegram from Meinong revealed an inconsistency in his logical edifice and sent Meingast back to the drawing board. The details of Meinong’s argument remain unknown, but it is said that it described a complex counterexample featuring a habitual depressive who has become irrelevant even to himself.


The bone library
Displaying animal skeletons in museums is just one of many reasons for preparing bones. Museums also maintain extensive collections of bones for the study of comparative anatomy.
All vertebrate animals have skeletons based on the same plan, because they involved from a common ancestor. By comparing them side by side, researchers can study the process of evolution and the levels of relationship between species. Medical researchers can also gain insight into our own bodies by studying the anatomy of other animals.
For this reason, far more bones are held in museum storage than are ever on display.
One of the leading lights of comparative anatomy in New Zealand was Thomas Jeffrey Parker, who from 1880 until his early death in 1897, was a professor of biology at the University of Otago and curator of Otago Museum.
Parker was a force of scientific enquiry and a masterful teacher who produced more than 40 scientific papers and numerous textbooks on biology.
He was also an extraordinary preparator of animal remains. Many of his exquisite bone articulations are on display at Otago Museum, while a collection of painted skulls, with their individual bones artfully colour-coded, is still in use by university students a century after it was made.
Among Parker’s many achievements was the development of a technique for preserving soft, biodegradable animal parts like cartilage and gut tissue using glycerine. The items he prepared in this way are still in a fine state, and provide a great resource for researchers.
To this day, no one has managed to match Parker’s skill and prowess at using this technique.


What is Bank Reconciliation Statement
A bank reconciliation statement is a document that compares a company’s cash balance on its balance sheet to the amount on its bank statement—reconciling the two accounts aids in determining whether accounting adjustments are required. Bank reconciliations are performed regularly to guarantee that the company’s cash records are accurate. They also aid in the detection of fraud and cash manipulation.
adjusting journal entries bank reconciliation
The following are examples of common changes to the balance per book:
- Bank costs or service charges for maintaining the account, fees for returned checks, wire transfer processing, check to print, and so on.
- Earned bank interest
- Payments on loans
- Supplier and other electronic costs or remittances
- Customer checks that were placed but are now being returned due to a lack of money
Bank Service Charges would be debited, and Cash would be credited in the journal entries for the bank fees.
The journal entry for a cheque returned due to insufficient funds will debit Accounts Receivable and credit Cash.
The company’s interest earnings will be recorded as a debit to Cash and a credit to Interest Income.
How to do bank reconciliation
- To discover uncleared checks and deposits in transit, compare the company’s list of issued checks and deposits to the checks reported on the bank statement.
- Add any deposits in transit to the cash balance indicated on the bank statement.
- Deduct any unpaid checks.
- This will return the bank’s adjusted cash balance.
- Then, using the company’s closing cash balance, add any interest earned and the number of notes receivable.
- Deduct any bank service fees, fines, and non-sufficient funds checks. This results in the adjusted business cash balance.
- The adjusted bank balance should equal the company’s final adjusted cash balance after reconciliation.
see also this


July 15th, 2013
In today’s political vernacular, governmental overregulation serves as a key phrase to the defense of conservative principles. Those who support greater regulation, particularly in the environmental realm, will say that there is nothing to fear as it will create growth and promote economic output.
While it is well understood that as a political philosophy, overregulation inherently restricts the natural mechanisms of a free-market economy, often times one may not see the force of the government in reality. However, recently in Ohio, the American Electric Power company was forced to shut down a coal plant, simply because the investment required to meet the extensive and demanding government regulations were too onerous to justify the costs.
The company agreed, in accordance with the federal government, that they would turn their plant into one that produces natural gas as opposed to coal. However, due to the regulations set forth by the federal government, the company decided it would be a more sound economic decision to retire the plant and accept the subsequent losses.
Stories such as these, in which the Environmental Protection Agency essentially bankrupts coal companies due to its requirements, are becoming more prevalent as time goes on. There is no better indication that certain government initiatives are not serving the American people then when it becomes more profitable to just quit.
This is simply not an economic environment that can promote growth or job creation. One has to consider how many more instances there will be in which companies choose quitting over complying, in the wake of an overreaching government.
These events should continue to serve as reminders that the idea of environmental overregulation isn’t just a facet of a political philosophy; it is a policy that impacts people and businesses alike.


Atmospheric Photographs of France in the 1940s Through a German Soldier’s Lens
In 1940, France was invaded and quickly defeated by Nazi Germany. France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north, an Italian occupation zone in the southeast and an unoccupied territory, the rest of France, which consisted of the southern French metropolitan territory (two-fifths of pre-war metropolitan France) and the French empire, which included the two protectorates of French Tunisia and French Morocco, and French Algeria; the Vichy government, a newly established authoritarian regime collaborating with Germany, ruled the unoccupied territory. Free France, the government-in-exile led by Charles de Gaulle, was set up in London.
From 1942 to 1944, about 160,000 French citizens, including around 75,000 Jews, were deported to death camps and concentration camps in Germany and occupied Poland. In September 1943, Corsica was the first French metropolitan territory to liberate itself from the Axis. On 6 June 1944, the Allies invaded Normandy and in August they invaded Provence.
Over the following year the Allies and the French Resistance emerged victorious over the Axis powers and French sovereignty was restored with the establishment of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF). This interim government, established by de Gaulle, aimed to continue to wage war against Germany and to purge collaborators from office. It also made several important reforms (suffrage extended to women, creation of a social security system).
These vintage photos from Kai Heinrich were taken by a German soldier that show street scenes of France in the 1940s.
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Google on Monday said Rolling Study Halls, its pilot initiative to add Wi-Fi to school buses in rural communities, will roll out to thousands of more students in 16 counties in North and South Carolina.
Google said its project connects students to school work assigned through internet apps, who otherwise wouldn't have access to connectivity at home. Google is also providing Chromebooks to students to access learning material online like worksheets, videos, and articles, during their (sometimes very long) bus ride home.
Google wrote on its website:
While teachers increasingly assign schoolwork that requires access to the internet, millions of students lack connectivity at home. This 'Homework Gap' disproportionally impacts low-income students, especially in more remote or rural areas, where they face additional burdens like long bus commutes.
After initial pilots in North Carolina and South Carolina, early results indicate promising gains in reading and math proficiency, and increased digital fluency.
According to a CBS News profile on Rolling Study Halls, Google is also exploring where it can park the buses to bring connectivity to the rest of the community when not in use by students.
Google is already looking for ways to make the high-tech buses useful outside of school hours, working with the school district and community on places the buses can go once the school day is done to bring connectivity elsewhere, such as a community center or fellowship hall.
One of the first in the Rolling Study Halls program, Caldwell County schools in North Carolina said Google set up nine of its


For the first time, New Zealanders can see how much and how fast sea level will rise along ‘their own’ stretch of coast and in their neighbourhood.
The NZ SeaRise: Te Tai Pari O Aotearoa programme has released location specific sea level rise projections out to the year 2300 for every 2km of the coast of Aotearoa New Zealand. These projections can be accessed through a new online tool developed by Takiwā, a data management and analytics platform. The tool allows users to click on a particular location on the coast and see how much sea level is expected to rise, and by when, under different climate change scenarios.
Climate change and warming temperatures are causing sea level to rise, on average, by 3.5 mm per year. This sea level rise is caused by thermal expansion of the ocean, by melting glaciers, and by melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
NZ SeaRise is a five-year research programme funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour Fund. It brings together 30 local and international experts from Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington, GNS Science, NIWA, University of Otago and the Antarctic Science Platform to improve projections of sea-level rise in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Antartica New Zealand and Antarctic Science Platform are proud to have contributed to the Antarctic science that that sits behind this research, revealing the direct influence this unque continent has on our shores at home.
For more, visit the NZ SeaRise website here.


