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YPSILANTI, Mich. – There is an increased police presence in Ypsilanti after an EMU student was found dead in her apartment.
Police are investigating the death of a 23-year-old Eastern Michigan University student who was found dead in an off-campus apartment complex.
Ypsilanti police said Julia Catherine Niswender was found Tuesday night when officers responded to a call at Peninsular Place Apartments in the 1000 block of Huron River Drive.
Her cause of death is still under investigation but police are calling it an apparent homicide.
Niswender was a 2008 graduate of Monroe High School and was an undergraduate at Eastern Michigan. A twin sister, Jennifer, recently graduated from the Ypsilanti campus.
A friend, Andrew Hoppert, says Niswender was "very social" and had a large group of friends. He says she didn't live alone in Ypsilanti.
Police sent out a notification of the incident to students and staff via email and text.
EMU President Sue Martin also sent the following letter:
Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,
It is with great sadness that I write to you this afternoon about the tragic death of one of our students. As we reported earlier, the student has been identified as 23-year old Julia Catherine Niswender. She was a junior in Communication, Media and Theatre Arts. She was found last night in her off-campus apartment, located in the 1000 block of Huron River Drive. Ypsilanti Police are investigating her death as an apparent homicide. The cause of death has not been determined and Ypsilanti Police have no information at this time on a possible suspect.
Our understanding is that police were called to Julia's apartment after a suitemate reported not having seen her for several days. The Ypsilanti Police Department is continuing to investigate the case. The EMU Police Department is working closely with Ypsilanti Police and we will report additional information as we obtain it, and as events may warrant.
Ypsilanti Police asks that anyone who might have information concerning this to contact Det/Sgt T.C. Eberts @ 734-482-9878 or Crimestopper's @ 1-800- SPEAKUP (773-2587).
Counseling is available for students and others in the EMU family who may want those services. You can contact Counseling and Psychological Services at 734-487-1118. The offices are located at 313 Snow Health Center. Counselors recommend that those interested call ahead before stopping in.
A dedicated website has been established to provide the latest updates on the student death and campus safety and security information, as well as information about counseling. In addition, we will have a campus safety forum today at 4 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium, in which Chief Heighes and I will offer an update and safety recommendations.
Our deepest sympathy, thoughts and prayers are with Julia's family and friends at this time.


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Why C++/CLI Supports both Templates for CLI Types and the CLI Generic Mechanism
I've been recently puzzling out a strategy for presenting the two mechanisms supporting parameterized types available to the C++/CLI programmer: she can use either the template mechanism adapted for use with CLI types, or the CLI generic mechanism. This is not unique to the support of parameterized types, of course, but it seems a lightening rod for pernicky questions:
(1) isn't the support for two mechanisms that are similar in intent but which differ in both gross and subtle semantic behavior confusing for a user?
(2) doesn't the dual nature of these constructs increase the liklihood of programmer error?
(3) isn't this a canonical illustration of the undisciplined nature of the C++ language design where everything but the kitchen sink seems to get thrown in? you guys just can't get your act together, can you?
Let's see what kind of answers I can offer. [Disclaimer: of course, these are my thoughts, and do not represent either the corporate views or policies of Microsoft.]
The C++ binding to the CLI which I refer to as C++/CLI represents an integration of two separate object models: the static object model of native C++ and the dynamic program model of the CLI. We've seen conflicts between these two models before – in particular between the native and CLI enum, the native and CLI array, and the native and CLI reference class.
Under the CLI object model, individual languages are – not to put too fine a point on it – somewhat diminished – much as how in a modern country, the individual states while soverign are constrained to the laws of the central authority. For example, the CLI defines the underlying type system within which a language operates, as well as the inheritance model. As we saw in an earlier blog, the CLI does not, for example, support private inheritance, value inheritance (that is, the inheritance of implementation but not of type), or multiple inheritance (MI). While a language can choose to support these aspects of inheritance, that support requires a mapping onto the existing CLI object model because there is no direct support.
The Eiffel language under CLI, for example, choose to provide an MI mapping because it felt that (a) MI is a valuable inheritance model, and (b) its users would be dimished without its support under the CLI – that is, it would give its users a dimished programming experience under the CLI than on native platforms, and this would likely deter them from migrating to the CLI itself – or at least of migrating to the CLI while continuing to exercise their Eiffel expertise and culture.
We did not feel the same imperative as Eiffel with regards to multiple inheritance. But we did feel that imperative towards deterministic finalization of reference types declared within a local block, and so we provided a mapping of a class destructor to a IDisposable::Dispose() method, which is the CLI pattern of reclaiming resources prior to garbage collection finalization. Similarly, we did feel the imperative towards automatic memberwise copy and initialization – as supported by a copy assignment operator and copy constructor – and so we provided a mapping. (But these mappings are constrained by the underlying CLI implementation. We could not map memberwise copy into a value class because we could not guarantee that it could be carried out in all circumstances – at least that is my understanding. I haven't myself verified that but taken it on faith.)
Again, we did this because without these mappings of essential aspects of the native C++ programming experience, we believe the C++ user would have a diminished experience of programming under the CLI than on the native platform, and that this would deter them from migrating to the CLI – or at least of migrating to the CLI while continuing to exercise their C++ expertise and culture. The template mechanism is another of the essential aspects of modern C++ programming. We believe its absence would represents a significant hole in quality of programmer life when using C++/CLI. Personally, that is my deep belief.
So, with regard to parameterized types, it felt imperative that we provide some mechanism beyond what was offerred by the System::Collections namespace. The first mechanim that naturally comes to mind to the C++ programmer, of course, is templates. But what about generics? Why couldn't C++/CLI use generics for containing the CLI types, and leave templates for the non-CLI types? Why map the template mechanism into C++/CLI to support the CLI reference class, value class, interface class, delegate, and function?
The honest answer is because we were left with no choice. One of the generic talking points in presentations, specifications, and hallway whispering, is that generics, while borrowing from C++ template, "does not suffer many of the complexities" of C++ templates.
What are considered as superfluous complexities of C++ templates and were therefore eliminated from the generic mechanism – partial template specialization, the ability to inherit from the type parameter, support for non-type and template type parameters, the ability to specialize either an entire or selected members of a template, and so on – are considered by professional C++ programmers and designers of the language as essential modern programming design patterns that are fundamental to existing production code and widely-used libraries, such as the STL, LOKI, and Boost.
The real problem is that although the C++ community and language designers and implementors have deep experience with parameterized types, that experience was not tapped while the design of generics were underway.
So, we did not have any choice but to provide support of templates for CLI types and to provide an STL.NET implementation. This is great stuff if you care about C++ and want to see it succeed under .NET. Except for performance issues, C++/CLI, in my biased opinion, is shaping up as the premier C++ experience available. Personally, I'm so keen on the new language that I'm planning to reimplement my mscfront translator into the C++/CLI code from native. I'll be reporting my progress on that in quite some detail in a series of blog entries once I get the C++/CLI text I'm working on in shape.
So, that's why we have templates. Why did we also provide support for generics? Generics are deeply integrated into the CLI, and for that reason solve a number of problems left unsolved in C++ – in particular, the instantiation model. Because there is no concept of a runtime within native C++, there is no native concept of how a template is instantiated[1] – that is, when the binding of an actual parameter to the formal parameter occurs and to what extent. The work of the ISO committee in this area has not been stellar.
Generics provides a constraint mechanism, something whose absence is keenly felt in the template mechanism.[2] A generic type is recognized by the CIL – the intermediate language; a template class is not, and so template classes are not cross-language and, it turns out, not cross-assembly as well. That is to say, every serious CLI language has to provide generic support. And that is what we do. Perhaps if we had been participants in the design, the outcome could have been different. But that, to repeat my aunt's favorite refrain, is water under the bridge.
So, from my perspective, that is why we support both the template and generic solutions for parameterized types, and have tried to integrate them into a elegant symmetry.
[1] Not surprisingly, the vocabulary for the different aspects and actions on a parameterized types are quite different between generics and templates – and I am not going down that path.
[2] Bjarne's original Usenix template paper included a discussion of constraint syntax, which he then chose not to incorporate into the design. It's absence means that there is no way to know prior to actual instantiation whether a type is qualified to be used with a particular template class – other than examining the source code – which is not really practicable.

subset: commoncrawl


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7 Natural Ways to Keep Bees Away From Hummingbird Feeders
Pests be gone! Discover seven smart ways to keep backyard bugs away from feeders.
Feeders filled with sugar water or jelly attract sweet-tooth birds, such as hummingbirds and orioles. But sometimes, not-so-welcome guests, including ants, wasps and bees, crawl into feeders and create problems. "You can deter insects while remembering they're part of nature, too," says Emma Greig, the project leader for Project FeederWatch of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
For frustrated backyard birders, it may be tempting to use pesticides or oils to deter bugs, but Emma advises against these options because they may harm birds, as well as the bees whose populations are declining. Instead, try some of these all-natural solutions. The birds (and bees!) will thank you.
1. Choose red saucer feeders.
With their long tongues, hummingbirds can reach the nectar—but insects can't. Plus, while hummingbirds prefer the color red, bees are attracted to yellow. (Read more! Hummingbird Sugar-Water 101)
2. Attach an ant moat.
Ant moats are typically about 3 inches wide and 1 to 2 inches deep, above jelly and sugar-water feeders. Because ants can't swim, water is an effective deterrent. Make moats or buy feeders with moats built in. Keep them clean and filled with water.
3. Hang feeders with fishing line.
Fishing line is too thin for ants to climb, which means they won't be able to reach your hummingbird feeders for a free meal.
4. Slip nectar guard tips over hummingbird feeder holes.
The nectar guards block insects like yellow jackets, but hummingbirds can still get to the nectar. You can buy them or create your own mesh guard out of an onion bag.
5. Periodically move the feeders.
Just moving feeders by 3 or 4 feet will help insects lose track of them. Birds will still find them easily, but insects often won't.
6. Hang a few fake wasps' nests.
Make sure to do this in protected areas to deter real wasps, which are territorial and won't typically venture into a place they think is already occupied.
7. Plant bee- and hummingbird-friendly food sources.
Try annuals like fuchsia and impatiens and perennials like trumpet vine, bee balm and milkweed in hanging baskets and in your garden. (Read more! How to Create a Hummingbird-Friendly Plant Container)


