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Blog of the Week:
Do you believe in dog? is a brand new blog. It is written by two dog researchers, one in New York City, the other in Yarra Valley just outside of Melbourne, Australia. Julie Hecht you may already know from her wonderful blog Dog Spies, her writing in The Bark, or her research which we covered here at SciAm. She studies (and teaches about) dog cognition. Mia Cobb, the Australian, did her research in animal behavior on birds and ants, but now works on issues of dog shelters, welfare and performance science of working dogs. What is the coolest thing about the blog is that the two of them write for each other, addressing each other in each post, thus teaching and learning from each other in a dialogue to which we are all invited to participate in and contribute.
Top 10:
Tales from the OR by Summer Ash:
WARNING: This post contains my blood and guts, literally. If you're squeamish, I recommend skipping this one. What follows is my journey through the operating room at Columbia-Presbyterian on July 18, 2012. Apologies, but I couldn't help starting off with yet another pop culture reference (this time from Wes Anderson's Rushmore)….
An example of why it is important to distinguish evolution as fact, theory, and path. by T. Ryan Gregory:
I, and others, have pointed out that there are three aspects of evolution: evolution as fact, evolution as theory, and evolution as path. Evolution as fact refers to the historical reality that species are related through common ancestry. This is supported by a massive amount of evidence from a wide array of independent sources. Evolution as theory refers to the proposed explanations for how "descent with modification" occurs — mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, etc. Evolution as path refers to the actual patterns that have occurred during the history of life, such as when certain events (e.g., branching points, extinctions, etc.) took place, how lineages are related, when and how many times certain traits evolved, and such. The important point is that these three components are largely independent…
The Childhood Aquatic by John Romano:
There is a structurally integral part of my psyche that is the keystone to my existence. I am not sure how it was placed in such a vital position, but it seems this part of me is embedded in my DNA. Something that I can never remember being without. The absolute and total fascination with the natural world….
Abraham Lincoln and The Embalmer by Romeo Vitelli:
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865 shocked a nation still recovering from four years of bloody civil war. Along with the hunt for his killers and the uncovering of the assassination plot against the President and several other members of his administration, there was also the logistic nightmare of his funeral and the need to transport the President's body by train from Washington D.C. to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Since the funeral train would retrace the route that Lincoln had traveled to Washington following his election, the body would be viewed by millions of mourners along the way during the numerous planned stops. All of which raised the question of how to keep the body preserved long enough to reach its destination. Considering the fact that funeral embalming was a relatively new development at that time, some very special arrangements needed to be made…
Inspiration from bassist Victor Wooten shows me a new way to deal with my "child-as-scientist" frustrations by Marie-Claire Shanahan:
I have a confession to make: I cringe a little every time I see a school science or science outreach program justified by saying something like, "Young children are natural scientists, truly curious about the world" (That particular quote is from the Delaware Museum of Natural History). I feel like a curmudgeon about it because it often comes with really good intentions to get students actively involved in doing science (something I definitely support)….
How a Tick Bite Made Me Allergic to Meat by Helen Chappell:
The last time I ate a hamburger, I spent the night in the emergency room. There wasn't anything wrong with the hamburger itself—aside from being a bit overdone—but it sent me into anaphylactic shock. It wasn't always this way…
Are wolves really all that? by DeLene Beeland:
Have conservation scientists become carried away, touting the ecological benefits of wolves where there are perhaps — dare I say it? — not as many as we believe there to be? Perhaps some people in the media, and even some in science, have gotten carried away with the ecological changes that wolves are actually capable of mediating, says globally-renowned wolf biologist L. David Mech in his most recent paper "Is science in danger of sanctifying the wolf?" …
Losing One's Head: A Frustrating Search for the 'Truth' about Decapitation by Lindsey Fitzharris:
If you ever find yourself in a pub with me, chances are that at some point, the conversation will turn to death. Not just death, but the terrifying and horrible ways people have succumbed to it in the past. I have often heard a story retold about a man who attended the execution of his friend during the French Revolution. Seconds after the guillotine fell, the man retrieved the severed head and asked it a series of questions in order to determine whether or not it was possible to retain consciousness after decapitation. Through a system of blinking, the victim allegedly communicated his message back to his friend. The ending to this story changes according to the whims of the narrator… or perhaps the number of drinks he or she has consumed by that time. I wondered: was this the 18th-century equivalent to an urban legend? Or could there, in fact, be a degree of truth in this ghastly tale?….
A Dirty, Deadly Bite by Brian Switek:
Dragons aren't real. At least, the fire-breathing wyverns and coiling wyrms of medieval lore aren't. Those reptilian menaces were products of superstition and pre-scientific ideas about prehistoric creatures. They were ugly amalgamations inspired by our fears and actual fossil remains of long-extinct mammals and dinosaurs. But in the early 20th century, reporters excitedly relayed the discovery of what quickly became known as the Komodo dragon – ten foot long lizards that had coexisted with humans on South Pacific islands for thousands of years, but had only just been recognized by western science….
The Itsy Bitsy Drummer by Helen Shen:
Rrrr… RRR… Thack! Thack! Thrusting his front legs skyward, the male jumping spider shakes his rear end to send thumps, scrapes, and buzzes through the ground. He's playing for a female's attention, dazzling her eight eyes with semaphore while drumming out seductive seismic signals. A few missteps could turn the spider's performance into a dinner show—with the star as the main dish. The ferocious female demands precise choreography, set to a groovy beat that UC Berkeley behavioral ecologist Damian Elias is working to decipher….
Best Images:
On Cephalopods and Science Fiction by Jen Richards
Beautiful periodic table from LIFE magazine's 1949 special on the atom by Frank Swain
Curiosity's photos (cartoon) by Viktor Poór
A bacterium on a diatom on an amphipod on a frog on a bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea!<!–
The Spider Wars by bonybones
UNDERCOVER by Jun Takahashi
The Olympics Are Over and Here Are the Best Infographics by Rose Eveleth
They fell out of the sky! by Bill Harding
Elgar's Explosion by Eva Amsen
Teaching history by Zach Weinersmith
Old Friends by Beatrice the Biologist
Tasting the rainbow: The ants whose multi-coloured abdomens show exactly what they've been eating by Mohamed Babu
Anole Raids A Hummingbird Feeder by Karen Morris
Unicorn Blood Parasite by The-Episiarch
Cures of all Kinds by Jai Virdi
Best Videos:
The GMO Song: "OMG GMOs!" by Andrew Bean, David Holmes, Sharon Shattuck, and Krishnan Vasudevan
Do watch this – probably the best ever debris flow video, from Austria last week by Dave Petley
Tricky Mister! Indirect Sperm Transfer in Primitive Hexapods by The Bug Chicks
Helmet Cam Strapped to Hunting Falcon Captures "Birds-Eye-View" Footage by Michael Zhang
Seat vibration test: oscillate the human by Marc Abrahams
Lice on a Bird: Convergent Evolution in action! by Bug Girl
Where Fire Meets the Sea by Tanya Lewis
Curiosity Landing: What's With All the Peanuts? and Apollo's Youthful Glow and The Soviets' First Space 'Rendezvous' by Amy Shira Teitel
The benefits of seeing a "challenge" where others see a "threat." and Why do swimmers hate Lane 8? and The psychology of doping accusations: Which athletes raise the most suspicion? by Melanie Tannenbaum
Could you be an Olympic athlete? by Catherine de Lange
Mysterious Tides: Toxic blooms of marine algae are getting worse, and some think we're to blame. by Marissa Fessenden
Astrobiology: Worth It? by GunnarDW
Olympics Physics: The Long Jump and Linear Regression by Rhett Allain
Diseases That Just Won't Quit by Tim Wall
Think Like a Doctor: A Peculiar Heartbeat Solved! by Lisa Sanders
The Bullying Culture of Medical School by Pauline Chen
Two Tales of Symbiosis by Elio Schaechter
Where the Minutes Are Longer: The Weird Science of Telling Time on Mars by Rebecca J. Rosen
Stop Calling Sherlock a Sociopath! Thanks, a Psychologist. by Maria Konnikova
Why cocaine users should learn Bayes' Theorem by Precocity
Science on crack, 2: Walter White & cooking crystal meth by Puff the Mutant Dragon
We live in a geocentric world! by Thony C.
Murder by Physics by Matthew Francis
In Vietnamese community, treating taboos on cancer by Erin Loury
Years After Slash and Burn, Brazil Haunted by 'Black Carbon' and Science Takes Fat Out Of Chocolate, Replaces It With Fruit and Defending a Sanctuary With Paint and Song by Rachel Nuwer
Why We Need Ecological Medicine by Rob Dunn
Is PTSD A Product of War, or Of Our Times? by David Dobbs
A very modern trauma by Vaughan Bell
Curious about Curiosity: the Science Lab on Mars (Part I) and Search for Water (Part II) and Life on Mars (Part III) by Claire.W
Popping up trouble with butter and Alzheimer's by biochembelle
A New Species Discovered … On Flickr by Adam Cole
Cells = drugs = government regulation? by Ada Ao
On the loss of a mentor: Al Malkinson, lung cancer researcher, scholar, gentleman by David Kroll
The Hidden Power of Whale Poop by Brandon Keim
What do you do when you're sick? by Jai Virdi
Choice of Wood in Cremation Pyres by Katy Meyers
Food and trust of science and Does a Ph.D. train you to head a lab? by Zen Faulkes
Africa Grows Too Hot to Grow Chocolate by Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato
Community health workers help HIV patient change attitude, life by Helen Shen
Hyenas Show It's Better to Be Creative than Try, Try Again and Close Look at Bison DNA Reveals Our Dirty Fingerprints by Elizabeth Preston
CDC: Pretty Much Everyone Is Fat by Maryn McKenna
Why did people start mummifying their dead in the driest place on Earth? by Ed Yong
Found in translation: where do cures come from? by Jenny Rohn
Mouse Eyes Come With Built-In Bird Detectors by Sophie Bushwick
Atop Everest, two Sherpas and a watchmaker forged a friendship that changed their lives by Samantha Larson
Here's an Omical Tale: Scientists Discover Spreading Suffix by Robert Lee Hotz
Flavors of Uncertainty: The Difference between Denial and Debate by Wendee Holtcamp
Tracks of an Oak Killer by Erin Loury
What is fair in the Olympics? Is sex a special case? and What is DNA? by Genegeek
That Eternal Question by Nicholas Suntzeff
Choosing the Paths Less Traveled? There's an App for That by Henry Grabar
"Canopy" Meg Lowman (forest ecologist) – podcast by Samantha Larson
Scientific reproducibility, for fun and profit by John Timmer
Good Scientist! You Get a Badge. by Carl Zimmer
Reproducing Scientific Results – On Purpose by Derek Lowe
Common Lab Dye Found to Interrupt Formation of Huntington's Disease Proteins by Kathleen Raven
No, that's not a picture of a double sunset on Mars and An unreal Mars skyline by Phil Plait
How to Patch the PhD Problem by Alison McCook
Lead's Everlasting Legacy by Meghan D. Rosen
Tweeting my genome #twenome and "Run away!": a one-size-fits-all solution by Alex Brown
The Rise of the Three-Parent Family by Annalee Newitz
The Political Benefits of Taking a Pro-Climate Stand in 2012 by Connie Roser-Renouf, Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach
The Circadian Advantage: How Sleep Patterns Benefit Certain NFL Teams by David K. Randall
Book Review: Newjack Guarding Sing Sing by Erin Podolak
Dear HigherEd Communicators: John Tesh is Kicking Our Asses by Elizabeth Monier-Williams
When Yellow Fever Came to the Americas by Michelle Ziegler
The Mind of a Flip-Flopper and Cow Week: Angry cows vs. angry mothers by Maggie Koerth-Baker
PhD2.0 and anecdotes from the trenches by Jeanne Garbarino
The Sea Longs for Red Devils by Daniela Hernandez
Cooperating For Selfish Reasons by Miss Behavior
The Mix-Up that Ended the World by Erik Vance
Intimate Life of Mosquitoes by Lowell Goldsmith
What Anti-Trafficking Advocates Can Learn from Sex Workers: The Dynamics of Choice, Circumstance, and Coercion by danah boyd
Confessions of a Fake Scientist by Phil Edwards
Baby, You Light Up My World Like Nobody Else by Rachel Wang
Nothing Says Baby-Makin' Like Desiccated Bacon and Scientists create a "Dow Jones" for ocean health by Allie Wilkinson
The Evolution of Shark Week, Pop-Culture Leviathan by Ashley Fetters
The Smell of Fear (No Tweets Necessary) by Natalie Angier
Post-Antipsychiatry by The Neurocritic
Where Have All The Cults Gone? and Is Poker A Game of Skill or Luck? by Neuroskeptic
Brain's Drain: Neuroscientists Discover Cranial Cleansing System by Daisy Yuhas
This Woman Wants You to Buy Her, Piece by Piece by Rose Eveleth
My Brain Made Me Do It: Psychopaths and Free Will and How PTSD and Addiction Can Be Safely Treated Together and Couples Therapy Can Help PTSD and Improve Relationships by Maia Szalavitz
On quack cancer cures, and "alternative medicine" as religion by Xeni Jardin
Scientists can block heroin addiction now? and Offbeat tales: The summer heat takes its toll and Morning wrap-up by Paul Raeburn
How to Put a Curator in a Box: Part 1 and Ask an Exhibitionist #1: What's the fake water? by Helen Chappell
Sharks and lasers, not just for entertainment! by Craig McClain
Giant cluster phenomenally fertile by Nadia Drake
Emma Marris: In Defense of Everglades Pythons and A Song Tries to Go Beyond the 'OMG' Reaction to GMOs by Andrew Revkin
The Emerging Revolution in Game Theory by The Physics arXiv Blog
"A simple feat… only expensive": The Oatmeal tries saving Tesla's lab by Casey Johnston
How many colors are really in a rainbow? by Ethan Siegel
Spiders Weave Better on LSD-25 by Clyde
Are Drug Companies Faking an Innovation Crisis? Uh, No. by Derek Lowe
Gorilla Joy Without a Doubt by Marc Bekoff
Turning Trauma Into Story: the Benefits of Journaling by Jordan Gaines
A Lesson in Rocketry by Marie-Claire Shanahan
PhD what is it good for? #leavingacademia by Jerry Nguyen
Contraception, healthcare and the costs women will leave behind by Katie Rogers and Ruth Spencer
The problem with poker by Pete Etchells
Rare Discovery: Hook-Legged Spider Found in Oregon Cave by Douglas Main
Why I'm Working Toward my Ph.D. at a Museum by Alejandro Grajales
How not to criticize psychiatry, part 1 by Tim Skellet
Book Review: The Wolverine Way, by Douglas Chadwick by DeLene Beeland
On Sciences and Humanities: Reflections on Coyne and Konnikova by German Dziebel
Citizen scientists may beat the pros in identifying at-risk species by Kate Shaw
The Long-Lived Legacy of the Cambrian's "Wonderful Life" by Brian Switek
Bigger and Smaller by Lucy E. Hornstein
Scissor Sisters by Sally Adee
Brain network: social media and the cognitive scientist (pdf) by Tom Stafford and Vaughan Bell
Media, Publishing, Technology and Society:
Sick of Impact Factors by Stephen Curry
A smear campaign against Impact Factors…and the Sheep of Science by Drugmonkey
Deep impact: Our manuscript on the consequences of journal rank by Bjoern Brembs
Chess ratings and Impact Factor and Self archiving science is not the solution by Zen Faulkes
On publishing in PLoS One, and what's the matter with ecology? by C. Titus Brown
Should supreme court justices use Google? by Paul Raeburn
Geneticists eye the potential of arXiv and Neanderthal sex debate highlights benefits of pre-publication by Ewen Callaway
9 ways to find helpful people and organizations to follow on Twitter by Steve Buttry
Instead of a press release: Options to add to your press release diet by Denise Graveline
Jonah Lehrer and the Problems with "Pithy" Science Writing by Karthika Muthukumaraswamy
Using Links as Citations Helps Gizmodo Defeat a Defamation Claim–Redmond v. Gawker Media by Eric Goldman
Discover magazine moving to Wisconsin and Discover magazine update by Paul Raeburn
New! New! New! (not yet) and If I were making a Twitter clone… and Making a Twitter clone, day II by Dave Winer
Magazines Don't Have a Digital Problem, They Have a Bundling Problem by Hamish McKenzie
Should journalists specialize? by Kallen Dewey Kentner
Science Outreach in North Carolina by Russ Campbell
Stop Publishing Web Pages by Anil Dash
Author Platform Lessons from #1 New York Times Bestseller Rebecca Skloot by Dan Blank
To Think, To Write, To Publish by Maria Delaney
Do We Need Another Information Sharing Platform? by Jalees Rehman
How The American University was Killed, in Five Easy Steps by Debra Leigh Scott
13 ways of looking at Medium, the new blogging/sharing/discovery platform from @ev and Obvious by Joshua Benton
How To Lose Twitter Followers by Neuroskeptic
What to Do With Political Lies by Garance Franke-Ruta
Science Communication in the PhD process by Heather Doran
Science News staffers complain about misappropriation of their copy by UPI and UPI's second response on misuse of copy by Paul Raeburn
UPI shirks responsibility by Curtis Brainard
News stories that aren't news by John L. Robinson
Student Paper Editors Quit at University of Georgia by RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Letter from the Editor in Chief by Polina Marinova
Students walk out on University of Georgia newspaper by Andrew Beaujon
UGA Red & Black staff walks out today in protest. Is it now Red & Dead? by Maureen Downey
Witness describes confrontation between Grady NewSource Reporter and Red & Black Publisher by Grady Newsource
Study: Journalists' lousy understanding of fair use leads to self-censorship by Andrew Beaujon
Five types of problem writer by Ann Friedman
Jonah Lehrer's Mistake — And Ours by Peter Sims
Making Studies Out of Nothing at All by Taylor Kubota
On being a journalist, getting quotes by Razib Khan
Mendeley Acquires SciLife, a Social Network for Scientists and Researchers by Darrell Etherington
Nikola Tesla museum campaign earns $500,000 online in two days by Adam Gabbatt
Lessons on the Internet for LAMs from The Oatmeal: Or, Crowdfunding and the Long Geeky Tail by Trevor Owens
Further Decline in Credibility Ratings for Most News Organizations by Pew
The Update by Matt Thompson
Metrics, metrics everywhere: How do we measure the impact of journalism? by Jonathan Stray
Why we are poles apart on climate change and Doing science is different from communicating it — even when the science is the science of science communication by Dan Kahan
Hey, Twitter — shouldn't it be about the users? by Mathew Ingram
The first steps towards a modern system of scientific publication by Joe Pickrell
Reflections on science blogging by Puff the Mutant Dragon
Blogs of the Week so far:
May 11, 2012: Academic Panhandling
May 18, 2012: Anole Annals
May 25th, 2012: Better Posters
June 1st, 2012: Vintage Space
June 8th, 2012: Tanya Khovanova's Math Blog
June 15th, 2012: Russlings
June 22nd, 2012: Parasite of the Day
June 29th, 2012: March of the Fossil Penguins
July 6th, 2012: Musings of a Dinosaur
July 13th, 2012: Contagions
July 21th, 2012: Life is short, but snakes are long
July 27th, 2012: Science Decoded
August 11th, 2012: Powered By Osteons


