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Welcome to Home Pet Euthanasia of Southern California

Posted on May 13, 2018 by ev1

If you are visiting our website, chances are that you either have already made the decision that it is time to let go of your pet or the time is drawing near and you want to be prepared. You probably are looking for a way to make this transition easier for your pet, to lessen his suffering, make it painless and stress free. Above all, you are looking for a caring and compassionate person to be there for your baby and for your family in such a difficult time.

Your pet may have severe arthritis, cancer, kidney failure, some other debilitating disease or he or she is just very old. He or She has been part of your life for many years, may have helped you through tough times, has been a faithful companion. Now, you see it in your pet's eyes. The love is still there but you also see suffering.

There is a huge difference between saying goodbye in the privacy and comfort of your home versus taking your pet to the vet's for that last, dreaded trip.

In a few words: compassion, caring, in the safety of your home, relaxed, peaceful, stress-free, no cold, stainless steel, ... To read more about why you should choose a home euthanasia, click here.

You undoubtedly want your pet to be comfortable at home with you in his last moments. You want your pet to feel your reassuring touch. You want him to be on his soft, comfortable bed. You want these last moments to be stress-free, peaceful, at home, in familiar surroundings. No cold, stainless steel table, perhaps you want him lying next to you. You want this moment to be quiet, calm, and for your baby to be in gentle, caring, kind and loving hands.

What do you do when the time has come? How do you make it easier on your pet, on your family and on yourself? How do you know the time has come? Do you know what to expect? These are all questions that will be answered on this website.

We offer a compassionate, caring and gentle pet euthanasia service done in the comfort of your own home so that your beloved pet doesn't have to be put in a stressful situation, having to be lifted into the car, going into a noisy, busy veterinary hospital to spend the last few moments of his or her life on a cold stainless steel table.

We primarily service the areas of Orange County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, part of San Diego County, part of Ventura County and part of San Bernardino County. But wherever you are in the world, the information on our website will help you through this difficult event of your life that is the passing of your pet. We will gently guide you through the difficult decisions you will have to make and ensure that you have full understanding of what is ahead.

Seychelles holidays – Book Seychelles hotel and tours Online.

Posted on May 13, 2018 by ev1

With Holidays Seychelles travel and tours YOU have over 100 affordable hotels, villas, guesthouse and self-catering accommodations in Mahe Seychelles, Praslin, and La Digue island.

The hotels will display all ongoing promotional offers or instant booking where available.

Instant booking is based on availability during your intend travel dates. For fast results please enter your provisional travel dates in the calendar above.

All offers are applicable at booking so that you see the real value.

From this website you can search your preferred hotel, make your booking and pay via our secured page. Some of the hotels only requires that you pay a deposit to confirm the reservation. The balance you then pay on arrival. After you have a confirmed booking you can print your voucher that you can use to show to immigration on arrival as proof of your stay.

Top left of the page you can search for hotel by region like hotels in mahe Seychelles or hotels in praslin Seychelles. In the top right corner let you select your preferred currency and my booking link is where you will manage all your hotel reservations. The bottom of each page let you have access to more specific locations for all your hotels and tours.

We do have a list of activities and tours that you can add to your accommodation. Book your hotel first then you can add you activities.

The Seychelles seem to be Mother Nature's favourite child. She has bestowed on these 115 islands a majestic beauty. Miles of beaches with pristine white sand, fringed by topaz-blue waves against a backdrop of lush verdant hills and huge glacial boulders - and all this in peace and tranquillity without the crowds! Add to this quaint Seychelles holiday & tours, exotic creole cuisine of Seychelles, and friendly locals and you have a truly magical Seychelle holiday vacation!

How to travel to and around the Seychelles islands?

Seychelles is, undeniably, a fine tourist destination. Some of the world best airline comes to our shores.

Most of the airlines hub at their respecting home country for efficiency. If transit time is an issue, choose an airline with multiple arrivals a day like emirates. Air Seychelles has a short change over in Abu Dhabi.

It you are going to Praslin Seychelles or la digue island and you are planning to go by ferry please ensure that you are arriving in the morning or early afternoon. There are no ferry services after 16:30 between mahe and praslin island.

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Seychelles holidays - Book Seychelles hotel and tours Online.

Stem Cell Malaysia | Stem Cell Therapy & Reverse Aging

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Danzig

Somaplus: All Natural - Improvement Month by Month As time goes on, we will start to experience a decline in body function. We get tired easily, our skin becomes thinner, wrinkles will be noticeable, longer time is needed to recover from sickness, poor eyesight is experienced, forget easily, poorer sexual function and the list goes on. Consuming Somaplus will help a person experience noticeable improvement and will continue to improve month by month until reaching optimum level in 6 months.

Phyto-Berries is a delicious fruit berries rink presented in dried powder form, It is made from 9 different berries from Maine, California and North Carolina farms in USA. Phyto-Berries us carefully blended to retain 100% natural pulps, seeds and skin to provide highest quality antioxidant.

ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is a scientific method to measure antioxidant capacity in food developed by The National Institute of Aging, Baltimore, USA. The US Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is between 3000-5000 ORAC per day.

Each serving of Phyto-Berries gives you 4000 ORAC value meeting US RDA recommendation. In fact, each serving of Phyto-Berries has equal amount of 3 mugs of fruits berries.

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Stem Cell Malaysia | Stem Cell Therapy & Reverse Aging

Transhumanism – Catholicism.org

Posted on May 12, 2018 by jessica

Having fouled Earth with the works of their modern substitute for religion, science and technology, liberals imagine they can build a perfect world in outer space by means of science and technology that are now more advanced than they were in the past, or so it is boasted. It is what NASA has been about since the agencys inception. The effort has been joined in recent years by billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos with space projects of their own financed by them. However, there is a fly in the liberals ointment.

It is that their planned perfect world would be inhabited by imperfect human beings, men and women who are often irrational, some to the degree that they persist in holding to the preposterous notion that a Palestinian peasant two thousand years ago was God, and all of them subject to emotions which can be unruly and lead to messy situations. This, despite liberalism with its belief in the perfectibility of man, having long ago replaced religion as the core around which the life of society is lived.

Some very rich and powerful men, not to speak of scientists and technologists of like mind, think there is now a solution to the problem (as they see it) of human imperfection. It is called transhumanism. Perhaps you have heard of it. The literature of transhumanism is quite extensive. Heavily funded foundations promote it. References to it show up regularly in mass media. Persons under forty are apt to talk about it at social gatherings when they want to appear to have intellectual interests.

Like Christianity ever since the so-called Reformation shattered the unity of the Faith, sectarian differences exist within transhumanism, but all its adherents believe in, work toward, or otherwise support an undertaking of the kind that could only be conceived in a post-Christian age like ours: melding human beings and computers. The idea is to upload artificial intelligence (A.I.) into men so they will become, transhumanists say, more than human. Christians would say it will make them, if successful, less so, but were not going to get into that here.

Not all Christians would say it anyway. Although most transhumanists are atheists, they recognize the Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin as a precursor. To anyone looking for clarity of thought and expression the woolly verbiage of Teilhards writings make them difficult to read, but it is possible to get his drift. It appeals to the kind of Catholics who strive to reconcile truths taught by the Church with science and technology in order to rationalize their dependence on machines to transport them, cool them, make things for them, entertain them, keep them alive in some circumstances, do more and more of their thinking for them.

Being a paleontologist, Teilhard was a great believer in evolution. What he envisioned, decades before the development of the internet and worldwide web, was all machines linked in a network by which, and in which, human minds would merge, all consciousness becoming unified so that it would eventually break through the material framework of Time and Space and arrive at what he called Omega Point the Divine, Christ. Of course at that point human beings would not be as we know them and as they have always existed.

Julian Huxley, the famed British eugenicist, was a close friend of Teilhard, but a non-believer. In a 1951 lecture he presented a secularized version of Teilhard: Such a broad philosophy might perhaps be called, not Humanism, because that has certain unsatisfactory connotations, but Transhumanism. It is the idea of humanity attempting to overcome its limitations and to arrive at fuller fruition

Oh, those irksome limitations! (i.e., irrational beliefs and emotions.)

Many transhumanists see Christian belief in particular as positively threatening. Simon Young, one of their leading thinkers, has written: The greatest threat to humanitys continued evolution is theistic opposition to Superbiology in the name of a belief system based on blind faith in the absence of evidence.

Perhaps the most influential transhumanist thinker is Ray Kurzwell, a director of engineering at Google. A book he wrote in 1999, The Age of Spiritual Machines, is a kind of bible of the movement. The twenty-first century will be different, he said therein. The human species, along with the computerized technology it created, will be able to solve age-old problemsand will be in a position to change the nature of mortality in a postbiological future.

Change the nature of mortality? He means his spiritual machines will live forever, their bodies incorruptible, immune to disease and decay. To acquire knowledge, all theyll have to do is upload it effortlessly to their brains.

Kurzwell calls the point in evolution where this happens Singularity. It is analogous to Teilhards Omega Point.

Some transhumanists, including Kurzwell, talk about resurrecting the dead. Theyll do it, they think, using the DNA we all leave behind. This is where space travel comes back into the picture, though in a way unforeseen by the men who launched NASA: What with the dead being brought back to life and everybody living forever (as spiritual machines), it wont take long before Earth really is overpopulated. Migration to other planets will be necessary.

The billionaire Elon Musk identifies as a transhumanist. Besides developing the Tesla electric automobile, he is best known for Space X, a project for developing reusable rockets with a view to their eventually transporting men and material to Mars for human colonization of the Red Planet. (Since there is no oxygen on Mars, vehicles on the planet will have to be powered by electricity. Hence the Tesla.)

Peter Thiel is another billionaire transhumanist and financial angel to enterprises like Future of Humanity Institute and Singularity University. Although he was given a speakers slot at last years Republican National Convention, he is less well known to the public than Elon Musk. Born in Germany and now a citizen of New Zealand, he was a co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, is openly gay, a huge fan of Tolkein (he says he has read Lord of the Rings more than ten times), was a member of the Libertarian Party until 2016, and seems to have an unerring instinct for placing himself where power and influence can be had. His membership on the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group shows that. So did his being named to the executive committee of Donald Trumps transition team after Trump won last Novembers election (he had contributed $1.25 million to the Trump presidential campaign). It is known that he is a partner of Jared Kushner in one of the latters investment operations. Oh, he also describes himself as a Christian but acknowledges that his beliefs are not orthodox. His financial contributions to transhumanism are weighted toward life-extension and age-reversal projects. (At one point, pre-PayPal, Thiel was a speech-writer for William Bennett when the former drug czar and U.S. Secretary of Education was marketing himself as a morality guru with books like The Book of Virtues and The Childrens Book of Virtues, but grew tired of the job and quit before the public learned that Bennett was a compulsive gambler who had blown millions of dollars at Las Vegas casinos.)

The defense of civilization requires vigilance, but guarding against treachery from within is hard. Western Christian civilization has been undone by leaders who were really Judases, beginning with the priests, bishops and princes who led millions out of the Church at the time of the Protestant revolt commonly called the Reformation. They were followed by the Revolution which first overthrew Christian government in France in 1789 and has continued to unroll so that it does not now exist anywhere. More recently there were the culture wars, which Christians could never have won, not with the weight of modernity against them.

Why? The Judas factor again. Christianity demands sanctification for entrance into Heaven; and self-denial, self-abnegation, self-discipline are requisite to it. Too many modern Christians, faith and belief run out of them, including belief in Heaven except maybe as a place where everybody will go anyway, have preferred self-aggrandizement instead. What they want is all that will make things easier for self or, better yet, enhance it. What could do that to a greater degree than the promise of immortality, especially immortality without pesky emotions and irrational beliefs to mar its perfection?

The trouble is that only a computer could see such a state of things as perfect.

Footnote: Transhumanists argue among themselves as to whether the right of anyone to stay human, especially for religious reasons, should be respected and protected. If these people ever exercise more power and influence than they already do, the argument will probably prove pointless. When most remaining Christians arent Christian enough to face life without the benefits of modernitys existing appurtenances smartphones, processed foods, automobiles, television, air-conditioning, etc., etc. how many will choose Heaven in whose existence they can believe only by faith over the scientific certainty of life in the here and now forever and ever?

The Long Read: The Germ Warfare Island Abandoned by the …

Posted on May 12, 2018 by jessica

Thread Starter

Join Date: Oct 2012

Posts: 4,055

"During the Cold War, Vozrozhdeniya Island was a top-secret testing ground for deadly Soviet super-pathogens. Despite over two decades of abandonment, their legacy lives on."

Amazing story.

Join Date: Mar 2004

Location: s.e. pa

Posts: 705

Not much worse than aberdeen proving grounds.Aberdeen gets enough rain for vegetation and run off.

Senior Member

Join Date: Jul 2016

Posts: 208

D'ont worry bout the Russians,He told us when he embarrassed Romney,that the cold wars been over for 20 yrs.You know who?,the guy that said tell Vlad I'll have more leeway after the election,Carry on!Another terror attack in London,Hello!All the best!Vinnie

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Christianarchism | the bastion of Christian anarchism!

Posted on May 12, 2018 by jessica

Anarchists and minarchists do a lot of bickering, but they have more in common than not. They are both for radically less government, and both often call themselves libertarians. While we should strive to, as much as possible, put aside the ideological differences and work towards our mutual goals, there is always some benefit to having friendly discussions about the virtues of the two philosophies. What follows is a sort of intro to anarchism (more specifically,anarcho-capitalism, or one of its plentiful synonyms such as capitalism, voluntaryism, or anti-statism) for minarchists.

The basic moral premise ofanti-statism is that no man should ever aggress against another man who has not firstaggressed against him (the non-aggression principle, or NAP).Aggression, of course, includes stealing, or taking anything from a man against his will. Involuntary taxation, then, is a form ofstealing by majoritarian consensus (or democracy). The penalty for refusinginvoluntary taxation is to be kidnapped against your will and thrown in a cage (jailed). To violently resist this would of course lead the state to kill you. The most basic inherent principle of the state, then, is violence andaggression, as it must be.

Of course, many will say that everyone implicitly agrees to taxation via the social contract. However, this is a form of collectivism whereby the individual, even if radically opposed to the social contract, must conform. In other words, if I disagree with the contract, then its not really a contract, it is merely the imposition of force under a euphemism. Some believe thatanarchism runs into a problem with hierarchy, for example, in religious institutions; however, anti-statism is not opposed tohierarchy. It isopposed to involuntary hierarchy. People are free to voluntarily submit themselves to any form ofhierarchy, or even aggression, they so choose. The only stipulation is that theindividual should always have the option to opt-in or out of a contract, as opposed to subjection to the will of the forceful collective. The case for government, then, is the utilitarian/pragmatic argument for risk mitigation. In other words, though we know its immoral to aggress against a peaceful individual for any reason, we will do it anyways, in order to defend against a supposed greater evil. Then again, as libertarians, we know thatthe utilitarian/pragmatic argument is always a compromise of principles.

On the other hand, the basic economic premise ofanti-statism is quite simple: government never does anything aseconomicallyefficiently as the private sector. In keeping with the principle of the tragedy of the commons no manprotectsanother mans property (or money) as well as he protects his own.Most libertarians and even mainline conservatives will generally agree to this premise. The problem of course comes in the practical implementation ofanti-statism. One useful conception, instead of no government, is complete privatization.

So for example,we might privatizethe taxpayer-subsidized city police force into a subscription-based force, whereby you and others in a community hire Force A to protect your homes. In fact, we would probably see a market for police forces you might pay Force Ato protect your home, and your neighbor might pay Force B to protect his home. The most important thing here is that you can truly vote with your dollar. If a cop fromForce A abuses his power in some way, you would probably immediately withdraw your subscription to Force A and hire Force B alongside your neighbor. Cops in a private market would therefore NEVER have an incentive to abuse their power, as there is true accountability to the consumer. A state monopoly on force is not a good thing, it is demonstrably bad, for these reasons.

In the same way, we might privatize the US military. So the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, etc, might each be sold off (perhaps even in divisions of 50% or 10% or whatever) at market price to the highest bidder, such asBoeing or Lockheed. People of a region (say, the east coast) would subscribe to Boeing, Lockheed, or whichever force they feel most adequately and efficiently protects that region.

One important piece of the puzzle is that if a defense force did start to act out of hand, we would expect its monetary base (its subscribers) to immediately rescind all monies and support from that force, and in fact to send their money to a competing force to protect them from force A. Thus it is in the rational best interests of each company to fulfill its contractual obligations toits subscribersand in fact to work together with the othercompanieson many things (reciprocity agreements, etc), even though they are market competitors. This addresses concerns about rogue private armies.