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A new report released Wednesday says that the full impact of climate change and extreme weather events on global food prices is being underestimated and warns that without a more acute understanding of how global warming threatens agricultural systems and economies, governments will be unable to prepare for future disasters.
Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices, the report from Oxfam International, takes an innovative and focused look at how extreme weather events—such as widespread droughts and large floods—could drive up future food prices. Previous research on the economic impact of climate change on food systems has tended to consider more gradual impacts, such as incremental temperature increases and changing rainfall patterns.
"As emissions continue to soar, extreme weather in the US and elsewhere provides a glimpse of our future food system in a warming world. Our planet is heading for average global warming of 2.5–5°C this century. It is time to face up to what this means for hunger and malnutrition for millions of people on our planet," said Oxfam's Climate Change Policy Adviser Tim Gore.
Oxfam released its report amid their ongoing GROW campaign, designed to highlight the injustice of the global food system and offer solutions to create one that is more equitable, efficient, sustainable and humane.
Looking at a host of possible scenarios for the year 2030, the research warns that by that date the world could be even more vulnerable to the kind of drought happening today in the US, with dependence on US exports of wheat and maize predicted to rise and climate change increasing the likelihood of extreme droughts in North America.
This year, the US and India are facing nationwide droughts and major crop loss. Oxfam predicts that these trends will continue elsewhere and that the impact of such events will worsen as food price "shocks" devastate the world's poorest people.
The research also finds:
- Even under a conservative scenario, another US drought in 2030 could raise the price of maize by as much as 140 per cent over and above the average price of food in 2030, which is already likely to be double today's prices.
- Drought and flooding in southern Africa could increase the consumer price of maize and other coarse grains by as much as 120 per cent. Price spikes of this magnitude today would mean the cost of a 25kg bag of corn meal – a staple which feeds poor families across Africa for about two weeks – would rocket from around $18 to $40.
- A nationwide drought in India and extensive flooding across South East Asia could see the world market price of rice increase by 25 per cent. This could see domestic spikes of up to 43 per cent on top of longer term price rises in rice importing countries of such as Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
"Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns hold back crop production and cause steady price rises," Gore said. "But extreme weather events – like the current US drought – can wipe out entire harvests and trigger dramatic food price spikes."
"We will all feel the impact as prices spike but the poorest people will be hit hardest.
"The huge potential impact of extreme weather events on future food prices is missing from today's climate change debate. The world needs to wake up to the drastic consequences facing our food system of climate inaction."
As the Guardian reports, Oxfam's warning "comes as UN talks aimed at tackling climate change are due to close in Bangkok on Wednesday with little sign of progress, while tomorrow the Food and Agriculture Organisation is due to publish further information on how the worst US drought in 60 years is impacting on global food prices.".


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We are pleased to announce the Night Vision remix contest winners in association with FL Studio singer/songwriter Veela and our friends at RØDE microphones & Event Electronics.
We received 499 entries, there could only be 4 winners. See inside the winning FL Studio projects above.
Congratulations to
1st - Charles Deluxe - A pair of Event 20/20BAS monitor speakers (valued at $1099) + 500 USD Cash + any 3 Image-Line plugins.
2nd - Aura Qualic - A RØDE NT1-A kit (valued at $299) + 250 USD Cash + any 2 Image-Line plugins.
3rd - D-Vision - 150 USD Cash + any Image-Line plugin.
Veela's Choice - DJ Damertez - $100 USD Cash + any Image-Line plugin.
You can listen to the top 10 finalists here. Or download the original remix pack and see the original contest information here.


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Get DVD Talk Feeds
Very few people saw The Counselor in theaters. Seventy-six percent of those that did see the film didn't like it, according to Rotten Tomatoes. I am one of the few that both saw the film in theaters and enjoyed it. Master director Ridley Scott did something unique here; he created a film that is purposely prickly and perfectly content with keeping its audience at arm's length. The talky narrative from Cormac McCarthy borders on satire at times but elicits a feeling of unease in the stomach unlike anything in recent memory. The very pretty cast, headlined by Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt, does ugly things with grave consequences in this unpleasant urban western. The film marks McCarthy's first stab at an original screenplay, and, while not as successful as his adaptation of "No County for Old Men" for the Coen Brothers, the oil-black humor, duplicitous characters, and bizarre twists could only come from the mind of an auteur. The acting is mostly top notch - I'm undecided on Diaz's performance - and the film is an involving descent into a despair that is partly deserved but totally irremediable.
I have to call bullshit on one thing early on: Fassbender's character, a slippery El Paso attorney referred to only as "the Counselor," drives a Bentley and lives in a ridiculous modern home, but the film hints that most of his work comes from court-appointed clients. Maybe I should move to Texas if the going rate for this type of criminal defense work is that high. This has no bearing on the plot, of course, but it does provide a possible explanation for why the Counselor chooses to join his friend and dealmaker Reiner (Bardem) in an international drug deal that will earn a 4,000 percent return on his investment. Our avocat mystérieux tells Reiner his back is against a wall financially, something he avoids sharing with his gorgeous, wholesome fiancé Laura (Cruz). The questionable plan involves a sewage truck full of heroin and cocaine and might have worked if an unexpected turn of events hadn't put the Counselor's name on the Mexican drug cartel's radar. Tangentially involved in this cluster are middleman Westray (Pitt) and Reiner's predatory girlfriend Malkina (Diaz), who steals the show for not altogether good reasons.
From the opening scene set beneath the sheets with Fassbender and Cruz, the film lingers too long and holds tight on uncomfortably intimate shots, slowly tightening the vise of dread upon the audience. It takes about ten minutes to realize that The Counselor is not moving toward a happy ending, and the undeniably unpleasant subject matter at hand is likely why a large portion of the audience did not enjoy the film. That and the near-constant chatter, some of which McCarthy throws at you like verbal red herrings steering you off the path to hell and toward a false redemption. At first glance, you might assume the Counselor is the villain here, but things are not as they seem. Cocky and dressed like a GQ model, the Counselor is way out of his league when he joins Reiner in the drug trafficking deal. His downfall is swift and ruthless, and Fassbender nails the transformation from swinging dick to gutted fish.
Bardem gets to chew on some of the funniest material, and Reiner tells several bawdy tales of sex and depravity. The most outrageous involves the much-discussed scene of Malkina taking indecent liberties with a Ferrari. Bardem then delivers related adjectives and descriptive nouns like "gynecological" and "catfish." Ridley Scott is a lot funnier than I imagined. This scene is ridiculous, sure, but it illustrates a male's desire to one-up a buddy's conquest story when women aren't around. The Counselor nearly chokes on his gin; Reiner is genuinely scarred by the memory. Malkina is the film's most interesting and divisive character. A Barbadian beauty that looks like she'd eat her young, Malkina is constantly observing and building her arsenal of tricks. During an early scene in which Reiner and Malkina watch their pet cheetahs run in the desert, Malkina delivers some fairly obvious dialogue about predator/prey relationships. The point is delivered anyway. This woman conquers others because she is stronger and because she can. Empathy and regret are totally absent. Where Malkina came from is not fully explained, which isn't surprising since The Counselor leaves much backstory up to the viewer's imagination. Hell, the film never even tells the audience the lead character's name.
The film is as technically polished as you'd expect from Scott. Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who also worked with Scott on Prometheus, desaturates pastels and rogue desert reds and yellows, and sharply contrasts natural and artificial light. The editing and sound design are top notch, too, and Daniel Pemberton's score is subtly effective. Fassbender and Bardem are great, as is Cruz, who elicits much empathy as a woman with no place in the film's terrible world. Pitt is funny in his brief scenes, and Diaz tries to do something memorable with Malkina. Her acting is not quite up to par - she drops the Barbadian accent after a few scenes, perhaps the result of dialogue looping - and although she plays the character appropriately cold and soulless, some of Diaz's dialogue delivery feels forced. The Blu-ray includes both the theatrical cut (1:57:14) and a new Unrated Extended Cut (2:17:56), which Ridley Scott describes as "the long version." The added 20 minutes markedly improve the film, making this version the one to watch. Several key scenes are given room to breathe, character relationships are expanded, and the film regains a bit more of the black humor from McCarthy's original script. I may be in the minority on this one, but I really enjoyed The Counselor. It's talky, depressing and punctuated with cruel violence, but anyone who thinks Ridley Scott didn't intend to make his audience uncomfortable is underestimating the maestro.
The 2.40:1/1080p/AVC-encoded image is gorgeous thanks to a flawless Red One-shot digital source. Detail is abundant throughout; whether fine object or deep focus. There is a lot of color grading; some shots are sun-drenched and warm, others cold and desaturated, but colors never bleed and skin tones are accurate. Black levels are strong with good shadow detail, and texture is impressive. This is a beautiful, textured HD image that should impress home-theater owners.
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is very strong, with excellent dialogue reproduction and effects blending. This is a talky film, but the track is very immersive. Dialogue and ambient effects surround the viewer - just listen to the scene where Pitt and Fassbender meet in the bar of a hotel - and the occasional action effects are pointedly effective. The breezy score is balanced nicely among effects and dialogue, and the surround speakers and subwoofer are used efficiently throughout. The theatrical cut also offers 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks in Spanish, French, Castilian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Lithuanian. There are too many subtitle options to list, but all the usual suspects are present.
I did not expect The Counselor to receive such a nice two-disc Blu-ray after its middling box office performance. The first disc holds the theatrical cut and a few supplements, and the second disc holds the extended cut and the bulk of the bonus materials. Fox includes an UltraViolet digital copy and a matching slipcover.
The first disc includes Viral Pieces: Uncut (7:29/HD). These three segments offer expanded backstory on several characters, including Malkina and Laura. These were apparently shot for promotional purposes and are a nice supplement to the film. The first disc also holds a few Theatrical Trailers (5:50/HD) and several TV Spots (4:50/HD).
The best extra is found with the extended cut on disc two: Truth of the Situation: Making The Counselor (3:36:01/HD). This is somewhat similar to Warner Brothers' (retired?) Maximum Movie Mode, and mixes commentary with Ridley Scott and thirteen branching featurettes covering all aspects of the production. Scott's commentary is only available over this expanded version of the film, and the director provides, as usual, a wonderfully engaging account of the production. The featurettes offer excellent behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and intimate discussion of the film's controversial story and themes. I think the branching featurettes are far superior to picture-in-picture content, as they allow you to fully enjoy the film with commentary. They can also be viewed independently and run 1:18:32.
I hope time will be kind to Ridley Scott's The Counselor. This Cormac McCarthy-written film bombed with critics and audiences upon its release last fall but merits its place among Scott's film catalog. Purposely chilly and unnerving, the film follows Michael Fassbender's character, known only as "the Counselor," as he foolishly agrees to take part in an international drug deal. The supporting cast, which includes Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz and Brad Pitt, is talented, and the Blu-ray's unrated cut improves on an already interesting morality play. That gnawing feeling in your stomach is just Scott deliberately plucking your nerves raw. Highly Recommended.
William lives in Burlington, North Carolina, and looks forward to a Friday-afternoon matinee.