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Lunenburg police investigate racist graffiti aimed at eighth grader
Harassment prompts school officials to postpone football game
The alleged harassment of an eighth grader forced Lunenburg school officials to cancel a high school football game Friday night.
Andrea Brazier told NewsCenter 5's Liam Martin that when her family awoke Friday morning, someone had spray painted racist graffiti aimed at her son on their home's foundation.
Her son, Isaac Phillips, is on Lunenburg High School's football team, the Blue Knights. Brazier is white and her son's father is black.
"I don't really understand why someone would even do something like this," Phillips said. "I have two younger brothers and another sister. This is our house, this is where we live. Eventually they're going to see it."
Brazier said she immediately called police, who then notified the school. Superintendent Loxi Jo Calmes decided Friday afternoon to indefinitely postpone the football game against Oakmont Regional.
"It's upsetting obviously. All my kids go there," said Brazier.
The family said that players were given an opportunity to come forward with information during a meeting on Friday but chose not to.
In addition to the graffiti, Phillip's cleats were taken from his locker and thrown in a trash can. The same day a tire on his bicycle was slashed in the school parking lot.
"That was like my ride home," he said.
Brazier said her son no longer wants to attend Lunenburg High because of the harassment.
"He doesn't want to go to the school anymore. He's beyond upset about the whole situation," father Anthony Phillips said.
Police issued a statement on Saturday saying the incident was under investigation by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Worcester District Attorney's Office.
"As a community we offer our deepest support to the player and his family, and want to emphasize that Lunenburg is an inclusive, supportive community and this is not the sort of behavior we foster or tolerate. The nature of this crime has deeply impacted the team, the school and the entire community," the statement read.

