Will the US Face Blackouts as Electricity Generation Suffers in Drought?
Well, its official – the U.S. government has acknowledged that the U.S. is in the worst drought in over 50 years, since December 1956, when about 58 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate to extreme drought.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center’s “State of the Climate Drought July 2012″ report, “Based on the Palmer Drought Index, severe to extreme drought affected about 38 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of July 2012, an increase of about 5 percent from last month… About 57 percent of the contiguous U.S. fell in the moderate to extreme drought categories (based on the Palmer Drought Index) at the end of July… According to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, about 63 percent of the contiguous U.S. (about 53 percent of the U.S. including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico) was classified as experiencing moderate to exceptional (D1-D4) drought at the end of July.”
Much business writing on the effects of the drought have focused on its agricultural aspects. To give but one, the hottest, driest summer since 1936 scorching the Midwest have diminished projected corn and soybean crop yields s in the U.S. for a third straight year to their lowest levels in nine years. Accordingly, the price of a bushel of corn has jumped 62 percent since 15 June and soybeans gained 32 percent in the same period.
But as consumers fret about the inevitable rise in food prices to come, the drought is unveiling another, darker threat to the American lifestyle, as it is now threatening U.S. electricity supplies.
Because virtually all power plants, whether they are nuclear, coal, or natural gas-fired, are completely dependent on water for cooling. Hydroelectric plants require continuous water flow to operate their turbines. Given the drought, many facilities are overheating and utilities are shutting them down or running their plants at lower capacity. Few Americans know (or up to this point have cared) that the country’s power plants account for about half of all the water used in the United States. For every gallon of residential water used in the average U.S. household, five times more is used to provide that home with electricity via hydropower turbines and fossil fuel power plants, roughly 40,000 gallons each month.
Michael Webber, associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, is under no such illusions, stating that the summer’s record high heat and drought have worked together to overtax the nationÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s electrical grid, adding that families use more water to power their homes than they use from their tap. Webber said, “In summer you often get a double whammy. People want their air-conditioning and drought gets worse. You have more demand for electricity and less water available to produce it. That is what we are seeing in the Midwest right now, power plants on the edge.”
In July U.S. nuclear-power production hit its lowest seasonal levels in nine years as drought and heat forced Nuclear power plants from Ohio to Vermont to slow output. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre explained, “Heat is the main issue, because if the river is getting warmer the water going into the plant is warmer and makes it harder to cool. If the water gets too warm, you have to dial back production,” McIntyre said. “That’s for reactor safety, and also to regulate the temperature of discharge water, which affects aquatic life.”
Nuclear is the thirstiest power source. According to the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown, West Virginia, the average NPP that generates 12.2 million megawatt hours of electricity requires far more water to cool its turbines than other power plants. NPPs need 2725 liters of water per megawatt hour for cooling. Coal or natural gas plants need, on average, only 1890 and 719 liters respectively to produce the same amount of energy.
And oh, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center in its 16 August “U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook” wrote, “The Drought Outlook valid through the end of November 2012 indicates drought conditions will remain essentially unchanged in large sections of the central Mississippi Valley, the central and southwestern Great Plains, most of the High Plains, the central Rockies, the Great Basin, and parts of the Far West…” The lack of rain and the incessant heat, has also increased the need for irrigation water for farming, meaning increasing competition between the agricultural and power generation sectors for the same shrinking water “pool.”
But, every cloud has a silver lining. California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Co. utility, commonly known as PG&E, that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border, is on the case. PG&E has informed its customers that its “Diablo Canyon (nuclear) Power Plant, the largest source of generation in the utility’s service area, is cooled by ocean water, not by rivers that could dry up.”
Never mind the fact that by the time the Diablo Canyon NPP was completed in 1973, engineers discovered that it was several miles away from the Hosgri seismic fault, which had a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on 4 November 1927.
But ocean water as a coolant is not necessarily the answer either.
On 12 August Dominion Resources’ Millstone NPP, situated on Connecticut’s Niantic Bay on Long Island Sound, was forced to shut down one of two reactor units because seawater used to cool down the plant was too warm, averaging 1.7 degrees above the NRC limit of 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The Millstone NPP, which provides half of all power used in Connecticut and 12 percent in New England, was only restarted twelve days later.
The federal government is hardly known for its scaremongering tactics, but it would seem that Mother Nature is forcing Americans to belatedly consider making some lifestyle changes, as the choice seems to be devolving into energy conservation, turning down the air conditioner and digging deeper into the wallet for food costs.
It might also be time for serious national discussion about renewable energy, including wind and solar.
If the sun stops shining, all bets are off.
By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.comhome solar power, hydroelectric plants, national oceanic and atmospheric administration, palmer drought index
Short URL: http://www.solarthermalmagazine.com/?p=21120


Four voyages can lead to plenty of misadventure. Discover the places where Christopher Columbus met with high drama (and just a few setbacks) during his discovery of the New World, from 1492 to 1504.
Christmas Day 1492 wasn’t all glad tidings and good cheer for Christopher Columbus. On a journey to the northern coast of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, one of Columbus’ 3 ships, the <i>Santa Maria</i>, ran aground and had to be abandoned. It was the first of Columbus’ 4 voyages to the Americas.
Columbus didn’t exactly get a warm welcome when he landed on the Samana Peninsula (in present-day Dominican Republic). He met with violent resistance from the Ciguayos, one of the nations of the Caribbean islands. Because of the Ciguayos' use of arrows, Columbus called the inlet where he encountered them the Bay of Arrows. Historians have since debated its exact location: Some say it is the Bay of Rincon, others that it is Samana Bay.
The good times kept on coming as Columbus headed for Spain, on the last leg of his first voyage. He soon had to put those plans on hold, as a storm forced his fleet into Lisbon. There Columbus anchored next to Portugal King John II’s harbor partrol ship. Columbus spent the next week in Portugal, before he was able to continue on to Spain.
Nine months later, Columbus once again set sail for the high seas. This time, on his second voyage, he returned to Hispaniola, where he intended to visit the fort of La Navidad (built during his first voyage). However, Columbus discovered that the fort, located on the northern coast of Haiti, had been destroyed by the native Taino people. Centuries later, in 1977, an amateur archeologist excavated artifacts from La Navidad.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. When Columbus sailed more than 60 miles eastward, along Hispaniola’s northern coast, he established the settlement of La Isabela, in present-day Dominican Republic. But in 1494 and then, in 1495, the settlement was struck by 2 North Atlantic hurricanes. Hunger, disease and mutiny soon followed, until Columbus abandoned the settlement altogether.
That's what Columbus was thinking when he arrived in Cuba (which he named Juana) on April 30, 1494. Exploring the island’s southern coast, Columbus placed his bets that it was part of a peninsula connected to mainland Asia.
And this must be the Garden of Eden! That’s what Columbus concluded as he sailed the Gulf of Paria (between present-day Trinidad and Venezuela). The nice climate, the abundance of food, the friendliness of the natives and the richness of the area’s natural resources all led him to that conclusion. He also wagered that, based on the rotation of the pole star in the sky, the Earth must not be perfectly spherical, but rather bulged out like a pear around the new-found continent we now know as South America.
Columbus wasn’t feeling so well when he returned to Hispaniola on Aug. 19, 1498, during his third voyage. He felt even worse when he discovered that many of the Spanish settlers of the new colony were in rebellion against his rule, saying that Columbus had misled them about the supposedly bountiful riches of the New World.
Columbus’ fourth and final voyage met with choppy waters in June 1502. When his fleet arrived in Santo Domingo, it was denied port by the new governor. But Columbus got his revenge. He told the governor a storm was coming. The gov didn’t listen … to his demise. He ended up surrendering to the sea, along with 29 of his 30 ships.
Columbus’ 4 ships took a bruising while cruising through present-day Panama. Locals had told Columbus about gold and a strait to another ocean. Columbus set out on an exploration and established a garrison at the mouth of Panama’s Belen River. In April 1503, one of Columbus’ ships became stranded in the river. Meanwhile, the garrison was attacked by the Guaymí locals. Further headaches followed when shipworms damaged the ships at sea.
Columbus’ ships sustained further damage when a storm hit off the coast of Cuba. Unable to travel on, the fleet was beached in St. Ann’s Bay, in Jamaica. For 1 year, Columbus and his men remained stranded in Jamaica before help arrived. In all, Columbus’ voyages stretched over 12 years, and -- a few misadventures aside -- opened the door to the “New World."


