Danse Macabre: The Black Death, Part 2 | The Libertarian Alliance ...

by Anna Raccoon
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AnnaRaccoon/~3/oBAvFoWKb4U/

Note: I?m not convinced by the claim that plague and bubonic plague are not the same. Differences in symptoms and mortality rates may not mean very much. The 14th century Black Death and the 17th century plagues wiped out virtually everyone who had no resistance. We are the descendants of the survivors, and have probably inherited some resistance to the infection. It?s the same with the rats. That in itself would explain slower transmission rates, and lower rates of infection and mortality.

Syphilis was much more virulent on its first appearance at the end of the 15th century. Infections comparatively harmless to Europeans and Asians appear to have wiped out over 90 per cent of the native populations in South America during the 16th century.

Of course, infections also change over time. A bacterium is unlikely to survive for very long when it kills its host before it can spread to another. Therefore, changes in the nature of the bacterium and growing resistance of its victims will, over time, transform catastrophic pandemics into endemic problems. SIG

In mid September 1597 a wandering beggar called Andrew Hodgson came to the Cumbrian town of Penrith. As an itinerant of that time we can imagine him as an undernourished, crushed looking individual. On about the 17th or 18th September 1597 Andrew Hodgson would probably have noted a sweet smell on the air. Soon he would have developed a headache, and then a fever. Soon he was dead. He was buried on 22nd September 1597 he was buried. The Penrith parish register records his burial and the cause of death: (P) ? Plague.

11 days later, the first victims died simultaneously in both Carlisle and Kendal, quite some distance apart.

In Penrith, nothing else seemed to happen. Nobody died. And then, 22 days later, the deaths began. The first was Elizabeth Railton. There was a slight pause again, and the next week it really began to let rip. Although the actual figures are a bit unclear, by the time it was over probably certainly more than 600 died in Penrith, at a rough guess around 40% of the population. About par for the course for the well satisfied Reaper of Souls.

Nearly seventy years later, in September 1665 Plague came to the sleepy and peaceful Derbyshire village of Eyam. The first person to die was George Viccars, sometimes a tailor but importantly a known itinerant. I do not know where he had been, but I will again surmise that George Viccars smelt an unusual and aromatic evening air. And then the fever began. Soon it was raging and he was coughing blood and bleeding from the nose. On 7th September 1665 he, too, died of Plague.

Once again, there was a pause. The villagers waited anxiously to see whether the Plague would spread.

At first there was nothing. Then, 15 days later George Viccars? neighbour on one side of his house died. The next day, the neighbour on the other side died. Then the Thorpe family in a house on the other side of the street began to die. To illustrate how the Plague began to sweep through the village and ?snowball?, and to remind us that these were real people just like you and me, here is a short extract of the record of the dead, and their dates of passing on:

  • ? George Viccars 7 Sept 1665
  • ? Edward Cooper 22 Sept 1665
  • ? Peter Hawkesworth 23 Sept 1665
  • ? Thomas Thorpe 26 Sept 1665
  • ? Sarah Sydall 30 Sept 1665
  • ? Mary Thorpe 30 Sept 1665
  • ? Mathew Hands 1 Oct 1665
  • ? Elizabeth Thorpe 1 Oct 1665
  • ? Margaret Bands 3 Oct 1665
  • ? Mary Thorpe 3 Oct 1665
  • ? Sythe Torre 6 Oct 1665
  • ? William Thorpe 7 Oct 1665
  • ? Richard Sydall 11 Oct 1665
  • ? William Torre 13 Oct 1665
  • ? Annie Torre 13 Oct 1665
  • ? John Sydall 14 Oct 1665
  • ? Ellen Sydall 15 Oct 1665
  • ? Humphrey Hawkesworth 17 Oct 1665
  • ? Martha Bands 17 Oct 1665
  • ? Jonathan Ragge 18 Oct 1665
  • ? Humphry Torre 19 Oct 1665
  • ? Thomas Thorpe 19 Oct 1665
  • ? Mary Bands 20 Oct 1665
  • ? Elisabeth Sydall 22 Oct 1665
  • ? Alice Ragge 23 Oct 1665
  • ? Alice Sydall 24 Oct 1665
  • ? George Ragge 26 Oct 1665
  • ? Jonathan Cooper 28 Oct 1665
  • ? Humphry Torre 30 Oct 1665
  • ? Hugh Stubbs 1 Nov 1665
  • ? Alice Teylour 3 Nov 1665
  • ? Hannah Rowland 5 Nov 1665?