subset: commoncrawl


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This post is written for Three Line Tales Challenge Number 43. It is a challenge put forth by Sonya from Only 100 Words, where we write a three line tale for the supplied image.
No matter what masks the face, it is going to dry, decay and die.
Be You.
It is honorable to dry, decay and die with true identity.
Note: I was a little lost with a sequence either to choose "dry, decay and die" or "dry, die and decay". Decay being a process, I decided to keep it before die with no strong major reasoning to chose what so ever.


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The Earth's original atmosphere held very little oxygen. This began to change around 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels increased dramatically during what scientists call the "Great Oxidation Event." The cause of this event has puzzled scientists, but researchers writing in Nature* have found indications in ancient sedimentary rocks that it may have been linked to a drop in the level of dissolved nickel in seawater.
"The Great Oxidation Event is what irreversibly changed surface environments on Earth and ultimately made advanced life possible," says research team member Dominic Papineau of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory. "It was a major turning point in the evolution of our planet, and we are getting closer to understanding how it occurred."
The researchers, led by Kurt Konhauser of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, analyzed the trace element composition of sedimentary rocks known as banded-iron formations, or BIFs, from dozens of different localities around the world, ranging in age from 3,800 to 550 million years. Banded iron formations are unique, water-laid deposits often found in extremely old rock strata that formed before the atmosphere or oceans contained abundant oxygen. As their name implies, they are made of alternating bands of iron and silicate minerals. They also contain minor amounts of nickel and other trace elements.
Nickel exists in today's oceans in trace amounts, but was up to 400 times more abundant in the Earth's primordial oceans. Methane-producing microorganisms, called methanogens, thrive in such environments, and the methane they released to the atmosphere might have prevented the buildup of oxygen gas, which would have reacted with the methane to produce carbon dioxide and water. A drop in nickel concentration would have led to a "nickel famine" for the methanogens, who rely on nickel-based enzymes for key metabolic processes. Algae and other organisms that release oxygen during photosynthesis use different enzymes, and so would have been less affected by the nickel famine. As a result, atmospheric methane would have declined, and the conditions for the rise of oxygen would have been set in place.
The researchers found that nickel levels in the BIFs began dropping around 2.7 billion years ago and by 2.5 billion years ago was about half its earlier value. "The timing fits very well. The drop in nickel could have set the stage for the Great Oxidation Event," says Papineau. "And from what we know about living methanogens, lower levels of nickel would have severely cut back methane production."
What caused the drop in nickel? The researchers point to geologic changes that were occurring during the interval. During earlier phases of the Earth's history, while its mantle was extremely hot, lavas from volcanic eruptions would have been relatively high in nickel. Erosion would have washed the nickel into the sea, keeping levels high. But as the mantle cooled, and the chemistry of lavas changed, volcanoes spewed out less nickel, and less would have found its way to the sea.
"The nickel connection was not something anyone had considered before," says Papineau. "It's just a trace element in seawater, but our study indicates that it may have had a huge impact on the Earth's environment and on the history of life."
Dominic Papineau's research is supported by the NASA Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program and from the Fond québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies.
Article: Kurt O. Konhauser, Ernesto Pecoits, Stefan V. Lalonde, Dominic Papineau, Euan G. Nisbet, Mark E. Barley, Nicholas T. Arndt, Kevin Zahnle&Balz S. Kamber, Oceanic nickel depletion and a methanogen famine before the Great Oxidation Event, Nature 09 April, 2009.
The 'Great Oxidation Event' - Nickel Level In Seawater Gets A Study
By News Staff | April 7th 2009 10:00 PM | Print | E-mail
Related articles
- Oxygen Was Present In The Atmosphere Much Earlier Than Previously Assumed
- Global Warming May Increase Methane Emissions From Freshwater Ecosystems
- Methanogens: Microbes Make Eco-Friendly Methane
- Snowball Earth To Thank For Evolution Of Life On Earth, Says Study
- Substance In Photosynthesis Was At Work In Ancient, Methane-producing Microbes