Water Reuse Links
Disclaimer: Links to and information about Web sites outside the TWDB are provided solely for the convenience of the user and do not constitute an official endorsement of the information, products, or services contained therein.
- National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense."
- U.S. Agency for International Development
President John. F. Kennedy created the United States Agency for International Development by executive order in 1961 to extend a helping hand to people overseas struggling to make a better life.
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
The USBOR's WaTER Group provides expert water and wastewater treatment engineering and research technical services.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment.
- U.S. Geological Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey is a science organization that provides impartial information on the health of the nation's ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the impacts of climate and land-use change, and the core science systems that help us provide timely, relevant, and useable information.
- American Water Resources Association
An international organization dedicated to increasing the beneficial use of recycled water.
- American Water Works Association
AWWA is the largest water supply professional organization in the world and is an authoritative source of knowledge, information, and advocacy to improve the quality and supply of drinking water worldwide.
- Water Research Foundation
The Water Research Foundation is a member-supported international non-profit organization that sponsors research to enable water utilities, public health agencies, and other professionals provide safe and affordable drinking water.
- Global Water Research Coalition
The GWRC is a 12-member international alliance offering water research information and knowledge to its members with a focus on water supply, wastewater, and renewable water resources.
- International Water Association
IWA is comprised of leading water professionals in science, research, technology and practice.
- National Water Research Institute
NWRI is Canada's preeminent freshwater research facility, the largest in the country, leading world-class research on freshwater issues.
- Water Education Foundation
WEF is an impartial non-profit organization, dedicated to creating a better understanding of water issues and helping to resolve water resource problems through educational programs.
- Water Environment Association of Texas
WEAT is an association of water professionals, practitioners, operations specialists, and public officials working together for professional growth and development, and to educate the public on water issues.
- Water Environment Federation
The Water Environment Federation is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with a vision of preserving and enhancing the global water environment.
- Water Environment Research Foundation
The Water Environment Research Foundation is dedicated to advancing science and technology addressing water quality issues as they impact water resources, the atmosphere, the lands, and quality of life.
- WateReuse Association
The WateReuse Association is a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the beneficial and efficient use of water resources through education, sound science, and technology using reclamation, recycling, reuse and desalination.
- National Institutes for Water Resources
The NIWR is a network of 54 research institutes (one institute located in every state or territory of the US) with each institute conducting basic and applied research to solve water problems unique in its area.
- Texas Water Resources Institute
TWRI, a member of the National Institutes for Water Resources, provides leadership for priority research and educational programs in water resources within the Texas A & M University system and throughout Texas.
- Universities Council on Water Resources
About 90 universities in the Unites States and throughout the world comprise the UCOWR which facilitates education, research, technology transfer, and information dissemination on contemporary and emerging water resource issues.
Useful Reference Documents
The document's primary purpose is to facilitate further development of water reuse by serving as an authoritative reference on water reuse practices. It updates and builds on the 2004 Guidelines for Water Reuse by incorporating information on water reuse that has been developed since the 2004 document was issued.
This report provides a general overview of current knowledge related to direct potable reuse (DPR), and identifies the information that needs to be developed through targeted studies to inform the stakeholders regarding the feasibility of implementing DPR as a viable water supply management option.
The report provides a comprehensive assessment of technical, economic, social, and regulatory issues associated with both potable and non-potable reuse.


What is Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
In the U.S. and throughout the world, there is increasing competition for limited land, water and other natural resources, as well as growing concern about environmental degradation of various sorts. As such, there is a growing need for professionals who can assist in the process of balancing economic and environmental tradeoffs. This major prepares students to do just this within a variety of careers in both the private and public sectors. Private business firms face serious challenges in meeting stricter environmental regulations and achieving self-imposed environmental goals. Public agencies must continually seek to design policies so that society’s resource conservation or environmental quality goals are achieved in a cost-effective manner.
The curriculum combines coursework in natural and environmental sciences, economics, business, and policy, allowing sufficient flexibility for students to tailor their program to their individual interests and career goals.
Career Opportunities in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
Students graduating with this major may find employment in private firms with environmental compliance activities or conservation initiatives directed toward energy or other natural resources. Opportunities also exist with consulting firms that assist clients in meeting environmental objectives. Many nonprofit environmental organizations seek to employ staff with economic training. Several federal government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Agriculture, Interior and Energy, employ natural resource and environmental economists. State and local government agencies also provide opportunities for employment. The major provides a strong background for graduate studies in natural resource and environmental economics, leading to career opportunities in teaching and/or research, as well as high-level policy positions. Students would also be well prepared to pursue a professional program in environmental law.
Salary Trends in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
Because graduates can pursue a variety of careers with respect to type of position and employer, the salary range for entry-level positions is fairly wide. Depending upon the type of employer and position responsibilities, beginning salaries can be expected to range from about $30,000 to $45,000. Starting salaries generally increase over time at slightly above the rate of inflation. Potential for advancement in both responsibilities and salary depends on both the type of employer and the performance of the employee.
High School Preparation
High school students who wish to major in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics should take college-preparatory mathematics courses. Completion of electives in areas such as business, microcomputer applications, oral and written communication, and social sciences such as psychology, political science or sociology could also prove helpful. Participation in extracurricular activities to develop leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills is also advised.
How to Major in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
Students planning to pursue this major simply declare this intent once they have gained admission to the University. The department has no enrollment restrictions or association requirements beyond the University-wide minimum 2.0 GPA required to remain in good academic standing.
Students who plan to transfer into this major at UT after one or two years at a community college should consult an advisor at UT to choose appropriate courses as early as possible. The flexibility within the curriculum requirements works to the advantage of transfer students, in most cases allowing for all credits taken from up to two years of study elsewhere to apply toward requirements of the program.
Requirements for Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
To complete a bachelor’s degree with this major, students must complete 120 semester hours of course work. This includes 42 hours of general education courses in the areas of English, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, cultures and civilizations, and arts and humanities. Nine hours of additional course work is required in oral communication, written communication and microcomputer applications. Students take 16 hours of courses in economics, accounting, and statistics. At least 12 hours of courses outside the department but within the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources are required, in the areas of environmental science and forestry. The heart of the curriculum includes 27 hours of required departmental courses and 6 hours of directed electives within the Department of Agricultural Economics. And finally, 8 hours of general electives can be used by students to pursue a minor or special interests.
Special Programs, Co-ops, and Internships
Internships with private companies, environmental organizations, or government agencies can be an exceptionally valuable component of a student’s academic program. Internships are typically completed during the summer between a student’s junior and senior years of study.
Three hours of academic credit can be received for a three-month internship. Students must submit periodic progress reports, complete a special project and receive satisfactory ratings from their supervisor. During the following semester, students must also complete a written report and make an oral presentation summarizing their internship experience.
Highlights of Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
Wide applicability of major to a variety of career options: Graduates are prepared to pursue opportunities for employment or further education in a number of different directions.
Personalized advising: Academic advising for majors is handled by a dedicated team of faculty members in the Department of Agricultural Economics. Students typically work with the same advisor from orientation to graduation and develop a close relationship that often extends well beyond graduation. Advisors are committed to assisting their advisees not only in course selection but in career planning and placement as well.
Small class sizes: Departmental courses all have relatively small enrollments, allowing for personalized interaction between professors and students.
Scholarship availability: Majors are eligible for a large number of scholarships offered by the Department and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Natural resource and environmental issues are often global in nature. Students are exposed to the international dimensions of these issues in various courses within the curriculum. Students are also encouraged to participate in faculty-led study abroad programs sponsored by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR). Other UT faculty-led and semester abroad programs are offered through the Center for International Education. CASNR offers scholarships for students participating in study abroad programs. CASNR students, faculty and staff participate in the annual Unity through Diversity Dinner held each fall. Some CASNR students select a minor in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature.
Learn more about UT’s Ready for the World initiative to help students gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed in today’s world.
|Freshman Year||Credit Hours|
|Biology 101: Humankind in the Biotic World||4|
|Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries 250: Conservation||3|
|English 101-102: English Composition||6|
|Math 123, 125: Finite Math, Basic Calculus||6|
|ESS 120, 220: Soils/Water and Civilizations||6|
|Social Science Elective||3|
|AREC 110: Opportunities in Agricultural and Resource Economics||1|
|Critical courses: English 101-102, Biology 101, Math 123 or 125|
|Sophomore Year||Credit Hours|
|AREC 201: Economics of the Global Food and Fiber System||3|
|AREC 212: The Agribusiness Firm||4|
|Accounting 200: Foundations of Accounting||3|
|Statistics 201: Introduction to Statistics||3|
|Arts and Humanities Elective||3|
|Ag & Nat Res 290: Microcomputer Applications||3|
|ESS 210: Soil Science and Physical Science Elective||8|
|Critical courses: AREC 201 and 212, Accounting 200, Math 123 or 125, Statistics 201|
|Junior Year||Credit Hours|
|AREC 310: Career Planning and Placement||1|
|AREC 315: Agricultural and Environmental Law||3|
|AREC 320: Microeconomics||3|
|AREC 324: Quantitative Methods||3|
|AREC 342 or 350: Management or Marketing||3|
|AREC 430: Food and Agricultural Policy||3|
|Economics 362: Environmental and Nat. Res. Policy||3|
|BSET 326: GIS/GPS Applications||3|
|Philosophy 346: Environmental Ethics||3|
|Critical courses: AREC 310, 315, 320, 324, and 342 or 350; Economics 362|
|Senior Year||Credit Hours|
|AREC 410: Senior Seminar||1|
|Economics 463: Environmental Economics||3|
|AREC 470: Natural Resource Economics||3|
|AREC 471: Policy Analysis for Nat. Res. Mgmt.||3|
|Economics, Sociology or Geography Elective||3|
|Arts and Humanties Elective||3|
|General (Free) Electives||5|
For More Information
The information on this page should be considered general information only. For more specific information on this and other programs refer to the UT catalog or contact the department and/or college directly.