The original BCA Logo was sewn in fabric and was initially used by the Blackburn Hornets!
Alan B. Beddoe wrote concerning the meaning of the elements in the logo design as follows: The black wavy diagonal stripe edged with white is a symbol for a stream of running water, the word “burn” being an Old Country term for a brook or stream. Naturally, this “burn” is black in colour, for Blackburn. The hornets or wasps (bees) as well as the black wavy stripe are derived from the Arms of Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The bees are an emblem of skill, perseverance and industriousness and may, in our badge, be regarded as an indication of the ambition of the members of the Blackburn Community Club to express these qualities not only as participants in sports but as spectator-supporters. Colours are red, white and black. The name “Hornets” seems appropriate for the senior team, while the junior or midget group might be called the Blackburn Wasps—a smaller but equally effective counterpart of the bigger “Hornets”.
Source: Alan B. Beddoe (1893–1975), Blackburn resident, Canadian artist, war artist, consultant in heraldry and founder and first president of the Heraldry Society of Canada in 1965. The Alan Beddoe collection at Library and Archives Canada contains designs and studies for the Book of Remembrance, postage stamps, posters, crests, money, architecture, and coats-of-arms.


Heavy metals are metallic elements that have a high density compared to water. Heavy metals are naturally found in the Earth's crust. They cannot be broken down or destroyed. Small amounts of these metals enter our bodies in food and drinking water. Some heavy metals, in the right amounts, are called trace elements and are essential for all life. Cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), nickel, (Ni), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) are essential to enzymes in the human body. However, at higher concentrations trace metals become classified as harmful heavy metals. There is a fine line between safety and toxicity. Others metals have no known benefit for health. Examples of these are lead, which is found in paint in old homes as well as drinking water; arsenic, which can be found in well water; and mercury, which can build up in fish and shellfish that we consume.
Heavy metals are especially dangerous because they can “bioaccumulate.” Metals accumulate in living things when they are taken in and stored faster than they are metabolized or excreted. This means metals continue to concentration in our organs over time. Cadmium, chromium, lead, arsenic and mercury are proven to cause organ damage and cancer.
Common heavy metals
Lead Mercury Lithium Nickel Cadmium Iron Zine
Copper Manganese Molybdenum Cobalt Chromium
Heavy metal contamination and public health
In the last few years, there has been an increasing public health concern about water contamination by these metals. Heavy metals can enter a water supply through industrial pollution and landfill waste, lead water pipes, lead solder, plumbing fixtures and from acidic rain breaking down soils and releasing heavy metals into streams, lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Human exposure to heavy metals has risen dramatically. Children, pregnant women and immuno-compromised individuals. Municipal water supplies and well water can be contaminated with metals and should be tested to insure the safety of you, your family and pets.
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Torquay College students joined in on the annual Seal the Loop Action Day – a day aimed to help untangle the threats to marine wildlife and raise awareness about the impact marine debris.
Hundreds of Victorian school students across ten locations participated in a variety of activities to help promote the importance of plastic and litter free marine environments.
Torquay College year 3 and 4 students were among the statewide participants, with more than 200 students descending on Fishermans Beach to help remove marine debris, including micro plastics in the sand.
The school also hosted environmental stalls in the morning, with students presenting interactive projects to promote binning plastics and fishing lines.
Torquay College Year 3 teacher Bronwen Miller said the students worked together to create unique projects before presenting them to fellow students, teachers and parents.
“Both the Year 3s and 4s did an amazing job creating games, experiments and performances to highlight the importance of keeping our beaches plastic free,” she said.
Some of the presentations included:
- Rubbish Toss – get the litter in the right bin
- Food chain Jenga – see what happens when all the bottom of food chain disappears
- Rubbish reactions with sea water – experiment on the impact of litter
Environmental Education Coordinator Peter Crowcroft crouches down in the sand after spotting some fishing line tangled in the seaweed.
The ‘Seal the Loop’ program is a Zoos Victoria initiative designed to remove fishing waste at ports and popular fishing locations across Victoria.
Great Ocean Road Coast Environmental Education Coordinator Hilary Bouma said it was a fantastic day with students really engaging in positive environmental messages.
“Torquay College is a fantastic group. All the students are eager to work towards a clean, sustainable marine environment which helps promote positive environmental stewardship in the community,” she said.
As a not-for-profit organisation, the Great Ocean Road Coast offers free activities to its participants on our managed coastal Crown land.
For more information and to book your group in one of our programs, visit the Great Ocean Road Coast website.


Life of St.Antony
St. Antony was a simple and humble friar who preached the good news lovingly and with fearless courage. The youth whom his fellow friars thought was uneducated became one of the great preachers and theologians of his day. He was a man of great penance and apostolic zeal. But he was primarily a saint of the people. His effectiveness in calling people back to the faith through his preaching was just as important as his peace making and calls for justice.
St. Antony is typically portrayed holding the child Jesus—or a lily—or a book—or all three—in his arms. The lily is meant to remind us of St. Antony’s purity and our own need to pray for the grace of purity in times of temptation.
There are many versions of the legend of St. Antony cradling the Christ child. In most, St. Antony had travelled to a local Private Monastery to spend time in prayer. One night, while deep in prayer, Jesus appeared to him as a child. The room filled with light and laughter as St. Antony held the Christ child in his arms. As the story is told, the owner of the Monastery, upon seeing the light, came to investigate only to behold St. Antony and the Christ child. When the vision ended, St. Antony realized the owner was kneeling at the door and begged him not to share the story until after Antony’s death.
One of the reasons for being a popular saint is likely that his life was what every Christian’s life is meant to be — a steady courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love and forgive, to be concerned for the needs of others, to deal with crisis, both great and small, and to have our feet solidly on the ground of total trusting love and dependence upon God. His intercessory powers before our God are awesome.


Discs are normally soft and cushion the spine during stress. Degeneration of these discs is characterized by a decrease in water content, loss of height, and frequently protrusion from the disc space into spaces normally occupied by the nerves and spinal cord. Disc degeneration is often associated with spinal instability, and bone spurs may subsequently grow in an attempt to stabilize the spine.
Lumbar Degenerative Disc disease can be caused by fissuring of the annulus fibrosus, a ligamentous-like structure that encapsules the disc. This can result from torsional strain, overuse, or an acute disc herniation. Certain motions can place a high amount of pressure on the disc. Disc material can protrude or extrude and the disc material is very inflammatory, causing pain. Furthermore, disc contents can irritate nearby nerves.
Symptoms include back pain, possibly with radiation into the lower extremities depending on the type of disc injury/degeneration. Symptoms frequently overlap with lumbar stenosis or herniated disc.
Procedural treatment for disc disease can include cortisone injections under imaging guidance via a transforaminal or interlaminar approach. The location of the injection is decided by the distribution of symptoms and imaging findings. Regenerative injections, including platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, are also being used experimentally to provide a healthier environment to promote healing in the region. Some physicians will inject material into the disc itself.


Aim: Narrative medicine has been promoted as an innovative and effective means of stimulating medical students' professional development by teaching them to approach their patients' experiences of illness with more understanding and compassion. This systematic literature review aims to answer the following question: what evidence of effect is available in the literature about models for teaching narrative medicine? Methods: We conducted a narrative review of 36 articles and used the Best Evidence in Medical Education (BEME) Global Scale and Kirkpatrick Scale for strength and importance of evidence to categorize reported assessment strategies and to evaluate the effectiveness of their narrative medicine programs. Results: We found evidence that narrative medicine is an effective pedagogic tool with a clear and replicable structure and methodology. We also determined that a positive impact could be measured when pertaining to participation and modification of attitudes, knowledge, and skills. However, unequivocal evidence of the effect of narrative medicine on students' behavior or ongoing interaction with colleagues and patients is still lacking. Conclusion: While many recent publications describe the goals and virtues of a narrative-based approach, more research is needed to determine whether or not there is an ideological consensus undergirding this approach. In addition, it is still unclear whether the long-term impact of narrative medicine classroom interventions are felt by patients, or whether such interventions positively impact patient care.