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Occasional sightings of fin whales have been reported off the Pembrokeshire coast in recent years, and those who see them are fortunate as they are an endangered species due to heavy whaling activities throughout the 20th century.
Also known as the finback, razorback or common rorqual, they are the second longest animal in the world and the second largest rorqual after the blue whale, often reaching 89-feet and weighing nearly 74 tons. Another attribute of the fin whale is its speed. At around 24mph, with bursts of 29mph, it is capable of outstripping the fastest ocean steamship and has been said to have the slender, hydrodynamic shape of a racing yacht. This has given it the nickname "Greyhound of the Sea." Brownish grey with a paler underside, the fin whale is distinguishable by its backswept dorsal fine well back on the long curve of its back as it prepares to dive. Ship crews and passengers often see them in the Bay of Biscay, their dorsal fin surfacing seconds after the spout is spotted; a thin, vertical spray which often reaches a height of 20-feet. Fin whales are among the oldest cetaceans, reaching an age of 94 years, some exceptional specimens having been discovered to be between 135 and 140 years old. It is one of the more gregarious of the rorquals, often living in groups of six to 10 and in feeding groups of up to 100. The voices of fin and blue whales are said by experts to be the lowest-frequency sounds made by any other animal, and can be detected hundreds of miles from their source. When US biologists first recorded fin whale sounds they did not realise that these unusually loud, long, pure and regular sounds were coming from whales. At first they investigated the possibility that they were the result of malfunction of equipment, geophysical phenomena or emanating from a Russian system of detecting submarines. But eventually, they found irrefutable evidence that they were indeed the vocalisations of fin whales, and males only as they were evidently linked with the whales' reproductive displays. They also decided that the slow recovery of the fin whale population from the depredations of whaling activity was possibly due to the increase in ocean noise from shipping and naval activity, particularly sonar, during the 20th century as it was interfering with the reproductive process by impeding communication between males and receptive females. Fin whales can dive to a depth of up to 1,540 feet when feeding, the average feeding dive lasting six minutes but the maximum duration up to 17 minutes. When travelling or resting the dive lasts only a few minutes. Fin whales very rarely leap out of the water or 'breach.' They are found in all the world's major oceans, from polar to tropical, and perhaps surprisingly, their only known predator, apart from man, is their first cousin the killer whales or orcas, which have been recorded hounding and killing them in large packs.


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Helping seniors, 9 flights up
John Maldonado, 46, is the superintendent -- and resident -- at Bridgeport Elderly Housing, an 85-unit, nine-story apartment building at 2400 North Ave., in Bridgeport.
When the power went out Monday night, Oct. 29, his first thought was not to knock off for the day, but to help the senior citizens he lives with and watches out for.
Dianne Severance, a resident there, said this in an email: "The superintendent of our senior citizens' apartment building deserves a kudo. During the hurricane, he cooked our meats on an outdoor grill and brought people food and cheer -- even eight or nine stories up, without elevators.
"He went far beyond the call of his job to make us feel safe, secure and reassured."
Maldonado said the elderly residents in the building are like his family.
"I started knocking on doors to see how they were doing," he said the other day. "So I got a propane grill going and I could bring them hot water. I knew the food was going to start going bad, so if they wanted, I'd take a piece of meat and grill it for them.
"I'm the kind of guy I want to be helpful where I can."


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Next day, and express (within 2 working days) delivery is available.
Regular delivery (within 3 to 5 working days) for orders over £20 is free and for orders under £20 costs £4.50.
We accept return of goods within 28 days of delivery, for any return outside of 28 days you will need to complete a warranty claim form.
We will cover the cost of faulty goods sent in error - to arrange collection you will need to contact our customer service team at: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Some stars are massive. Others are tiny; almost insignificant. The specific characteristics of a star will determine what type of life it will lead and how long it might live. We will witness the amazing variety of stars and peer into their secret lives. Narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart. Recommended for third grade children and up. 25 minutes.
Show and show description provided by Spitz Inc.
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TSA offers expedited security screening at BWI
Precheck program to reduce security lines on Concourse D
The TSA is offering express security check-in for passengers flying certain airlines starting Wednesday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Passengers were moving quickly through security at BWI's Concourse D on Wednesday, and they couldn't have been happier about it.
"(It's) much easier than before. It's a breeze to go through for travelers. It's much easier," user Brian Fernandez said.
But there is a catch.
The reason for the speedy security is TSA Pre-check, which is already in 32 airports around the country and has now arrived at AIR for passengers flying Alaska, American, Delta, United and US Air leaving out of Concourse D.
"We want to reward passengers for sharing information about themselves to TSA," TSA assistant administrator Douglas Hofsass said.
The way TSA Precheck works is that U.S. citizens who are flying one of the designated airlines, as well as members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, provide personal information about themselves to the government online. They get put on a list, and in return, they get a no-hassle security check-in.
"We're able to provide them with an expedited security processing so we can spend more time on individuals who pose a risk to aviation. So, it's really good for the customers who are willing to share info (for) an opportunity to receive expedited security screening," Hofsass said.
BWI officials were very excited to get the program, which they said will make for a better all-around passenger experience for those who participate.
"It's good news for us because it improves safety, security and customer service, and it's good for business," said Paul Wiedefeld, the director at BWI.
So far, more than 4 million passengers have passed through a TSA Precheck area, and that number is expected to rise to 5 million by the end of the year. That was welcome news for frequent flyers like Ayne Gillern, who said pat-downs and walking barefoot through line are now a thing of the past.
"It saves so much time if you're at the airports as much as I am. You don't have to take your coat off, shoes off, and it saves a lot of time," Gillern said.
Read here for more information.