Another important realization is thatanti-statism, or anarchism, does not mean no law, it means no rulers. The law still prevails, no matter what. In this case, it would be the common law, which might be rooted in the NAP. Of course, the implication is that there would be private law agencies as well. We already have precedent for this today in private arbitration agencies. In fact, in studying ancient Israel (books of Judges, Samuel, etc), they had a very similar societal structure without a king, government, or any ruler (other than God) for 450 years.

For some more specific solutions to some common questions and objections, here is a brief essay called Objectivism and The State: An Open Letter to Ayn Rand. It addresses a lot of these tougher issues in a way that Rand supporters can appreciate.

It is of course natural to have reservations about all this. Its natural to have questions and doubts as to whether there are solid answers or things could actually work. But the most important question to continually consider is this: which is the greater evil? Is it a greater evil to advocate a system whereby you inherently endorse theft from your neighbor, or a system where, whether or not the functional micro-details are all ironed out, you do not support said principles of aggression, violence, and immorality, which empirically and inevitably becomes the leviathan state we fight today? Do you stay true to your principles, or will you cave to the utilitarian, pragmatic argument of compromise?

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Christianarchism | the bastion of Christian anarchism!

Australian Islands | Private Islands Online Australia

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Danzig

Privates Island Online is a niche real estate company that specialises in selling islands and resorts and leisure properties. Richard and Narelle Vanhoff have been in the island sale business since 2004 and as an individual team have an impressive sales record.

Richard Vanhoff has had diverse business background with his early career starting in the media working with one of Australias leading TV stations and then eventually moving to radio. Through these two major media agencies, Richard met the crme of international artists and personalities.

This provided access to the rich and famous, which brought with it a plethora of contacts that inspired the development of his real estate career with his wife Narelle.

Richard and Narelle lived on one of Australias best-known resorts, Hamilton Island, for over 17 years with the Beatles George Harrison as one of their neighbours on Hamilton Island. Richard again was introduced to some of the worlds best musicians and international celebrities. This furthered his passion for sales and in particular islands and island resorts, using these well-established contacts over the last 20 years as a foundation of his client network.

Richard has received many international and Australian awards for achieving the highest gross commission sales, which included the sale of Great Keppel Island, Pumpkin Island, Long Island & Bamborough Island just to name a few. As a single real estate agent, Richard can comfortably state that he has sold and negotiated the sale of some of the most exotic island properties in the Pacific.

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Australian Islands | Private Islands Online Australia

Berserker – Wikipedia

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Danzig

Berserkers (or berserks) were champion Norse warriors who are primarily reported in Icelandic sagas to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk.

These champions would often go into battle without mail coats. Berserkers are attested to in numerous Old Norse sources, as were the lfhnar ("wolf-coats").

The English word berserk is derived from the Old Norse words ber-serkr (plural ber-serkir) possibly meaning a "bear-shirt"i.e., a wild warrior or champion of the viking age, although its interpretation remains controversial.[2] The element ber- was interpreted by the thirteenth-century historian Snorri Sturluson as "bare", which he understood to mean that the warriors went into battle bare-chested, or without armor.[3][2] This word is also used in ber-skjaldar that means "bare of shield", or without a shield. Others derive it from the preferred berr (Germ, br = ursus, the bear),[2] and Snorri's view has been largely abandoned.

It is proposed by some authors that the northern warrior tradition originated in hunting magic.[5][6] Three main animal cults appeared: the bear, the wolf, and the wild boar.[5]

The bas relief carvings on Trajan's column in Rome depict scenes of Trajan's conquest of Dacia in 101106 AD. The scenes show his Roman soldiers plus auxiliaries and allies from Rome's border regions, including tribal warriors from both sides of the Rhine. There are warriors depicted as bare-foot, bare-chested, bearing weapons and helmets that are associated with the Germani. Scene 36 on the column shows some of these warriors standing together, with some wearing bearhoods and some wearing wolfhoods. Nowhere else in history are Germanic bear-warriors and wolf-warriors fighting together recorded until 872 AD, with Thrbirn Hornklofi's description of the battle of Hafrsfjord when they fight together for King Harald Fairhair of Norway.

In the spring of 1870, four cast-bronze-dies, the Torslunda plates, were found by Erik Gustaf Pettersson and Anders Petter Nilsson in a cairn on the lands of the farm No 5 Bjrnhovda in Torslunda parish, land, Sweden.[8][1] Two relevant images are depicted below, along with two associated woodcuts made two years later in 1872.

Torslunda helmet: a one-eyed weapon dancer followed by a berserker[1]

Torslunda helmet: two warriors with boars upon their helmets[1]

Woodcut image from 1872[1]

It is proposed by some authors that the berserkers drew their power from the bear and were devoted to the bear cult, which was once widespread across the northern hemisphere.[6][9] The berserkers maintained their religious devotions despite their fighting prowess, as the Svarfdla saga tells of a challenge to single-combat that was postponed by a berserker until three days after Yule.[5] The bodies of dead berserkers were laid out in bearskins prior to their funeral rites.[10] The bear-warrior symbolism survives to this day in the form of the bearskin caps worn by the guards of the Danish and British monarchs,[5] the Royal Life Guards and the Queen's Guard.

In battle, the berserkers were subject to fits of frenzy. They would howl like wild beasts, foamed at the mouth, and gnawed the iron rim of their shields. According to belief, during these fits they were immune to steel and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. When the fever abated they were weak and tame. Accounts can be found in the sagas.[2]

To "go berserk" was to "hamask", which translates as "change form", in this case, as with the sense "enter a state of wild fury". Some scholars have interpreted those who could transform as a berserker was typically as "hamrammr" or "shapestrong"; literally able to shape-shift into a bear's form.[11]:126 For example, the band of men that go with Skallagrim in Egil's Saga to see King Harald about his brother Thorolf's murder are described as "the hardest of men, with a touch of the uncanny about a number of them...they [were] built and shaped more like trolls than human beings". This has sometimes been interpreted as the band of men being "hamrammr", though there is no major consensus.[12][13]

Wolf warriors appear among the legends of the Indo-Europeans, Turks, Mongols, and North American Indians. The Germanic wolf-warriors have left their trace through shields and standards that were captured by the Romans and displayed in the armilustrium in Rome.

The lfhnar (singular lfheinn), another term associated with berserkers, mentioned in the Vatnsdla saga, Haraldskvi and the Vlsunga saga, were said to wear the pelt of a wolf when they entered battle. lfhnar are sometimes described as Odin's special warriors: "[Odin's] men went without their mailcoats and were mad as hounds or wolves, bit their shields...they slew men, but neither fire nor iron had effect upon them. This is called 'going berserk'."[11]:132 In addition, the helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts (below) a scene of Odin with a berserker"a wolf skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang... and the god Odin[17]"with a wolf pelt and a spear as distinguishing features.

In Norse mythology, the wild boar was an animal sacred to the Vanir. The powerful god Freyr owned the boar Gullinbursti and the goddess Freyja owned Hildisvni ("battle swine"), and these boars can be found depicted on Swedish and Anglo-Saxon ceremonial items. The boar-warriors fought at the lead of a battle formation known as Svinfylking ("the boar's head") that was wedge-shaped, and two of their champions formed the rani ("snout"). They have been described as the masters of disguise, and of escape with an intimate knowledge of the landscape.[6] Similar to the berserker and the ulfhednar, the svinfylking boar-warriors used the strength of their animal, the boar, as the foundation of their martial arts.[6][19]

Berserkers appear prominently in a multitude of other sagas and poems, many of which describe berserkers as ravenous men who loot, plunder, and kill indiscriminately. Later, by Christian interpreters, the berserker was viewed as a "heathen devil".[20]

The earliest surviving reference to the term "berserker" is in Haraldskvi, a skaldic poem composed by Thrbirn Hornklofi in the late 9th century in honor of King Harald Fairhair, as ulfhenar ("men clad in wolf skins"). This translation from the Haraldskvi saga describes Harald's berserkers:[21]

I'll ask of the berserks, you tasters of blood,Those intrepid heroes, how are they treated,Those who wade out into battle?Wolf-skinned they are called. In battleThey bear bloody shields.Red with blood are their spears when they come to fight.They form a closed group.The prince in his wisdom puts trust in such menWho hack through enemy shields.

The "tasters of blood" in this passage are thought to be ravens, which feasted on the slain.[21]

The Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sturluson (11791241) wrote the following description of berserkers in his Ynglinga saga:

His (Odin's) men rushed forwards without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild oxen, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon them. This was called Berserkergang.[22]

King Harald Fairhair's use of berserkers as "shock troops" broadened his sphere of influence.[citation needed] Other Scandinavian kings used berserkers as part of their army of hirdmen and sometimes ranked them as equivalent to a royal bodyguard.[citation needed] It may be that some of those warriors only adopted the organization or rituals of berserk mnnerbnde, or used the name as a deterrent or claim of their ferocity.

Emphasis has been placed on the frenzied nature of the berserkers, hence the modern sense of the word "berserk". However, the sources describe several other characteristics that have been ignored or neglected by modern commentators. Snorri's assertion that "neither fire nor iron told upon them" is reiterated time after time. The sources frequently state that neither edged weapons nor fire affected the berserks, although they were not immune to clubs or other blunt instruments. For example:

These men asked Halfdan to attack Hardbeen and his champions man by man; and he not only promised to fight, but assured himself the victory with most confident words. When Hardbeen heard this, a demoniacal frenzy suddenly took him; he furiously bit and devoured the edges of his shield; he kept gulping down fiery coals; he snatched live embers in his mouth and let them pass down into his entrails; he rushed through the perils of crackling fires; and at last, when he had raved through every sort of madness, he turned his sword with raging hand against the hearts of six of his champions. It is doubtful whether this madness came from thirst for battle or natural ferocity. Then with the remaining band of his champions he attacked Halfdan, who crushed him with a hammer of wondrous size, so that he lost both victory and life; paying the penalty both to Halfdan, whom he had challenged, and to the kings whose offspring he had violently ravished...[23]

Similarly, Hrolf Kraki's champions refuse to retreat "from fire or iron". Another frequent motif refers to berserkers blunting their enemy's blades with spells or a glance from their evil eyes. This appears as early as Beowulf where it is a characteristic attributed to Grendel. Both the fire eating and the immunity to edged weapons are reminiscent of tricks popularly ascribed to fakirs.

In 1015, Jarl Eirkr Hkonarson of Norway outlawed berserkers. Grgs, the medieval Icelandic law code, sentenced berserker warriors to outlawry. By the 12th century, organised berserker war-bands had disappeared.

The Lewis Chessmen, found on the Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides, Scotland) but thought to be of Norse manufacture, include berserkers depicted biting their shields.

Scholar Hilda Ellis-Davidson draws a parallel between berserkers and the mention by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (AD 905959) in his book De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae ("Book of Ceremonies of the Byzantine court") of a "Gothic Dance" performed by members of his Varangian Guard (Norse warriors in the service of the Byzantine Empire), who took part wearing animal skins and masks: she believes this may have been connected with berserker rites.[24]

The rage the berserker experienced was referred to as berserkergang ("going berserk"). This condition has been described as follows:

This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power. This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe. When this condition ceased, a great dulling of the mind and feebleness followed, which could last for one or several days.[25]

When Viking villages went to war in unison, the berserkers often wore special clothing, for instance furs of a wolf or bear, to indicate that this person was a berserker, and would not be able to tell friend from foe when in rage "bersrkergang". In this way, other allies would know to keep their distance.[26]

Some scholars propose that certain examples of berserker rage had been induced voluntarily by the consumption of drugs such as the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria[25][27][28] or massive amounts of alcohol.[29] However, this is much debated[30] and has been thrown into doubt by the discovery of seeds belonging to the plant henbane Hyoscyamus niger in a Viking grave that was unearthed near Fyrkat, Denmark in 1977.[31] Given that crushing and rubbing henbane petals onto the skin provides a numbing effect along with a mild sensation of flying, this finding has led to the theory that henbane rather than mushrooms or alcohol was used to incite the legendary rage.[30] While such practices would fit in with ritual usages, other explanations for the berserker's madness have been put forward, including self-induced hysteria, epilepsy, mental illness, or genetics.[32]

Jonathan Shay makes an explicit connection between the berserker rage of soldiers and the hyperarousal of post-traumatic stress disorder.[33] In Achilles in Vietnam, he writes:

If a soldier survives the berserk state, it imparts emotional deadness and vulnerability to explosive rage to his psychology and permanent hyperarousal to his physiology hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. My clinical experience with Vietnam combat veterans prompts me to place the berserk state at the heart of their most severe psychological and psychophysiological injuries.[34]

Temecula Middle School: Home Page

Posted on May 12, 2018 by jessica

Help us bring the TMS Library/Media Center into the 21st Century for the 2018/19 School Year. A fundraiser has been createdon DonorsChoose.org posting a supply list of items that will be used in the new Makerspace Section of our library.

What is a Makerspace? It's an area that offers librarypatrons an opportunity to create intellectual and physical materials using resources such as computers, 3-D printers, audio and video capture and editing tools, and traditional arts and crafts supplies.

To make a donation, visit DonorsChoose.org.

Give to our library by May 11, 2018, and your donation will be doubled thanks to Ripple. Just enter the code RIPPLE during checkout and you'll be matched dollar for dollar (up to $50).

In return, you'll get awesome photos of your gift in action and our heartfelt thanks. Please feel free to pass this information along should you know anyone who may want to support our library.

Thank you, in advance, for your support in helping us create this new area of the library for our students.

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Temecula Middle School: Home Page

New Evidence In Laci Peterson Case May Prove Her Husband …

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Danzig

1. Scott and Laci Peterson

Scott Peterson and Laci Rocha first met at the Pacific Caf in Morro Bay, California, where Scott worked. They quickly fell in love as students at California Polytechnic State University, where he majored in agricultural business and she majored in ornamental horticulture. The duo becameengaged in December of 1996 and married on August 9, 1997.

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For the first few years of marriage, they put off having children. Once they decided to try, it turned out getting pregnant wasnt easy. However, sheeventually conceived in May of 2002. Tragically, their baby wouldnt have a chance to be born.

Laci Peterson disappeared at some point between 8:30 pm on December 23, 2002, and 10:15 am on December 24Lacis half-sister Amy was at the house on the evening of the 23rd and cut Scotts hair. Later that the evening, Laci spoke with her mother Sharon on the phone.

That was the last anyone heard from her. The next morning, a neighbor found the Petersons family dog roaming the neighborhood returned her to the yard. Scott had been gone on a fishing trip during the day.

Scott Peterson returned home on December 24 to discover that Laci was not at home. Lacis car was parked in the driveway and her purse and keys were still in the house. Some reports claim that Scott washed his clothes, tidied up around the house, ate and meal and took a shower upon his return.

At 5:20 pm he called his mother-in-law Sharon to ask if Laci was with her. She wasnt. By 6 pm that same day Lacis mother called the police to report her missing. The search was on.

Laci, now eight-months pregnant, was missing. According to Scott, Laci had planned to go to the grocery store to stock up for Christmas and take the dog for a walk at a nearby park. Family, friends and concerned neighbors began searching for Laci immediately, fearing that something had happened to her.

Over 900 people were involved in the searches within the first two days of Lacis disappearance. However, she was still nowhere to be found. Now policebecame more involved andemployed the use of an official search crew.

Police organized not only on-foot searches but also deployed patrol cars, SUVs, helicopters, boats, search dogs and horseback units. They thought the disappearance of an eight-month pregnant woman on Christmas Eve washighly suspicious and suspected foul play. At a press conference, one Modesto detective stated that her running away without telling anyone was completely out of character for her.

As the days went on, people began searching more furiously. Rewards were offered in the amount of $25,000, then increased to $250,000, and then finally $500,000. Over 1,500 volunteers assisted with the search efforts. Still, all the searches failed to uncover a single clue.

Family and friends were devastated by Lacis disappearance. Not only did they want to find her alive and well, they wanted to find out who was responsible. They ruled outthe possibility that Laci ran away. There was really only one option left. Sadly, that option meant that she was possibly already dead. Police investigated possible suspects, known criminals and neighborhood burglars, but no one fit.

Whispers were already swirling about the possibility that the husband Scott had been involved somehow. Statistically speaking, nearly half of all murdered women are killed by their romantic partners. Lacis family was vehemently opposed to such accusations. They couldnt for a moment believe that Scott had anything to do with it. Scott had their full support, for now

Police considered Scott Peterson a suspect in the case but they kept the information hidden from the public mostly due to Lacis family and their insistence that he was innocent. Then something happened that turned the entire case upside-down.