The Impact of Sustainable Fashion on the Industry and How Zero Maria Cornejo is Leading the Way
As the fashion industry faces increasing scrutiny for its environmental impact, sustainable fashion has emerged as a viable solution. This approach to fashion focuses on creating clothing that is not only stylish but also produced with minimal harm to the environment and maximum benefit to the people involved in the production process.
Zero Maria Cornejo's Commitment to Sustainability
One brand that is leading the way in sustainable fashion is Zero Maria Cornejo. The brand was founded in 1998 by Maria Cornejo, with a commitment to sustainable fashion from the beginning. The brand's mission is to create timeless, high-quality pieces that are designed to be worn for years to come, using eco-friendly materials and ethical production practices.
Zero Maria Cornejo uses a variety of eco-friendly materials in its production process, including organic cotton, silk, and linen. The brand also works with mills and suppliers who share their commitment to sustainability, ensuring that the entire supply chain is eco-friendly.
Ethical Production Practices
In addition to using eco-friendly materials, Zero Maria Cornejo is committed to ethical production practices. The brand works with factories that adhere to strict labor laws and standards, ensuring that workers are treated fairly and paid a living wage. Zero Maria Cornejo also sources materials locally whenever possible, reducing the carbon footprint of its production process.
Recognition in the Fashion Industry
Zero Maria Cornejo's approach to sustainability has won the brand numerous awards and recognition in the fashion industry. The brand has been recognized by organizations such as the Council of Fashion Designers of America and has been featured in publications such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
In conclusion, sustainable fashion is becoming increasingly important in the fashion industry, and Zero Maria Cornejo is leading the way with its commitment to ethical production and eco-friendly materials. By choosing Zero Maria Cornejo, consumers can make a sustainable choice without sacrificing style or quality. With its timeless designs and sustainable practices, Zero Maria Cornejo is setting an example for the rest of the fashion industry to follow.


A c-reactive protein test measures the level of c-reactive protein (CRP) in your blood. CRP is a protein made by your liver. It’s sent into your bloodstream in response to inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s way of protecting your tissues if you’ve been injured or have an infection. It can cause pain, redness, and swelling in the injured or affected area. Some autoimmune disorders and chronic diseases can also cause inflammation.
Normally, you have low levels of c-reactive protein in your blood. High levels may be sign of a serious infection or other disorder.
Other names: c-reactive protein, serum
A CRP test may be used to find or monitor conditions that cause inflammation. These include:
You may need this test if you have symptoms of a serious bacterial infection. Symptoms include:
If you’ve already been diagnosed with an infection or have a chronic disease, this test may be used to monitor your treatment. CRP levels rise and fall depending on how much inflammation you have. If your CRP levels go down, it’s a sign that your treatment for inflammation is working.
A health care professional will take a blood sample from a vein in your arm, using a small needle. After the needle is inserted, a small amount of blood will be collected into a test tube or vial. You may feel a little sting when the needle goes in or out. This process usually takes less than five minutes.
You don’t need any special preparations for a CRP test.
There is very little risk to having a blood test. You may have slight pain or bruising at the spot where the needle was put in, but most symptoms go away quickly.
If your results show a high level of CRP, it probably means you have some type of inflammation in your body. A CRP test doesn’t explain the cause or location of the inflammation. So if your results are not normal, your health care provider may order more tests to figure out why you have inflammation.


We hope that everyone is keeping safe and well! Here at Lifecare, we’re all about sharing knowledge with everyone on how best to stay healthy. Ramadan is well underway, and one of the most important areas to focus on, is staying committed to healthy eating habits.
Here’s a few reminders to help you stay on track.
Drink plenty of water and eat hydrating foods between iftar and suhoor meals during Ramadan. It’s hot out there, so make sure you replenish what you lose during the day (at least 10 glasses).
Keep iftar healthy, and replenish your energy!
Eating three dates to break your fast is a traditional and healthy way to begin iftar. Incorporate plenty of vegetables to provide vital vitamins and nutrients. Choose whole grains, which provide the body with energy and fibre. Enjoy grilled or baked lean meat, skinless chicken and fish, to get a good portion of healthy protein. In general, avoid fried and processed foods high in fat or sugar.
It is recommended to eat suhoor.
Especially for older people, adolescents, pregnant women and nursing mothers, as well as children who choose to fast. This meal should be healthy and balanced. Fresh vegetables, carbohydrates and protein-rich foods to give you energy for the day ahead.
Swap traditional sweets for sweet, water-filled fruit such as watermelon or peaches.
Reduce your consumption of foods rich in fat, especially fatty meats, pastries, etc.
Try to move as much as possible and to be active in the evenings, for example, by going for a regular daily walk.
Enjoy your meals! Avoid overeating by eating slowly, and in amounts appropriate to your needs. Big meals can cause heartburn and discomfort.
Wishing everyone a safe and blessed month,
Source: World Health Organization


Arabic is a language that has been spoken and spread all over the globe. Approximately over three hundred million people in population speak it all over the world. The origin comes from the nomadic tribes around the Arabian Peninsula located in the desert region. Its preservation draws back from the 7th century through the revaluation of the Quran. The language is composed of the region of countries in the North Africa and the Middle East. These countries are diverse with each other on dialects, cultural norms, and political perception. The countries have a collective gross domestic product valued at $2.754 trillion. Their markets are emerging at a high rate like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ranking 11, 2 and eight respectively regarding oil production in the world( Gerges, 2014). The oil production contributes to the high-level output GDP. A common market in the selling of the oil products makes the Arabic language been established and made a common market language. Language development results from long history leading to the sophisticated communication systems.
Three form of Arabic dialects: colloquial Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic and classical Arabic. MSA in the Arabic countries is derived from Quran and taught in both schools and universities. It is used to verify the degrees in the media, workplaces and government institutions. Evaluation of the degree defers due to the rational classical Arabic. However, Arab countries have its own colloquial Arabic which is much different from modern standard Arabic. Arabic language related to the Arabic arises from the division from language barriers among the Arabic countries. It has grown in the 21st century with everyone eying the UAE markets for their market commodities. The language is well preserved since its origin through the cultural values and political styles observed.
Gerges, F. A. (Ed.). (2013).В The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World. Cambridge University Press.


Swedish researchers report they have developed a breath test that could be used as an alternative to urine drug testing. The test detects many drugs including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, according to HealthDay.
Urine analysis, which is the most commonly used drug test, has been criticized as being inconvenient and a violation of privacy, the researchers note. The new breath test uses a highly sensitive method called liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. It uses aerosol particles formed during breathing.
The researchers collected breath samples using a currently available breath test called SensAbues, which consists of a mouthpiece and micro-particle filter. When a person breathes into the mouthpiece, the device separates saliva and larger particles from the tiny particles that are measured. The micro-particles pass through and deposit onto a filter, which is sealed and stored. The particles are then analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
“These aerosol particles may become contaminated with drugs present in the body, which enables drugs to be highlighted,” lead researcher Olof Beck of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said in a news release. The breath test could be used for roadside checks, accident scenes, in the workplace and in the criminal justice system, Beck said.
The study appears in Journal of Chromatography B.
In 2013, Dr. Beck published a study that found SensAbues can be used to detect 12 controlled substances, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The device was tested on 47 people who had taken drugs in the previous 24 hours and were recovering at a drug addiction emergency clinic. The test correctly detected drug use in 87 percent of cases, and was as accurate as blood and urine tests.


