Coolangatta Tweeds Real Estate Agent Residential Buy All Suburbs More Search Options Know your propertys worth in todays market Ask the team today Welcome to LJ Hooker Coolangatta Tweed Please note our Coolangatta Office will be closed from Monday 24 December 2018 and Reopen Monday 7 January 2019 at 830am Our Tweed Mall sales office will have limited opening hours during this time TO START YOUR NEXT DREAM REQUEST A FREE APPRAISAL Move Straight in Properties For Sale See all Expressions of Interest Banora Point Development Site Banora Point NSW 4 Boyle Avenue Expressions of Interest Rural Retreat in the Piggabeen Valley Piggabeen NSW 30 Green Valley Way 3 2 4 395000 Bright Light on Greenbank Tweed Heads NSW 314 Buchan Avenue 2 1 1 169000 The Best Value in the Palms Village Tweed Heads South NSW Palms Village Site112125 Dry Dock Road 2 1 1 Auction River Front Retreat The Crab Shack Tweed Heads South NSW 6 Philp Parade 3 2 4 Interest Over 449000 Lifestyle Location an Unbeatable Investment Opportunity 200M to Kirra Beach Coolangatta QLD 1414 Douglas Street 2 2 1 589000 Move Straight in Tweed Heads West NSW 28 Inlet Drive 4 2 1 560000 Solid Lowest Family Home with Views from Every Angle Murwillumbah NSW 140144 Byangum Road 3 2 2 549000 Location Location Beachside Completely Renovated Tugun QLD 629 Teemangum Street 2 2 1 459000 Charming Elevated Home with Stunning Mountain Views Murwillumbah NSW 30 Hall Drive 3 1 2 Expressions of Interest Banora Point Development Site Banora Point NSW 4 Boyle Avenue Expressions of Interest Rural Retreat in the Piggabeen Valley Piggabeen NSW 30 Green Valley Way 3 2 4 395000 Bright Light on Greenbank Tweed Heads NSW 314 Buchan Avenue 2 1 1 169000 The Best Value in the Palms Village Tweed Heads South NSW Palms Village Site112125 Dry Dock Road 2 1 1 Auction River Front Retreat The Crab Shack Tweed Heads South NSW 6 Philp Parade 3 2 4 Interest Over 449000 Lifestyle Location an Unbeatable Investment Opportunity 200M to Kirra Beach Coolangatta QLD 1414 Douglas Street 2 2 1 589000 Move Straight in Tweed Heads West NSW 28 Inlet Drive 560000 Solid Lowest Family Home with Views from Every Angle Murwillumbah NSW 140144 Byangum Road 3 2 2 549000 Location Location Beachside Completely Renovated Tugun QLD 629 Teemangum Street 2 2 1 459000 Charming Elevated Home with Stunning Mountain Views Murwillumbah NSW 30 Hall Drive 3 1 2 Expressions of Interest Banora Point Development Site Banora Point NSW 4 Boyle Avenue Expressions of Interest Rural Retreat in the Piggabeen Valley Piggabeen NSW 30 Green Valley Way 3 2 4 Our Team Previous Aleisha Rees Executive Assistant 0420 755 330 Trudie Thompson Contracts Administration 07 5536 5577 Abby Lenkeith Director of First Impressions 07 5536 5577 Kirsten Palmer Director of First Impressions 07 5536 5577 Daniel Alexander Managing Director LREA Brett Gleeson Director of Property Investment Management 07 5536 5577 Robert Alexander Principal LREA 07 5536 5577 Chris Hubka Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0404 284 750 Mitch Harrop Real Estate Representative Sales and Marketing 0448 281 114 Ben Tribolet Licensed Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0422 264 329 Soleil Jacobsen Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0439 753 510 Kristy Thatcher Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0434 398 954 Jennifer Stanley Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0401 313 175 Kel Judd Licensed Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0402 597 001 Belinda Walmsley Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0413 993 040 Peter Walmsley Licensed Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0412 763 000 Madonna Delaney Licenced Real Estate Agent 0411 421 064 Gary Whyfon Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0439 323 720 Kristen Lonie Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0414 035 991 Jade Hubka Senior Property Investment Manager 07 5536 5577 Leigh Gregory Human Resource Manager 07 5536 5577 Aleisha Rees Executive Assistant 0420 755 330 Trudie Thompson Contracts Administration 07 5536 5577 Abby Lenkeith Director of First Impressions 07 5536 5577 Kirsten Palmer Director of First Impressions 07 5536 5577 Daniel Alexander Managing Director LREA 0401 475 330 Brett Gleeson Director of Property Investment Management 07 5536 5577 Robert Alexander Principal LREA 07 5536 5577 Chris Hubka Real Estate Agent Sales and Marketing 0404 284 750 Next What our customers say LJHooker Coolangatta Tweed gave us sound advice guidance when we were purchasing our apartment The staff were a pleasure to deal with and entertaining I would use their services again and always recommend them to our acquaintances when seeking real estate in this area Val Callaghan We have dealt with Kel Judd before We found Kel to be very easy to deal with and nothing it too much trouble He is friendly polite and very professional in his job Thanks for selling our property Natalie Jones Could not be more complimentary of the support Kel offered us through the process Honest down to earth and a pleasure to do business with I would recommend Kel to anybody looking to buy or sell he acts with integrity very approachable and a pleasure to work with I will personally be approaching Kel for all future purchases in the area Andrew Kim Moffat Andrew Kim Moffat Peter was easy going easy to relate to seemed like an acquaintance Id known for years Thanks again Peter Walmsley LJ Hooker for a friendly prompt professional service throughout which included referral to a local solicitor who handled the conveyance with the same professionalism as you have Andrew Karayannides Andrew Karayannides Thanks Kel for everything you your staff are fantastic all the best Charles Hill Peter was very helpful in arranging an inspection of the property at such short notice He followed up with helpful assistance throughout the purchase process Claire Pryor Claire Pryor Kel has a great reputation in this area He demonstrated his ability and concern for clientagency relationship when we purchased our previous property We have had 2 excellent business experiences with Kel We would go to him first second third He is the BEST Colin Bray Colin Bray Kel Judd was both personable efficient in every aspect of our sale He understood we needed a result within a certain timeframe worked in our interests to achieve a fair equitable outcome for both parties Very prompt helpful with all our enquiries Very fair in consideration of our needs Couldnt wish for more fair equitable treatment Graham Watson Our first meeting with Kel was not what we expected Kel does not fall into the norm when you think of a real estate agent he was like an old family friend Kel kept us in the loop constantly and thats what we liked A couple of minor bumps along the way but he found us a buyer with 3 weeks of our home being put up for sale John and I would not hesitate in recommending Kel LJ Hooker to any of our family friends His work is so professional he is a true gentleman Jillian John Hunter Jillian John Hunter Kel is a top notch real estate agent he is honest and a true local so he knows what hes talking about Hes an excellent real estate agent and an asset to any business in this industry Couldnt speak more highly of him Matthew Smith Kel was great through the whole process He was very accommodating when we wanted to view the property He was very helpful with negotiation with sellers kept in contact during the process and always made us feel like we could contact him about any queries Bret McCarthy Helen has an excellent presentation is very down to earth Extremely easy to deal with a genuine person with a great understanding of people She can communicate well on all levels has great life experiences which assist her greatly in meeting the needs of her