And on and on it went?

The readers of this blog are pretty switched on. Some are already ahead of me in research. They will spot patterns of itinerancy, a two week period between the initial death and the subsequent wider outbreak. And, looking at the names in the list above, they will gain the impression that this killer was being transmitted within families.

Modern medical science has had it for the past century that the plague was caused by fleas spread by rats. But the consensus at the time was that it was spread by human contact. Believing this, and under the leadership of the local vicar William Mompesson, the villagers took a dramatic and incredibly brave stance. Instead of abandoning the village ? and thus probably spreading the disease ? they decided to stay, and put the village into quarantine. In so doing they must have assumed that they were in all probabilities handing themselves a death sentence, or at least entering the Lotto of Death with a pretty good chance of ?winning?. In fact, it seems that Mompesson?s wife Katherin (sic) did insist on their children being taken away, but she returned to be at his side. It would prove a brave but fatal choice.

With the cooperation of the local magnate the Earl of Devonshire, supplies of food were left to be picked up at a stone on the highway outside the village. But for more than 15 months no one entered the village, and nobody left. Eventually, when it was deemed safe, a party did enter the village. They expected to find almost everyone dead. The destruction was indeed terrible. Some 260 souls had died. But some survived. How many is controversial, but it may have been as low as 80 or more likely as high as 450. Once again the mortality was probably between 30 ? 40% .

Mompesson survived but his loyal wife Katherin did not. It is recorded that Mompesson insisted in going about the parish and visiting his flock, and that Katherin Mompesson went with him. One evening, whilst driving home in their carriage Katherine exclaimed how extraordinarily sweet the air was that evening. Mompesson himself could smell nothing remarkable. He knew in that instant that his wife was infected, and almost certain to die. Smelling a ?sweet? air was a well known symptom of the onset of plague. For the reasons I shall try to explain below, it was probably caused by olfactory nerves detecting the beginnings of the collapse of internal organs. She was detecting the initial stages of her body beginning to rot under the onset of the Plague. She died in his arms, a few days later.

On the edge of the village Elizabeth Hancock and her family were unscathed for some months. And then August 1666 the Plague struck, and within a week (not a month, as I previously wrote) Elizabeth Hancock buried her husband and all six of her children. Their graves can still be visited today. But the disease did not touch her at all. According to varying accounts, either it did not touch Marshall Howe, the man who took on the role of carting away and burying the dead (and helped himself to a few of their belongings along the way), or he contracted the disease and survived it, and then carried on apparently immune. However, it took his wife and son.

Another villager, Margaret Blackwell, contracted the pestilence and was left for dead. But her fever broke and she rushed downstairs to quench her thirst and famously downed a jug full of bacon fat. Why did she and others contract the disease and still survive?

In line with modern science, the local legend has it that George Viccars contracted the Plague by being bitten by a flea which had been attached to a piece of wool ordered from London. But did he?

In my previous piece on this topic I had explained how in the late 19th Century the Black Death came to be associated with the newly diagnosed and understood Bubonic Plague, and as conventional history teaches, was spread by rat fleas. I hinted that this may be a fundamental error. And I mentioned the odd phenomenon of how one person in a household otherwise totally wiped out might survive unscathed. How could that be explained?

In fact there are several good reasons for reaching the conclusion that whatever it was, the Black Death was not Bubonic Plague ? at least not in the form that now still survives ? and that that rats had nothing at all to do with. This is why.

First of all, the Black Death moved far, far too quickly. In the mid to late 19th Century when Bubonic Plague spread through South East Asia and into India, it moved slowly, trundling from village to village. Its movement took years, decades, moving at the pace of the migrating (and dying) rats.

The Black Death was quite different. It swept across Europe truly like some horseman of the apocalypse. It engulfed almost all of southern and central Europe in less than a year.

