In addition to the other layers required for touchscreens, will a pathogen-killing coating become a standard surface layer? If not, should it be? Touchscreens harbor the bacteria, viruses, and other microbes deposited by people's fingers, and provide a vector for transmitting diseases, according to
Will You Capitalize on Water Projects?
With the world's population booming and more of those people moving to major cities, the need for fresh water is "staggering." In construction terms, this demand will trigger a flood of whitewater and storm-water treatment projects.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest 20-year projec
Food Industry Samples Green Certification
To separate true sustainability efforts from bogus "greenwashing" claims, food manufacturers are beginning to embrace third party certification, reports Food Quality. More food producers are using such ecolabels and certifications as organic, Marine Stewardship Council, and Pesticide Residue Free. O
Bench Device Yields High Performance
A recent study suggests that a new tabletop device for developing high energy X-rays may rival some of the largest and most powerful facilities. The instrument produces comparable results, using a tiny jet of helium gas and a high-power laser to produce an ultrashort, pencil-thin beam of high energy
What is the Purpose of Phase Angle in Transformers?
Let me know how can find the phase angle by using TTR instuments and its purpose in Transformer designing.
Open Thread – November 6th, 2010 | Gene Expression
A few days ago I was propounding to an old friend my hypothesis that social networks of cultural affinity are determinative in both the nature and trajectory of attitudes and norms within subcultures. In more plain language, you come to an opinion on many issues through your peer-network. The number one predictor of conversion to a “New Religion Movement” (NRM) is a prior personal connection to someone in an NRM.
Consider the issue of abortion. In the late 1960s and early 1970s it was not a salient issue for much of the American Right. Historians of Catholicism remember well the forgotten period in the late 1960s when periodicals of the evangelical Protestant movement such as Christianity Today looked favorably upon the decriminalization of abortion, overseen by men such as governor Ronald Reagan in California. This all changed in the late 1970s with the rise of the social wing of the New Right; the Catholic Right-to-Life movement was suddenly joined by a swell of evangelical Protestants. By the 1980s a pro-life stance was almost entailed by an assertion that one was a socially conservative Protestant. Things were very different in the early 1970s, when Richard Nixon’s concerns about abortion were more about consequence (permissiveness) than principle (sanctity of life). George H. W. Bush’s switch from a long-standing pro-choice position (his father was a treasurer of Planned Parenthood) to a pro-life one before his nomination to the Vice Presidential slot of the Republican ticket in 1980 was a sign of the times.
Did all this occur because conservatives thought more deeply on the issue of abortion? I don’t think so. There are plenty of theories why abortion became more salient for conservative Protestants years after Roe vs. Wade, that’s not my primary interest here. Rather, I suggest that an initial trend was amplified by positive feedback loops driven by the need for social conformity. This operates on the implicit level, people may sincerely believe that their opinions derive solely from their own inner logics, but the social and cognitive science does not support that position. There are of course outliers and non-conformists who find themselves out of line with the new orthodoxies; Barry Goldwater on the Right and Nat Hentoff on the Left would be cases when it comes to abortion.
All that is ultimately preamble. This mode of thinking explains why I am not totally sanguine about the existence of large minorities of Muslims in the West. I do not believe that Islam, or any religion, is necessarily “thick” with a lot of specific detail of belief or practice. Rather, I believe it emerges through social consensus and conformity. The idea that a Western Islam rooted in Western cultural presuppositions is somehow novel is ahistorical. In 18th century a sophisticated Chinese Muslim intellectual culture developed in Beijing which was rooted in Chinese presuppositions despite an explicit Islamic outlook. See The Dao of Muhammad. In the 18th century the collapse of the Turkic polities and Ottoman hegemony on the steppes to the south of the Russian Empire led to a long term attempt to formulate an Islam which was compatible with rule under a a Christian monarch. See For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia.
The Chinese case turned out to be something of a false dawn. With the collapse of the power of the Ching dynasty in the 19th century, social chaos and persecution of minorities including Muslims, and the integration of worldwide civilizations through modern transportation networks, Chinese Islam went through several phases of “reform” which re-aligned it with more Middle Eastern cultural presuppositions. The sophisticated intellectual system of Chinese Islam rooted in a wholly indigenous lexicon was to a great extent marginalized, as world normative Islam came to be the standard. World normative in particular being variants of Islamic practice and belief accepted as orthodox in the Turco-Persian-Arab world. If the number of Chinese Muslims in the 19th and early 20th centuries had been in the tens of millions, and not millions, the result may have been different. Indian Islam gives us a possible window into this, as the Deobandi movement has broad affinities with the Salafi reform of the Arab world, but is genealogically independent.