clients Helen hit the ground running and our remarkable sale was taking place We cant thank Helen enough for her diligence our stress free sale Would highly recommend Helen to anyone wanting an honest experienced agent Lynne G Lynne G Great Agent Soleil was absolutely fantastic From our first conversation I knew Soleil was the agent I wanted to sell our unit She was professional communicated at each and every stepenquireropen day and managed to achieve all our expected goals Thank you so much Soleil Her helpful positive cheerful nature was much appreciated in what is often a stressful time Would recommend Soleil to everyone wishing to sell Kyla Brett A huge THANKYOU I loved the personal touch that came with your professionalism It made buying my unit so stress free I will wholeheartedly recommend Soleil if I know anyone interested in purchasing a property Maree Maree All facets of the negotiations were made clear easy to understand RealSatisfied Client Peter was far beyond our expectations of an agent we would highly recommend him to anyone RealSatisfied Client We are very grateful to Peter the team at no time did we feel under pressure RealSatisfied Client Peter made the whole process stressfree and easy He is very professional we can tell he loves what he does RealSatisfied Client Kel was always within contact reach when we needed to discuss any matters and always got back to us wthin a few hours we were never left wondering Kel is just a straight up and down guy to deal with and we appreciated his service Bret McCarthy From the time I considered selling my property up until when the sale went unconditional Kel Judd was faultless His knowledge of the area is excellent pricing of the property generated plenty of interest His advice regarding the open inspections was spot on and resulted in multiple offers to consider His follow up post sale was also very good Kel Judd Gary Whyfon at LJ Hooker Tweed will be my first stop for any future property management or sale requirements in the Tweed area Troy Spinks LJHooker Coolangatta Tweed gave us sound advice guidance when we were purchasing our apartment The staff were a pleasure to deal with and entertaining I would use their services again and always recommend them to our acquaintances when seeking real estate in this area Val Callaghan We have dealt with Kel Judd before We found Kel to be very easy to deal with and nothing it too much trouble He is friendly polite and very professional in his job Thanks for selling our property Natalie Jones Could not be more complimentary of the support Kel offered us through the process Honest down to earth and a pleasure to do business with I would recommend Kel to anybody looking to buy or sell he acts with integrity very approachable and a pleasure to work with I will personally be approaching Kel for all future purchases in the area Andrew Kim Moffat Andrew Kim Moffat Peter was easy going easy to relate to seemed like an acquaintance Id known for years Thanks again Peter Walmsley LJ Hooker for a friendly prompt professional service throughout which included referral to a local solicitor who handled the conveyance with the same professionalism as you have Andrew Karayannides Andrew Karayannides

B O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


3 Does Technology Make Us More Alone An Examination of Humankinds Relationship with Modern Models of Communication More in the PostiPhonePostiTunes World Youve doubtlessly seen it for yourself when commuting to workA sea of people crisscrossing each other with arms extended staring blankly at their cell phones nearly getting hit by cars as they blindly step off the curb They walk around in circles phones held aloft trying to get a connection Its something of a metaphor for what we are going to talk about here Loneliness and disconnect As technology has evolved one would think we have evolved along with it but the problem may be more complex than that If we take a closer look at the fabric of our modern lives and the ways in which technology is embedded in that fabric we come to realize that perhaps our relationship with it has caused us to devolve rather than evolve Past generations have sought to have social interaction and to network with colleagues by going out to bars restaurants and night clubs The contemporary person largely avoids these physical spaces in favor of a life online Where our forebears took long walks on intimate dates and engaged in facetoface conversationwhere they could see their dates immediate reactionwe DM our prospective mates profile and sit perched and anxious on the edge of our seat wondering why it is taking them so long to respond to our messages Instead of hitting up a matinee we Netflix and chill Or so we say but signs point to the chill part being BS In fact studies say that millennials are having less sex than people have had in the last sixty years Thats some serious inertia in the area of uglybumping The stats suggest that wed rather send a Tweet or binge on Shondaland than shake out our old birthday suit As actress Charleze deGuzman explored in her somewhat satirical and somewhat sullen video I Forgot My Phone we are living an insular life thanks to the technology we depend upon It is a lifestyle that is arguably unhealthy an argument that we will have here as we explore just what technology and the new worlds status quo does for us and to us Anger Crime Other Ugliness in the Information Age One thing is fairly inarguable about modern technology The home computer has been as much of a boon as it has been a bane The introduction of the Worldwide Web to the general public has resulted in a truly innovative and beneficial experience for most not all The Web has enabled writers administrators and other business professionals to more efficiently and expediently research relevant subject matter and better educate themselves on any number of issues both historical and current In 2014 a person posted to Quora posing the question What has the Internet done for mankind They only got two responses but they were nothing if not illuminating Patrick Donoghue a lover of research responded to the post writing The day is fast coming when the sum total of human knowledge will be available at the fingertips of the common person In direct response to the question posed Donughue says In the past I would have spent quite a bit of time in the university library Today I get better information in minutes versus hours He goes on to say that crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter have put humankind into a trajectory of tremendous unrelenting technological change geometric in progression and soon to go logarithmic And he goes on to make an extremely valid point about the ephemeral nature of technology a point that is more than a little perturbing when we consider the possible psychological ramifications of tech companies planned obsolescence Planned Obsolescence When Companies Decide Whats Cool and What Isnt Most consumers are no doubt familiar with the concept of planned obsolescence particularly since it is something we must deal with on a constant basis How many times have you had to buy a new pair of sneakers because your old ones soles came apart and looked like they were poised to yammer at you And sneakers are the least of it think about how many times youve had to reboot your iPad or close out all windows on your iPhone and power it off in an effort to get pages to load properly without freezing Why does this happen Because of planned obsolescence a business strategy that ensures that consumers will continue to purchase product from a company if for no other reason than they have no other choice If you need your iPhone to work so that you can communicate with your loved ones and your colleagues at the office whatre you