On January 17, 2003, evidence that Scott was having an affair surfaced. A picture of him with another woman was taken while he was on a supposed business trip. Or at least thats what he told his wife Laci.

In a shocking development, Scotts mistresses came forward to tell her story and what she knew of Scott Peterson. The woman, named Amber Frey, told the police how she was in a romantic relationship with Scott and she had no idea that he was married with a pregnant wife.

She described how he had told her that he had lost his wife and would be spending his first Christmas alone. This was before Lacis disappearance, 14 days before. The news spread like wildfire and destroyed Scotts public image.

Lacis family was devastated by the news. According to her mother Sharon, Laci never mentioned anything about an affair or any marital issues. They believe that she was unaware of her husbands indiscretions. As the details came pouring out, it was revealed that Scott had multiple extramarital affairs.

A relative of Scotts actually described him as a sex addict. Lacis family immediately withdrew their support of Scott, and even worse, they began to believe that he may have actually killed her based on the comment about losing his wife. It was later revealed that Laci knew about at least one of Scotts affairs.

The Modesto police began working with Amber Frey in attempt to trick Scott Peterson into confessing. Amber agreed to let the police wiretap her phone. Over 300 phone conversations between Amber and Scott were recorded. Amber relentlessly asked about details of his missing wife, to which Scott replied that he didnt do it and that for her protection couldnt go into details. I am not an evil person. I would never hurt anyone, Scott said.

For a period of a few weeks Scott even pretended to be in Europe. He described in detail being at a New Years Eve celebration at the Eiffel Tower and even faked phone interference to make his lie more believable. He later confessed that he had lied and apologized to Amber. No confession was ever recorded.

On April 13, 2003, a couple walking their dog in the San Francisco bay area discovered a human fetus on the shoreline. The gruesome finding was located close to where Scott Peterson launched his boat on December 24th for a fishing trip, the same day that his eight-month pregnant wife disappeared.

The fetus was male and still had all its limbs and organs. Experts estimated that the fetus was around 33 to 38 weeks old based on bone measurements. But was it Laci Petersons child?

The fetus was, in fact, Lacis unborn child which the couple planned on naming Connor. The very next day Lacis body washed ashore not far from where Connor was found. She was wearing cream-colored maternity pants and a maternity bra. The body was severely mutilated.

Both forearms were missing, the left leg from the knee down was missing and the body was decapitated. Due to the condition of the body, it wasnt possible to determine the cause of death nor the time of death.

The news devastated Lacis family who had been praying that their daughter and the babywere still alive. Forensic experts determined that Lacis head and limbs were likely removed prior to her body being dumped.

Reports indicated that Laci suffered multiple injuries, including two cracked ribs at or near the time of death. The most gruesome revelation was that all of Lacis internal organs had been removed from her body, apart from the uterus.

The murder of Laci Peterson received enormous press coverage with interviews, commentators, and analysts weighing in with their opinions. All of them had one thing in common: they clearly thought Scott Peterson was the killer. Scott became an easy target after news of his numerous extra-marital affairs broke.

His affairwith Amber Frey continued during the search for his missing wife. One of the recorded calls to Amber was placed during a vigil for the missing Laci Peterson. Foxs Geraldo Rivera referred to Scott as a rat caught in the trap.

Modesto police initially considered a few other possible suspects but all had strong alibis or zero motive. That left Scott as the sole prime suspect. Police had a few theories as to why he would murder Laci. Police proposed that he might have killed Laci for either the insurance money, not wantingto be a father, or the desire to date other women.

With Scott being the only suspect in the murder, it was clear that he would be going to trial. But would he get a fair trial considering the massive waves of negative press already calling him a killer?

Just days after the bodies of Laci and Conner Peterson were found, police arrested Scott in the parking lot of a golf course where he had been golfing with his father and brother. Suspiciously, Scotts hair and newly-grown goatee had been dyed blond.

Futhermore, his car was stuffed with a number of strangeitems. Inside thevehicle were around $15,000 in cash, several changes of clothes, four cell phones, camping equipment and survival gear. Authorities immediately assumed that he was planning on fleeing the country.

Scott Peterson claimed that he had been living in his car to avoid media attention which had been stalking him relentlessly. Not only had the media been following him, he was now the most hated person in Modesto, if not the entire country.

Scott was faced with public scorn and violence. Most people seemedconvinced that he was the murderer even before being arrested. As for his changed appearance, Scott claimed that his hair had been bleached accidentally by pool chlorine.

By the time the trial came around, the story of Laci Petersons murder had dominated headlines for over a year. Finding someone who didnt already know the story and didnt already consider Scott guilty was near impossible. It took over nine weeks to select a jury for the case and nearly 1,600 candidates were considered as prospective jurors.

Over 50% of the potential jurors interviewed admitted that they already thought Scott Peterson was guilty of murdering his wife and child. The selected jury, six men and six women, were ordered to avoid news coverage of the case. Was that even possible?

The trial itself was moved from Modesto, considered a hostile place toward Scott, to Redwood City, on the San Francisco peninsula. The move, however, wouldnt do much good since San Francisco is the main media hub of Northern California.

Not a person in the country hadnt heard about the Scott Peterson case. One detective told People Magazine that the case was all over the place. I dont know where you would go to find people that didnt know about it maybe Burma.

Very little direct evidence connecting Scott to the murder of Laci existed. The prosecution theorized that Scott killed Laci in their home then transported her to the marina in his truck on the night of the 23rd or morning of the 24th and proceeded to dump her body into the harbor. No physical evidence was ever presented to support this argument.

Forensic teams found no blood, urine, or tissue of any kind in Scotts truck, nor in his home. Police officers found a mop and bucket at Scotts house which they believed he used to clean up the crime scene but that too contained zero evidence that a murder had been committed.

The Prosecution argued that Scott, alone, transported Lacis body in his boat, weighed down by four concrete anchors, and dumped her body into the bay. The prosecution did not attempt to recreate the crime by attempting to dump a body or weights out of the boat. The defense team, however, did.

In a demonstration, the defense pushed a mannequin of Lacis weight with four anchors attached to it out of the exact same boat as Scotts. Experts determined that it was not possible to do this without the boat capsizing. The state objected to the evidence and the demonstration was excluded from court evidence.

The only physical evidence found was a fragment of hair matching Lacis on a pair of pliers in the boat. Experts concluded that the fragment could have been transferred indirectly to the boat from Scotts clothing, which Laci sometimes wore. Additionally, no evidence of blood was found on the pliers.

Instead of direct physical evidence, the prosecution turned to circumstantial evidence and character profiling to prove that Scott Peterson murdered his wife. In fact, almost all of the evidence presented by the state would be circumstantial.

With no direct evidence that the murder occurred at the Peterson residence and no evidence that Lacis body had been transferred in Scotts truck, the prosecution relied on dog scent evidence to fill the evidentiary void for the bodys transfer to the marina. Two different tracking dogs were used to trail Lacis scent using different items.

One dog detected Lacis scent at the Berkley marina and the other did not. The defense argued that the scent the first dog picked up could have easily been that of Scott Peterson due to cross-contamination. The prosecution argued that that the dog picking up the scent was proof of Scotts guilt, simple as that.

The state prosecution attempted to establish the date and time of Lacis death based on the fetal development of her unborn son. A fetal development expert was brought in to testify. Based on two ultra-sound examinations, the expert estimated that Connor died on December 23, 2002.

The expert also admitted, however, that Connor may have died a day or two before or after the 23rd. The last main piece of circumstantial evidence was the movements of the water in the San Francisco Bay.

An expert witness charted how Connors body could have traveled through the water from the exact location whereScott had been fishing on the 24th, but could not produce such a chart for Lacis body. The expert identified a highly probable location where Lacis body could have been dumped.

That same area was searched multiple times by search divers with sonar equipment in the weeks after Lacis disappearance and found nothing. During cross-examination the expert was asked if he had ever studied anything about bodies and their movements in the San Francisco Bay. The expert conceded that he had not.

Mistress-turned-police-spy Amber Frey was called in as a main character witness in the case against Scott Peterson. On the stand, Amber revealed that Scott had lied to her about almost every aspect of his life, including the fact that he was married.

During the police investigation, Amber agreed to let the police wiretap her phone. Nearly 12 hours of recorded conversations between the two were played in court. Her testimony was highly damaging to Scott as it painted him as a sex-crazed serial liar to the jury, especially since he continued the relationship even after his wife went missing.

Even before the trial started, the potential jurors were under extreme pressure for a guilty verdict. As the trial moved forward and the months went by, that pressure only grew. At least three jurors were dismissed during the trial proceedings, some due to misconduct and other for undisclosed reasons. A few of the jurors even received death threats saying that Scott must be found guilty or else.

The judge presiding over the case, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi, also decided not to sequester the jury and instead asked the jury not to discuss the case or watch news coverage of it. Scotts defense attorney objected, saying that it was a child-like belief thinking that the jury could avoid the sensational media that had already deemed Scott guilty of murder.

Even though in criminal cases the state prosecutor isnt required to establish a motive in order to convict a suspect, they did so, possibly due to a lack of physical evidence. Their argument for his motive was three-fold.

First, the prosecutor argued that Scott allegedly killed his wife for financial reasons. They argued that the family was in debt and he wanted to cash in on Lacis life insurance policy. Second, Scott allegedly killed Laci because he didnt want to be a father. Third, it was said thatScott allegedly killed Laci because he wanted to date other women, evident by his multiple affairs.

The Scott Peterson trial was deemed the trial of the decade by the media. It received unprecedented coverage and Scotts lawyer called it a complete media lynching of his client. Ever since news broke about Scotts affairs, the media turned on Scott.

As the only suspect in the case, he was automatically deemed guilty. According to his lawyer, the coverage of his clients trial surpassed that of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. With the verdict due within days, would the negative publicity affect the outcome of the trial?

On November 12, 2004, Scott Peterson was found guilty of murder. He was convicted of first degree murder for Lacis death and second degree murder of theirunborn son, Conner. The jury also recommended Scott receive the death penalty. The presiding judge agreed and sentenced Scott to death by lethal injection. Judge Alfred A. Delucchi called the murder of Laci Peterson cruel, uncaring, heartless, and callous.

In addition to the conviction, a judge ruled that Lacis $250,000 life insurance policy would go to her mother. Scott was shocked by the sentencing, having thought that there was no way he could be proven guilty with such a lack of evidence. He immediately moved to appeal the decision.

Crowds of people all around the country took to the streets celebrating the guilty verdict. In many ways the trial was treated in the media like a reality TV show, for viewing pleasure. A number of jurors were interviewed after the trial and asked why they felt so certain that Scott was guilty.

One juror cited a lack of remorse for the loss of his wife and unborn child. Another was convinced because the bodies had washed ashore near the same area where Scott fished. But the most agreed upon reason was that Scott was a proven liar, based on his affairs and the testimony of Amber Frey.

Scott Peterson was sent to San Quentin prison state prison, located around 10 miles from where the bodies of Laci and Conner were discovered in the San Francisco Bay. On October 31, 2007 the California 5th District Court ruled to uphold the trial courts decision.

There are currently over 700 death row inmates in California. The last execution in the state was in 2006. Almost all of the inmates are likely to die of natural causes before the state gets around to executing them.

Scott Peterson maintains that he is innocent and blames the media and his lawyer for the guilty verdict he received. His trial, however, is far from over. Scott has one last option left: petitioning for habeas corpus (unlawful imprisonment)and getting a retrial.

I wasnt the last one to see Lacithat day, Scott says. There were so many witnesses who saw her walking in the neighborhood after I left. The police failed to find my family.

Lacis mother Sharon wrote a book in 2006 called For Laci: A Mothers Story of Love, Loss, and Justice. The book is a biography and memoir about Lacis life and her tragic death. The proceeds of the book go to a search and rescue fund which Sharon founded. Scotts once-time mistress Amber Frey subsequently wrote a book detailing her experience, angering Lacis family.

Seven of the trial jurors also wrote a book together about the case. Furthermore, numerous TV series and movies had been made about the sensational murder trial. There is certainly no lack of people monetizing off the case. But as we said, its not over yet. What exactly is Scott trying to challenge? And does he have a legitimate case against the states decision?

Scott Petersons new lawyer submitted an almost 300 page habeas corpus petition detailing evidence that wasnt presented to the jury, mistakes made by his then lawyer, and issues with the circumstantial evidence presented against him.

Scotts main claim is that he was denied a fair trial due to the media portraying him as a cold-hearted monster and that there was never any hard evidence against him. The document categorically broke down the trial and raised many questions about whether Scott is actually guilty or just the only person they could pin the murder on.

One of the most striking points in the case is that no physical or forensic evidence wasever presented that could linkScott Peterson to the murder of his wife. Only a singular hair fragment from Laci was found on a pair of pliers in Scotts boat, but experts agreed that it could have easily been transferred by his clothes.

Additionally, there are no eyewitnesses in the case nor have there been any confessions to the murder. Scott fully cooperated with the authorities after Lacis disappearance and even assisted in the search efforts. Despite his guilty verdict, it was definitely clear that things were wrong with the trial.

Scotts petition also claims that the jury was pressured by the public as result of the media encouragementto reach a guilty verdict, no matter the actual evidence. It even claims that a stealth juror lied in order to be picked as a juror. Richelle Nice, juror number five in the murder trial, also known as Strawberry Shortcake due to her red hair, was assaulted when she was four and a half months pregnant. According to Scotts defense team this would have disqualified her as a juror due to Laci also being pregnant.

Reports also showed that this juror volunteered to stay on the trial even though her employer wouldnt pay her compensation, something that gives jurors an automatic pass from being forced to serve. As a result she went into severe debt and reportedly even borrowed money from a fellow juror. The revelation led many to believe that she wanted to be on the jury for the sole purpose of making sure Scott received a guilty verdict.

After Laci went missing dozens of people called into the Modesto Police Department claiming to have seen Laci on the morning of the 24th. Some reported seeing her after Scott had already left, which meant that Scott couldnt have killed Laci. Some of the tips were from different states but many reported seeing her on the street where she lived and were reported by neighbors. Police, however, only followed up on three of the tips via phone call, stating that they just didnt have the budget or manpower to follow up on such cases.

Had one of these witnesses been properly questioned or called to the stand during the trial, Scott could have potentially walked free. Scotts petition points to this as a key flaw in his lawyers defense.

Another theory not originally mentioned in court was that Laci was murdered by a man robbing a house next door. According to an eyewitness, Laci witnessed a man named Steven Todd breaking into the house next door and Laci confronted him while on a walk with her dog. Other witnesses confirmed seeing a van in front of the house after Scott had already left on his fishing trip.

The location of Scotts fishing trip was televised shortly after Lacis disappearance, giving the real killer ample time to plant the body in the same area, framing Scott and aligning the approximate timelines of Scotts trip and the murder. Scotts lawyer attempted to earn a retrial based on the new evidence but it was denied.

Currently, Scott Peterson is still on death row at San Quentin prison. His last and final petition for retrial is still being considered by the Supreme Court of California. Should the case go back to trial in a less chaotic media storm, what would the outcome be?

Some say the entire case is an example of the perversion of the American legal system. Scott Petersons conviction was less a tribute to the efficacy of the legal system, saidan investigative series on the case by A&E, than it was a case study for the overwhelming power of modern media to deliver the facts of news in a way that creates irresistible tabloid fodder.

Sources: CNN,Oxygen

Robohub | Connecting the robotics community to the world

Posted on May 12, 2018 by ev1

ICRA 2018 Brisbane

Location: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Merivale St & Glenelg Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia

May 21, 2018 - May 25, 2018

http://www.icra2018.org/

The International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) is the IEEE Robotics and Automation Societys flagship conference and is a premier international forum for robotics researchers to present their work.

Established in 1984 and held annually, the conference joins experts in the field of robotics and automation for technical communications through presentations and discussions. The conference creates a remarkable environment to indulge all the delegates in the frontier of science and technology in robotics and automation.