Notes: A colorful and bizarre addition to any reef aquarium, the Spiny Sea Cucumber can live for many years in the home aquarium. It will move around the aquarium until it finds an area with a good current where it can filter plenty of food. Once it finds a desirable spot it may stay there for many months.
The Spiny Sea Cucumber uses its oral tentacles to catch food that floats by. As each tentacle becomes full of food it draws its entire tentacle into its mouth. It must be fed foods for filter feeders including marine snow, phytoplankton, and zooplankton. If not properly fed the body of the Spiny Sea Cucumber will slowly begin to shrink.
The Spiny Sea Cucumber can be harmed by the intakes of any pumps or powerheads in the aquarium, so make sure to protect all intakes to prevent it from being sucked in.


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A predicate is part of a sentence or clause in English and is one of two primary components that serves to effectively complete the sentence. Sentences consist of two main components: subjects and predicates. Subjects are the primary “thing” in a sentence which the rest of the words then describe through either a direct description or by indicating what type of action that subject is performing. The predicate is this secondary aspect of the sentence and usually consists of a verb or adjective, though complicated sentences may have multiple verbs and a number of descriptions affecting the subject.
It can be easiest to understand predicates by first understanding subjects and how sentences are constructed. A sentence just about always has a subject, though it can be implied in some way and not necessarily directly stated. In a simple sentence like “The cat slept,” the subject is “the cat,” which is a noun phrase consisting of the direct article “the” and the noun “cat.” Subjects can be longer and more complicated, but they are usually fairly simple in nature.
The predicate of a sentence is then basically the rest of the sentence, though this is not always the case for longer and more complicated sentences. In “The cat slept,” the predicate is quite simple and merely consists of the word “slept.” This is simple because “slept” is an intransitive verb, which means that it requires no further description or objects to make it complete. The sentence could be expanded as “The cat slept on the bed,” but this is not necessary and merely adds a descriptive component to the predicate through the prepositional phrase “on the bed.”
In a somewhat more complicated sentence, such as “The man gave the ball to his son,” the subject of the sentence is still quite simple: “The man.” The predicate in this sentence, however, has become substantially more complicated and consists of the rest of the sentence: “gave the ball to his son.” This has been made more complicated because the verb “gave” is transitive, specifically ditransitive, which indicates both a direct object and an indirect object.
The act of “giving” requires that there is a direct object, which is the item given, and an indirect object, which is who or what it is given to. In this instance, the predicate consists of the verb “gave” and the direct object “the ball” with a connecting preposition “to” and the indirect object “his son.” Predicates can become even more complicated as an idea expands, such as a sentence like “The rock rolled off the table, landed on top of a skateboard, and proceeded to roll down the hill until it was stopped by a wall.” In this sentence, the subject is only “The rock,” which means that the rest of the sentence is the predicate.


Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Religious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the convert's previous beliefs; in some cultures (e.g. Judaism) conversion also signifies joining an ethnic group as well as adopting that group's religious beliefs. Conversion requires internalization of the new belief system.
A person who has undergone conversion is called a convert or proselyte. A proselyte (from the Latin word proselytus which in turn comes from the Greek word πϱοσήλυτος, proselytos meaning "someone who has found his/her place") is in general a title given to a person who has fully embraced a certain religion, world view, ideology, metaphysics, ontology et cetera. In the traditional sense like in Proselytism this word signified people who have converted to Judaism, but is nowadays used in a wider meaning.
Conversion to Judaism
See also the main article ger tzedek
Jewish law has strict guidelines for accepting new converts to Judaism (a process called "giur"). According to Jewish law, which is still followed as normative by Orthodox Judaism and most of Conservative Judaism, potential converts must want to convert to Judaism for its own sake, and for no ulterior motives. A male convert needs to undergo a ritual circumcision, and there has to be a commitment to observe the 613 commandments and Jewish law. A convert must accept Jewish principles of faith, and reject the previous theology that he or she had prior to the conversion. Ritual immersion in a small pool of water known as a mikvah is required, and the convert takes a new Jewish name and is considered to be a son or daughter (in spirit) of the biblical patriarch Abraham, and a male is called up in that way to the Torah.
The Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism movements are lenient in their acceptance of converts. Many of their members are married to non-Jews, and these movements make an effort to welcome the spouses of Jews who seek to convert. This issue is a lightning rod in modern day Israel as many immigrants from the former Soviet Union are technically not Jewish.
Conversion to Judaism in history
- See the main article: List of converts to Judaism
The most famous Jewish King, King David, was descended from the convert Ruth (who, according to the Talmud and Midrash, was a Moabite princess). No formal conversion procedure is given in the text; modern critical historians generally hold giur, in its modern sense, to be an innovation of a later period. Joseph, the father of the most famous sage of the Talmud, Rabbi Akiva, was a convert.
Christians were forbidden to convert to Judaism on pain of death during most of the Middle Ages. In the 1700s a famous convert by the name of Count Valentin Potoski in Poland was burned at the stake. He was a contemporary and a disciple of Rabbi Elijah, known as the Vilna Gaon.
In Hellenistic and Roman times, some Pharisees were eager proselytizers, and had at least some success throughout the empire. Some Jews are also descended from converts to Judaism outside the Mediterranean world. It is known that some Khazars, Edomites, and Ethiopians, as well as many Arabs, particularly in Yemen before, converted to Judaism in the past; today in the United States, Israel and Europe some people still convert to Judaism. In fact, there is a greater tradition of conversion to Judaism than many people realize. The word "proselyte" originally meant a Greek who had converted to Judaism. As late as the 6th century the Eastern Roman empire (i.e., the Byzantine empire) was issuing decrees against conversion to Judaism, implying that conversion to Judaism was still occurring.
Relationship with converts
The Hebrew Bible states that converts deserve special attention (Deuteronomy 10:19). The Hebrew word for "convert", ger, is the same as that for a stranger. It is also related to the root gar - "to dwell'. Hence since the Children of Israel were "strangers" - geirim in Egypt, they are therefore instructed to be welcoming to those who seek to convert and dwell amongst them.
Since around 300 CE, Judaism has stopped encouraging people to join its faith. In fact, in Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, converts are often discouraged from becoming Jews and warned that being a Jew entails special obligations, as well as, at least in certain places, the risk of anti-semitism. A Rabbinic tradition holds that a prospective convert should be refused three times.
Differences between Jewish and Christian views
Judaism does not characterize itself as a religion (although one can speak of the Jewish religion and religious Jews). The subject of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) is the history of the Children of Israel (also called Hebrews), especially in terms of their relationship with God. Thus, Judaism has also been characterized as a culture or as a civilization. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan defines Judaism as an evolving religious civilization. One crucial sign of this is that one need not believe, or even do, anything to be Jewish; the Rabbinic definition of 'Jewishness' requires only that one be born of a Jewish mother, or that one convert to Judaism in accord with Jewish law. (Today, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews also include those born of Jewish fathers and Gentile mothers if they are raised as Jews.)
To Jews, Jewish peoplehood is closely tied to their relationship with God, and thus has a strong theological component. This relationship is encapsulated in the notion that Jews are a chosen people. Although some have taken this as a sign of arrogance or exclusivity, there are Jewish scholars and theologians who have emphasized that a special relationship between Jews and God does not in any way preclude other nations having their own relationship with God. For Jews, being "chosen" fundamentally means that Jews have chosen to obey a certain set of laws (see Torah and halakha) as an expression of their covenant with God. Jews hold that other nations and peoples are not required or expected to obey these laws, and face no penalty for not obeying them. Thus, as a national religion, Judaism has no problem with the notion that others have their own paths to God (or "salvation"), though it still makes claim as to the truth or falsehood of other beliefs, and as to whether Gentiles are allowed to hold them. Thus, for example, Maimonides believed that the truth claims of Islam were largely false, but he also believed that Gentiles were not sinning by following Islam; on the other hand, he regarded idolatry not just as false, but also as a serious sin, for Jew or non-Jew. In this respect, Rabbinical sources have usually classed Christianity with Islam, rather than with idolatry, though the use of icons in many denominations has raised questions as to whether they are, in fact, idolatrous.
Christianity is characterized by its claim to universality, which marks a break with Jewish identity. As a religion claiming universality, Christianity has had to define itself in relation with religions that make radically different claims about Gods. Christians believe that Christianity represents the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and the nation of Israel, that Israel would be a blessing to all nations.
This crucial difference between the two religions has other implications. For example, conversion to Judaism is more like a form of adoption (i.e. becoming a member of the nation, in part by metaphorically becoming a child of Abraham), whereas conversion to Christianity is explicitly a declaration of faith. Of course, conversion to Judaism also entails a declaration of faith, and, in Christian churches, conversion also has a social component, as the individual is in many ways adopted into the Church, with a strong family model.
Conversion to Christianity
In the times of Jesus, all of his disciples were Jews. On occasion, he performed miracles for Gentiles without requiring their conversion; in one conversation with a Samaritan woman, he downplayed the differences between Jews and Samaritans (John 4). Gentiles who sought to join the early Church were often required to undergo conversion to Judaism first including circumcision for men. This requirement was later dropped entirely after Paul forced the issue.
The origin of Christian Baptism in water is derived from the Jewish law requiring a convert to submerge themselves in pure water (of a mikvah) in order to receive a new pure soul from God. It was only many years after Jesus, that there was split in the movement and those seeking to convert to Christianity were not faced with the major obstacles that Judaism presented.
Christianity and Islam are two religions that encourage preaching their faith in order to convert non-believers. In both cases, this missionary property has been used as an excuse for religious wars (crusades) on other countries. This property encourages evangelists to convert people of other faiths, though unfortunately on some occasions by questionable means.
In the year 1000, the Viking age parliament of Iceland decided that the entire country should convert to Christianity, and that sacrifice to the old gods, while still allowed, should no longer be made in the open. Similar mass conversions in other Scandinavian countries were not as democratic.
The Christian denomination of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) accepts new members into its monthly meetings. After a person becomes familiar with the beliefs and practices of Friends, he may embrace these things for himself. This embracing of the beliefs and practices of Friends is called convincement. He then applies for membership, and, if accepted is officially a Friend.
Conversion to Islam
One becomes a Muslim by believing that Allah (Arabic for God) is the only god and that Muhammad was His messenger. A person is considered a Muslim from the moment he sincerely makes this witness, the shahada. Of course a new Muslim has to familiarize himself/herself with the religion, the belief, and the practices of Islam, but there is no formal requirement for that. It is a personal process; acceptance of all of that is taken to follow from the original statement, since all of Islam is considered to derive from either divine inspiration, in the form of the Qur'an, or prophetic example, in the form of the hadith and sunna of Muhammad.
Conversion to religions of Indic origin
Religions of Indic origin such as Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism do not believe in conversion as a form of religious expansion, even though they welcome anybody to join their faiths. The reason for this is the strongly held belief in these religions that "all religions are true and are only different paths to the same truth". The followers also believe that the religion you follow is to be chosen based on an individual's temprement, birth etc. Also, what would be very strange and foreign to non-indic origin faiths is that people can claim to be follower of multiple religions. For example in Japan which was influenced by the indic faith of Buddhism, it is easy to find people who follow both Buddhism and Shinto. It is also common to find people in India claming to be both Hindu and Buddhist or Hindu and Sikh etc. This inclusivism is in direct contrast to the belief that the ordained path in the book is the only true paths, found in exclusivistic belief systems. This inclusivism also makes any conversion unnecessary. It should be noted that the above does not apply for some sects of Indic faiths, like Soka Gakkai and Hare Krishna/ISKCON.
Conversion to new religious movements and cults
Conversion to new religious movements (NRM's) is riddled with controversies. The anti-cult movement sometimes uses the term thought reform or even brainwashing, though the latter term has now become discredited, for this process. Often they will call certain NRM's cults. However, the definition of a cult has become so broad that in many instances it is almost meaningless and is used to define anything outside of Orthodoxy. NRMs are very diverse and it is not clear whether conversion to NRMs differs from conversion to mainstream religions. See also Brainwashing controversy in new religious movements
Research, both in the USA and in the Netherlands has shown that there is a positive correlation between the lack of involvement in main stream churches in certain areas and provinces and the percentage of people who are a member of a new religious movement. This applies also for the presence of New Age centers. , The Dutch research included Jehovah's Witnesses and the Latter Day Saint movement/Mormonism to the NRM's.
Professor Eileen Barker believes that the psychological changes as described in converts of the Divine Light Mission can be generalized for other NRMs, however she has supplied no proof of such claims.
Conversion of Catholics to Protestantism
Prohibition of conversion
Several ethnic religions don't accept converts, like the Yazidis and the Druze. The only way to become a Yazidi is to be born in a Yazidi family. Conversely, the Shakers and some Indian eunuch brotherhoods don't allow procreation, so every member is a convert.
The English language word proselytism is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix 'pros' (towards) and the verb 'erchomai' (to come). It generally describes attempts to convert a person from one point of view to another, usually in a religious context.
In the Bible, the word proselyte denotes a person who has converted to Judaism, without overtly negative overtones. In our day, however, the connotations of the word proselytism are almost exclusively negative. Nonetheless, many people use the words interchangeably. An Orthodox writer, Stephen Methodius Hayes has written: "If people talk about the need for evangelism, they meet with the response, "The Orthodox church does not 'proselytize' as if evangelizing and proselytism were the same thing."
Many Christians consider it their obligation to follow what is often termed the "Great Commission" of Jesus, recorded in the final verses of the Gospel of Matthew: "Go to all the nations and make disciples. Baptize them and teach them my commands." The early Christians were noted for their evangelizing work.
The difference between the two terms is not easily defined. What one person considers legitimate evangelizing, or witness bearing, another may consider intrusive and improper.
Illustrating the problems that can arise from such subjective viewpoints is this extract from an article by Dr. C. Davis, published in Cleveland State University's 'Journal of Law and Health': "According to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Jews for Jesus and Hebrew Christians constitute two of the most dangerous cults, and its members are appropriate candidates for deprogramming. Anti-cult evangelicals ... protest that 'aggressiveness and proselytizing . . . are basic to authentic Christianity,' and that Jews for Jesus and Campus Crusade for Christ are not to be labeled as cults. Furthermore, certain Hassidic groups who physically attacked a meeting of the Hebrew Christian 'cult' have themselves been labeled a 'cult' and equated with the followers of Reverend Moon, by none other than the President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis".
Views on the propriety of proselytism, or even evangelism, differ radically. Some feel that freedom of speech should have no limits and that virtually anyone, anywhere should have the right to talk about anything they see fit. Others see all sorts of evangelism as a nuisance and an intrusion and would like to see them proscribed. Thus, Natan Lerner observes that the issue is one of a clash of rights - the right of a person to express his views versus the right of a person not to be exposed to views that he does not wish to hear.
From a legal standpoint, there do appear to be certain criteria in distinguishing legitimate evangelization from illicit proselytism:
- All humans have the right to have religious beliefs, and to change these beliefs, even repeatedly, if they so wish. (Freedom of Religion)
- They have the right to form religious organizations for the purpose of worship, as well as for promoting their cause (Freedom of Association)
- They have the right to speak to others about their convictions, with the purpose of influencing the others. (Freedom of Speech).
By the same token, these very rights exercise a limiting influence on the freedoms of others. For instance, the right to have one's religious beliefs presumably includes the right not to be coerced into changing these beliefs by threats, discrimination, or similar inducements.
Hence a category of improper proselytizing can be discerned.
- It would not be proper to use coercion, threats, the weight of authority of the educational system, access to health care or similar facilities in order to induce people to change their religion.
- It would be improper to try to impose one's beliefs on a 'captive audience,' where the listeners have no choice but to be present. This would presumably require restraint in the exercise of their right to free speech, by teachers in the classroom, army officers to their inferiors, prison officers in prison, medical staff in hospitals, so as to avoid impinging on the rights of others.
- It would not be proper to offer money, work, housing or other material inducements as a means of persuading people to adopt another religion.
Issues involving proselytism
Since the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the rise of democracy in the Eastern Bloc, the Russian Orthodox Church has enjoyed a revival. However, it takes exception to what it considers illegitimate proselytizing by the Roman Catholic Church, the Salvation Army, Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious movements  in what it refers to as its canonical territory.
Greece has a long history of conflict, mostly with Jehovah's Witnesses but also with some Pentecostals over its laws on proselytism. This situation stems from a law passed in the 1930s by the dictator Ioannis Metaxas. A Jehovah's Witness, Minos Kokkinakis, won the equivalent of US $14,400 in damages from the Greek state after being arrested repeatedly for the 'offence' of preaching his faith from door to door. In another case, Larissis vs. Greece, a member of the Pentecostal church also won a case in the European Court of Human Rights.
- 1. Schepens, T. (Dutch) Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland volume 29, Sekten Ontkerkelijking en religieuze vitaliteit: nieuwe religieuze bewegingen en New Age-centra in Nederland (1994) VU uitgeverij ISBN 90-5383-341-2
- 2. Starks, R & W.S. Bainbridge The future of religion: secularization, revival and cult formation (1985) Berkely/Los Angeles/London: University of California press
- 3. Barrett, D. V. The New Believers - A survey of sects, cults and alternative religions (2001) UK, Cassell & Co
- "Proselytism, Change of Religion, and International Human Rights", by Natan Lerner, PhD (legal aspects of defining illicit proselytism)
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


