text:
Every Tuesday we send out an email to every employee with information from the district This email...
Each week we will share one strategy that you could adapt to meet the needs of your diverse multilingual students. As you read through the strategy, you can keep in mind your specific ML students to determine how the strategy shared can support your learners during Tier 1 instruction. You can implement these instructional strategies to provide every learner with what they need to have academic and linguistic success!
This week we are going to encourage students to utilize academic vocabulary as they become a Math Coach!
- Learning Target: I can coach my peers step by step on how to solve a math problem by using my academic vocabulary and dialogue.
- Domain Focus: Speaking & Listening
- Time: 15 Minutes
- Setting: With Partners during Whole Group or Small Group
- Instructional Strategy: The Math Coach
The Math Coach strategy encourages students to utilize their speaking skills while instructing a peer on how to solve a math problem step by step. Students are encouraged to include the correct vocabulary to describe how to complete each step of the math procedure. This strategy allows students to process the steps of the math procedure and authentically practice them multiple times. During this strategy, students will also be able to see their peers demonstrate how to apply math concepts and solve problems.
Teachers will assign partners to complete this ‘Coaching’ process:
- Assign partnerships several math problems after the modeling portion of your instruction.
- One of the students does the first problem while the second acts as a coach. The coach instructs the student on how to solve the problem and walks their partner through solving the problem step by step.
- Then, students switch roles for the second problem.
- When they finish the second problem, they get together with another pair and check answers.
- When both pairs have agreed on the answers, ask them to shake hands and continue working in pairs on the next two problems.
This strategy provides many opportunities for students to dialogue with their partners and make sense of the new information they have learned. Being the math ‘Coach’ will encourage students to take ownership of their language and actively participate in academic conversations using content vocabulary.
- Write the steps on the board with examples for students to refer back to -Strategic Partnerships
- Vocabulary Bank with content words -Provide sentence stems for each step as needed
- Utilize visual models for solving math problems
- Check out the PDF for an Example!
We would love to know how this tip worked for you! Please share any experiences with your PLC, or EL Coordinator or email to firstname.lastname@example.org.

domain: mathematics


text:
For more than three decades, art collectors traveling to Maui have sought after and procured the stark creations of Lowell Mapes.
The soft spoken artist with an unyielding, powerful palette. The humble master of contrast, who’s creations invite the viewer to come sit in the shade of an antique tropical landscape and enjoy the breeze of the tradewinds. His paintings reflect the timeless dignity of traditional island lifestyles as they are expressed in the local architecture.
Trained under the prominent New York painter Peter Hayward, and Parisian trained illustrator, Frank Vansteen, Lowell travelled as pleinair painter throughout Europe. Since arriving in Hawaii forty years ago, he’s captured the island through masterful compositions managing to preserve Maui one painting at a time.

domain: painting


Beatport is the world's largest electronic music store for DJs
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Give Me Rhythm
Samir Maslo Remix
Going Back to My Disco-Routes - EP
I Cant Fight It (Corrado Rizza feat. Desy Moore)
Give Me Rhythm (Jay Vegas Remix) [Corrado Rizza Presents Black Connection]


text:
Analysable Real-Time Systems: Programmed in Ada by Prof Alan Burns (2016-10-21)
Sorry, description is temporarily unavailable.
*An electronic version of a printed book that can be read on a computer or handheld device designed specifically for this purpose.
Formats for this Ebook
|Required Software||Any PDF Reader, Apple Preview|
|Supported Devices||Windows PC/PocketPC, Mac OS, Linux OS, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch.|
|# of Devices||Unlimited|
|Flowing Text / Pages||Pages|
|The message text*:|
The Little Things That Matter in the Big Game: Specific Things Any Young Person Can Do by Kathy Boehlert (2012-10-23)

domain: library


text:
Thursday, 28 November 2013
The turning wheel
Three days of deep frosts followed by a bitter day of cold, lashing rain; it feels that autumn is now turning to winter in the Aberdeenshire countryside. The trees are almost bare and the fields behind our house have been spread with dung then ploughed to await their next crop - the land transformed from the golds of late summer to brown shades.
On a more settled morning I took a walk to get some height and hopefully a view.
Coiliocbhar Hill is just ten minutes drive from home and I was soon up above the farmland and onto the hill ground.
The moorland grasses are bleached and dry after snow, then cold winds and frost - it really looks like winter.
To the north-east I could look over to Bennachie, that most recognisable of Aberdeenshire's hills, and one associated with homecomings. The last time I was on Coiliochbhar Hill I was treated to a great Brocken Spectre, but no chance of that today in a cold blustery airstream.
To the west I looked over the course of the River Don and beyond to the hills separating Donside from Fiddichside......
.......while a bit closer, the hulk of Kildrummy Castle watches the turning of the seasons, as it has done for 800 years.
I walked reluctantly back down from the hill towards a winter sky. The wheel of the seasons is turning. I'm about to leave for four months working abroad; when I return the wheel will have turned further and the fresh shades of Spring will be across the land. As with the seasons, the small cycle of my own wheel will have turned too.

domain: agronomy


Early Pollen Corona - Atoptics Highlights OPOD
Atoptics Highlights, OPOD, Optics Picture of the Day, Featured images of optical phenomena in the atmosphere, rainbows, halos, corona, glories, rays, shadows and more.
CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics – Research and ...
CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, is a world leader in education, research, and industrial partnership. Optics and photonics is the science and technology of light: lasers, LEDs, LCDs, optical fibers, and imaging systems for applications in industry and medicine.
OZ Optics Ltd.
OZ Optics designs, manufactures and markets fiber optic components for existing next-generation optical networks based on it's own proprietary technology, trade secrets and patents.
Atmospheric optics - Rainbows, halos, glories and many other visual spectacles produced by light playing on water drops, dust and ice crystals in the atmosphere with explanations, images and downloadable freeware to simulate them.
Smith United States | Smith Optics Home Page
Smith Optics sets the standard for high performance sunglasses, goggles and helmets. Smith innovations include the patented Regulator lens ventilation system, distortion-free Tapered Lens Technology, and the versatility of the Slider Series.
Home | Nightforce Optics, Inc.
Home, Products, Technology, Company, Dealer Locator, Contact, News, Media, Ballistic Calculator, In The Field, Support and Careers. Nightforce Optics, Inc. 2012.
Polarized Sunglasses online
Affordable prices for optical quality sunglasses including custom fitting clip-on, over prescription, night driving, computer and reading with uva and uvb protection
Micron Optics - A world leader in optical solutions and ...
An established leader of innovative optical components and laser-based equipment that advance the quality of optical measurements, allowing the Sensing, Imaging and Telecommunications industries to make critical measurements.
Absolutely stunning design, development, prototyping and production of infrared lens assemblies.
Liberty Optics Riflescopes Binoculars Spotting Scopes Free ...
Welcome to Liberty Optics, we have built our company strictly by word of mouth for the last FIFTEEN years and are proud to offer you the best in service and value!Liberty Optics is an Authorized Dealer of leading brands such as: Vortex, Leupold, Zeiss, Steiner, Trijicon, Kowa, Bushnell Elite , Burris, and Sightron. We feature quality rings & bases from Seekins Precision , Warne & American ...


Can you believe the holiday season is here? Hollywoodlife & chickdowntown help you get dressed!
It’s almost time to head home for the holidays, but you still don’t know what to pack for your festive family gathering! Leave your super-stylish frocks behind–you don’t want your brother bashing your look. Instead go for something chic, like this fun belted ABS sheath. You’re in luck because chickdowntown has a slew of looks to last you through the holiday season.
The work vibe at ‘The Wendy Williams Show’ has become a tough place ever since cheating allegations came out involving her husband. We’ve got EXCLUSIVE details on how the host now trusts no one on set.
Our insiders say Kim Kardashian is seriously rattled by the recent attempted break-in at her Bel-Air home! We’re even hearing that it has triggered her PTSD from the Paris incident! Here’s all the EXCLUSIVE details.
Blake Griffin is going there! He’s not scared of a Jenner Jinx or Kardashian Curse by dating Kendall. We’ve got EXCLUSIVE details on how the NBA star thinks the model will be his good luck charm this season.


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Senator Cory Bernardi urges government to rethink company tax cuts
Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi thinks the government needs to accept their proposed company tax cuts won’t pass the Senate.
One Nation has reversed its position to support the cuts from 30% to 25%, leaving only four cross-bench senators prepared to pass it.
That’s well short of the nine needed.
Cory Bernardi joins Ben Fordham, and agrees – One Nation can’t seem to make up its mind.
“This is what happens when you make your decisions based on the last person you spoke to”.
Senator Bernardi says it takes courage to argue for tax cuts, along with commitment and an understanding.
He wants the government to accelerate tax cuts for small business, and then look at tax relief for the 50% of Australians who pay tax.
“Let’s provide more relief for those actually paying tax, let’s support small business because they can’t get their tax program through the Senate”.
Ben’s chat with Cory Bernardi below

domain: politics


text:
Aerobic shoes AER7 FIT
Upper in microfiber HI TECH high resistance, breathable,25% lighter then leather, Eco Friendly no PVC, with dedicated heel protection.
Special outsole in natural rubber designed to improve pirouettes full insert in EVA, reinforced in toe and heel part.
PU insole with anti-tear treatment.
Fixed with no solvent glue.
Elevated protection for the athlete’s feet, maximum performance.
Designed for competition and training use.
Recommended use on F.I.G. and FISAF approved floors.