ICRA 2018 Brisbane

Location: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Merivale St & Glenelg Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia

May 21, 2018 - May 25, 2018

http://www.icra2018.org/

ICRA 2018 Brisbane

Location: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Merivale St & Glenelg Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia

May 21, 2018 - May 25, 2018

http://www.icra2018.org/

ICRA 2018 Brisbane

Location: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Merivale St & Glenelg Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia

May 21, 2018 - May 25, 2018

http://www.icra2018.org/

ICRA 2018 Brisbane

Location: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Merivale St & Glenelg Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia

May 21, 2018 - May 25, 2018

http://www.icra2018.org/

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Robohub | Connecting the robotics community to the world

Nanotechnology meetings 2018 | Nanotechnology conferences …

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Danzig

Nanotechnology:

Nanotechnology is the engineering ofefficient structures atthe molecular scale. Thisprotections both existing work and concepts that are more innovative inits original sense. Nanotechnology as demarcated by size is unsurprisingly very broad, containing fieldsof science as diverse as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology,semiconductor physics, micro fabrication, molecular engineering. The related research and applications aresimilarly diverse, fluctuating from extensions of conventional device physicsto totally new methods based upon molecular self-assembly, from emerging new materials withmeasurements on the Nano scale to straight regulator of matter on the atomicscale.

Relevant conferencesonNanotechnology:

International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology,29 Jan -2 Feb 2018, Australia. 6th World Congress and Expo on Nanotechnology and Material Science,April 16-18, 2018, Spain. Nanomaterialsand Nanotechnology, March 15-16, 2018 London, UK, World Nano Conference,May 07-08, 2018 Rome, Italy. International conference on Nano and material science,Florida, USA. International NanotechnologyExhibition and Conference February 14-15, 2018, Tokyo, Japan.

Related Societies:

AmericanBar Association Section Nanotechnology Project

American ChemicalSociety - Nanotechnology Safety Resources

American Societyfor Precision Engineering (ASPE)

ConvergingTechnologies Bar Association

Nanorobotics:

Nanoroboticsis a developing technologyfield manufacture machines or robots which mechanisms are at or near the scaleof a nanometer. More precisely, Nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnologyengineering discipline of deceitful and erection nanorobots, with devicesvacillating in size from micrometersand constructed of Nanoscale or molecular modules. The terms nanobot,nanoid, nanite, nanomachine, or nanometer have also been used to describe suchdevices at present beneath research and improvementand even a large machine such as an atomic force microscope can be deliberateda Nanoroboticsinstrument when configured to perform nanomanipulation.

Relevant conferencesonNanotechnology:

InternationalConference on Robotics andAutomation, 21-26 April, 2018, Brisbane, Australia. Global summit on Nanotechnology andRobotics, 20-21 November, 2017, New York, USA. International conference on Nano and material science,Florida, USA. International NanotechnologyExhibition and Conference February 14-15, 2018, Tokyo, Japan.

Related Societies:

GrapheneStakeholders Association

IEEE (Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers)

International Association ofNanotechnology (IANT)

MaterialsResearch Society

Nanomedicine:

Nanomedicineis the medical application of nanotechnology.Nanomedicine varieties from the medical solicitations of Nano materials andbiological devices, to Nanoelectronicbiosensors, and even potential future applications of molecular nanotechnologysuch as biological machineries. Current snags for Nanomedicineimplicate appreciative the issues related to toxicity and environmentalimpression of Nanoscale materials. Nanomedicine seeks to deliver a cherishedset of research tools and clinically worthwhile devices in the near future. TheNational NanotechnologyInitiative expects new viable applications in the pharmaceutical industry thatmay contain innovative drug deliverysystems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging.

Relevant conferencesonNanotechnology:

International Nanomedicine Conference 3-5July 2017, Melbourne, Australia.

Nanomedicine andNanotechnology in Health Care, Nov 23-24, 2017 Melbourne, Australia.

International Conference on Nanorobotics and IntelligentSystems, January 25 - 26, 2018, Paris, France.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NANOMEDICINE, DRUGDELIVERY, AND TISSUE ENGINEERING APRIL 10 - 12, 2018, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY.

Related Societies:

SemiconductorIndustry Association (SIA)

National CancerInstitute

Alliancefor Nanotechnology in Cancer

NationalInstitutes of Health

Nanomaterials:

Nano Materials and Nanoparticleexamination is right now a region of serious experimental exploration, becauseof a wide range of potential applicationsin biomedical, optical, and electronic fields. 27 research colleges are takingabout Nano-compositeseverywhere all over the world, and marketestimation over Asia Pacific is $2650 million, in US $786 million aredischarged per annum for Nano materials and Nano particles examination. Thecontrol of composition,size, shape, and morphologyof Nano materials and Nanoparticles is an essential foundation for the development and application ofNano scale devices in all over the world.

Nanomaterials are the elementswhichhasat least one spatial measurement in the size range of 1 to100 nanometer. Nanomaterialscan be produced with various modulation dimensionalities. It can be distinctnanostructure such as quantum dots, nanocrystals, atomicclusters,nanotubes andnanowires,whilegatheringofnanostructures includes arrays, assemblies, andsuperlatticesofdistinctnanostructure. The chemical and physicalproperties of Nanomaterialscan considerably differ from the bulk materials or atomic-molecular of the same

Relevant conferencesonNanotechnology:

Related Societies:

AmericanBar Association Section Nanotechnology Project

American ChemicalSociety - Nanotechnology Safety Resources

American Societyfor Precision Engineering (ASPE)

ConvergingTechnologies Bar Association

Molecular Nanotechnology:

Molecular nanotechnologyis a technology based on the knack to build structures to multifaceted, atomicconditions by means of mechanosynthesis.This is individual from Nanoscalematerials. Molecular Nanotechnology a technological insurrection which seeksnothing less than perfectibility. Molecular industrialized technology can beclean and self-contained. Molecular Nanomanufacturing will slowly renovate our associationtowards matter and molecules as clear as the computer changed our correlationto information and bits. It will help accurate, economicalcontrol of the structure of matter. Molecular nanotechnologywould involve relating physical principles revealed by biophysics, chemistry,other nanotechnologies, and the molecular machinery of life with the systemsengineering standards found in modern macroscaleplants.

Relevant conferencesonNanotechnology:

World Congress onRegulationsof NanotechnologyJuly 11-12, 2017 CHICAGO.

Nanotechnology 2017August 7-8, 2017 Beijing, China. InternationalConference on Nanoscience andNanotechnology, 29 Jan -2 Feb 2018. International Conference on Nanostructured Materials andNanotechnology, Miami, USA, March 12 - 13, 2018

Related Societies:

Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative

American NationalStandards Institute Nanotechnology Panel(ANSI-NSP)

NanoNed

National NanotechnologyInitiative

DNA Nanotechnology:

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Nanotechnology meetings 2018 | Nanotechnology conferences ...

What is Nanotechnology? Webopedia Definition

Posted on May 12, 2018 by jessica

Main TERM N

By Vangie Beal

A field of science whose goal is to control individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other devices that are thousands of times smaller than current technologies permit. Current manufacturing processes use lithography to imprint circuits on semiconductor materials. While lithography has improved dramatically over the last two decades -- to the point where some manufacturing plants can produce circuits smaller than one micron (1,000 nanometers) -- it still deals with aggregates of millions of atoms. It is widely believed that lithography is quickly approaching its physical limits. To continue reducing the size of semiconductors, new technologies that juggle individual atoms will be necessary. This is the realm of nanotechnology.

Although research in this field dates back to Richard P. Feynman's classic talk in 1959, the term nanotechnology was first coined by K. Eric Drexler in 1986 in the book Engines of Creation.

In the popular press, the term nanotechnology is sometimes used to refer to any sub-micron process, including lithography. Because of this, many scientists are beginning to use the term molecular nanotechnologywhen talking about true nanotechnology at the molecular level.

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What is Nanotechnology? Webopedia Definition

Nanomaterials & Molecular Nanotechnology – High Impact …

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Danzig

Journal of Nanomaterials & Molecular Nanotechnology is a peer-reviewed scholarlyjournal and aims to publish the most complete and reliable source of information on the discoveries and current developments in the mode of original articles, review articles, case reports, short communications, etc. in all major themes pertaining to Nanotechnology and making them accessibleonline freely without any restrictions or any other subscriptions to researchers worldwide.

Journal of Nanomaterials & Molecular Nanotechnology focuses on the topics that include:

The journal is using Editorial Manager System for quality in review process. Editorial Manager is an online manuscript submission, review and tracking systems. Review processing is performed by the editorial board members of Journal of Nanomaterials & Molecular Nanotechnology or outside experts; at least two independent reviewers approval followed by editor approval is required for acceptance of any citable manuscript. Authors may submit manuscripts and track their progress through the system, hopefully to publication. Reviewers can download manuscripts and submit their opinions to the editor. Editors can manage the whole submission/review/revise/publish process.

Confirmed Special Issues:

Submit manuscript at Editorial Manager System or Online submissionor send as an e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at [emailprotected] or [emailprotected]

2016 Journal Impact Factor is the ratio of the number of citations achieved in the year 2016 based on Google Search and Google Scholar Citations to the total number of articles published in the last two years i.e. in 2014 and 2015. Impact factor measures the quality of the Journal.

If X is the total number of articles published in 2014 and 2015, and Y is the number of times these articles were cited in indexed journals during 2016 then, impact factor = Y/X.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the manipulation or the engineering of functional matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. It is a science, engineering and technology conducted at Nanoscale level that involves the designing, manipulating and producing of very small objects or structures (products) ranged on the level of 100 nanometers.

Journals related to Nanotechnology

Journal of Industrial Electronics and Applications, Journal of Chromatography research, Journal of Nuclear Energy Science & Power Generation Technology, Research and Reports on Metals, Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research

Nanoethics

Nanoethics is a emerging field of study that concerns with the study of ethical and social implications of nanoscale science and technology. With these implications of Nanotechnologies, there has always been the need of regulation concerned with the associated risks. Nanoethics focus on these public and policy issues related to the Nanotechnology research and development.

Journals related to Nanoethics

Journal of Physics Research and Applications, Biomaterials and Medical Applications, Journal of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Expert Opinion on Environmental Biology

Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials are one of the main objects or structures that are designed and produced by Nanotechnologies at the size level of approximately 1-100 nanometers. Nanomaterial research is a field that takes a materials science-based approach on nanotechnology.

Journals related to Nanomaterials

Journal of Industrial Electronics and Applications, Journal of Nuclear Energy Science & Power Generation Technology, Journal of Chromatography research, Research and Reports on Mathematics

Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles are small objects, behaves as a whole unit in terms of its properties and transport. Fine particle ranges from 100 to 2500 nanometers whereas ultrafine particles size range from 1 to 100.

Journals related to Nanoparticle

Journal of Applied Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Geoinformatics & Geostatistics: An Overview, Journal of Chemistry and Applied Chemical Engineering, Journal of Hydrogeology & Hydrologic Engineering, Journal of Pharmaceutical Microbiology

Green Nanotechnology

Green nanotechnology is technology used to enhance the environmental sustainability of process producing negative externalities that include green nano products used in support of sustainability. This green nanotechnology described as the development of clean technologies to minimize potential environment and human health risks with the use of nanotechnology products.

Journals related to Green Nanotechnology

Journal of Physics Research and Applications, Journal of Ergonomics Research, Scientific Reviews and Chemical Communications, Journal of Clinical & Experimental Oncology

Quantum Dots

Quantum dots are nanocrystals or nanostructures made of semiconductor materials those are small enough to exhibit quantum mechanical properties and that confines motion of conduction band electrons valance band holes, or excitations in all three Spatial directions exhibiting unique electrical and optical properties which are useful potentially in biomedical imaging and other energy applications.

Journals related to Quantum Dots

Journal of Industrial Electronics and Applications, Journal of Nuclear Energy Science & Power Generation Technology, Research and Reports on Metals, Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research

Molecular Nanotechnology

Molecular nanotechnology is a technology using molecular manufacturing, based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specification by means of mechanosynthesis. It would involve combining physical principles demonstrated by chemistry, nanotechnologies, and the molecular machinery of life with the systems engineering principles found in modern macroscale factories.

Journals related to Molecular Nanotechnology

Journal of Molecular Biology and Methods, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Emerging Drugs, International Journal of Theranostics, Journal of Polymer Science & Applications, Journal of Chemistry and Applied Chemical Engineering

Nanomedicine

Nanomedicine is medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine will employ molecular machine system to address medical problems. Nanomedicine will have extraordinary and far-reaching implications for the medical profession.

Journals related to Nanomedicine

Journal of Forensic Toxicology & Pharmacology, Journal of Chemistry and Applied Chemical Engineering, Journal of Regenerative Medicine, International Journal of Theranostics, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Emerging Drugs, Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research

Polymer Nanotechnology

Polymer nanocomposites consist of a polymer or copolymer having Nano particles dispersed in the polymer matrix. Polymer nanotechnology group will develop enabling techniques for the patterning of functional surfaces.

Journals related to Polymer Nanotechnology

Journal of Polymer Science & Applications, Research and Reports in Gastroenterology, Journal of Proteomics & Enzymology, Journal of Chemistry and Applied Chemical Engineering

Nanoelectronics

Nanoelectronics refers to the use of nanotechnology in electronic components and it covers a diverse set of devices and materials. They are so small that inter-atomic interactions and quantum mechanical properties need to be studied extensively.

Journals related to Nanoelectronics

Journal of Industrial Electronics and Applications, Journal of Nuclear Energy Science & Power Generation Technology, Research and Reports on Metals, American Journal of Computer Science and Engineering Survey, Journal of Fashion Technology & Textile Engineering, Journal of Computer Engineering and Information Technology

Graphene

Graphene is allotrope of carbon in the form of a two-dimensional, atomic-scale, hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. Graphene has unwittingly produced small quantities for centuries through the use of pencils and other similar applications of graphite.

Journals related to Graphene

Journal of Computer Engineering and Information Technology, Journal of Applied Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Journal of Proteomics & Enzymology, Expert Opinion on Environmental Biology

Nanodevices

Nanodevices are the critical enablers that allow mankind to exploit the ultimate technological capabilities of magnetic, electronic, mechanical, and biological systems. Nanodevices will ultimately have an enormous impact on our ability to enhance energy conversion, produce food, control pollution, and improve human health and longevity.

Journals related to Nanodevices

Journal of Computer Engineering and Information Technology, Journal of Physics Research and Applications, Biomaterials and Medical Applications, Journal of Computer Engineering and Information Technology

Nanosensors

Nanosensors are chemical and mechanical sensors that can be used to detect the presence of chemical species and nanoparticles. These are any biological or surgery sensory points used to convey information about nanoparticles to the macroscopic world.

Journals related to Nanosensors

Nanorobotics

Nanorobotics is the technology of creating robots or machines at or close to the scale of nanometer. Nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering of designing and building nanorobots. Nanomachines are largely in the research and development phase.

Journasl related to Nanorobotics

Nanotoxicology

Nanotoxicology is a branch of bioscience deals with the study and applications of toxicity of nanomaterials.Because of quantum size effects and large surface area to volume ratio nanomaterials have unique properties compared with their larger counterparts. Nanotoxicity is toxic effect of nanomaterial on biological system and environment.

Journals related to Nanotoxicology

International Journal of Theranostics, Advanced Biomedical Research and Innovation, Acute Medicine Research: Open Access, Journal of Nursing & Patient Care, Journal of Diagnostic Techniques and Biomedical Analysis

Nanobiotechnology

Nanobiotechnology term refers to the intersection of nanotechnology and biology. Bionanotechnology and nanobiotechnology serve as blanket terms for various related technologies. It helps to indicate the merger of biological research with various fields of nanotechnology.

Journals related to Nanobiotechnology

Journal of Genetics and Gene Therapy, Journal of Immunological Techniques in Infectious Diseases, Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research, Journal of Diagnostic Techniques and Biomedical Analysis

Nanofabrication

Nanofabrication is the design and manufacture of devices with dimensions measured in nanometers. One nanometer is a millionth of millimeter. Topics of interest for Nanofabrication are all aspects of lithographic methods aiming at the submicron- to nanoscale, and the application of the created structures and devices in physical and biomedical experiments.

Journals related to Nanofabrication

Journal of Fashion Technology & Textile Engineering, Research and Reports on Mathematics, Journal of Electrical Engineering & Electronic Technology

Nanolithography

Nanolithography is the branch of nanotechnology concerned with the study and application of fabricating nanometer-scale structures and art of etching, writing, or printing at the microscopic level. The dimensions of characters are on the order of nanometers.

Journals related to Nanolithography

Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology

Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology is being employed in the pharmaceutical field for many reasons. The leading goals are to improve drug solubility or bioavailability or delivery to various sites of action. It provides two basic types of nanotools, those are nanomaterials and nanodevices.