This advice is suitable for open-grown ornamental trees. Although pruning does make trees slightly smaller than they would be without pruning, attempting to keep a big tree small by pruning is usually unsuccessful. This advice does not apply to restricted tree forms such as fans and espaliers.
When to prune trees
Deciduous trees (ones that lose their leaves in winter) are usually pruned in autumn and winter. In some cases, for example with magnolias and walnuts, pruning is best done in late summer, as healing is quicker.
Trees such as Prunus sp, which are prone to silver leaf disease are best pruned from April to July when the disease spores are not on the wind, and the tree sap is rising rather than falling (which pushes out infection rather than drawing it in).
Some trees can bleed sap if pruned in late winter and early spring. Although seldom fatal, this is unsightly and can weaken the tree. Birches and walnuts often bleed if pruned at the wrong time.
Evergreens seldom need pruning, although dead and diseased branches can be removed in late summer.
How to prune trees
Prior to undertaking any work, it is essential to ascertain if a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) is in place or if the tree is in a Conservation Area. If either is the case, seek permission from your local council before beginning work. Potentially dangerous limbs can, in theory, be removed without permission but the penalties for breaching the legislations, inadvertently or not, can be severe.
Safety is of prime importance when working with trees, so make an honest appraisal of your capabilities, assess the area in which any branches may fall and erect warning signs or barricades if necessary before beginning. If in any doubt engage a professionally qualified tree surgeon or aboriculturist.
Take a step back and decide what needs to be done to produce a balanced, attractive tree. Work with the natural habit of the tree to shorten or remove branches. Going against the tree’s natural habit produces ungainly trees that lack grace.
Always start by removing damaged, dead, diseased shoots, followed by weak, lax or rubbing growth.
How to remove tree branches and limbs
- Wear protective gloves and, if necessary, eye and head protection
- When cutting a stem, cut just above a healthy bud, pair of buds or side shoot. Where possible, cut to an outward facing bud or branch to avoid congestion and rubbing of branches
- Make your cut 0.5cm (¼in) above the bud. Beware cutting too close, as this can induce death of the bud Beware cutting too far from the bud, as this can result in dieback of the stub and entry of rots and other infections
- When removing larger limbs, make an undercut first about 20-30cm (8in-1ft) from the trunk, and follow this with an overcut. This will prevent the bark tearing, leaving a clean stub when the branch is severed
- Then remove the stub, first making a small undercut just outside the branch collar (the slight swelling where the branch joins the trunk), followed by an overcut to meet the undercut, angling the cut away from the trunk to produce a slope that sheds rain
- Avoid cutting flush to the trunk as the collar is the tree’s natural protective zone where healing takes place
- There is no need to use wound paints, as they are not thought to contribute to healing or prevent disease. The exception is plums and cherries (Prunus sp), where wound paint may be used to exclude silver leaf disease spores
If pruning cuts bleed sap, don’t bandage or bind the cut, as attempts to stem the bleeding are likely to be unsuccessful and may impede rather than aid healing.
Remove branches of more than 2cm (½in) in diameter with a sharp pruning saw. Don't make a flush cut - come out just slightly so that it heals naturally.
Small branches can easily be removed with secateurs.


Facts in Focus:
- States considering legislation this year to expand opportunities for young voters: 15 (at least)
- States considering advance voter registration for young people: 7
- Number of votes in favor of final passage of state legislation establishing age 16 as a uniform voter registration age, 2006-2009: 979
- Number of votes opposing such legislation: 158
- Votes in both houses of the Connecticut legislature opposing a bill allowing primary voting for 17-year-olds: 0
In a nutshell
As a key element in what is welcome progress toward universal voter registration, a movement is growing within the states to swing the doors of our democracy wide open, encouraging and facilitating the active participation of young people in the electoral process. From education, to access, to advance registration, more and more legislators and public officials are doing their part to invite young people into the process and kick start habits that can last a lifetime.
When it comes to the political participation of young people, we have come to assume a certain ceiling of enthusiasm; a kind of minimum threshold of apathy that is factored into our expectations. Though last year's presidential campaigns directed significant attention to young voters, and despite having a candidate on both major party tickets imbued with youthfulness and pop culture savvy, actual youth turnout saw only a modest bump from 2004; about 1.5 percentage points according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE). Though voters between 18 and 24 were 12.6% of the voting age population, they made up only 9.5% of those who actually voted.
The importance of encouraging youth participation in our democracy is difficult to overstate, and it is in our interest to avoid becoming apathetic about apathy. According to a 2003 study by Alan S. Gerber, Donald P. Green and Ron Shachar in the American Journal of Political Science and Mark Franklin's seminal 2004 book on turnout, Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945, there is a great deal of evidence indicating that participation in one's youth is highly predictive of future participation; in other words, voting is best made into an unkickable habit early in life. We are a country that values the long-term health of our democracy. In hoping that as many people as possible for generations to come will keep themselves informed and reliably take part in elections, we need to take active steps to get young people civically educated, registered, and voting.
And while you're reading this, those steps are beginning to take root in all corners of the country, as legislatures in several states have taken up FairVote's package of youth engagement initiatives. 2009 is shaping up to be the best year yet for "pre-registration" or "advance registration" legislation. At least fifteen states have introduced measures that would set a uniform voter registration age of 16 years old, allow certain 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections and/or encourage civic education in schools.
More than a half-dozen states, including Arizona, California, Washington, Rhode Island and Maryland, have introduced advance voter registration bills, with one chamber each in Michigan, Rhode Island and North Carolina recently passing such bills with bipartisan majorities. California has moved the bills out of a key committee. Meanwhile, Members of Congress are drafting federal legislation to boost the idea. National organizations joining our advocacy now include Project Vote, Progressive States, Common Cause, Rock the Vote and the New America Foundation.
In just one example of the broad support state pre-registration legislation is receiving, Michigan's pre-registration bill was supported by such entities and associations as the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, the Michigan Association of County Clerks, the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks and the Council of Election Officials, the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Nonprofit Association, the Michigan Townships Association, and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (a leading prospective candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination).
Broadening and deepening opportunities for civic participation - both in elections, and in governance overall - is a core part of FairVote's mission. That's why FairVote has advocated for a package of legislation that would encourage young people to become more civically minded, register to vote and participate in the political process.
Here's a look at some of the measures that we believe will help achieve those goals:
1) "Pre-registration" or "Advance Registration" of 16 and 17-year-olds:
Triggered by our advocacy for universal voter registration starting after the 2000 elections, FairVote supports the establishment of a uniform voter registration age of 16, with registrations becoming active when pre-registered youth reach normal voting age. This is in line with the previously mentioned studies showing that people who begin voting when they are young tend to become lifetime voters. Youth voting is rife with obstacles, including transience and a presumption of apathy by the political establishment. But at 16, most young people are in school and therefore relatively easy to target en masse. Additionally, at 16 most young people apply for driver's licenses and learner's permits, allowing for pre-registration to be incorporated into existing motor-voter procedures. Pre-registration would make the registration process simpler and more systematic for students and administrators and catch more young voters. Pre-registration is already on the books in Florida, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Quite literally, we can 'get 'em while they're young' - and in institutional settings like school and the DMV.
The pre-registration effort is an important step on the path towards universal or automatic voter registration, whereby all citizens of voting age would be eligible to vote without having to specifically register to do so. It brings us a step closer to an environment that favors an "opt-out" approach versus "opt-in,", as laid out in FairVote director Rob Richie's National Civic Review article in 2007, "Leave No Voter Behind" (PDF).
2) Primary voting for certain 17-year-olds:
FairVote supports allowing 17-year-olds who will be 18 on or before the general election to vote in the corresponding primary election. Allowing young people in this "gap" to vote will jumpstart the process of civic engagement, and encourage them to learn about the issues that will inform their choices in the general election. Some states already allow for such voting, while others are ambiguous in their relevant regulations. Regardless, parties always have the right to do this in their nomination process if handled privately, as in caucuses. In fact, Connecticut voters supported this reform in a 2008 state constitutional amendment by about a 2 to 1 margin. (For more on this, check out FairVote's fact page on 17-year-old primary voting and our report [PDF] on how parties can make their nominating contests more democratic in general.)
3) Mandatory comprehensive civic education in high school:
Too many students leave high school with a limited understanding of what civic engagement and participation in our democracy entail. We encourage the use of curricula like our Learning Democracy resources that teach about the workings of democracy and the history of voting rights. Such civic education should ideally entail things like mock voting to demystify the voting process and make it less intimidating for democratic newbies. A civic education curriculum also provides an opportune moment to encourage pre-registration. Learning Democracy, FairVote's comprehensive civic education curriculum, is available at http://www.fairvote.org/learningdemocracy. (Our prototype state-based edition is available at http://www.rhodeislandsuffrage.org.)
An Encouraging Electoral Prognosis
Might we be on the verge of a kind of youth voting legislation renaissance within the states? Fifteen or more states have seen pieces of the above legislative package introduced this year alone, with action ensuing on many of these bills. Below is a listing of some of the activities in various statehouses (which might not be exhaustive - itself a tantalizing fact). Many or most of these bills were introduced, at least in part, per information received from FairVote, and we are very excited to see those efforts begin to blossom. Because the better informed our young people, the simpler it is for them to register as voters, and the more enthusiastic they are to participate, the more likely it is that our democracy will be healthy and robust for decades to come.
Progress this legislative session:
Arizona: Representative Ed Ableser introduced HB 2384 and HB 2026, respectively allowing for pre-registration of 16-year-olds, and for 17-year-old primary voting.
California: Assemblyman Curren Price introduced AB 30, to allow 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote. It has passed the House Elections Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. It may see a floor vote as soon as the first week of June..
Connecticut: House Bill 6439 implements a recently passed amendment to the State Constitution to allow for 17-year-old primary voting. It has unanimously passed both the House and Senate.
Illinois: House Bill 2629 by Representative Kathy Ryg would allow for 17-year-old primary voting.
Kansas: House Bill 2256 by Representative Milack Talia would create a uniform pre-registration age of 14-years-old. (FairVote is supportive of the philosophy that underpins this legislation, but would suggest that a 16-year-old pre-registration age would be sufficient.)
Kentucky: Provisions for pre-registration for 16-year-olds and mandatory public education about elections were introduced by Senator Jerry Rhoads, in the form of an amendment to Senate Bill 109.
Maryland: Senate Bill 671, allowing for pre-registration of 16-year-olds, was introduced by Senator Jamin Raskin. The bill did not get out of committee, although testimony from the Maryland Board of Elections indicated that it would have no fiscal impact.
Massachusetts: Representative Ellen Story has introduced House Bill 3895, allowing for pre-registration of 16-year-olds. House Bill 1592 by Representative Steve D'Amico would allow for 17-year-old primary voting.
Michigan: House Bill 4261, by Representatives Lesia Liss and Matt Lori, would allow 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote. It passed the House on May 14th by a 92-18 margin, with majority support from both Republicans and Democrats and a broad coalition from across the spectrum. Senator Cameron Brown has introduced a companion bill, as SB 61. (The bill has some limitations on where registration can take place, and what sort of identification is necessary to register.)
Minnesota: HF 873 by Representative Paul Marquart and SF 606 by Senator Ann Rest would allow for 17-year-old primary voting.
New York: A 5110 by Assemblyman Michael Cusick would amend the state constitution to permit 17-year-old primary voting.
North Carolina: HB 1260, by Representative Angela Bryant and others, is known as the "Teen Pre-registration and High School Civic Education Act." Passed by the House with a 102-14 vote, it. allows for 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote and requires local boards of education to develop plans to educate high school students in voter registration and voting. A majority of both Republicans and Democrats supported the legislation, while it was backed by civic groups that included Democracy North Carolina, FairVote North Carolina. League of Women Voters of North Carolina, NC Center for Voter Education, NC Civic Education Consortium, Common Cause North Carolina, El Pueblo Inc. and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
Rhode Island: House Bill 5005 by Representative Edwin Pacheco passed the House on March 10th by a margin of 56-10, while Senate Bill 85 by Senator Rhoda Perry passed the Senate on March 19th by a margin of 32-2. Both bills would allow for the pre-registration of 16-year-olds and saw support from half of the Republican caucuses, in addition to a majority of Democrats.
Washington: House Joint Resolution 4204 by Representative Zack Hudgins would propose a constitutional amendment to allow 17 year-olds to vote in primaries, while House Bill 1193 By Representative Marko Liias would allow 13-year-olds to pre-register to vote. (As in the case of the Kansas legislation, we believe that a 16-year-old pre-registration age is sufficient.)
Wisconsin: The introduction of FairVote's youth-engagement package is expected, upon passage of the state's budget in June.
Wyoming: House Bill 76 allows for the pre-registration of all voters who will be 18 as of the next general election. This is an advance, and will sometimes allow 16-year-olds to register, depending on the point in the electoral cycle. (A uniform 16-year-old voter registration age would be less confusing, and more practicable.)
* * * *
Previous editions of Innovative Analysis can be found here.
Contact: Paul Fidalgo, communications director: paul(at)fairvote.org, (301) 270-4616
* * * *
Project Vote's Erin Ferns blogs at TPM on Pre-registration
Progressive States Network: Expand Youth Voting
Brennan Center's resources on modernizing voter registration
New America Foundation on Pre-Registration
Rock the Vote Supports CA and RI Pre-registration Bills
Common Cause on Voter Registration Reforms
Michigan House Legislative Analysis of Pre-registration
FairVote North Carolina Voter Pre-registration and Education Project
Youth Voter Pre-registration in Rhode Island
FairVote.blog: Pawlenty Vetoes Automatic Registration Bill
Katrina vanden Heuvel advocates for universal voter registration in the Nation