Perfect for folding out on the floor, young children will enjoy playing and learning with Sticker Playbook Old Macdonald Had a Farm, one of our most popular interactive toddler books. Old Macdonald Had a Farm rhyme is retold across both sides, alongside lively and colorful illustrations of Old Macdonald and his farm. Kids can interact with the text using the stickers, which include farm animals, hay and a scarecrow. The sticker activities cover words, colours, shapes and numbers, offering a wide range of learning for preschool children. Both long concertina pages feature wonderfully detailed illustrations by Sharon Harmer for young children to explore. Rhyme extract from Sticker Playbook Old Macdonald Had a Farm: Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! And on that farm he had some pigs, E-I-E-I-O! With an oink-oink here, And an oink-oink there, Here an oink, there an oink, Everywhere an oink-oink, Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! Fun word, colour, shape and number activities for kids: . How many horses can you see? Stick the correct number in the circle. . What shape is the 'No Swimming' sign? Find the shape that matches the sign. . What pattern is the scarecrow's scarf? Place the correct sticker in the space.


Inhaling air duster, also known as inhalant abuse or huffing, can have dangerous and potentially deadly consequences.
Air duster typically contains compressed gas, such as difluoroethane, which can cause a rapid high when inhaled. However, inhaling air duster can also cause a range of harmful effects, including:
Lack of oxygen: When inhaling air duster, the lungs are filled with the compressed gas instead of air, which can lead to a lack of oxygen in the body. This can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, and even loss of consciousness.
Brain damage: Inhaling air duster can cause brain damage due to the lack of oxygen getting to the brain. This can result in long-term cognitive impairments such as memory loss, difficulty concentrating, and impaired judgment.
Heart problems: Inhaling air duster can also cause irregular heartbeats, which can lead to heart failure or cardiac arrest.
Frostbite: The cold temperature of the compressed gas can cause frostbite on the skin and in the mouth and throat if inhaled directly from the canister.
Death: Inhaling air duster can be fatal due to the high risk of suffocation, cardiac arrest, or other complications.
In summary, inhaling air duster can have severe consequences and is extremely dangerous. It is not recommended to use air duster for anything other than its intended purpose. If you or someone you know is struggling with inhalant abuse, seek medical attention immediately.


Can Scientists Protect North Atlantic Right Whales by Counting Them From Space?
by Brigit Katz/Smithsonianmag.com
Counting animal populations is one of the key ways that conservationists gauge the wellbeing of a given species. But certain creatures are hard to track—like whales, which can traverse thousands of miles of miles across the ocean, sometimes to remote feeding grounds. Now, the New England Aquarium in Boston is collaborating with Draper, a Massachusetts-based engineering firm, on a cutting-edge project to monitor whale species—one that involves counting the marine mammals from space.
Experts will gather satellite sonar and radar data, relying on sources ranging from European space agencies to amateur radio operators, according to the Associated Press. The project, aptly titled “Counting Whales from Space,” seeks to create a probability map of where whale species might be located, which will in turn allow conservationists to monitor where the animals are going, and why.
“If whales are moving out of one area and into another, what’s the reason for that?” asks John Irvine, Draper’s chief scientist for data analytics, in an interview with the AP. “Is it due to ocean warming? Is it changes in commercial shipping lanes? These are all questions we’ll be able to start answering once we have the data.”
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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Purpose: Knowledge of the benefits and risks of new drugs is incomplete at the time of marketing approval. Registries offer the possibility for additional, post-approval, data collection. For all new drugs, which were approved in the European Union between 2007 and 2010, we reviewed the frequency, the type, and the reason for requiring a registry.
Methods: The European Public Assessment Reports, published on the website of the European Medicine Agency, were reviewed for drugs approved by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. We searched for key characteristics of these drugs, including therapeutic area (ATC1 level), level of innovation (the score is an algorithm based on availability of treatment and therapeutic effect), and procedural characteristics. In addition, we identified if these registries were defined by disease (disease registry) or exposure to a single drug (drug registry).
Results: Out of 116 new drugs approved in the predefined period, for 43 (37%), 1 to 6 registry studies were identified, with a total of 73 registries. Of these 46 were disease registries and 27 (single) drug registries. For 9 drugs, the registry was a specific obligation imposed by the regulators. The level of innovation and the orphan status of the drugs were determinants positively predicting post-approval registries (OR 10.3 [95% CI 1.0-103.9] and OR 2.8 [95% CI 1.0-7.5], respectively).
Conclusions: The majority of registries required by regulators are existing disease registries. Registries are an important and frequently used tool for post-approval data collection for orphan and innovative drugs.
Keywords: disease registry; drug registry; innovative drugs; new drugs; orphan drugs; pregnancy registry.
© 2017 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.


Teen drivers in Virginia may be more likely to cause car accidents in the first few months after they get their driver’s licenses, according to one recent study. Conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Virginia Tech, the study placed dashcams inside teen drivers’ cars to monitor the drivers and the roads. Software was installed to check acceleration and braking. All participants were monitored from the time they received their learner’s permits until the end of their first year as licensed drivers. While teens have learner’s permits, they must be accompanied by an adult when driving, but they can drive alone once they receive their licenses.
The differences were striking. Newly licensed teens in their first three months of driving solo were eight times more likely to have a car accident or a near-miss during that time than they were in the last three months of accompanied driving with a permit. The researchers found that teen drivers were likely to speed up too quickly, brake suddenly and turn sharply, leading to the possibility of a car accident. While the teens were actually safer drivers than adults were during the night hours and bad or rainy weather, they were dramatically more dangerous during clear, sunny days.
Over the course of their first year of licensed driving, the teens’ dangerous behaviors declined substantially. Even so, the number of car accidents remained the same. The researchers noted that some form of a graduated solo driving period or stepped-up licensing may be important to increase roadway safety.
While teens who drive dangerously may just be getting a handle on the rules of the road, the consequences can be devastating for others who are injured as a result. A personal injury lawyer can help motor vehicle accident victims pursue compensation, including medical bills and lost wages, for the damages they suffer due to someone else’s negligent driving.


Nevada: ELL Resources
About 17% of Nevada's students are English language learners (ELLs). In recent years, the most common five languages spoken by ELLs in Nevada have been Spanish, Filipino, Tagalog, Chinese, and Vietnamese. (U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics)
Nevada is a member of WIDA (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment). WIDA is a consortium of states dedicated to the design and implementation of high standards and equitable educational opportunities for English language learners which offers states programming for identifying and annually assessing the English language development of its English learners.
Note: For more state-by-state data and information, see New America's English Learner Accountability Hub. In addition, this page features articles and videos with Juliana Urtubey, a National Teacher of the Year and Nevada Teacher of the Year.
State ELL Resources
Nevada Department of Education
- State ELL Website: ELL Website
- Multilingual Certifications: Nevada Seal of Biliteracy
- NCELA: Title III Information
- WIDA: Nevada Contact Information
Juliana Urtubey: Immigrant Family Engagement During COVID-19
Juliana Urtubey: Teaching During COVID-19
Juliana Urtubey: The Value of Family Engagement
Note: Regulations change with time. These guidelines were compiled in January of 2012 and updated in January 2020. If you see something that needs updating, please send an e-mail to Colorín Colorado. For more detailed information regarding ELL guidelines and policies at the state and federal levels, please see the following:
National Center for Education Statistics. (2018.) English language learner (ELL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by state: Selected years, fall 2000 through fall 2016.
U.S. Department of Education. Our Nation’s English Learners. Most Common Non-English Languages Spoken by English Learners.