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Well that "detour" in my life is coming to the next stage. Time to go and get rid of this cancer out of my body. Unfortunately this cancer is in my boob and I really don't want to get rid of one of the girls but hey this girl was trying to kill me. "Dont mess with the best cos the best don't mess" so off with her!
All set with the following about to be put in my "non pink" suitcase
- Jammies (Button down for comfort after op)
- Dressing Gown
- Safety Pins to hold the drains after
- Slippers
- 8 Bottles of Pinot Grigio for me and my new friend who will unfortunately also be with me tomorrow
- New extremely sexy bras (NOT)
- Laptop
- iPhone
- iPhone charger (most important of all things!)
Feeling extremely strange all day today and any time I think of the pending operation I get misty eyed and my tummy is in a heap. Have had loads of phone calls, texts, messages and well wishers which is wonderful starting to get a bit choked though in some of the calls. Who is this person? the big strong lady who has gone through all of this so far, why be so sad now? I am not nervous or scared just sad. Every time I think of getting my boob taken away it makes me sad, each shower is one less shower with two (of my own) boobs! Being totally honest I know this boob was trying to kill me and by getting rid of Cancerous Chloe I am going to be on my way to recovery. However no matter what way you look at it it's still sad so there!!!!
Hope the above makes sense and that I am allowed a few hours of sadness through all of this crap. I wouldn't be true to myself or this blog if I was saying that I was lepping around the garden with joy at the thought of it!! However I am so looking forward to this operation being over and continuing to get better by the day and start the beginning of my new life with my new boob! HEY we havent got a name for her yet – what you reckon?
Heading in at 0750 tomorrow to Vincents not sure I'll be playing Rod on the way over must find something lively to perk me up (excuse the pun). Not sure of exact time of operation yet but probably around 11 or 12 there will be a lot of prep first then the dreaded wait outside the operating room. Someone suggested I get a sedative as this person was a toughie like myself but lost it waiting outside – drugs – OH YEAH ME PLEASE! Was going it alone but "may" let my sister come with me
The operation is in three parts the mastectomy, the reconstruction (a tiny boob that will be pumped up over time) and then lymph node removal from my right arm they, as far as I know, are taking them all out as the bugger started to travel down that route. The operation in total is around 4/5 hours and will be in hospital around 4/5 days after it. I certainly wont be hollering to go home am going to get cosy and take my time in there, a lot of drains and other bits and pieces to be looked after so would prefer them to look after it than me. Just cant wait to wake up after the operation and know that it's OVER and that my cancer is gone that's the main thing!
Hope they wont be playing Queenie Eye Oh or Piggy in the Middle with my boobie in Theatre!
Recovery time after they say is 4-6 weeks worst part is that I probably wont be able to drive for that length of time either to me that's serious cabin fever. The worst part of the recovery is the arm as opposed to the breast (or non breast or new mound not sure what to call it – lets just call it the thing that is in place of Chloe). It's very important to get up and moving ASAP and get movement back in the arm with exercises that they give you etc.
Thats if folks as Midnight Oil tune says "the time has come" get it off, get on with my life. I am as strong and positive as ever in my mind with the determination to Kick the Shite out of Cancer so don't fear folks I havent lost it.
Once again sincere thanks to all of you for making the last eight months in a really strange way some of the best months of my life. I am truly blessed with you all behind me and all the thoughts, prayers, angels, healing powers are all being packed away in my head and brought with me tomorrow.


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We are proud to support local ornament crafters here in the United States of America. We want to make sure that our roots are firmly represented on our website and we just love the labors of love that these ornaments represent. The American made ornaments are made out of ceramic, glass balls and even hand-rolled clay. We have a variety to choose from that complement your decorating theme.
Note: some white or light colored ornament images may show a shadow that is not part of the actual ornament


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Do CEOs matter?
Certainly they do when they abruptly resign on the cusp of a big new strategic initiative and no reason is given for the move.
Just ask shareholders in Coinstar (NASDAQ:CSTR). Shares have tumbled more than 4% since the end of last week after the operator of those omnipresent Redbox video-rental kiosks said CEO Paul Davis is leaving — just as the company launches its highly anticipated online streaming service.
Yes, CEOs are overpaid by just about any yardstick or academic piece of research you care to cite, but considering that Davis' unexpected and unexplained departure cost shareholders about $58 million in market value and counting, well … you can see how poor optics and communication can be a very expensive proposition.
In that sense, Davis was worth every penny. His salary and bonus came to about $1.4 million last year, or about 2% of the value of the decline in Coinstar's market cap so far.
It would have been cheaper, at least in the short run, if he had stayed put.
But the selloff was almost certainly overdone — a knee-jerk reaction to unexpected news. That's especially true since Davis is being replaced from within by the company's CFO, which is key, since research shows that when it comes to top-level executives, skills do not translate from one area of expertise to another.
Indeed, that's precisely why CEO compensation is so wildly inflated, according to one study.
The typical CEO makes something like 400 times as much money as a firm's lowest-paid employee — up from 30 times a few decades ago. And much, if not all, of that compensation inflation can be attributed to inappropriate peer benchmarking, according to a paper by Charles Elson and Craig Ferrere at the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance.
It turns out that boards pay CEOs bucketloads of cash because other CEOs are making bucketloads of cash — and you don't want to lose your guy to another company just because he can get a bigger payday. Elson and Ferrere write:
"In setting the pay of their CEOs, boards invariably reference the pay of the executives at other enterprises in similar industries and of similar size and complexity. In what is described as 'competitive benchmarking,' compensation levels are generally targeted to either the 50th, 75th, or 90th percentile. This process is alleged to provide an effective gauge of 'market wages' which are necessary for executive retention."
But it turns out the idea that there's an efficient market for CEO talent is bunk. The skills of top managers are not fungible from industry to industry. Indeed, there's no proof whatsoever that even the greatest Coinstar CEO would be equally effective at running a retail chain, car maker or widget manufacturer. Again, they write:
"There is no conclusive empirical evidence that outside succession leads to more favorable corporate performance, or even that good performance at one company can accurately predict success at another. Executive skills cannot pass the most basic test of generality: transferability."
So while it's good news that Coinstar promoted from within, anyone looking to hire Davis in the future would do well to make sure it's in the same are of expertise. Otherwise, he will almost certainly be overpaid.
Which isn't really all that counterintuitive. After all, no one would have expected the late Steve Jobs to be as good at selling, say, hamburgers as he was at running Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). If anything, it appears that either Ford's (NYSE:F) Alan Mullaly — formerly of Boeing (NYSE:BA) — is either an exception to the rule, or the auto and aviation businesses aren't as different as they would first appear.
Carefully orchestrated and well-telegraphed succession plans are needed when it comes to switching CEOs. Coinstar's selloff is just the latest evidence of that. But when it comes to hiring new chief executives, it pays more to get someone who knows the field than just poaching a Wall Street rock star.
Shareholders should cast a skeptical eye the next time their company goes out of the industry to grab a headline name.
Ahem, Bob Nardelli, anyone?
As of this writing, Dan Burrows did not hold positions in any of the aforementioned securities.