The unfortunate reality is that Islam as it is practiced in the Middle East is a pretty scary sight to non-Muslims. It is most manageable when under the vice of near totalitarian secularism, as in Syria. In contrast, a more populist direction in Iraq in the last 10 years has produced a great religious cleansing. This generation shall not pass before Iraqi Christianity and Mandeanism become extinct, ending thousands of years of cultural history. In the early 1990s I recall reading that Mahathir Mohammed was going to make a push for greater prominence of tolerant Southeast Asian Islam (this means that Islam is the favored religion in Malayasia, but non-Muslims are not in fear for their life in any circumstances because of their religion to my knowledge). Whatever happened to that? There are plenty of nations, such as Senegal, which practice a form of Islam which is congenial to most Westerners. But to my knowledge Muslims who are “seekers” are not likely to emulate Senegalese Islam, which is at peace with the idea of pluralism of parity. The Middle East is the gold standard (this finds peculiar expression in Indonesia, where I have read that Muslim reformists attempt to claim South Arabian genealogy for the earliest Muslims. Many histories generally suggest that in fact Gujarati Muslim traders were the dominant, though not exclusive, influence in the early years. But Indian Islam is much less prestigious than Arab Islam).
A more radical thesis which I hope to elucidate at some point in the future is that these dynamics are pervasive not just in the present: rather, persistent inter-generational social networks operate like shadows underneath the cultural patterns we see before us. This is obvious when it comes to religious, linguistic, or national identities. Who you socialize with in those cases is clearly conditional and predicted by who your forebears socialized with. But I suspect that there are several “dark” social networks present for ever explicit one. These may not not be as important on a per unit basis as the explicit ones, but they may be numerous enough to affect great change on the margins.
This Is the Most Delicious Eye Candy I’ve Seen All Week [Video]
This movie has no dialog, no plot, and absolutely no point except to leave you in complete awe. It achieves that objective, and then some more. All this eye candy is irresistible. Don't believe me? Here is some proof: More »
Air Force to End the Need for Pilots In 6th Generation Fighters [Aircraft]
The United States Air Force is now looking for a F-22 Raptor replacement. It must be in service by 2030 and, for the first time ever, they want to be able to deploy these combat fighters unmanned and remotely controlled. More »
Motivated Seller
It is great to find a private island deal and acccording to the listing Live Oaks Island in North Carolina is listed as a motivated seller. Live Oaks Island is a 12-acre turnkey paradise of breathtaking views and quiet retreat nestled among one of the most pristine wildlife estuaries along the east coast of South Carolina. The Island offers rare access by yacht or by car through a gated, locked, private causeway of half a mile of paved road lined with palm trees. On Live Oaks Island, you can enjoy a stunning panorama of St. Helena Sound, one of the most unspoiled inlets on the Atlantic Coast. If you are seeking a peaceful getaway or a serene retreat for relaxing activities with excellent investment potential, Live Oaks Island is your ideal location.
to learn more about this island is visit private islands online.
Flying By Comet Hartley 2 at 27,560MPH [Video]
,560MPH, 12.32 km/h. That was the whizzing speed of NASA's spacecraft Deep Impact as it approached comet Hartley on its EPOXI mission. Here's a time lapse video of its complete trajectory, just released by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. More »
How does Patri spend his time?
People often ask me how I spend my time. Seasteading, after all, is a complex and audacious goal, and it isn't immediately clear to most people exactly how someone would advance it. As it turns out, I've been tracking my time by project for the last couple months as an experiment in productivity enhancement. So while we're working on improving our strategy documentation and 2011 plans, which we'll of course share with you, I can actually tell you exactly what I spend most of my time on!
In Penang, Malaysia, Skip the Beach at Batu Ferringhi but go to the Night Market
During the ride from the airport to my guest house on the island of Penang, Malaysia, my taxi driver provided me with running commentary about the things to see and do on Penang.