gonna do Youre going to buy another phone Every year Apple comes out with an upgraded model of their iPhone and consumers lumber off to Apple stores in droves They assemble in long line ups that resemble nothing so much as the zombie masses clustered together in an episode of The Walking Dead One would think that these crowd situations would bring people closer together that they would permit a lonely person the opportunity to connect with their fellow human beings and forge some new relationships By and large this just isnt the case On the contrary these massive technologyfueled social gatherings tend to tap into the basest antisocial instincts of the consumers in question When Tech Mania Turns Violent Back in 2013 PC Mag reported on the violence that was sparked by the release of the latest iPhone They documented cases of domestic disturbance theft and trespassing that were a direct andor indirect result of demand for iPhone 5s and 5c This included the arrest of three persons in California after fights were incited in front of the Pasadena Apple Store Sadly these werent isolated incidents either in 2011 a fight broke out in Beijing over the iPhone 4 which left multiple people injured This is nothing new of course as public incidents of mass violence and panic have become something of a national past time and a bit of an inevitable prelude to the holiday season see Black Friday Technology as a tonic for loneliness is also something that is up for debate A case could be made for technology as something which has saved many a sexless solitary persons life Online pornography web cam models and sexy anime apps have given the lonely a digital playground on which to delve deep into their secret desires and fantasies One could even argue that the streets are safer thanks to the availability of more extreme subgenres of adult entertainment After all it is better for some frustrated egocompromised shutin to watch a simulated rape video on Kink instead of going out and taking his hatefueled sexual proclivities out on an actual pedestrian On the flip side technology can be a conduit for crimes many of them sexual in nature Back in 2003 online child pornography made headlines when The Who guitarist Pete Townshend was arrested for possession of child porn His computer was seized and pictures of children in compromised positions were discovered on his PC At the time Townshend insisted that he was innocent and that the materials that were uncovered were part of a research project he was undertaking Regardless two things were made clear 1 Townshend wasnt going to be welcome by any schoolyards and 2 The Internet was a dangerous place where deviant individuals could readily obtain illegal pictures and videos Technology has also yielded other forms of child abuse including young entertainers who are just looking to share their talents online The rise of YouTube has given countless musicians gamers and aspiring actorcomedians a public platform where they can share themselves for free while building their brand But with visitors and subscribers comes haters and pervs Video channels have even been taken down in the past in the wake of vitriolic comments by trolls and rivals And YouTube rugrats arent the only victims sometimes they are the villains Whether its the vegan vlogger Freelee the Banana Girl skinnyshaming Instagram personalities or Patrick Batemanstyle sociopaths like Onision incessantly answering the ageold question Wheres the beef Answer Its on Onisions channel YouTube drama has become one of the more damnably ostracizing factors of the modern technological experience It is one that was carefully considered by veteran comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan in an indepth interview with citizen journalism vlogger Philip DeFranco The pair talk about all aspects of libel and social responsibility in addition to problems they have with their phones and other devices YouTube has even become a soapbox for violent criminals with one posting a video of a teen being beaten in Bridgeport Illinois Which brings us to the dark heart of the online community VOYEURISM Anonymity Makes Us Evil Were not talking about the pervy hormonal pudwhackers sneaking a peep through a glory hole in Porkys we are talking about people who seek out SNUFF The snuff film real footage of a person being murdered on camera used to be the subject of utter skepticism Any time a VHS tape circulated among collectors they were debunked as being staged examples of Betamaxxera guignol But the Internet is now a free market for uncensored torture porn All it takes is your typing something like chainsaw execution into a search engine to arrive at truly grisly footage of unspeakably cruel and amoral acts In 2011 videos surfaced that are almost too terrible to even cover in words In the footage a small group of Russian teenagers march through a wooded area bashing the brains out of homeless people with hammers What makes this footage so disturbing is the time it takes them to kill each of their victims Unlike the depictions of violence we are accustomed to finding in mainstream entertainment actual murder is revealed here to be a long and agonizing process This realization makes the viewer feel every blow the victims receive This is but one of the ways technology may make us feel more alone When faced with the evil inherent in our neighbors an almost agoraphobic leaning towards solitude sets in Why do I want to know people if they are capable of such viciousness If our own kids are capable of such acts then how can we trust anyone This all results in a polarity between wanting to be left alone by the crazies and feeling alone as a result of your selfimposed confinement And while were on the subject of death lets revisit the prospective effect that planned obsolescence has on our psyches A lot of people suffer from seasonal depression Its something that can be triggered by a preexisting loneliness you get the blues because you know youre going to be the only one in your family thats single and living alone on Christmas Or maybe you just hate your family and wish you could drown your sorrows in a bottle or six of Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata rather than suffer through Uncle Jerrys racist dinner table banter But for some its simply the changing of the seasons As autumn comes to a close and winter beckons the leaves all die and everything gets cold as a morgue and you are left to ponder the cycle of life on more miserable time Planned obsolescence can be thought of in a similar fashionThe devices which we rely on fail us they die and in their death they remind us of our own obsolescence as mortal men and women So what do you do when youre grappling with this kind of lowrent hightech bummer You turn to your friends Antisocial Media YouTube is only one element of the modern technological experience Social media platforms are increasingly prevalent across the globe Sites like Facebook and MySpace before it have enabled the entire world to connect with one another By selecting a username and password and entering some cursory information about yourself you are given the ability to search for old friends send friend requests to those who you would like to be friends with and join groups that consist of likeminded people So whats the problem For one thing social media is setting people up for disappointment Maybe you dont have the greatest job Youre living paycheck to paycheck struggling to put some savings away Maybe you just dont have too many friends in the physical world Your job doesnt afford you the luxury of status symbols like fancy clothes or cars Now you log on to your social media profile and check in on your friends Whats going on in their lives What you see makes you feel less than Why When people post