Journals related to Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology

Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research, Journal of Neuroscience & Clinical Research, Journal of Clinical & Experimental Radiology, Acute Medicine Research: Open Access, Analgesia & Resuscitation: Current Research, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Emerging Drugs, Journal of Polymer Science & Applications, Journal of Current Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Journal of Chemistry and Applied Chemical Engineering

Carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical Nano structure. Carbon nanotubes are long hollow structures and have mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical and chemical properties and these nanotubes are constructed with length to diameter ratio of 132,000,000:1.

Journals related to Carbon Nanotubes

Geoinformatics & Geostatistics: An Overview, Archives on Medical Biotechnology, Cell Biology: Research & Therapy, International Journal of Cardiovascular Research

Nanomaterials & Molecular Nanotechnology - High Impact ...

What is Nanotechnology? Biology for Kids | Mocomi

Posted on May 12, 2018 by ev1

Nanotechnology : Definition

Nanotechnology is the study and practical application of extremely small things.

In 1959, Nobel prize winner scientist Richard Feynman predicted the possibility of manipulating individual atoms.

In 1981, the scientists of IBM invented the first tool for atom manipulation the tunneling microscope.

With the help of a tunneling microscope, scientists can not only see individual atoms, but also lift and move them around.

Courtesy nanotechnology, the atoms can be rearranged in interesting new ways, just like tiny LEGO blocks.

Nanotechnology uses an incredibly small scale known as a nanoscale. Even the smallest of objects look gigantic if measured on a nanoscale.

A nanometre is one billionth of a meter. This is roughly a million times smaller than the full-stop mark at the end of this line.

An atom of any object measures around 0.1 nanometres. A normal adult person is about 1500 million nanometres tall.

Nanotechnology can revolutionize medicine. Scientists are trying to make tiny machines that could easily navigate through bodies to put medicines in the blood, repair damaged cells and even fix broken bones.

Nanotechnology also helps manufacturers make your favourite electronic gadgets smaller and more portable.

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Oceania facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com …

Posted on May 12, 2018 by ev1

Geography

Ethnology

Ethnography of Australia

Ethnography of island Oceania

History of European contact

Social science research in Oceania

bibliography

Oceania refers to Australia and to those Pacific islands situated between (and including) the Hawaiian archipelago and the Marianas Islands in the north, Easter Island in the east, New Zealand in the south, and New Guinea in the west. These boundaries are essentially ethnological and, in some respects, arbitrary. Although only a few scholars think that there have been significant human interchangesbiological or culturalbetween this region and the Americas, the western boundary is anything but sharp. Prior to the colonial era people of the Marianas and West Carolines seem to have had little or nothing in common with the Ryukyuans to the north, but their past relations with the Philippines are clearly demonstrable in language, culture, and physique. Links between New Guinea and islands west of it are even more evident; in fact, the Moluccas constitute something of a transition zone.

Our concern with the physical environment of Oceania is twofold. First of all, we are interested in those environmental features which have had some relevance to the social behavior of peoples with nonmetallic technologies, nonurban settlement patterns, and largely nonscientific ideologies. For such peoples the presence or absence of mineral deposits, deep harbors, or natural grazing pastures was largely irrelevant, but these very factors did become relevant to native behavior through the intermediacy of alien whites and Asians.

For the native Oceanians the region provided a wide range of natural assets as well as a formidable array of liabilities (Oliver 1951). In Australia, the climate nowhere reached such extremes as to render any large zone entirely uninhabitable. In fact, the populace tended to concentrate, regardless of climate, in places where natural foods were most abundant, i.e., in the humid and tropical north as well as in the temperate southeast. The natural foods relied upon by the hunting and gathering peoples included kangaroos, cassowaries, snakes, lizards, turtles, fish, grubs, fruits, roots, seedsin fact, almost everything the land and water produced that was even conceivably edible. The Australians direct and, one might say, indiscriminately total reliance upon the continents given resources for their subsistence may help to explain many of the similarities among aboriginal cultures noted by most students. But by the same token, local differences in the kinds and quantities of those resources also resulted in the development of some regional differences in other domains of cultural life.

Unlike the Australians, other islanders were primarily gardeners; hence the factors of rainfall, topography, and soil were of more immediate importance than direct availability of wild plants and animals. The islands of Oceania may be divided into several more or less distinctive types in regard to these features.

The continental islands are New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, and the mountainous archipelagoes which culminate in Fiji in the east and New Zealand in the south. These islands rise from a vast submarine platform which extends outward from Asia. The bold relief and wide,diversity of soil types, coupled with local differences in climate, have produced numerous sharply distinctive natural areas: bleak mountain summits, fern-forested uplands, grassy plateaus and high valleys, magnificent rain forests, scrubby jungles, riverine swamps, foothills, sandy coastal shelves, flat offshore reef islets, etc. This geographic diversity has contributed to the cultural diversity which is a hallmark of this portion of Oceania.

The remaining islands of Oceania are much smaller, more dispersed, and consist of just three basic landforms: high volcanic peaks, low coralline atolls, and raised-coral pancakesor combinations of these, each affected by differences in age, weathering, and climate. In addition, the proximity to supplies of marine food has served, in some places, to reduce the direct dependence upon soil.

Opportunities for formulating and testing hypotheses about human behavior are enhanced by the insular nature of the region, which provides the researcher with laboratorylike controls found in few other regions of the world. In island Oceania wide stretches of ocean or hazardous natural barriers helped to isolate human communities from one another for years or even centuries at a stretch; and the Australians, although in contact with each other, were themselves more or less isolated from the rest of humanity for many thousands of years. But before describing the uses that social scientists have made of data obtained in Oceania, we shall sketch the outline of mankinds history in the area, as reconstructed by archeologists, linguists, and ethnologists. This reconstruction is, of course, immensely interesting in itself as a chronicle of some fascinating chapters of human history; but its relevance in this article consists of the light it can shed about some of the events whose sequels provide social science with such varied and amenable resources for research.

Skeletal fragments and crude stone artifacts found on Java demonstrate that tool-making hominids inhabited at least the Greater Sunda Islands as early as the first interglacial period, but the oldest human remains yet found in Oceania (i.e., in Australia) go back no further than ten to fourteen millennia. Since archeology is just beginning in Australia and New Guinea, it is reasonable to anticipate some deepening of their chronologies in due course. But it is interesting and probably indicative that no excavations carried out elsewhere in Oceania have revealed traces of humanity dating back beyond 3,500 years ago. It is simply unlikely that much earlier than that there were any boats in the western Pacific capable of reaching such places as Hawaii, New Zealand, or even Fiji. And as for movements from the east, I stated at the outset my firm belief that Oceanias populations and cultures derived ultimately from the southern and eastern shores of Asia. There may well have been added a few genes and a few culture traits from the Americas, but if such were the case they were relatively late and comparatively insignificant.

There is no demonstrable basis for linking race with intellectual potential, but raceor at least its visible criteriahas some relevance to the student of social behavior in Oceania. It has figured, for example, in natives estimates of each other; and it has greatly influenced whites attitudes towards natives (e.g., the light-skinned, straight-haired peoples of Polynesia have by and large been treated with less contempt than their darker-skinned neighbors of Australia and the western islands). But knowledge of the genetic composition of Oceanias population could conceivably also provide helpful clues concerning culture history.

Few systematic studies of race have been carried out in Oceania, save in Australia and southeastern Polynesia, and the specialists differ in their interpretations of the findings. Although there is nearly universal agreement upon Asias having been the source of Oceanias populations, there is no consensus concerning the identity or the sequence of the several genetic strains that are evidently present in these populations.

There is a difference of opinion even with respect to the make-up of Australias quite distinctive aboriginal populationthe dark-skinned, curly-(not frizzly) haired individuals with massive browridges and low, broad noses. On the basis of some marked regional differences in physical features, some specialists posit three separate racial components: a short-statured negroid type; a larger-bodied, lighter-pigmented, more hirsute type reminiscent of the Ainu of northern Japan; and a more slender, dark-skinned, curly-haired type similar to the Veddas of Ceylon. According to this view, these three types arrived in separate waves or tricklesand have interbred somewhat, but not homogeneously, during the succeeding millennia. According to another view, the aborigines were of the same race to begin with and have developed their regional differences since arrival on the subcontinent. For the social scientist these contrary views are not without relevance: if the population can be shown to be tri-hybrid in origin, researches will logically focus on explaining the many cultural similarities found throughout the continent and vice versa.

For the rest of Oceania the racial composition is even more complex and variously interpreted. The archipelagoes containing the so-called continental islands, from New Guinea to New Caledonia and Fiji (but not New Zealand), are inhabited mainly by populations with frizzier hair and somewhat darker skin colors than possessed by their neighbors to the north, east, and south. This circumstance has led to the area being labeled Melanesia (black islands), a term which is rather inaccurate and has proved to be mischievously misleading. In the first place, although there are many dark brown and even coal black populations within Melanesia, there are also many others no more heavily pigmented than, say, natives of Tahiti or Tonga. Second, this regional division based on somatic criteria has been arbitrarily perpetuated by ethnologists in the cultural sphere.

Within Melanesia the range of racial types (or subtypes) is very wide. Stature ranges from pygmoid to tall, pigmentation from light copper to jet black, prognathism from absent to pronounced, etc., and there are no obvious correlations, direct or inverse, between these attributes. Some populations look remarkably Australian (except for hair forms), others like frizzly-haired Mongoloids, and still others (with light pigmentation and high, beaklike noses) resemble no other physical types anywhere.

Elsewhere in Oceaniain the far-flung archipelagoes of Micronesia and Polynesiaphysical types tend to be more uniform: the population becomes more Mongoloid and less Negroid; but the similarities (and differences) are not distributed in clear enough patterns to provide the specialists with unambiguous historical clues.

In fact, there is enough ambiguity in the racial data available for Oceania to permit any number of different historical reconstructions (including one that posits an American Indian component: Asia, after all, is the ultimate source of Oceanians and Amerindians). One reconstruction, derived from the tri-hybrid Australian scheme, proposes a succession of racial immigrations of the following order: Ainoid, Pygmy Negritoid, Veddoid, and Mongoloid. Another scheme includes Australoids (undifferentiated), both pygmy and full-statured Negroids, and Mongoloids. Still others (for somewhat gratuitous reasons) believe a so-called Caucasoid element to be present, especially in the populations of Polynesia.

Weighing all these alternatives, it seems least uncertain, and geographically most logical, that Australia and Melanesia were the first to be peopled, and by some combination of Negroids (short, or short and tall) and Australoids (or Ainoids-Veddoids); and that these separate strains interbred in varying degrees in different places. Nor is it unreasonable to believe that Mongoloid strains were the last to appear, leaving their genetic traces along the route, or routes.

It is unlikely that archeologists will ever turn up enough skeletal remains to permit a detailed reconstruction of Oceanias whole racial history, and social scientists searching for precise and longrange historical guidelines cannot expect much help from this direction. However, the small sizes and relatively great isolation of so many of Oceanias populations render them ideal laboratories for studying microevolutionary phenomena e.g., the relationship between physical variance, on the one hand, and social structure, ecology, or epidemiology, on the other. Here, indeed, are to be found ideal opportunities for anthropologists to practice what they preach about their concern with both cultural and biological aspects of mankind.

The languages spoken by the Oceanians comprise three great categories: Australian, Austronesian, and non-Austronesian (Capell 1962; Klieneberger 1957). Quite apart from the intrinsic interest of the subject matter, the study of these languages, both descriptively and historically, is relevant to social science inquiry. Not only is knowledge of the local vernacular indispensable for all but the most superficial field research in any Oceanic society, but ethnographersand especially those who have worked in Oceaniawould probably agree that a societys language is a very important part of its cultural inventory. And on the historical side, findings about language relationships, genetic and acculturational, provide the best evidence we have for culture-historical reconstruction in generaland hence for comparative studies of social behavior.

The native languages of Australia (including Tasmania) differ markedly among themselves in structure and vocabulary, but their outstanding student, Arthur Capell, considers them members of the same family (1956). Numerous attempts have been made to trace their relationships outside Australia; so far these efforts have proved unconvincing, but it would not be surprising if future research were to turn up some links with non-Austronesian languages of neighboring New Guinea.

Prior to the spread of English, Spanish, and French in recent centuries, Austronesian was the most far-flung family of languages in the world: its speakers were spread from Formosa and Malaya to Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand (one of its western languages even became established on Madagascar). Outside Australia and certain parts of the continental islands, all the languages of Oceania are to be classified within this great family.

For many decades it was the conventional practice of linguists to subdivide this family into four major (and implicitly more or less coordinate) branches:Indonesian (including Malay and all the Austronesian languages of the Philippines, the Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, etc., along with Malagasy (Madagascar), Cham (Cambodia), Li (Hainan),Jarai (Vietnam), Lati (southwest China), etc.;Micronesian (all the languages of Palau, the Marianas Islands, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, and Gilbert Islands); Polynesian (all the languages of Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand, Tahiti, Easter Island, etc.); and Melanesian (all Austronesian languages of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fijiexcept for certain Polynesian language outlierswithin the geographic zone of Melanesia). Thus the practice of subdividing Oceania according to so-called racial (Melanesia, black islands) or geographic criteria (Micronesia, small islandsPolynesia, many islands) was somewhat arbitrarily carried over into linguistic classification and, as will be seen, into general cultural classification as well.

Recent developments in linguistic science, including lexicostatistics and new methods of data processing, have stimulated a reappraisal of this conventional scheme (Capell 1962; Grace 1964).There is anything but consensus among the many linguists now studying Austronesiansome depend almost wholly on lexical data for their results;others insist that grammatical considerations must also be taken into accountbut the older fourclass scheme has been generally abandoned. It is now acknowledged that the languages of the Marianas Islands, Palau, and Yap are closer to those of the Philippines than to any in Oceania itself. There is also common agreement that the several Polynesian languages (or dialects) are far too alike to justify placing them in a genetic position coordinate with the many widely varying languages of Melanesia. It is in connection with the latter that the specialists are in least agreement. According to one view they remain something of a genetically separate unit more or less coordinate with a comparable unit of Indonesian while in another scheme they are classified into a dozen or more units of the subfamily order of branching. Alsoand this has a direct bearing on long-range perspectives of social changesome writers view the Austronesian languages of Melanesia as fusions of the areas numerous aboriginal(and non-Austronesian) languages with immigrant (and, implicitly, quite uniform) Austronesian tongues: this is the pidginization theory, so called by analogy with present-day Melanesian pidgin, the contact language between Oceanians and whites throughout most of Melanesia. This view has been sharply challenged, both on linguistic and culture-historical grounds.

In fact, among the Austronesian languages of Oceania it is only with respect to the closely interrelated Polynesian subgroup that historical relationships have been sufficiently established to provide the social scientist with bases for some controlled comparisons of social and cultural systems. One can better appreciate the attractive possibilities for this kind of research by taking note of the likelihood, suggested by lexicostatistics, that all the known Polynesian languages derive from a single language which began branching not much more than two thousand years ago, and that during their subsequent histories many of them had no contact with non-Polynesian speech.

The label non-Austronesian has been given to those languages of island Oceania not classifiable as Austronesian; they are to be found on New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, and the northwest Solomon Islands, as well as on Halmahera and other islands of eastern Indonesia. From their distributionmainly in the interiors of the large west Melanesian Islandsit has generally been assumed that they are survivors of the tongues spoken in this region before the spread of Austronesian. Unlike the Austronesian family and the languages of Australia, the non-Austronesian languages have so far resisted the efforts of linguists to link them into a single genetically interrelated unit, although they do not appear to be quite so fragmented as was once believed. In New Guinea, for example, linguists have discovered in the eastern highlands a very extensive stock comprising some 750,000 speakers (Capell 1962); other such unities are likely to emerge as more professional linguists turn their attention to parts of Oceania where the native languages have not even been recorded, much less studied.

Australian aborigines (Elkin 1938; Berndt 1965) got their food by hunting, fishing, and collecting;despite occasional contacts with Macassarese and Papuans they appear never to have adopted agriculture. And although they kept more or less tame dogs that helped them hunt larger game, they raised no animals for food. Men hunted (and fought) with spears, clubs, throwing sticks, or, in some areas, bows and arrows; women grubbed up roots and insects with digging sticks. Life was nomadic, in pursuit of widely scattered and seasonally variable food supplies; shelters were temporary, makeshift affairs. Some of the artifacts were fashioned out of stone, bone, and shell, but plants provided the materials for most objects of daily life.

It has been estimated that at the time of initial European colonization some two hundred years ago, there were no more than about 300,000 people inhabiting Australiaprobably a fairly stable figure in view of their seemingly unchanging technology and their millennia-long residence. It is not unlikely that the distribution of the population had also reached a point of stability in adjustment to the continents several geographic zones, with the heaviest concentrations in the temperate southeast and tropical north and the lightest in the arid interior. Some three hundred languages are said to have been spoken in Australia, but these were not necessarily contiguous with cultural or political distinctions.