History of Initiative & Referendum in Arizona
|Laws • History|
|List of measures|
The History of Initiative & Referendum in Arizona began when acquired statewide initiative, referendum, and recall rights at the time of statehood in 1912. The first initiative in the state was for women's suffrage. It was a landslide victory, passing by a margin of greater than two to one on Nov. 5, 1912.
Then, in 1914, Arizona saw of 15 qualified initiatives, which held the record until 2006 when 19 initiatives were passed. Four of the 1914 initiatives passed because of the efforts of organized labor. One prohibited blacklisting of union members; a second established an "old age and mothers' pension"; another established a state government contract system, and a fourth limited businesses employment of non-citizens. Lastly, the voters in 1914 passed an initiative that barred the governor and legislature from amending or repealing initiatives.
In response, the legislature tried to pass a constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult to pass initiatives. Because this amendment needed the approval of voters, the Arizona Federation of Labor waged a campaign against the measure. The amendment was narrowly defeated in 1916.
- This chart includes all ballot measures to appear on the Arizona ballot in the year indicated, not just initiated measures. See also Arizona ballot measures.
|Year||Propositions on ballot||How many were approved?||How many were defeated?|
Arizonans owe many of their reforms to John Kromko. Kromko, like most Arizonans, is not a native; he was born near Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1940 and moved to Tucson in the mid-1960s. He was active in protests against the Vietnam War, and in the 1970s and 1980s he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature several times. By night, he was a computer-programming instructor; by day, he was Arizona’s "Mr. Initiative."
Kromko’s first petition was a referendum drive to stop a Tucson city council ordinance banning topless dancing, arguing for free speech. In 1976 Kromko was among the handful of Arizonans who, in cooperation with the People’s Lobby Western Bloc campaign, succeeded in putting on the state ballot an initiative to phase out nuclear power. The initiative lost at the polls, but Kromko’s leadership on the issue got him elected to his first term in the legislature.
Repealing the sales tax on food
Once elected, Kromko set his sights on abolishing the sales tax on food, a "regressive" tax that hits the poor hardest. Unsuccessful in the legislature, Kromko launched a statewide initiative petition and got enough signatures to put food tax repeal on the ballot. The legislature, faced with the initiative, acted to repeal the tax.
After the food tax victory, Kromko turned to voter registration reform. Again the legislature was unresponsive, so he launched an initiative petition. He narrowly missed getting enough signatures in 1980, and he failed to win re-election that year.
Undaunted, he revived the voter registration campaign and turned to yet another cause: Medicaid funding. Arizona in 1981 was the only state without Medicaid, since the legislature had refused to appropriate money for the state's share of this federal program.
In 1982, with an initiative petition drive under way and headed for success, the legislature got the message and established a Medicaid program. Kromko and his allies on this issue, the state’s churches, were satisfied and dropped their petition drive.
Motor Voter initiative
The voter registration initiative, now under the leadership of Les Miller, a Phoenix attorney, and the state Democratic Party, gained ballot placement and voter approval. In the ensuing four years, this "Motor Voter" initiative increased by over 10 percent the proportion of Arizona’s eligible population who were registered to vote.
Late legislative career
Kromko, re-elected to the legislature in 1982, took up his petitions again in 1983 to prevent construction of a freeway in Tucson that would have smashed through several residential neighborhoods. The initiative was merely to make freeway plans subject to voter approval, but Tucson officials, seeing the campaign as the death knell for their freeway plans, blocked its placement on the ballot through various legal technicalities. Kromko and neighborhood activists fighting to save their homes refused to admit defeat. They began a new petition drive in 1984, qualified their measure for the ballot, and won voter approval for it in November 1985.
Arizona’s moneyed interests poured funds into a campaign to unseat Kromko in 1986. Kromko not only survived but also fought back by supporting a statewide initiative to limit campaign contributions, sponsored by his colleague in the legislature, Democratic State Representative Reid Ewing of Tucson. Voters passed the measure by a two to one margin.
Kromko’s initiative exploits have made him the most effective Democratic political figure, besides former governor Bruce Babbitt, in this perennially Republican-dominated state. And Babbitt owes partial credit for one of his biggest successes - enactment of restrictions on the toxic chemical pollution of drinking water - to Kromko. Early in 1986 Kromko helped organize an environmentalist petition drive for an anti-toxic initiative, while Babbitt negotiated with the legislature for passage of a similar bill. When initiative backers had enough signatures to put their measure on the ballot, the legislature bowed to the pressure and passed Babbitt's bill. Even today, Kromko is still active in politics, writing letters to the editor about immigration policies.
Petition drive problems in 2008
2008 was a tough year for ballot initiatives in Arizona. Nine citizen initiatives filed signatures to qualify for the November 2008 Arizona ballot by the state's July 3 petition drive deadline. In the end, only six of the initiatives were certified, with three initiatives disqualified as a result of an historically high number of problems with flawed petition signatures. When the November vote was held, of the six that qualified for the ballot, only one was approved.,
Criticisms of process
After 19 were proposed in 2006, legislators were worried about "ballot fatigue" or overuse of the initiative system. This led to legislators considering steps to limit or otherwise exert more control over the initiative process. Ironically, any attempt to alter the initiative and referendum process would require an amendment to the state constitution, and thus in itself be put forth as a referendum.
This article is significantly based on an article published by the Initiative & Referendum Institute, and is used with their permission. Their article, in turn, relies on research in David Schmidt's book, Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution.
Also portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under the GNU license.
- ↑ Arizona Daily Star, "'Clown' takes some serious initiative", July 20, 2007
- ↑ Arizona Republic, "'Flawed' election petitions face review", September 13, 2008
- ↑ Phoenix New Times, "Citizen initiatives have been kicked off the ballot this year in record numbers, and the problems could go much deeper than invalid signatures", August 21, 2008
- ↑ Legislators seeking more control over initiatives, Arizona Republic, Feb. 13, 2007
- ↑ History of Arizona's initiative
- ↑ Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution Temple University Press, 352 pp., ISBN-10: 0877229031, October 1991
History of I&R
Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Florida · Idaho · Illinois · Kentucky · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Mexico · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · South Dakota · Utah · Washington · Wyoming
Direct Legislation by the Citizenship Through the Initiative and Referendum · Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution · Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United States