status updates on social media they invariably share the best things that are going on in their lives Granted you will occasionally come across a post where a friend is venting about their car breaking down or a relative dying but on average their posts will concern a party they went to a new car they bought a vacation they are taking something positive thats happening to them After all active people rarely have the chance during a busy work day to post a picture of them spilling coffee on their tie or slamming their thumb in a car door in their rush to make it to work on time As a consequence of this neverending barrage of fancy food pics and sunny beach shots some of us can end up morbidly depressed Thats the irony about social media that it can often make us feel lonelier than we would if we were to simply live in the real world the real world that predates social media by quite some time Social Media Addiction Have We Gone Too Far Our dependence upon Likes and comments when we post something to our own status bars can also have a detrimental effect on our sense of self and our mental wellbeing As mentioned earlier when we send a message or make a statement on technology it isnt the same as in our physical lives We have no promise of an immediate response The longer weve been on social media the more weve become junkies to instant gratification This potentially deleterious effect that sites like Facebook have on our brains has been welldocumented online Experience pieces like this one reinforce the concept mentioned above What we are dealing with is a sort of parasitic symbiosis we have with our devices Think about how naked you feel when you misplace your iPhone Panic sets in and then you become fidgety you dont know what to do with your hands Someone says something like I wonder what ever happened to Rick Moranis and you desperately dig through the pockets youve already turned inside out five times in your search for your smart phone Everything you want to know is on it and now youre unable to access any of it The more closely we peer into the mirror the clearer it becomes Technology has made us sad slaves who are becoming more and more socially retarded One way of looking at it is this When your only contact with other human beings has been limited to texting or Tweeting or leaving comments on a Facebook update your understanding of social cues deteriorates This ensures that your next business lunch or dinner date will result in your misreading the facial expressions and body language of the person you are with Which naturally results in loneliness and disappointment in kind The Death of the Reward System The Loss of Excitement Its a brave new world but its also a strange new world It is hard to believe that a generation of kids are just now growing up who wont remember what an actual telephone looked like They will never have to deal with dialup or wait to make a call in public because some guys hogging the only phone booth in a onemile radius Technology and time have changed so many things so much so that a certain piece of nostalgia and enjoyment may be lost forever I was talking to my significant other one day about The Wall She rolled her eyes assuming I was referring to the wall that US President Donald Trump insists he is going to build between the US and Mexico I wasnt What I was referring to was The Wall a chain of corporate music stores that sold audio cassettes CDs DVDs and Discman players If youre too young to know what a Discman was put on your favorite songthen press pause and play over and over again as the song plays out The Wall was an early adopter of computer technology In each of their stores there was a small kiosk sort of like a listening center except it consisted of an ATMshaped platform on which rested a screen not much bigger than an iPads Customers could use this touch screen rare for its time to type in the name of any artist or album they had heard about This music computer would then locate the album or artist in question offer availability and pricing information and suggest similar products Using this device to find rare and out of print albums was a joy for me as a kid a joy that vanished in my teens when the store was shut down and replaced by a yoga studio Thinking about The Wall triggered other fond memories memories of buying cassingles or audio cassette tapes with a hit song from one of your favorite artists and a Bside that youd never heard before My conversation with my girlfriend about all this brought up other things as well such as our mutual affinity for the smell of cassette and CD inserts that distinct inky scent that clung to the liner notes to any album And this of course brought back memories of discovering new artists not via radio stations or big music magazines but by the liner notes of our favorite bands Member when Korn listed Limp Bizkit and Deadsy as bands to check out in the liner notes to their debut album Ooo Remember BAE membered all right just like we both remember the sheer enthusiasm and anticipation of traveling all over the state to hunt down rare LPs in ma and pa record stores The search and discovery was often better than the music on the albums themselves and we were all in love with the jackets as much as the records inside their sleeves After we talked about all this the two of us sat there and mourned the demise of a certain age of entertainment and technology It was a lonely feeling because we knew wed never experience it again This feeling was made that much sadder by the realization that no child growing up in 2017 will ever experience the joy that we had when we were kids Why iTunes has changed the game on all of us suckers it has rendered the hunt for good music moot Now every hep cat and cool kiddie on the planet can have instant gratification Instead of digging through musty piles of yellowed vinyl sleeves in the basement of a record shop they can just punch the artists name into their app and the song is pulled up at once This makes for an undeniable convenience but it also means that kids will never be as excited about music as they could have beenback in the day when acquiring good music required becoming an amateur sleuth roaming about town doing junior detective work to find an old Dr Hook joint or an out of print Stooges jam Does Technology Make Us More Alone Huhm well I feel strongly optimistic about the future And yet I cant deny the fact that with greater freedom provided by technology Ive experienced greater loneliness as well Where are we headed Can technology save us from ourselves I sure hope so else we may be headed towards a future when everyone is plugged in but entirely tuned out More on Health