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September 24th, 2013
Kanye West: I'm the No. 1 rock star - on the planet
Lately, Kanye West has been frustrated.
As he told BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe in a wide-ranging, hour-long interview this week, "I've reached a point in my life where my 'Truman Show' boat has hit the painting ... I've reached the glass ceiling as a creative person, as a celebrity."
In his view, Kanye West isn't just a rapper but a producer of product - and "not just clothing," he clarified, "but water bottle design, architecture, everything you could think about."
The source of his frustration, though, is that with him being a celebrity and a rap artist, the presumption is that he's limited in his abilities to stretch out into other arenas.
"I showed people that I understand how to make perfect - '(My Beautiful) Dark (Twisted) Fantasy' could be considered to be perfect. I know how to make perfect, but that's not what I'm here to do," he said. "I'm here to crack the pavement and make new grounds sonically and in society, culturally. ... I shouldn't be limited to only one place of creativity. ... I want to be the anchor of the first trillion dollar company."
Upon hearing that, listeners will inevitably surmise that's the old sizable West ego rearing its head again, the kind of response that seems to have left the 36-year-old artist genuinely confused.
Referring to his song "I Am A God" on "Yeezus," he wondered why "everybody says, 'Who does he think he is?' I just told you who I thought I was: a god!" West exclaimed in exasperation. "Would it have been better if I had a song that said, 'I am a n****r?' Or if I had a song that says 'I'm a gangster,' or, 'I am a pimp?' All those colors and patinas fit better on a person like me, right? But to say you are a god ... especially when you got shipped over to the country that you're in, and your last name is a slave owner's ... how could you have that mentality?"
And yet, despite his irritation at the limitations he's found, West hasn't lost perspective. Nor does he doubt that he'll accomplish his mission.
"For me, in my life and creativity, it's been challenging, but I was able to ascend to massive levels and never stop because of the foundation that my mother and my father and my grandfather laid through civil rights," he told Lowe. "What Michael Jackson did with music videos, and the ground he broke, there would be no Kanye West without Michael Jackson."
Now, rappers are "the rock stars," West said, "and I'm the biggest of all of them. I'm the No. 1 rock star on the planet."
If he's successful, the next ten years will also include big paydays for his daughter with Kim Kardashian, North. The artist, who's by now also famous for his tussles with paparazzi, envisions a time when his daughter will get paid for all of the pictures photographers will undoubtedly angle to take.
"I'm going to tell my daughter, ... 'Me and your mother were in a completely different situation than you're in ... all these checks you're getting at age six because people are taking your picture ... I made that happen, Nori.'"
His family, West noted, is where he finds space to be himself.
"Family time, it's what Kim gave me," he said. "She gave me everything. She gave me a family, she gave me a support system. She was in a powerful enough situation where she could love me without asking me for money - which is really hard for me to find."
So for those aching for the "Watch the Throne" or "Bound 2" Kanye, rather than the "Yeezus" that was introduced this summer, rest assured that version of the artist hasn't disappeared. He's just aiming higher.
"I always felt like I could do anything. That's the main thing people are controlled by - their perception of themselves. They're slowed down by their perception of themselves," he said. "Go listen to all my music, it's the codes of self-esteem. If you're a Kanye West fan, you're not a fan of me, you're a fan of yourself. You will believe in yourself - I'm just the espresso. I'm just the shot in the morning to get you going, to make you believe that you can overcome that situation that you're dealing with all the time."
West, you see, was taught that he can "do everything," as the rapper told Lowe. "And I'm Kanye West at age 36. So just watch the next 10 years."
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Jean Anderson-Collier teaches courses in song repertoire and diction, as well as coaching opera and art song, at New England Conservatory.
She works frequently with Opera Providence, Longwood Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera, and is a coach at Northern Arizona University's summer opera program in Italy, "Flagstaff in Fidenza."
She has served as an accompanist and assistant conductor for choruses at Harvard University, and as accompanist and diction coach for the Back Bay Chorale in Boston. She has also worked as a coach at the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina, and at the summer vocal institute of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Collier is also organist and choir director at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Scituate, Mass., where she runs an active recital series.
She has also been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and a participant in the Cleveland Art Song Festival. Collier is active as a collaborative pianist around the country and in Europe.
B.A., Cincinnati Bible College; M.M. in piano performance, Miami University; M.M. in accompanying, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; D.M.A., NEC; lieder studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Accompanying with Margo Garrett, Irma Vallecillo, Kayo Iwama, and Kenneth Griffiths. Lieder with Hartmut Hoell. Former faculty of Miami University, and Cincinnati Christian University.


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The Boulder chapter of the American Association of University Professors is calling on the University of Colorado to retract statements about tenured sociology professor Patti Adler.
In a statement made Sunday, the group urges CU to retract Provost Russell Moore's statement to the university community, saying Moore "strongly implied that Professor Adler had sexually harassed her students." The group also asked CU to issue a public apology to Adler and allow her to resume teaching without further reviews.
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said a retraction will not be forthcoming.
"It was a statement that emphasized the importance of student safety alongside academic freedom," he said. "Those are two values we're very committed to."
In his statement earlier this month, Moore wrote: "A number of you have raised concerns about academic freedom and how it may connect to this situation. Academic freedom protects faculty who teach controversial and uncomfortable/unpopular subjects. However, academic freedom does not allow faculty members to violate the University's sexual harassment policy by creating a hostile environment for their teaching assistants, or for their students attending the class."
The controversy stems from a skit on prostitution. Adler, who teaches the popular "Deviance in U.S. Society" class, asks undergraduate teaching assistants to portray prostitutes in a skit as part of one lecture.
She told the Daily Camera last week that the skit was deemed a "risk" to the university by the Office of Discrimination and Harassment. She said she has been given an ultimatum by the university: take a buyout and retire immediately, or have the course reviewed by the sociology department.
The Boulder chapter said in its statement that CU is violating Adler's academic freedom.
"While academic freedom cannot be absolute, the suspension of due process, on the grounds that some students may have felt pressured to volunteer for a classroom exercise, makes a mockery of the principles of academic freedom," according to the statement.
Last week, the Colorado chapter of the American Association of University Professors also issued a statement in support of Adler and condemned her treatment by CU.
According to the statement, members of the association feel that CU's treatment of Adler is a violation of academic freedom and an "unwarranted infringement on Professor's Adler's professional obligation to choose effective instructional methods to communicate disciplinary knowledge in her classroom."
The association's mission is to advance academic freedom and ensure higher education's contribution to the common good, according to its website. The association includes national, state and university chapters. All three now have communicated their support for Adler.