domain: sports


text:
|Display||LCD, 20 mm X 20 mm 2 lines|
|– ABPM mode||Systolic pressure in mmHg
Diastolic pressure in mmHg
Pulse rate in beats/minutes
|– PWA mode||Pulsation bar|
|Memory (For ABPM)||96 blocks of waveform readings|
|Reading cycle time (For ABPM)||8 to 10 seconds|
|– Blood pressure||40 to 280 mmHg|
|– Pulse rate||30 to 180 beats/minute|
|Power source||3V CR 2032 coin battery|
|Battery life||1 – 6 months depending on usage|
|Buttons||Five buttons1. Mode
|Measurement method||Modified arteries applanation tonometry|
|Measurement site||Radial artery at the wrist (Left or Right)|
|Calibration method||Oscillometric, performs prior to use|
|Size and Weight|
|Size – Watch head||44mm W X 51mm L X 19mm H|
|Size – Sensor housing||32mm W X 38mm L X 16mm H|
|Operating conditions||10 to 40ºC, 15 to 90% relative humidity (non-condensing).80 to 106kPa atmospheric pressure|
|Regulatory compliance||FDA, CE, SFDA, TGA, HSA|
|BP Calibrators, blood pressure cuff||Regular adult, for arm circumferences 21 to 30 cm. Included with system. Optional: Large adult, for arm circumferences from 29 to 42 cm.|
Super Health Sprays
Oxidative stress in Heart FailureOxidative stress is elevated in Chronic heart failure (CHF) cases. Recent studies have correlated oxidative stress (the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), including free radicals such as superoxide and non-radicals such as hydrogen peroxide) with myocardial dysfunction and overall severity of heart failure.
The Role of Oxidant Stress in Endothelial DysfunctionAccumulating evidence suggests that oxidant stress alters many functions of the endothelium, including modulation of vasomotor tone. Inactivation of nitric oxide (NO·) by superoxide and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) seems to occur in conditions such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and cigarette smoking.
DisclaimerAll content within Cardio Health Research is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care profes-sional.
The Cardiohealthresearch.com is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of this website.

domain: medical


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IF YOU ARE ORDERING MORE THAN ONE SALE COSTUME OR ACCESSORY, PLEASE CALL US FOR SHIPPING RATES AND/OR DISCOUNTS – SALE ITEMS ARE FINAL SALE
One size: Standard (up to chest 42")
Rodeo Clown costume includes:
- 3 bandanas
- Shoe covers
This is a fun rodeo clown costume like the ones you see distracting the bulls after the rider gets bucked off.
The Rodeo clown costume includes a shirt that is red and white plaid with yellow, blue, and red striped sleeves. There is a pair of oversized, long jean shorts with a fringe on the bottom and a bulls-eye on the back, covering the butt. The hat is brown poly-foam with a red flower tucked into the cow print hat band and there are also brown poly-foam shoe covers with red at the top. To complete the costume there is a red, blue, and lime green headband and rainbow suspenders.
Wear this Rodeo Clown costume in the ring with the bulls or just for fun at Halloween or any other costume event.

domain: fashion


text:
Press Release (ePRNews.com) - DALLAS - Feb 26, 2018 - Women’s Fiction / Romantic Suspense Novel
What would you do if you discovered that the man you married is not who you thought he was? What would you do if you stumbled on the unnerving truth that you’ve had the one thing you’d yearned for all your life without realizing it?.
About the Author:
Augustine Sam is a journalist by profession, a novelist by choice, and a poet by chance. A bilingual yzwxaz writer and an award-winning poet, he writes, not only hard news but literary works as well. Fascinated by the written word even as a kid, he fell in love with poetry the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. He was the winner of the Editors’ Choice Award in the North America Open Poetry Contest & his complete poetry collection, Flashes of Emotion, was a Finalist in the International Book Award Gala. His poems have been published in international anthologies, including “Measures of the Heart” & “Sounds of Silence.” Augustine is also the author of Black Gold and The Conspiracy of Silence which was awarded a Readers’ Favorite 5-star seal.
For More information on Take Back the Memory:
RABT Book Tours & PR

domain: artistic


text:
Looking for a fluffy companion? Give a cat or two a new home at Alvern Gardens Apartments.
Are you looking to bring a pet into your home? Local animal shelters are a great place to find a furry companion. So, as part of Furry Tails, I’ll be doing an ongoing feature on adoptable pets from local animal shelters once a week. If you have room in your heart and are looking to bring a lovable ball of fur into your home, maybe one of these guys is meant to be a part of your family!
This sweet girl is named Angel. She needs a loving forever home where she can enjoy her golden years going for walks and spending relaxing moments with her family!
Animal Friends says:
“This sweet soul is patiently waiting for a calm, loving home in which she can spend her golden years. Angel envisions herself lounging in front of a TV or sitting on a porch watching the traffic…
View original post 267 more words

domain: pet


text:
Ghost Weather Station Crack [Win/Mac]
There are many neat applications and programs on the Internet, which can simplify your work and make it easier to use your computer. One of such applications is Ghost Weather Station.
It's a nice software solution that comes with lots of tools and features for checking out weather conditions and the current lunar phrase. It comes with a really intuitive graphical interface with many tools. It's a nice application for Ghost Hunters and Investigators.
Sleek graphical interface with lots of tools
The application doesn't take long to install and it doesn't come with a complicated setup that you would need to complete before you can actually use its features.
It's packed with multiple features and tools at hand, together with a nice graphical interface that makes it easy to navigate through features and sections. It's not a complex application but it does have all the tools that you might need.
Check lunar phases easily
It displays the level of solar x-rays and geomagnetic field. Solar Flare activity and Geomagnetic Field activity seems to affect the amount of ghost activity. Research has shown us that during periods of heightened solar flare activity and geomagnetic activity in space, the amount of spirit activity increases.
The X-ray Solar status monitor downloads data periodically from NOAA Space Environment Center. The previous 24 hours of 5 minute Long-wavelength X-ray data from each satellite (GOES 8 and GOES 10) is analyzed.
More features and tools
The Geomagnetic Field status monitor downloads data periodically from NOAA Space Environment Center. The previous 24 hours of 3 hour Planetary Kp Index data is analyzed. It gives you the moon angle, percent of lumination, Julian days, and lunation number and more.
You can also check weather conditions, but the application has some trouble with connecting to a station and fetching data. It simply says you've entered an invalid zipcode, even if you try multiple times.
All in all, Ghost Weather Station is a nice application for checking lunar phases and getting information for ghost hunters and investigators.
Ghost Weather Station Crack+ Free Download [32|64bit]
Ghost Weather Station Crack + Activator Download [Updated-2022]
Ghost Weather Station is a Ghost Hunting solution that reveals the details of the weather conditions and the current lunar phase. It gives you the details of the geometric analysis and the exact lunar moon positions. You get to see the current lunar phase, the geographical position of the moon at the time of observation, and the details of the meteorological conditions.
You get to see the current lunar phases, the lunar moon distances from the earth, the geomagnetic field in the current hour, the atmospheric current status, the solar activity, and the moon angle.
Ghost Weather Station uses NOAA databases and technical services to provide the current atmospheric and space weather conditions, which may contribute to environmental and cultural phenomena called “ghosts.” The program collects the measurements from our past 24 hours and displays them on the main screen.
The program gathers the data of the geomagnetic field, geomagnetic activity, solar x-ray, global cloudiness, and atmospheric pressure. The program displays the current state of the moon, the moon distance from the earth, moon angle, lunar phase, lunar moon azimuth angle, moon illumination, and moon declination angle.
The application provides the list of fixed stations. You can check solar activity at your location and nearby stations. Ghost Weather Station displays the information like long-wavelength x-ray data, planetary kp index, solar radio flux, aurora activity, solar flare activity, geomagnetic activity, global lightning activity, atmospheric pressure, and solar wind speed.
It calculates the lunar position for each hour, track of the moon day and night, and present the information on the computer screen. It enables you to see the aurora activity, sunspot activity, solar x-ray flux, boresite magnetic fields, M-class flares and C-class flares, solar wind speed, and radiation dose.
There are some glitches with the application. It does not display data at my area, even if I enter the correct zip code. The application fails to display data at some areas and at some stations, which makes it less reliable.
I like this application, but there are some bugs and glitches with it.
Ghost Weather Station Pros:
-Multiple features and tools to get the current lunar position and the moon distance from earth
-Nice graphical interface, making it easier to navigate through options and features
-The application says it has the NOAA databases, but I could not find such database on it
-You can check the activity and charge of solar flares and
Ghost Weather Station
1.0.1 Uses solar flare and geomagnetic activity to determine ghost activity level.
1.0.0 Uses solar flare and geomagnetic activity to determine ghost activity level.
2.0.0 Added prelunar status and geomagnetic activity for the month of March. Changed solar activity to monthly.
2.0.1 Fixed a memory leak when using the Lunar Ephemeris module.
2.0.2 Updated Solar X-Rays and Geomagnetic Field module.
2.0.3 Changed lunar Phase to lunar Phases.
2.1.0 Added Lunar Ephemeris. Added lunar Phases.
2.2.0 Updated all modules.
2.2.1 Added a date picker for the lunar phases module.
2.2.2 Added a historical lunar Ephemeris module.
2.2.3 Changed module options to hide/display.
2.3.0 Added a module menu for the module quick-access.
2.3.1 Fixed module titles not being greyed out when in show-except-module mode.
2.3.2 Fixed a bug when clicking the settings button and then clicking another module’s button.
2.3.3 Improved the accuracy of the Lunar Ephemeris module.
2.3.4 Refactored the Lunar Ephemeris module.
2.3.5 Improved the speed and accuracy of the Lunar Ephemeris module.
2.4.0 Added a module menu for the Extras module.
2.4.1 Added a module menu for the Extras module.
2.4.2 Changed the image select popup to support tabs.
2.4.3 Fixed missing text after displayed text for the Moon phase picker.
2.4.4 Fixed event changing when tabbed.
2.4.5 Added sub-menus for the Weather Module.
2.4.6 Added weather module path configuration to the about screen.
2.4.7 Added weather module configuration screen.
2.4.8 Added the Night Sky Calculator.
2.4.9 Fixed errant code from the NSC module causing Exceptions.
2.5.0 Added a tooltip to the tooltip of the NSC module.
2.5.1 Changed the Moon Phase button to navigate between the months.
What’s New in the Ghost Weather Station?
Ghost Weather Station is the only application that will let you check the lunar phases, solar activity and a variety of other ghost facts at your convenience. Whether you’re investigating a ghostly crime, Paranormal Encounters or just looking for a place to relax and enjoy a ghostly sunset, ghost weather station will be sure to help you in your quest for wisdom.
Before you begin, it is highly recommended that you acquaint yourself with NOAA Space Environment Center to understand how the solar activity and geomagnetic field can affect the amount of ghost activity. Learn how they work, how they are affected by Eclipses and how they impact the earth.
Moon Phase is a fantastic tool that will help you quickly and easily find out the current moon phase as well as the lunar phase for the next 7 days.
Solar Activity is a fantastic tool that will help you quickly and easily find out the current solar activity as well as the activity for the last 24 hours.
Geomagnetic Field is a fantastic tool that will help you quickly and easily find out the current planetary kp index (KP Index). The previous 24 hours of historical data is available and you can even opt to view it in 3 hour segments.
Lunar Cycle is a fantastic tool that will help you quickly and easily find out the current lunar cycle as well as the lunar cycle for the next 7 days.
Forecast is a fantastic tool that will help you quickly and easily find out the current forecast for the next 7 days for your current location. You can view the latest weather at your current location or at any other location, you choose.
Ghost Facts is a fantastic tool that will help you quickly and easily find out a variety of ghost facts at your convenience. You can find out more about the paranormal, check out a lot of useful information, learn about Paranormal Encounters, check out the duration of a haunting, why a certain part of the house is haunted, how to check a ghost-free home, learn about equipment and methods for searching a haunted house, learn about a haunted house, learn about ghost hunting equipment and a lot more.
Ghost Weather Station Screenshots:
Ghost Weather Station Review by
1. Maellashi (Bugs-Team) says:
I think it’s a great app and very useful for ghost hunting.
[From the developer]
Ghost Weather Station Description:
System Requirements For Ghost Weather Station:
Memory: 3 GB
1.6 GHz Dual Core Processor
Microsoft Windows 7/8/10
iPad 1st Generation or iPad 2nd Generation
Amazon Kindle Fire HD:
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″
The Death Star, while large, is a weak ship. Equipped with