As of July 1st, 2021 the intentional release of balloons is illegal in Virginia and carries a fine of $25 per balloon.
Littered balloons end up in our waterways and on our beaches, They harm and can kill turtles, whales, and dolphin that ingest them thinking they are food. The ribbons get tangled around bird wings and are often impossible for them to remove.
Thank you to all the organizations and individuals that made this bill possible.
ALL released balloons return to the land and water as a particularly insidious form of pollution. They are deadly to marine animals and birds. There are many examples of sea turtles mistaking a balloon in the water for a jelly fish which happens to be one of their favorite foods. Or of a gull, cormorant, or pelican whose wings or beak are fatally wrapped and impaired by the ribbon from a balloon.
Organizations like the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, Clean Virginia Waterways, Christina Trapani Consulting and Virginia’s Coastal Zone Management Program have been involved with monitoring coastal shorelines, water quality, and marine animal health in the state for more than 25 years. Aquarium staff have conducted coastal surveys, responded to stranded animals, and identified and documented the impacts of balloons on the environment.
Since 2012, these organizations have been collecting data to better understand the sources, impacts, and accumulation patterns of littered balloons. You can help add to this data. If you find a littered balloon anywhere in Virginia or in its coastal waters you can report it here.
People continue to purchase balloons with the intent to release them and are, in fact, purposefully, but perhaps unknowingly, littering. There are alternatives to balloon releases. Plant a tree in someone’s memory. Write your wishes on little pieces of paper and store them to retrieve at a later date. Use bubbles to celebrate a joyous occasion. Please do not release balloons. And be aware that there is no such thing as a biodegradable balloon.
SUSTAINABLE YARDS PROGRAM: Let us help you “green” your Lynnhaven watershed home. This unique program provides specific stormwater management practices to your yard at a significantly reduced cost to you.


Food insecurity, food waste, local government, composting, United States, food waste generator
Food waste and food insecurity are strange bedfellows, but in the United States they shamelessly walk hand-in-hand. The USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (“TEFAP”) are two federal programs that provide for large numbers of people in the United States. Local food recovery and donation programs serve their communities as the “backbone of the America hunger response" efforts. While many American households continue to report their struggles with food insecurity, heaping piles of good food go to waste. The repercussions of wasted food are vast, taxing American wallets, wasting our resources with every bit thrown away, and, to a degree hotly debated, hurting the environment we depend on for the growth of the food we trash. Several states and municipalities have passed landfill bans on organic waste (“organic waste bans”) in an effort to address the pervasive food waste problem and put food to better uses.
Lee, D. (2021). Organic Waste Bans: Beyond the Compost Heap. Journal of Food Law & Policy, 17(1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jflp/vol17/iss1/3
Environmental Law Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, Food Security Commons, Food Studies Commons, Law and Society Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons, Sustainability Commons


Backplane (BP) refers to a backplane of a rack in which computing equipment, servers, systems or industrial computers are housed. Different modules with their many interfaces, ports and buses can be connected and configured via such a backplane. Backplanes are used in communications technology, especially for large hubs, routers, switches or blade servers.
A backplane implements the logical and physical interconnection of plug-in boards, single- board computers, carrier boards or functional boards or other functional units to form an overall system. The backplane must provide a bandwidth from the transmission capacity that corresponds to the sum of all port bandwidths. For example, if a Fast Ethernet article has ArticleID="16" ArticleURL="Ethernet-Switch-Ethernet- switch" ArticleTitle="Ethernet-Switch"> Ethernet switch 10 ports, this results in a bandwidth for the backplane of 1 Gbps. Typical bus systems for backplanes are the VME bus, PCI bus, Compact PCI, etc. In addition to the technologies mentioned, there are various high-speed variants of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 40 Gigabit Ethernet and 100 Gigabit Ethernet with data rates of up to 100 Gbit/s with backplane Ethernet.
A backplane can be divided into several different bus systems under application aspects. The most complex solution is to provide a separate backplane for each implemented technology. For servers, the backplane distributes the diverse incoming service requests among the set of application and file servers.
In a passive backplane concept, the individual components are interconnected by a completely passive bus. There are no active components on the backplane. This design approach has the advantage that the backplane ensures a high level of fail-safety. The passive backplane is controlled by a separate controller module. The interfaces of a backplane to the subrack are described in the IEC 60297standard.


Grid energy storage refers to a collection of methods used to store large amounts of energy within a power grid. Energy is stored when electricity is abundant and cheap (especially from intermittent power plants such as wind, tidal, solar, and other renewable sources) or when demand is low, and then returned to the grid during times of high demand when prices are typically higher.
Any power grid must balance the amount of electricity generated with the amount consumed, and both will undergo enormous changes over time. Any combination of energy storage and demand response has the following advantages:
Fuel-based power plants, such as coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy, can operate more efficiently and easily at a constant production level.
Electrical energy produced by intermittent sources can be stored and used later, or else it must be transmitted elsewhere for sale or shut down.
Grid power storage can reduce peak generation or transmission capacity by using all stored potential plus delayable loads, thus saving the cost of this capacity.
More stable pricing, with the cost of storage or demand management included in pricing, leads to smaller changes in the electricity price charged to customers, or (if prices are legally stable) less expensive imports of wholesale electricity that would otherwise cause losses to utilities during high-demand peak periods.
Grid power storage can serve as emergency preparedness, which can reliably meet critical demand even without transmission or generation and delay non-necessity demand.
Renewable energy from sources like solar, tidal, and wind energy varies and produces volume of electricity that changed by random factors like time of day, phase of the moon, season, and weather. Therefore, the lack of storage for renewable energy presents special challenges to power companies. While connecting many individual wind sources can reduce overall variation, solar energy cannot be used at night, and tidal energy moves with the moon, causing significant impacts on any given utility.
In the summer, when electricity consumption is high, more solar energy can be absorbed and matched with demand. In winter peak hours, wind is associated with heating demand to a lesser extent and can be used to meet that demand. Based on these factors, intermittent sources of energy (such as solar and wind turbines) connected to the grid often require investment in grid power storage or demand-side management that exceeds 20% to 40% of total electricity generation capacity.


In response to COVID-19, the popularity and importance of remote health care have drastically increased. Accordingly, many people are wondering about the buzzwords they keep hearing and the differences between these words, in specific, telehealth, telemedicine, and telecare.
A frequent misunderstanding we continue to hear relates to the difference between telehealth, telemedicine, and telecare, or lack thereof. In reality, each of these words refers to a different way of administering remote health care. These are the differences between these increasingly popular words.
Telehealth includes a wide variety of technologies and services health care professionals utilize to improve the entire health care delivery system. patients. This term includes non-clinical services, such as provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education, in addition to clinical services.
Telemedicine is a subset of telehealth that refers specifically to clinical services. Health care professionals provide such services with electronic communications and software rather than an in-person visit at a practice. Telemedicine is often utilized for follow-up visits, management of chronic conditions, medication management, specialist consultation and many other services that can be provided remotely via video communication and two-way messaging.
Finally, telecare is the use of communication technology to provide support from a distance. Unlike telehealth and telemedicine, it is continuous and automatic. Telecare practices monitor patients and minimize risks while allowing them to continue living in their own homes. Such risks might include a fall, the need for immediate medical attention, and more.
Whether you call it telehealth, telemedicine or telecare, the healthcare industry now connects patients with physicians regardless of the time or location. With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, this evolution is more important than ever before.
Telehealth with OhMD
OhMD offers a HIPAA compliant telehealth service that will help your practice to deal with COVID-19 as best as possible. Along with our two-way messaging and video communication features, we also offer a file delivery system, a broadcast system, and a live website chat, to name a few. Read our guide to HIPAA Compliant Telehealth Platforms to discover why your practice should implement a telehealth platform.
To learn more about OhMD, schedule a demo today!