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Farrakhan, Louis
Farrakhan, Louis fâr´əkăn˝, fär´əkän˝ [key], 1933–, African-American religious leader, b. New York City, as Louis Eugene Walcott. A former calypso singer known as
The Charmer,he joined the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) in 1955, eventually becoming minister of the Harlem Temple after Malcolm X broke with the religious group. After Elijah Muhammad died and his son steered the Black Muslims toward Sunni Islamic practice, Farrakhan founded (1977) a reorganized Nation of Islam that adhered to the elder Muhammad's teachings. Often denounced as anti-Semitic and antiwhite, Farrakhan has stridently criticized white Americans while emphasizing African-American self-improvement. In 1995 he was one of the chief organizers of the Million Man March, a day of renewal for African-American men in Washington, D.C. In 2000, Farrakhan publicly reconciled with W. Deen Mohammed, Elijah's son. In 2006, Farrakhan, suffering from illness, gave the day-to-day responsibilities for running the Nation of Islam to its executive board.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Islam: Biographies


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Jonathan Pike
Debt Consolidation and Debt Reduction Service


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Onward Through the Fog, Exercise Tiger
In my last post about the battle of Kiska, I discussed a battle that was fought even though the enemy side didn't show up. Nonetheless hundreds of casualties were incurred by friendly fire before the "fighting" was over. I should also have added that in modern warfare, IE since gunpowder, about ten percent of wartime casualties are caused by friendly fire. While some incidents are harder to understand than others, it's easy enough to understand that when one has millions of people firing deadly long range weapons at each other, mistakes will be made. General Grant's right hand man, Stonewall Jackson, was killed by friendly fire. And equipment malfunctions. The Tang, America's number one submarine ace of World War Two … was sunk by their own torpedo that swerved back and hit them. In fact if Kiska had been defended by the Japanese, there likely would have been more deaths by friendly fire, since there would have been a lot more fire, period.
In any event, while there are other battles in history that have been fought even though one side didn't show up, I thought it would be interesting to write about a battle that was fought when the enemy made an unscheduled appearance. I am talking about Exercise Tiger, another American embarrassment in World War Two. Well, maybe not embarrassment, more like "let's not mention this happened, OK?" This occurred while the allies, especially the Americans, were preparing for the D-Day landings. Eisenhower decided the American troops needed to practice the invasion under realistic conditions, and Exercise Tiger was born. Basically, an area of coastline with a good beach was evacuated (about 3,000 locals were moved,) and American troops would practice landing on it under realistic conditions. There would be a bombardment of the coast beforehand, and the bombardment would continue inland from the beach even after the troops hand landed. This way the troops would have some exposure to real gunfire in their proximity. More than 30,000 troops were involved, this was a big deal.
The exercise started on the morning of 27 April 1944. The shelling of the beach was to end half an hour before the troops waded ashore, giving officers on the shore half an hour to make sure no live rounds were laying around the beach. The shelling was delayed by an hour though. Some of the landing craft didn't get the message … so numerous landing craft put ashore half an hour before the bombardment was finished. Oops. It was ugly, to say the least. Several hundred troops were killed, and many more wounded. Not an auspicious start to what was simply supposed to be a training exercise.
The next day, things got worse. A convoy of American LSTs (a large ship for landing troops and tanks on a beach) sailed out to practise landing the follow-up force to the landings of the day before. They had two British warships escorting them, however one of the warships developed mechanical problems and had to return to base. Unfortunately the Americans and British were using different radio frequencies, so the Americans weren't informed about this. And since no one expected to be attacked, the ships were travelling in a big line. Think ducks in a row. Then the British escort ship received a message stating that German ships had been sighted in the area the previous night. The British assumed the Americans had also been informed of this. They hadn't. So when nine warships appeared on the horizon, the Americans thought they were part of the exercise. And in a way, they were, just not a scheduled part of it. The nine warships were in fact German E-boats, or torpedo boats as they are called in America. They had no trouble telling friend from foe, and swooped in to attack the more or less defenceless American LSTs.
This is where it got really ugly. Two LSTs sank, one was severely damaged. A fourth was damaged by friendly fire. The remaining American ships and the British escort returned fire and the Germans fled, but the damage had been done. More than 600 Americans drowned. Later it turned out that many had drowned because in their haste they had donned their life vests wrong, so when they jumped in the water their vests flipped them upside down … head underwater. The survivors were sworn to secrecy, partly because the news would hurt morale and partly because they didn't want to give the Germans intelligence and propaganda fodder. It's been claimed by some that they were sworn to secrecy for life, but that isn't the case. They were sworn to secrecy until the end of the war. And in fact the Allies announced the catastrophe quietly, both during and after the war, but it was overshadowed by greater events and more or less forgotten for decades.
Fortunately this story has a silver lining. Yes, the troops got some training under extremely realistic conditions. More importantly, major deficiencies in training and planning for D-Day were revealed. Three major changes were made. The British and Americans started using the same radio frequencies. A force of small rescue boats was added to D-Day invasion plans for rescuing troops in the water if their ships were sunk. And of course troops all got much better training on how to don and use their life vests. So no doubt these deaths saved many lives on D-Day, they didn't die in vain.
God rest their souls.
(The above image is LST-289, hit and set afire by E-boats, it still made it back to port. Since the eighties efforts to memorialize these forgotten casualties have been underway, here's a few links: The Slapton Sands Memorial Tank website. Yes, a Sherman Tank that sank in the disaster has been hauled out onto the beach and used a a memorial. The Slapton village memorial site. And of course the official US memorial site.)
4 Responses
Erm… Stonewall Jackson was General LEE's right hand man. Nice post otherwise though.
"no doubt these deaths saved many lives on D-Day, they didn't die in vain."
They died for a right cause. After succesfully completing the invasion they offered the russians half of Europe on a silver plate. Which from then and for 50 years could happily live in slavery.
Thank you very much, anglo americans.
[…] in history. And a great success, thanks to the careful planning … and the disaster during Exercise Tiger in April, where the deaths of hundreds of American GIs in a training exercise showed that there […]