The nuclear family, modally if not normatively monogamous, was the basic residential unit of society. In some areas, and during certain parts of the natural seasonal cycle, individual families traveled separately, and although males and females contributed differently, food was usually shared. When the availability of food permitted, but also for social and ritual purposes, several families congregated into bands (or hordes)of various sizes and degrees of integration.

In addition to families and bands, Australian societies were divided into various other kinds of social units based on locality, kinship, age, and sex or combinations of these factors. One relatively simple and fairly widespread kinship structure consisted of unilinear and exogamous moieties. Societies were sometimes divided into four or eight such parts. In the view of some analysts these arrangements functioned mainly to regulate marriages, while other writers consider them to be classificacation devices for the convenient ordering of ones numerous kinfolki.e., all other members of ones community.

The factor of age also received emphasis in almost all aboriginal societies. Particularly for males, the cycle of growing up and aging was associated with a series of ritual events. These were carried out within the context of localized all-male sodality that was stratified into more or less agegraded subgroups. Some of these rituals included extreme forms of body mutilation (e.g., subincision of the penis) along with ceremonial dances and recitations of great religious depth and drama. The form and content of these rituals, along with their theological connotations and their social functions, varied considerably from place to place; but they were widespread enough and similar enough to be considered a very characteristicbut of course, not distinctivefeature of aboriginal Australian culture.

Another characteristic feature of Australian life was the absence of anything approaching occupational specialization. Individual differences in skill and knowledge and stamina were recognized, but expert hunters, warriors, artists, magicians, flintknappers, etc., were not relieved of the ordinary chores of subsistence, and they received few material rewards for their specialties. Some individuals undoubtedly produced goods that were surplus to their own families subsistence needssuch things as stone spear points, cordage, mineral pigmentsor benefited from occasional windfalls of meat or fish. The limited local exchange and long-distance trade of these goods were usually carried out within the context of kinship and with some ceremonial elaboration. However, there were probably no bands capable of producing enough over-all surplus to sustain full-time specialists of any kind.

Perhaps the most prestigious of skills was the ability to chant from memory the interminable myths, prayers, and formulas which formed indispensable parts of various rituals. Individuals possessing this skill who had also moved up through the ranks of the age-graded mens sodalities achieved a status that commanded some measure of authority in community affairs. Compared, however, with most other societies in Oceania, the institution alization of authority in aboriginal societies was not very developed.

No aspect of Australian life has attracted more scientific attention than the so-called religious beliefs and practices. Living, as the aborigines do, in symbiosis with their physical environment, they have animated it so anthropomorphically and so comprehensively that their perceptions of the universe appear to contain no boundaries between mankind and the actual or imagined populace of nature. One of their most widespread beliefs, for example, consists of linking certain animals and plantsgenerically or individuallywith each of their enduring social units or categories. Such linkages are usually conceived of in terms of kinship and not infrequently involve restrictions against eating or rituals aimed at magical increase of the species involved. In some places even mountains, pools, stars, thunder, rain, and sneezing are either individually or generically assimilated into the social structure. The myths and rituals embodying these beliefs are as diverse and bizarre as they are long and dramatic. Fertilityof nature and of humanityis a theme which runs through many of them; and they are enacted through songlike recitation, dance, and instrumental music.

Finally, this brief inventory of institutions would be incomplete without mention of the graphic art of aboriginal Australia. Students have only recently begun to study the rich domain of painting, carving, and engravingnaturalistic and abstract, public and esoteric. Although these deserve serious enough attention on artistic grounds alone, their apparent associations with myth and ritual make them intriguing subjects for social science as well.

As noted earlier, agriculture was the basis of subsistence throughout all of island Oceania (Oliver 1951).Even on certain of those arid atoll islets where soil is lacking, natives laboriously imported soil for gardens (Barrau 1958). In places dependent mainly on self-propagating tree crops some effort was occasionally spent in protecting and tending the plants, and some supplementary gardening was usually practiced as well. The main tree crops of the islands were coconuts, sago, breadfruit, pandanus, and bananas. The first European visitors found coconut palms growing on nearly every inhabited island except Easter Island, New Zealand, and Chatham Island. These trees thrive best in lower altitudes near the coasts and provided islanders with food, drink, oil, containers, fibers, thatch, and construction wood. Sago palms grow semiwild in many swampy areas, particularly on the larger continental islands; the starch extracted from the palms pith was the staple food in many riverine and coastal communities. Breadfruit is most prolific in the volcanic soils of the central and eastern islands; although fruiting only seasonally, this tree produces bounteously and requires little care. Some varieties of the pandanus, or screw pine, produce a fruit which can be made partly edible and which serves only as a famine food on richer islands but is the main vegetable food on some of the arid atolls. Bananas (including plantains), which grow in most of the moist tropical areas, varied widely in culinary importance, from a staple food to an occasional supplementary one.

Of the root crops, both wet-land and dry-land varieties of taro were cultivated; yams were grown widely both for food and for purposes of display;and sweet potatoes were adapted to poorer soils and cooler climates.

The islanders supplemented these crops with wild roots, stems, shoots, fruit, and leaves. The only part of Oceania in which natives cultivated rice was in the Marianas, another trait linking these islands with the Philippines.

Each of the vegetable staples required different production techniques and resulted in a wide range of cultural variations. Sago, for example, could be collected at any time of the year and was preserved by a laborious process. In contrast, breadfruit required little processing but fruited only once or twice a year and remained edible only in a fermented state.

In comparison with the Australians, most Oceanian islanders spent little time hunting. A noteworthy exception occurred in New Zealand, where early inhabitants hunted to extinction the giant moa, a large, flightless, ostrichlike bird. On the other hand, fishing was a major activity wherever marine resources permitted. Streams, rivers, reefs, lagoons, and open seas were harvested by means of an extraordinary variety of tools, watercraft, and techniques. As in the case of agriculture, differences in emphasis on fishing together with differences in fishing techniques were reflected in other cultural domainsin religious beliefs and ritual as well as in the social structure of households and communities.

Canoes have played a central role in the lives of Oceanians, and they have been used for fishing, everyday transport, and, prehistoric ally, in the peopling of this world of islands. Some of the riverine and coastal peoples of New Guinea found shallow dugouts adequate for their purposes of moving about in calm waters, but most other islanders depended upon outrigger canoes or deep-hulled plankbuilt boats. Although some elements of this complex reflect the common southeast Asian origin of Oceanias seagoing heritage, there has developed a rich variety of local specialtiesin boat construction, ornamentation, and handling, as well as in navigational principles and skills.

In many places the building and handling of a big canoe was an event of social importance, being one of the few instances of large-scale coordinated activity. For the social scientist these occasions reveal otherwise unstated premises regarding division of labor, authority, and exchange. In fact, in seagoing societies such as Tahiti the nomenclature applied to the various parts of their larger canoes was a metaphoric summary of the nativesimage of their political relations.

Like Australians, the Oceanian islanders kept dogsfor pets, hunting aids, and sometimes for food. Most households also kept a few fowlifkept is appropriate for the rather aimless relationship in which the fowl were neither fed nor eaten with any regularity. It was only on remote Easter Island that fowl became important in native economy and in ritual. Wherever islanders managed to introduce and keep them alive, pigs became much more important than dogs or fowl. They were eaten at feasts and used in ceremonial exchanges. In fact, so highly were pigs valued that in some societies they became the prime means and measure of political ascendancy.

In societies like these, where food occupies such a dominant positionin productive energy, in social interaction, in hierarchies of value, in cult focus, in symbolic expression, and so forththe cooking and eating of a meal may provide social science with some of its most rewarding data. In this connection, then, it should be noted that techniques of food preparation vary within societies and among societies. Cooking was everywhere important, although some fish and plant foods were occasionally eaten raw. Cooking itself varied from simple roasting and pot boiling to large-scale baking in community-size earth ovens. Even the most elaborate Hawaiian or Samoan menus and recipes did not compare with those of Asia, but in many places men (festal cooking was nearly everywhere done by males) knew how to prepare puddings combining many ingredients in various proportions.

Next to water the only beverage universally imbibed was the liquid of unripe coconutsat least where coconut palms grew. On many islands in the central and eastern Pacific natives drank kava (or ava, etc.), a mildly narcotic liquid made from the root of a cultivated pepper plant. On some islands (e.g., Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa) kava drinking reached a point of high ceremonial elaboration.These ceremonials served to express and reinforce community integration and political status. West of the kava-drinking part of Oceania, and barely overlapping it, were areas of betel chewing extending on into the south Asian mainland. In these areas betel chewing did not become as ceremonialized as kava drinking did elsewhere, but its use throughout the populations was more widespread.

Plants were the source of nearly all the cordage and textiles made in island Oceania; loom weaving was restricted to the Marianas and West Carolines, but hand plaiting developed in some places to the level of a fine art.

Matwork and barkcloth were the chief materials out of which most clothing, floor covering, bedding, sails, and temporary shelters were made. In some places finely textured mats and barkcloths circulated as highly valued objects in networks of redistribution and intergroup exchange. Houses differed widely in shape and size; some were built to accommodate only a small family, while others were spacious enough for hundreds of people. Comparison of local differences can provide insights into human inventiveness and the processes of adaptation and also into historical relationships, but the nature of Oceanian housebuilding has even more direct relevance to the social scientist, inasmuch as most such enterprises involve the actions of large numbers of people contributing materials and services according to conventional social patterns. House architecture often provides valuable insights into the residents views about their social universeviews which might otherwise remain inexplicit. The residences, for example, very rarely contain inner partitions, but for the occupants internal space is divided into functionally and symbolically distinct rooms; in fact, in many places a house provides space for the living and for the dead, for spirits as well as mortals.

Public structures of many types and utilizing varied construction materials were built in island Oceania. They served a wide variety of uses: clan refuges, exclusive mens clubhouses, secular meeting places, temples, forts, theaters, athletic arenas, lovers trysts, craftsmens workshopsin fact, nearly everything but market places for buying and selling.

Within recent years the graphic and plastic arts of Oceania have aroused keen interest among art historians and collectors. The skillfully executed masks, ceremonial implements, idols, and so on are also of interest to the social scientist because of their relevance to social behavior. Designs, for example, often express magical intent or supernaturally protect ownership or clan unity. Or, the roughly shaped, grotesque figure may in faith be the terrestrial resting place of a powerful and handsome god. We cannot begin to describe the great variety in materials, techniques, and designs found in Oceanic art objects, but the situation is not as chaotic as a rapid walk through a museum might lead one to believe. In fact, some surveys by anthropologically oriented experts have begun to delineate for all Oceania a manageably small number of distinctive artistic traditions, thereby providing social scientists with some new and stimulating possibilities for investigation (Linton &Wingert 1946; Guiart 1963a).

In the foregoing discussion we have dwelt mainly on what islanders did and what they made in connection with daily living. However, it should at least be pointed out that islanders did not go about the business of making a living without reflection, in slavish response to custom On certain occasions islanders undoubtedly acted because of time-honored and sanctioned precedent, but their actions were more frequently pragmatic. Perhaps the many different and often difficult kinds of physical environments met with in the course of their histories in Oceania had something to do with this, by placing a premium on flexibility and adaptability. Many of their actions were based on premises that we would call magical, but this is not to deny the presence of a scientificattitude toward their environment.

As for the magical ingredient of their thinking, neither its logic (homeopathic, sympathetic) nor its content (animism, animatism) is distinctively Oceanian in any essential way.

Turning now to the islanders pre-European social behavior, we begin by acknowledging our inability to generalize about the region as a whole or about large segments of it. A great deal is known about the social life of certain island peoples, but there are many more societies about which nothing, or next to nothing, is knownwith no prospect of ever gaining such knowledge in many cases because the islanders native forms of society have completely disappeared under the impact of alien influences. And even with what is knownand among the studies of single island societies there are some of the worlds most complete ethnographiesscholars are just beginning to push beyond local description toward wider regional typologies of the kind formulated for Australia (e.g.,Hogbin & Wedgwood 1953; Sahlins 1958; Goldman 1960).

Settlement patterns. Although many excellent ethnographic descriptions treat patterns of residence, few attempts have been made at the comparative study of settlement patterns. Perhaps the most typical form of settlement pattern in the islandsthis is an impression, not an established factis the small four-to-five household hamlet or neighborhood; but there are also numerous instances of dispersed homesteads, at one extreme, and of densely settled villages, at the other. In this connection it is an interesting fact that some of the largest and most tightly integrated political units e.g., on Tongacomprised widely scattered homesteads. Villages rarely contained more than a thousand inhabitants; the average number was probably more like two to three hundred. Some of the larger villages were to be found alongside rivers or lagoons, but they have been noted in other kinds of settings as well. In some instances residences were clustered near the public placestemples, council houses, dance grounds, mens clubhouses, etc.; in others the public places and dwellings were kept far apart. Some settlements were surrounded by stockades; others lacked defensive constructions despite their involvement in periodic warfare.

Family. The nuclear family was certainly the most ubiquitous type of social group in island Oceania, although polygyny was permitted in most societies. Polygyny was practiced by only the most affluenti.e., those men who could afford the bride price or other expenditures associated with marriagebut in some of the wealthiest societies even the most influential leaders had only one official wife at a time.

There is evidence that polyandry was formerly practiced in some Polynesian-speaking societies, but little or nothing is known about its wider social contexts.

With regard to matrimonial rules of residence, couples tended to reside near or with the husbands male patrilineal kinsmen. The next most prevalent pattern among those societies surveyed (Murdock 1957) was residence near the wifes female matrilineal kinsmen; but in several other societies these alternatives were about equally favored. Still other alternatives have been recorded for other societies, e.g., residing close to the husbands matrilineal kinsmen.

Even in societies allegedly ignorant of the males biological role in reproduction (Malinowski 1922) social roles of maternity and paternity were institutionalized, although the nature of such roles, both in theory and practice, varied widely. At one extreme were those societies in which both mother and father shared the job of nurturing and socializing their children, with property being transmitted through both parents. In contrast, there were some other societies wherein the sociological father had little or nothing to do with his childrens specific upbringing or equipping beyond contributing generally to the domestic commissary. In between these extremes were numerous permutations, usually reflecting each societys general conceptualization of kinship.

Two other fairly characteristicbut of course not distinctivefeatures of island life had to do with membership in the family group. In some societies, even when a child was recognized as the biological offspring of a man, the latter was called upon to validate the relationship before it could become socially operative. The other feature of widespread occurrence was the facility and the popularity of adoption, especially practiced in the eastern parts of the region.

It is our impression that nuclear familiesplus one or two other dependent relativesconstituted the most typical residential units in the majority of island societies, but there were numerous variants. In some places households were much larger and consisted of composite familieseither polygynous, stem, joint fraternal, joint sororal, or some other type. In other places a man spent most of his sleeping and waking hours in his community mens house, visiting his wife and children in their household only on occasion. Variations in household composition were wide, as were variations in collective activity, in kinds and amounts of goods owned corporately, in symbols of unity, etc.; and all these facets of family and household life were surely related more or less directly to each societys more general institutionalization of kinship.

Although ties of kinship were not the only kind of social bond recognized and institutionalized in island societies, they were by all odds the most important. In most island societies, every member could claim (if not actually trace) some kinship tie with every other member. These kinship categories each implied some normative pattern of behavior no matter how attenuated by the remoteness of the tie or the influence of extraneous factors such as locality and social stratification. Indeed, relations across tribal and societal boundaries were more often than not dominated by considerations of kinship.

Within the context of all-inclusive kinship, which characterized most island societies, there were, however, some wide differences in the actual groupings of kinfolk. In size such groups varied from small, sharply defined units to large ones with vague or overlapping boundaries. Some groups were bilateral in descent, others patrilineal or matrilineal. Some were stringently exogamous, while in others membership appears to have played no direct role in choice of mate. In some societies, like certain ones of highland New Guinea, groups formed by the male members of patrilineages were all-importantmaritally, residentially, economically, politically, and ritually. In other places actual groups of kinsmenqua kinsmenwere scarcely discernible, either interactionally or symbolically.

What little collation has been done in this domain of social structure indicates that patrilineally structured groups predominated in New Guinea and matrilineal ones in central Micronesia and in parts of western Melanesia. Throughout most of Polynesia and in the rest of Micronesia the aggregates of kinfolk defined by common ownership of land and other valuables were ideally more nonunilinear in membership, although in actuality patrilateral ties preponderated. Elsewhere, in central and eastern Melanesia, there existed in close juxtaposition all these variants of kinship structure (Murdock 1957).