domain: physics


Re: adaptec raid 2400A
On Tue, Jun 11, 2002 at 12:14:55PM +0200, IOhannes zmoelnig wrote:
> hello list!
> i have just subscribed to this list, so i hope this is the right place
> to ask:
> i'm gonna purchase a raid-controller for our file-server
> does the adaptec raid-2400A work under debian/woody ? (since the
> documentation speaks of old mandrakes/redhats (with kernels ~ 2.2.14 !)
> i do not want to spend the money for nothing.
I build custom boot-floppies as a flavour of bf2.4
(boot-floppies-3.0.22) and documented the kernel config changes in
'configbf2.4.gz'. With these disks I am able to boot Adaptec RAID2100S
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
Loading Adaptec I2O RAID: Version 2.4 Build 5
Detecting Adaptec I2O RAID controllers...
Adaptec I2O RAID controller 0 at e0802000 size=100000 irq=5
dpti: If you have a lot of devices this could take a few minutes.
dpti0: Reading the hardware resource table.
TID 519 Vendor: ADAPTEC Device: RAID-5 Rev: 370F
scsi0 : Vendor: Adaptec Model: 2100S FW:370F
Vendor: ADAPTEC Model: RAID-5 Rev: 370F
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 1, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 71131136 512-byte hdwr sectors (36419 MB)
sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
You can boot RAID2400A boxes probably, too. Give them a try. You can
download them from ftp://ftp.todo.de/pub/Debian/custom-boot/ .
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to firstname.lastname@example.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact email@example.com


What we've done
Rochdale borough has experienced several flooding events in the past so we're actively trying to reduce the risk of flooding in the borough.
Here are some of the actions we've already taken to reduce the risk of flooding or minimise the impact.
- Since 2015, along with the Environment Agency and other partners, we’ve progressed a £51 million flood defence scheme, which is one the largest inland flood defence schemes in the north of England.
- As part of this, we’ve constructed 2 new storage reservoirs at Springfield Avenue and Townhouse Road in Littleborough. Together they can hold 12,000m3 of water, the equivalent of 4 Olympic sized swimming pools or 20 local pools and reduce flood risk for 66 properties, as well as helping to deal with flood issues in the wider area.
- We've undertaken several flood alleviation measures, like raised walls and improvements to culverts and bridges, at Green Vale Brook, Town House Brook, Ealees Brook and Buckley/Hey Brook.
- We completed the reopening of the River Roch in Rochdale town centre, which enables surface water to be fed into the river channel in the event of the river breaching its banks further upstream. The scheme brings flood protection for 40 properties in Rochdale town centre and improved drainage for a further 500 properties in the area.
- Carry out annual maintenance on over 44,000 gullies each year.
- Give an additional clean to gullies in known flood hotspots before winter starts.
- Inspect and maintain the drains in known flood areas when heavy rain is forecast to ensure they're working properly. We then have 2 gully crews on standby to react to any one-off issues which may occur during the flood.
- Inspect and maintain all highway culverts and trash screens.
- Undertake an annual programme of drainage repairs to fix or replace defective drains to help prevent surface water run-off from entering the road.
Our next actions
We started building additional flood storage basins to improve flood defences in Littleborough in January 2022. We're placing them close to the Yorkshire border, between Littleborough and Rochdale town centre. Together, these will protect around 1,000 homes and businesses.
We aim to complete the second storage basin and additional flood measures going from Littleborough to Rochdale town centre by 2025.


text:
The Welsh Labour MS for Castell-nedd Jeremy Miles has said that a "positive" and "patriotic" campaign was responsible for his party's "very good performance" in the Senedd election.
Speaking to S4C, Miles said that the reason why Welsh Labour had managed to win more than the twenty-three seats that it was projected to win before the election was due to its emphasis on positivity during the campaign.
He said that under Mark Drakeford the party had ran a "positive" and "patriotic" campaign that was reflected in the election results.
When asked if Labour had reasserted its control over the so-called "red wall" in the north east, he said that the party's "ambitious" but "practical" programme for government had appealed to voters.
He added that while people wanted a pragmatic plan to guide the country through the crisis, they also wanted a "hopeful" vision for the future.
He also said that his party's focus on being positive and constructive had resonated with voters in his own constituency of Castell-nedd and in other parts of the country.

domain: topicality


text:
Modality Switching and Internet Dating
The most unique affordances of online dating sites could be the capacity to determine compatibility amounts with prospective partners through on line connection before carefully deciding whether or not to satisfy them FtF ( Finkel et al., 2012). One must think about, then, just just exactly how this kind of conference might affect the results of on the web dating relationships. One approach that is applicable examining the online dating process is through the event of MS. Gibbs and peers ( 2006) point away that daters frequently “engage in ‘modality switching’ from online to offline communication while they form relationships” (p. 153). Current literary works shows that this technique notably impacts the way in which in which partners evaluate their relationships ( Ramirez & Wang, 2008; Ramirez & Zhang, 2007). Ramirez and Zhang ( 2007) examined whether or not the timing of the switch influences relational results such as for example closeness, task-social orientation, and attraction that is social.
Drawing upon the perspective that is hyperpersonal Walther, 1996) and online partners’ propensity to take part in selective self-presentation, the writers speculated that switches could be most appropriate once they happen before lovers have experienced time for you to form idealized impressions. Overall, the findings revealed that FtF conferences between formerly partners that are online-only either enhance or dampen relational outcomes based upon the timing associated with the switch. Switching from mediated to FtF early (after 3 days) in a link did actually provide cues that improved outcomes that are relational. Conversely, switching from mediated to FtF late (after 6 days) supplied cues that contradicted existing impressions and dampened relational results.
MS has additionally been analyzed utilizing an expectancy violations theory ( Burgoon, 1993) framework to analyze exactly exactly how social information gleaned (for example., expectedness, valence, and value) during switches impact social judgments and relational results. Ramirez and Wang ( 2008) revealed that modality switches can offer information that violates a person’s objectives regarding their partner and their relationship that is potential, this impact ended up being also contingent upon the timing associated with modality switch. Particularly, individuals in short-term associations assessed violations as good and doubt relieving. But, individuals in long-lasting associations reported violations as negative and uncertainty provoking. Although these outcomes pertain to dyads with all the aim of task completion instead of intimate participation, comparable styles might emerge for on the web daters who change to a FtF modality.
Current literary works advocates that the thought of MS is very applicable and “especially strongly related the communication solution made available from online sites that are dating ( Finkel et al., 2012, p. 36).
On the web online dating sites can encourage relationship development and closeness, but users must very very carefully navigate the web to offline transition. In line with the modality switching viewpoint, Finkel and peers ( 2012) declare that the “time framework between your initial CMC relationship therefore the initial face-to-face interaction will be important” (p. 38).The writers speculated that daters would go through the many outcomes that are positive they move toward FtF casualx price fairly quickly. Certainly, fulfilling FtF may provide daters with impression-enhancing information that develops the connection in a manner that is positive.
But, a tipping point likely exists towards the level that daters whom wait too very long before meeting FtF may risk developing impressions that are idealized will likely to be violated upon meeting FtF. The possibility with this is specially likely within the online dating context, considering the fact that daters are prone toward making little and strategic self-enhancements on the pages ( e.g., Ellison et al., 2006; Toma & Hancock, 2011; Whitty, 2008). Such claims are in line with the MS that is experimental research above. To sum up, whereas Finkel and colleagues’ ( 2012) recognize the online-to-offline time space as an essential turning point, once we note below past MS research provides a possible explanation for the value ( Ramirez & Zhang, 2007; Ramirez & Wang, 2008) by implying a curvilinear relationship involving the length of time that on the web daters spend interacting and relational interaction results upon meeting FtF.