O O B O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Plan A Business Wide Responsible Sourcing Responsible Sourcing BUSINESS WIDE Plan A Plan A 2025 Commitments Delivering Plan A Business Wide Climate Change Waste Circular Economy Natural Resources Responsible Sourcing Product Sustainability Human Rights Responsible Marketing Clothing Home Food Household Property Construction Retail Operations People Interactive supply chain map Community Engagement Plan A Report Reports Publications Press Releases Blog Responsible Sourcing Environmental risks and social inequality are making the world more complicated and unpredictable Customers are increasingly aware of their personal impact on the world and businesses must work hard to build and maintain their trust Growing pressure on natural resources and poor global stewardship may increase our costs restrict our access to key raw materials and make our global supply chains more volatile In addition as governments and the wider public demand improvements in supply chain transparency stewardship and accountability legislation in this area is becoming increasingly sophisticated and challenging As one of the most trusted Brands on the high street we believe our role is to reassure our customers and key stakeholders that our products are ethically and sustainably sourced To do this we must look beyond our operations to the wider supply chain where the biggest impacts occur Each year we sell around 3 billion items produced by over 2000 suppliers We estimate that our suppliers source raw materials from around 20000 farms and 100000 smallholders with our entire supply chain involving around 2 million people We also use nonmerchandise goods and services worth several billion pounds every Commitments and targets We aim to enhance the lives and support the local communities of the people who work for and with us Were committed to source responsibly and we work closely with our suppliers make sure they respect human rights promote decent working conditions and improve sustainability across our supply base We want to be a leader on sustainable consumption and production in our sector Approach We source products and commodities from more than 70 countries so our supply chain is very complex We introduced our ethical trading programme including ethical audits of our supply chain during the 1990s and weve worked hard to make sure supply chain workers enjoy decent working conditions In many countries jobs at factories or farms that produce for the international market are highly sought after and we know from experience that the companies running them benefit from increased commitment and productivity when their employees are treated with respect work in decent conditions and earn fair rates of pay Our customers benefit too from better quality better value products and peace of mind We have a responsibility to ensure workers rights are at the forefront of our decisionmaking and minimum standards are upheld in order to respect human rights promote decent working conditions and improve sustainability across our supply base This applies regardless of whether we are sourcing items to sell or use within our business Our Human Rights Policy and Code of Ethics and Behaviours reinforces our commitment and responsibility to respect internationallyrecognised human rights and the principles and guidance contained in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights We are also signatory to the UN Womens Empowerment Principles and UN Global Compact Find out more about our approach to respecting human rights We comply with the UK Groceries Supply Code of Practice GSCOP dealing with our suppliers fairly and lawfully We also support the work of the Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority to remove worker exploitation from the food supply chain and have signed up to its Supplier Retail Protocol Weve increased our transparency on responsible sourcing In 2016 we published for the first time an interactive map featuring the locations of all our active clothing and food manufacturers and in 2017 we extended it to cover our homeware and beauty product manufacturers We also began to disclose additional information on our approach to auditing and audit results within our Food and Household supply chain and Clothing and Home supply chain Our approach to responsible sourcing focuses on Understanding our supply chain and establishing and maintaining clear minimum global supplier standards appropriate to the industries and countries manufacturing and supplying our goods and services Global Sourcing Principles Supply Chain Transparency Monitoring supplier performance to ensure they meet acceptable standards and are continually improving Monitoring and assurance Grievances and complaints Helping to build capacity and capability within our supply chains so that our suppliers can implement and maintain high standards Worker training Global Community Programme Working with others to find innovative solutions to complex and systemic issues that we cant tackle alone Driving convergence in responsible sourcing practices Public policy advocacy All the relevant areas of our business are responsible for ensuring that appropriate processes and controls are in place to implement our Global Sourcing Principles To support them weve developed sourcing strategies and standards that facilitate the delivery of industry obligations or particular Plan A commitments that go beyond our minimum standards For example our Clothing and Home and Food and Household business units have established industry leading programmes covering manufacturing and farming excellence You can read more about these on this website Working with others Listening learning responding and working in partnership is an important part of how we do business Were working with a large number of organisations to support our responsible sourcing activities Weve been actively involved with the Ethical Trading Initiative ETI since 1999 and were founding members of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange Sedex which aims to drive improvements and convergence in responsible sourcing practices Were working closely with Global Social Compliance Programme GSCP Business for Social Responsibility BSR and the International Labour Organizations Better Work programme to promote responsible business practices Weve also worked with a number of specialist organisations including Ergon Associates Shift and Impactt to help us improve our standards and approach to monitoring and assurance Through our Global Community Programme we support a number of programmes that help to improve working conditions in our supply base in partnership with organisations such as the Better Cotton Initiative Emerging Leaders Cool Earth and Project Hope Key documents Human Rights Find out more about our approach to respecting human rights Interactive supply chain map Find out more about our supply base

O O O O B I B I O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

responsible sourcing
commitments
human rights policy


LET OUR FAMILY HELP BUILD YOUR FAMILY HOME Located on Hwy 270W in Hot SpringsAR The gateway to Lake Ouachita and the beautiful Ouachita Mountain range Available to serve you from Monday Friday 9AM5PM Saturday 10AM3PM Open Monday New Years Eve and Closed New Years Day After hours available by appointment Open New Years Eve Closed New Years Day Wishing EVERYONE a safe and Happy Holidays WHY OUR CLIENTS LOVE US 1 Deer Valley Dealer in Arkansas Only Heavy Built High Quality Homes Top Notch Helpful Sales Team Energy Star Certified Homes AwardWinning Service We Customize Modify Select Custom Floorplans ChooseDesign your homes Your Home Your Way Have your own plan Bring it in and we can most likely duplicate it and provide a cost to build it Foundation Driveway Homesite Construction We can handle all your contractor needs w local licensed insured subcontractors to assist in minimizing the stress of home site prep work and cement foundation work Financing Programs We also offer Home Only VA FHA LandHome Financing with multiple lenders available to assist in financing your dream home SOME OF OUR BEST IN CLASS HOME DESIGNS DVT8408 THE KOINONIA 3 Bedroom 3 Bath 45x84 Approx 2550 Sq Ft DVT7204C THE BRIARRITZ 3 Bedroom 2 Bath 42x72 Approx 2400 Sq Ft DV8024 THE TORRIDON 3 Bedroom 2 Bath 32X80 Approx 2280 Sq Ft DV7601 KAIROS 4 Bedroom 3 Bath 32X90 Approx 2580 Sq Ft Click To See More Model Home Virtual Tours INCREDIBLE INCLUDED FEATURES CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS OUR HOMES STANDARD FEATURES 2X6 Exterior Walls 2X4 Interior Walls 2X8 Floor Joists Full tape textured paintable 12sheet rock No wallboard Insulated double pane Low E Windows Northern Insulation For Low Energy Bills Fiberglass Tubs China Sinks Full Wood Wrap Exterior Underlayment Residential 8 Sheet Rock Ceilings Techshield Roof Decking INCLUDED