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Second Amendment – Text, Origins, and Meaning

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Danzig

Dieter Spears/Photodisc/Getty Images

By Tom Head

Text of Amendment:

Origins:

Having been oppressed by a professional army, the founding fathers of the United States had no use for establishing one of their own. Instead, they decided that an armed citizenry makes the best army of all. General George Washington created regulation for the aforementioned "well-regulated militia," which would consist of every able-bodied man in the country.

Controversy:

The Second Amendment holds the distinction of being the only amendment to the Bill of Rights that essentially goes unenforced. The U.S. Supreme Court has never struck down any piece of legislation on Second Amendment grounds, in part because justices have disagreed on whether the amendment is intended to protect the right to bear arms as an individual right, or as a component of the "well-regulated militia."

Interpretations of the Second Amendment:

There are three predominant interpretations of the Second Amendment:

Where the Supreme Court Stands:

The only Supreme Court ruling in U.S. history that has focused primarily on the issue of what the Second Amendment really means is U.S. v. Miller (1939), which is also the last time the Court examined the amendment in any serious way. In Miller, the Court affirmed a median interpretation holding that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms, but only if the arms in question are those that would be useful as part of a citizen militia. Or maybe not; interpretations vary, partly because Miller is not an exceptionally well-written ruling.

The D.C. Handgun Case:

In Parker v. District of Columbia (March 2007), the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban on grounds that it violates the Second Amendment's guarantee of an individual right to bear arms. The case is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, which may soon address the meaning of the Second Amendment. Almost any standard would be an improvement over Miller.

Second Amendment - Text, Origins, and Meaning

Canary Islands – Wikipedia

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Danzig

The Canary Islands (; Spanish: Islas Canarias [izlas kanajas], locally:[ila kanaja]), also known as the Canaries (Spanish: Canarias), are an archipelago and autonomous community of Spain located on the Atlantic Ocean, 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of Morocco. The Canaries are among the outermost regions (OMR) of the European Union proper. It is also one of the eight regions with special consideration of historical nationality recognized as such by the Spanish Government.[3][4]

The main islands are (from largest to smallest) Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The archipelago also includes a number of islands and islets: La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaa Clara, Roque del Oeste and Roque del Este. In ancient times, the island chain was often referred to as "the Fortunate Isles".[5] The Canary Islands is the most southerly region of Spain. The Canary Islands is the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region.[6]

The archipelago's beaches, climate and important natural attractions, especially Maspalomas in Gran Canaria and Teide National Park and Mount Teide (a World Heritage Site) in Tenerife (the third tallest volcano in the world measured from its base on the ocean floor), make it a major tourist destination with over 12million visitors per year, especially Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.[7][8] The islands have a subtropical climate, with long warm summers and moderately warm winters.[9] The precipitation levels and the level of maritime moderation varies depending on location and elevation. Green areas as well as desert exist on the archipelago. Due to their location above the temperature inversion layer, the high mountains of these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have been built on the islands.

The capital of the Autonomous Community is shared by the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,[10][11] which in turn are the capitals of the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Province of Las Palmas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, except for a brief period in the 1910s.[12] Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, as it remains at present.[13][14] The third largest city of the Canary Islands is San Cristbal de La Laguna (a World Heritage Site) on Tenerife.[15][16][17] This city is also home to the Consejo Consultivo de Canarias, which is the supreme consultative body of the Canary Islands.[18]

During the times of the Spanish Empire the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas, who came south to catch the prevailing north east trade winds.[19][20]

The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs", a name applied originally only to Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island Canaria because it contained "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size".[21]

Another speculation is that the so-called dogs were actually a species of monk seal (canis marinus or "sea dog" was a Latin term for "seal"[22]), critically endangered and no longer present in the Canary Islands.[23] The dense population of seals may have been the characteristic that most struck the few ancient Romans who established contact with these islands by sea.

Alternatively, it is said that the original inhabitants of the island, Guanches, used to worship dogs, mummified them and treated dogs generally as holy animals.[24] The ancient Greeks also knew about a people, living far to the west, who are the "dog-headed ones", who worshipped dogs on an island.[24] Some hypothesize that the Canary Islands dog-worship and the ancient Egyptian cult of the dog-headed god, Anubis are closely connected[25] but there is no explanation given as to which one was first.

Other theories speculate that the name comes from the Nukkari Berber tribe living in the Moroccan Atlas, named in Roman sources as Canarii, though Pliny again mentions the relation of this term with dogs.[citation needed]

The connection to dogs is retained in their depiction on the islands' coat-of-arms (shown above).

It is considered that the aborigines of Gran Canaria called themselves "Canarii". It is possible that after being conquered, this name was used in plural in Spanish i.e. -as to refer to all of the islands as the Canarii-as

What is certain is that the name of the islands does not derive from the canary bird; rather, the birds are named after the islands.

Tenerife is the most populous island, and also the largest island of the archipelago. Gran Canaria, with 865,070 inhabitants, is both the Canary Islands' second most populous island, and the third most populous one in Spain after Majorca. The island of Fuerteventura is the second largest in the archipelago and located 100km (62mi) from the African coast.

The islands form the Macaronesia ecoregion with the Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, and the Savage Isles. The Canary Islands is the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region.[6] The archipelago consists of seven large and several smaller islands, all of which are volcanic in origin.[26] The Teide volcano on Tenerife is the highest mountain in Spain, and the third tallest volcano on Earth on a volcanic ocean island. All the islands except La Gomera have been active in the last million years; four of them (Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro) have historical records of eruptions since European discovery. The islands rise from Jurassic oceanic crust associated with the opening of the Atlantic. Underwater magmatism commenced during the Cretaceous, and reached the ocean's surface during the Miocene. The islands are considered as a distinct physiographic section of the Atlas Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger African Alpine System division.

In the summer of 2011 a series of low-magnitude earthquakes occurred beneath El Hierro. These had a linear trend of northeast-southwest. In October a submarine eruption occurred about 2km (114mi) south of Restinga. This eruption produced gases and pumice, but no explosive activity was reported.

According to the position of the islands with respect to the north-east trade winds, the climate can be mild and wet or very dry. Several native species form laurisilva forests.

As a consequence, the individual islands in the Canary archipelago tend to have distinct microclimates. Those islands such as El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera lying to the west of the archipelago have a climate which is influenced by the moist Gulf Stream. They are well vegetated even at low levels and have extensive tracts of sub-tropical laurisilva forest. As one travels east toward the African coast, the influence of the gulf stream diminishes, and the islands become increasingly arid. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote the islands which are closest to the African mainland are effectively desert or semi desert. Gran Canaria is known as a "continent in miniature" for its diverse landscapes like Maspalomas and Roque Nublo. In terms of its climate Tenerife is particularly interesting. The north of the island lies under the influence of the moist Atlantic winds and is well vegetated, while the south of the island around the tourist resorts of Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos is arid. The island rises to almost 4,000m (13,000ft) above sea level, and at altitude, in the cool relatively wet climate, forests of the endemic pine Pinus canariensis thrive. Many of the plant species in the Canary Islands, like the Canary Island pine and the dragon tree, Dracaena draco are endemic, as noted by Sabin Berthelot and Philip Barker Webb in their epic work, L'Histoire Naturelle des les Canaries (183550).

Four of Spain's thirteen national parks are located in the Canary Islands, more than any other autonomous community. Teide National Park is the most visited in Spain, and the oldest and largest within the Canary Islands. The parks are:

The following table shows the highest mountains in each of the islands:

The climate is subtropical and desertic, moderated by the sea and in summer by the trade winds. There are a number of microclimates and the classifications range mainly from semi-arid to desert. According to the Kppen climate classification,[27] the majority of the Canary Islands have a hot desert climate represented as BWh. There also exists a subtropical humid climate which is very influenced by the ocean in the middle of the islands of La Gomera, Tenerife and La Palma; where the laurisilva forests grow.

The seven major islands, one minor island, and several small islets were originally volcanic islands, formed by the Canary hotspot. The Canary Islands is the only place in Spain where volcanic eruptions have been recorded during the Modern Era, with some volcanoes still active (El Hierro, 2011).[35] Volcanic islands such as those in the Canary chain often have steep ocean cliffs caused by catastrophic debris avalanches and landslides.[36]

The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands consists of two provinces, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, whose capitals (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife) are capitals of the autonomous community. Each of the seven major islands is ruled by an island council named Cabildo Insular.

The international boundary of the Canaries is the subject of dispute between Spain and Morocco. Morocco's official position is that international laws regarding territorial limits do not authorise Spain to claim seabed boundaries based on the territory of the Canaries, since the Canary Islands enjoy a high degree of autonomy. In fact, the islands do not enjoy any special degree of autonomy as each one of the Spanish regions is considered an autonomous community. Under the Law of the Sea, the only islands not granted territorial waters or an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are those that are not fit for human habitation or do not have an economic life of their own, which is clearly not the case of the Canary Islands.[citation needed]

The boundary determines the ownership of seabed oil deposits and other ocean resources. Morocco and Spain have therefore been unable to agree on a compromise regarding the territorial boundary, since neither nation wants to cede its claimed right to the vast resources whose ownership depends upon the boundary. In 2002, for example, Morocco rejected a unilateral Spanish proposal.[37]

The Islands have 13 seats in the Spanish Senate. Of these, 11 seats are directly elected, 3 for Gran Canaria, 3 for Tenerife, 1 for each other island; 2 seats are indirectly elected by the regional Autonomous Government. The local government is presided over by Fernando Clavijo, the current President of the Canary Islands.[38]

Before the arrival of humans, the Canaries were inhabited by prehistoric animals; for example, the giant lizard (Gallotia goliath) and the Tenerife and Gran Canaria giant rats.[39]

The islands were visited by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Carthaginians. According to the first century Roman author and philosopher Pliny the Elder, the archipelago was found to be uninhabited when visited by the Carthaginians under Hanno the Navigator, but that they saw ruins of great buildings.[40] This story may suggest that the islands were inhabited by other peoples prior to the Guanches. King Juba II, Augustus's Numidian protg, is credited with discovering the islands for the Western world. He dispatched a naval contingent to re-open the dye production facility at Mogador in what is now western Morocco in the early first century Common Era.[41] That same naval force was subsequently sent on an exploration of the Canary Islands, using Mogador as their mission base.

The Romans named the islands Ninguaria or Nivaria (Tenerife), Canaria (Gran Canaria), Pluvialia or Invale (Lanzarote), Ombrion (La Palma), Planasia (Fuerteventura), Iunonia or Junonia (El Hierro) and Capraria (La Gomera).

When the Europeans began to explore the islands in the late Middle Ages, they encountered several indigenous peoples living at a Neolithic level of technology. Although the prehistory of the settlement of the Canary Islands is still unclear, linguistic and genetic analyses seem to indicate that at least some of these inhabitants shared a common origin with the Berbers of the Maghreb.[42] The pre-colonial inhabitants came to be known collectively as the Guanches, although Guanches was originally the name for only the indigenous inhabitants of Tenerife.[43] From the 14th century onward, numerous visits were made by sailors from Majorca, Portugal and Genoa. Lancelotto Malocello settled on Lanzarote in 1312. The Majorcans established a mission with a bishop in the islands that lasted from 1350 to 1400.

There may have been a Portuguese expedition that attempted to colonise the islands as early as 1336, but there is not enough hard evidence to support this. In 1402, the Castilian conquest of the islands began, with the expedition of French explorers Jean de Bthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle, nobles and vassals of Henry III of Castile, to Lanzarote. From there, they conquered Fuerteventura (1405) and El Hierro. Bthencourt received the title King of the Canary Islands, but still recognised King Henry III as his overlord.

Bthencourt also established a base on the island of La Gomera, but it would be many years before the island was truly conquered. The natives of La Gomera, and of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and La Palma, resisted the Castilian invaders for almost a century. In 1448 Maciot de Bthencourt sold the lordship of Lanzarote to Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator, an action that was not accepted by the natives nor by the Castilians. Despite Pope Nicholas V ruling that the Canary Islands were under Portuguese control, a crisis swelled to a revolt which lasted until 1459 with the final expulsion of the Portuguese. In 1479, Portugal and Castile signed the Treaty of Alcovas. The treaty settled disputes between Castile and Portugal over the control of the Atlantic, in which Castilian control of the Canary Islands was recognised but which also confirmed Portuguese possession of the Azores, Madeira, the Cape Verde islands and gave them rights to lands discovered and to be discovered ... and any other island which might be found and conquered from the Canary islands beyond toward Guinea.

The Castilians continued to dominate the islands, but due to the topography and the resistance of the native Guanches, complete pacification was not achieved until 1495, when Tenerife and La Palma were finally subdued by Alonso Fernndez de Lugo. After that, the Canaries were incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile.

After the conquest, the Castilians imposed a new economic model, based on single-crop cultivation: first sugarcane; then wine, an important item of trade with England. In this era, the first institutions of colonial government were founded. Both Gran Canaria, a colony of the Crown of Castile since March 6, 1480 (from 1556, of Spain), and Tenerife, a Spanish colony since 1495, had separate governors.

The cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria became a stopping point for the Spanish conquerors, traders, and missionaries on their way to the New World. This trade route brought great prosperity to some of the social sectors of the islands. The islands became quite wealthy and soon were attracting merchants and adventurers from all over Europe. Magnificent palaces and churches were built on La Palma during this busy, prosperous period. The Church of El Salvador survives as one of the island's finest examples of the architecture of the 16th century.

The Canaries' wealth invited attacks by pirates and privateers. Ottoman Turkish admiral and privateer Kemal Reis ventured into the Canaries in 1501, while Murat Reis the Elder captured Lanzarote in 1585.

The most severe attack took place in 1599, during the Dutch Revolt. A Dutch fleet of 74 ships and 12,000 men, commanded by Pieter van der Does, attacked the capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (the city had 3,500 of Gran Canaria's 8,545 inhabitants). The Dutch attacked the Castillo de la Luz, which guarded the harbor. The Canarians evacuated civilians from the city, and the Castillo surrendered (but not the city). The Dutch moved inland, but Canarian cavalry drove them back to Tamaraceite, near the city.

The Dutch then laid siege to the city, demanding the surrender of all its wealth. They received 12 sheep and 3 calves. Furious, the Dutch sent 4,000 soldiers to attack the Council of the Canaries, who were sheltering in the village of Santa Brgida. 300 Canarian soldiers ambushed the Dutch in the village of Monte Lentiscal, killing 150 and forcing the rest to retreat. The Dutch concentrated on Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, attempting to burn it down. The Dutch pillaged Maspalomas, on the southern coast of Gran Canaria, San Sebastin on La Gomera, and Santa Cruz on La Palma, but eventually gave up the siege of Las Palmas and withdrew.

In 1618 the Barbary pirates attacked Lanzarote and La Gomera taking 1000 captives to be sold as slaves.[44] Another noteworthy attack occurred in 1797, when Santa Cruz de Tenerife was attacked by a British fleet under Horatio Nelson on 25 July. The British were repulsed, losing almost 400 men. It was during this battle that Nelson lost his right arm.

The sugar-based economy of the islands faced stiff competition from Spain's American colonies. Low prices in the sugar market in the 19th century caused severe recessions on the islands. A new cash crop, cochineal (cochinilla), came into cultivation during this time, saving the islands' economy.

By the end of the 18th century, Canary Islanders had already emigrated to Spanish American territories, such as Havana, Veracruz, Santo Domingo,[45]San Antonio, Texas[46] and St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.[47][48] These economic difficulties spurred mass emigration, primarily to the Americas, during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Between 1840 and 1890 as many as 40,000 Canary Islanders emigrated to Venezuela. Also, thousands of Canarians moved to Puerto Rico where the Spanish monarchy felt that Canarians would adapt to island life better than other immigrants from the mainland of Spain. Deeply entrenched traditions, such as the Mascaras Festival in the town of Hatillo, Puerto Rico, are an example of Canarian culture still preserved in Puerto Rico. Similarly, many thousands of Canarians emigrated to the shores of Cuba.[49] During the SpanishAmerican War of 1898, the Spanish fortified the islands against possible American attack, but an attack never came.

Sirera and Renn (2004)[50] distinguish two different types of expeditions, or voyages, during the period 17701830, which they term "the Romantic period":

First are "expeditions financed by the States, closely related with the official scientific Institutions. characterised by having strict scientific objectives (and inspired by) the spirit of Illustration and progress". In this type of expedition, Sirera and Renn include the following travellers:

The second type of expedition identified by Sirera and Renn is one that took place starting from more or less private initiatives. Among these, the key exponents were the following:

Sirera and Renn identify the period 17701830 as one in which "In a panorama dominated until that moment by France and England enters with strength and brio Germany of the Romantic period whose presence in the islands will increase".

At the beginning of the 20th century, the British introduced a new cash-crop, the banana, the export of which was controlled by companies such as Fyffes.

The rivalry between the elites of the cities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the capital of the islands led to the division of the archipelago into two provinces in 1927. This has not laid to rest the rivalry between the two cities, which continues to this day.