domain: relationship


text:
We believe in history, we believe in materials.
What does it mean
The design task is to enhance the expressive and sensory potential of the material in unique pieces where the most rare and precious recovered woods are combined with other natural and environmentally friendly materials.
Secolare wood brings with itself the warmth of past stories. The elegance, its warm tone and the unique beauty, make it a timeless material. An invitation to discover the beauty of nature and to breathe its essence.
For generations we have selected rare and precious recovery woods, telling them in new words.
As skilled storytellers we combine the symphony of nature with what time has to reveal by giving the matter new lifeblood. We love wood because it is durable, renewable and recyclable. Like the man, it changes with the changing environment around it, it adapts and reinvents itself.

domain: beauty


text:
That's the argument being made by a former Army Ranger who now provides defense analysis for a Washington think tank. Andrew Exum writes that society has placed the U.S. military on a pedestal that is "unhealthy" and that prevents lawmakers from making basic reforms to pay and benefits, the cost of which are annually consuming a greater percentage of the defense budget.
"We Americans, I argue, need to decide whether or not military service is truly a service or whether, in the era of the all-volunteer force, it is a profession like many others in the federal government," Exum writes via Mark Thompson's Battleland blog on Time.com. "Our decades-long inability to decide between these two poles has lead to an ambiguous situation in which we have lifted up our professional military onto a ridiculous praetorian pedestal."
It would be easy to assume that all service members would disagree with Exum. But is that true? What do you think?
Suggestion: Go to the link on Exum's blog and read the entire piece before you weigh in with a comment.


The construction team has begun pouring the concrete footings that will support the steel structure of the new Christ the King chapel.
- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Window in Design October 11, 2019
- (no title) October 4, 2019
- Confessional Windows Will be Installed in New Chapel September 27, 2019
- Well-Placed Parking Lot September 20, 2019
- Tour of the Building Pad September 12, 2019


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text:
Background: Until recently, evidence that protection from the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination lasted beyond 10 years was limited. In the past few years, studies in Brazil and the USA (in Native Americans) have suggested that protection from BCG vaccination against tuberculosis (TB) in childhood can last for several decades. The UK’s universal school-age BCG vaccination programme was stopped in 2005 and the programme of selective vaccination of high-risk (usually ethnic minority) infants was enhanced. Objectives: To assess the duration of protection of infant and school-age BCG vaccination against TB in the UK. Methods: Two case-control studies of the duration of protection of BCG vaccination were conducted, the first on minority ethnic groups who were eligible for infant BCG vaccination 0-19 years earlier and the second on white subjects eligible for school-age BCG vaccination 10-29 years earlier. TB cases were selected from notifications to the UK national Enhanced Tuberculosis Surveillance system from 2003 to 2012. Population-based control subjects, frequency matched for age, were recruited. BCG vaccination status was established from BCG records, scar reading and BCG history. Information on potential confounders was collected using computer-assisted interviews. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated as a function of time since vaccination, using a case-cohort analysis based on Cox regression. Results: In the infant BCG study, vaccination status was determined using vaccination records as recall was poor and concordance between records and scar reading was limited. A protective effect was seen up to 10 years following infant vaccination [< 5 years since vaccination: vaccine effectiveness (VE) 66%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 17% to 86%; 5-10 years since vaccination: VE 75%, 95% CI 43% to 89%], but there was weak evidence of an effect 10-15 years after vaccination (VE 36%, 95% CI negative to 77%; p = 0.396). The analyses of the protective effect of infant BCG vaccination were adjusted for confounders, including birth cohort and ethnicity. For school-aged BCG vaccination, VE was 51% (95% CI 21% to 69%) 10-15 years after vaccination and 57% (95% CI 33% to 72%) 15-20 years after vaccination, beyond which time protection appeared to wane. Ascertainment of vaccination status was based on self-reported history and scar reading. Limitations: The difficulty in examining vaccination sites in older women in the high-risk minority ethnic study population and the sparsity of vaccine record data in the later time periods precluded robust assessment of protection from infant BCG vaccination > 10 years after vaccination. Conclusions: Infant BCG vaccination in a population at high risk for TB was shown to provide protection for at least 10 years, whereas in the white population school-age vaccination was shown to provide protection for at least 20 years. This evidence may inform TB vaccination programmes (e.g. the timing of administration of improved TB vaccines, if they become available) and cost-effectiveness studies. Methods to deal with missing record data in the infant study could be explored, including the use of scar reading.
Bibliographical noteFunding Information:
The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme. During the conduct of the study, Jonathan Sterne, Ibrahim Abubakar and Laura C Rodrigues received other funding from NIHR; Ibrahim Abubakar and Laura C Rodrigues have also received funding from the Medical Research Council. Punam Mangtani received funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
© Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2017.


text:
12 Outstanding Artificial Reefs to Visit
Even the biggest coral reefs begin as a handful of tiny, free-swimming coral larvae — they attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces, and over time, expand and increase in number. As they grow, their exoskeletons form vast, hardened colonies that not only house the coral and the algae that lend them their color, but also provide refuge for many species of fish, anemones, sea stars and other marine animals.
However, not all reefs emerge from naturally occurring objects on the sea bottom. Human-made structures are frequently introduced into marine environments to serve as foundations for corals to attach to and form reefs, and for other underwater creatures to use for shelter.
Shipwrecks are commonly designated as artificial reefs, but decommissioned military vehicles, subway cars, oil rigs and even original sculptures also provide places that corals and other creatures can build into a home.
Here are some of the spectacular locations where human-made objects found new purpose underwater as artificial reefs, forming sanctuaries for a diverse range of sea life and providing unique experiences for divers and underwater photographers.
Tamar Reef, Israel
Diving enthusiasts have visited the Red Sea for decades to enjoy its marine diversity — 800 species of sea life and hundreds of types of corals, according to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Installed in 2007, Tamar Reef — the Red Sea's first artificial reef — is a joint project maintained by scientists and administrators from Israel and Jordan. It was introduced to relieve overstressed natural reefs in the area, and to help re-establish depleted marine life and raise conservation awareness.
USCGC Duane shipwreck, Key Largo
If you're planning a trip to the Florida Keys, a dive to see this behemoth underwater structure may be for you: The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Duane, decommissioned on Aug. 1, 1985, and sunk as an artificial reef on Nov. 17, 1987, measures 329 feet (100 meters) long and rests upright on the sea bottom at an average depth of 95 feet (29 m). Many of its interior rooms were left open for divers to explore. Advanced Dive Certification is recommended, according to the Upper Keys Artificial Reef Foundation website, and guided dives are offered for less experienced explorers.
Thunderbolt shipwreck, Florida, USA
Shipwreck connoisseurs will find much to discover in this popular Florida Keys' diving destination, which has accumulated more than three decades' worth of coral and algae growth. Originally dubbed the USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph upon its construction in 1942, this former mine planter was renamed "Thunderbolt" after being repurposed in the 1960s for lightning strike research. It was later donated to the Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association and sunk as a reef on March 6, 1986.
So grab your scuba gear! Located beneath 120 feet (27 m) of water just 4 miles (6 kilometers) off Marathon, this reef could make for a fascinating dive.
The Silent Evolution, Mexico
For divers visiting Cancun, Mexico, this astounding underwater sculpture exhibit is a must-see destination. Life-size and eerily life-like concrete casts of 400 individuals comprise sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor's art installation, "The Silent Evolution," part of an exhibition in the underwater museum Museo Subacuático de Arte. Installed in 2012, the installation covers 502 square yards (420 square meters), and was described by the artist as "art intervention as growth." Over time, the faces and bodies of the figures metamorphose as they are colonized and covered by algae, starfish and corals.
Redbird Reef, Delaware, USA
Next stop, biodiversity! The end of the line for a number of retired New York City subway cars was the bottom of the ocean off Delaware. Beginning in 1995, donated "Redbird" cars created a new artificial reef that currently hosts numerous small fish like sea bass and summer flounder, as well as larger predators like sharks, striped bass and tuna. Fishing opportunities abound for anglers, while divers can share commuting woes with the fish that inhabit the cars.
High Island A389A, Gulf of Mexico, USA
Lots to explore in the Gulf of Mexico, which hosts many naturally occurring reefs. But don't stop there: All five states bordering the Gulf — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — host artificial reef programs to supplement these habitats. High Island A389A, an oil and gas production platform colonized by corals and other undersea animals, is located inside East Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary boundaries. Divers can expect to see many of the same species of reef fishes that are common in Caribbean dive sites.
Building an artificial reef
Reefs abound off this glorious Florida beach. On April 6, 2013, 62 modules were deployed off the coast of Mexico Beach to form an artificial reef. Since 1997, the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA) has installed more than 150 artificial reefs, using them to conduct research and educate the public on the importance of reef systems in coastal communities. In addition to offering dive opportunities, MBARA hosts fishing tournaments and provides education workshops on artificial reefs for adults and children.
Tanks for all the fish
In 2009, retired army tanks and armored personnel carriers joined the tugboats, barges, subway cars, bridge debris and other concrete structures that make up more than 45 man-made reefs in waters off South Carolina. Once their surfaces are colonized by corals, barnacles, marine worms, sponges and algae, the reefs attract even more marine life — fish, sea urchins, mollusks and crustaceans — seeking food and shelter.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources maintains 42 sites in its offshore reef program, and recommends May through October as the months when water temperatures and weather conditions are most suitable for scuba diving.
Hermenegildo Capelo shipwreck, Ocean Revival Park, Portugal
"All divers are welcome" to this shipwreck off the coast of Portugal, according to the Ocean Revival project website. Frigate Ex-NRP Hermenegildo Capelo weighs 2,700 tons and measures 335 feet (102 m) in length. Acquired by the Portuguese navy in 1968, it saw 37 years of service and was scuttled on June 15, 2013. Rui Guerra's striking image of the frigate's steering wheel received a commendation from the Underwater Photographer Award of the Year 2016 competition. What are you waiting for?
Called Reef Balls, spherical concrete structures are specifically designed for installation as artificial reef foundations, and have been used to foster habitats for corals and other sea life at thousands of marine locations. A unique shape provides space for fish to find shelter, while the balls' rough texture encourages corals to take hold. Divers can expect to encounter Reef Balls in a number of artificial reef sites around the world, as approximately 500,000 Reef Balls have been deployed in 3,400 artificial reef and beach restoration projects across more than 70 countries, according to the group's website.
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Mindy Weisberger is an editor at Scholastic and a former Live Science channel editor and senior writer. She has reported on general science, covering climate change, paleontology, biology, and space. Mindy studied film at Columbia University; prior to Live Science she produced, wrote and directed media for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Her videos about dinosaurs, astrophysics, biodiversity and evolution appear in museums and science centers worldwide, earning awards such as the CINE Golden Eagle and the Communicator Award of Excellence. Her writing has also appeared in Scientific American, The Washington Post and How It Works Magazine.