Even before the recent flurry of children’s toy recalls, I questioned the effectiveness of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) when they failed to act on the presence of lead in children’s lunchboxes. The news has only gotten worse, since I wrote about it last February. Almost everyday, I receive a new email from the CPSC listing more toy recalls, mostly for lead content. How can this be? Who is protecting our youngest consumers?
In the past two months, there have been millions of toys recalled for dangerous levels of lead content, and other products that contain smaller levels of lead, such as lunchboxes, have not been recalled. In fact, doctors warn that lead levels considered safe by the CPSC still put children at risk. According to WebMD,
Lead poisoning interferes with neural development in children and developing fetuses. High levels of lead in children can cause learning and behavior problems.
The CDC considers lead levels in the blood above 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood to be a concern in children. But some studies have shown harmful effects in children with lead levels measured at or near the current standard.
The CPSC was created in 1974 to protect consumers from the expanding globalization of products. Since its creation, imports to the US have increased 338 percent, yet the CPSC’s budget is less than half of what it was in 1974! While we buy more overseas products, the US government has been cutting staffing for this agency, limiting its ability to regulate imports and protect consumers. The agency began with 800 employees in the seventies, and now the CPSC has only 420 staff members. Currently, there is a bill written to empower the agency: The Safety Assurance For Every Consumer Product Act (SAFE), yet CPSC chairperson Nancy Nord opposes this bill.
- Require children’s products to undergo independent third-party testing;
- Expand civil and criminal penalties;Ban lead in children’s products;
- Enhance CPSC recall and inspection authority;
- Expedite recall disclosure to the public; and
- Provide additional resources to the CPSC.
Why would Nancy Nord oppose these changes, especially when the CPSC has only one full-time toy tester? In an interview on PBS, Nord says,
But the change that we’ve got to have is change that is going to be constructive, workable, and is going to help the agency do its job. My concerns with the Senate bill is that it includes a number of requirements for undertaking activities that are really outside our core mission.
For example, it has us mediating employer and employee disputes in whistleblower cases. It has us implementing or enforcing intellectual property rights violations in some instances. It has us certifying laboratories.
So this is nasty stuff, and it appears that the chemical is actually converting into it in the body.” Of course, Aqua Dots was manufactured in China, where most of the recently recalled toys have originated from.
Representative Diana Degette (D-Colorado) co-introduced the SAFE Act to revamp the CPSC. According to Degette,
You’ve got more products coming in from overseas. You’ve got a huge spike in recalls, which is very concerning, because, of course, only a fraction of those people who bought the products will return them. And you have the head of the agency saying, “Oh, well, this is no big deal, and we don’t want the money.”
Over two-thirds of the recent recalls involve products from China, and the problem of dangerous toys is growing. With the holiday season approaching, many parents are very concerned. The Toy Industry Association has launched a new site to inform parents about toy safety. Of course, this site is designed to assure parents that the toy industry is using rigorous standards of toy safety, and there is a lot of useful information on the site; however, you do have to consider the source. For example, the Toy Industry Association answers the question, “Should I avoid toys made in China?” by stating:
All toys sold in America regardless of where they are made must conform to tough U.S. safety standards – standards that have served as models for other industries and countries around the world.
Since it is companies, not countries, that make toys, it is companies that are responsible for adhering to rigorous safety standards and conducting inspections throughout the process. Random on-site and off-site testing occurs in all manufacturing plants, in China and elsewhere. Toys are also randomly inspected before export to the US.
In light of the recent recalls, there has been additional testing and vigilance by toy manufacturers, retailers and importers.
Somehow, these assurances don’t make me feel better in light of recent events. I will stick to researching reputable companies, such as Plan Toys, and homemade gifts for my children. I will continue my efforts to educate my children and family on junk toys and hope that one day, we can once again shop safely for children’s toys.
CPSC chart source: Campaign for America’s Future


Session E: Libraries in the Digital Age
Arja-Riitta Haarala: The Role of Libraries in Information Management in Finnish University Setting
Libraries have for some time been in a turbulent state. The information milieu is changing as a result of new technology: information media are in a state of rapid change; the need for increased computing power continues to increase; the use of information is changing; and our masters demand more effectiveness and better results. Old ways of doing things are now less effective. Even the concept of service quality has evolved. Users request new types of services, new ways of producing them, and new methods of delivery. Libraries in Finland have been active in introducing new information services and have a strong tradition of piloting computer-based services. In early 70´s online database searching were introduced among the first ones in Europe. The first experimental packet-switched Nordic telecommunication network SCANNET was implemented in Nordic technical libraries in 70´s, and it included first Nordic electronic journal Extemplo. Libraries were also among first ones in universities to accommodate microcomputers for public use in early 80´s.
According to the outlines mentioned earlier universities have been developed strategies at the local level. Most common are information technology strategies in which libraries are only shortly mentioned, and with a strong emphasis on information technologies. Libraries tend to develop their own strategies. The Helsinki University Libraries Assessment Panel writes in their report "The University already has a Strategy for Information Management. The Panel believes that this may need to be updated and revised in the light of its recommendations as they affect the goals, objectives, budgets and staff of the Libraries, in compliance with the University of Helsinki policy research and education." Furthermore they make a recommendation that the University should appoint a Director of Academic Information and Learning Resources.
There are also information strategies where all key players at the local level are taken into account. Recent strategy by the University of Kuopio is a comprehensive one integrating Computing Centre, Kuopio University Printing Office, Learning centre, Library and Photographic Laboratory under the same umbrella as a profit centre. Similar type of strategies are developed in the University of Lapland and Lappeenranta University of Technology. Libraries have also actively entered in publishing business. Quite often they are responsible for university publishing operations, especially so nowadays due to digital publishing.
Co-operation has considered as important by libraries. Therefore regular national annual meetings have been organised with directors of IT and computing centres together with directors of university libraries for some time. Furthermore at the local level IT steering committees or advisory committees for information management have been introduced at universities.
It is necessary to consider the evolutionary stage of present library, computer and information services as well as other players in the field. Are they yet at a sufficiently mature stage for new systems to be designed with confidence, or is there still a great deal of dynamism, so that different design criteria must be incorporated to deal with the continuing evolution? Consequently, most organisations have started to look at new ways of working. Co-operation and collaboration have been found productive and useful, with organisations entering into new type of alliances. Libraries and computing centres have developed closer relationships in the UK and USA, although less so in other countries. The first alliance of this type in Finland is at Tampere University of Technology, where the Computing Centre as a independent institute was terminated.
Co-operation has always been a strong feature in Finnish university libraries, and not less today. A major work has been carried out in selecting and at the moment implementing a new library system Voyager. This is a second system consecutively in university libraries, and co-operation has proven its advantages and benefits.
Another success story is FinELib, Finnish Electronic Library that acquires electronic material for university libraries. The Finnish universities form the core of the FinElib consortium, and it started already in 1997. It is financed by the Ministry of Education (18 mill. Finnish marks) and the rest comes from the licence fees of university libraries. Finnish Electronic Library works in close co-operation with other national development programmes. Common concerns include electronic publishing, long-term storage of electronic material, copyright and other topical issues. International projects in the field of electronic libraries are being followed closely.
Virtual university collaboration and the development of digital learning environments is the next extensive area to be considered. The work has already begun under the project of Finnish Virtual University.
© This publication and its compilation in form and content is copyrighted. Every realization which is not explicitly allowed by copyright law requires a written agreement. Especially, this holds for reprography and processing / storing by electronic systems.