How important is a person’s character? Very!
By nature, children (and grownups, too!) are selfish and thoughtless. Dedicated training and effort are needed to change these traits into selflessness and thoughtfulness. Actions are caught, not taught, as the saying goes, so as parents what we do is highly important. However, character can also be taught. Who wants to sit through a boring lecture, though? I sure don’t, and I bet your kids don’t, either. Stories and poems can be effective teaching tools. Animals that learn from the folly of their ways and well-known historical figures who model exemplary lifestyles add interest to character training lessons. Homeschooling provides parents with unique opportunities to model and teach virtues.
If you’re looking for additional materials about character, many exist. William J. Bennett’s The Book of Virtues is a good place to start. For lesson plans with creative ideas and further resources, check out these Web sites: Shiver Academy’s Book of Virtues lesson plans (scroll down the page and look for the “Book of Virtues” links in the right-hand column), Character Education and Life Skills Lessons (some free, some require a membership), Homeschooling Boys, Generations of Virtue, ethics lesson plans from Lesson Planet, morality lesson plans from Humanity Quest, and Character Education. (Editor’s note: Please prescreen each resource carefully before presenting it to your children since every family’s definition of acceptable content varies.)
I want to leave you with a few well-known quotes to help emphasize how important building good character is. “It is not titles that reflect honor on men, but men on their titles” (Machiavelli). “All men that are ruined are ruined on the side of their natural propensities” (Edward Burke). “Common sense is not so common” (Voltaire). “Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad” (Euripides). “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and it looks like work” (Thomas Edison). “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10, NKJV).


Babies born at 34 weeks or more run the risk of developing a breathing condition called persistent pulmonary hypertension at birth. Before babies are born, they receive oxygen from their mother, and most of this oxygen does not reach the lungs because the blood vessels are closed. Once a newborn takes the first few breaths, the blood vessels open. Mothers in Texas should know that with PPHN, the blood vessels do not open entirely.
This leads to a lack of oxygen being carried by the blood to the brain and organs. Symptoms of PPHN include rapid or slow breathing and low blood pressure. One may notice that the baby’s skin is somewhat blue and that the hands and feet are cool to the touch. PPHN can be treated through the use of a ventilator or a heart-lung machine. It can take weeks or months for the baby to recover.
PPHN has no known causes, but several risk factors have been identified. They include infection, respiratory distress syndrome and meconium aspiration where babies inhale a fecal material called meconium into their lungs. To diagnose PPHN, doctors may order blood tests, chest X-rays or an ultrasound of the baby’s heart. Oxygen levels in the blood can be measured non-invasively via pulse oximetry.
Since the cause is not clear, it can be hard to link PPHN with medical negligence. There are times, though, especially during difficult deliveries, when doctors or nurses might commit errors that result in birth injuries. Parents may want to see a lawyer about filing a claim. If successful, their claim might cover things like past and future medical expenses, the cost of medical equipment and pain and suffering. Parents may rely on their lawyer to speak on their behalf at the negotiation table.


As of this post, Mars Curiosity is on her own, speeding quickly toward the planet’s surface and quickly toward its fate or future. From NPR:
Of 13 previous attempts to land space probes on the Red Planet over the past four decades, nearly half failed or immediately lost contact.
Those odds are enough to make tonight’s scheduled landing of NASA’s new rover, Curiosity, a tense, hold-your-breath moment. But the space agency’s plan to use a hovering, rocket-powered “sky crane” to lower the $2.5 billion, nuclear-powered robot 60 feet or so to the Martian surface almost guarantees it will be a suspenseful night at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Just to complicate things, the rover’s rapid-fire descent and landing is entirely automated. With more than 150 million miles separating Earth and Mars, round-trip communications between Curiosity and its far-off human overseers would take nearly half an hour.
“Curiosity is on its own through all this,” says NPR science correspondent Joe Palca, who is monitoring the Mars mission in Pasadena. “Earth is too far away help if things go wrong.”
The communications lag is also why we won’t know whether the rover has successfully landed until 1:31 a.m. ET on Monday, even though landfall is actually scheduled for 14 minutes earlier, at 1:17 a.m. ET.
If you haven’t yet, watch the Seven Minutes of Terror video. But then know that, according to Curiosity herself, we may not know her status until much later than that! Above, Phoning Home: Communicating from Mars.
For up to the minute updates, watch NASA TV live! bit.ly/MarsLive
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Looking back 10,000+ years to the dawn of agriculture
Archeologists and others who study early human history believe the dawn of agriculture began in what’s referred to as the Fertile Crescent, a crescent shaped area of fertile soils and favorable climates for growing crops and raising livestock. According to Wikipedia, the Fertile Crescent mostly comprises the following countries we know today: “…Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, beside the southeastern fringe of Turkey and the western fringes of Iran.”
Up until recently, scientists have assumed that the earliest farming began in more specific areas of the Fertile Crescent known as the Southern Levant, an area that occupies portions of Israel and Jordan. Further, that the earliest farmers in this region were of the same ancestry from which all of modern agriculture we know today—began.
New DNA evidence from skeletal remains in the Near East seems to offer a surprising alternative. Advances in DNA testing have enabled analysis of these remains for the very first time. As a result, there is a growing body of archeological evidence pointing to the development of discrete farming villages that sprang independently of each other throughout the region. Rather than the spread of agriculture from a single group of early farmers, the evidence seems to suggest that inhabitants of different ethnicities and cultures developed farming practices about the same time and helped eventually spread agriculture to other places far and wide.
Only after the transition from a hunter-gatherer culture to that of an agricultural based society could populations begin to stabilize and grow exponentially in size. As the article points out, there’s still much to learn about the dawn of civilization and the role that our earliest farmers played in helping to advance their own cultures and of the world that soon followed.
Read the full NYT post: How the First Farmers Changed History


ISO-NE analyzes potential impact of offshore wind during historic cold spell
Acting on a request from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), ISO New England recently released a high-level assessment of the potential impact of offshore wind on the region’s power system during the historic cold snap from December 24, 2017 to January 8, 2018.
MassCEC provided the ISO with production estimates for three hypothetical offshore wind scenarios of varying nameplate sizes: 400 megawatts (MW), 800 MW, and 1,600 MW. The production estimates were based on wind speeds recorded at three offshore sites during the cold spell. The ISO’s System Planning Department analyzed the potential impact these levels of wind energy production could have had on wholesale energy market prices, environmental emissions, and fossil fuel savings.
The ISO’s analysis was limited to the production data provided by MassCEC and used simplistic assumptions for system operations that did not capture all the complexities of real-time operations; annual rates for reduction of environmental emissions; estimates of heat rates for generating units; and generic fuel prices for fossil fuel generators.
Based on the hypothetical production scenarios and considering the caveats above, the analysis concluded that if power from offshore wind projects had been available during the cold spell of 2017/2018, energy market prices and environmental emissions would have been lower during that two-week period, and less fossil fuels would have been used to generate electricity.
- Industry News & Developments
- renewable resources, wind, winter


A microsecond (sometimes shortened to μs) is one millionth of a second. This page lists times between 10−6 seconds (1 microsecond) and 10−5 seconds (10 microseconds).
One microsecond contains 1000 nanoseconds. There are 1000 microseconds in one millisecond.
- 1 microsecond – the amount of time it takes for a high-speed camera flash to finish.
- 2 microseconds – the life time of a muonium particle
- 2.68 microseconds – the amount of time subtracted from the Earth Day as a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
- 3.33564095 microseconds – the time it takes for light to travel one kilometer in a vacuum
- 5.4 microseconds – the time it takes for light to travel one mile in a vacuum
- 15 microseconds – the amount of time added to an Earth year by the Moon every year.
- 38 microseconds - difference in GPS satellite time because of relativity
- 240 microseconds (0.24 milliseconds) - half-life of ununbium 277
- 45.9 microseconds - The time dilation of GPS satellites at 20,200 km for 24 hours.