domain: biology


text:
Panel approves report on prison alternatives
HARTFORD A legislative committee has approved most of the recommendations in a controversial report that calls for fewer prison terms and more alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders.
The Program Review and Investigation Committee voted 7-3 this week to accept 18 of the report's 20 recommendations. The report, done by the committee's non-partisan staff, studied ways to alleviate prison overcrowding. It concluded that alternative sentencing, especially for first-time drug offenders, is more effective and cheaper than building new prisons.
The adopted report is likely to serve as the basis for reform proposals in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 3.
Several committee members, including state Sen. Win Smith Jr., R-Milford, attacked the report when it came out earlier this month, branding it a retreat from a successful get-tough policy. Smith, who couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, voted against the recommendations Tuesday, along with state Sen. Anthony Guglielmo, R-Stafford Springs, and state Rep. Paul R. Doyle, D-Wethersfield.
State Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday he agrees with the recommendations and plans to support them.
"I think they're very well thought out," said Lawlor, whose committee will review any legislation based on the report. "There's nothing controversial here. We're not in a position to spend more money on building and staffing new prisons. That means we have to find other ways to supervise people convicted of crimes."
Gov. John G. Rowland, a Republican, has indicated he is willing to consider the concept of alternative sentencing, but hasn't commented on any of the specific proposals.
The recommendations approved by the committee include:
Establishing a task force to study sentencing laws. The task force must report back to the General Assembly by Jan. 1, 2002.
Creating a permanent Community Corrections Subcommittee to study and recommend alternative sentencing options.
Abolishing the current 15-member part-time parole board and replacing it with a three-member full-time body.
Requiring a prison impact assessment for any legislation that would affect the rate of incarceration.
Doing a statewide study of recidivism. The study would, among other things, track recidivism rates, identify the point at which recidivism occurs, identify what types of crimes recidivists commit and look at services available to past offenders before and when they commit a new crime.
The committee threw out two recommendations. One called for an easing of the state's mandatory minimum sentencing laws. The other would have let certain inmates undergo a more informal hearing process for parole, unless the head of parole board decided otherwise.


text:
Boris Johnson will use his Valentine’s Day speech to call for Leavers and Remainers to abandon their labels and unite behind Brexit opportunities
- Boris Johnson will make the first of a series of Cabinet speechs on Brexit
- Due to call for unity between Leavers and Remainers behind future opportunities
- Theresa May will make the next in a series of speeches in Munich on Saturday
- But leading Remain ministers Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd have no speech
Boris Johnson will call for leavers and remainers to abandon their campaign affiliations and unite behind Brexit opportunities in his Valentine's Day speech.
Conor Burns, Mr Johnson's parliamentary aide, last night revealed more about what the Foreign Secretary planned to say.
The Foreign Secretary's intervention - the first of half a dozen major Government speeches in the coming weeks - will promote his vision of a 'liberal Brexit'.
Boris Johnson (pictured today in Bangkok) will call for leavers and remainers to abandon their campaign affiliations and unite behind Brexit opportunities in his Valentine's Day speech
The Foreign Secretary's intervention after he returns from a Far East tour (pictured) will be the first of half a dozen major Government speeches in the coming weeks
Conor Burns (file image), Mr Johnson's parliamentary aide, last night revealed more about what the Foreign Secretary planned to say
Theresa May will make the next speech on Saturday in Munich.
Her de facto deputy David Lidington will also contribute but there is no slot for either Chancellor Philip Hammond or Home Secretary Amber Rudd - both leading Remain backers.
Mr Burns told the BBC's Westminster Hour Mr Johnson - who is currently touring the Far East - hoped to heal the divisions in Wednesday's speech.
He said: 'If pessimism were a disease Boris Johnson would be immune. He thinks the country made a decision.
'The country was told whatever was decided we would abide by it.
'I think he wants us now to leave the labels of remain and leave behind, and unite in the opportunities that Brexit presents for Britain.'
Asked if Jacob Rees-Mogg and Anna Soubry - from the opposite poles of the Tory party - would listen to the message, Mr Burns added: 'I’m sure Jacob will be.'
Mr Johnson has been promoting Britain abroad this week, including meeting Thailand's Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-o-Cha over night (pictured)
He said: 'Some colleagues have incredibly strong views and you could offer to reverse the decision it wouldn’t make them happy.
'It’s an attempt to show that you can be liberal-minded, internationalist and global and support Brexit.
'You don’t have to have a Faragiste notion of the world to be a Brexit supporter.'
Mrs May is expected to focus on Britain's commitment to European security when she speaks in Germany on Saturday.
Then in around three weeks' time the Prime Minister will be outlining the government's vision in a second speech - effectively setting a deadline for hammering out an agreed position for negotiations with Brussels.
Theresa May (pictured in Maidenhead yesterday) will make the next speech on Saturday in Munich, focused on security
Philip Hammond (pictured in Downing Street last week) has been frozen out of series of keynote Brexit speeches by ministers
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who backed Leave in the referendum campaign, insisted yesterday that the series of speeches would put 'meat on the bones' of the government's proposals.
'What the public want is they want the vision and they want some meat on the bones.
'And that's what they are going to get. And that will involve at the end of the process the Prime Minister setting out what that new partnership will look like, but it will also give some detail on our trading ambitions and relationship, what it means for devolution, and many other aspects.'
The round of speeches has been billed by Downing Street as setting out 'Britain's road map to Brexit' ahead of next month's crunch EU summit.
Mrs May will then set out her goals in a speech billed within Whitehall as the successor to her Lancaster House address last year, when she first declared that she wanted the UK to leave the single market and customs union.
Justice Secretary David Gauke tried to play down the significance of Mr Hammond's absence from the schedule, deying it was a 'plot' to sideline Remainers.
He told ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'He is not part of the set of speeches that have been outlined today, but that doesn't mean that the Chancellor is not expressing his views both internally in the Cabinet conversations, but also externally.
'So, I don't think that there really is anything in this that this is somehow any kind of plot to gag a particular faction of ministers. I don't think that's a fair characterisation at all.'
On Friday EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier complained that there were still 'problems' in Brussels 'understanding the position of the British Government'.
He also threatened to pull the plug on plans for a transition deal unless the UK caves in on accepting free movement rules and all EU laws.
On Friday EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier complained that there were still 'problems' in Brussels 'understanding the position of the British Government'
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domain: news