“I highly recommend a walking tour of George Town, since it has the largest collection of pre-World War II buildings in all of SE Asia. The Snake Temple is also worth visiting, and you must go to Batu Ferringhi, not only for the beach but also for its amazing night market.”
Great for water sports, but the water and sand leave much to be desired
Dutifully, I took a local bus to the northeast tip of the island one sunny day when I had a hankering to catch some rays. From the moment I set foot on this long crescent beach I was disappointed. The sand was coarse and in some areas erosion had eaten away the beach right to the stoops of the cottages and restaurants that lined it, in some cases exposing heaps of fraying sandbags. Trash was scattered about liberally, and even the water seemed murky. The cloudy water might be forgiven, since it was monsoon season and runoff from the land has a way of muddying up waters along the shore, but the trash was bad enough that I couldn’t even bring myself to spread my beach towel. And as for getting into the water, well, the big red sign warning of the dangers of jellyfish put an end to that idea.
Jellyfish warning at Batu Ferringhi beach
Since I’d made the trip I decided to stick around for the night market. With several hours to kill before dark, I amused myself with a visit to the Fish Spa for a fish-nibbling pedicure, enjoyed some very economically priced body work on the beach from an amazing man who specialized in sports massage, and lolled in a local restaurant for a couple of hours, stuffing myself with Malaysia’s world-famous delicious, cheap food.
Night market at Batu Ferringhi beach stretches for more than a mile
By the time I emerged from the restaurant it was dark and time to shop. While I ate, the main road that fronts the beach had been transformed from a mile of concrete sidewalks in various stages of disrepair to a glittering outdoor covered market that stretched as far as I could see. Block after block, I wandered through stalls where vendors hawked everything from designer jeans to exquisite Vietnamese lacquerware. I spent several hours dickering with merchants for scarves and leather wallets, enjoying bantering over prices, and discovered that the best deals resulted when I walkED away. Inevitably, the merchants ran after me, relenting to my demands. A few hours later, as pedestrian traffic began to dwindle, vendors began breaking down their stalls until the following evening, when the whole process would repeat itself.
I’d agree with my friendly taxi driver that Batu Ferringhi is a not-to-be-missed experience, but skip the beach and just go to the night bazaar for some of the most amazing shopping in Penang, Malaysia.
Photo Credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel of Cultural Travel with Hole In The Donut
Staying Safe On The Beach – Do you know what the colored flags mean?
Staying Safe on the Beach
The following is a great piece on staying safe on the beach by Britt Reints, a featured writer on UpTake Orlando’s Getaway Crew. Britt walks you through all the different flag colors and what they mean. – Sebastien
If you head to any public beach in the state of Florida, you’ll see a flag in one of four colors designed to tell you whether or not the water is safe for swimming. All public beaches use the same color system so that you’ll know exactly what the warnings mean no matter which beach you’re visiting.
Of course, you still have to know what each color means.
Florida Beaches Warning Flags – What Each Color Means
Purple – Dangerous Marine Life
Yep, we’ve got stuff swimming in our waters that can bite, sting or otherwise harm you.
Green – Low Hazard
It’s important to note that “low hazard” still means to “exercise caution”. The oceans and gulf waters are constantly changing and you should always be alert when swimming at the beach.
Yellow – Medium Hazard
You’ll see this flag if the surf is high or the current is strong. If you’re not on a surf board, you may be safest staying in waist deep water.
Red – High Hazard
Bring a bucket and build a sand castle or go for a walk along the edge of the water, but save body surfing for another day. There are actually two red flags. One red flag has a no swimming symbol to indicate that the water is closed to the public.
In addition to paying attention to the hazard flags, what other beach safety tips should visitors keep in mind?
Photo and article by Britt Reints
Blogging the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival
I’m happy to announce that again this year I will be blogging about the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival coming up in January 2011. This year most of my blogging will take place on the Festival’s Facebook page rather than on this blog. I’ll also be attending and live-blogging from the Festival. The program [...]
Hundreds of Thousands of Fighting Conchs Appear on Bonita Beach, Florida
There’s a story in the News-Press today about a mass-beaching of Fighting Conchs (Strombus alatus) on Bonita Beach, Florida. Hundreds of thousands of live conchs were on the beach Tuesday. According to the article, the experts don’t know exactly why this occurs. Explanations range from mating behavior to an extremely low tide. People quoted in [...]