During the time of the Second Spanish Republic, Marxist and anarchist workers' movements began to develop, led by figures such as Jose Miguel Perez and Guillermo Ascanio. However, outside of a few municipalities, these organisations were a minority and fell easily to Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

In 1936, Francisco Franco was appointed General Commandant of the Canaries. He joined the military revolt of July 17 which began the Spanish Civil War. Franco quickly took control of the archipelago, except for a few points of resistance on La Palma and in the town of Vallehermoso, on La Gomera. Though there was never a proper war in the islands, the post-war suppression of political dissent on the Canaries was most severe.[51]

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill prepared plans for the British seizure of the Canary Islands as a naval base, in the event of Gibraltar being invaded from the Spanish mainland.

Opposition to Franco's regime did not begin to organise until the late 1950s, which experienced an upheaval of parties such as the Communist Party of Spain and the formation of various nationalist, leftist parties.

After the death of Franco, there was a pro-independence armed movement based in Algeria, the Movement for the Independence and Self-determination of the Canaries Archipelago (MAIAC). In 1968, the Organisation of African Unity recognized the MAIAC as a legitimate African independence movement, and declared the Canary Islands as an African territory still under foreign rule.[52]

Currently, there are some pro-independence political parties, like the CNC and the Popular Front of the Canary Islands, but these parties are non-violent, and their popular support is almost insignificant, with no presence in either the autonomous parliament or the cabildos insulares.

After the establishment of a democratic constitutional monarchy in Spain, autonomy was granted to the Canaries via a law passed in 1982. In 1983, the first autonomous elections were held. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won. In the 2007 elections, the PSOE gained a plurality of seats, but the nationalist Canarian Coalition and the conservative Partido Popular (PP) formed a ruling coalition government.[53]

According to "Centro de Investigaciones Sociolgicas" (Sociological Research Center) in 2010, 43.5% of the population of the Canary Islands feels more Canarian than Spanish (37.6%), only Canarian (7.6%), compared to 5.4% that feels more Spanish than Canarian (2.4%) or only Spanish (3%). The most popular choice of those who feel equally Spanish and Canarian, with 49.9%. With these data, one of the Canary recorded levels of identification with higher autonomy from Spain.

The Canary Islands have a population of 2,117,519 inhabitants (2011), making it the eighth most populous of Spain's autonomous communities, with a density of 282.6 inhabitants per square kilometre. The total area of the archipelago is 7,493km2 (2,893sqmi).[58]

The Canarian population includes long-tenured residents and new waves of mainland Spanish immigrants, as well as Portuguese, Italians, Flemings and Britons. Of the total Canarian population in 2009 (2,098,593) 1,799,373 were Spanish and 299,220 foreigners. Of these, the majority are Europeans (55%), including Germans (39,505), British (37,937) and Italians (24,177). There are also 86,287 inhabitants from the Americas, mainly Colombians (21,798), Venezuelans (11,958), Cubans (11,098) and Argentines (10,159). There are also 28,136 African residents, mostly Moroccans (16,240).[61]

The population of the islands according to the 2010 data are:[62]

The Roman Catholic branch of Christianity has been the majority religion in the archipelago for more than five centuries, ever since the Conquest of the Canary Islands. However, there are other religious communities.

The overwhelming majority of native Canarians are Roman Catholic with various smaller foreign-born populations of other Christian beliefs such as Protestants from northern Europe.

The appearance of the Virgin of Candelaria (Patron of Canary Islands) was credited with moving the Canary Islands toward Christianity. Two Catholic saints were born in the Canary Islands: Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur[63] and Jos de Anchieta.[64] Both born on the island of Tenerife, they were respectively missionaries in Guatemala and Brazil.

The Canary Islands are divided into two Catholic dioceses, each governed by a bishop:

Separate from the overwhelming Christian majority are a minority of Muslims.[65] Other religious faiths represented include Jehovah Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as Hinduism.[65] Minority religions are also present such as the Church of the Guanche People which is classified as a neo-pagan native religion,[65] it also highlights Buddhism,[65]Judaism,[65]Baha'i,[65]Chinese religions[65] and Afro-American religion.[65]

Among the followers of Islam, the Islamic Federation of the Canary Islands exists to represent the Islamic community in the Canary Islands as well as to provide practical support to members of the Islamic community.[66]

The distribution of beliefs in 2012 according to the CIS Barometer Autonomy was as follows:[67]

El Hierro, the westernmost island, covers 268.71km2 (103.75sqmi), making it the smallest of the major islands, and the least populous with 10,753 inhabitants. The whole island was declared Reserve of the Biosphere in 2000. Its capital is Valverde. Also known as Ferro, it was once believed to be the westernmost land in the world.

Fuerteventura, with a surface of 1,660km2 (640sqmi), is the second-most extensive island of the archipelago. It has been declared a Biosphere reserve by Unesco. It has a population of 100,929. Being also the most ancient of the islands, it is the one that is more eroded: its highest point is the Peak of the Bramble, at a height of 807 metres (2,648 feet). Its capital is Puerto del Rosario.

Gran Canaria has 845,676 inhabitants. The capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (377,203 inhabitants), is the most populous city and shares the status of capital of the Canaries with Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Gran Canaria's surface area is 1,560km2 (600sqmi). In center of the island lie the Roque Nublo 1,813 metres (5,948 feet) and Pico de las Nieves ("Peak of Snow") 1,949 metres (6,394 feet). In the south of island are the Maspalomas Dunes (Gran Canaria), these are the biggest tourist attractions.

La Gomera has an area of 369.76km2 (142.77sqmi) and is the second least populous island with 22,622 inhabitants. Geologically it is one of the oldest of the archipelago. The insular capital is San Sebastian de La Gomera. Garajonay's National Park is located on the island.

Lanzarote is the easternmost island and one of the most ancient of the archipelago, and it has shown evidence of recent volcanic activity. It has a surface of 845.94km2 (326.62sqmi), and a population of 139,506 inhabitants, including the adjacent islets of the Chinijo Archipelago. The capital is Arrecife, with 56,834 inhabitants.

The Chinijo Archipelago includes the islands La Graciosa, Alegranza, Montaa Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste. It has a surface of 40.8km2 (15.8sqmi), and a population of 658 inhabitants all of them in the la Graciosa island. With 29km2 (11sqmi), La Graciosa, is the smallest inhabited island of the Canaries, and the major island of the Chinijo Archipelago.

La Palma, with 86,528 inhabitants covering an area of 708.32km2 (273.48sqmi), is in its entirety a biosphere reserve. It shows no recent signs of volcanic activity, even though the volcano Tenegua entered into eruption last in 1971. In addition, it is the second-highest island of the Canaries, with the Roque de los Muchachos 2,423 metres (7,949 feet) as highest point. Santa Cruz de La Palma (known to those on the island as simply "Santa Cruz") is its capital.

Tenerife is, with its area of 2,034km2 (785sqmi), the most extensive island of the Canary Islands. In addition, with 906,854 inhabitants it is the most populated island of the archipelago and Spain. Two of the islands' principal cities are located on it: The capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristbal de La Laguna (a World Heritage Site). San Cristbal de La Laguna, the second city of the island is home to the oldest university in the Canary Islands, the University of La Laguna. The Teide, with its 3,718 metres (12,198 feet) is the highest peak of Spain and also a World Heritage Site. Tenerife is the site of the worst air disaster in the history of aviation, in which 583 people were killed in the collision of two Boeing 747s on March 27, 1977.

The economy is based primarily on tourism, which makes up 32% of the GDP. The Canaries receive about 12million tourists per year. Construction makes up nearly 20% of the GDP and tropical agriculture, primarily bananas and tobacco, are grown for export to Europe and the Americas. Ecologists are concerned that the resources, especially in the more arid islands, are being overexploited but there are still many agricultural resources like tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cochineal, sugarcane, grapes, vines, dates, oranges, lemons, figs, wheat, barley, maize, apricots, peaches and almonds.

The economy is 25billion (2001 GDP figures). The islands experienced continuous growth during a 20-year period, up until 2001, at a rate of approximately 5% annually. This growth was fueled mainly by huge amounts of Foreign Direct Investment, mostly to develop tourism real estate (hotels and apartments), and European Funds (near 11billion euro in the period from 2000 to 2007), since the Canary Islands are labelled Region Objective 1 (eligible for euro structural funds).[citation needed] Additionally, the EU allows the Canary Islands Government to offer special tax concessions for investors who incorporate under the Zona Especial Canaria (ZEC) regime and create more than 5 jobs.[citation needed]

Spain gave permission in August 2014 for Repsol and its partners to explore oil and gas prospects off the Canary Islands, involving an investment of 7.5 billion over four years, to commence at the end of 2016. Repsol at the time said the area could ultimately produce 100,000 barrels of oil a day, which would meet 10 percent of Spain's energy needs.[69] However, the analysis of samples obtained showed did not show the necessary volume nor quality to consider future extraction, and the project was scrapped.[70]

The Canary Islands have great natural attractions, climate and beaches make the islands a major tourist destination, being visited each year by about 12million people (11,986,059 in 2007, noting 29% of Britons, 22% of Spanish, not residents of the Canaries, and 21% of Germans). Among the islands, Tenerife has the largest number of tourists received annually, followed by Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.[7][8] The archipelago's principal tourist attraction is the Teide National Park (in Tenerife) where the highest mountain in Spain and third largest volcano in the world (Mount Teide), receives over 2.8million visitors annually.[71]

The combination of high mountains, proximity to Europe, and clean air has made the Roque de los Muchachos peak (on La Palma island) a leading location for telescopes like the Grantecan.

The islands are outside the European Union customs territory and VAT area, though politically within the EU. Instead of VAT there is a local Sales Tax (IGIC) which has a general rate of 7%, an increased tax rate of 13.5%, a reduced tax rate of 3% and a zero tax rate for certain basic need products and services. Consequently, some products are subject to import tax and VAT if being exported from the islands into mainland Spain or the rest of the EU.

Canarian time is Western European Time (WET) (or GMT; in summer one hour ahead of GMT). So Canarian time is one hour behind that of mainland Spain and the same as that of the UK, Ireland and Portugal all year round.

The Canary Islands have eight airports altogether, two of the main ports of Spain, and an extensive network of autopistas (highways) and other roads. For a road map see multimap.[72]

There are large ferry boats that link islands as well as fast ferries linking most of the islands. Both types can transport large numbers of passengers and cargo (including vehicles). Fast ferries are made of aluminium and powered by modern and efficient diesel engines, while conventional ferries have a steel hull and are powered by heavy oil. Fast ferries travel relatively quickly (in excess of 30 knots) and are a faster method of transportation than the conventional ferry (some 20 knots). A typical ferry ride between La Palma and Tenerife may take up to eight hours or more while a fast ferry takes about 2 and a half hours and between Tenerife and Gran Canaria can be about one hour.

The largest airport is the Gran Canaria airport. It is also the 5th largest airport in Spain. The biggest port is in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It is an important port for commerce with Europe, Africa and the Americas. It is the 4th biggest commercial port in Spain with more than 1,400,000 TEU's. The largest commercial companies of the world, including MSC and Maersk, operate here. In this port there is an international post of the Red Cross, one of only four points like this all around the world. Tenerife has two airports, Tenerife North Airport and Tenerife South Airport.[73]

The two main islands (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) receive the greatest number of passengers.[74]

The port of Las Palmas is first in freight traffic in the islands,[75] while the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the first fishing port with approximately 7,500 tons of fish caught, according to the Spanish government publication Statistical Yearbook of State Ports. Similarly, it is the second port in Spain as regards ship traffic, only surpassed by the Port of Algeciras Bay.[76] The port's facilities include a border inspection post (BIP) approved by the European Union, which is responsible for inspecting all types of imports from third countries or exports to countries outside the European Economic Area. The port of Los Cristianos (Tenerife) has the greatest number of passengers recorded in the Canary Islands, followed by the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.[77] The Port of Las Palmas is the third port in the islands in passengers and first in number of vehicles transported.[77]

The SS America was beached at the Canary islands, in the nineties. However, the ocean liner fell apart after some years and parts of ship washed away.

The Tenerife Tram opened in 2007 and the only one in the Canary Islands, travelling between the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristbal de La Laguna. It is currently planned to have three lines in the Canary Islands (two in Tenerife and one in Gran Canaria). The planned Gran Canaria tram route will be from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Maspalomas (south).[78]

The official symbols from nature associated with Canary Islands are the bird Serinus canaria (canary) and the Phoenix canariensis palm.[80]

Before the arrival of the Aborigines, the Canary Islands was inhabited by endemic animals, such as some extinct; giant lizards (Gallotia goliath), giant rats (Canariomys bravoi and Canariomys tamarani)[81] and giant tortoises (Geochelone burchardi and Geochelone vulcanica),[82] among others.

With a range of habitats, the Canary Islands exhibit diverse plant species. The bird life includes European and African species, such as the black-bellied sandgrouse; and a rich variety of endemic (local) taxa including the:

Terrestrial fauna includes geckos, wall lizards, and three endemic species of recently rediscovered and critically endangered giant lizard: the El Hierro giant lizard (or Roque Chico de Salmor giant lizard), La Gomera giant lizard, and La Palma giant lizard. Mammals include the Canarian shrew, Canary big-eared bat, the Algerian hedgehog (which may have been introduced) and the more recently introduced mouflon. Some endemic mammals, the lava mouse, Tenerife giant rat and Gran Canaria giant rat, are extinct, as are the Canary Islands quail, long-legged bunting, and the eastern Canary Islands chiffchaff.

The marine life found in the Canary Islands is also varied, being a combination of North Atlantic, Mediterranean and endemic species. In recent years, the increasing popularity of both scuba diving and underwater photography have provided biologists with much new information on the marine life of the islands.

Fish species found in the islands include many species of shark, ray, moray eel, bream, jack, grunt, scorpionfish, triggerfish, grouper, goby, and blenny. In addition, there are many invertebrate species, including sponge, jellyfish, anemone, crab, mollusc, sea urchin, starfish, sea cucumber and coral.

There are a total of 5 different species of marine turtle that are sighted periodically in the islands, the most common of these being the endangered loggerhead sea turtle.[83] The other four are the green sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle and Kemp's ridley sea turtle. Currently, there are no signs that any of these species breed in the islands, and so those seen in the water are usually migrating. However, it is believed that some of these species may have bred in the islands in the past, and there are records of several sightings of leatherback sea turtle on beaches in Fuerteventura, adding credibility to the theory.

Marine mammals include the large varieties of cetaceans including rare and not well-known species (see more details in the Marine life of the Canary Islands). Hooded seals[84] have also been known to be vagrant in the Canary Islands every now and then. The Canary Islands were also formerly home to a population of the rarest pinniped in the world, the Mediterranean monk seal.

The Canary Islands officially has four national parks, of which two have been declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and the other two declared a World Biosphere Reserve, these national parks are:[85]

A unique form of wrestling known as Canarian wrestling (lucha canaria) has opponents stand in a special area called a "terrero" and try to throw each other to the ground using strength and quick movements.[87]

Another sport is the "game of the sticks" where opponents fence with long sticks. This may have come about from the shepherds of the islands who would challenge each other using their long walking sticks.[87]

Another sport is called the shepherd's jump (salto del pastor). This involves using a long stick to vault over an open area. This sport possibly evolved from the shepherd's need to occasionally get over an open area in the hills as they were tending their sheep.[87]

The two main football teams in the archipelago are: the CD Tenerife (founded in 1912) and UD Las Palmas (founded in 1949). Now Tenerife play in Liga Adelante and Las Palmas in La Liga.

The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Carnival of Las Palmas are one of the most famous Carnivals in Spain. It is celebrated on the streets between the months of February and March.

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Canary Islands - Wikipedia

Mesothelioma Gene Therapy | Additional Treatment Options

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Danzig

Gene therapy attempts to fix a problem with the genetic structure or function of a cell. As one of the most promising emerging treatments today, gene therapy is actively being tested in clinical trials to treat mesothelioma and other types of cancer.

The concept behind cancer gene therapy is easy to grasp. Cancer is generally caused by a genetic malfunction or mutation of some kind that causes cells to multiply more rapidly than normal cells. Gene therapy works by replacing the faulty genes in these cells with one that work as they are supposed to.

There are potentially a great many types of gene therapy available; however, in practice, only a few genetic approaches to treating cancer have shown any effectiveness. The most common approaches are summarized below.

Imaging Tests

Blood Tests

Biopsies

Gene transfer works by injecting foreign genetic material into cancer cells to trigger certain effects, such as programmed death (suicide genes) or statis

This treatment focuses on stopping angiogenesis the growth of new blood cells effectively starving tumors. This can slow tumor growth, and in some cases even shrink the tumors.

This form of therapy uses genetically modified viruses to seek out and destroy cancer cells. These oncolytic (cancer-killing) viruses are designed to be harmless to healthy cells.

One of the most common ways of delivering gene therapy is through the use of viral vectors that is, viruses that are genetically modified to attack only cancer cells. Viruses that have been used as viral vectors include adenovirus, retrovirus, lentiviruses, and vaccinia.

Gene therapy has undergone considerable research as a treatment for mesothelioma. Although still considered to be emerging treatments, various types of gene therapy are clinical trialscontinuing to study the effects of different types of gene therapy on an ongoing basis.

One of the most interesting ways that gene therapy has been used is through triggering so-called suicide genes that is, genes that cause the cell to die when activated. With one specific type of suicide gene therapy, called gene-directed enzyme-producing therapy (GDEPT), cancer cells are modified to produce an enzyme that causes their own death.