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NOTE: This post has the unique distinction of being co-written in collaboration with astrologer June Rose Trimbach. We will be co-teaching classes together in the coming season, and as we were already communicating a lot about our shared ideas regarding this Total Solar Eclipse, it seemed like a fitting opportunity to introduce our coming work together. On October 29 we will be co-teaching a class at the Portland School of Astrology entitled The Daimon: The Guiding Spirit of Astrology. We are also currently developing a series of introductory astrology webinar classes we will be teaching in the coming months. There is not yet a planned start date for the webinar series as we are still putting material together, but I will let you know as soon as we have clear dates set up. Feel free to send me an email if you are interested in learning astrology from us through the webinar medium, and I can answer any questions you may have about them.
Solar Eclipse in Leo
Black as the night from which the light of stars emerge, black as the earth full of death that produces life. Black as the feathers of crows that soar through space, black as the darkness that nurtures recovery. The blackness of a total solar eclipse in which the light of our Sun is blocked takes us into the mysterious void from which all of our known universes are created. In the blackness we may rediscover our own source of primordial creativity from within, as well as realize the illusory nature of a reality we previously believed in.
In the time leading up to this eclipse, the Sun is shining through its home sign of the Lion, the sign of strength of heart and leadership. The light of the Sun brings exposure and purification; the true hearts of humans are exposed. As the Moon moves in front of the Sun, a shadow is cast, and a shadow is revealed. While the shadow of leadership and courage is exposed, it is also a portal for deeper understanding of our own hearts, our own courage to lead and to shine. We learn the deeper motivations for these goals, and the potential wounding therein.
Astrologer Joe Landwehr teaches that in a Solar Eclipse the creative dynamic potential is eclipsed by the emotional needs of the Soul. The needs of the Soul can be largely irrational, in that we can be pulled to act in ways that one wouldn't always choose. Joe has taught that the Soul sometimes drags our unwilling selves into tough places, but places that we need to be. These irrational Soul-needs are like a deep well of insight into the meaning of our lives that when we ignore, come back to haunt us. This means that if our Soul is drawn to leadership, acts of courage or greater emanation of the heart, we may have to face these parts of ourselves now. How can we show up to these potentially hidden parts? The eclipse can reveal these parts, but they may not look rational or even safe: how can we honor the parts of ourselves that have remained in the dark?
An eclipse is also known as a great dragon showing itself, devouring the Sun: terrible and mystical and wise. This eclipse takes place on the north node or the head of the dragon. This head is desirous, consuming and wishes to devour, but devour what? There is potential available amid the surrounding astrological transits to cast off old inner restrictions in order to access greater currents of vitality to not only express in the world, but also take the responsibility to manage with greater integrity. Yet when we speak of stepping into greater empowerment and claiming greater levels of Leonine power, we must also question and reflect upon the shadow cast by ambition. As the Leo Sun turns black, the disappearance and reappearance of light can be a portal through which we may gain greater awareness for how to live a more empowered life; one that works in collaboration with the power of others, rather than claims power over others. The lion is strongest when it realizes it is connected to the natural energetic heart of its community, rather than being the heart itself; love is found in the space in between people.
New forms enter our lives during eclipses as old forms exit, and the quality of what comes in and out can feel both exciting and scary. Though eclipses have a long association in the astrological tradition with difficult, even disastrous events, they have also proven to mark significant thresholds of more fulfilling fortune. Professor Qiguang Zhao wrote a beautiful book on dragons entitled A Study of Dragons, East and West in which he explored how the dragons of ancient cultures in the East (East Asia) that were more apocalyptic and associated with heaven came to be associated in the West (Middle East and Europe) as a demonic death symbol linked to "the world of nightmare and the scapegoat, of bondage, pain, and confusion" (p. 61). Zhao shared the following text from Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West that shows the transcendent symbolism of dragons, the creatures most associated with eclipses:
Soaring and transforming,
Encircling clouds and mists,
Like suspending white hooks their claws let fall,
Like bright mirrors the silver scales shine.
Whiskers flap like white silk, each stand's visible,
Horns rise imposingly, each prong is clear
Those rugged foreheads;
Those bright round eyes.
The Dragons, hidden or seen, can't be fathomed;
The Dragons, flying or flitting, can't be described.
If you pray for rain, rain comes instantly;
If you ask for clear sky, you have it at once.
These, only these, are the true dragon forms.
Most dignified and holy,
As a good omen, their aura surrounds the palace profusely.
Leo 3 Decan
In the days leading up to the eclipse, many of us find ourselves consuming images of banners, bravado and martial violence. These are themes that are presented by the third decan of Leo where the eclipse takes place, a decan associated with the Seven of Wands card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image of the third decan is seen by Austin Coppock in his book 36 Faces as an image of "The Banner." It is ruled by Mars, the planet of courage, heroic acts and martial combat. These are clues to what the dragon head of the eclipse might be seeking: glory, a cause to fight for. This is perhaps what we are all seeking right now. And now is a time to get in touch with our personal banners. What do we stand for and why?
Mars not only rules the third face of Leo where the eclipse occurs, Mars is also present within the third decan of Leo giving it amplified power. In addition, the eclipse occurs within the Egyptian bounds of Mars, and Mars is applying to a conjunction with the North Node of the Moon, the head of the dragon. Mars is on the threshold of leaving combustion with the Sun at the time of the eclipse, but is still invisible under the beams of the Sun emerging from its long journey through the underworld (though perhaps the total darkness of the eclipse may allow for Mars to become temporarily visible). Although we have a Mars recently reborn from its union with the Sun, it still carries within it the impact of past wounds from previous cycles. We can feel the determination of Mars in the image of the Seven of Wands card, in which a warrior is fighting against an onslaught from an angry mob. Mars asks us what ideals, principles, and other forms of personal terrain are worth fighting to protect at all cost.
The Total Leo Solar Eclipse has been named "The Great American Eclipse" as the path of the dragon enters the continental United States in Oregon and exits in South Carolina. In the time leading up to the eclipse, heated conflict has erupted in the United States over the banner fought under by the Confederate army in the Civil War. Notably Charleston, South Carolina is on the path of the eclipse dragon as it exits the continent, as Charleston is the location of the first shots fired in the Civil War as well as the location of the horrific murder of African American church goers in June 2015 by white supremacist Dylan Rooff, a tragedy that reignited debate over the presence of Confederate flags and monuments across the United States.
Even as we see images of the shadow of the banner, the question we may ask is if we can devour the banner itself. Can we devour the face of evil so that it is banned from the earth, or will that only perpetuate more violence? The head of a dragon in a realm of such proud martial power is also evocative as the ultimate protector, the courageous warrior willing to give their own life in order to protect life. Martial strength may be utilized to resist forces of hate and as stated in the Four-Fold Way by Angeles Arriens, "by staying in our power, by showing up and choosing to be present, by extending honor and respect, and by being responsible and accountable."
To know the absolute is to be tolerant.
What is tolerant becomes impartial;
What is impartial becomes powerful;
What is powerful becomes natural;
What is natural becomes Tao.
— Lao Tzu, quoted from R.L. Wing's translation, The Tao of Power
As the path of the Total Solar Eclipses travels from coast to coast across the United States, its relevant to delve deeper into the country's astrological context. The astrology chart most often used by astrologers relates to the date of the Declaration of Independence, and though different versions exist they all involve the Moon in Aquarius, the South Node of the Moon in Aquarius, and the North Node of the Moon in Leo. Thus the United States is experiencing the karma of a nodal return and eclipses in the same signs as occurred during the time of its Declaration of Independence. Part of the country's karma involves the fact the same people who crafted its language of liberation also owned slaves, and the development of its culture coincided with attempts to forcibly remove the culture of the land's indigenous population.
The shadow of hatred and fear showed itself in Charlottesville, Virginia on a weekend in between two eclipses under a fiery celestial triangle. It was met with courage. There is an opportunity now to join this fight that was started as far back as our mind will take us. This fight has had many iterations throughout time, while simultaneously it is a fight felt deeply and personally all around our planet. But to join it lightly without knowledge of the shadowy realm this fight takes place in, would be unwise. The opening of a true heart of courage is possible here, a courage based on love and camaraderie. Is it possible even in evil actions, this is what is sought? The ghosts of the past are imminent in the story of America and its present begs for action and healing.
The shadows of Leo and Mars have been problematic in these wounds; the elite white class wrote the constitution for themselves and pitted the poor whites and slaves against each other; a reality we are still seeing. The infrastructure and laws of our country (Saturn) have kept people in chains through Jim Crow laws, the prison industrial complex, and other forms of institutional oppression. Curses economic, societal and emotional hold us back from sharing love with each other, yet we find anecdotes of that very love being shared liberally. The story of fear is not the only story, and we must connect with each other in good ways to get through this. How have the structures of the past and present limited your expression of love, and is there an opportunity of liberation now?
The eclipse activates a grand fire trine with Saturn and Uranus. The disruption of past structures and creative ways of making new ones are prominent themes right now. Uranus is in an exact trine with the Solar Eclipse, making creativity and the unleashing of potential a huge catalyst for change. Uranus is also the story of Prometheus, the one who stole the Fire of the Gods and gave it to humanity. Western astrologers tend to glorify the myth of Prometheus, yet other interpretations reveal it to be a cautionary tale of hubris and desire to wield the power of gods. Fascinatingly, the current transit of Uranus in Aries forms a square to the natal placement of Pluto in Capricorn in the chart of the Declaration of Independence. The Pluto of the U.S. is a storehouse of subterranean power and wealth, ruled by Saturn who now finds itself in Pluto's twelfth house of secrets and hidden potential. The light and shadow of this eclipse is revealing deep secrets, yet there is an even deeper sense of upheaval. In the next five years the U.S. will have its first Pluto return, a transit that can transform, empower or dismantle altogether.
Love is also a force of light and nurture that liberates you to inhabit to the full your own difference. There should be no imitation of each other. No need to be defensive or protective in each other's presence. Love should encourage and free you fully into your full potential.
— John O'Donahue from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
So what is there to do in this time of upheaval? Make a choice to know the shadows of your own heart; true courage comes from love. The shadows of the past are cropping up, in our nations, in ourselves. One power of Leo is to lead by example; to bring an open heart to everything you do. Remain open to changing the structure of your life based on the needs of the Soul. Consider your personal banner: what would you be sure enough to proclaim to the world upon an inspection of the shadow and a heart centered reflection?
What will burn in the light of day as it is revealed, what will take form in our world and what will leave? The shadow is only something to be feared when it is not addressed. We can learn and heal from the scared parts of ourselves, and generally this is what eclipses are about. There is also a question of how we can move in the world. Can we put something into the world that is authentic? Can our radiant heart find liberation and the structure to express itself more truly and freely? Even as actions from wounding inflict more wounding during this eclipse period, can we stand from a place of empowerment and love for the world?
Written by Gray Crawford and June Rose Trimbach
Arriens, Angeles. (1993). The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary. Harper Collins.
Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.
O'Donahue, John. (1997). Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. Harper Perennial.
Zhao, Qiguang. (1992). A Study of Dragons, East and West. Peter Lang Publishing.