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I'll be as brief – and objective – as I can.
A preliminary summary of events
Eric Joyce was expelled from the Labour Party for multiple instances of bad behaviour. He is still MP, but has stated his intention not to stand at the general election in 2015. (Had he resigned as an MP or been removed, there would have been a by-election.)
Labour and the Falkirk constituency selection committee must choose a candidate for what has historically been a safe Labour seat. The selection of candidates for safe seats is a matter of high significance for any political party – for a party in opposition 22 months from a general election, hoping to win and form the next government of UK, and facing a riven, inept Coalition in disarray, such a selection is crucial.
(N.B. The Labour Party must have concerns for the safety of this seat, not only because of Joyce's past behaviour, but because, as MP for another 22 months, outside of Labour, not subject to the Labour whip, he is potentially a loose cannon politically.)
Labour policy was to have an all-woman shortlist (AWS), and members of the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) were surveyed on whether an all-woman shortlist should be used. (The survey was paid for by Unite.)
Candidates who had already emerged were Linda Gow, former leader of Falkirk council and Gregor Poynton. Poynton is UK Director of Blue State Digital, adviser to Better Together Campaign and husband of Gemma Doyle MP, who is deputy to Jim Murphy MP, the shadow defence minister.
Then Karie Murphy appeared as a candidate. Karie Murphy, formerly Unison, now Unite Union, is Tom Watson MP's office manager. Introducing Karie Murphy as a candidate was consistent with Labour's policy of all-women shortlists (AWC) but Gregor Poynton's candidacy was not.
A sudden influx of new members was recorded in the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) and it appeared that the Unite Union had recruited as many as 100 members. The CLP choose the Parliamentary candidate for Falkirk, not the total Labour membership. (The idea of holding primaries, elections in which the wider electorate are involved has been mooted before the Falkirk debacle, and is much debated since it commenced.)
Allegation began to appear that irregularities had occurred in the signing up of CLP members by Unite. The Labour Party was in essence created by the Trades Union movement (late 19th, early 20th centuries) to ensure Parliamentary representation for working people. The rules of the Labour Party permit trades unions to encourage members to join the party, and to pay their first year's subscription. But it was claimed that Unite had signed up members without their knowledge, a very serious allegation if proven. The matter has now been referred to the police by the Labour Party.
N.B. From here on in, I don't pretend neutrality, and only as much objectivity as I can muster, because I am of the Left in politics and I am also a Scottish nationalist – not a SNP member or member of any party, but wholly committed to a socially democratic independent Scotland.
Labour has a long history of fights with the trades unions. Unions are by far the Labour Party's principal source of funds through the political levy (optional) that members pay, and unions apply the funds in various ways, including sponsoring specific MPs. In return for this, they not unreasonably expect the MPs and the Party to serve the interests of their millions of members in addition to serving the whole electorate. This has always led to tensions between Party and unions. Exactly the same practices apply on funding to all political parties, with the key difference that the Tory and Liberal Democrat parties, for example, get their funds from organisations and individuals, a very much smaller group of large donors in comparison to the millions of small donors of the trades unions.
The key difference is that these corporate donors and individuals operate to a large extent behind closed doors in pursuing what they expect for their money – and they all expect something – whereas the union interaction tends to occur in a blaze of publicity.
To try and contrast the two systems in a nutshell – the trades unions, an imperfect but functioning democracy representing millions of UK workers interact with a much larger imperfect democracy in the Labour Party, whereas totally undemocratic organisations and individuals in commerce, industry, armaments and interest groups not confined to the UK interact with the imperfect democracies of the Tory and LibDem parties. Ultimately, in both cases, the trades unions interact with the over-arching and highly imperfect democracy of the UK Government.
The problem of the union conflicts with the Labour Party over the last half century (e.g. Clause Four) created - or were alleged to have created – the problem of electability, and this was specifically what Blair, Brown and Mandelson set out to remedy after Neil Kinnock had done some of the spadework. They created New Labour and it worked – Labour was elected and re-elected. The results, over 13 years, are now history. Two wars, one illegal, the deaths of hundreds of thousands, terrorism brought to UK by the Iraq War, the gap between rich and poor widened, corruption of Parliamentary institutions, the prosecution and imprisonment of Labour MPs, the resignation of the Labour Speaker of the House of Commons in disgrace, the corruption of the Press and the Metropolitan Police, the banking and financial collapse, cash for access, etc.
Hardly a success, except in one key aspect – Blair, Mandelson, Brown, Labour defence secretaries, Labour ministers and many Labour MPs got very rich indeed, in the case of Blair and Mandelson, egregiously rich.
The revolving door between government ministers, civil servants and industry – especially the defence industry – spun ever faster and more profitably. And the military/industrial complex rejoiced and celebrated New Labour's achievements.
Meanwhile, the trades unions were marginalised, and the benches of Westminster became increasingly populated by MPs who had never experienced the real, harsh world of Blair's Britain, MPs who came directly into politics waving their PPE degrees through internships as SPADs, etc.
This great divide, this yawning chasm has widened between the trades union movement and the political machine for enriching politicians and their friends that New Labour has become. After being finally destroyed electorally, Labour was replaced by a Coalition that is almost indistinguishable in its right-wing practices from the right-wing Labour Party. As an opposition, Labour has been feeble and equivocal. The trades unions, having placed brother Ed Miliband at the helm, vanquishing ultra-Blairite brother David Miliband, have been bitterly disappointed in their choice. And now he attacks them, setting the police on Unite.
The Falkirk debacle is symptomatic of this – a war between the Blairites (led by the noble Lord Mandelson, who cannot conceal his visceral distaste for trades unions)and what is left of the Left in the Labour Party, which is mainly the trades unions – some of them at least.
All of the above has been gone over with a relatively fine tooth comb by the UK/metropolitan media. They see the Falkirk Affair in a UK context, from a UK perspective. The fact that Falkirk is in Scotland, that Scotland played a major role in the foundation of trades unions and the Labour Party is ancient, and mainly irrelevant history to them. This superficiality and parochialism is what Scotland has come to expect from London media. From time to time, Scotland intrudes rudely on their consciousness, and they are aware that Scottish voters are effectively disenfranchised and don't get the government they vote for on occasion, but then, Scotland is just another region of England (sorry, Jock – UK!)
What is almost unforgiveable is that the Scottish media has swallowed this narrative whole, and conceives its duty done when they passively regurgitate it to Scottish voters. Consider the following examples -
To listen to this duo, one might think the Falkirk debacle had nothing whatsoever to do with Scotland's independence, and had no significant implications for it.
But these journalists accurately reflect a Scottish press and media that is either so locked in a UK mindset that they are oblivious to them, or are so caught up in editorial policies that don't wish to highlight them that they are hamstrung as professional journalists in telling the truth to the Scottish electorate by fully analysing a political event that is shaking up UK politics and is central in many ways to the great independence debate.
Here we have John Reid, who sure as hell knows what the battle is all about, and it has bugger all to do with Scotland, except incidentally -
John Reid: "a very important moment for the whole Labour Party"
The point at which the poisoned grip of Blairites like Reid could be loosened and the Party returned to the people it was created to serve.
John Reid:"It is at heart an ideological battle - a political battle..."
It sure as hell is - to free Labour from the men enriched and ennobled by Blair and his wars - like John Reid - while the people sink deeper into the slough of poverty and death created by Blair and Brown's ineptitude - widening the gap between rich and poor and bankrupting the nation. Men like Lord(!) Reid who deliberately wrecked the chances of a Rainbow Coalition to defeat the Tories after the 2010 election.
England struggles - and Unite struggles to give working people a real political choice with the forlorn hope that they can reform New Labour. Blue Labour, Lord Sainsbury's Labour, Progress Labour - call the beast by its many names, see its many faces - multi-millionaires Blair's and Mandelson's Labour - at best a centre-right party, but sliding towards something much worse in the global military/industrial complex that is raping the planet.
God help England - this is the only chance they have, but it is a forlorn hope.
But Scotland has a real choice - already exercised in the limited form open to it in 2007 and 2011 and yet to be made fully on 2014 - the choice of saying YES or no to an independent, socially-democratic Scotland.
The Sunday Herald had a major spread on Falkirk – comprehensive, albeit a mirror of London media analysis, despite their pride in having "broken the story …" From its front cover headline Lamont: Unite's puppet? to its extensive coverage on pages 6, 7, 8 and 9, with Ian Bell on page 10 to its editorial on page 36, it took an almost exclusively UK perspective of the Falkirk issue, despite the reference to Lamont. Only in the last half of the last paragraph on page 7 could I find any reference to another party that might just have an interest in all this – the Scottish National Party, the party that forms the devolved government of Scotland, elected with a massive landslide majority – the party that has delivered the referendum, the outcome of which will shake the entire UK power structure, perhaps end the 306 year-old union and remove nuclear weapons of mass destruction from Scottish soil, with ramification for Europe, NATO and the transatlantic alliance.
Here was my little exchange with Paul Hutcheon of the Herald/Sunday Herald on 4th of July. Paul was reacting to my criticisms of Scottish media coverage of Falkirk -
@paulhutcheon It's time for Scottish Unite, Scottish Labour and trades unions to recognise where their real interests lie - in independence
Paul Hutcheon
@paulhutcheon 4 Jul @moridura can't see the independence angle on a story about membership subs @paulhutcheon It's painfully obvious that you can't, Paul.
And he demonstrated comprehensively his inability to see "the independence angle on a story about membership subs" in the Sunday coverage. Let me help you, Paul - and Tom Gordon and Ian Bell and the Leader Writer - to understand …
Three political parties in Scotland – all from the left of the political spectrum, plus many other organisations also on the left, are committed to the independence of Scotland from the UK. Additionally, embryonic breakaway organisations exist of disaffected Scottish Labour members and Scottish trades unionists – including Unite members – who support independence. Some support the SNP, others don't, e.g. Labour for Independence.
A major think tank, the Jimmy Reid Foundation is active and influential on the left of the political spectrum (where else would it be bearing Jimmy Reid's name?). At least one major union is not affiliated to the Labour Party, the firemens' union. All of them are diametrically opposed to Blairism and all that it stands for. They are solidly anti-nuclear and pro-trades union. The STUC is well aware of this growing dynamic within its member unions and their lay members, together with a growing number of shop stewards, worker representatives and a few cautious full-time officers.To say that Johann Lamont is aware of this – despite laughing it off – would be a massive understatement. Effectively elected by the Scottish trades unions, I suspect it keeps her awake at nights.
To suggest that the Falkirk issue, a frontal attack on a trade union – a civil war between the Blairites – Blue Labour, New Labour, Lord Sainsbury's Labour, call it what you will – and the soul of the pre-Blair/Brown/Mandelson Scottish Labour Party is irrelevant to independence is, to put it at its lowest, a failure of imagination and good political journalism.
I hope to attend a meeting of Trades Unionists for Independence this Wednesday in Edinburgh. Reflect on that title, Herald/Sunday Herald (and BBC Scotland) and on the keynote speakers – Dennis Canavan (former MP/MSP), Robin McAlpine (Jimmy Reid Foundation), Cat Boyd (PCS activist) and Sarah Collins (STUC Youth Committee) and think again about the nature of your coverage of Falkirk and Unite.


text: I'm a former Forbes journalist and blogger who has also waxed lyrical for other places, including Marie Claire, The Frisky, The New York Post, and Women on the Fence. For my book, Can't Think Straight, I was on The Today Show, The Joy Behar Show, The Gayle King Show, and others. (But not Hoarders. One can dream.) I like to tell it like it is, almost as much as I like cats. I know a lot about celebrities and nothing about my neighbors. Visit me at my website or blog.