Cytokines are proteins released by some cells that act as signals for the cells around them. Cytokine gene therapy focuses on triggering immune-related cytokines release in tumor cells, which causes the immune system to attack those cells.

The p53 protein is known to be defective in nearly all forms of cancer, leading some researchers to believe that the ability to repair the p53 gene sequence could be the key to finding a cure or at least a much more effective treatment for cancer.

While gene therapy and immunotherapy are sometimes thought of as separate forms of mesothelioma treatment, in actuality they can be one and the same thing. Gene therapy has to do with modifying genetic code, and immunotherapy uses the bodys immune to attack cancer cells.

There are some types of gene therapy that trigger the bodys immune system response, making those treatments both gene therapy and immunotherapy or immunogenic therapy, as it is sometimes called. Cytokine gene therapy is one example of immunogenic therapy, as the purpose of the genetic modification is to induce an immune system response.

American Cancer Society. Whats new in malignant mesothelioma research and treatment? Cancer.org. Created May 18, 2015. Updated February 17, 2016.

Cross D, Burmester JK. Gene Therapy for Cancer Treatment: Past, Present and Future. Clinical Medicine and Research. September 2006;4(3):218227.

Kotova S, Wong RM, Cameron RB. New and emerging therapeutic options for malignant pleural mesothelioma: review of early clinical trials. Cancer Management and Research. January 23, 2015;7:51-63. doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S72814

Kubo S, Takagi-Kimura M, Kasahara N. Combinatorial anti-angiogenic gene therapy in a human malignant mesothelioma model. Oncology Reports. June 12, 2015. 633-638. doi: 10.3892/or.2015.4058

Tandle A, Blazer DG, Libutti SK. Antiangiogenic gene therapy of cancer: recent developments. Journal of Translational Medicine. June 25, 2004;2:22. doi: 10.1186/1479-5876-2-22

Vachani A, Moon E, Wakeam E, Albelda SM. Gene Therapy for Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer.

Link:

Mesothelioma Gene Therapy | Additional Treatment Options

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs …

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Danzig

Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paulthe gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter's dreams. Together with Walterenvironmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family manshe was doing her small part to build a better world.

But now, in the new millennium, the Berglunds have become a mystery. Why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katzoutr rocker and Walter's college best friend and rivalstill doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become "a very different kind of neighbor," an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street's attentive eyes?

In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom's characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

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Freedom by Jonathan Franzen Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs ...

When horse diapers and freedom of religion collide | Fox News

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Danzig

Horse diapers have been thrust into the debate over religious freedom.

Two Amish men in Auburn, Ky., filed a lawsuit last month saying a city ordinance requiring horses to wear equine diapersbags designed to catch manureviolated the ability of Amish residents to exercise their religion.

The ordinance, passed in 2014, broadened an existing law mandating the removal of dog waste in public places. The new law, which the city said was spurred by complaints from neighbors about horse manure, requires a properly fitted collection device to be placed on all horses walking on the street.

Residents of Auburn say the issue has divided the town of about 1,300 for years. Members of the towns Amish community have refused to comply with the ordinance, saying equine diapers violate the communitys religious standards. That stance has landed many of them in court, or worse.

Last year, after a jury found Dan Mast guilty of violating the ordinance, he refused to pay the $193 fine and spent 10 days in jail. Last month, Mr. Mast, 27 years old, and another Amish plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the city of Auburn, its mayor and police chief in which they argue the law is intended to prosecute the Amish based on their religious beliefs.

As of October, the city of Auburn had more than 25 pending cases against Amish men who failed to attach diapers to their horses, according to the suit.

The plaintiffs are members of the Old Order Swartzentruber Amish religion, one of the most conservative Amish orders. They believe in shunning things that are of the world, the lawsuit said, including technology that some Amish groups accept, like fax machines, LED lights and gas-powered refrigerators. Before the ordinance passed in 2014, the community elders decided the equine diapers wouldn't be permitted by the Swartzentruber church.

A lawyer for the defendants, W. Currie Milliken, said the issue has been blown out of proportion, and the city wants to preserve its friendly relationship with the Amish.

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When horse diapers and freedom of religion collide | Fox News

Nature – Wikipedia

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Danzig

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, or material world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena.

The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".[1]Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.[2][3] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage continued during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4][5]

Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wildernesswild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural.

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Earth is the only planet known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third closest to the sun; it is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region.[6]Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere.

Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions. The outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains active, with a thick layer of plastic mantle and an iron-filled core that generates a magnetic field. This iron core is composed of a solid inner phase, and a fluid outer phase. Convective motion in the core generates electric currents through dynamo action, and these, in turn, generate the geomagnetic field.

The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms,[7] which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the wide regional variations in climate by latitude and other geographic factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable during interglacial periods,[8] and variations of a degree or two of average global temperature have historically had major effects on the ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the Earth.[9][10]

Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed. The field is a major academic discipline, and is also important for mineral and hydrocarbon extraction, knowledge about and mitigation of natural hazards, some Geotechnical engineering fields, and understanding past climates and environments.

The geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations.

Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto the surface or intrude into the overlying rock. Deposition can occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and later lithify into sedimentary rock, or when as volcanic material such as volcanic ash or lava flows, blanket the surface. Igneous intrusions such as batholiths, laccoliths, dikes, and sills, push upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude.

After the initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units can be deformed and/or metamorphosed. Deformation typically occurs as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension, or side-to-side (strike-slip) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate to convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and transform boundaries, respectively, between tectonic plates.

Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54billion years ago from the solar nebula, along with the Sun and other planets.[11] The moon formed roughly 20million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer of the Earth cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor, most or all of which came from ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans and other water sources.[12] The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4billion years ago.[13]

Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to make a supercontinent. Roughly 750million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which broke apart about 540million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart about 180million years ago.[15]

During the Neoproterozoic era covered much of the Earth in glaciers and ice sheets. This hypothesis has been termed the "Snowball Earth", and it is of particular interest as it precedes the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to proliferate about 530540million years ago.[16]

Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly identifiable mass extinctions.[17] The last mass extinction occurred some 66 million years ago, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals. Over the past 66million years, mammalian life diversified.[18]

Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the ability to stand upright.[14] The subsequent advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global climate. By comparison, the Great Oxygenation Event, produced by the proliferation of algae during the Siderian period, required about 300million years to culminate.

The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event, the Holocene extinction event, the fastest ever to have occurred.[19][20] Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that human destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100years.[21] The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists.[22][23][24]

The Earth's atmosphere is a key factor in sustaining the ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by gravity. Air is mostly nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, with much smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, etc. The atmospheric pressure declines steadily with altitude. The ozone layer plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.

Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in the lower part of the atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for redistributing heat. Ocean currents are another important factor in determining climate, particularly the major underwater thermohaline circulation which distributes heat energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions. These currents help to moderate the differences in temperature between winter and summer in the temperate zones. Also, without the redistributions of heat energy by the ocean currents and atmosphere, the tropics would be much hotter, and the polar regions much colder.

Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones, can expend large amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation. Surface vegetation has evolved a dependence on the seasonal variation of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few years can have a dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the animals which depend on its growth for their food.

Climate is a measure of the long-term trends in the weather. Various factors are known to influence the climate, including ocean currents, surface albedo, greenhouse gases, variations in the solar luminosity, and changes to the Earth's orbit. Based on historical records, the Earth is known to have undergone drastic climate changes in the past, including ice ages.

The climate of a region depends on a number of factors, especially latitude. A latitudinal band of the surface with similar climatic attributes forms a climate region. There are a number of such regions, ranging from the tropical climate at the equator to the polar climate in the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also influenced by the seasons, which result from the Earth's axis being tilted relative to its orbital plane. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the Earth is more directly exposed to the rays of the sun. This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons.

Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes to the environment, so accurate weather forecasting is limited to only a few days.[citation needed] Overall, two things are happening worldwide: (1) temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been undergoing noticeable changes.[25]

Water is a chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is vital for all known forms of life.[26] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor, or steam. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface.[27] On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds, and precipitation.[28][29] Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers, and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes, and ponds 0.6%. Additionally, a minute amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean.[30][31] This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography.[32]

The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names. There are also salt lakes, which are smaller bodies of landlocked saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake.

A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river.[33][34] The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams via current speed. While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess thermally driven micro-currents and moderate wind driven currents. These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools.

A river is a natural watercourse,[35] usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no general rule that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is Burn in Scotland and North-east England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek, but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language.[36] A river is part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (i.e., from glaciers).

A stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. In the United States, a stream is classified as a watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge, and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The biological habitat in the immediate vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general involves many branches of inter-disciplinary natural science and engineering, including hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, aquatic ecology, fish biology, riparian ecology, and others.

Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an interrelated way.[38] The structure and composition is determined by various environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations of these factors will initiate dynamic modifications to the ecosystem. Some of the more important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiation from the sun, water, and living organisms.

Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms interact with every other element in their local environment. Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."[39] Within the ecosystem, species are connected and dependent upon one another in the food chain, and exchange energy and matter between themselves as well as with their environment.[40] The human ecosystem concept is grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy and the premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope.[citation needed]

A smaller unit of size is called a microecosystem. For example, a microsystem can be a stone and all the life under it. A macroecosystem might involve a whole ecoregion, with its drainage basin.[41]

Wilderness is generally defined as areas that have not been significantly modified by human activity. Wilderness areas can be found in preserves, estates, farms, conservation preserves, ranches, national forests, national parks, and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches, or otherwise undeveloped areas. Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for the survival of certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude, and recreation. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity,[42] and some Ecologists consider wilderness areas to be an integral part of the Earth's self-sustaining natural ecosystem (the biosphere). They may also preserve historic genetic traits and that they provide habitat for wild flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos, arboretums, or laboratories.

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Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, and response to stimuli and reproduction.[43] Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms.

Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria) are that they are cellular, carbon-and-water-based with complex organization, having a metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, and reproduce. An entity with these properties is generally considered life. However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential. Human-made analogs of life may also be considered to be life.

The biosphere is the part of Earth's outer shell including land, surface rocks, water, air and the atmosphere within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). The entire Earth contains over 75billion tons (150 trillion pounds or about 6.81013kilograms) of biomass (life), which lives within various environments within the biosphere.[44]

Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which animal life depends very heavily for its existence.[45] More than 2 million species of plant and animal life have been identified to date,[46] and estimates of the actual number of existing species range from several million to well over 50million.[47][48][49] The number of individual species of life is constantly in some degree of flux, with new species appearing and others ceasing to exist on a continual basis.[50][51] The total number of species is in rapid decline.[52][53][54]

The origin of life on Earth is not well understood, but it is known to have occurred at least 3.5billion years ago,[57][58][59] during the hadean or archean eons on a primordial Earth that had a substantially different environment than is found at present.[60] These life forms possessed the basic traits of self-replication and inheritable traits. Once life had appeared, the process of evolution by natural selection resulted in the development of ever-more diverse life forms.

Species that were unable to adapt to the changing environment and competition from other life forms became extinct. However, the fossil record retains evidence of many of these older species. Current fossil and DNA evidence shows that all existing species can trace a continual ancestry back to the first primitive life forms.[60]

The advent of photosynthesis in very basic forms of plant life worldwide allowed the sun's energy to be harvested to create conditions allowing for more complex life.[citation needed] The resultant oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and gave rise to the ozone layer. The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones resulted in the development of yet more complex cells called eukaryotes.[61] Cells within colonies became increasingly specialized, resulting in true multicellular organisms. With the ozone layer absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation, life colonized the surface of Earth.

The first form of life to develop on the Earth were microbes, and they remained the only form of life until about a billion years ago when multi-cellular organisms began to appear.[62] Microorganisms are single-celled organisms that are generally microscopic, and smaller than the human eye can see. They include Bacteria, Fungi, Archaea, and Protista.

These life forms are found in almost every location on the Earth where there is liquid water, including in the Earth's interior.[63] Their reproduction is both rapid and profuse. The combination of a high mutation rate and a horizontal gene transfer[64] ability makes them highly adaptable, and able to survive in new environments, including outer space.[65] They form an essential part of the planetary ecosystem. However, some microorganisms are pathogenic and can post health risk to other organisms.

Originally Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move fast enough for humans to notice, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became the kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts. Bacterial life is sometimes included in flora,[66][67] and some classifications use the term bacterial flora separately from plant flora.

Among the many ways of classifying plants are by regional floras, which, depending on the purpose of study, can also include fossil flora, remnants of plant life from a previous era. People in many regions and countries take great pride in their individual arrays of characteristic flora, which can vary widely across the globe due to differences in climate and terrain.

Regional floras commonly are divided into categories such as native flora and agricultural and garden flora, the lastly mentioned of which are intentionally grown and cultivated. Some types of "native flora" actually have been introduced centuries ago by people migrating from one region or continent to another, and become an integral part of the native, or natural flora of the place to which they were introduced. This is an example of how human interaction with nature can blur the boundary of what is considered nature.

Another category of plant has historically been carved out for weeds. Though the term has fallen into disfavor among botanists as a formal way to categorize "useless" plants, the informal use of the word "weeds" to describe those plants that are deemed worthy of elimination is illustrative of the general tendency of people and societies to seek to alter or shape the course of nature. Similarly, animals are often categorized in ways such as domestic, farm animals, wild animals, pests, etc. according to their relationship to human life.

Animals as a category have several characteristics that generally set them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and usually multicellular (although see Myxozoa), which separates them from bacteria, archaea, and most protists. They are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls.

With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges (Phylum Porifera), animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues.[citation needed] These include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and a nervous system, which sends and processes signals. There is also typically an internal digestive chamber. The eukaryotic cells possessed by all animals are surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins. This may be calcified to form structures like shells, bones, and spicules, a framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganized during development and maturation, and which supports the complex anatomy required for mobility.

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The Anti Aging Guide – Discover Longevity today.

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Matriarchy – Wikipedia

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

Matriarchy is a social system in which females hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property at the specific exclusion of men, at least to a large degree. While those definitions apply in general English, definitions specific to the disciplines of anthropology and feminism differ in some respects.

Most anthropologists hold that there are no known societies that are unambiguously matriarchal, but some authors believe exceptions may exist or may have. Matriarchies may also be confused with matrilineal, matrilocal, and matrifocal societies. A few people consider any non-patriarchal system to be matriarchal, thus including genderally equalitarian systems (Peggy Reeves Sanday favors redefining and reintroducing the word matriarchy, especially in reference to contemporary matrilineal societies such as the Minangkabau[1]), but most academics exclude them from matriarchies strictly defined.

In 19th century Western scholarship, the hypothesis of matriarchy representing an early, mainly prehistoric, stage of human development gained popularity. Possibilities of so-called primitive societies were cited and the hypothesis survived into the 20th century, including in the context of second-wave feminism. This hypothesis was criticized by some authors such as Cynthia Eller in The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory and remains as a largely unsolved question to this day. Some older myths describe matriarchies. Several modern feminists have advocated for matriarchy now or in the future and it has appeared in feminist literature. In several theologies, matriarchy has been portrayed as negative.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), matriarchy is a "form of social organization in which the mother or oldest female is the head of the family, and descent and relationship are reckoned through the female line; government or rule by a woman or women."[2] A popular definition, according to James Peoples and Garrick Bailey, is "female dominance".[3] Within the academic discipline of cultural anthropology, according to the OED, matriarchy is a "culture or community in which such a system prevails"[2] or a "family, society, organization, etc., dominated by a woman or women."[2] In general anthropology, according to William A. Haviland, matriarchy is "rule by women".[4] A matriarchy is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership, moral authority, and control of property, but does not include a society that occasionally is led by a female for nonmatriarchal reasons or an occupation in which females generally predominate without reference to matriarchy, such as prostitution or women's auxiliaries of organizations run by men.[citation needed] According to Lawrence A. Kuzner in 1997, A. R. Radcliffe-Brown argued in 1924 that the definitions of matriarchy and patriarchy had "logical and empirical failings.... [and] were too vague to be scientifically useful".[5]

Most academics exclude egalitarian nonpatriarchal systems from matriarchies more strictly defined. According to Heide Gttner-Abendroth, a reluctance to accept the existence of matriarchies might be based on a specific culturally biased notion of how to define matriarchy: because in a patriarchy men rule over women, a matriarchy has frequently been conceptualized as women ruling over men,[6] while she believed that matriarchies are egalitarian.[6][7]

The word matriarchy, for a society politically led by females, especially mothers, who also control property, is often interpreted to mean the genderal opposite of patriarchy, but it is not an opposite (linguistically, it is not a parallel term).[8][9][10] According to Peoples and Bailey, the view of anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday is that matriarchies are not a mirror form of patriarchies but rather that a matriarchy "emphasizes maternal meanings where 'maternal symbols are linked to social practices influencing the lives of both sexes and where women play a central role in these practices'".[11] Journalist Margot Adler wrote, "literally,... ["matriarchy"] means government by mothers, or more broadly, government and power in the hands of women."[12]Barbara Love and Elizabeth Shanklin wrote, "by 'matriarchy,' we mean a non-alienated society: a society in which women, those who produce the next generation, define motherhood, determine the conditions of motherhood, and determine the environment in which the next generation is reared."[13] According to Cynthia Eller, "'matriarchy' can be thought of... as a shorthand description for any society in which women's power is equal or superior to men's and in which the culture centers around values and life events described as 'feminine.'"[14] Eller wrote that the idea of matriarchy mainly rests on two pillars, romanticism and modern social criticism.[15] The notion of matriarchy was meant to describe something like a utopia placed in the past in order to legitimate contemporary social criticism.[citation needed] With respect to a prehistoric matriarchal Golden Age, according to Barbara Epstein, "matriarchy... means a social system organized around matriliny and goddess worship in which women have positions of power."[16] According to Adler, in the Marxist tradition, it usually refers to a pre-class society "where women and men share equally in production and power."[17]

According to Adler, "a number of feminists note that few definitions of the word [matriarchy], despite its literal meaning, include any concept of power, and they suggest that centuries of oppression have made it impossible for women to conceive of themselves with such power."[17]

Matriarchy has often been presented as negative, in contrast to patriarchy as natural and inevitable for society, thus that matriarchy is hopeless. Love and Shanklin wrote:

When we hear the word "matriarchy", we are conditioned to a number of responses: that matriarchy refers to the past and that matriarchies have never existed; that matriarchy is a hopeless fantasy of female domination, of mothers dominating children, of women being cruel to men. Conditioning us negatively to matriarchy is, of course, in the interests of patriarchs. We are made to feel that patriarchy is natural; we are less likely to question it, and less likely to direct our energies to ending it.[18]

The Matriarchal Studies school led by Gttner-Abendroth calls for an even more inclusive redefinition of the term: Gttner-Abendroth defines Modern Matriarchal Studies as the "investigation and presentation of non-patriarchal societies", effectively defining matriarchy as non-patriarchy.[19] She has also defined matriarchy as characterized by the sharing of power equally between the two genders.[20] According to Diane LeBow, "matriarchal societies are often described as... egalitarian...",[21] although anthropologist Ruby Rohrlich has written of "the centrality of women in an egalitarian society."[22][a]

Matriarchy is also the public formation in which the woman occupies the ruling position in a family.[2] For this usage, some scholars now prefer the term matrifocal to matriarchal.[citation needed] Some, including Daniel Moynihan, claimed that there is a matriarchy among Black families in the United States,[23][b] because a quarter of them were headed by single women;[24] thus, families composing a substantial minority of a substantial minority could be enough for the latter to constitute a matriarchy within a larger non-matriarchal society.