Remembering Cecelia White Abbott
I have received news of the passing–Thursday morning, October 28, 2010– of Cecelia White Abbott, adventurer, shell enthusiast and wife of the late R. Tucker Abbott. I first met Cecelia Abbott during the 2008 International Seabean Symposium in Cocoa Beach. My friend Marge Bell introduced her to me as the wife of the late R. [...]
Waxwings on the move
Seal pup on Brownsman (David Andrews)
Cow seal basking in the sun on Brownsman (David Andrews)Wednesday 27th October comments: It’s been another difficult period as the weather continues to play havoc with daily life on the islands. In recent weeks, we’ve hardly seen the mainland and today brought yet more strong winds (from the west) although thankfully the forecast is set to improve over the forthcoming days.
On the Seal colonies, everything is well and we’ve now reached 200 pups with plenty more to come. On the bird migration front, there are huge numbers of Waxwings arriving in the country from Scandinavia, with huge numbers seen (c4,000 in Scotland alone yesterday). Its one of the largest and earliest invasions on record and we’ve had a few in recent days as they move west too the mainland.
Recent Highlights :
Wed 27th Oct: Little Auk 185N, Grey Phalarope one on the sea in Staple Sound, Jack Snipe, Iceland Gull first winter over Knoxes Reef, Merlin, Peregrine 2, Sparrowhawk
Tues 26th Oct: Waxwing 16 west during the day, Woodcock 6
Sun 24th Oct: Little Auks 142N
Private Island on Manhatten’s Doorstep
It is an inherent trait of islands that each one is unique and beautiful in it’s own way. But occassionally one island comes on the market that is truly special. Petra Island is a truly special island.
An 11 acre island located just 50 miles north of New York City (15 minutes by helicopter) and featuring two houses designed by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Petra Island truly must be seen to be believed.
The island itself is 11 acres in size and is situated on New York’s very private Lake Mahopac. Petra Island has its own helicopter landing pad, and is of course accessible from the mainland by boat.
Two dwellings sit on the island - a 1,200-square-foot cottage, and a 5,ooo-square-foot main residence which is nothing short of an architectural masterpiece. The cottage was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1950. The main residence was built in 2008 from one of Wright’s final plans, and is considered by some to be one of the most spectacular designs of his career. Boasting 1,500 square feet of skylights and vast expanses of stone, cement, and mahogany, the main residence is truly a triumph of modern architecture.
Island properties such as this are rarely seen on the market - a must-see! Inquire at Private Islands Online for details.
How to Rent Your Own Private Island
The media often focuses much of it’s attention on the buying and selling of private islands. However, what many people fail to realize is that there are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of islands available for rent around the world. Fox News recently published an excellent article highlighting the experiences of a number of former island renters. Here is an excerpt from the article:
About five years ago travel writer Joshua Berman and his wife capped their honeymoon by renting a private island, French Louie Caye, off the Placencia Peninsula in Belize.
He recalls that “it was an incredible experience watching that boat pull away and knowing we were all alone,” which they were for a night and the following day, though they also enjoyed a little non-human companionship. “We had two dogs and a fridge stocked with shrimp and fish in a small wooden cabin. We could see a few other islands in the distance, but otherwise, it felt like the Caribbean was all ours. We cooked our own meals, snorkeled the coral around the island, and sat in the sand watching the dogs chase crabs back into the water.”
To read the full article visit Fox News
Billionaires Scooping up Private Islands
According to the Times of India, in addition luxury yachts, jets and homes, Indian billionaires have started purchasing Caribbean and South Pacific private islands.
The Times reports that although no one is disclosing the names of buyers yet, five deals are understood to have been struck from India in recent months. “The trend we have observed is toward an increasing number of interested buyers coming from India. noted Chris Krolow CEO Of Private Islands Inc.,
Krolow also notes that “After the recession, some properties have reduced dramatically, as prices were quite inflated before the recession,” he added. For some islands, there was a reduction in prices of as much as 30-50%, and in some cases owners are willing to negotiate.
I think it’s great the emerging markets are taking a keen interest in private islands. I am sure it will help keep the industry competitive for years to come!