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I'd like another go at a marathon tournament. I've noticed there's been a slight increase in players on the meta recently, so I figured why not organize a tournament? They're fun for everyone! If you like it or not.
I have yet to decide the nature of this tournament though. I'm considering 1vs1, teams, or a ladder. 1vs1 seems like a winner to me because there don't have to be set times and whatnot for the matches. Whenever 2 players are online and they are setup to play each other they can do so. But I'd like to stay away from 1vs1 though. They are fun and all, but I enjoy games with 4-8 players a lot more. Team games could be really fun, but they require a lot of planning and just sound too tedious to me. A ladder might work, but someone would have to administer it and keep track of all the scores.
For those who are interested please post your ideas on this possible tournament!


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Carol A. Buckler
Professor of Law, Emeritus
Carol Buckler is a Professor of Law, has served as Interim Dean, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Dean for Professional Development, Director of Pro Bono Initiatives and Director of the Center for Professional Values and Practice.
She teaches Civil Procedure, Professional Responsibility, and the wide-ranging yet often subtle professional skills needed by practicing lawyers.
Professor Buckler's teaching stresses the importance of values in the practice of law. The daughter of a certified public accountant, Dean Buckler gained an early respect for the professional ethic, a code that she turned into a career specialty while still a junior litigator. After graduating from Yale University and Harvard Law School, she began her legal career at Berle Kass & Case, a small Manhattan firm that emphasized public interest work. Assigned to research a question about a possible conflict of interest, she soon became the house expert on ethics.
"I always thought that ethics was an underrated subject among students. Practicing lawyers invariably look back and wish they had paid more attention in their ethics classes," she says. She finds, however, that preaching about ethics is not the most effective technique. "You have to put students in a situation where they can see the competing interests and values that affect lawyer decision-making."
She came to New York Law School in 1991, teaching in the clinical program. Professor Buckler is coauthor of the workplace reference book, Everything a Working Mother Needs to Know About Pregnancy Rights, Maternity Leave, and Making Her Career Work for Her (Doubleday, 1994).
Everything a Working Mother Needs to Know… About Pregnancy Rights, Maternity Leave, and Making Her Career Work For Her. Doubleday, 1994 (with A.C. Weisberg); paperback edition, 1995
"Asylum, Withholding of Removal, Refugee Status and TPS." Chapter 29 in Immigration Law and Procedure: Desk Edition, at 29–1 to 29–33 (S. Mailman, ed.). Matthew Bender & Co., 1999. Updates May 2000 and November 2000.
"Emerging Issues in Asylum Law." Chapter 7 in 33rd Annual Immigration & Naturalization Institute, at 179–212. Practising Law Institute, 2000. (S. Mailman, ed.). Matthew Bender & Co., 1999. Updates May 2000 and November 2000.
"Part VI: Expedited Removal: Issues and Impact: Impacts of New Procedures." Chapter 19 in XXI In Defense of the Alien, at 202–209 (L.F. Tomasi, ed.). Center for Migration Studies, 1999.
"Asylum Law and Procedure." Chapter 5 in Basic Immigration Law, at 125–171. Practising Law Institute, 1997.
"Foreword (Symposium: Challenges in Immigration Law and Policy: An Agenda for the Twenty-First Century)." 11 New York Law School Journal of Human Rights i–viii (1994).
Alternatives for Scheduling the Bar Exam (Special Issue: The Future of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar), 85 NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL 28-30 (September 2013) (with M.C. Gallagher).
"The New York Law School Civil and Human Rights Clinic: Case Close-up: Gezim Kollcinaku." 16 In Brief 7 (Fall/Winter, 1997).
"Outline of Asylum Law and Procedure." Chapter 7 in 30th Annual Immigration and Naturalization Institute, at 193–241. Practising Law Institute, 1997.
"Creating Low-Income Housing in New York: Using the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit—The LISC/Enterprise/HPD Housing Production Program." Lawyers' Alliance for New York (1992) (with J.C. Berman).


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SHIRLEY — Beads and Beadwork are the topic of the current display at the Shirley Historical Society Museum at 182 Center Road in Shirley.
The history of making beads and the various uses of beads is explained. There are beads made of seeds, metal, wood, glass, flowers and felt.
Tools for making glass beads are displayed. Beaded necklaces from Africa, from Italy, and from Native Americans are exhibited. There are also beaded bracelets and one-of-a-kind pieces of beaded artwork, on special loan through December.
Currently on sale at the museum are beaded earrings, bracelets, and barrettes. Also new to the Museum gift shop are mugs and mousepads featuring photos taken around Shirley
The Museum is open Mondays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for visitors, researchers, shoppers, and volunteers.
Phone 978-425-9328 or go to www.shirleyhistory.org for information.


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and put on your acrylic nails. LET'S GO!
JERSEY SHORE – 10:00PM (MTV) At long last, after a lengthy hiatus and a potentially series-ending contract squabble, The Situation, Snooki and the gang return to your TV for all new episodes featuring drinking and fighting and drunken fighting. For the beginning of this season, the crew is hanging out in Miami, classing up every nightclub they attend. Tune in while you can, for it won't be long before all the fame and money is gone and Snooki is forty years old and scooping ice cream in the 'Squan to pay for her six children from five different men. ANTICIPATION: CHEESY!
PROJECT RUNWAY – 9:00PM (Lifetime) The reality stalwart is back for another season with an expanded cast, a longer show (90 minutes), and plenty of Michael Kors gettin' all catty with the contestants. Tonight the newbies will be forced to rework an item from a competitor's suitcase. I know my Old Navy beer bottle boxers would make the perfect sundress if you had enough thread and Febreze handy. ANTICIPATION: FIERCE!
ON THE ROAD WITH AUSTIN AND SANTINO – 10:30PM (Lifetime) This new show features former Runway contestants Austin and Santino touring the US and designing looks for everyday women to celebrate. Wait a second. This is on right after "Project Runway". Does that mean "Models of the Runway" has been canceled? And the models on that show won't be talking anymore? Oh, please let that be the case. I'll give my sewing arm for it (NOTE: I cannot sew). ANTICIPATION: INSPIRING!
CONFESSIONS OF THE DC SNIPER WITH WILLIAM SHATNER: AN AFTERMATH SPECIAL – 10:00PM (A&E) The "sniper" part makes sense to me, but the "Shatner" part really threw me for a loop. Will he be singing the details of each shooting? Because that would be weird. ANTICIPATION: NAME YOUR SHOT!
CELLBLOCK 6: FEMALE LOCK UP – 10:00PM (TLC) Tonight's theme is mothers and daughters behind bars. Probably not as saucy as Cinemax would have you believe. ANTICIPATION: JAILBAIT!
Thursday Watch List: Jersey Shore Is BACK
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and put on your acrylic nails. LET'S GO!