Etymologically, it is from Latin mter (genitive mtris), "mother" and Greek arkhein, "to rule".[25] The notion of matriarchy was defined by Joseph-Franois Lafitau (16811746), who first named it gincocratie.[26] According to the OED, the earliest known attestation of the word matriarchy is in 1885.[2] By contrast, gyncocracy, meaning 'rule of women', has been in use since the 17th century, building on the Greek word found in Aristotle and Plutarch.[27][28]

Terms with similar etymology are also used in various social sciences and humanities to describe matriarchal or matriological aspects of social, cultural and political processes. Adjective matriological is derived from the noun matriology that comes from Latin word mter (mother) and Greek word (logos, teaching about). The term matriology was used in theology and history of religion as a designation for the study of particular motherly aspects of various female deities. The term was subsequently borrowed by other social sciences and humanities and its meaning was widened in order to describe and define particular female-dominated and female-centered aspects of cultural and social life. The male alternative for matriology is patriology.[citation needed]

In their works, Johann Jakob Bachofen and Lewis Morgan used such terms and expressions as mother-right, female rule, gyneocracy, and female authority. All these terms meant the same: the rule by females (mother or wife).[citation needed] Although Bachofen and Lewis Morgan confined the "mother right" inside households, it was the basis of female influence upon the whole society.[citation needed] The authors of the classics did not think that gyneocracy meant 'female government' in politics.[citation needed] They were aware of the fact that the sexual structure of government had no relation to domestic rule and to roles of both sexes.[citation needed]

A matriarchy is also sometimes called a gynarchy, a gynocracy, a gynecocracy, or a gynocentric society, although these terms do not definitionally emphasize motherhood. Cultural anthropologist Jules de Leeuwe argued that some societies were "mainly gynecocratic"[29] (others being "mainly androcratic").[29][c]

Gynecocracy, gynaecocracy, gynocracy, gyneocracy, and gynarchy generally mean 'government by women over women and men'.[30][31][32][33] All of these words are synonyms in their most important definitions. While these words all share that principal meaning, they differ a little in their additional meanings, so that gynecocracy also means 'women's social supremacy',[34]gynaecocracy also means 'government by one woman', 'female dominance', and, derogatorily, 'petticoat government',[35] and gynocracy also means 'women as the ruling class'.[36]Gyneocracy is rarely used in modern times.[37] None of these definitions are limited to mothers.

Some question whether a queen ruling without a king is sufficient to constitute female government, given the amount of participation of other men in most such governments. One view is that it is sufficient. "By the end of [Queen] Elizabeth's reign, gynecocracy was a fait accompli", according to historian Paula Louise Scalingi.[38][d] Gynecocracy is defined by Scalingi as "government by women",[39] similar to dictionary definitions[31][32][33] (one dictionary adding 'women's social supremacy' to the governing role).[34] Scalingi reported arguments for and against the validity of gynocracy[40] and said, "the humanists treated the question of female rule as part of the larger controversy over sexual equality."[41] Possibly, queenship, because of the power wielded by men in leadership and assisting a queen, leads to queen bee syndrome, contributing to the difficulty of other women in becoming heads of the government.[citation needed]

Some matriarchies have been described by historian Helen Diner as "a strong gynocracy"[42] and "women monopolizing government"[43] and she described matriarchal Amazons as "an extreme, feminist wing"[44][e] of humanity and that North African women "ruled the country politically,"[42] and, according to Adler, Diner "envision[ed] a dominance matriarchy".[45]

Gynocentrism is the 'dominant or exclusive focus on women', is opposed to androcentrism, and "invert[s]... the privilege of the... [male/female] binary...[,] [some feminists] arguing for 'the superiority of values embodied in traditionally female experience'".[46]

Some people who sought evidence for the existence of a matriarchy often mixed matriarchy with anthropological terms and concepts describing specific arrangements in the field of family relationships and the organization of family life, such as matrilineality and matrilocality. These terms refer to intergenerational relationships (as matriarchy may), but do not distinguish between males and females insofar as they apply to specific arrangements for sons as well as daughters from the perspective of their relatives on their mother's side. Accordingly, these concepts do not represent matriarchy as 'power of women over men'.[47]

Anthropologists have begun to use the term matrifocality.[citation needed] There is some debate concerning the terminological delineation between matrifocality and matriarchy.[citation needed] Matrifocal societies are those in which women, especially mothers, occupy a central position.[citation needed] Anthropologist R. T. Smith refers to matrifocality as the kinship structure of a social system whereby the mothers assume structural prominence.[48] The term does not necessarily imply domination by women or mothers.[48] In addition, some authors depart from the premise of a mother-child dyad as the core of a human group where the grandmother was the central ancestor with her children and grandchildren clustered around her in an extended family.[49]

The term matricentric means 'having a mother as head of the family or household'.[citation needed]

Matristic: Feminist scholars and archeologists such as Marija Gimbutas, Gerda Lerner, and Riane Eisler[50] label their notion of a "woman-centered" society surrounding Mother Goddess worship during prehistory (in Paleolithic and Neolithic Europe) and in ancient civilizations by using the term matristic rather than matriarchal.[citation needed]

Matrilineality, in which descent is traced through the female line, is sometimes conflated with historical matriarchy.[51] Sanday favors redefining and reintroducing the word matriarchy, especially in reference to contemporary matrilineal societies such as the Minangkabau.[52] The 19th-century belief that matriarchal societies existed was due to the transmission of "economic and social power... through kinship lines"[53] so that "in a matrilineal society all power would be channeled through women. Women may not have retained all power and authority in such societies..., but they would have been in a position to control and dispense power."[53]

A matrilocal society is one in which a couple resides close to the bride's family rather than the bridegroom's family; the term is by anthropologists.[citation needed]

Most anthropologists hold that there are no known societies that are unambiguously matriarchal.[54][55][56] According to J. M. Adovasio, Olga Soffer, and Jake Page, no true matriarchy is known actually to have existed.[51] Anthropologist Joan Bamberger argued that the historical record contains no primary sources on any society in which women dominated.[57] Anthropologist Donald Brown's list of human cultural universals (viz., features shared by nearly all current human societies) includes men being the "dominant element" in public political affairs,[58] which he asserts is the contemporary opinion of mainstream anthropology.[citation needed] There are some disagreements and possible exceptions. A belief that women's rule preceded men's rule was, according to Haviland, "held by many nineteenth-century intellectuals".[4] The hypothesis survived into the 20th century and was notably advanced in the context of feminism and especially second-wave feminism, but the hypothesis is mostly discredited today, most experts saying that it was never true.[59]

Matriarchs, according to Peoples and Bailey, do exist; there are "individual matriarchs of families and kin groups."[3]

The royal lineage of Ethiopia, including for the Kandake, was passed through the woman only.[citation needed]

The Cambridge Ancient History (1975)[60] stated that "the predominance of a supreme goddess is probably a reflection from the practice of matriarchy which at all times characterized Elamite civilization to a greater or lesser degree".[f]

Tacitus noted in his Germania that in "the nations of the Sitones a woman is the ruling sex."[61][g]

Legends of Amazon women originated not from South America, but rather Scythia (present day Russia.) Historians note that the Sarmatians (present day Ukraine) are also descendants of the Amazonian women tribe.

Possible matriarchies in Burma are, according to Jorgen Bisch, the Padaungs[62] and, according to Andrew Marshall, the Kayaw.[63]

The Mosuo culture, which is in China near Tibet, is frequently described as matriarchal.[64] The Mosuo themselves often use this description and they believe it increases interest in their culture and thus attracts tourism. The term matrilineal is sometimes used, and, while more accurate, still doesn't reflect the full complexity of their social organization. In fact, it is not easy to categorize Mosuo culture within traditional Western definitions. They have aspects of a matriarchal culture: Women are often the head of the house, inheritance is through the female line, and women make business decisions. However, unlike in a true matriarchy, political power tends to be in the hands of males.[65]

In India, of communities recognized in the national Constitution as Scheduled Tribes, "some... [are] matriarchal and matrilineal"[66] "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian".[67] According to interviewer Anuj Kumar, Manipur, India, "has a matriarchal society",[68] but this may not be a scholarly assessment.

Manipur, in north-east India, is not at all a matriarchy. Though mothers there are in forefront of most of the social activism, the society has always been a patriarchal. Their women power is visible because of historical reason. Manipur was ruled by strong dynasties. The need for expansions of borders, crushing any outsider threats etc. engaged the men. And so women had to take charge of home-front.[citation needed]

In the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, many societies are matrilineal.[citation needed]

In Kerala, the Nair communities are matrilineal. Descent and relationship are determined through the female line.[citation needed]

Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday said the Minangkabau society may be a matriarchy.[69]

According to William S. Turley, "the role of women in traditional Vietnamese culture was determined [partly] by... indigenous customs bearing traces of matriarchy",[70] affecting "different social classes"[70] to "varying degrees".[70] According to Peter C. Phan, that "the first three persons leading insurrections against China were women... suggest[s]... that ancient Vietnam was a matriarchal society"[71] and "the ancient Vietnamese family system was most likely matriarchal, with women ruling over the clan or tribe"[72] until the Vietnamese "adopt[ed]... the patriarchal system introduced by the Chinese",[72] although "this patriarchal system... was not able to dislodge the Vietnamese women from their relatively high position in the family and society, especially among the peasants and the lower classes",[72] with modern "culture and legal codes... [promoting more] rights and privileges" for women than in Chinese culture.[73] According to Chiricosta, the legend of u C is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' in North Vietnam and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there.... [and which] combined matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of family structure and assigned equal importance to both lines."[74][h][i] Chiricosta said that other scholars relied on "this 'matriarchal' aspect of the myth to differentiate Vietnamese society from the pervasive spread of Chinese Confucian patriarchy"[75][j] and that "resistance to China's colonization of Vietnam... [combined with] the view that Vietnam was originally a matriarchy... [led to viewing] women's struggles for liberation from (Chinese) patriarchy as a metaphor for the entire nation's struggle for Vietnamese independence."[76] According to Keith Weller Taylor, "the matriarchal flavor of the time is... attested by the fact that Trung Trac's mother's tomb and spirit temple have survived, although nothing remains of her father",[77] and the "society of the Trung sisters" was "strongly matrilineal".[78] According to Donald M. Seekins, an indication of "the strength of matriarchal values"[79] was that a woman, Trng Trc, with her younger sister Trng Nh, raised an army of "over 80,000 soldiers.... [in which] many of her officers were women",[79] with which they defeated the Chinese.[79] According to Seekins, "in [the year] 40, Trung Trac was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her"[79] and modern Vietnam considers the Trung sisters to be heroines.[79] According to Karen G. Turner, in the 3rd century A.D., Lady Triu "seem[ed]... to personify the matriarchal culture that mitigated Confucianized patriarchal norms.... [although] she is also painted as something of a freak... with her... savage, violent streak."[80]

The Hopi (in what is now the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona), according to Alice Schlegel, had as its "gender ideology... one of female superiority, and it operated within a social actuality of sexual equality."[81] According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles... are egalitarian.... [and] [n]either sex is inferior."[82][k] LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in... political decision-making."[83][l] According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here"[84] and "the attitude of female superiority is fading".[84] Schlegel said the Hopi "were and still are matrilinial"[85] and "the household... was matrilocal".[85] Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good... [with] the female principle... activated in women and in Mother Earth... as its source"[86] and that the Hopi "were not in a state of continual war with equally matched neighbors"[87] and "had no standing army"[87] so that "the Hopi lacked the spur to masculine superiority"[87] and, within that, as that women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)",[87] the Clan Mother, for example, being empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair,[86] since there was no "countervailing... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure".[86]

The Iroquois Confederacy or League, combining 56 Native American Haudenosaunee nations or tribes before the U.S. became a nation, operated by The Great Binding Law of Peace, a constitution by which women participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war,[88] through what may have been a matriarchy[89] or gyneocracy.[90] According to Doug George-Kanentiio, in this society, mothers exercise central moral and political roles. The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown; the League was formed in approximately 10001450, but the constitution was oral until written in about 1880.[92] The League still exists.

George-Kanentiio explains:

In our society, women are the center of all things. Nature, we believe, has given women the ability to create; therefore it is only natural that women be in positions of power to protect this function....We traced our clans through women; a child born into the world assumed the clan membership of its mother. Our young women were expected to be physically strong....The young women received formal instruction in traditional planting....Since the Iroquois were absolutely dependent upon the crops they grew, whoever controlled this vital activity wielded great power within our communities. It was our belief that since women were the givers of life they naturally regulated the feeding of our people....In all countries, real wealth stems from the control of land and its resources. Our Iroquois philosophers knew this as well as we knew natural law. To us it made sense for women to control the land since they were far more sensitive to the rhythms of the Mother Earth. We did not own the land but were custodians of it. Our women decided any and all issues involving territory, including where a community was to be built and how land was to be used....In our political system, we mandated full equality. Our leaders were selected by a caucus of women before the appointments were subject to popular review....Our traditional governments are composed of an equal number of men and women. The men are chiefs and the women clan-mothers....As leaders, the women closely monitor the actions of the men and retain the right to veto any law they deem inappropriate....Our women not only hold the reigns of political and economic power, they also have the right to determine all issues involving the taking of human life. Declarations of war had to be approved by the women, while treaties of peace were subject to their deliberations.