text:
Image Credits: Rost9/shutterstock.com
Quantum materials is a term used in condensed matter physics, which deals with macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter. Quantum materials are defined as solids that have exotic physical properties, which arise from the quantum mechanical properties of their electrons.
All materials exhibit some quantum properties, but quantum materials have unique properties such as quantum fluctuations, coherence, entanglement and specific topological behavior and various analytical techniques can be used to measure their properties.
Types and Uses
The types of quantum materials vary from superconductors and graphene to topological insulators, Weyl semimetals, quantum spin ices and spin liquids. Quantum materials include systems that contain organics, metals and oxides. The materials have a variety of applications that include magnetic field sensors, energy-related technologies, low-power memory modules, high-density storage devices and quantum computing.
The uses of quantum materials range from superconductors to multiferroics, topological insulators, colossal magnetoresistance compounds and nano-structures such as quantum dots.
Many quantum materials get their properties from the reduced dimensionality of their 2D sheets and the confinement of electrons. Quantum materials have strongly correlated electron systems, especially transition metal oxides with partially filled d or f electron shells.
Examples of strongly correlated phenomena includes superconductivity in copper oxides, iron-based superconductors, heavy fermions, colossal magnetoresistance, spin-charge ordering, Mott insulators and the Kondo effect.
Imaging Techniques - Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is one of the main analytical techniques used to measure the properties of quantum materials, and includes Raman spectroscopy, infra-red (IR) spectroscopy, tip-enhanced spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and Mössbauer spectroscopy.
Both Raman and IR spectroscopy are types of vibrational spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy works by the detection of inelastic scattering of monochromatic light from a laser. IR uses the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum and works by measuring how much light is absorbed by the bonds of a vibrating molecule. They can be used to look at the intrinsic ferroelectric domains of nanocrystals. Raman and IR spectroscopy can also be combined with microscopy to yield more information about a material, and an advanced version of Raman spectroscopy called tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is often used in quantum material analysis.
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is a type of photoemission spectroscopy, and it works by looking photoemission of electrons from a sample from illumination with X-rays. ARPES provides information on valence electrons of a material, including the direction, speed and scattering process of the electrons. As well as this, ARPES can visualize band dispersions and Fermi surfaces. A particular area of interest that ARPES has been used for is to advance the knowledge of iron-based superconductors and topological insulators.
Mössbauer spectroscopy is a type of spectroscopy that uses the Mössbauer effect. The Mössbauer effect describes the recoilless resonant absorption and emission of gamma radiation by atomic nuclei in solids. Mössbauer spectroscopy works by exposing a material to a beam of gamma radiation, and the intensity of the beam being transmitted through the sample is then measured by a detector. One of the main applications of Mössbauer spectroscopy is in the field of geology for looking at redox ratios, spin and valence states and the coordination polyhedral of atoms in a crystal structure.
Imaging Techniques - Microscopy
A common way of imaging quantum materials is Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM works by sending a beam of electrons through a thin sample and capturing the electrons that have passed through to create a detailed two-dimensional image. It is used to study the interior of a sample.
Another type of electron microscope used to image quantum materials is a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). STM is a type of scanning probe microscopy that scans the surface of samples with a probe to measure fine surface shapes and properties and generate an image at an atomic level. STM uses the principles of quantum tunneling, and the metal tips with single apical atoms attached to a tube where the current flows. The arrangement of individual atoms on the surfaces of metals has been observed using STM.
Ground state depletion (GSD) nanoscopy is a technique that can be used to look at layered van der Waals materials and single photon emitters from materials such as hexagonal boron nitride. GSD enables direct imaging with spatial resolutions that are beyond 10 nm and it removes the requirement for post image acquisition processing used in other techniques such as photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM).
Imaging Techniques - Spectrometry
A special type of spectrometer known as the BIFROST spectrometer is being developed by the Technical University Denmark (DTU) for the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund Sweden. The construction project has run since 2016 and expects to run to 2022, with user programs to be available from 2023. The new spectrometer is an indirect time-of-flight spectrometer. It looks at the physics of magnetism and superconductivity using neutron spectroscopy, which is the main tool for investigating low-energy dispersive dynamics in single crystals.


Hi everyone, I think something went wrong around here… After researching this error, I saw that some people also experienced a similar problem, but always with a peculiarity that made their case unique. That’s why I am creating this topic.
After months of using Qubes 4.1.2 without any problems, I came across the following error screen after starting the system today:
This error appears exactly after I enter the password to decrypt the disk. I guarantee I’m not getting the password wrong. But I must say that the decryption process is taking a much longer time compared to when the system was working normally.
If I press Control-D to continue, this is what I get:
Some details that may be relevant:
Last night something quite strange happened. My keyboard just stopped working out of nowhere, something that never happened before. As it was already at the end of the day, I simply turned off the computer in the hope that when I started it today, the keyboard would work naturally again. How naive…
While I was researching the problem, I noticed in some instances that the cause may have something to do with running out of disk space. Well, again last night, I received a system alert message warning me that my disk was getting full. I don’t remember why, but at the time I thought that it was actually the space of the VM I was using that was getting full, so I simply increased the space allocated to that VM in its settings.
Again while I was researching, I noticed that when pressing Enter for maintenance, other people enter the dracut emergency shell (dracut:/#), whereas in my case I enter the sh-5.0# shell.
If the problem really is related to a lack of disk space, there is a particular VM that I’ve created that is taking up a considerable amount of space on the disk, but there will be no problem for me in simply deleting it. If it is possible to just delete a VM through this shell, perhaps this could be a solution, but I don’t know how to do that.
Can you check the /run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt log for more specific errors?
I don’t think that running out of space could cause qubes_dom0-root not existing.
On R3.2, or R4.0 I had very similar situation. I ran out of space, something bad was happening with the system after that. So, I rebooted and found out that LVM was broken, I managed to extract only part of the the information from the LVM using LiveCD because LVM was indeed corrupted.
All attempts to fix it in place failed and I had to reinstall the system completely. The SMART of the drive showed no problems.
Hi I’m back. Yeah so, I typed journalctl to access the system logs and I noticed a familiar “Manual repair required!” warning, something that other people who experienced this problem also went through.
About the rdsosreport.txt, I can say that I went through a tough time saving this file. First I tried to copy it directly to a USB, but no external device was being recognized. So I mounted the sda1 partition, where the EFI is located, and managed to copy the file onto it. Then I booted from a USB into a Qubes installation image and entered recovery mode. Through it I was able to mount the sda1 partition again and copy the file to another USB drive which this time was recognized. Speaking like this may seem easy, but the difficulty is having the insight into which steps should be taken.
Anyway, it is not possible to share .txt files here, but perhaps it is possible via direct message?
Still on the problem, as suggested in other cases, I tried running the command ''lmv lvconvert --repair qubes_dom0/root-pool", both in the supposed dracut environment (after trying to start Qubes), as well as in the Anaconda repair environment (on the live usb image of Qubes), and both resulted in the same message:
Regarding my theory that the problem would be a lack of disk space, when using the lvremove command, I managed to remove that VM with a large allocated space I mentioned earlier, but the problem persists even after that.
Finally, it may be relevant to say that I managed to recover the files that were in the VMs when booting from USB to a Linux Mint image. After starting Mint, the driver in which Qubes is installed appeared as available. I just double clicked it, entered the password to decrypt the disk, and voila, the VMs showed up.
You’ve run out of space in dom0 (root-pool), all your VMs are using vm-pool so removing VMs is useless and won’t help with your problem. You need to free up the space in dom0.
lvconvert --repair is not working then maybe you need to first extend the root-pool and then try it again. But it’s just a guess.
Unfortunately the same error occurred when trying to extend the root-pool.
As you can see, after finding out that the root-pool had 20GiB allocated, I then tried to extend the volume in two different ways, without success. Upon seeing the “Failed to activate” message, I then tried to manually activate the root-pool with
lvchange -ay, but also without success.
Following your reasoning that all my VMs are using the vm-pool, I decided to try to extend the vm-pool volume, but I came across this strange warning message:
I mean, how can the sum of thin volume sizes exceeds the size of thin pools and the size of whole volume group? I am guessing that these 360GiB refers to a dynamic volume that is not necessarily completely filled?
Still, apparently the vm-pool volume sucessfully increased. I used the
vgdisplay command before and after extending the vm-pool and I noticed that the “Free PE / Size” actually decreased.
Finally, I tried running the repair command for root-pool one more time, but the same “Manual repair required!” error message pops up.
Hey @balko what were your attempts to try to fix this? With some luck maybe they can work for me.
I booted Ubuntu LiveCD and after some struggle was able to manually mount private LVM volumes of qubes and extract part of the information. Unfortunately not all, but I had up to date backup. I tried different ways of recovering LVM from the internet, but they all failed.
After that I do not trust LVM that much and keep 50%+ of free space on the Qubes OS disk, because I fear that it can collapse unrecoverably when it runs out of space.
Now, when there is not a single case of this, you can report the issue on github providing your up to date details. I decided not to report it because I did not find the same cases, so I considered the possibility that the reason is random hardware failure or something rare like cosmic rays that happened the day when I ran out of space just by chance. And now I do not recall details for the report.


text:
Hello and welcome to Wispa. Such a little darling. She has had quite a life! She has been in Diana brimblecoombe Animal Rescue Center. They clearly love all thier rescues and want the best life for them all.
Wispa arrived with a ruptured cruciate ligament and the other in a questionable condition. She had surgery to fix the worst knee joint, and was sent to us for physiotherapy to rehabilliate.
It has all gone so well she has made an incredible recovery. However there still remains a worry about the other side that had not yet had surgery. But we are thrilled to say that the vets are now assessing weather she needs the other side to have surgery as it has also benefited from the rehab.
Keep up the good work care family and Wispa! Hopefully we can avoid the second surgery! Its looking good so far!


text:
When: May 4th, 5:30 - 8:30pm
Where: Rising Tide Brewing Company, 103 Fox St., Portland ME
Register today! Individual tickets $10 or $50 for a team of six.
Come as a single participant or gather up a team of friends and come out to compete in a five round trivia match! Cash bar available, prizes for winning players and snacks for all!

domain: hobby


From the website:
The Myrmidon Destructors are priests of the Mechanicum who specialise in the art of destruction with ranged weaponry and the embodiment of this within their own vastly augmented bodies.
This complete resin set contains three Mechanicum Myrmidon Destructor models with a volkite Culverin, irradiation engine and conversion beamer respectively. Mechanicum Thrall model shown in some images sold separately.
Models designed by Mark Bedford.