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Six months ago, readers of Ingeniøren witnessed a Copernican revolution in evolutionary biology when we wrote about a new paper, 'The evolution of eusociality', published in Nature by the three leading evolutionary biologists from Harvard, Martin A. Novak, Corina E. Tarina and Edward O. Wilson. The paper challenged kin selection theory, and claimed that Darwin's natural selection and a bit of proper math was sufficient to explain the origin of cooperation and altruism in nature.
Measuring genetic kinship and individual fitness was simply not necessary, the authors claimed. Since then, howls of protests have been heard from universities worldwide, including Denmark, where scientists Trine Bilde from Aarhus University and Jacobus Boomsma from University of Copenhagen have lead the choir. When Ingeniøren asked him about the paper in question, the latter commented that it "will not lead to a single new discovery", and it is unbelievable that Nowak, Tarnita and Wilson would "ignore fifty years of research just to stir up some controversy".
In this week's edition of Nature, Bilde, Boomsma and 135 other biologists defend their position. They accuse Nowak, Tarnita and Wilson (NTW) of disguising banalities as revolutions, and of wanting to erase fifty years of research. Standing on the outside, looking in, this looks very much like a turf war where the target is the person and not the issue at hand.
Epicycles out
So, what is the controversy about? NTW claim that a 47 years old and well-established theory of altruism, which explains cooperation, compassion and self-sacrifice among related individuals, is as dead as the epicycles in celestial mechanics. Granted, this is quite an attack on all the biologists who have come to believe that kin selection theory is the only genuine theoretical improvement since Darwin.
Kin selection theory was developed in a series of papers, published by the British biologist William Donald Hamilton in 1964, in which he introduced the term 'inclusive fitness' to keep track of the sum of favorable genes that are passed down through the generations by an individual and its family. Legend tells of the British biologist J.S.B. Haldane telling his friends at the pub that he would risk his life and jump in a river to save two brothers from drowning. But not if it was one brother only. He would also jump the river to save eight cousins, but not seven. The coefficient of relatedness Hamilton would later call 'r', and develop the equation rB > C which simply put says that if a gene for altruism has emerged, it will only survive, if the cost (C) is less than the benefit (B) times the likelihood that a brother or some other family member is carrying this gene.
Since Hamilton's paper, kin selection has been used to explain the origin and structure of complex animal communities such as bees and ants with sterile casts, and kin selection has also been used to explain loose family structures within groups of primates and humans. However, according to NTW's paper in Nature, Hamilton's linear summation of the fitness of kinship genes is a mere approximation of the complex dynamics of real populations. Kin selection does not account for habitat structures, synergy and other secondary effects, and is thus a small approximated subset of all the altruistic possibilities that exist within a natural selection model. In other words, kin selection has nothing new to offer compared to the more general and classic Darwinian model.
An Army of Resistance
In the latest issue of Nature, critics have made an angry retort. Jacobus Boomsma and colleagues say that the Harvard scientists have overlooked the fact that eusocial behavior (see BOX) only emerged in those clades where mothers are associated with their full-sibling offspring. In other words, high genetic relatedness is a necessary prerequisite for eusociality, and not just one among numerous possible routes to eusociality, as NTW claims.
Box: Kin selection and inclusive fitness
The controversy concerns how social cooperation can arise and evolve in a population of egoistic individuals. In some species, cooperation can become so encompassing that some individuals abandon their ability to reproduce and help others with their offspring instead. This is called 'eusocial' behavior and can be found in ants, bees and termites.
In 1964 the British biologist William Hamilton tried to explain eusociality as a result of kin selection: Since my genes are present in the members of my family, it might be beneficial to sacrifice myself for their survival. The term 'inclusive fitness' is the formalized version of this reasoning, and it has played a huge role for the scientific understanding of cooperation in nature.
Nowak, Tarnita and Wilson believe, however, that all this kinship and fitness accounting is completely unnecessary, as cooperation and other kinds of altruism arise all by themselves from the mathematical equations that determine the evolutionary dynamics within a population. The only things needed are mutations and natural selections – as Darwin's recipe prescribes.
Other scientists, like Patrick Abbot, Joan Strassmann, Régis Ferriére and Richard Michod, believe that inclusive fitness is very useful and in no way contradictory to standard models of natural selection. And all the opposing biologists agree that kin selection theory certainly provided new scientific insights, for instance about kin recognition, internal control over parasites, mother-fetus conflicts and the dispersion of males and females within a population.
It seems a bit strange, however, that a whole army of biologists is needed for the defense of kin selection. It looks as if their arguments maybe aren't enough. It is also strange that no one bothers to discuss the mathematics presented, and none of the critics admit that a rigorous mathematical analysis of the necessary conditions for the use of inclusive fitness is called for. Nowak and Tamita have analyzed this particular problem in the supplementary material of their paper, and show that inclusive fitness can only be used in quite limited circumstances, for instance, when two different strategies are approximately equal in size, or when interactions are pairwise.
A Labyrinth
Any new model must be evaluated according to its power to predict new things. NTW have therefore tried to formulate an alternative mechanistic model to explore the probability space of social and eusocial behavior. They only use mutation and selection as parameters to examine the interactions.
NTW start by looking at a single isolated ant that lives in close proximity to a food source. The ant develops a mutation that makes it feed its offspring instead of itself. Another mutation makes the offspring stay in the nest, instead of leaving it. Eventually, these ant families develop instincts for division of labor. One ant digs a hole, and the other ant lays an egg in it. One ant tends an egg, and another brings food etc. The model shows that eusocial behavior can develop in such a fashion, but only rarely. Once it has been developed through numerous mutations, the population be hyper-specialized and stable against invasion of piggybacking strategies. Reproduction will be left to a single queen and the existence of numerous worker ants will be as natural as the existence of white blood cells in a human body.
NTW calls the model a labyrinth, as it turns out to be very difficult to obtain true eusocial behavior. This is certainly true for the history of evolution, as true eusocial behavior has been relatively rare in the last millions of years. Their model explains everything that kin selection explains, NTW claim, including all the things that kin selection cannot explain. There is no need to measure genetic kinship and individual fitness. These are superfluous epicycles resulting in incorrect calculations, or, at best, in calculations made more cumbersome.
The challenge now is to figure out what parts of the evolution of eusocial behavior can be explained by the NTW-model, and whether or not this can be explained by standard kin selection theory. This may prove difficult, as eusociality is such a rare and complex phenomenon. But the authors say that measurements of the sizes of bee- and wasp colonies, the lifespan of queens, and the number of eggs may all be an indicator of whether kinship or demographic-environmental factors are more important for the stability of the colony.
Statistical Evolutionary Dynamics
To put the ongoing conflict about kin selection into perspective, we can apply yet another analogy than epicycles: The difference between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
When Lord Kelvin and Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron formulated the laws of thermodynamics some 160 years ago, they started from a phenomenological standpoint. That is: they looked at matter and its transformations from the outside, measuring pressures, volumes and temperatures, which enabled them to calculate various heat capacities of gases and fluids. This led to the formulation of the ideal gas law, which soon was regarded as a fundamental law of nature, because experiments had shown it safe to expect gaseous molecules to behave 'normal' – that is, 'ideal'.
The theory of kin selection is like an ideal gas law. It expresses the dependencies of the measurable macroscopic state variables in a population of individuals (such as relatedness and fitness). Kin selection theory can be used to formulate Hamilton's rule rB > C and related formulas, which have been shown to be extremely useful in their practical applications. And this is good.
There are two problems, though. First of all, thermodynamics was not particularly good at 'explaining' phenomena like pressure and temperature. This only happened after Maxwell and Boltzmann developed statistical mechanics, where they showed that temperature is a function of a bombardment of atoms and molecules on a barrier. The thermodynamic variables were thus fundamentally described as a result of classical and quantum mechanical particle movements. This was easier to understand than the numerous empirical formulas that seemed to fall from the sky.
The other problem is that biological systems are much more complex than ideal gases. There are numerous ad hoc rules of thumb and phenomenological equations on multiple levels of selection, which makes the theoretical foundations of selection seem more like botany rather than mathematics. The consequence is an endless argument about which aspect is 'more important'. For instance, biologists have long quarreled about the 'unit of selection', that is, whether natural selection takes place on a genetic, cellular, individual or group level. And the arguments often get personal.
But according to Nowak, Tarnita and Wilson, these kinds of discussions are not necessary any more. There can be only one level of selection, and that level is the whole social population. Among eusocial ants, the colony supports the genes of the queen. All you need is a suitable number of differential equations, based on Darwin's principle of mutation and natural selection. In the end, Nowak, Tarnita and Wilson hope that a mechanic-dynamical explanation will put natural selection theory on solid mathematical ground - just like the theory of statistical mechanics did with thermodynamics. Many biologists will probably continue to doubt this – or maybe they just don't get the math.
- Martin A. Nowak, Corina E. Tarnita & Edward O. Wilson, The evolution of eusociality, Nature 466, 1057–1062 (26 August 2010) doi:10.1038/nature09205,
- Patrick Abbot, et al., Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality, Nature 471, E1–E4 (24 March 2011) doi:10.1038/nature09831,
- Jacobus J. Boomsma, et al., Only full-sibling families evolved eusociality, Nature 471, E4– E5 (24 March 2011) doi:10.1038/nature09832,
- Martin A. Nowak, Corina E. Tarnita & Edward O. Wilson, Nowak et al. reply, Nature 471, E9–E10 (24 March 2011) doi:10.1038/nature09836,


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July 2015 Fellow Feathers Meeting
In attendance:
Ken Martin, Tom White, Tom Low, Krista Taylor, Bill Ayers, David Kiesling, Karl Allmendinger, Rob Johnson, Rick Hawkins, Wayne Michelsen, Chris Carillo, Charlie Nelson, Steve Rodrigues, Chris Ellis, Natalie Ellis, Martin Palmaz, Urs Kellenberger, Nuno Fontes, Paul Sussman, Andy Whitehill.
Ken opened the meeting with a synopsis of ongoing talks with PG community representatives, and mentioned the question of this year's Funston Air Races.
A hearty thanks was extended to Rob Johnson for the great job he did cleaning and painting the clubhouse floor. Rob has worked hard on maintenance of our flying site for years, many pilots speak of possible improvements, Rob rolls up his sleeves and gets things done! Thanks Rob!!
Tech officer reported on continued improvements / repairs to the website. Some discussion proceeded regarding future website improvements, or possible entire re-construction. Martin Palmaz Executive director of USHPA was present; he was queried on the possibility of a master framework for websites being developed by USHPA and made available to chapters. Martin indicated that the concept would be considered.
Secretary reported on issuing a 7 day suspension to a pilot for violation of the 25' rule the previous Sunday.
Treasurer reported that there are now 2 empty spaces in the clubhouse, and that some non paying space holders have failed to respond to repeated requests for payment of back dues, and need to have their gliders moved to purgatory and auctioned as per rules. Also reported that the club's finances are currently $500 under budget.
Tandem administrator reported on being present and witnessing the 25" rule violation previous Sunday.
Safety officer reported on a crash of a hang glider at Westlake.
Paul Sussman reported on having spoken with the carpenter re-building the observation deck regarding the possible rebuilding of the lower seating area. Paul would like to recommend that folks leave comments on the GGNRA website in favor of the seating to be re-built.
Dave Kiesling commented on the continuing deterioration of the wood chips in the set up area, and the large amount of dust being generated, which is making sails dirty, etc. Discussion proceeded regarding possible seeding of native grasses, or other anchoring vegetation. Ken agreed to contact the GGNRA representative for advise.
Ken brought up the question of this year's air races; queried the membership to see if there exists a will to hold the races / BBQ. Enthusiasm was displayed by those on attendance, and the following pilots volunteered to help put the event together and run it. Urs Kellenberger, Tom White, Karl Allmendinger, Wayne Michelsen, Rob Johnson, Dave Kiesling, Charlie Nelson, Paul Sussman.
Ken reported on talks that he and Steve have had with P.G. representatives and efforts toward development of guidelines for cooperation between HG and PG communities. Ken and Steve presented to the membership a set of 6 proposals for creation of rules, or guidelines, to be voted on by Fellow Feathers, as well as BAPA membership, to govern the standards of interaction between the two flight disciplines present on the coastal area from Funston in the north, to Pacifica in the south.
The six proposed rules were voted upon by the membership present, and all were passed.
Meeting adjourned.