The controversy surrounding prehistoric or "primal" matriarchy began in reaction to the book by Bachofen, Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World, in 1861. Several generations of ethnologists were inspired by his pseudo-evolutionary theory of archaic matriarchy. Following him and Jane Ellen Harrison, several generations of scholars, usually arguing from known myths or oral traditions and examination of Neolithic female cult-figures, suggested that many ancient societies might have been matriarchal, or even that there existed a wide-ranging matriarchal society prior to the ancient cultures of which we are aware. According to Uwe Wesel, Bachofen's myth interpretations have proved to be untenable.[93] The concept was further investigated by Lewis Morgan.[94] Many researchers studied the phenomenon of matriarchy afterward, but the basis was laid by the classics of sociology. The notion of a "woman-centered" society was developed by Bachofen, whose three-volume Myth, Religion, and Mother Right (1861) impacted the way classicists such as Harrison, Arthur Evans, Walter Burkert, and James Mellaart[95] looked at the evidence of matriarchal religion in pre-Hellenic societies.[96] According to historian Susan Mann, as of 2000, "few scholars these days find... [a "notion of a stage of primal matriarchy"] persuasive."[97]

The following excerpts from Lewis Morgan's Ancient Society will explain the use of the terms: "In a work of vast research, Bachofen has collected and discussed the evidence of female authority, mother-right, and of female rule, gynecocracy."[pageneeded] "Common lands and joint tillage would lead to joint-tenant houses and communism in living; so that gyneocracy seems to require for its creation, descent in the female line. Women thus entrenched in large households, supplied from common stores, in which their own gens so largely predominated in numbers, would produce the phenomena of mother right and gyneocracy, which Bachofen has detected and traced with the aid of fragments of history and of tradition."[pageneeded]

Kurt Derungs is a non-academic author advocating an "anthropology of landscape" based on allegedly matriarchal traces in toponymy and folklore.[citation needed]

Friedrich Engels, in 1884, claimed that, in the earliest stages of human social development, there was group marriage and that therefore paternity was disputable, whereas maternity was not, so that a family could be traced only through the female line, and claimed that this was connected with the dominance of women over men or a Mutterrecht, which notion Engels took from Bachofen, who claimed, based on his interpretations of myths, that myths reflected a memory of a time when women dominated over men.[98][99] Engels speculated that the domestication of animals increased wealth claimed by men.[citation needed] Engels said that men wanted control over women for use as laborers and because they wanted to pass on their wealth to their children, requiring monogamy.[citation needed] Engels did not explain how this could happen in a matriarchal society, but said that women's status declined until they became mere objects in the exchange trade between men and patriarchy was established,[citation needed] causing the global defeat of the female sex[100] and the rise of individualism,[101] competition, and dedication to achievement.[citation needed] According to Eller, Engels may have been influenced with respect to women's status by August Bebel,[102] according to whom this matriarchy resulted in communism while patriarchy did not.[103]

Austrian writer Bertha Diener, also known as Helen Diner, wrote Mothers and Amazons (1930), which was the first work to focus on women's cultural history. Hers is regarded as a classic of feminist matriarchal study.[104] Her view is that in the past all human societies were matriarchal; then, at some point, most shifted to patriarchal and degenerated. The controversy was reinforced further by the publication of The White Goddess by Robert Graves (1948) and his later analysis of classical Greek mythology and the vestiges of earlier myths that had been rewritten after a profound change in the religion of Greek civilization that occurred within its very early historical times. From the 1950s, Marija Gimbutas developed a theory of an Old European culture in Neolithic Europe which had matriarchal traits, replaced by the patriarchal system of the Proto-Indo-Europeans with the spread of Indo-European languages beginning in the Bronze Age. According to Epstein, anthropologists in the 20th century said that "the goddess worship or matrilocality that evidently existed in many paleolithic societies was not necessarily associated with matriarchy in the sense of women's power over men. Many societies can be found that exhibit those qualities along with female subordination."[105] From the 1970s, these ideas were taken up by popular writers of second-wave feminism and expanded with the speculations of Margaret Murray on witchcraft, by the Goddess movement, and in feminist Wicca, as well as in works by Eisler, Elizabeth Gould Davis, and Merlin Stone.

"A Golden Age of matriarchy" was, according to Epstein, prominently presented by Charlene Spretnak and "encouraged" by Stone and Eisler,[106] but, at least for the Neolithic Age, has been denounced as feminist wishful thinking in The Inevitability of Patriarchy, Why Men Rule, Goddess Unmasked,[107] and The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory and is not emphasized in third-wave feminism. According to Eller, Gimbutas had a large part in constructing a myth of historical matriarchy by examining Eastern European cultures that she asserts, by and large, never really bore any resemblance in character to the alleged universal matriarchy suggested by Gimbutas and Graves. She asserts that in "actually documented primitive societies" of recent (historical) times, paternity is never ignored and that the sacred status of goddesses does not automatically increase female social status, and believes that this affirms that utopian matriarchy is simply an inversion of antifeminism.[citation needed]

The original evidence recognized by Gimbutas, however, of Neolithic societies being more egalitarian than the Bronze Age Indo-European and Semitic patriarchies remains valid.[citation needed] Gimbutas herself has not described these societies as matriarchal, preferring the term woman-centered or matristic.[citation needed] J.F. del Giorgio insists on a matrifocal, matrilocal, matrilineal Paleolithic society.[108]

According to Rohrlich, "many scholars are convinced that Crete was a matriarchy, ruled by a queen-priestess"[109] and the "Cretan civilization" was "matriarchal" before "1500 B.C.," when it was overrun and colonized.[110]

Also according to Rohrlich, "in the early Sumerian city-states 'matriarchy seems to have left something more than a trace.'"[111]

One common misconception among historians of the Bronze Age such as Stone and Eisler is the notion that the Semites were matriarchal while the Indo-Europeans practiced a patriarchal system. An example of this view is found in Stone's When God Was a Woman,[pageneeded] wherein she attempts to make out a case that the worship of Yahweh was an Indo-European invention superimposed on an ancient matriarchal Semitic nation. Evidence from the Amorites and pre-Islamic Arabs, however, indicates that the primitive Semitic family was in fact patriarchal and patrilineal. Meanwhile, the Indo-Europeans were known to have practiced multiple succession systems, and there is much better evidence of matrilineal customs among the Indo-European Celts and Germans than among any ancient Semitic peoples.

Women were running Sparta while the men were often away fighting. Gorgo, Queen of Sparta, responded to a question from a woman in Attica along the lines of, "why Spartan women were the only women in the world who could rule men?" Gorgo replied, "because we are the only women who are mothers of men".

Arising in the period ranging from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages, several early northwestern European mythologies from the Irish (e.g., Macha and Scthach), the Brittonic (e.g., Rhiannon), and the Germanic (e.g., Grendel's mother and Nerthus) contain ambiguous episodes of primal female power which have been interpreted as folk evidence of a real potential for matriarchal attitudes in pre-Christian European Iron Age societies. Often transcribed from a retrospective, patriarchal, Romanised, and Catholic perspective, they hint at an earlier, culturally disturbing, era when female power could have predominated. The first-centuryattested historic British figure of Boudicca indicates that Brittonnic society permitted explicit female autocracy or a form of gender equality in a form which contrasted strongly with the patriarchal structure of Mediterranean civilisation.[citation needed]

In 1995, in Kenya, according to Emily Wax, Umoja, a village only for women from one tribe with about 36 residents, was established under a matriarch.[112] Men of the same tribe established a village nearby from which to observe the women's village,[112] the men's leader objecting to the matriarch's questioning the culture[113] and men suing to close the women's village.[113] The village was still operational in 2005 when Wax reported on it.[112]

Spokespersons for various indigenous peoples at the United Nations and elsewhere have highlighted the central role of women in their societies, referring to them as matriarchies, or as matriarchal in character.[114][115]

A legendary matriarchy related by several writers was Amazon society. According to Phyllis Chesler, "in Amazon societies, women were... mothers and their society's only political and religious leaders",[116] as well as the only warriors and hunters;[117] "queens were elected"[118] and apparently "any woman could aspire to and achieve full human expression."[119]Herodotus reported that the Sarmatians were descendants of Amazons and Scythians, and that their females observed their ancient maternal customs, "frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men".[citation needed] Moreover, said Herodotus, "no girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle".[citation needed] Amazons came to play a role in Roman historiography. Julius Caesar spoke of the conquest of large parts of Asia by Semiramis and the Amazons.[citation needed] Although Strabo was sceptical about their historicity, the Amazons were taken as historical throughout late Antiquity.[120] Several Church Fathers spoke of the Amazons as a real people.[citation needed] Medieval authors continued a tradition of locating the Amazons in the North, Adam of Bremen placing them at the Baltic Sea and Paulus Diaconus in the heart of Germania.[121]

Robert Graves suggested that a myth displaced earlier myths that had to change when a major cultural change brought patriarchy to replace a matriarchy.[citation needed] According to this myth, in Greek mythology, Zeus is said to have swallowed his pregnant lover, the titan goddess Metis, who was carrying their daughter, Athena. The mother and child created havoc inside Zeus. Either Hermes or Hephaestus split Zeus's head, allowing Athena, in full battle armor, to burst forth from his forehead. Athena was thus described as being "born" from Zeus. The outcome pleased Zeus as it didn't fulfill the prophecy of Themis which (according to Aeschylus) predicted that Zeus will one day bear a son that would overthrow him.[citation needed]

According to Adler, "there is plenty of evidence of ancient societies where women held greater power than in many societies today. For example, Jean Markale's studies of Celtic societies show that the power of women was reflected not only in myth and legend but in legal codes pertaining to marriage, divorce, property ownership, and the right to rule."[122]

Bamberger (1974) examines several matriarchal myths from South American cultures and concludes that portraying the women from this matriarchal period as evil often serves to restrain contemporary women.[clarification needed][citation needed]

While matriarchy has mostly fallen out of use for the anthropological description of existing societies, it remains current as a concept in feminism.[123][124]

In first-wave feminist discourse, either Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Margaret Fuller (it is unclear who was first) introduced the concept of matriarchy[125] and the discourse was joined in by Matilda Joslyn Gage.[126]Victoria Woodhull, in 1871, called for men to open the U.S. government to women or a new constitution and government would be formed in a year;[127] and, on a basis of equality, she ran to be elected President in 1872.[128][129]Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in 1911 and 1914,[130] argued for "a woman-centered, or better mother-centered, world"[131] and described "'government by women'".[132] She argued that a government led by either sex must be assisted by the other,[133] both genders being "useful... and should in our governments be alike used",[134] because men and women have different qualities.[135]

Cultural feminism includes "matriarchal worship", according to Prof. James Penner.[136]

In feminist literature, matriarchy and patriarchy are not conceived as simple mirrors of each other.[137] While matriarchy sometimes means "the political rule of women",[138] that meaning is often rejected, on the ground that matriarchy is not a mirroring of patriarchy.[139] Patriarchy is held to be about power over others while matriarchy is held to be about power from within,[137]Starhawk having written on that distinction[137][140] and Adler having argued that matriarchal power is not possessive and not controlling, but is harmonious with nature.[m]

For radical feminists, the importance of matriarchy is that "veneration for the female principle... somewhat lightens an oppressive system."[142]

Feminist utopias are a form of advocacy. According to Tineke Willemsen, "a feminist utopia would... be the description of a place where at least women would like to live."[143] Willemsen continues, among "type[s] of feminist utopias[,]... [one] stem[s] from feminists who emphasize the differences between women and men. They tend to formulate their ideal world in terms of a society where women's positions are better than men's. There are various forms of matriarchy, or even a utopia that resembles the Greek myth of the Amazons.... [V]ery few modern utopias have been developed in which women are absolute autocrats."[144]

A minority of feminists, generally radical,[123][124] have argued that women should govern societies of women and men. In all of these advocacies, the governing women are not limited to mothers:

Some such advocacies are informed by work on past matriarchy:

Some fiction caricatured the current gender hierarchy by describing a matriarchal alternative without advocating for it. According to Karin Schnpflug, "Gerd Brantenberg's Egalia's Daughters is a caricature of powered gender relations which have been completely reversed, with the female sex on the top and the male sex a degraded, oppressed group";[193] "gender inequality is expressed through power inversion"[194] and "all gender roles are reversed and women rule over a class of intimidated, effeminate men".[195] "Egalia is not a typical example of gender inequality in the sense that a vision of a desirable matriarchy is created; Egalia is more a caricature of male hegemony by twisting gender hierarchy but not really offering a 'better world.'"[195][196]

On egalitarian matriarchy,[197]Heide Gttner-Abendroth's International Academy for Modern Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality (HAGIA) organized conferences in Luxembourg in 2003[198] and Texas in 2005,[199][200] with papers published.[201] Gttner-Abendroth argued that "matriarchies are all egalitarian at least in terms of genderthey have no gender hierarchy.... [, that, f]or many matriarchal societies, the social order is completely egalitarian at both local and regional levels",[202] that, "for our own path toward new egalitarian societies, we can gain... insight from... ["tested"] matriarchal patterns",[203] and that "matriarchies are not abstract utopias, constructed according to philosophical concepts that could never be implemented."[204]

According to Eller, "a deep distrust of men's ability to adhere to"[205] future matriarchal requirements may invoke a need "to retain at least some degree of female hegemony to insure against a return to patriarchal control",[205] "feminists... [having] the understanding that female dominance is better for societyand better for menthan the present world order",[206] as is equalitarianism. On the other hand, Eller continued, if men can be trusted to accept equality, probably most feminists seeking future matriarchy would accept an equalitarian model.[206]

"Demographic[ally]",[207] "feminist matriarchalists run the gamut"[207] but primarily are "in white, well-educated, middle-class circles";[207] many of the adherents are "religiously inclined"[207] while others are "quite secular".[207]

Biology as a ground for holding either males or females superior over the other has been criticized as invalid, such as by Andrea Dworkin[208] and by Robin Morgan.[209] A claim that women have unique characteristics that prevent women's assimilation with men has been apparently rejected by Ti-Grace Atkinson.[210] On the other hand, not all advocates based their arguments on biology or essentialism.

A criticism by Mansfield of choosing who governs according to gender or sex is that the best qualified people should be chosen, regardless of gender or sex.[211] On the other hand, Mansfield considered merit insufficient for office, because a legal right granted by a sovereign (e.g., a king), was more important than merit.[212]

Diversity within a proposed community can, according to Becki L. Ross, make it especially challenging to complete forming the community.[213] However, some advocacy includes diversity, in the views of Dworkin[145] and Farley.[214]

Prof. Christine Stansell, a feminist, wrote that, for feminists to achieve state power, women must democratically cooperate with men. "Women must take their place with a new generation of brothers in a struggle for the world's fortunes. Herland, whether of virtuous matrons or daring sisters, is not an option.... [T]he well-being and liberty of women cannot be separated from democracy's survival."[215] (Herland was feminist utopian fiction by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1911, featuring a community entirely of women except for three men who seek it out,[216] strong women in a matriarchal utopia[217] expected to last for generations,[218] although Charlotte Perkins Gilman was herself a feminist advocate of society being gender-integrated and of women's freedom.)[219]

Other criticisms of superiority are that it is reverse sexism or discriminatory against men, it is opposed by most people including most feminists, women do not want such a position,[r] governing takes women away from family responsibilities, women are too likely to be unable to serve politically because of menstruation and pregnancy,[225] public affairs are too sordid for women[226] and would cost women their respect[227] and femininity (apparently including fertility),[228] superiority is not traditional,[229][s] women lack the political capacity and authority men have,[t] it is impractical because of a shortage of women with the ability to govern at that level of difficulty[227] as well as the desire and ability to wage war,[u][v][w] women are less aggressive, or less often so, than are men[236] and politics is aggressive,[237] women legislating would not serve men's interests[227][238][239] or would serve only petty interests,[227] it is contradicted by current science on genderal differences,[240] it is unnatural,[241][242][x][244] and, in the views of a playwright and a novelist, "women cannot govern on their own."[245] On the other hand, another view is that "women have 'empire' over men"[246] because of nature and "men... are actually obeying" women.[246]

Pursuing a future matriarchy would tend to risk sacrificing feminists' position in present social arrangements, and many feminists are not willing to take that chance, according to Eller.[205] "Political feminists tend to regard discussions of what utopia would look like as a good way of setting themselves up for disappointment", according to Eller,[247] and argue that immediate political issues must get the highest priority.[247]

"Matriarchists", as typified by comic character Wonder Woman were criticized by Kathie Sarachild, Carol Hanisch, and some others.[248]

Some theologies and theocracies limit or forbid women from being in civil government or public leadership or forbid them from voting,[249] effectively criticizing and forbidding matriarchy. Within none of the following religions is the respective view necessarily universally held:

Feminist thealogy, according to Eller, conceptualized humanity as beginning with "female-ruled or equalitarian societies",[302] until displaced by patriarchies,[303] and that in the millennial future "'gynocentric,' life-loving values"[303] will return to prominence.[303] This, according to Eller, produces "a virtually infinite number of years of female equality or superiority coming both at the beginning and end of historical time."[304]

Among criticisms is that a future matriarchy, according to Eller, as a reflection of spirituality, is conceived as ahistorical,[206] and thus may be unrealistic, unreachable, or even meaningless as a goal to secular feminists.

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Alternative Medicine | Duke University Press

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

In a style both precise and emotional, playful and earnest, Campo delivers a most extraordinary message: that in writing, in seeing, in remembering, and in being, we embody, simultaneously, the ache as well as the cure. Briana Shemroske, Booklist

Ive rarely heard someone describe his or her doctor as accessible. Rafael Campos poetry has always been unapologetically so, but his formal decorum (from dcor: beauty, grace) makes for poems that are both objects of deep contemplation and acts of open-hearted expression. In a word, art. Steven Cramer, The Arnold T. Gold Foundation blog

"These poems are thoughtful, grounded, elegant and free of B.S. If only more doctors, preachers and writers were willing to do this in the midst of teaching and healing: to listen, and to speak the truth even when that means admitting the truth is not fully to be had, at least not yet." Seminary Ridge Review

Dr. Rafael Campo's poems are precise and incisive. You measure their beats as if listening through a stethoscope. You feel the scalpel cut through to your soul--eschewing anesthesia because you want to be awake and alert for Campo's kind of surgical intervention. He slices through the facade of your life to pull back layers of skin and mores to the core mystery of the purpose of your body. Tom Lombardo, Canadian Medical Association Journal

Rafael Campos Alternative Medicine is indeed what this doctor orders. And it is alternative: to the tunnel vision, where-did-the-day-go, mind numbing way I, and I daresay many of us, frequently pass time. Take a swig or a nibble, hold the poets hand, meet a new universe. Audrey Shafer, Journal of Medical Humanities

Alternative Medicine is a stunning and valuable tribute to humanitarian love as the one necessary constant in a chaotic world where suffering is all too real. These wise and humane poems are therapeutic and generous. As such, they are essential reading for anyone who feels not only compassion for those who suffer but also believes it is our duty to live a life in the service of humanity. Sonja James, The Journal (Martinsburg, WV)

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Alternative Medicine Degree, BS – Everglades University

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

All degree programs are offered online and on campus.

The Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Alternative Medicine will prepare freshman students for entry-level careers in the alternative medicine environment such as chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy, rehabilitation, hospitals, wellness centers, and spas. Students entering this program with previous vocational or technical training, or with an Associates Degree, will gain the knowledge necessary for advancement in the alternative medicine environment.

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE WITH A MAJOR IN ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE DESCRIPTION The curriculum is designed to allow the student to gain the knowledge necessary to work in the alternative medicine environment. The degree will enable students to incorporate a holistic approach into their careers and be successful in a variety of industries such as healthcare, sports, rehabilitation, management, spas, leisure and the beauty industries. This degree requires no Externship/Internship and no licensing or certifications will be awarded.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES Everglades Universitys Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Alternative Medicine program provides alternative medicine major courses combined with general education courses. The program enables the graduate to analyze and communicate the integration of the mind, body, and spirit within the healthcare environment by encompassing several disciplines of study such as physical medicine, integrative wellness techniques, and nutrition.

PROGRAM OUTLINE To receive a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Alternative Medicine, students must complete 123 credits as described below. The length of this program is approximately 41 months (this will vary if a student transfers in credits).

*IDS courses allow credit for appropriate prior learning. Allied Health, Natural Science, Physical Science, and Health Services Administration are commonly accepted disciplines for transfer credit into this degree major. Additional courses may be evaluated and accepted at thediscretion of the Dean of Academic Affairs or Associate Dean.

Note: All programs are offered online and/or on campus.

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Alternative Medicine Degree, BS - Everglades University

European leaders shocked as Trump slams NATO and E.U …

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

BRUSSELS European leadersgrappled with the jolting reality of President-elect Donald Trumps skepticism of the European Union on Monday, saying they might have to stand without the United States at their side during the Trump presidency.

The possibility of an unprecedented breach in transatlantic relations came after Trump who embraced anti-E.U. insurgents during his campaign and following his victory said in weekend remarks that the 28-nation European Union was bound for a breakup and that he was indifferent to its fate. He also said NATOs current configuration is obsolete, even as he professed commitment to Europes defense.

Trumps attitudes have raised alarm bells across Europe, which is facinga wave of elections this year in which anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic leaders could gain power. Most mainstream leadershave committed to working with Trump after his inauguration Friday, even as they have expressed hope that he will moderate his views once he takes office. His continued hard line has created a painful realization in Europe that they may now haveto live without the full backing of their oldest, strongest partner. The European Union underpins much of the continents post-World War II prosperity, but skeptics have attacked it in recent years as a dysfunctional bloc that undermines finances and security.

We will cooperate with him on all levels, of course, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin. But she said Europeans will need to take responsibility for themselves.

We Europeans have our destiny in our own hands, she said.

The full ramifications of apotentialbreakdown in transatlantic ties are so extensive, they are difficult to total. U.S. guarantees form the backbone of European security. The United States and the 500-million-people-strong European Union are each others most important trade partners. For decades, European nations and the United States have worked tightly together on issues of war, peace and wealth.

Trumpappears skeptical that the European Union matters to American security or economic growth.

People want their own identity, so if you ask me, others, I believe others will leave, Trump said of the European Unionina weekend interview with the Times of London and Germanys Bild newspaper. He said he did not care about the E.U.s future. I dont think it matters much for the United States, he said.

You look at the European Union, and its Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany, Trump said, meaning Germany had used the free-trade bloc to sell its goods to the disadvantage of others. He added that Merkel had made a very catastrophic mistake in opening Europes doors to migrants and refugees.

And he offered no special credit to European nations for being long-standing U.S. allies, saying he will trust Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin alike at the outset of his presidency.

I start off trusting both, he said. But lets see how long that lasts. It may not last long at all.

Trump offered mixed messages about the NATO defense alliance, which is dominated by the United States, calling it obsolete and saying it is very unfair to the United States that most nations are not meeting their voluntary defense spending commitments. With that being said, NATO is very important to me, Trump said.

(Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

The Kremlin embraced Trumps comments, with a spokesman agreeing that NATO is obsolete. British leaders also welcomed Trumps willingness to negotiate a trade deal in the wake of their nations departure from the E.U.

But among most U.S. allies, Trumps attitudes caused astonishment and excitement, not just in Brussels, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters Monday in Brussels, where he was meeting with other European foreign ministers at a previously scheduled gathering. Coming directly from a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Steinmeier said NATO had listened to Trumps comments with concern.

The incoming U.S. president is the first American leader since World War II not to support European integration. The European Unionhas long been considered to be in the U.S. interest, since it created a unified market for U.S. businesses, provided a bulwark against communism during the Cold War and helped quell the bloody slaughter that cost U.S. lives, among others, in the first half of the 20th century. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the European Union expanded eastward into formerly communist nations, a development that leaders there say helped bring rule of law and stability as they modernized their economies.

Steinmeier said Germany is trying to assess what U.S. foreign policy will actually be.For example, James Mattis, the retired Marine general nominated to be Trumps defense secretary, offered straightforward support for NATO and skepticism of Russia at his confirmation hearing last week.

Other leaders said Europes future does not rise or fall based on attitudes in the White House.

What we are looking for is a partnership based on common interests with the United States, E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters. We always like to be in good company, but we determine our policies by ourselves.

Some analysts noted that after Britains vote last June to leave the European Union, support for the E.U. in other nations increased. They wondered whether Trumps frontal challenge to the bloc might have a similar effect. But one said that if global instability rises as a result of Trumps unpredictable policies, the stress could weigh on the already taxed European Union.

Over the last decades, the United States has played a huge stabilizing role. And when this stabilizing role of the U.S. around the world falls away, because theyre doing transactional deals, that will create lots and lots of messes which will implicate European interests, said Stefan Lehne, a former Austrian diplomat who now works at Carnegie Europe, a Brussels-based think tank.

One prominent U.S. advocate of European unity was concerned about Europes ability to weather the Trump tsunami.

As the European Union battles skeptical forces, U.S. cheerleading and support has been welcomed, outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Anthony Gardnersaid last week. If there isnt someone like a [Secretary of State John F.] Kerry or an Obama ... reminding people of the importance of the European Union, then theres a vacuum.

French leaders, who face tough presidential elections in April, also appeared to be scrambling to handle the fallout. Trump allies have expressed support for the anti-E.U., anti-immigrant National Front party, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, is doing well in opinion polls. Le Pen lunched in the basement of Trump Tower last week in the company of a man who has served as an informal conduit for Trumps contacts with Euroskeptic European leaders, although the Trump transition team denied any formal meeting with the French politician.

The best response is European unity, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. As with the case of Brexit, the best way to defend Europe is to remain united. This is a bit of an invitation that we are making to Mr. Trump. To remain a bloc. Not to forget that the force of Europeans is in their unity.

But the most wishful approach to Trumps declarations may have come from Luxembourg, where the nations top diplomat said he hoped Trump was still in campaign mode.

One must hope that the statements of candidate Trump starting Friday will go in a different direction, said Luxembourgs foreign minister, Jean Asselborn. If the risks are summed up, it would be very destabilizing, which is not in the interest of America.

Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin contributed to this report.

Trump officials might be expecting E.U. to fall apart this year

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After Brexit and Trump, Europeans are liking the E.U. again

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NanoEngineering Masters Degree Program | NanoEngineering

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

The program offers the M.S. degree in NanoEngineering under both the Thesis (Plan I) and the Comprehensive Examination (Plan II). The requirements for the M.S. degree are as follows:

The three focus areas and related courses are: Focus 1 Biomedical Nanotechnology:NANO 210, 242, 243, 244, 247A, 247B, 247C, 262. Focus 2 Molecular & Nanomaterials:NANO 227, 230, 234, 239, 242, 250, 251A,251B, 252, 253, 263 Focus 3 Nanotechnologies for Energy and the Environment:NANO 212, 255, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261

Students who transfer with some graduate credit or an M.S. from another institution will have their records reviewed by a faculty advisor, and an appropriate individual course of study may be approved. The M.S. program is intended to extend and broaden an undergraduate education with fundamental knowledge in different fields. The degree may be terminal, or obtained on the way to the Ph.D. The degree is offered under both the Thesis Plan I and the Comprehensive Examination Plan II.

M.S. Time Limit Policy:Full-time M.S. students are permitted seven quarters in which to complete all requirements. While there is no written time limit for part-time students, the department has the right to intervene and set individual deadlines if it becomes necessary.

Course requirements:All M.S. students must complete a total of thirty-six units, which include a core of five courses (twenty units).

No more than a total of eight units of NANO 296 and 298 may be applied toward the course work requirement. Units in seminars (NANO 200 and 279) may not be applied toward the degree requirement.

Thesis Plan I:Completion of the research thesis (NANO 299) fulfills twelve (12) units toward the total graduation requirement. The balance is made up of the five (5) core courses (twenty (20) units) and one additional elective course (four (4) units) subject to the restrictions described above.

Comprehensive Examination Plan II:This plan involves course work only and culminates in an oral comprehensive examination based on topics selected from the core courses. In addition to the five (5) core courses (twenty (20) units), one must choose an additional four electives (sixteen (16) units) subject to the restrictions of NANO 279, 296, and 298 described above. A student should consult their academic advisor to choose an appropriate course schedule.

A sample program is shown:

Change of Degree:Upon completion of the requirements for the M.S. degree, students admitted as M.S. only or M.S. candidates are not automatically eligible for admission to the Ph.D. Program. M.S.-only and M.S. candidates who subsequently wish to pursue a doctorate must submit an application for a change in status to their examining committee. The application, if approved by the committee, must be signed by a faculty member who expects to serve as the students Ph.D. advisor. The student must also submit a general petition for graduate students to effect the change of status. If the student elects the comprehensive examination plan for the M.S. degree, the examining committee may recommend that the comprehensive examination replace the preliminary qualifying examination expected of Ph.D. students, but must be passed at the 70% grade.

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NanoEngineering Masters Degree Program | NanoEngineering

Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

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Toxicology Conferences 2017 | Pharmacology Conferences …

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Danzig

Sessions/Tracks

On behalf of Conference Series LLC we are pleased to welcome you all to Chicago, Illinois, USA to attend the 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology during July 20-22, 2017

Toxicology 2017 is one of the most significant conferences in the world where it contains many disciplines related to the research work and which are prominent in the field it is a leading platform to debate and acquire about the present and developing research works of Toxicology and Pharmacology. Toxicology 2017 which is scheduled at Chicago, USA influences main and important advances in the field. The conference may lead to long-lasting scientific collaborations.

Track 1: Toxicology and Pharmacology

The connected discipline of toxicology includes the study of the nature and mechanisms of deleterious effects of chemicals on living beings. The study of toxicology as a distinct, yet related, discipline to pharmacology highlights the emphasis of toxicologists in formulating measures aimed at protective public health against exposures associated with toxic materials in food, air and water, as well as hazards that may be related with drugs. The word pharmacology itself comes from the Greek word. Pharmacology not only includes the sighting of drugs, but also the study of their biochemical properties, mechanisms of action, uses and biological effects.

Toxicology Conferences | Pharmacology Conferences | Toxicology and Pharmacology Conferences

9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; Society of Toxicology; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; EUROTOX; German Society of Toxicology

Track 2: Mechanisms of Toxicity

Mechanisms of toxicity are important in both practical and theory wise. It provides a rational basis for understanding descriptive toxicity data, approximating the possibility that a substance will cause risky effects, establishing measures to avoid or antagonize the toxic effects, designing drugs and industrialized chemicals that are fewer hazardous, and evolving pesticides that are more selectively poisonous for their target organisms.

Toxicity Conferences | Immunotoxicity Conferences | Drug Toxicity Conferences

9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 5th Immunogenicity & Immunotoxicity Conference on February 6-7, 2017 in San Diego, CA; 2nd International Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules, 6 - 9 November 2017, Lisbon, Portugal; Stem Cells in Drug Discovery & Toxicity Screening, July 10-11, 2017, Boston, USA; 19th International Conference on Predictive Human Toxicity, February 16 - 17, 2017, London, United Kingdom; Predicting Drug Toxicity, June 13-14, 2017, Boston, USA; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; EUROTOX; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association;

Track 3: Molecular Toxicology

Molecular toxicology, the use of sub-atomic science standards and advancements to preclinical wellbeing appraisal, speaks to a key apparatus for comprehension systems of danger and surveying the dangers connected with toxicities. The utilization of quality expression markers to early stage preclinical security evaluation can possibly affect pipelines in two fundamental zones: lead improvement and issue administration.

Toxicology Conferences | Molecular Conferences | Molecular Toxicology Conferences

International Conference on Molecular Evolution July 18-19, 2016 Bangkok, Thailand; 2nd World Congress on Molecular Genetics and Gene Therapy July 3-5, 2017 Bangkok, Thailand; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; Computational Aspects: Biomolecular NMR (GRS) June 10 - 11, 2017, USA; Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) April 3-5, 2017, Berlin, Germany; International Conference on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology April 3-5 2017, Munich, Germany; 60th Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences May 16-20, 2017, Ottawa, Canada; Canadian Anatomic and Molecular Pathology, February 2-4, 2017, Whistler, Canada; 2nd International Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules, 6 - 9 November 2017, Lisbon, Portugal; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association;

Track 4: Applied Toxicology

Applied Toxicology deals with the fundamentals in toxicology and risk assessment, including the most important databases. The topics related to Applied Toxicology are Medicinal Chemistry, Biochemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacodynamics, Pharmacokinetics and Instrumental Chemistry. Toxicology is the study of the toxic substances which are poisons and their risky effects on biological systems. Drugs are medicines for diseases but can also have unsafe effects prominent to toxicity and deadly injuries

Occupational Toxicology Conferences | Toxicology Conferences | Pharmaceutical Conferences

11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology

Track 5: Regulatory Toxicology

Regulatory Toxicology includes the gathering, handling and evaluation of epidemiological as well as experimental toxicology data to license toxicologically grounded results absorbed to the safety of health against injurious effects of biochemical materials. Furthermore, Regulatory Toxicology supports the growth of regular procedures and new challenging approaches in order to constantly progress the technical basis for decision-making developments.

Regulatory Toxicology Conferences | Toxicology Conferences | Pharmacovigilance Conference

12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; Argentine Toxicological Association; American Board of Toxicology; EUROTOX; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology;

Track 6: Clinical Toxicology

Clinical toxicology is absorbed on the diseases related with short-term and long-term disclosure to numerous toxic substances. It typically overlaps with other disciplines such as biochemistry, pharmacology, and pathology. Persons who specify in clinical toxicology are referred to as clinical toxicologists. Their work emphases around the identification, analysis, and treatment of conditions resulting from disclosure to harmful agents. They regularly study the toxic effects of numerous drugs in the body, and are also apprehensive with the treatment and prevention of drug toxicity in the population.

Toxicology Conferences | Clinical Toxicology Conferences | Pharmacology Conferences

9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States;Academy of Toxicological Sciences; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology;

Track 7: Computational Toxicology

Computational toxicology is a discipline in the area of computational molecular sciences which is definitely swiftly emerging due to the overall public attention stimulated by many of us initiatives. Health care specialists beauty sector fragrance and flavour as well seeing that lawmakers and chemical substance protection regulators. It really is of particular concern in remedy discovery and progression and its own assessment is compulsory for the getting of new medicines for humans make use of it. The effect of toxicity and safety connected events in the progression of new biochemical elements is significant whether it pertains to medications or other chemical substances.