A Study Of The Attitudes Of The Personnel Of Selected Schools Toward The Visiting Teacher Program
Date of Award
Master of Science
Historical Background of Visiting Teacher Movement:
Visiting teacher work was developed Independently and simultaneously In three different cities - New York, Boston, and Hartford, Connecticut - during the years 1906-1907. In New York the Impetus came from two settlements that had assigned visitors to school districts in order that the settlement house and staff might keep In closer touch with the teachers of the children who lived In the settlement neighborhood, The initiating group In Boston was the Woman*a Education Association that established a home and school visitor In one of the schools for the purpose of Insuring a closer tie between the home and the school. In Hartford the suggestion cam© from the director of the Psychological Clinic, At first the worker was known as a special teacher" who assisted the psychologist by gathering case histories and later by carrying out the recommendations.
The conditions which led to a broader development of the visiting teacher program were mainly (1) an increasing school preparation due to a rising total population? (2) an Increasing measure of compulsory school attendance which was stressing the attendance of all children? (3) a beginning awareness on the part of psychologists, sociologists, and social workers of the nature of and the effect of environment on individual differences.
Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College
Rights© 2021 Prairie View A & M University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Date of Digitization
John B Coleman Library
City of Publication
Dailey, H. S. (1951). A Study Of The Attitudes Of The Personnel Of Selected Schools Toward The Visiting Teacher Program. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/936


This is Amanda Norris with the Arnold Family Papers (MS-599). I am a graduate student in the Wright State University Public History program and completing my capstone project with SC&A.
In this current update on The Arnold Family Papers, I have run across something very interesting in the form of a questionnaire sent out by The Carnegie Institute in April 1916. This document produced by the Eugenics Record Office was sent to people across the country for ordinary citizens to fill out.
The answers from these packets were used for statistics to fuel legislation favorable to the pseudo-science of Eugenics. These particular documents were received by Harry Kern and his future wife, Mary Schwendeman, who filled them out and sent them into the Eugenics Record Office. Once the Office was finished with them they were sent back to my Great-Grandparents. Some of the questions asked in these documents were strange, such as: Was your relative left or right handed? What color were their eyes? and Were their eyes different colors?
However, these documents are invaluable because participants were asked to go back in their family history as far as they could. This makes these documents, not only evidence of a dark period of American legislative history, but also an invaluable source of family history as documented by a previous generation.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates.


At National Geographic, we recognize and appreciate that educators are shaping how their students understand their world in their classrooms every day. We’re hosting a new series called the “Educator of the Week” in order to feature inspiring activities and lessons that educators are implementing with their students that connect them to the world in bold and exciting ways.
Stay tuned tomorrow to hear from our first Educator of the Week, Diane White Husic. She’ll share an engaging activity to get students thinking about the consequences of their consumption patterns and life choices.
Get inspired and help us find the next “Educator of the Week” by nominating your outstanding colleagues today. All nominations will be reviewed by a committee of educators, and those chosen will be featured on the National Geographic Education blog every other Tuesday.
Do you know of a great geo-education activity? Nominate a colleague or yourself as the next Educator of the Week!
What is geo-education?
National Geographic has adopted the term geo-education to describe the in-school and out-of-school experiences that teach young people to understand how our world functions and how people, places, and environments interconnect.
National Geographic believes a well-rounded geo-education is vital to prepare current and future generations to function successfully and sustainably on an interconnected planet.
Join the Geo-Educator Community today!
6 thoughts on “Nominate a Colleague Today!”
I every time spent my half an hour to read this web site’s posts daily along with a mug of coffee.


Originally found in American Public Journal – March 1953 – Motion Picture Reviews
A recreation of this health hero’s contributions to medical knowledge. Produced by Sterling Films. 16 mm., black and white, sound, 28 minutes. For purchase from the producer at $100. Address them at 316 West 57th Street, New York 19, N. Y. Consult rental libraries for rental terms.
Vividly pictured in this film is the painstaking work of the great scientist in demonstrating his germ theory and his heartbreaking efforts to have it accepted. It clearly develops the scientific method through which he made his evolutionary contribution to the field of medicine.
Beginning with his disproval of the theory of spontaneous generation, many of Pasteur’s experiments are re-created, some of them in the environment where he actually did much of his research. There is a distinct feeling for the time in which he lived and for the lack of scientific understanding which so often he had to combat.
The most interesting feature in the film is that of showing through the microscope the budding and growth of spores and bacilli. These pictures are particularly vivid.
Unfortunately, the scientific accuracy is slightly marred in several ways. Though Pasteur’s paralysis is mentioned, there is little perceptible evidence of it. The laboratory technic used in handling flasks would disturb bacteriologists, but the experiments themselves are well thought out and hold interest. The description of the studies on rabies and the “Pasteur treatment” have historical value but neglect to bring the observer up to date on modern concepts about antirabic treatment.
Unquestionably, the film has educational value from an historical and scientific point of view. It can be used to good purpose, particularly in high school and college classes in courses such as biology and general science. It does not seem especially suited for use with professional groups. The picture would be useful as a motivating force in discussing the great discoveries of Pasteur and his contributions to humanity, and as a starting point in discussing the legacy Pasteur left in developing the scientific method in the study of disease. The photography and sound are effective throughout the picture, as is the narration.
GEORGE M. WHEATLEY, M.D.


The most direct way to copy a list in Python is via the
sourceListand assigns it the values
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
targetListand assigns it the value of
copymethod is used to create a shallow copy of the
sourceListobject. This means that a new list is created with the same elements as
sourceList, but the new list and the original list are two separate objects in memory, and changes to one will not affect the other.
forloop in the code iterates over the elements of the list
targetList. For each iteration, the current element is stored in the variable
iduring each iteration of the loop. The
endparameter is set to a space character, so that the numbers are printed on the same line with a space between each number.
targetListhave been processed.
So, the code creates a source list, creates a copy of the source list, and then prints all the elements of the copy, separated by a space.
sourceList = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] targetList = sourceList.copy() for i in targetList: print(i, end=" ")
1 2 3 4 5


Wild berries and related wild small fruits as traditional healthy foodsRevista : Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
Páginas : 1-15
Tipo de publicación : ISI Ir a publicación
The consumption of cultivated berry species (e.g., strawberries, blueberries) has increased dramaticallyin the last two decades after consumers appreciated them as flavorful, convenient and healthyfruits. Wild berries and similar small wild fruits are traditionally consumed around the world bylocal people as safe, nutritious, tasty, and versatile foods. These wild fruits have played an importantrole in the nutrition and bio-cultural aspects of rural communities. Like their commercial counterparts,wild berries contain important nutrients and bioactive compounds that may prevent or delay somechronic diseases attributed to oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. This review provides acomprehensive appraisal of the chemical and bioactive components in wild berry species and theirtraditional uses as foods around the globe. Presently, wild berries and similar wild small fruits arenovel food sources that inspire applications as culinary products, processed foods, and nutraceuticals.Further research is needed to validate the content and action of bioactive components responsiblefor health claims. Sustainable commercial exploitation of wild berries should consider biocultural,environmental, and socio-economic aspects.