ITEMS IN PRICE QUOTES 1 Year Warranty Delivery Set Up to State Code Ground Vapor Barrier Vinyl Skirting Complete Trim Out Siding Carpet Doors Etc Appliances High Efficiency 14 seer Air Conditioner w Heat Pump Option Limited Lifetime Warranty on Vinyl Siding 20 30 Year Warranty on Shingles 20 Year Warranty on Floors with OSB Foundation and Concrete Runners optional CUSTOMIZABLE OPTIONS Tile and wood laminate some plans std Full 12 rock wood burning gas fireplaces Stainless steel appliance packages Laminate wood tile flooring Ceramic tile showers w Rain Head shower heads Oversized tubs for guest baths Increased ceiling heights at 8 12 ft 9 ft Elevated roof pitchs at 512 to 712 from standard 312 nominal Cemplank lap siding Cempanel vertical siding Metal roofing over 20 year standard 30 year architectural shingles MODULAR MANUFACTURED We offer both Manufactured Modular Construction in all of our homes What is the difference Manufactured homes are built to the Federal mandated HUD building codes Manufactured homes have a steel frame and can be set on a permanent foundation Our Manufactured homes actually far surpass HUD standards For example Our Homes will have 2x6 exterior wall construction 2x4 interior wall construction throughout 2X8 floor joists which is not a HUD standard Modular homes are built to your local and state building codes Our Modular homes generally exceed state local code by 20 and all are certified by an Arkansas engineer Modular homes are not titled like manufactured appraise like site build homes using area sales comparisons and generally appreciate in value over time like site built homes which provide more favorable terms from mortgage lenders THE BUILDER Deer Valley Homebuilders understands purchasing a home is a considerable undertaking and significant investment With Deer Valley building materials are not compromised Home building materials energy efficiency and workmanship remain their driving force Visit their website here httpswwwdeervalleyhbcom CONTACT US Please call and leave us a message We will reply within 24 hours Contact Us

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


The Cosmic Microwave Background Learning Objectives By the end of this section you will be able to Explain why we can observe the afterglow of the hot early universe Discuss the properties of this afterglow as we see it today including its average temperature and the size of its temperature fluctuations Describe open flat and curved universes and explain which type of universe is supported by observations Summarize our current knowledge of the basic properties of the universe including its age and contents The description of the first few minutes of the universe is based on theoretical calculations It is crucial however that a scientific theory should be testable What predictions does it make And do observations show those predictions to be accurate One success of the theory of the first few minutes of the universe is the correct prediction of the amount of helium in the universe Another prediction is that a significant milestone in the history of the universe occurred about 380000 years after the Big Bang Scientists have directly observed what the universe was like at this early stage and these observations offer some of the strongest support for the Big Bang theory To find out what this milestone was lets look at what theory tells us about what happened during the first few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang The fusion of helium and lithium was completed when the universe was about 4 minutes old The universe then continued to resemble the interior of a star in some ways for a few hundred thousand years more It remained hot and opaque with radiation being scattered from one particle to another It was still too hot for electrons to settle down and become associated with a particular nucleus such free electrons are especially effective at scattering photons thus ensuring that no radiation ever got very far in the early universe without having its path changed In a way the universe The Universe Becomes Transparent Not until a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang when the temperature had dropped to about 3000 K and the density of atomic nuclei to about 1000 per cubic centimeter did the electrons and nuclei manage to combine to form stable atoms of hydrogen and helium section on The Beginning of the Universe With no free electrons to scatter photons the universe became transparent for the first time in cosmic history From this point on matter and radiation interacted much less frequently we say that they decoupled from each other and evolved separately Suddenly electromagnetic radiation could really travel and it has been traveling through the universe ever since Discovery of the Cosmic Background Radiation If the model of the universe described in the previous section is correct thenas we look far outward in the universe and thus far back in timethe first afterglow of the hot early universe should still be detectable Observations of it would be very strong evidence that our theoretical calculations about how the universe evolved are correct As we shall see we have indeed detected the radiation emitted at this photon decoupling time when radiation began to stream freely through the universe without interacting with matter Figure 1 Figure 1 Cosmic Microwave Background and Clouds Compared a Early in the universe photons electromagnetic energy were scattering off the crowded hot charged particles and could not get very far without colliding with another particle But after electrons and photons settled into neutral atoms there was far less scattering and photons could travel over vast distances The universe became transparent As we look out in space and back in time we cant see back beyond this time b This is similar to what happens when we see clouds in Earths atmosphere Water droplets in a cloud scatter light very efficiently but clear air lets light travel over long The detection of this afterglow was initially an accident In the late 1940s Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman working with George Gamow realized that just before the universe became transparent it must have been radiating like a blackbody at a temperature of about 3000 Kthe temperature at which hydrogen atoms could begin to form If we could have seen that radiation just after neutral atoms formed it would have resembled radiation from a reddish star It was as if a giant fireball filled the whole universe But that was nearly 14 billion years ago and in the meantime the scale of the universe has increased a thousand fold This expansion has increased the wavelength of the radiation by a factor of 1000 see the section A Model of the Universe According to Wiens law which relates wavelength and temperature the expansion has correspondingly lowered the temperature by a factor of 1000 see the chapter on Radiation and Spectra Alpher and Herman predicted that the glow from the fireball should now be at radio wavelengths and should resemble the radiation from a blackbody at a temperature only a few degrees above absolute zero Since the fireball was everywhere throughout the universe the radiation left over from it should also be everywhere If our eyes were sensitive to radio wavelengths the whole sky would appear to glow very faintly However our eyes cant see at these wavelengths and at the time Alpher and Herman made their prediction there were no instruments that could detect the glow Over the years their In the mid1960s in Holmdel New Jersey Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of ATTs Bell Laboratories had built a delicate microwave antenna Figure 2 to measure astronomical sources including supernova remnants like Cassiopeia A see the chapter on The Death of