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A recent article in UK's Daily Mail claims that yoga's benefits are limited to strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and balance. Several studies are cited suggesting that yoga, in comparison to cardiovascular (CV) exercise, fails to generate the "target heart rate" necessary to improve aerobic capacity and promote cardiovascular health, and lacks the adequate caloric expenditure for weight management and optimal health.
Professor of Sports Science at University of Bedfordshire John Brewer, UK, comments: "You can't just achieve weight loss and a high level of fitness through doing yoga alone … other than better balance and flexibility, yoga doesn't provide too many benefits."
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While a kernel of truth resides in such claims, this is a considerable inflation of the current evidence base, and belies a lamentable misapprehension of yoga's full spectrum of benefits. A lack of awareness about the full spectrum of yoga (including meditation and pranayama), and yoga's biopsychosocial impact, may make it easy to dismiss as "stretching," but a reasoned examination of the research literature affords a more nuanced rendering.
Yoga optimizes numerous constituents of cardiovascular health, including blood pressure, heart-rate variability, and cardiovagal function, and has been shown to improve correlates of Cardiovascular Disease. Research also suggests yoga downregulates the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, physiological systems triggered by stress which result in the classic "fight or flight" syndrome (impacting CV and many other domains of health).
A recent review found that yoga equivalently impacts nearly every parameter of health improved by exercise, with the exception of V02 max (lung capacity) and caloric expenditure. While most Hatha yoga does not prompt increases in V02 max and caloric expenditure to the same extent as does vigorous CV exercise, yoga promotes significant increases in both relative to controls.
This article also fails to take into account the impact of pranayama on V02 max. Case study: Years ago when practicing pranayama on a regular basis, I had a V02 max test taken and scored "excellent" (moderate yoga and pranayama were my only exercise). Indeed, studies suggest pranayama may promote increases in lung capacity.
As for the claims that yoga alone does not foster weight loss, a recent blog explains how yoga can increase weight loss for some practitioners.
Finally, this article fails to account for research which suggests that aerobic exercise boosts appetite such that increased caloric expenditure is often offset by subsequent increases in nutrient intake (thus blunting weight loss efforts), and vigorous exercise has been shown to have differential—in some cases negligent—impact on V02 max and other measures of health.
Don't you think that, given the cited benefits, relegating yoga's utility to cultivating "flexibility and relaxation" is analogous to claiming physical exercise is only good for building strong muscles?


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Morning Five: 12.10.12 EditionPosted by nvr1983 on December 10th, 2012
- We figured that the NCAA's decision to pull its championship events from New Jersey was the last we would hear of their issue with the state's legalization of sports gambling. It looks like the NCAA (and the four major professional leagues) are just getting started. You may or may not remember that back in August those organizations sued the state for its legalization of sports gambling, which the state attempted to throw out. On Friday, the leagues/organizations filed a motion in an US District Court to stop New Jersey from dismissing the lawsuit. At the heart of the issue is New Jersey's assertion that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which restricted sports gambling to a handful of states, was unconstitutional. We haven't dug too deep into the legal minutiae of the case, but it seems like New Jersey would have a pretty good case on the surface. Of course, they are going against a group of organizations who are all essentially federally enabled monopolies so maybe we are giving being too rational here.
- On the court the biggest news of the national happened out west where Mike Moser dislocated his right elbow during UNLV's one-point win over California last night. At this point all we know is that he didn't break any bones, but the extent of the injury is still not known and early reports indicate that Moser will be out for anywhere from a few weeks to the whole season. For a team that has struggled to find backcourt play to match the production and level of play of an absolutely loaded frontcourt could be a huge blow. We should have more information about Moser's injury and how long he is expected to be out within the next couple of days.
- Moser's injury is by far the most significant loss over the weekend (and possibly this season), a pair of players in the SEC will not be seeing the court any time soon as Mississippi kicked junior transfer Jason Carter off the team for violation of team rules while Louisiana State suspended Anthony Hickey indefinitely over a violation of athletic department and university policies. Carter, who never played a minute for Mississippi, was a transfer from Alabama via junior college and had been suspended before the team's first exhibition game and never had that suspension lifted. We are not sure what Hickey, LSU's starting point guard, did other than showing up late for tutoring sessions, but since the school's fall semester ended recently we are guessing his suspension has something to with his grades.
- Utah State junior Danny Berger, who fainted during a practice last Tuesday requiring CPR and the use of a defibrillator, was released from the hospital and honored at the team's game on Saturday. From what the school is saying the cause of Berger's syncopal episode is still not known and he will need to be monitored for at least six more weeks before a decision will be made on if and when Berger can return to the court. Creighton guard Josh Jones, who had been hospitalized after fainting during warm-ups of the Bluejays game on Thursday, was out of the hospital and was on the bench watching the team's victory over Akron yesterday. Jones has a history of fairly significant heart disease as he had his aortic valve replaced as a high school senior after developing a severe case of infective endocarditis–essentially a bacterial infection on his heart valve(s). The reason for Jones' syncopal episode also is not known yet and he will undergo more tests this week before a decision can be made as to whether he can play again.
- Finally, Taylor University did its annual Silent Night event on Friday night. The event, which is done on the Friday night before finals week, was a cute, relatively unknown event where students attend the game, but are totally silent until team scores its tenth point of the game at which point the students make as much noise as they possibly can. The event has gained a great deal of notoriety in the past few years as more and more blogs feature it yet it still remains one of the more unique events in college basketball.


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Brian McClendon built computer graphics software and hardware at Silicon Graphics before co-founding Keyhole in 2000. Keyhole was purchased by Google in 2004, now known as Google Earth. Brian is currently a Google Vice President of Engineering, responsible for geo-products including Google Maps, Google Earth, Streetview, and Sketchup.
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For media partnerships, contact mediapartners@ oreilly.com
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View a complete list of Where Conference contacts