Microwave device to monitor diabetes
6 May 2016
A non-invasive blood glucose monitor could make life easier for millions of diabetics worldwide
A team of researchers from the School of Engineering have developed a wearable glucose monitor that does not require the extraction of blood.
Instead of taking measurements by pricking the skin, the device, which attaches to the body via sticky adhesives, uses microwaves to measure glucose levels, sending the resulting data to a computer or mobile app.
The team, led by Professor Adrian Porch and Dr Heungjae Choi, believe the device could make life easier for the millions of people suffering from diabetes around the world and, with the right investment, could reach the market within five years.
The project has received £1m in funding from the Wellcome Trust up to now, and has already been used in clinical trials in patients.
Speaking to the BBC, Professor Porch said the device will eventually help patients manage diabetes.
"Conventional methods of monitoring blood glucose require the extraction of blood. Our device is non-invasive - it does not require the extraction of blood apart from the initial calibration,” Prof Porch said.
"It uses microwaves, but the levels are very, very low. Nowhere near the levels used in domestic cooking. Think about a mobile phone, we're about a thousand times less than that level."
There are 3.5m people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK, with an estimated 549,000 more who have the condition, but do not know it.
The 10% who have Type 1 diabetes have to monitor their blood glucose level more regularly - up to six times a day, or 20,000 times over a decade


Children’s Bible Program – Level 1: Lesson 3 “The Re-Creation: Days 3 and 4”
Featured Passages: Genesis 1:9-19, Psalm 104:5-9
On day three of the re-creation week, God made the land appear by separating the seas into their places. He caused the plants to grow. All the fruit trees, shade trees, edible plants, and beautiful flowers came forth at His command. The sun, moon, and stars were ordained for signs, seasons, days, and years on the fourth day, so that humans could keep track of time. Knowing when the seasons occur helps us to plan for planting, harvesting, and especially for keeping God’s Holy Days.
- Ask your child why God made the land. What purposes does land serve for humans and animals?
- Ask why God made plants. Ask what purposes plants serve.
- Help your child to make a list of all the things people and animals do with plants.
- Discuss what the “greater and lesser lights” that God ordained on the fourth day are.
- Your child might be interested to know that before GPS systems, people navigated by the stars.
- Ask what he/she likes about the sun, the moon, and the stars. Talk about how the moon helps us know when to keep God’s Holy Days.
The Days of Creation Week:
Day 1 – Divided light from darkness
Day 2 – Prepared sky and clouds
Day 3 – Separated dry land from seas; created plants
Day 4 – Appointed sun, moon, and stars for lights in the sky
Day 5 – Created birds and fish
Day 6 – Created land animals and man
Day 7 – Created the Sabbath by resting


Keywords are important. Using the right words makes your search easier and gives you the results you need for your papers. But finding the rights words can be hard. There are lots of ways to keep track of keywords - just be sure you keep track of them so you don't end up using the same words over and over to the same search results over and over.
"Keywords are the significant words or concepts that express an idea or topic. They are an example of "natural language" access to information, in which you use words in natural order to describe a topic. In contrast, Library of Congress subject headings are examples of a "controlled vocabulary" access to information. A keyword search finds the word or phrase you choose in any field of the catalog record. Keywords are also used for searches in computer-based periodical indexes and Internet search engines.(Elmer E. Rasmussen Library, Nov 8, 2014)."
Here's an example of a mindmap. The student used colors to organize her ideas: red is the idea she started with, green are broader concepts, black are subtopics. She put a red star on the topic she decided to focus on.
Attribution: Clark College Brainstorming LibGuide located at http://libraryguides.library.clark.edu/brainstorming
The full worksheet is located at Generating Keywords Worksheet. It is from the ACRL Information Literacy Sandbox CC Attribution License CC-BY
Although this source is primarily for business, it has a robust keyword finder! Try it out - Wordtracker
This is another business based keyword searcher but with some cool graphics. Try searching philosophy...Answer the Public


The Matthew Effect is a sociological phenomena referring to Christ's commandment that "For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." (Matthew 25:29) This is an example of biblical scientific foreknowledge, foretelling conservative libertarian economics over 2000 years ago. This scriptural commandment was used by Glenn Beck to justify eliminating progressive taxation in the United States (see tea party), and was quoted by liberal atheists as saying Jesus was responsible for the poverty gap in America.
Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites
See also: Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites
Study.com defines the Matthew effect thusly: "The Matthew Effect is a term that describes the concept in society of accumulated advantage. It argues that people who start from a place of advantage, like intelligence, fame, wealth, or skill, will have the opportunity to accrue more of that advantage compared to others. The Matthew Effect is often thought of by the phrase, "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer."" The Matthew effect's etymology can be traced to Gospel of Matthew which declares: "For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (Matthew 25:29, RSV).
Because the religious population is larger than the atheist/agnostic populations and raises more money for web marketing budgets than the atheist/agnostic populations, they greatly outperform atheist websites in terms of web traffic. In addition, Google tends to rank large websites with a lot of traffic higher at Google for various search terms - especially high volume searches. So large Christian websites with a lot of web traffic have a big competitive advantage over atheist websites. Furthermore, religious groups often have more evangelistic zeal and also have more international cooperation in terms of web outreach efforts.
As time has progressed the gap between the effectiveness of religious websites vs. atheist websites in terms of reaching larger audiences has widened and will most likely widen further. For example, Christian websites are greatly outperforming atheist websites in terms of their respective web outreaches (see: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists).
For more information, please see: Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites.


St. Marys marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The Town of St. Marys plans to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A media release reported there will be a variety of activities that will help promote healing and education in the community.
September 30th will begin with the raising of a unique orange flag at all five municipal facilities. The flag, which includes the words “Every Child Matters” was designed by Jeffrey “Red” George, an Ojibway artist who grew up on the lands of the First Nation of Kettle and Stoney Point.
The municipality also invites the community to wear orange to honour the memory of Indigenous children who suffered in the residential school system.
The release says that from 7:30 a.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m., a sacred fire will burn at the north end of Milt Dunnell Field. At 4:00 p.m. at Milt Dunnell Field, volunteers are planning a family art activity, in conjunction with the St. Marys Public Library and Indigenous author S.P. Joseph Lyons, an Anishinaabe Algonquin children’s author; fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance novelist, speaker, and Indigenous education advocate.
Mayor Al Strathdee said, “We will continue to promote education and events that allow us to heal as a community and better take into consideration Indigenous efforts and opinions in our activities moving forward.”
In addition to offering Indigenous resources on its social media, the Library will unveil a new “story walk”, suitable for all ages, in Cenotaph Park beside Town Hall on September 29. The featured book is The Seven Grandfather Teachings, which are morals and principles for all nations of Turtle Island, a name used by many Indigenous peoples for North America.
“We are grateful for the input of many individuals who have helped us begin to understand our past and to commit to a better feature,” Strathdee saadded. “We are especially grateful for guidance and teachings from Patsy Anne Day who is helping us on this journey.”
People can follow the Town of St. Marys on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more information and updates.


Have you heard about the research being conducted to improve the use of pig hearts for human transplants?
A recent article from Discover Magazine reported on a study in which researchers were able to keep a baboon alive for 6 months with a transplanted pig heart. While pig hearts are similar to primate hearts, a major problem with xenotransplantation is that they are not only bigger to begin with, they also continue to grow after being transplanted, which can wreak havoc on blood pressure regulation. The ability to successfully keep an animal alive with a transplanted heart was an amazing feat that was accomplished with the help of gene editing tools used to modify the pig heart to lower immune reactions that may result from the interspecies transplant as well as to help prevent blood clots.
This study is a huge breakthrough as the waiting list for humans needing transplants keeps outgrowing the list of potential donors. But it does not mean that xenotransplantation is necessarily right around the corner. There are a lot of hurdles to cross first as this type of transplant can still come with a lot of complications.
Categories: Illnesses and Injuries
Tags: heart, pig, surgery, transplant, xeno, xenotransplant
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