text:
Li Nie's Weblog
Jul 13 2009
To understand China’s Internet culture, one has to know about China’s Internet policy that shapes the online communication and its hierarchal structure, especially China’s Internet censorship that defines the forms of expression. The internet censorship in China is a complex system in constant evolution, both technologically and in terms of the content censored. Basically, China’s Censorship system4 is composed of the Net Nanny, the Great Firewall (GFW), and the Search Engines Manipulation (SEM).
On the one hand, the government prohibits specific contents like “the Tiananmen Massacre,” Falun Gong,” ect; on the other, the vague standard requires self-discipline of netizens and gives the government flexibility in any unpredicted circumstance. Therefore, the gray area of online censorship becomes the site of struggles, negotiations, and conflicts between the government and China’s Internet users. Hence, this is also the area where contentious discourses are produced, consumed, reproduced and gain its political power in public spheres.
The Chinese scholar Guobin Yang has described China’s Internet control in his latest book The Power of The Internet in China5 as follows: “Power exerts itself through codes, but the codes are designed and implemented by people. The procedure of compiling and handing out the ‘blacklist’ of words is itself a mechanism of controlling Web businesses.”
This is to say that the censorship system has been constantly facing new challenges posted by political dissents, and no matter how prepared it is, the censorship system is always one step behind. Within the spaces left by the ambiguity of online censorship, political dissents are using creativity, technical skills, and critical analysis to navigate the controlled structures of the Chinese Internet. As the recent trend shows, political parodies, represented by the “grass-mud horse” phenomenon, is a particularly powerful genre of online protest.
There are many reasons why parody succeeds in China’s Internet. First, parody is a self-protective form of expression in the controlled Internet as all the messages and meanings have to be decoded to make sense. It can easily escape the automatic “keyword censoring” system, and as Hodge and Mansfield6 notes, there is no way that “a government or institution to respond in any official way to a humorous attack.” Parodies on the Chinese websites have little intent to leave people believe that they are just joking and do not really mean it. Rather, the ridicule and the violent language in the parodies are reflections of one’s repressed anger that has no way to be expressed lawfully in public. Expressing political contention through hidden texts also claims the absurdity of online speech control, as Hodge and Mansfield7says: “laughter is a shield which protects critics from being punished for their truths: ‘humor is the only form of revolt left in this country’ (Klein).” Political parodies have not only survived through China’s censorship, they become threats to the government’s legitimacy and authority. The blog will analyze the mechanism of political parodies as “humorous attacks” by focusing on “the Song of the Grass-Mud Horse”8, the most successful political parody on China’s Internet.
The Song of the Grass-mud Horse
The Lyrics of the “Song of The Grass-Mud Horse”
The song is sung by a digital voice of Children Chorus which is a recording of the artist’s own voice. The artist has indicated at the beginning of the video that, “The lyrics, chorus and post-production are all done by myself.” The music video is about the life of Alpaca, a domesticated species of South American camelid. The name of “grass-mud horse” is given for the purpose of the parody.
The phrases here like “grass-mud horse” and “MaLe Desert” share the same pronunciation of rude Chinese curse, while “river crab” has the same pronunciation of the Chinese word “harmony/harmonize.” The word “harmony” is the hottest political word in China since the rise to power of President Hu Jingtao whose campaign slogan is the “Harmonious Society”. The campaign of “cleaning unhealthy online information” mentioned at the beginning is conducted under the name of the “Harmonious Society.”
Wikipedia9 explains the hidden violent language in “the song of the Grass-mud Horse” as follows, “Note that the comparison with the ‘animal’ name is not an actual homophone, but rather the two terms have the same consonants and vowels with different tones, which are represented by different characters.” However, this is not some simple dirty language that one always comes across on the Internet; this phrase has developed its own identity through its circulation on the Internet. The “grass mud horse” (cǎo ní mǎ) is pointing its finger to political authorities who tend to control the Internet speech: they are “the Chinese Internet Censorship,” The Chinese Communist Party, The Chinese government and all the propaganda discourses that serve the interest of CCP’s authority, legitimacy and reputation. It is easy to understand why Chinese netizens have to express their disagreement and rage to domestic politics through hidden texts. As one comment of the Youtube clip “The Song of the Grass-mud Horse” notes, “where the channels of public speech are distorted, the public speech has to be made distorted.” Given that the government is enforcing strict censorship on the Internet, Chinese netizens have developed creative ways of online communication to not only escape the censorship, but turn it into massive anti-government campaign. Under a “big brother” political system, the “Grass-mud horse” phenomenon has a remarkable significance in ideological communication.
How Parody Works?
What makes the video music laughable is the content, namely the narrative. The music video of the “Song of the Grass-Mud Horse (Cao Ni Ma)” has a very Chinese look. The logo on the top left site “CJTV” is a humorous representation of the “CCTV”- China Central Television- the leading TV network in China which has usually been referred to as the mouthpiece of the CCP government.
As Hodge and Mansfield10 state about the semiotics of humor: “Much humor is visual, or involves an interplay between visual and verbal texts, so the appropriate analysis must be semiotic , aware of the functioning of a multiplicity of codes. Jokes normally are allusive, constituted by processes of intertextuality, highly dependent on context for their effect. Every text or occasion of discourse makes its meaning against a background of other text, discourses and practices in a community,and these processes and contexts must be theorized.”
The texts, codes and symbols in “The Song of Grass Mud Horse” are so familiar for every Chinese that the decoding of the joke can be done in a second. The video has been based on a famous Chinese proverb “指鹿为马”11 (zhǐ lù wéi mǎ) ,
translated as “Calling a Stag a Horse”. The story of “Calling a Stag a Horse” is a Chinese version of Han Christian Anderson’s fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” except that the former is a true story in the Chinese History. In the reign of Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), the prime minister Zhao Gao was planning to usurp the throne. He had brought a stag to the court and asked everyone whether it was a horse as a way to test how high his prestige among the ministers was and also to find out who dared to oppose him.
“Calling a Stag a Horse” is perhaps the perfect metaphor of describing the Chinese media system which is full of disguise, lies, exaggerations, manipulative information and talks of the “big brother.” Under the guideline of the “harmonious society”,12 the Chinese media tries to frame all news reports, political discourses, and social issues under a harmonious look. In the year of 2008, the government’s public image had gone through a roller coaster, from the Tibetan crackdown in March, Sichuan Earthquake in May, Beijing Olympics in August to the “toxic milk powder” scandal through the end of the year. The Chinese media system uses censorship, propaganda and all sorts of techniques to cover the domestic political conflicts and fake a harmonious, prosperous look of the society, just like the happy life of the grass-mud horses. This message has been coded through three layers in “The Song of the Grass-mud Horse:” first, the contradiction between the friendly aesthetics of the music video and the violent, ruthless hidden texts; once the audiences realize the meaning of “the grass-mud horse” and “MaLe Desert”, the lyrics, images and all signs that bare political symbolism become funny and satirical; second, targeting specific political ideology- “the Harmonious Society” (the River Crab)-has identified “The Song of the Grass-Mud Horse” as political contention and given itself the power of arousing public anti-government sensation. Since communism and socialism have failed in China, the CCP have been using nationalism as the prominent ideology to back up its legitimacy: as part of the Chinese nationalism, “the harmonious society” which is derived from Confucius-has become the excuse for the government to make the society “harmonious” at all costs. Media censorship is playing a major part in keeping the harmonious look, as the lyrics reads,
“They defeated the River Crabs (Harmonism)
in order to protect their grassland (Free Speech)
Targeting “the river crabs” here not only expresses the public rage towards the government’s policy, but is using the government’s own words to make a satire of its policy; third, the artist has also made a self-reflection by referring to the proverb of “Calling a Stag a Horse”; audiences are posed by the question “how many of us can stand up and tell the truth under a tyrannical ruling?” The artist has also made a comparison of today’s government with the Qin Dynasty which was overthrown by the people not long after Zhao Gao. When all the three have merged into a music video of Children Chorus about the cute Alpacas, the joke is made.
As we see in the CNN video above, people argue that it is simplistic to see the “grass-mud horse” phenomenon as a represent of “some movement to overthrow the government” and they are doubtful about its contribution to China’s democracy, which is associated with the old question of “how Internet communication can promote democracy in China.” As Guobin Yang and many other Chinese scholars agree, when people think about the interplay between CMC and China’s democracy, “little attention is given to nonutilitarian issue of pleasure, play, identity, and morality.”13 Though parodies, jokes, and other non-political forms of communication on the Internet may not cause direct consequence, they are preparing people with thoughts, emotions, soical and symbolic capitals for upcoming actions.
Creating an Identity
Feenberg and Bakardjieva14 argue,
“what the Internet offers is a flexible communicative space that can be constructed and bent in an infinite number of ways by sufficiently motivated groups of people. The implications and significance of what these groups build depends on the shape that they give to the space they create, and the relationships produced within it.”
The “grass-mud horse” phenomenon has demonstrated that the creative use of CMC has offered an opportunity for all participants (the artist, viewers, commentators) to actively and interactively pursue an identity through shard feelings, common experiences and knowledge.
The certain cultural familiarity that allows one to understand the joke and laugh has been called as the “register” by Halliday15, for whom the register “includes kinds of subject matter, kinds of social relationship and context, and specific modes of communicating, all cohering in a socially recognized form.” In “The Song of the Grass-Mud Horse”, the register has been employed in different forms: linguistic ( “grass-mud horse” and “MaLe Desert” as curse, “river crab” as “the ideology of harmonious society”), symbolic (the logo “CJTV” that symbolizes government propaganda; music video, children chorus, animals’ life that represent a harmonious theme of the propaganda), literal( as the “grass-mud horse” reminds people of “Calling a stag a horse” and the historical context of the proverb).