Computational Conferences | Toxicology Conferences | Computational Toxicology Conferences

3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; American Board of Toxicology;

Track 8: Organ Toxicity

The gathering of antimicrobial drugs and their metabolic by-products in organs can be poisonous, leading to organ injury. Toxicity is the degree to which a material can harm an organism. Toxicity can mention to the effect on an entire organism and the result on a substructure of the creature such as organ which may effect on any organ of the human being organ or tissue in the human body can be affected by antimicrobial toxicity

Organ Toxicology Conferences | Toxicity Conferences | Neurotoxicology Conferences

3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; Predicting Drug Toxicity, June 13-14, 2017, Boston, USA 5th Immunogenicity & Immunotoxicity Conference ImmunoTX Summit on February 6-7, 2017 in San Diego, CA; 2nd International Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules, 6 - 9 November 2017, Lisbon, Portugal; 19th International Conference on Predictive Human Toxicity, February 16 - 17, 2017, London, United Kingdom; Stem Cells in Drug Discovery & Toxicity Screening, July 10-11, 2017, Boston, USA; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology ; Society of Toxicology of Canada; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences;

Track 9: Applied Pharmacology

Applied Pharmacology is the clinical utilizations of the medications and its use in genuine medicinal practice. Where in this it lets the doctors to extend his realities of the medication the approach it would really work in the medicinal science. It is the utilization of the medications and how the pharmacological activities or data could be connected to the therapeutics. Additionally to give clarification to various medications having associated with the pharmacological activity. It Provides elucidations about medication collaborations and to clear up the activity of different medications on the numerous organs in the body when they are sick state with symptoms disagreements

Pharmacology Conferences | Toxicology Conferences | Pharmaceutical Conferences

9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 5th International Conference on Pharmacology and Ethnopharmacology Mar 23-25, 2017 Orlando, USA; 6th Global Experts Meeting on Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Cardiac Medications April 13-14, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 7th Global Experts Meeting on Neuropharmacology July 31-Aug 02, 2017 Milan, Italy; 10th International Conference on Neuropharmacology and Neuropharmaceuticals Oct 23-24, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 7th European Congress of Pharmacology 26-30 June 2016 stanbul, Turkey; Annual International Conference on Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences (PHARMA), 26 - 27 October 2015 Bangkok, Thailand; 18th International Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacology January 21-22,2016 Paris, France; 117th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics March 8 - 12, 2016 San Diego, California, USA; World congress on pharma and Advanced Clinical Research November 6-8, 2017, Singapore; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology ; Society of Toxicology of Canada; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology

Track 10: Genetic Toxicology

Genetic toxicology is of the toxic effects of harm to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Genetic info, programmed chemically in DNA, is conserved, simulated and transmitted to consecutive generations with high reliability. Damage to DNA can happen through usual biological procedure or as the result of contact of DNA, directly or indirectly, with biochemical, physical or agents. Genetic toxicology over the years has been to examine mechanisms of inheritance by providing tools to study DNA and RNA structure, DNA repair and the role of mutation at both the individual and population levels

Genetic Conferences | Medical Toxicology Conferences | Genetic Toxicology Conferences

9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Society of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology; American Board of Toxicology

Track 11: Risk assessment

Risk assessment is a methodical investigation of an assignment, job or procedure that we carry out at work for the persistence of classifying the important risks that are present. Risk assessments are very significant as they form an essential part of a virtuous occupational health and safety management strategy. They help to make consciousness of exposures and risks. Identify them who may be at risk. The identification, assessment, and valuation of the levels of risks complicated in a situation, their assessment against standards, and determination of an acceptable level of risk

Risk Assessment Conferences | Occupational Conferences | Toxicology Conferences

11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Society of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology; American Board of Toxicology

Track 12: Environmental and Occupational Toxicology

Environmental Toxicology is the investigation of effects of contaminations on the structure and capacity of biological communities. It does exclude the regular poisons, additionally the synthetic chemicals and their impact on the earth. It relies on upon the impacts of the toxicants on the organic chemistry and physiology. The principle motivation behind the natural toxicology is to recognize the mode/site of the activity of a xenobiotic. It additionally incorporate how the chemicals travel through biological systems and how they are consumed and metabolized by plants and creatures, the instruments by which they cause illness, result in inherent deformities, or toxin living beings

Environmental Toxicology Conferences | Ecologic Conferences | Occupational Conferences

12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Colombia Society of Toxicology; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada

Track 13: Experimental Toxicology

Protection of any live non-human vertebrate drifting animals of a tame species shall not be used in processes. The take care of animals used in processes, including management, shall have had suitable education and preparation. Experimental Toxicology widely covers all features of experimental and clinical studies of functional, biochemical and structural disorder. Validity announcements are also given in valuation procedures particularly if a skilled must choose which data of.

Experimental Conferences | Toxicology Conferences | Pharmaceutical Conferences

10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA;9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada

Track 14: Immunotoxicology

Immunotoxicology offers a critical assessment of planned experimental animal models and methods, and discusses the influence that immunotoxicity can make to the overall valuation of chemical-induced adverse health effects on individuals and the ecosystem. Animal models of autoimmunity associated with chemical exposure, includes recommendations for the selection of sentinel species in ecotoxicology

Immunological Conferences | Immunotoxicology Conferences | Toxicity Conferences

12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; 53rd European Societies of Toxicology, September 10-13, 2017, Bratislava, Slovak; 19th International Conference on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, March 29 - 30, 2017 Singapore, SG; 15th International Conference on Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology December 14-16, 2017 Dubai, UAE; 56th Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology March 12-16, 2017 Baltimore USA; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 38th Annual Meeting, November 1216, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Academy of Toxicological Sciences; International Union of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Colombia Society of Toxicology; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology

Track 15: Toxicity Testing

Toxicity is key to evaluate potential dangers to people through the intense, sub endless, and interminable presentation of creatures to pesticides. The more correct sorts of harmfulness that are resolved incorporate cancer-causing nature; developing incorporating teratogenicity in regenerative danger and neurotoxicity the degree of metabolite testing required relies on upon the level of conceivable poisonous quality and ecological steadiness of the metabolite. A toxicity test, by augmentation, is intended to create information in regards to the antagonistic impacts of a material on human or creature wellbeing, or the earth.

Toxicology Conferences | Toxicity Conferences | Pharmaceutical Conferences

9th Euro-Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology June 22-24, 2017 Paris, France; 11th Global Toxicology and Risk Management Meeting October 10-12, 2017 London, UK; 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology July 20-22, 2017 Chicago, USA; 3rd Global Genomics and Toxicogenomics Meeting September 27-28, 2017 Chicago, USA; 12th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment October 19-20, 2017 Atlanta, USA; Stem Cells in Drug Discovery & Toxicity Screening, July 10-11, 2017, Boston, USA; 2nd International Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules, 6 - 9 November 2017, Lisbon, Portugal; Predicting Drug Toxicity, June 13-14, 2017, Boston, USA 5th Immunogenicity & Immunotoxicity Conference, one of three parallel tracks to the ImmunoTX Summit on February 6-7, 2017 in San Diego, CA; 19th International Conference on Predictive Human Toxicity, February 16 - 17, 2017, London, United Kingdom; American Board of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology; Society of Toxicology of Canada; EUROTOX; Academy of Toxicological Sciences International Union of Toxicology; Argentine Toxicological Association; Austrian Society of Toxicology; Colombia Society of Toxicology; American College of Medical Toxicology

Toxicology 2016

6th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology was hosted by the Conference Series LLC in Houston, USA during October 17-19, 2016. The conference was focused on the theme "Bringing together leading researchers to share pragmatic insights" and facilitated by the Conference Series LLC. Liberal reaction and cooperation was received from the Editorial Board Members of Conference Series LLC Journals, Toxicology-2016 Organizing Committee Members, and from researchers, analysts and pioneers in Toxicology.

The conference was started by the Keynote Forum and we are chuffed to thank all our Keynote Speakers, Honorable Guests, Speakers and Conference Attendees for creating a successful meeting.

The conference has encrusted through the following sessions:

We would like to specially mention our Keynote Speakers who participated very enthusiastically and actively

The speakers gave their productive commitment as exceptionally enlightening presentations and made the meeting an extraordinary achievement.

We thank all the members who supported the conference by encouraging the healthy discussions. Conference Series LLC expresses gratitude to the Organizing Committee Members for their generous nearness, support and help towards Toxicology-2016. After the immense idealistic reaction from logical crew, prestigious identities and the Editorial Board individuals from Conference Series LLC, we are pleased to announce our forth coming conference 10th Global Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology" to be held in Chicago, USA during July 20-22, 2017.

We anticipate your precious presence at the Toxicology-2017 Conference.

Let us meet again @ Toxicology-2017

Toxicology 2015

Toxicology 2015 Past Conference Report

Conference Series LLC is the proud host of the4thGlobal Summit on Toxicologywhich took place inPhiladelphia, USAduringAugust 24-26, 2015with the theme,Exploring the Tailored Strategies and Lucid Technologies in Toxicology and Pharmacology.The Editorial Board Members of Conference Series LLC Journals and the Organizing Committee Members of the conference have extended their unsparing support and active participation towards Toxicology 2015. The participants included eminent speakers, scientists, industrialists, delegates, researchers and students who thoroughly relished the conference.

The core of the conference revolved around interactive sessions on the following scientific tracks:

This event is a collaborative effort and Conference Series LLC would like to thank the following people for making this conference a grand success:

Moderators

Keynote Speakers

We would sincerely thank the distinguished speakers who resplendently conducted workshops on Genotoxicity:

The conference marked its start by an opening ceremony which included introduction by the Honorable Guests and the Members of Keynote Forum. All the speakers have extended their contribution in the form of highly informative presentations to lead the conference to the ladder of success. Conference Series LLC extends its warm gratitude towards all the Participants, Eminent Speakers, Young Researchers, Delegates and Students.

All accepted abstracts have been indexed inConference Series LLCjournal, theJournal ofClinical Toxicologyas a special issue.

After the huge optimistic response from scientific fraternity, renowned personalities and the Editorial Board Members ofConference Series LLCfrom across the world,Conference Series LLCis pleased to announce the5thGlobal Summit on Toxicology and Applied Pharmacologyto be held duringOctober 17-19, 2016inHouston, Texas, USA.

We look forward to welcoming you to theToxicology 2016Conference and hope that the event will be both informative and enjoyable.

Toxicology-2014

Toxicology 2014 Past Conference Report

The3rdInternational Summit on Toxicology & Applied Pharmacologytook place inChicago, USAonOctober 20-22, 2014. The conference was titled: New Challenges and Innovations in Pharmacological and Toxicological Sciences and hosted by theConference Series LLC. Generous response and active participation was received from the Editorial Board Members ofConference Series LLCJournals, Toxicology-2014 Organizing Committee Members, as well as from scientists, researchers and leaders in Toxicology.

Students from various parts of the world took active participation in poster presentations. Students who presented well were awarded Best Poster Presentations for their outstanding contribution in the field of Toxicology.

The conference was carried out through various sessions and the discussions were held on the following scientific tracks:

The conference was opened by introductions from the honorable guests and members of the keynote forum. On the first day of opening the keynote speakers were,

Gerhard Eisenbrand,University of Kaiserslautern, Germany

Pavel Vodicka,Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Republic

Anne Marie Vinggaard,Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

Special session was conducted by Carter Cliff, Cellular Dynamics International, USA on the topic Pluripotent stem cell models-Application in toxicology and beyond, Heres-Pulido M E, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Mexico on the topic The Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster.

Symposium conducted by Cinzia Forni from University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy and Hemant Misra from Prolong Pharmaceuticals, USA and the title of the Symposium is Stress response in living organisms exposed to pollutants.

All the speakers gave their fruitful contribution in the form of highly informative presentations and made the conference a great success.

All accepted abstracts have been indexed inConference Series LLCJournal of Clinical Toxicologyas a special issue.

Toxicology-2013

Toxicology 2013 Past Conference Report

The2ndInternational Summit on Toxicologytook place inLas Vegas, USAonOctober 07-09, 2013.The conference was titled: Insight into the Global Issues of Toxicology and hosted by theConference Series LLC. Generous response and active participation was received from the Editorial Board Members ofConference Series LLCJournals, Organizing Committee Members, scientists, researchers, clinical experts and leaders from the field of Toxicology.

Toxicology Conferences 2017 | Pharmacology Conferences ...

Anti-Aging & Longevity Center | Of Pittsburgh

Posted on January 23, 2017 by ev1

For individuals looking to slow the signs of aging, stop the signs of aging and even reverse the signs of aging, optimizing the bodys function by optimizing cellular, endocrine, and immune function IS the answer. We lead people to encountering health and vitality starting from within with hormonal therapy and nutritional health with BHRT, high-grade supplements (nutriceuticals), chemical-free cosmeticsto treat the effects of aging. chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic infections, hormone imbalance, and immune dysfunction. We believe in The dignity and sanctity of life. Respecting nature and the beauty of human life. Aging as a positive and noble experience, emotionally and physically. Working with nature and science to provide the changes that benefit both health and longevity. Learning every minute of every day. Continuously improving, learning and striving to better ourselves. Sharing experiences, thoughts and beliefs to improve everything we do,ourselves, those around us and the ability to improve the world, one person at a time. Personal responsibility for ourselves and each other. Balancing life physically, emotionally and spiritually.

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Anti-Aging & Longevity Center | Of Pittsburgh

Psychedelic trance – Wikipedia

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Danzig

Psychedelic trance, psytrance or psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of synthetic rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs.[3][4] By 1998 psytrance had become a mainstream form of music.[citation needed]

Psytrance lies at the hardcore, underground end of the diverse trance spectrum.[5] The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full on, darkpsy, Hi-Tech, progressive, suomi, psy-chill, psycore, psybient, psybreaks, or "adapted" tracks from other music genres. Goa trance preceded psytrance, when digital media became more commonly used psytrance evolved. Goa continues to develop alongside the other genres.[3]

The first hippies who arrived in Goa, India in the mid-1960s were drawn there for many reasons, including the beaches, the low cost of living, the friendly locals, the Indian religious and spiritual practices and the readily available Indian cannabis, which until the mid-1970s was legal. During the 1970s the first Goa DJs were generally playing psychedelic rock bands such as the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and The Doors. In 1979 the beginnings of electronic dance music could occasionally be heard in Goa in the form of tracks by artists such as Kraftwerk but it was not until 1983 that DJs Laurent and Fred Disko, closely followed by Goa Gil, began switching the Goa style over to electro-industrial/EBM which was now flooding out of Europe from Frontline Assembly, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb as well as Eurobeat.[6][7]

The tracks were remixed, removing the lyrics, looping the melodies and beats and generally manipulating the sounds in all manner of ways before the tracks were finally presented to the dancers as custom Goa-style mixes.[8]

The music played in the 1980s was a blend of styles loosely defined as techno and various genres of computer music e.g. acid house, electro. The music was brought on tape cassettes by fanatic traveler collectors and DJs. This material was shared and copied tape-to-tape by Goa DJs, in an underground scene that was not driven by music industry labels. The artists producing this "special Goa music" had no idea that their music was being played on the beaches of Goa by cyber hippies.[citation needed]

The first techno played in Goa was by Kraftwerk in the late 1970s on the tape of a visiting DJ[citation needed]. At that time, music played at most parties was performed by live bands, with tapes used to fill the space between sets. Old school acid heads who devoutly believed that only acid rock should be played at parties initially resisted, but they soon relented and converted to the revolutionary wave of technodelia that took hold in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, sampling synth and midi music appeared globally, and DJs became the preferred format in Goa. Two tape decks would drive a party with continuous music and continuous dancing. Cassette tapes were used by DJs until the 1990s, then DAT tapes were used.[citation needed]

Among DJs playing in Goa during the 1980s were Fred Disko, Dr Bobby, Stephano, Paulino, Mackie, Babu, Laurent, Ray, Fred, Antaro, Lui, Rolf, Tilo, Pauli, Rudi, and Gil. Their music was eclectic in style but nuanced around instrument/dub spacey versions of tracks that evoked mystical, cosmic, psychedelic, political, and existential themes. DJs in Goa made special mixes by editing various versions of a track to make it longer, taking the stretch mix concept to new levels. Trip music for journeying to outdoors, trance dancing to mind-expanding music while high on hallucinogens was the Goa mantra. The night clubs were not fueled by alcohol, but by hash and acid. The result was an anarchistic, alternative counterculture of DIY psychedelic exploration driven by future rhythm machine music.

By 199091 Goa was no longer under the radar and had become a hot destination for partying. As the scene grew bigger, Goa-style parties spread like a diaspora all over the world from 1993. Parties like Pangaea and megatripolis in the UK helped spawn a multitude of labels in various countries (U.K. Australia, Japan, Germany) to promote psychedelic electronic music that reflected the ethos of Goa parties, Goa music, and Goa-specific artists, producers, and DJs.[9] Goa Trance as commercial scene began gaining global traction in 1994. The golden age of the first wave of Goa Psy Trance as a generally agreed upon genre was between 199497.

By 1992 the Goa trance scene had a pulse of its own, though the term 'Goa trance' didnt become the name tag of the genre until around 1994.[10] The Goa trance sound, which by the late 1990s was being used interchangeably with the term psychedelic trance, retained its popularity at outdoor raves and festivals rather than in nightclubs.[citation needed] New artists were appearing from all over the world and it was in this year that the first Goa trance festivals began, including the Gaia Festival in France and the still-running VuuV festival in Germany.

In 1993 the first 100% Goa trance album was released, Project 2 Trance, featuring tracks by Man With No Name and Hallucinogen to name two. Goa trance enjoyed its commercial peak between 1996 and 1997 with media attention and some recognised names in the DJ scene joining the movement. This hype did not last long and once the attention had died down so did the music sales, resulting in the failure of record labels, promotion networks and also some artists. This commercial death of Goa trance was marked musically by Matsuri Productions in 1997 with the release of the compilation Let it RIP. On the back sleeve of the album at the bottom of the notes, R.I.P: Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, William Burroughs & Goa Trance was written.