Stars They were plagued with some unexpected background noise just like faint static on a radio which they could not get rid of The puzzling thing about this radiation was that it seemed to be coming from all directions at once This is very unusual in astronomy after all most radiation has a specific direction where it is strongestthe direction of the Sun or a supernova remnant or the disk of the Milky Way for example Figure 2 Robert Wilson left and Arno Penzias right These two scientists are standing in front of the hornshaped antenna with which they discovered the cosmic background radiation The photo was taken in 1978 just after they received the Nobel Prize in physics Penzias and Wilson at first thought that any radiation appearing to come from all directions must originate from inside their telescope so they took everything apart to look for the source of the noise They even found that some pigeons had roosted inside the big hornshaped antenna and had left as Penzias delicately put it a layer of white sticky dielectric substance coating the inside of the antenna However nothing the scientists did could reduce the background radiation to zero and they reluctantly came to accept that it must be real and it must be coming from space Penzias and Wilson were not cosmologists but as they began to discuss their puzzling discovery with other scientists they were quickly put in touch with a group of astronomers and physicists at Princeton University a short drive away These astronomers hadas it happenedbeen redoing the calculations of Alpher and Herman from the 1940s and also realized that the radiation from the decoupling time should be detectable as a faint afterglow of radio waves The different calculations of what the observed temperature would be for this cosmic microwave background CMB were uncertain but all predicted less than 40 K Penzias and Wilson found the distribution of intensity at different radio wavelengths to correspond to a temperature of 35 K This is very coldcloser to absolute zero than most other astronomical measurementsand a testament to how much space and the waves within it has stretched Their measurements have been repeated with better instruments which give us a reading of 273 K So Penzias and Wilson came very close Rounding this value scientists often refer to the 3degree microwave background Many other experiments on Earth and in space soon confirmed the discovery by Penzias and Wilson The radiation was indeed coming from all directions it was isotropic and matched the predictions of the Big Bang theory with remarkable precision Penzias and Wilson had inadvertently observed the glow from the primeval fireball They received the Nobel Prize for their work in 1978 And just before his death in 1966 Lemaître learned that his vanished brilliance had been discovered and confirmed You may enjoy watching Three Degrees a 26minute video from Bell Labs about Penzias and Wilsons discovery of the cosmic background radiation with interesting historical footage Properties of the Cosmic Microwave Background One issue that worried astronomers is that Penzias and Wilson were measuring the background radiation filling space through Earths atmosphere What if that atmosphere is a source of radio waves or somehow affected their measurements It would be better to measure something this important from space The first accurate measurements of the CMB were made with a satellite orbiting Earth Named the Cosmic Background Explorer COBE it was launched by NASA in November 1989 The data it received quickly showed that the CMB closely matches that expected from a blackbody with a temperature of 273 K Figure 3 This is exactly the result expected if the CMB was indeed redshifted radiation emitted by a hot gas that filled all of space shortly after the universe began Figure 3 Cosmic Background Radiation The solid line shows how the intensity of radiation should change with wavelength for a blackbody with a temperature of 273 K The boxes show the intensity of the cosmic background radiation as measured at various wavelengths by COBEs instruments The fit is perfect When this graph was first shown at a meeting of astronomers they gave it a standing ovation The first important conclusion from measurements of the CMB therefore is that the universe we have today has indeed evolved from a hot uniform state This observation also provides direct support for the general idea that we live in an evolving universe since the universe is cooler today than it was in the beginning Small Differences in the CMB It was known even before the launch of COBE that the CMB is extremely isotropic In fact its uniformity in every direction is one of the best confirmations of the cosmological principle that the universe is homogenous and isotropic According to our theories however the temperature could not have been perfectly uniform when the CMB was emitted After all the CMB is radiation that was scattered from the particles in the universe at the time of decoupling If the radiation were completely smooth then all those particles must have been distributed through space absolutely evenly Yet it is those particles that have become all the galaxies and stars and astronomy students that now inhabit the cosmos Had the particles been completely smoothly distributed they could not have formed all the largescale structures now present in the universethe clusters and superclusters of galaxies discussed in the last few chapters The early universe must have had tiny density fluctuations from which such structures could evolve Regions of higherthanaverage density would have attracted additional matter and eventually grown into the galaxies and clusters that we see today It turned out that these denser regions would appear to us to be colder spots that is they would have lowerthanaverage temperatures The reason that temperature and density are related can be explained this way At the time of decoupling photons in a slightly denser portion of space had to expend some of their energy to escape the gravitational force exerted by the surrounding gas In losing energy the photons became slightly colder than the overall average temperature at the time of decoupling Vice versa photons that were located in a slightly less dense portion of space lost less energy upon leaving it than other photons thus appearing slightly hotter than average Therefore if the seeds of presentday galaxies existed at the Scientists working with the data from the COBE satellite did indeed detect very subtle temperature differencesabout 1 part in 100000in the CMB The regions of lowerthanaverage temperature come in a variety of sizes but even the smallest of the colder areas detected by COBE is far too large to be the precursor of an individual galaxy or even a supercluster of galaxies This is because the COBE instrument had blurry vision poor resolution and could only measure large patches of the sky We needed instruments with sharper vision Figure 4 CMB Observations This comparison shows how much detail can be seen in the observations of three satellites used to measure the CMB The CMB is a snapshot of the oldest light in our universe imprinted on the sky when the universe was just about 380000 years old The first spacecraft launched in 1989 is NASAs Cosmic Background Explorer or COBE WMAP was launched in 2001 and Planck was launched in 2009 The three panels show 10squaredegree patches of allsky maps This cosmic background radiation image bottom is an allsky map of the CMB as observed by the Planck mission The colors in The most detailed measurements of the CMB have been obtained by two satellites launched more recently than COBE The results from the first of these satellites the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe WMAP spacecraft were published in 2003 In 