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Nexus 2.0 turns your repository manager into the first line of defense against security vulnerabilities and the perfect platform to assess your exposure to open source licenses. With this release, your repository becomes more than just a place to file binary artifacts, it becomes a tool you can use to implement security policy and govern which open source licenses are used in your projects.
Nexus is in perfect position to be your OSS "sentry": keeping watch over insecure artifacts as they are downloaded from remote repositories. Your builds and your developers request open source artifacts from Nexus all the time, and Nexus relays those requests to remote repositories downloading the open source artifacts your teams have come to depend on. While your company builds software and completes CI builds, your Nexus instance is assembling a local cache of all the artifacts used in your applications. You can scan this local proxy cache for problematic components with a feature we've named Repository Health Check.
Nexus 2.0: Repository Health Check
Repository Health Check connects your Nexus instance to Sonatype Insight - a service from Sonatype providing tools that let you to manage and monitor license, quality, and security data about the artifacts used in your software development lifecycle. If there's a critical security bug in a Tomcat library used in your application, the new Repository Health Check report can tell you if this library has made it into your Nexus instance. If you are inadvertently shipping software with an AGPL dependency, Nexus can now alert you to unacceptable licensing risks.
Install Nexus 2.0 and note the new Quality column in the Nexus repository view, each repository eligible for a repository health check has a green "Analyze" button. Clicking on this button will schedule a health check with the Sonatype insight server. This green button will change to a blue button signaling that a health check is in progress.
When you submit a repository to Insight for a repository health check your data is secure. We're not transferring any binary artifacts to the Insight service, and no identifying information about your artifacts is sent to the Insight service. The only data transmitted to Insight is a set of hashcodes for the artifacts in your repository. Once this data has been submitted, Insight then analyzes these hashcodes against a database of licensing and security vulnerability information returning a report that summarizes your exposure to security risks and various open source licenses.
Repository Health Check Summary
Once this analysis has been completed an analyzed repository will display top-level numbers for security and licenses issues identified in a repository. Clicking on this information will load a Summary report.
Here you see a summary report showing you high-level information about the open source artifacts identified in this repository including summary information security and licensing issues identified in a repository. You see the number of security issues identified as well as a breakdown of issues by severity: Critical, Severe, and Moderate. You will also see a breakdown of open source artifacts grouped by license type: Copyleft, Liberal, and Weak Copyleft.
Nexus Professional: Detailed Repository Health Check Reports
Nexus Professional users can drill-down into the details of this summary report to view individual security issues and license information.
Above is a detailed security report. Insight currently tracks security vulnerabilities from the Open Soucre Vulnerability Database and the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures lists. Each vulnerability is assigned a severity and associated with a groupId, artifactId, and version number. By scanning your own proxy repositories you can identify and address potential security vulnerabilities before they make it into production by upgrading your projects and removing the insecure dependencies.
Above is a detailed licensing report. This report lists the identified license threat color coded for severity. The report also lists the declared licenses alongside a list of licenses observed from a simple scan of the project's source code. You can use these details to assess your exposure to various open source license and start to implement policies for licenses and dependencies integrated into your software projects.
To learn more about Nexus 2.0, go to the Nexus Professional Product site to download a trial of Nexus Professional 2.0. You can also download the open source version of Nexus 2.0 by going to nexus.sonatype.org.


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Li Po wrote poems that asked questions. A common theme was drinking alcohol, but, when I read his poetry, I wonder if it was alcohol or his intoxication with the world he lived in? What is real and not real sometimes blurs boundaries and we ask questions about what is real and not real. Who is the leader and who is not appears in Li Po's poetry.
Herman Hesse blurred the lines between Leo as a leader and Leo as a servant in Journey to the East. Who serves who? What does it mean to lead and serve? There is a Taoist quality in those questions.
Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly,
And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking.
Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ?
Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things?
The water that flows into the depth of the distant sea
Returns anon to the shallows of a transparent stream.
The man, raising melons outside the green gate of the city,
Was once the Prince of the East Hill.
So must rank and riches vanish.
You know it, still you toil and toil,—what for?


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Ready Pac Foods recalls nearly 30 tons of salad that may contain listeria
The salads were produced between Jan. 17, 2017 and Feb. 17, 2017
The salads were produced between Jan. 17, 2017 and Feb. 17, 2017
Ready Pac Foods locations in Swedesboro, N.J., Jackson, Ga., and Irwindale, Calif., are recalling around 59,225 pounds of a variety of its chicken salad product that may be contaminated with listeria, according to the US Dept. of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service on Thursday.
The Puro Picante Blazin' Hot salad items were made between Jan. 17, 2017 and Feb. 17, 2017 and served in 7.5-oz. single serve salad bowl packages of "Ready Pac Foods Puro Picante Blazin Hot" with use-by dates of 01/31/17 through 03/04/2017.
The products have the numbers P-27497, P-32081, or P-18502B inside the USDA mark of inspection. The salads were shipped nationwide.
"Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Less commonly, persons outside these risk groups are affected," the USDA said.
Anyone who purchased these products are urged not to consume them. They should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.


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Congressman Paul Ryan says he's focusing on the future with President Obama's second term rather than the election in which the Janesville Congressman was defeated as running mate on the Republican Presidential ticket.
"Look it went the other way," says Ryan, the House budget chairman. "The way I look at this is a day where you put aside your disagreements; you move forward."
AUDIO: Rep. Paul Ryan (:09)
Ryan, who is on hand at the president's ceremony, says the "peaceful transition" is "a sign of how civil and unique our country is."
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden took their official oaths-of-office Sunday, as required by the Constitution. But whenever the Inauguration Day falls on Sunday, the public proceedings are normally pushed back to Monday.
Tom Karkow-WRJN contributed to this report


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Inspired by: ezinearticles


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Butte County residents are being reminded by the Butte County Sheriff"s Office of several telephone scams around the county.
The Sheriff"s Office has been receiving multiple reports of people getting phone calls from someone claiming to be with the Butte County Sheriff"s Office, according to a press release. The caller states there"s a warrant that"s about to be issued unless the person makes an immediate payment.
The same scam tactic has been happening around the United States.
Tracking the perpetrators is difficult because of technology used by the scammer, according to the Sheriff"s Office. However, authorities are investigating and the Butte County Sheriff"s Office has served search warrants.
How the scam works:
People will receive a phone call from a local telephone number, and the person calling will claim to be in law enforcement and use a sense of urgency and threat of an arrest. The scammer will claim that in order to avoid arrest, the victim will have to pay a fine. Victims are then instructed to purchase a prepaid debit card and transfer the funds to an account via phone.
The Butte County Sheriff"s Office said the caller will usually ask for amounts from several hundred dollars up to $2,000.
The Sheriff"s Office is only aware of one case locally where someone lost money because of the scam.
Several other people have reported similar scams in Butte County, including receiving a call about missed jury duty, having unpaid citations and owing money to the IRS.
People who believe they have received a scam phone call are asked to report it by calling 538-7322.