Other social groups. In most island societies there were other kinds of associational ties which crosscut those of kinshipties of coevality, of cult commitment, of occupation, and, most important, of coresidence.

Age itself was less influential in island Oceania than it was in Australia. Authority and privilege did derive from seniority in some societiesespecially in some of those with patrilineal kin groups but coevality as an organizing principle was only sporadically important (e.g., in parts of New Guinea and Melanesia, where painful male initiation rites served to usher boys into cult-focused mens clubs).

In many island societies, as throughout Australia, the mythical charters which rationalized and legitimatized kin groupings were embodied in congregational ritual. But, in addition, many island societies incorporated cult groups whose members were only incidentally kinfolk. Examples of such were the masoniclike mens clubs of New Hebrides and the intertribal Dionysiac Arioi sect of eastern Polynesia.

Occupational specialization was more marked in island Oceania than in Australia, but groupings of specialists were rare. In Samoa there were guildsof housebuilders, and in some other island societies one might discern the beginnings of other craft guilds or of schools of savant-priests, but that is about all.

Political organization. In most island societies neighbors were also kinfolkin fact or by nationalizationbut coresidence was often more influential than kinship as a basis for association. On the other hand, the size and degree of integration of such political units varied widely. At one extreme were numerous societies having no collective-action groups larger than localized extended families. At the other extreme were a few Polynesian societies containing highly organized, territorially based tribal units with many thousands of members. In between, and most typical, were societies whose political units were conterminous with small village or neighborhood communities, or with clusters of such communities, averaging perhaps a few hundred citizens and rarely exceeding fifteen hundred.

Island political units differed not only in size but also in domain. Units for waging war varied from tightly knit regiments to undependable confederacies of separate kin groups. Actions for the maintenance of internal order ranged from comprehensive, centralized policing to uneasy interkingroup feuding, wherein the over-all leaders did little more than protect their own kin groups interests. In some places a political units members were all linked in redistributive networks involving frequent and copious flows of objects and services;in other places little or nothing was exchanged among the strata of social hierarchies. And finally, whereas in some societies the identities of the political units were symbolized and validated in influential myths and impressive ceremonies, in other places only the most discerning observer would have discovered clues to collective notions of unity.

Succession to political leadership was hereditary in some island societies, nonhereditary in others;and there were differences within each category. In instances of hereditary succession, the principle of patriliny predominated; and even in societies whose kinship groups were matrilineal political offices usually passed from male to male. However, there were a few recorded instances, mainly in Polynesia, of high political office devolving upon females.

Nonhereditary succession to political office characterized large portions of Melanesia. In what was perhaps its most distinctive variant, wealth was an important steppingstone to power. In such cases, however, the prestige upon which power was based derived not so much from accumulating valuables but rather from disposing of themin potlatchlike feasting or in conspicuous waste.

But many island societies may not be so exclusively typed: in some, individuals born to high office had also to prove themselves capable of exercising it; in other cases they had to vie for office with low-born individuals of outstanding ability. And in some societies these contrasting principles of succession served to maintain situations of unresolved internal conflict.

Relations between political units were of many different kinds. Hostility colored most such relations over the long run, but it was usually tempered either by periods of general truce or by only individual kin-group feuding. Moreover, even between traditionally hostile tribes it was customary for women to be exchanged and goods to be bartered. Some of the intertribal circuits extended over hundreds of miles, and while some of the transactions were conducted without direct contact between the principals (i.e., silent trade), othersincluding the famous kula trade of southeast New Guineainvolved mass expeditions and elaborate ceremonies (Malinowski 1922). Another institution typical of many parts of island Oceania was that of the trade partnershipi.e., a pact between two friends or kinsmen from separate political units providing reciprocal visiting and bartering rights even in periods of intertribal conflict.

Many societies in island Oceania were to some degree stratified, but the phenomenon was most highly institutionalized in Polynesia, notably in Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, and Tonga, where three or even four strata were distinguishable. In these societies class status derived almost wholly from birth and birth order, and for higher-ranking individuals class endogamy was so prescriptive that there developed castelike common-interest upper classes which cut across political boundaries. Political and ceremonial leadership were closely linked with class status, but ability sometimes outweighed birth, resulting occasionally in the relegation of highest-ranking persons to positions of little more than ceremonial pre-eminence (Sahlins 1958;Goldman 1960).

In view of the wide variety of cultural traditions and social structures found throughout island Oceania, it becomes next to impossible to generalize comprehensively about the behaviors of individuals in these societies. Individual life cycles, for example, were institutionalized in many different ways. In some societies the onset of puberty was marked by physical mutilation and community-wide ritual, in others it was virtually ignored. In some places the aged were revered and deferred to, in others they were socially devalued. Females were perhaps nowhere treated as chattel, but their social and ritual roles ranged from that of a magically polluted minor to that of a semidivine chieftainess. Even innovation received widely differing valuations, not only from society to society but within the same society as well. In some communities, for example, the invention of new graphic designs was discouraged while the composing of new songs was honored. Or, craft techniques remained rigidly traditional, while the discovery of new religious doctrines or magical formulas was socially rewarded. In fact, perhaps the only generalization one can make about islanders as individuals (and this in a manner both imprecise and impressionistic) is that in nearly all available descriptions of them they stood out as individualsas distinctive, at least partly autonomous persons, not as mere faceless units of this or that social aggregate.

Prior to the sixteenth century there may have been direct contacts between Oceania and Asian, or even American, high civilizations, although they were not enough to revolutionize native ways of life. But Magellans discovery of the Marianas Islands in 1521 ushered in a new era which is still going on and which is destined to transform most of the regions native societies.

During the four and a half centuries since Magellans voyage tens of thousands of Westerners (also Japanese, Chinese, and Indians) have visited or resided in Oceanianot to mention the millions now established in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, and the additional hundreds of thousands who swept through the islands during World War II. Many Oceanians have also visited the outside world, but up to now their influences upon their own native communities have been minimal. With the exception of Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, where the process of Westernization has proceeded at a faster tempo, the history of culture contact in Oceania can be described in terms of five distinctive but overlapping phases.

(1)The phase of exploration began with Magellan and is still going on in parts of New Guinea. By 1830 the consequences of these visitations from the West were well underway, in the shape of depopulation (mainly through introduced disease) and murderous warfare (with the help of firearms).

(2)Whalers, traders, and missionaries commenced their operations about 1780, continuing until about 1850. (Spanish Catholic missionaries were active long before 1780 but only in the Marianas.) Depopulation and political turmoil continued during this phase and were accompanied by widespread collapse of indigenous religious institutions and of religion-sanctioned political structures.

(3)Around 1860, planters, labor recruiters, and merchants initiated change consequent upon the removal or shifting about of large segments of the male population for long periods of virtually forced labor, the introduction of money and cashcrop economy, and the heightened desire for Western manufactured goods.

(4)Foreign governments began to assert administrative control over island populations over a hundred years ago, but interference with native political structuresincluding total replacementwas most direct during the half century before World War II. This phase also witnessed an increase in the native population, mainly because of improved medical services and an increased flow of Westerners into parts of the region where mineral deposits were located.

(5)The events of World War ii served not only to speed up kinds of change already in process, including urbanization and money-based economy, but to stimulate other changes as well. The postwar improvement in interisland communication and transport gave rise to several dramatic developments. Locally inspired movements to weaken political ties with the overseas ruling metropolitan powers and to advocate strengthened interregional cultural ties are among these new developments, although they are not necessarily fundamental to change.

Despite the homogenizing effects of these several but predominantly Western influences, the various Oceanian societies retain a large measure of local variation. None are at exactly the same stage of Westernization: for example, one can contrast industrialized Nauru with the New Guinea population, only now exchanging stone tools for those of steel. And no two native societies have experienced the same mixture of Western influence: even in New Guinea, for example, a community near a large coconut plantation has adjusted very differently from one near a mine;and the Polynesians in French Tahiti have become quite different from their ethnic cousins in British Samoa.

Although there are increasingly pressing political reasons why the rest of the world should begin to know something about Papuans or Fijians or Samoans, our present concern is with Oceanias significance for social science in generalwith the research opportunities it has provided for formulating and testing universally valid methods and theories, and with the uses that have been made of such opportunities. The reaction, for example, by the natives of Bikini to resettlement away from their radiation-polluted home island is of course poignantly interesting and of some relevance to international politics; but study of this situation would have had little value for social science if its procedures had not provided possibilities for testing social science methods and making innovations in these methods and if its findings were not widely applicable (Mason 1957).

Oceania has offered social scientists a very wide variety of social and cultural systems, many of them so strikingly exotic as to require major accommodations in some aspects of Western-based social scientific thinking. In addition, even as late as a few decades ago, when trained social scientists began their study of this region, they were observing the end products of centuries or millennia of isolation from the rest of the world and even largely from one another. And third, the relatively small sizes, sharp boundaries, and (perhaps consequently) internal cultural homogeneity of most of these societies made it possible and indeed inevitable for individual observers to investigate the functional relationships of many domains of behaviornot just technology or kinship or art, but all three in themselves and in relation to each other.

Research into Oceanian ways of life began nearly two centuries ago, when men like Banks, Bligh, and the Forsters went beyond the mere recording of personal experiences and of native bizarreness to carry out more or less pointed inquiries into native institutions. Moreover, the reports contributed by such men were empirically significant to the beginnings of comparative sociology in Europe. For the next century and a quarter, as more and better descriptions of Oceanians ways of life came to be produced by missionaries, administrators, and other island residents, the professors back home were able to use these data to support theories or to compile vast syntheses (for example, Morgan, Durkheim, Frazer, Freud). But it was not until 1898 that social scientists left their armchairs to confront their subjects in person.

In that year the Cambridge anthropological expedition to the Torres Strait islands (between northern Queensland and New Guinea) took place and included such men as Haddon, Rivers, and Seligman. It was during this expedition that Rivers developed his genealogical method for recording kinship data, which has subsequently been such an indispensable tool in social anthropological research everywhere. Between this expedition and the outbreak of World War I amateur and more or less competent observers residing in the region continued to produce ethnographic accounts which were used by scholars in their compilations, but field research by trained social scientists was carried out by only a handful, notably Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Thurnwald, Sarasin, Reche, Williamson, Poech, Haddon, and Rivers. It is probably fair to say that only the first three (and Rivers, to a lesser extent) produced publications from their Oceanian data that have been influential in the subsequent development of general social science theory and method.

Undoubtedly the outstanding landmark in social science research in Oceania was the work of Malinowski, whose monographs on the Trobriand Islanders have never been surpassed in ethnographic artistry. His studies ushered in a new world-wide approach to anthropological research that has come to be known as functionalism. Radcliffe-Brown drew upon his field experiences in Australia (and elsewhere) to produce essays that have led him to be identified as a cofounder of functional anthropology, although he himself disavowed the label. Through their teaching and writings these two men virtually dominated social anthropology throughout the interwar period; and their students, and students students, still hold most of the important teaching positions throughout the British Commonwealth.

In the interwar period more and more professionally trained social scientists went to Oceania to carry out sociologically and psychologically oriented research, and after World War II the influx reached flood proportions and is not now visibly diminishing. Moreover, these research activities have been aided by a number of journals, monograph series, museums, libraries, and university departments devoted exclusively or at least primarily to Oceania. The rich ethnographic data resulting from field research in Oceania have been drawn on heavily by many other social scientists for inspiration and for information respecting the range and variation of human social behavior.

The most influential innovation in social science research strategy and methodology to come out of Oceania was Malinowskis experience of long residence in a native community and active participation in its activities. He worked exclusively in the native vernacular, focused his attention upon the prosaic as well as the dramatic aspects of native life, and collected (and published) masses of documentary evidence to support and enrich his generalizations. It is somewhat ironic that Malinowskis style of field research has been more faithfully followed in Africa than in Oceania, with the outstanding exception of Raymond Firths work in Tikopia (Firth 1936; 1939; 1940).

Malinowski aimed at more or less total coverage of his native subjects way of life, and for some time after him this remained the objective of most social scientists working in the region. But this goal has increasingly given way to a narrower focus upon special aspects of native life, including economics, law, religion, ecology, acculturation, and education.

Malinowskis example of one-man field work has tended to prevail, although field research is coming to be conducted within the framework of larger-scale programs, such as the Coordinated Investigation of Micronesian Anthropology, the Tri-Institutional Pacific Program, the long-range New Guinea research program of the Australian National University, the University of Oregons study of resettled populations, the University of Washingtons study of cultural and physical evolution in New Guinea, the Harvard study of social change in the Society Islands, etc. In this connection, attention should be called to the research activities of such organizations as the South Pacific Commission (an international body designed to improve the welfare of Pacific islanders) and the French governments Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre Mer, which though aimed primarily at the solution of practical problems have contributed useful data on some rapidly changing aspects of Oceanian ways of life.

Turning now to the substantive contributions to general social science theory that have come out of research in Oceaniacontributions in addition to the enrichment of the worlds ethnographic corpusone again begins with the writing of Malinowski, who audaciouslyalthough not always justifiablychallenged some of the basic assumptions of economics, comparative law, semantics, and psychoanalysis, and who in addition popularized the functional viewpoint already mentioned (Firth 1957). For Malinowski functionalism consisted mainly of a proposition to the effect that all of a societys customs are mutually interdependent and an analytical principle based on viewing institutions as instruments for satisfying basic human needs. The proposition has subsequently become an almost universally accepted canon among anthropologists, but not much use has been found for the analytical principle. Radcliffe-Browns contributions to general social science theory have been mainly in the field of comparative sociology(see Radcliffe-Brown 1922), and although his interests were somewhat narrower than Malinowskis he has left a comparably deep imprint. Perhaps the most successful implementations in Oceanian research of the general methods and theories of Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown have been done, respectively, by Firth (1936) and Warner (1937).It now remains to list some other investigations in Oceania which, in my opinion, have served most to enrich social science either by proposing or testing theory or by describing novel or comparatively important institutions.

Major contributions to the sociology of kinship are to be found in the writings of Firth (1936),Warner (1937), Malinowski (1929), Radcliffebrown (1922), Elkin (1938), Mead (1934), R. M. Berndt and C. H. Berndt (1951), Meggitt (1962),and Goodenough (1951). Only from Africa have come works of comparable quality. Government and social control of relatively un-Westernized societies are usefully documented in the works of Malinowski (1926), Hogbin (1934), Guiart (1963),Oliver (1955), Pospisil (1958), and Berndt (1962).Useful studies of Oceanian economies are those by Malinowski (1922), Bell (1953), Salisbury(1962), and, especially, Firth (1939; 1959). The published works of Firth provide probably the fullest and most sophisticated treatment available on the economics of primitive societies.

Among the most useful studies of the social contexts of belief and ritual are those of Firth (1940), Fortune (1932; 1935), Malinowski (1935),Warner (1937), Guiart (1951), and Williams (1940). In this connection should be mentioned Batesons stimulating, and in some respects novel, multifaceted analysis of ritual behavior (1936), which deserves far wider attention than it has thus far received.

Many richly illustrated works have been published concerning the widely varied and extraordinarily elaborated graphic art tradition of Oceania, but only a few seek to relate these to social behavior, mainly those of Elkin et al. (1950),Mountford (1956), Firth (1936), and Guiart (1963b).

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Justice League’s Deleted Scenes Include Cyborg Flashback

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Danzig

With an unusually conservative runtime of just under two hours,Justice Leaguehad to cut a number of scenes including a flashback to Cyborgs old life. While audiences are quite familiar with the DCEUs take on Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman,Justice League was able to focus a bit more on the genesis of its other heroes. When it comes to The Flash and Aquaman, most fansof pop culture understand the basics. Still, the film needed to fill in some of their backstory and introduce the updated take on the Leaguers. Cyborg, meanwhile, needed even more of a spotlight.

While fans of theTeen Titans animated series will get the gist of Cyborg, the film version is much more closer to the somber hero from the New 52 run in the comics. There, Victor Stone nearly dies in his fathers S.T.A.R. Labs accident and ends up bonding with the alien Mother Box the elder Stone was studying. The result sees the birth of Cyborg andJustice League hints that all of these events occurred. As a result, he has quite a contentious relationship with his father. What we dont see, however, is Victor before his evolution.

GameSpotspoke with the cast ofJustice League about the various scenes that were cut from the film, and it turns out a look at Cyborgs past had to be removed. Word is that Warner Bros. wantedJustice League under two hours, and that short runtime for a superhero team-up left plenty on the cutting room floor. As Cyborg actor Ray Fisher explains, one moment in particular carried some emotional weight for his character.