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It was in December of 2010 that my two closest girlfriends and I decided that we should travel together to someplace cool, to mark the end of an era and celebrate my fresh start. I had resigned from my full-time job in vibrant Mumbai and was joining my husband in London, taking a dive into the unknown – a plunge of faith so to speak.
Camping at Eco Camps, Panchgani was the last thing the old me would have done, but I am so glad my friend P chose the place and helped me get over a long time silly fear of doing anything remotely adventurous.The barbecue that night was thanks to S and her skills. We were very close and bonded, even more, that night. Waking up to see lush green mountains and see a beautiful valley wake up with us was something I shall never forget. The river Krishna flows near Panchgani and the Dhom lake near the village of Wai can be seen from the Eco Camp Site.
We walked into the village and found a quaint old shop and had some strawberries and cream, the street is dotted with street vendors selling strawberries by the dozen and fresh carrots. My mother in law went to Kimmin's Boarding School and Panchgani and we walked to the road where the school is, the quaint old red and cream brick building was enough to take me back in time, on a nostalgia trip to my school in Mumbai, the beautiful stone grey building, the carefree school days, we grow up too quickly don't we?
Oh and please do get some of these heart-shaped biscuits from this bakery – ROACH, I do have a picture of me posing with the sugar-coated biscuit but err it's not going up here 😉
It was also the first time ever I was part of a barbecue, we walked into the village at night, found a lady who gave us some deliciously marinated cottage cheese and peppers and shallots and we had some kind neighbours in the tent next door who lent us some hot coals to get the barbie going.
It was a clear night and the brilliant stars seemed to sparkle just to make us girls smile …
Lying down on the grass on a thin sheet and watching the stars, feeling the pleasant chill on our face, it's nothing like anything I had ever done.
Fast forward to life in London and with a desire to finally get the travel bit of my blog going I wanted to complete the drafts of so many posts but I am so glad I decided to start with writing about Eco Camps at Panchgani. Megan and Andre have been kind to send me answers to my many questions on email. I hope that all those who are looking some great weekend fun drive down to Panchgani the first weekend possible and stay in one of the tents; this is an experience not to be missed. Proximity to Mumbai and Pune are great pluses. Of course, anyone planning an India vacation in Dec- Feb must stay here and give paragliding a go, make your holiday memorable and experience nature's beauty, nestled so close to the maddening hustle bustle of two big cities – Mumbai and Pune. It's almost like, well, a secret escape, something so bohemian about the whole experience!
Megan and Andre, you are an inspiration for those taking a plunge, a leap of faith, raring to follow their dreams, so thank you for being such brave achievers.
(MJ – My Nickname)
MJ: Why did you choose Panchgani?
Megan & Andre: Andre and I had decided in 1997 that we wanted to move from cold Canada to India to raise our kids (who were then 4 and 1).We actually wanted to live in Goa, as I first met Andre while on holiday in Goa. We dreamt of having houseboats on the river, but after researching a bit we found that it was hard to get permissions and there was too much barge traffic there. My parents told us to go to Panchgani as we already had a family house on land that my grandfather bought in 1922. So we said we'd give Panchgani a try.
MJ: What inspired you and your husband to start this venture?
Megan & Andre: We wanted to start our own venture, passion, and a desire to follow our heart got us here.
MJ: Are there opportunities for adventure sports at Eco Camps?
Megan & Andre: Para gliders with their own equipment converge here from dozens of different countries to practise their flying from Dec to Feb every year. Other adventures to be had in the area is a trek down to the Krishna river, a short one up to the peaceful side of the otherwise crowded tableland, forest walks, and visits to waterfalls in the rains. There is also a lovely sunset from the camp. ( Oh Yes, I can so vouch for that!)
When practising an adventure sport they must get adequate training and stay safe.
MJ: Do share one of your favourite memories associated with Eco Camps
Megan & Andre: One favourite memory is having a different meal every day of the week from a different part of the world. This was in the early days when the paragliding guests came in smaller numbers and we used to invite them into our home for dinner most nights and each one took turns cooking.
(How very amazing is that, imagine a room full of guests from different places on this planet together , eating good food, laughing, sharing their life with each other !)
MJ: Do your kids love what you do?
Megan & Andre: Our kids love what we do, and have learnt that turning what you love into an occupation is the way to go. Matthew, now 20 is in training to be a chef, and Arianne 17 wants to be a recreational therapist. Mikey who is 6, still wants to be a fire-fighter -Maybe because of the annual forest fire that comes up our slope every year. This is the one downside to living on the edge in Panchgani, when in the hot, dry summer, all the foliage is burnt by fires coming up from the villages below, burning all things including insects, birds, small animals and saplings in its wake. But we are now used to the annual burning. The fire does remain our biggest challenge but we do concentrate on all the other positive elements of life in this hill station.
MJ: What are the facilities associated with staying at Eco Camp?
Megan & Andre: we have 4 large tents with toilets, a few smaller ones and 2 bungalows, 24hr water, hot water, drinking water. Food is delivered or you could use the kitchens. We have no service, but a fantastic view, some old trees, and amazing birdlife all around us. It is a 10 min walk into town, but at the same time secluded and quiet.
MJ: How do you manage to keep the place so well maintained yet affordable?
Megan & Andre: The rates are affordable because we don't have waiters running around and our focus is not on minting money. We get by ok and are quite satisfied with the number of people who come. We don't have managers or cooks to worry about either. The staff who we do have is happy people who have worked here for years.
MJ: Any message for young entrepreneurs looking to start out on their own and follow their passion like you did?
Megan & Andre: Young people ought to follow their hearts to do what excites them, keeping the practical side of things in mind as well.
MJ: When is peak tourist season?
Megan & Andre: Peak season is from Dec to Feb and April – May Apart from those months, weekends are quickly booked, but weeks are free-ish.
MJ: Anything you wish you had done differently?
Megan: I wish I had paid better attention in my Marathi classes in school. i suffer from not being able to ably communicate my thoughts to the locals.
MJ: What DRIVES you to follow your dreams and passion and survive the inevitable challenges one faces whilst running their own venture?
Megan: My husband and kids, the beauty of our surroundings and the thrill of living at the mercy of the elements are the biggest incentives to continue living and working here. Ever since Andre could manage the running of the camp and got accustomed to local ways, I began teaching French part-time at New Era next door. It keeps me in touch with what I studied for years to eventually do.
MJ: How does one book a stay at the eco camp?
Megan: To book a stay at Eco Camp call Megan at 9960436352, more info on our FB group "Eco-camp panchgani"
The photos below are from a magical time in my life, I so wish sometimes I could open some door and go back and relive those days.
Happy Weekend peeps and when you go to Eco Camps, please do share your experiences with me!
Thank you to my friend Payoshni for letting me use her lovely photographs for this post, All information in this blog relating to Panchgani is sourced from here and here – please click on the hyperlinks 🙂
Any comments? Please post below or tweet me at @manjirichitnis and hey join in the fun on my Facebook page


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Jeremy Renner wasn't the only star shining on "Saturday Night Live" this week.
As it turns out, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has quite the knack for comedy.
The Republican politico and Obama BFF made a surprise appearance on "Weekend Update," getting heated with Seth Meyers, joking that the fleece he was wearing was "fused to his body" in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and revealing a list of people that he did not want to thank for their Sandy antics.
U.S. & World
Will Matt Damon team up with Jeremy Renner for another Bourne movie?
"[This fleece] is practically fused to my body at this point," Christie said. "I'm going to die in this fleece. But that's okay...it's a good fleece."
Meanwhile, on his first time hosting the late-night laugher, Renner hit the SNL stage and sang (!) during his monologue, showing off his musical chops and very impressive singing voice.
"You may know that I play a little piano," Renner said. "I've actually written theme songs for every movie that I've done...but they've never used any of them. Do you guys want to hear a few of them?"
"The Avengers" star then broke out into song, singing a mock theme song to Avengers that totally made us swoon.
And then it was time for the show.
Anne Hathaway takes on Katie Holmes and Homeland on Saturday Night Live
The evening's skits mixed in some Thanksgiving fodder with "Dress Rehearsal," in which Renner played a disturbed husband named Wendell wearing a "Sgiving" sweatshirt who tried to get his wife (who was wearing a "Thank" sweatshirt) to come back home for Thanksgiving dinner.
And then on a (longer than usual) special Thanksgiving edition of "The Californians," Stewart (Fred Armisen) couldn't hold in his laugh as he tried to get through the skit, and Renner, who played Stewart's lawyer, broke news that Stewart fathered a child.
And while Renner also played a man who had to identify a body at a coroner's office, a gun-toting guy in a ridiculously long standoff, and other roles, one of his best skits was when he mocked his character Hawkeye in Avengers. When Hawkeye ran out of the 11 arrows he brought to destroy aliens, he decided to call it a day.
"I'm out of arrows," Hawkeye said. "I don't have anymore. I guess I'm done right? I'll be in the car. Stay safe."
Hurricane Sandy, Louis C. K. invade Saturday Night Live
One of the other hot topics of the night was Gen. David Petraeus' cheating scandal.
In the cold open, Petraeus' biographer (and mistress) Paula Broadwell opened the show, reading mock, sexy entries of her book, All In, to a bookstore group that caused most attendees to leave the room.
"Afghanistan, September 2010...[The men of Afghanistan] barely seemed to notice as General Petraeus and I went at it like running baboons behind a jeep just 50 feet away," Broadwell read.
Marlee Matlin slams "dumb" Saturday Night Live parody of sign-language translator Lydia Callis
And there was more mocking of the Petraeus cheating scandal to come, with a "Situation Room" skit about Jill Kelley, in which they showed a clip of her walking over and over. Wolf Blitzer (Jason Sudeikis) interviewed self-proclaimed Tampa Mayor Derek Fat Deuce Derek (Renner) about Kelley, who kept commenting that Kelley was "fine, like a fine wine."
Maroon 5 was also on hand to perform, singing "Daylight" and "One More Night." The band's frontman, Adam Levine, popped up as himself in the "Standoff" skit to make a quick gun-toting cameo.
So, tell us, what did you think about Renner's hosting stint? Sound off in the comments.
(E! and Saturday Night Live are a part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Take a look back at Saturday Night Live's most memorable alumni!


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Explaining the Basics, Debunking the Myths
Timekeeping: The Dive Watch, Deconstructed
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It is ironic that, while watch companies are turning out more capable dive watches – helium release valves, absurd water resistance, innovative bezels – fewer and fewer SCUBA divers are wearing watches at all. Go on any dive boat and you're lucky to find one person wearing anything besides a dive computer on his wrist. The fact of the matter is, dive watches have become anachronistic novelties to all but a few old school divers who still rely on memory and math skills to calculate no-decompression limits. But dive watches are more popular than ever for even those who will never dip a toe in the ocean. Perhaps because of this surge in their popularity, combined with their lack of real world use, dive watches suffer from numerous misconceptions. People love to wear them but don't know a helium release valve from a no-deco limit. We're here to help. This article explains some of the basics of the dive watch, debunks some myths and sets things straight.
How Is a Dive Watch Used?
Even if you never plan to back roll into the Caribbean or explore a Great Lakes wreck, you should know how a diver uses a dive watch. For a diver, there are three primary pieces of data he needs to know at all times: his depth, his remaining air pressure and his bottom time. While all three can now be displayed on a modern digital dive computer, the traditional means is using gauges and a timepiece, the first two on analog "brass and glass" gauges attached to a regulator hose or strapped to a wrist and the latter via the dive watch. While the importance of remaining air pressure is easy to understand, depth and time are more theoretical and inextricably linked.
The deeper you dive, the more nitrogen from the compressed air you breathe is absorbed in your body tissue. As you ascend this nitrogen is released slowly but if you spend too long too deep, you have to stop on your way to the surface in order to decompress. Fail to decompress, or ascend too quickly and you risk getting the bends, which can be painful and even deadly. Scientists long ago devised tables that tell divers what the maximum times they can spend at each depth before they must decompress on their ascent. So knowing your depth and your time is vital.
In the early days of diving, the way to track dive time was to pull out the crown of your watch before descending, set the minute hand to twelve o'clock, push in the crown and then start the dive. Of course, this was clumsy and always meant having to reset the time once back on the boat. The introduction of the rotating elapsed time bezel was a big leap forward. Contrary to some misconceptions, the bezel does not track the amount of air in the SCUBA tank. The bezel allows a diver to twist the bezel so that the arrow, or descent marker, aligns with the minute hand. As time passes, the minute hand is read against the bezel markings to quickly tell elapsed dive time. Knowing his depth and this time, along with the no-deco limit for his depth, a diver can safely carry out his dive.
Continues on the next page.