2015 measurements from the Planck satellite extended the WMAP measurements to evenhigher spatial resolution and lower noise Figure 4 Theoretical calculations show that the sizes of the hot and cold spots in the CMB depend on the geometry of the universe and hence on its total density Its not at all obvious that it should do so and it takes some pretty fancy calculationsway beyond the level of our textto make the connection but having such a dependence is very useful The total density we are discussing here includes both the amount of mass in the universe and the mass equivalent of the dark energy That is we must add together mass and energy ordinary matter dark matter and To see why this works remember from the chapter on Black Holes and Curved Spacetime that with his theory of general relativity Einstein showed that matter can curve space and that the amount of curvature depends on the amount of matter present Therefore the total amount of matter in the universe including dark matter and the equivalent matter contribution by dark energy determines the overall geometry of space Just like the geometry of space around a black hole has a curvature to it so the entire universe may have a curvature Lets take a look at the possibilities in Figure 5 If the density of matter is higher than the critical density the universe will eventually collapse In such a closed universe two initially parallel rays of light will eventually meet This kind of geometry is referred to as spherical geometry If the density of matter is less than critical the universe will expand forever Two initially parallel rays of light will diverge and this is referred to as hyperbolic geometry In a criticaldensity universe two parallel light rays never meet and the expansion comes to a halt only at some time infinitely far in the future We refer to this flat universe and the kind of Euclidean geometry you learned in high school applies in this type of universe Figure 5 Picturing Space Curvature for the Entire Universe The density of matter and energy determines the overall geometry of space If the density of the universe is greater than the critical density then the universe will ultimately collapse and space is said to be closed like the surface of a sphere If the density exactly equals the critical density then space is flat like a sheet of paper the universe will expand forever with the rate of expansion coming to a halt infinitely far in the future If the density is less than critical then the expansion will continue forever and space is said to be open and If the density of the universe is equal to the critical density then the hot and cold spots in the CMB should typically be about a degree in size If the density is greater than critical then the typical sizes will be larger than one degree If the universe has a density less than critical then the structures will appear smaller In Figure 6 you can see the differences easily WMAP and Planck observations of the CMB confirmed earlier experiments that we do indeed live in a flat criticaldensity universe Figure 6 Comparison of CMB Observations with Possible Models of the Universe Cosmological simulations predict that if our universe has critical density then the CMB images will be dominated by hot and cold spots of around one degree in size bottom center If on the other hand the density is higher than critical and the universe will ultimately collapse then the images hot and cold spots will appear larger than one degree bottom left If the density of the universe is less than critical and the expansion will continue forever then the structures will appear smaller bottom right As the measurements show the universe is at critical density The measurements shown were Key numbers from an analysis of the Planck data give us the best values currently available for some of the basic properties of the universe Age of universe 13799 0038 billion years Note That means we know the age of the universe to within 38 million years Amazing Hubble constant 6731 096 kilometerssecondmillion parsecs Fraction of universes content that is dark energy 685 13 Fraction of the universes content that is matter 315 13 Note that this value for the Hubble constant is slightly smaller than the value of 70 kilometerssecondmillion parsecs that we have adopted in this book In fact the value derived from measurements of redshifts is 73 kilometerssecondmillion parsecs So precise is modern cosmology these days that scientists are working hard to resolve this discrepancy The fact that the difference between these two independent measurements is so small is actually a remarkable achievement Only a few decades ago astronomers were arguing about whether the Hubble constant was around 50 kilometerssecondmillion parsecs or 100 kilometerssecondmillion parsecs Analysis of Planck data also shows that ordinary matter mainly protons and neutrons makes up 49 of the total density Dark matter plus normal matter add up to 315 of the total density Dark energy contributes the remaining 685 The age of the universe at decouplingthat is when the CMB was emittedwas 380000 years Perhaps the most surprising result from the highprecision measurements by WMAP and the even higherprecision measurements from Planck is that there were no surprises The model of cosmology with ordinary matter at about 5 dark matter at about 25 and dark energy about 70 has survived since the late 1990s when cosmologists were forced in that direction by the supernovae data In other words the very strange universe that we have been describing with only about 5 of its contents being made up of the kinds of matter we are familiar with here on Earth really seems to be the After the CMB was emitted the universe continued to expand and cool off By 400 to 500 million years after the Big Bang the very first stars and galaxies had already formed Deep in the interiors of stars matter was reheated nuclear reactions were ignited and the more gradual synthesis of the heavier elements that we have discussed throughout this book began We conclude this quick tour of our model of the early universe with a reminder You must not think of the Big Bang as a localized explosion in space like an exploding superstar There were no boundaries and there was no single site where the explosion happened It was an explosion of space and time and matter and energy that happened everywhere in the universe All matter and energy that exist today including the particles of which you are made came from the Big Bang We were and still are in the midst of a Big Bang it is all around us Key Concepts and Summary When the universe became cool enough to form neutral hydrogen atoms the universe became transparent to radiation Scientists have detected the cosmic microwave background CMB radiation from this time during the hot early universe Measurements with the COBE satellite show that the CMB acts like a blackbody with a temperature of 273 K Tiny fluctuations in the CMB show us the seeds of largescale structures in the universe Detailed measurements of these fluctuations show that we live in a criticaldensity universe and that the critical density is composed of 31 matter including dark matter and 69 dark energy Ordinary matterthe Glossary cosmic microwave background CMB microwave radiation coming from all directions that is the redshifted afterglow of the Big Bang flat universe a model of the universe that has a critical density and in which the geometry of the universe is flat like a sheet of paper photon decoupling time when radiation began to stream freely through the universe without interacting with matter Recall that microwaves are in the radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum

O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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