The register of the joke is shared by the joker (the artist) and the laughers (the audiences), but the realization of the joke is an effort of collaboration between the two who share the hostility towards the joked -the “butt”16– “a person who is subjected to ridicule.” And the power of this joke is realized when a sense of pleasure shared among audiences becomes a feeling of solidarity which overcomes resistance and differences and achieves self-identification among audiences. The audiences’ random feelings of the register have been cooked through the parody and becomes the identity of victims of the government’s policy, and a common recognition of common situation and carnival truth. And this is the ultimate effect of humor17– “a demystifying recognition of conflict, disparity, contradiction.”
The sense of solidarity, self-identification among participants and a common recognition of common situation have all helped to create what Benedict Anderson calls the “imaged community” where people unknown to each are all connected together at the moment of laughing at the parody, imaging the existence of people out there who gain the same pleasure of watching the music video because of their share suffering, knowledge, reality and memory.
Following “the Song of the Grass-mud Horse”, Chinese netizens have created all forms of entertaining content of the “grass-mud horse” and the “river crab”,18 there are flashes, new songs, “grass-mud horse” of different cartoon versions, photos, prints of “grass-mud horse” on T-shirts, mugs, toys, etc. Given the government has already announced the ban on the “grass-mud horse”, the images of the “grass-mud horse” spread on the Internet have been far beyond the control of the Chinese government. The iconization of the “grass-mud horse” has added value to the symbolic and social capital of the “imaged community”, the “grass-mud horse” and “river crab” have been developed to symbols of its community, just like flags, monuments, and national anthems.
When Hidden Transcript Goes Public
In his book Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts19, Scott explained the dynamics of political discourse in public spheres through two concepts: the hidden transcript and the public transcript. Public transcript is communicated on-stage and subject to power holders’ surveillance. Scott argues that public transcript is guided by ideologies of the dominate, public transcript of the subordinate usually “bears the mark of mortal fear” under tyrannical ruling.(ibid,p4) In regimes like China where the government has enjoyed a long-time monopolistic control over media production, discourses of political resistance, contentions and public opinion usually have to take forms of what James Scott calls “the hidden transcript”20. This discourse takes place ‘offstage,’ beyond direct observation by power holders- which is meanings and language that are comfortably shared and recognized among the subordinated group. The “grass-mud horse” phenomenon is a process of the hidden transcripts in private spheres become unveiled and uttered in public spheres. The resentment towards political censorship has long existed among Chinese netizens, they also understand the “harmonious society” campaign is but a political design which aims to avoid naked deprivation of people’s free speech right. But “fear” has limited their resistance to low-profile forms-hidden transcript.
According to James Scott, “The hidden transcript is the privileged site for nonhegemonic, contrapuntal, dissident, subversive discourse.” (ibid,p25) The hidden transcript is powerful source of resisting the Gramscian concept of “hegemonic cooperation”.(ibid,p21) But the limitation of the power of “hidden transcripts” is its lack of presence in public spheres. On the one hand, Scott argues that “none of the practices and discourses of resistance can exist without tacit or acknowledged coordination and communication within the subordinate group;21 on the other, “it is only when this hidden transcript is openly declared that subordinates can fully recognize the full extent to which their claims, their dreams, their anger is shared by other subordinates with whom they have not been in direct touch.” 22 So for the subordinated group to gain power, they need to make “hidden transcripts” public; in his words, the subordinated group must “carve out for itself social spaces insulated from control and surveillance from above.”24
This explains perfectly why “the grass-mud horse” phenomenon is happening on China’s Internet. Chinese netizens have been disgusted by government conducting censorship under the name of the “harmonious society.” Resistance on individual levels has been powerless. For example, when contentious comments were deleted in a forum, the commentators could only make their complaints by adding another comments; this kind of resistance has been doomed to fail for its lack of consistence. But “the grass-mud horse” phenomenon, which starts from a music video, has shown us a “snow ball” effect of a well-coordinated communication. Chinese netizens have learned to behave strategically in response to the state censorship and punishment: they create the parodic form that helps to realize the iconization of “the grass-mud horse,” which in turn involves more and more people to participate in the movement. As I argue above, the public resistance has created a solidarity among the subordinated, the subordinates who have not been in direct touch have shared their anger, pleasure and a recognition of the inner conflicts, all of which help to create an identity among the subordinated group.
Scott notes that “The public declaration of the hidden transcript to powersholders was not just figurative. … The social impact of the public confrontation of the authorities with complaints and demands that were previously sequestered in the safety of the hidden transcript was tremendous.” (ibid,p203)
This has been proved on the Chinese Internet. On the one hand, after “the first open declaration of the hidden transcript” which breaks the established ritual of public subordination, more and more people are engaged in the publication of the “hidden transcripts.” When the number of people involved in the movement exceeds the censorship’s ability of tracking-down, the unspoken fear of public defiance disappears; on the other, when anti-sensorship discourse becomes public transcripts, the power relation between the dominant and the subordinate changes. The dominant no longer enjoys the hegemonic power in public spheres, as their authority and legitimacy have been defamed on their face. “The grass-mud horse” phenomenon is not only a refusal to comply, to salute, to bow one’s head to the imposed taboo, but to repel of the government’s hypocrisy and stupidness. The long-repressed sentiment in public spheres gives “the grass-mud horse” a chance to grow to a substitute of all their resentment, anger and disagreement towards the government.
The government has already put enormous efforts to establish the “harmonious society” as the substitute ideology of it former ones, including Maoism, the “Three Represents,” etc. However, the advent of the theme of “defeating the river crabs (harmonization)” in popular discourse has, to a large extent, put the government’s effort into vain. Thanks to the wide recognition of the “grass-mud horse,” Chinese netizens are taking full advantage of its symbolic meanings in public spheres. The “grass-mud horse” has been used in a series of anti-censorship protests after the initial success of “The Song of the Grass-mud horse”. The most influential campaign is perhaps the mass-photo show inspired by Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei. Ai Wei Wei is the most prominent contemporary artist in China, and he has been leading an investigation of students who died in the Sichuan Earthquake and was blacklisted by the Chinese government. Ai Wei Wei’s blog on www.sina.com was blocked after he published the number and names of students who lost their lives in the earthquake due to the poor quality of school constructions. Afterwards, Ai Wei Wei has opened accounts on other blogs, Twitter, forums, etc. To verify his blogs, (as to avoid people writing blogs under his name) Ai Wei Wei has put a series of photos of his nude body with a “grass-mud horse” on his blog, so the photos have become Ai Wei Wei’s identity on blogs. Following Ai Wei Wei, more people are engaged in anti-censorship campaign by putting their photos with the “grass-mud horse” on photo-sharing websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
“The grass-mud horse” has become the hottest icon of rebellion among young people, just like the image of “Che” and “John Lennon”. Even kindergarden students can sing “The Song of the Grass-mud Horse” which is a nice mark of the “bad boy”. “The grass-mud horse”, the Chinese curse, now can be seen everywhere in China. It has been used to criticize all kinds of “authority” talks. The symbolism of the curse also gains people’s respect in public spheres, as it marks the break of the silence of people’s long repressed desire-to speak the truth aloud.
This blog project has explored the interesting phenomenon of the “grass-mud horse” on the Chinese Internet. If we understand how the ambiguity of China’s Internet censorship can shape expression and encourage creativity, we can admit that the “grass-mud horse” phenomenon is far from an incident. The dynamics of the development of CMC on China’s Internet lies in a complex of contention, resistance, digital creativity, censorship, hegemonic propoganda and repression. The “grass-mud horse” phenomenon is co-created by two opposite forces. And the significance the the “grass-mud horse” phenomen is also double-sided, as it gives the opportunity of unification among all the participants (the repressed) and undermines hegemonic power of the dominant (the repressor). The Internet has changed China and will continue to. To end with Chinese scholar Zixue Tai’s words, “the important question to ask is not whether the Internet will democratize China, but rather in what ways the Internet is democratizing (or will democratize)communication in China.”25
1 About the hegemonic power on Internet, Zixue Dai argues that, ” Admittedly, big corporate powers and “big brothers” are as present as ever in cyberspace, but it must also be recognized that the Internet has brought about a level of empowerment for individual users that was unthinkable in the pre-Internet age.” The Internet in China, Cyberspace and Civil Society,Zixue Tai, 2006, Routledge, New York and London, p170
3 Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, who oversees a project that monitors Chinese Web sites, said in an e-mail message that the grass-mud horse “has become an icon of resistance to censorship.” The Beijing Film Academy professor and social critic Cui Weiping has been writing a blog that gives detailed analysis of the “grass-mud horse” phenomenon.
4 For more information about China’s Internet Censorship, please visit this blog.
6 Bob Hodge and Alan Mansfield, p199, “Nothing left to laugh at…”:humour as a tactic of resistance”, in Language and the Nuclear Arms Debate: Nukespeak Today, Paul Chilton, 1998,Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, p. 197-211
8 The cartoon version of “the Song of the Grass-mud Horse” can be found here.
11 The story of “Calling a Stag a Horse” in English.
12The construction of a Harmonious Society is a socio-economic vision that is said to be the ultimate end result of Chinese leader Hu Jintao’s signature ideology of the Scientific Development Concept. For more information, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonious_Society and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao
15 Halliday, M.A.K. (1978), Language as Social Semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. Edward Arnold: London. Hodge and Mansfield refers to the concept of “register” and argues that “the value of the concept of ‘register’ is that it allows us, as part of our social knowledge, to read off contexts and kinds of participants from qualities of a discourse.”
18 As in Figure 6, the crab has three watches on it. The Chinese pronunciation of “wearing a watch” is similar to that of the “Three Represents”, the slogan of former President Jiang Zeming’s political campaign. For more information, please check here.