While the genre may have been incubated in the goa trance scene it went on to proliferate globally.[11] Its impact was felt in western Europe, Israel, North America, Australia, Japan and South Africa.[11] Psytrance is linked to other music genres such as big beat, electroclash, grime and 2-step.[12] The genre evolved in conjunction with a multimedia psychedelic arts scene.[11]

Psychedelic trance is distinguished from other subgenres because of the unique sounds it typically features.[13] Psychedelic trance has a distinctive, energetic sound (generally between 135 and 150 BPM) that tends to be faster than other forms of trance or techno music. It uses a very distinctive resonated bass beat that pounds constantly throughout the song and overlays the bass with varying rhythms drawn from funk, techno, dance, acid house, eurodance and trance using drums and other instruments. The different leads, rhythms and beats generally change every 8 bars.[14] Layering is used to great effect in psychedelic trance, with new musical ideas being added at regular intervals, often every 4 to 8 bars. New layers will continue to be added until a climax is reached, and then the song will break down and start a new rhythmic pattern over the constant bass line. Psychedelic trance tracks tend to be 610 minutes long.[15]

Fullon is a psytrance style. Full-on is particularly popular in Israel.[3]

Full-on psychedelic trance is a High-energy music for peak moments. Often having melodic, energetic and crisp basslines with a high bpm (usually 140 to 148 bpm). There are some related styles that are derived from this style and are distinguished as different varieties of full-on: twilight and night full on (or dark full on) playing bolder and lower notes in their basslines, morning (light), and uplifting.[16]

Progressive psytrance, is among the common party themes, normally distinguished between a psytrance (often fullon), and progressive dance floor.[3] Example progressive artists include Astrix or Protonica.

Suomisaundi is the "freeform" variation of psytrance, where the artist has almost no limits but still bear a specific "Finnish" style (which is also produced in other countries but the originating Suomi designation is in wide use).[citation needed]

Dark psychedelic trance is the heavier end of the psychedelic trance spectrum with BPMs from about 148 and up. Related styles include psycore (fast and crazy), hi-tech (bouncy and glitchy), and forest (organic and earthy). Characterized of having obscure, deep and more eschatological background that leads into profund meditation of death, night and transcendence. Often with dismal sounds and heavy basslines.

Large psytrance festivals are both culturally and musically diverse.[11] They have attracted a following amongst international backpackers. Earthdance, the world's largest synchronized music and dance festival for peace, has its roots in the psychedelic trance scene.[11] In Australia, pioneering outdoor festival Earthcore began in 1992 and runs a yearly event predominately featuring psytrance amongst the long list of international performers. Rainbow Serpent Festival and Maitreya Festival are also held in Victoria.

The Boom Festival in Portugal was originally a psytrance festival but now includes world music. It is held every second year in August and combines social activism with cultural and spiritual elements.[17] In 2004, the Glastonbury Festival dedicated a full day on the Glade stage to psytrance.[18]

Ozora festival in Hungary is held every year during summer days on a private estate near village Dadpuszta, and it originally started as a party called Solipse which was held during Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999.

Noisily Festival in the United Kingdom is an electronic music festival in the UK. Held in July the festival features a large psychedelic trance stage. Noisly 2015 featured a rare appearance in the UK by Parasense.

South Africa has numerous psytrance festivals.[19] The favourable weather and beautiful landscape have made it part of a number of global destinations for the party traveller.

There are multiple well-known recurring psytrance festivals in the USA. On the East Coast, Massachusetts-based Fractaltribe hosts their annual Fractalfest while New York State's Radial Engine Tribe has Smoke On The Water. Chilluminati's Sacred Earth Open-Air Festival covers the Midwest, and T.O.U.C.H. Samadhi's Equinox is in North Carolina. On the West Coast, Psytribe's Freakshow has been a Halloween fixture for 16 years. Northern California hosts Symbiosis which is in its 11th year. The Burning Man festival in Nevada has also featured a number of psytrance-oriented camps and DJ performances.

In 2006 research was conducted on the global psytrance scene. 600 people from 40 countries provided detailed information via an online questionnaire.[20] The results were published as "Beyond Subculture and Post-subculture? The Case of Virtual Psytrance" in the Journal of Youth Studies.[21]

In 2013 Graham St. John published Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance on Equinox Publishing.

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Psychedelic trance - Wikipedia

National Education Technology Plan – Office of Educational …

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Danzig

The National Education Technology Plan is the flagship educational technology policy document for the United States. The Plan articulates a vision of equity, active use, and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible. While acknowledging the continuing need to provide greater equity of access to technology itself, the plan goes further to call upon all involved in American education to ensure equity of access to transformational learning experiences enabled by technology. The principles and examples provided in this document align to the Activities to Support the Effective Use of Technology (Title IV A) of Every Student Succeeds Act as authorized by Congress in December 2015.

In order to keep pace with the changes we are seeing in schools, districts, and states on an almost daily basis, we are updating the NETP more often. Feedback from our stakeholders indicates that the previous five year update cycle was not frequent enough. In response, with this 2017 update, we commence a pattern of yearly, smaller scale updates to the NETP.

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Technology: Industries: PwC

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Danzig

PwC Global 100 Software Leaders - France 2016

In addition to viewing the ranking of the top 100 digital companies in France, this publication features a series of articles and interviews with industry players on the key disruptive trends impacting the digital sector today.

Global Technology Scorecard is a PwC analysis and benchmark of top technology companies. The Scorecard cross-compares company quarterly and annual performance and revenues. We also offer a deeper dive into data through our online charting tool allowing you to get up close to raw statistics and manipulate which companies you'd like to compare and benchmark against.

The third quarter of 2016 has given a strong push to the Indian private equity (PE) space, seeing overall investment of 4.3 billion USD in 131 deals.

In the first half of 2016, private equity and venture capital investment in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) industry maintained the strong momentum of H2 2015. Total TMT deal value and volume accounted for 55% and 39% of overall industry investment, respectively.

The globalisation of the software industry creates emerging-market stars

A closer look at autonomous vehicles, in-car technology, car sharing and ride sharing.

PwC's quarterly report providing analysis of and trends in technology IPOs around the world.

A quarterly look at trends in the Technology deals market.

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Technology: Industries: PwC

NSA Tournaments – NSA Florida Fastpitch Softball

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Danzig

N S A AVALANCHE OF SOFTBALLS - 2 SEED INTO A DOUBLE ELIM! 2017 CHRISTINA PARK LAKELAND 2017-01-21 2017-01-22 8U - 18U NSA IRON WOMAN SEMINOLE COUNTY SOFTBALL COMPLEX ALTAMONTE SPRINGS 2017-01-21 2017-01-22 8U-18U TEST FILE POMPILI Fort White Fort White 2017-01-21 2017-01-22 8U-18U KEEP THE BEAT ALIVE-COREY JONES MEMORIAL TOUR PALM BEACH CITY PALM BEACH CITY 2017-01-28 2017-01-29 8U - 18U 2017 NSA WINTER NATIONALS CITY CENTER PARK PORT ORANGE 2017-01-28 2017-01-29 8U-18U N S A WEST COAST WINTER LEAGUE TAMPA & FISHHAWK TAMPA & FISHHAWK 2017-01-29 2017-04-02 8U - 18U 3 N 2 ECKERD COLLEGE INVITATIONAL EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-02-04 2017-02-05 8U - 18U NSA SUPER BOWL CLASSIC IN WINTER GARDEN FOUNDATION ACADEMY WINTER GARDEN 2017-02-04 2017-02-05 8U-18U I HEART NSA SOUTH FLORIDA PALM BEACH CITY PALM BEACH CITY 2017-02-11 2017-02-12 8U - 18U N S A SWEETHEART BALL CHRISTINA PARK LAKELAND 2017-02-11 2017-02-12 8U - 18U NSA SWEETHEART BALL AT THE SEMINOLE COUNTY SOFTBALL COMPLEX SEMINOLE COUNTY SOFTBALL COMPLEX ALTAMONTE SPRINGS 2017-02-11 2017-02-12 8U-18U NSA SPRING TRAVEL BALL LEAGUE WEEK 1 WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-02-12 2017-02-12 8U-18U I HEART SOFTBALL FOUNDATION ACADEMY WINTER GARDEN 2017-02-18 2017-02-19 8U-18U NSA FOR THE LOVE OF SOFTBALL VICTORIA PARK JACKSONVILLE 2017-02-18 2017-02-19 8U-18U 2017 NSA BRING IN THE SPRING LAKE FAIRVIEW PARK ORLANDO 2017-02-25 2017-02-26 8U-18U NSA 2017 PBG BASH PALM BEACH CITY PALM BEACH CITY 2017-02-25 2017-02-26 8U - 18U NSA SPRING TRAVEL BALL LEAGUE WEEK 2 WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-02-26 2017-02-26 8U-18U N S A MARCH MADNESS Vaneck Park DUNEDINCLEARWATER 2017-03-04 2017-03-05 8U - 18U NSA MARCH MADNESS AT THE BEACH CITY CENTER PARK PORT ORANGE 2017-03-04 2017-03-05 8U-18U NSA SOUTH MARCH MADNESS PALM BEACH PALM BEACH CITY PALM BEACH CITY 2017-03-11 2017-03-12 8U - 18U NSA GRIP IT AND RIP IT FOUNDATION ACADEMY WINTER GARDEN 2017-03-11 2017-03-12 8U-18U NSA MARCH MADNESS IN JACKSONVILLE VICTORIA PARK JACKSONVILLE 2017-03-11 2017-03-12 8U-18U N S A SPRING FLING CHRISTINA PARK LAKELAND 2017-03-18 2017-03-19 8U - 18U NSA SPRING TRAVEL BALL LEAGUE WEEK 3 WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-03-18 2017-03-18 8U-18U NSA ST PATRICKS DAY CLASSIC EASTLAKE COMMUNITY PARK SORRENTO 2017-03-18 2017-03-19 8U-18U NSA ST PATRICKS DAY CLASSIC CECIL FIELD JACKSONVILLE 2017-03-18 2017-03-19 8U-18U NSA SPRING SOFTBALL FEVER SEMINOLE COUNTY SOFTBALL COMPLEX ALTAMONTE SPRINGS 2017-03-25 2017-03-26 8U-18U NSA SPRING TRAVEL BALL LEAGUE WEEK 4 WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-03-26 2017-03-26 8U-18U APRIL FOOLS DAY CLASSIC HANCOCK PARK CLERMONT 2017-04-01 2017-04-02 8U-18U N S A APRIL FOOL'S CLASSIC CHRISTINA PARK LAKELAND 2017-04-01 2017-04-02 8U - 18U NSA APRIL FOOLS CLASSIC IN JACKSONVILLE CECIL FIELD JACKSONVILLE 2017-04-01 2017-04-02 8U-18U NSA SPRING IS HERE ! PALM BEACH CITY PALM BEACH CITY 2017-04-01 2017-04-02 8U - 18U BASH AT THE BEACH SLUGFEST MADIERA BEACH REC. R.O.C MADIERA BEACH 2017-04-08 2017-04-09 8U - 18U BASH AT THE BEACH SLUGFEST MADIERA BEACH REC. R.O.C MADIERA BEACH 2017-04-08 2017-04-09 8U - 18U NSA DOUBLE DOUBLE AT THE BEACH CITY CENTER PARK PORT ORANGE 2017-04-08 2017-04-09 8U-18U NSA SPRING TRAVEL BALL LEAGUE WEEK 5 WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-04-09 2017-04-09 8U-18U EASTER 1 DAY SATURDAY ONLY TOURNAMENT NEW TPA COMM. PARK TAMPA 2017-04-15 2017-04-16 8U - 18U NSA TAX FOR THE GIRLS PALM BEACH CITY PALM BEACH CITY 2017-04-15 2017-04-16 8U - 18U BATTLE AT THE BEACH MADIERA BEACH REC. R.O.C MADIERA BEACH 2017-04-22 2017-04-23 8U - 18U BATTLE AT THE BEACH ORMOND BEACH SPORTS COMPLEX ORMOND BEACH 2017-04-22 2017-04-23 8U-18U NSA SPRING TRAVEL BALL LEAGUE DOUBLE ELIM TOURNAMENT WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-04-22 2017-04-23 8U-18U N S A APRIL ATTACK- 2 SEED INTO A DOUBLE ELIM EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-04-29 2017-04-30 8U - 18U NSA ULTIMATE BORDER WARS WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-04-29 2017-04-30 8U-18U NSA ULTIMATE BORDER WARS VICTORIA PARK JACKSONVILLE 2017-04-29 2017-04-30 8U-18U GRIP IT AND RIP IT- 3 SEED INTO A DOUBLE EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-05-06 2017-05-07 8U - 18U NSA CINCO DE MAYO LAKE FAIRVIEW PARK ORLANDO 2017-05-06 2017-05-07 8U-18U NSA FLOWERS FOR MOM AT THE BEACH CITY CENTER PARK PORT ORANGE 2017-05-13 2017-05-14 8U-18U TEAM TAMPA FLOWERS FOR MOM NEW TPA COMM. PARK TAMPA 2017-05-13 2017-05-14 8U - 18U NSA ARMED FORCES DAY CLASSIC SEMINOLE COUNTY SOFTBALL COMPLEX ALTAMONTE SPRINGS 2017-05-20 2017-05-21 8U-18U NSA ARMED FORCES DAY CLASSIC VICTORIA PARK JACKSONVILLE 2017-05-20 2017-05-21 8U-18U WILSONDEMARINI SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-05-20 2017-05-21 8U - 18U N S A MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC- PLAY FOR $299 CHRISTINA PARK LAKELAND 2017-05-27 2017-05-28 8U - 18U NSA MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC AT THE BEACH ORMOND BEACH SPORTS COMPLEX ORMOND BEACH 2017-05-27 2017-05-28 8U-18U N S A WEST COAST REGIONALS 2 SEED INTO A DOUBLE ELIM. EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-06-03 2017-06-04 8U - 18U NSA MIZUNO SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS WEST ORANGE GIRLS CLUB OCOEE 2017-06-03 2017-06-04 8U-18U N S A FATHER'S DAY CLASSIC EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-06-10 2017-06-11 8U - 18U NSA LOUISVILLE SLUGGER SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMINOLE COUNTY SOFTBALL COMPLEX ALTAMONTE SPRINGS 2017-06-10 2017-06-11 8U-18U N S A "A" STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS Multiple Venues Polk County 2017-06-17 2017-06-18 8U - 18U N S A "B" STATE WARM UP NEW TPA COMM. PARK TAMPA 2017-06-17 2017-06-18 8U - 18U NSA FATHERS DAY CLASSIC CITY CENTER PARK PORT ORANGE 2017-06-17 2017-06-18 8U-18U NSA NORTH FLORIDA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS VICTORIA AND DREW PARKS JACKSONVILLE 2017-06-17 2017-06-18 8U-18U N S A "B" STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS Multiple Venues Polk County 2017-06-24 2017-06-25 8U - 18U N S A FUN IN THE SUN ( "A" TEAMS ONLY) MADIERA BEACH REC. R.O.C MADIERA BEACH 2017-06-24 2017-06-25 8U - 18U N S A FIREWOKS FRENZY EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-07-01 2017-07-02 8U - 18U N S A WORLD SERIES WARM UP Fishhawk LITHIA 2017-07-08 2017-07-09 8U - 18U NSA WORLD SERIES WARM UP CITY CENTER PARK PORT ORANGE 2017-07-08 2017-07-09 8U-18U N S A "B" NATIONAL WORLD SERIES EDDIE C MOORE CLEARWATER 2017-07-12 2017-07-15 8U - 18U

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NSA Tournaments - NSA Florida Fastpitch Softball

Psoriasis – familydoctor.org

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Danzig

How is psoriasis treated?

There are a number of treatments for psoriasis. Your doctor will help you decide which one is best for you. Keeping your skin moisturized with an over-the-counter product is a good first step. Body lotion can help keep skin from getting too dry and cracking. It can also help remove some of the scales. Bathing daily in Epsom salts, Dead Sea salts, bath oil or oatmeal can calm redness and remove scales.

Prescription creams, ointments, lotions and gels (also called topical medicines) that you put on the affected areas are often used to treat psoriasis. To help the medicine stay on the skin, you might apply it and then cover the areas with plastic wrap (such as Saran Wrap). Options include corticosteroids, a type of vitamin D and pine tar. Special shampoos are used for psoriasis on the scalp.

For more severe cases of psoriasis, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics or other medicines in pill form. Some of these medicines can cause side effects, so your doctor may prescribe these for only a short period of time before returning to another type of treatment.

Sunlight also can help psoriasis, but be careful not to stay in the sun too long. A sunburn can actually make your psoriasis worse. Talk to your doctor about how to safely try sunlight exposure as a psoriasis treatment. Light therapy may be another option for treatment of psoriasis. With this treatment, the affected skin is exposed to controlled forms of artificial sunlight, usually after using Psoralen, a light-sensitizing medicine. This is called PUVA treatment. Talk to your doctor about this option.

While psoriasis will typically improve with treatment, it may not ever completely go away. The scales of psoriasis should improve after you begin treatment. It may take 2 to 6 weeks for the affected areas of your skin to return to a more normal thickness, and the redness may take several months to improve. Sometimes, certain scaly spots will get better at the same time that other spots get worse.

After youve been using a certain type of medicine for a while, your psoriasis may get used to the treatment. If this happens, your medicine may not be as effective as it once was. Your doctor may change your medicine. Sometimes you may need a stronger dose of medicine. Talk to your doctor if your psoriasis doesnt seem to be getting better with treatment.

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Psoriasis - familydoctor.org

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