General Chemistry/Periodicity and Electron Configurations
Blocks of the Periodic Table
The Periodic Table does more than just list the elements. The word periodic means that in each row, or period, there is a pattern of characteristics in the elements. This is because the elements are listed in part by their electron configuration. The Alkali metals and Alkaline earth metals have one and two valence electrons (electrons in the outer shell) respectively. These elements lose electrons to form bonds easily, and are thus very reactive. These elements are the s-block of the periodic table. The p-block, on the right, contains common non-metals such as chlorine and helium. The noble gases, in the column on the right, almost never react, since they have eight valence electrons, which makes it very stable. The halogens, directly to the left of the noble gases, readily gain electrons and react with metals. The s and p blocks make up the main-group elements, also known as representative elements. The d-block, which is the largest, consists of transition metals such as copper, iron, and gold. The f-block, on the bottom, contains rarer metals including uranium. Elements in the same Group or Family have the same configuration of valence electrons, making them behave in chemically similar ways.
Causes for Trends
There are certain phenomena that cause the periodic trends to occur. You must understand them before learning the trends.
Effective Nuclear Charge
The effective nuclear charge is the amount of positive charge acting on an electron. It is the number of protons in the nucleus minus the number of electrons in between the nucleus and the electron in question. Basically, the nucleus attracts an electron, but other electrons in lower shells repel it (opposites attract, likes repel).
Shielding Effect
The shielding (or screening) effect is similar to effective nuclear charge. The core electrons repel the valence electrons to some degree. The more electron shells there are (a new shell for each row in the periodic table), the greater the shielding effect is. Essentially, the core electrons shield the valence electrons from the positive charge of the nucleus.
Electron-Electron Repulsions
When two electrons are in the same shell, they will repel each other slightly. This effect is mostly canceled out due to the strong attraction to the nucleus, but it does cause electrons in the same shell to spread out a little bit. Lower shells experience this effect more because they are smaller and allow the electrons to interact more.
Coulomb's Law
Coulomb's law is an equation that determines the amount of force with which two charged particles attract or repel each other. It is , where is the amount of charge (+1e for protons, -1e for electrons), is the distance between them, and is a constant. You can see that doubling the distance would quarter the force. Also, a large number of protons would attract an electron with much more force than just a few protons would.
Trends in the Periodic table
Most of the elements occur naturally on Earth. However, all elements beyond uranium (number 92) are called trans-uranium elements and never occur outside of a laboratory. Most of the elements occur as solids or gases at STP. STP is standard temperature and pressure, which is 0° C and 1 atmosphere of pressure. There are only two elements that occur as liquids at STP: mercury (Hg) and bromine (Br).
Bismuth (Bi) is the last stable element on the chart. All elements after bismuth are radioactive and decay into more stable elements. Some elements before bismuth are radioactive, however.
Atomic Radius
Leaving out the noble gases, atomic radii are larger on the left side of the periodic chart and are progressively smaller as you move to the right across the period. Conversely, as you move down the group, radii increase.
Atomic radii decrease along a period due to greater effective nuclear charge. Atomic radii increase down a group due to the shielding effect of the additional core electrons, and the presence of another electron shell.
Ionic Radius
For nonmetals, ions are bigger than atoms, as the ions have extra electrons. For metals, it is the opposite.
Extra electrons (negative ions, called anions) cause additional electron-electron repulsions, making them spread out farther. Fewer electrons (positive ions, called cations) cause fewer repulsions, allowing them to be closer.
|Ionization energy is the energy required to strip an electron from the atom (when in the gas state).
Ionization energy is also a periodic trend within the periodic table organization. Moving left to right within a period or upward within a group, the first ionization energy generally increases. As the atomic radius decreases, it becomes harder to remove an electron that is closer to a more positively charged nucleus.
Ionization energy decreases going left across a period because there is a lower effective nuclear charge keeping the electrons attracted to the nucleus, so less energy is needed to pull one out. It decreases going down a group due to the shielding effect. Remember Coulomb's Law: as the distance between the nucleus and electrons increases, the force decreases at a quadratic rate.
It is considered a measure of the tendency of an atom or ion to surrender an electron, or the strength of the electron binding; the greater the ionization energy, the more difficult it is to remove an electron. The ionization energy may be an indicator of the reactivity of an element. Elements with a low ionization energy tend to be reducing agents and form cations, which in turn combine with anions to form salts.
Electron Affinity
|Electron affinity is the opposite of ionization energy. It is the energy released when an electron is added to an atom.
Electron affinity is highest in the upper left, lowest on the bottom right. However, electron affinity is actually negative for the noble gasses. They already have a complete valence shell, so there is no room in their orbitals for another electron. Adding an electron would require creating a whole new shell, which takes energy instead of releasing it. Several other elements have extremely low electron affinities because they are already in a stable configuration, and adding an electron would decrease stability.
Electron affinity occurs due to the same reasons as ionization energy.
Electronegativity is how much an atom attracts electrons within a bond. It is measured on a scale with fluorine at 4.0 and francium at 0.7. Electronegativity decreases from upper right to lower left.
Electronegativity decreases because of atomic radius, shielding effect, and effective nuclear charge in the same manner that ionization energy decreases.
Metallic Character
Metallic elements are shiny, usually gray or silver colored, and good conductors of heat and electricity. They are malleable (can be hammered into thin sheets), and ductile (can be stretched into wires). Some metals, like sodium, are soft and can be cut with a knife. Others, like iron, are very hard. Non-metallic atoms are dull, usually colorful or colorless, and poor conductors. They are brittle when solid, and many are gases at STP. Metals give away their valence electrons when bonding, whereas non-metals take electrons.
The metals are towards the left and center of the periodic table—in the s-block, d-block, and f-block . Poor metals and metalloids (somewhat metal, somewhat non-metal) are in the lower left of the p-block. Non-metals are on the right of the table.
Metallic character increases from right to left and top to bottom. Non-metallic character is just the opposite. This is because of the other trends: ionization energy, electron affinity, and electronegativity.


|Look up gable in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used (which is often related to climate and availability of materials) and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable. A gable wall or gable end more commonly refers to the entire wall, including the gable and the wall below it.
A variation of the gable is a crow-stepped gable, which has a stair-step design to accomplish the sloping portion. Crow-stepped gables were used in Scotland and England as early as the seventeenth century. Examples of the crow-stepped gable can be seen at Muchalls Castle and Monboddo House, both 17th century Scottish buildings. Other early examples are found in parts of Denmark and Sweden.
Gable ends of more recent buildings are often treated in the same way as the Classic pediment form. But unlike Classical structures, which operate through trabeation, the gable ends of many buildings are actually bearing-wall structures. Thus, the detailing tends to be ambiguous, misleading, and to some architects "deceitful".[why?] See: John Ruskin and The Seven Lamps of Architecture.
Gable end roofs are among the worst roof designs for hurricane regions. Not only do gable roofs easily peel off in hurricane winds, but according to one hurricane survival guide book, a gable end "catches wind like a sail."[this quote needs a citation] When wind flows over a gable roof it behaves much like a wing. Lift is created on the leeward side of the roof. The flatter the roof the more likely this will happen. Steep roofs tend to cause the wind to "stall" as it goes over the roof and breaks up the effect. The addition of a "vertical fin" to low pitched roofs will also help.
See also
- Bell-gable – Espadaña
- Crow-stepped gable
- Dutch gable
- Gablet roof
- Hip roof
- Cape Dutch architecture
- Roof damage by hurricane force winds in Bermuda The Fabian Experience, September 2003, page 5, Mark Rowe, Department of Environmental Protection, Government of Bermuda
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gables|


Cori spezzati (kor' ee spetz ah' tee), Italian for "separated choirs," is the term used to describe a musical composition that uses spatial effects to emphasize the interplay between its various voices. Typically, this means placing two or more choirs or groups of instruments in various places around a performance space. Music that is intended to be performed cori spezatti is by nature antiphonal; in fact, some consider these two terms to be synonymous, at least when they refer to instrumental music.
Cori spezzati isn't a particularly common form of music, and for obvious reasons. In order for it to work out right, it must be performed in a specific type of space; namely, one which is both big enough to accomodate the separation of the instrumental/vocal groups and acoustically suited to the kind of call and answer phrasing that characterizes antiphonal music. (If the space is too echoey, the interplay among the groups just becomes muddled. If it's just moderately echoey, though, it sounds great.) And even in concert halls which meet these specifications, there's a certain awkwardness to the idea of putting half the ensemble onstage and sending the rest up to the balcony or (as I have seen done) forsaking the stage altogether and having half the group stand in the left-hand balcony and the other half in the right-hand one.
The type of performance space which is most obviously suited to cori spezzati is the cathedral; in churches, the problem of the stage is eliminated, and there are generally balconies and nooks and crannies galore in Renaissance-style basilicas. Unsurprisingly, a Renaissance basilica was the formal birthplace of cori spezzati: in the late 1500's, Giovanni Gabrieli, the music director, organist, and composer-in-residence at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, began experimenting with the idea of separating his choirs and putting them in different places around the church. Gabrieli is considered to be the father of cori spezzati, and probably the only composer to write a serious volume of work in this style. He wrote both choral and instrumental pieces (mostly sacred, because of the nature of his job), some of which are still performed today and shouldn't be too hard to find recordings of. (I, unfortunately, do not own recordings of any of Gabrieli's music, although I heard his Sonata Octavi Toni for two brass choirs performed live, and it was gorgeous. I recommend it highly if you happen to like Renaissance/Baroque music.)
This writeup was made possible by a little bit of help from www.naxos.com/composer/gabrieli.htm, and Virginia Tech's Online Music Dictionary, found at www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary


The mountains and valleys of New Hampshire are rich with mineral formations. From the southwest corner of the state near Keene to the northern Canadian border near Littleton there are fascinating deposits of a variety of minerals.
One of these deposits is known as the Littleton Formation which was formed during the Devonian era approximately 300,000,000 years ago. The mining of these mineral deposits has been an important part of New Hampshire history from prehistoric eras to the present.
The Ruggles Mine, in Grafton N.H., is part of the Littleton Formation and has a rich mining and geological history. It is the oldest and largest mine of its kind in the United States. Minerals such as Mica, Feldspar, Beryl, and Uranium were mined at Ruggles for 175 years.


Most people still think of Web sites such as Google as places to go. Wrong. That's the old media model. In reality, every click is a command for some computer somewhere in the world. (...) Indeed, CEO Eric Schmidt says that Google essentially is a huge, distributed supercomputer "doing all sorts of things over a fiber-optic network that eventually are services available to end-users." Before long, Googling will mean not just searching for something, but getting ALMOST anything done online.
The New York Times estimated last year that the Googleplex and its server farms contain 450,000 servers. "The rate at which the Google computing system has grown is as remarkable as its size. In March 2001, when the company was serving about 70 million Web pages daily, it had 8,000 computers, according to a Microsoft researcher granted anonymity to talk about a detailed tour he was given at one of Google's Silicon Valley computing centers. By 2003 the number had grown to 100,000."