There were some things that youll probably end up seeing later on, that didnt make it into this version of the film.Theres a scene with Victor Stone, when he still was Victor Stone, and his mother, that was really special to shoot.

As Fisher alludes, the proposedCyborg film set to arrive in 2020 will be a chance to further explore the new and old versions of Victor Stone. Given his everyman status, Vic would provide the DCEU with a more grounded story albeit one with a superhero whos augmented by alien tech.

ThoughJustice League may have been light on Cyborg backstory, it did offer some teases of the characters complex dynamic with his father. And as Fisher explains, the evolution of their relationship is far from over.

What is great about this film going forward is youll be able to see him rebuild himself mentally the same way that his father rebuilt him physically.And its a process thats going to take time.

From all the trailers and TV spots forJustice League, its clear plenty of material didnt make it into the final cut of the film. Whether a result of Joss Whedons reshoots or the studio mandate to keep things short, we may never know. Theres a good chance, however, that a number of thescenes will end up on the home video release forJustice League. We may even get an extended directors cut from Zack Snyder, something the Justice Leaguefilmmaker is fond of.

Source: GameSpot

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Justice League's Deleted Scenes Include Cyborg Flashback

Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index – Digiconomist

Posted on May 11, 2018 by ev1

Key Network Statistics Bitcoin's current estimated annual electricity consumption* (TWh)66Annualized global mining revenues$7,592,266,999Annualized estimated global mining costs$3,300,159,403Current cost percentage43.47%Country closest to Bitcoin in terms of electricity consumptionCzech RepublicEstimated electricity used over the previous day (KWh)180,830,652Implied Watts per GH/s0.233Total Network Hashrate in PH/s (1,000,000 GH/s)32,386.00Electricity consumed per transaction (KWh)874Number of U.S. households that could be powered by Bitcoin6,111,406Number of U.S. households powered for 1 day by the electricity consumed for a single transaction29.53Bitcoin's electricity consumption as a percentage of the world's electricity consumption0.29%Annual carbon footprint (kt of CO2)32,342Carbon footprint per transaction (kg of CO2)428.08

*The assumptions underlying this energy consumption estimate can be found here. Criticism and potential validation of the estimate is discussed here.

Ever since its inception Bitcoins trust-minimizing consensus has been enabled by its proof-of-work algorithm. The machines performing the work are consuming huge amounts of energy while doing so. The Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index was created to provide insight into this amount, and raise awareness on the unsustainability of the proof-of-work algorithm.

Note that the Index contains the aggregate of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (other forks of the Bitcoin network are not included). A separate index was created for Ethereum, which can be found here.

New sets of transactions (blocks) are added to Bitcoins blockchain roughly every 10 minutes by so-called miners. While working on the blockchain these miners arent required to trust each other. The only thing miners have to trust is the code that runs Bitcoin. The code includes several rules to validate new transactions. For example, a transaction can only be valid if the sender actually owns the sent amount. Every miner individually confirms whether transactions adhere to these rules, eliminating the need to trust other miners.

The trick is to get all miners to agree on the same history of transactions. Every miner in the network is constantly tasked with preparing the next batch of transactions for the blockchain. Only one of these blocks will be randomly selected to become the latest block on the chain. Random selection in a distributed network isnt easy, so this is where proof-of-work comes in. In proof-of-work, the next block comes from the first miner that produces a valid one. This is easier said than done, as the Bitcoin protocol makes it very difficult for miners to do so. In fact, the difficulty is regularly adjusted by the protocol to ensure that all miners in the network will only produce one valid bock every 10 minutes on average. Once one of the miners finally manages to produce a valid block, it will inform the rest of the network. Other miners will accept this block once they confirm it adheres to all rules, and then discard whatever block they had been working on themselves. The lucky miner gets rewarded with a fixed amount of coins, along with the transaction fees belonging to the processed transactions in the new block. The cycle then starts again.

The process of producing a valid block is largely based on trial and error, where miners are making numerous attempts every second trying to find the right value for a block component called the nonce, and hoping the resulting completed block will match the requirements (as there is no way to predict the outcome). For this reason, mining is sometimes compared to a lottery where you can pick your own numbers. The number of attempts (hashes) per second is given by your mining equipments hashrate. This will typically be expressed in Gigahash per second (1 billion hashes per second).

The continuous block mining cycle incentivizes people all over the world to mine Bitcoin. As mining can provide a solid stream of revenue, people are very willing to run power-hungry machines to get a piece of it. Over the years this has caused the total energy consumption of the Bitcoin network to grow to epic proportions, as the price of the currency reached new highs. The entire Bitcoin network now consumes more energy than a number of countries, based on a report published by the International Energy Agency. If Bitcoin was a country, it would rank as shown below.

Apart from the previous comparison, it also possible to compare Bitcoins energy consumption to some of the worlds biggest energy consuming nations. The result is shown hereafter.

Bitcoins biggest problem is not even its massive energy consumption, but that the network is mostly fueled by coal-fired power plants in China. Coal-based electricity is available at very low rates in this country. Even with a conservative emission factor, this results in an extreme carbon footprint for each unique Bitcoin transaction.

To put the energy consumed by the Bitcoin network into perspective we can compare it to another payment system like VISA for example. According to VISA, the company consumed a total amount of 674,922 Gigajoulesof energy (from various sources) globally for all its operations. This means that VISA has an energy need equal to that of around 17,000 U.S. households. We also know VISA processed 111.2 billion transactions in 2017. With the help of these numbers, it is possible to compare both networks and show that Bitcoin is extremely more energy intensive per transaction than VISA (note that the chart below compares a single Bitcoin transaction to 100,000 VISA transactions).

Of course, these numbers are far from perfect (e.g. energy consumption of VISA offices isnt included), but the differences are so extreme that they will remain shocking regardless. Acomparison with the average non-cash transaction in the regular financial system still reveals that an average Bitcoin transaction requires several thousands of times more energy. One could argue that this is simply the price of a transaction that doesnt require a trusted third party, but this price doesnt have to be so high as will bediscussed hereafter.

Proof-of-work was the first consensusalgorithm that managed to prove itself, but it isnt the only consensusalgorithm. More energy efficient algorithms, like proof-of-stake, have been in development over recent years. In proof-of-stake coin owners create blocks rather than miners, thus not requiring power hungry machines that produce as many hashes per second as possible. Because of this, the energy consumption of proof-of-stake is negligible compared to proof-of-work. Bitcoin could potentially switch to such an consensusalgorithm, which would significantly improve sustainability. The only downside is that there are many different versions of proof-of-stake, and none of these have fully proven themselves yet. Nevertheless the work on thesealgorithms offers good hope for the future.

Even though the total network hashrate can easily be calculated, it is impossible to tell what this means in terms of energy consumption as there is no central register with all active machines (and their exact power consumption). In the past, energy consumption estimates typically included an assumption on what machines were still active and how they were distributed, in order to arrive at a certain number of Watts consumed per Gigahash/sec (GH/s). A detailed examination of a real-world Bitcoin mineshows why such an approach will certainly lead to underestimating the networks energy consumption, because it disregards relevant factors like machine-reliability, climate and cooling costs. This arbitrary approach has therefore led to a wide set of energy consumption estimates that strongly deviate from one another, sometimes with a disregard to the economic consequences of the chosen parameters. The Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index therefore proposes to turn the problem around, and approach energy consumption from an economic perspective.

The index is built on the premise that miner income and costs are related. Since electricity costs are a major component of the ongoing costs, it follows that the total electricity consumption of the Bitcoin network must be related to miner income as well. To put it simply, the higher mining revenues, the more energy-hungry machines can be supported. How the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index uses miner income to arrive at an energy consumption estimate is explained in detail here, and summarized in the following infographic:

Note that one may reach different conclusions on applying different assumptions (a calculator that allows for testing different assumptions has been made available here). The chosen assumptions have been chosen in such a way that they can be considered to be both intuitive and conservative, based on information of actual mining operations. In the end, the goal of the Index is not to produce a perfect estimate, but to produce an economically credible day-to-day estimate that is more accurate and robust than an estimate based on the efficiency of a selection of mining machines.

Over time, the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index has been subject to a fair amount of criticism. Entrepreneur Marc Bevand, who argues that there are serious faults in the way the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index is calculated, is often quoted in this regard. In his own market-based and technical analysis of Bitcoins electricity consumption Bevand argues that Bitcoins real energy consumption is much lower (~18 terawatt hours/year per January 11, 2018) than the number provided by the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index. But this alternative approach, based on analysis of Bitcoins hashrate (computational power), is not without controversy either. Morgan Stanley accurately captured the main problems in this approach in their report Bitcoin ASIC production substantiates electricity use (January 3, 2018), explaining that the hash-rate methodology uses a fairly optimistic set of efficiency assumptions and may not allow enough for electricity consumption by cooling and networking gear. The impact of this can be significant, as becomes apparent from BitFury CEO Valery Vavilovs earlier comment that many data centers around the world have 30 to 40 percent of electricity costs going to cooling (40 to 65 percent relative to non-cooling electricity costs). Its thus not surprising that a hash-rate based approach produces a lower energy consumption estimate.

In the same report Morgan Stanley does argue that Bitcoins energy consumption must be at least 23 terawatt-hour per year (per January 3, 2018). Morgan Stanley finds this number based on Quartzs report of its tour of the Bitmain mining data center, equipped with the most recent 1387-based mining rigs, this past fall. At the time, this data center was drawing 40 megawatts per hour and represented 4% of the global Bitcoin network capacity (6M TH/s). Morgan Stanley continues by stating that the Bitcoin networks recent active hash rate has been ~15.2M TH/s, which implies total hourly Bitcoin electricity consumption is well more than 2700 megawatts/hour (23 terawatt hours/year). The company also notes that a realistic number is likely to be higher because the most efficient mining rigs used by Bitmain in its facilities are not yet widely available (the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index was showing ~37 terawatt hours/year on the same day). For this reason, Morgan Stanley concludes that current use estimates are probably in the right general range.

Of course, the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index is also very much a prediction model for future Bitcoin energy consumption (unlike hashrate-based estimates that have no predictive properties). The model predicts that miners will ultimately spend 60% of their revenues on electricity. At the moment (January 2018), miners are spending a lot less on electricity. On January 25, 2018, the Bitcoin Energy Index was estimating just 22% of miner revenues ($2.2B versus $10.4B) were actually spent on electricity costs. Based on this, the Energy Consumption Index would thus predict a possible energy consumption of around 130 terawatt hours/year (assuming stable revenues). This increase appears to be in line with expected miner production.

With regard to future energy consumption, Morgan Stanley estimates that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has Bitcoin ASIC orders for 15-20K wafer-starts per month for 1Q18. With each wafer capable of supplying chips for ~27-30 Bitcoin mining rigs, the total Bitcoin mining pool could see up to 5-7.5M new rigs added in the next 12 months if 1Q18 production rates are maintained through 2018. By the end of 2018, this means that the Bitcoin network could potentially draw more than 13,500 megawatts/hour (120 terawatt-hours/year), or even 16,000 megawatts/hour (140 terawatt-hours/year) based on 90% utilization and 60% direct electricity usage.

Altogether, it can be concluded that the relatively simple Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index model is supported by both emprical evidence from real-world mining facilities, as well as Bitcoin ASIC miner production forecasts.

The Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index is the first real-time estimate of the energy consumed by the Bitcoin network, but certainly not the first. A list of articles that have focussed on this subject in the past are featured below. These articles have served as an inspiration for the Energy Index, and may also serve as a validation of the estimated numbers.

If you find an article missing from this list please report it here, and it will be added as soon as possible.

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Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index - Digiconomist

Benefits of Human Genetic Engineering – Popular Issues

Posted on May 11, 2018 by ev1

QUESTION: What are the benefits of human genetic engineering?

ANSWER:

The benefits of human genetic engineering can be found in the headlines nearly every day. With the successful cloning of mammals and the completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists all over the world are aggressively researching the many different facets of human genetic engineering. These continuing breakthroughs have allowed science to more deeply understand DNA and its role in medicine, pharmacology, reproductive technology, and countless other fields.

The most promising benefit of human genetic engineering is gene therapy. Gene therapy is the medical treatment of a disease by repairing or replacing defective genes or introducing therapeutic genes to fight the disease. Over the past ten years, certain autoimmune diseases and heart disease have been treated with gene therapy. Many diseases, such as Huntington's disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and cystic fibrosis are caused by a defective gene. The hope is that soon, through genetic engineering, a cure can be found for these diseases by either inserting a corrected gene, modifying the defective gene, or even performing genetic surgery. Eventually the hope is to completely eliminate certain genetic diseases as well as treat non-genetic diseases with an appropriate gene therapy.

Currently, many pregnant women elect to have their fetuses screened for genetic defects. The results of these screenings can allow the parents and their physician to prepare for the arrival of a child who may have special needs before, during, and after delivery. One possible future benefit of human genetic engineering is that, with gene therapy, a fetus w/ a genetic defect could be treated and even cured before it is born. There is also current research into gene therapy for embryos before they are implanted into the mother through in-vitro fertilization.

Another benefit of genetic engineering is the creation pharmaceutical products that are superior to their predecessors. These new pharmaceuticals are created through cloning certain genes. Currently on the market are bio-engineered insulin (which was previously obtained from sheep or cows) and human growth hormone (which in the past was obtained from cadavers) as well as bio-engineered hormones and blood clotting factors. The hope in the future is to be able to create plants or fruits that contain a certain drug by manipulating their genes in the laboratory.

The field of human genetic engineering is growing and changing at a tremendous pace. With these changes come several benefits and risks. These benefits and risks must be weighed in light of their moral, spiritual, legal, and ethical perspectives. The potential power of human genetic engineering comes with great responsibility.

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Benefits of Human Genetic Engineering - Popular Issues

Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering in Humans

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Danzig

The human body is not perfect. Some are created with inherent faults and others break down before their time. Science has the potential to make good these problems by altering how humans are made. This is genetic engineering, and this article looks at the pros and cons of the technology in humans

This is part one of a two-part series. Here I will look at a definition of genetic engineering and the pros of human genetic engineering. In part two the cons and the ethics of human genetic engineering are discussed.

Before weighing up the pros and cons of genetic engineering in humans, it's worth taking the time to understand just what is meant by the idea. Simply put, it's a way of manipulating our genes in such a way as to make our bodies better. This alteration of a genome could take place in the sperm and egg cells. This is known as germline gene therapy and would alter the traits that a child is born with. The changes would be inheritable and passed down through the generations. It is currently illegal in many countries.

The other way to change our genome is to swap our bad genes for good ones - in cells other than the sex cells. This is known as somatic cell gene therapy. This is where a functioning gene could be fired into our bodies on a viral vector to carry out the functions that a faulty gene is unable to. This technology is permitted, though it has enjoyed a very limited success rate so far (largely because it is technically very difficult). Nonetheless, it still holds out a great deal of promise.

There are many potential advantages to being able to alter the cells in our bodies genetically.

To make disease a thing of the past

Most people on the planet die of disease or have family members that do. Very few of us will just pop up to bed one night and gently close our eyes for the last time. Our genomes are not as robust as we would like them to be and genetic mutations either directly cause a disease such as Cystic fibrosis, or they contribute to it greatly i.e. Alzheimer's. Or in the case of some conditions such as the heart disease Cardiomyopathy, genetic mutations can make our bodies more susceptible to attack from viruses or our own immune system. If the full benefits of gene therapy are ever realised we can replace the dud genes with correctly functioning copies.

To extend life spans

Having enjoyed life, most of us want to cling on to it for as long as possible. The genetic engineering of humans has the potential to greatly increase our life spans. Some estimates reckon that 100-150 years could be the norm. Of course gene therapy for a fatal condition will increase the lifespan of the patient but we're also talking about genetic modifications of healthy people to give them a longer life. Once we fully understand the genetics of ageing it may be possible to slow down or reverse some of the cellular mechanisms that lead to our decline - for example by preventing telomeres at the ends of chromosomes from shortening. Telomere shortening is known to contribute to cell senescence.

Better pharmaceuticals

The knowledge gained by working out genetic solutions for the above could help with the design of better pharmaceutical products that are able to target specifically genetic mutations in each individual.

So What's the Downside?

As deliriously exciting as some people believe genetic engineering to be - there are several downsides and ethical dilemmas. Click the link to read the cons.

This two part series explores some of the pros and cons of human genetic engineering.

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Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering in Humans

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