In fact it moved through England, on to Scotland and beyond into the Baltic States at an astonishing rate of about five miles a day. It erupted in multiple towns, cities and villages at once. It moved like wildfire. Rats cannot spread that fast, even if hiding in ships and carts on the main trade routes. Neither is it convincing to have this speed and level of contagions plague being passed on by rat flees in wool and so forth.

Indeed a fundamental problem number for the Bubonic Plague theory is that there are not enough rats anyway. Professor Sam Kohn has teaches history at Glasgow University, He has spent years researching the Black Death, and the contemporary descriptions. But there is no record of sick rats dying just before or at the time of any outbreaks, as was the case in the modern epidemics of Bubonic Plague in India and South Asia.

Further, the only rat in England at the time was the Black Rat (rattus rattus ? a great name). The Black Rat is originally a native of Asia, but had spread to Britain by Roman times. It seems a rather sweeter and more timid creature than the nastier and more aggressive cousin the Brown Rat (rattus norvegicus ? there is a story in that too) which is now prevalent, but did not arrive in England until the 18th Century. The Black Rat likes warm cosy places. It would not enjoy or be capable of moving across open ground and large parts of Britain are wholly alien to the species. It could not have flourished in Baltic states ? and the Plague did.

What is more, natural historians can now work out from bio analysis of stuff such as owl pellets what the predators were eating; they were eating mice and voles, but not rats. And, if rats had been a problem, then barns, farm buildings, dovecots and the like would have been constructed differently. In most of England, there were probably no rats at all when the Black Death raged.

Next is the problem of mortality rates. Bubonic Plague is a killer, but not in the same league as the Black Death. In the Indian pandemic of the late 19th Century, when the association with the Black Death was first made, there was a mortality rate of about 2% of the population. The Black Death wiped out whole towns. Commonly, anywhere between 30 to 70% of the population died.

And then there is a problem with the poor. If it was infection spread by rats, you would expect the brunt of the assault to be borne, as ever, by the poor who would be living in the most squalid conditions and in closest proximity to the rats ? unless there were rats running about everywhere. But the Black Death was an astonishingly egalitarian killer. High and low, Cardinals and paupers alike died. Statistical analysis of the dead in London by cross referencing databases of tax and death records shows that there was no particular statistical variation between rich and poor.

Finally, there is a problem with the description of the disease. I gave two or three accounts in the first piece, but bear with you if I take you back again. One of the most famous is that given by the 14th Century philosopher and writer Giovanni Boccaccio. He was to go on to write a book of morality tales based on the pestilence called ?The Decamaron?:

?The first signs of the plague were swelling in the groin or armpits. These bulges ranged between the size of an apple and an egg. They were called gavoccioli. Soon after contracting the plague the gavoccioli would spread over the whole body. The next stage of the disease was black or livid spots on the arms and thighs, spreading over the rest of the body in a short time. Nothing could be done, most died within three days, only a few were ever cured. The pestilence passed from the sick to the healthy, being around a sick person in any way including touching their clothing could make you sick. I (the narrator) saw it with my own eyes. Animals even died from the pestilence.?

This all seems consistent with Bubonic Plague, and it is probably the most famous contemporary description because his book was widely circulated. But there is reason to suspect that Boccaccio had fled the city. So the description may not be the best. In any event, the boils he describes cover the while body. Now look again at the first description when the Plague makes its landing in Europe at the Sicilian Port of Messina:

?At the beginning of October, in the year of the incarnation of the Son of God 1347, twelve Genoese galleys . . . entered the harbor of Messina. In their bones they bore so virulent a disease that anyone who only spoke to them was seized by a mortal illness and in no manner could evade death. The infection spread to everyone who had any contact with the diseased. Those infected felt themselves penetrated by a pain throughout their whole bodies and, so to say, undermined. Then there developed on the thighs or upper arms a boil about the size of a lentil which the people called ?burn boil?. This infected the whole body, and penetrated it so that the patient violently vomited blood. This vomiting of blood continued without intermission for three days, there being no means of healing it, and then the patient expired.? [My emphasis]

So yes there were boils, but not quite in the same way, and more importantly, there is the tell tale vomiting blood. That is not generally associated with Bubonic Plague except in its rarer form of Pneumonic Plague. But that requires a secondary infection after the lungs of the victim and is rare. And even that produces bloody sputum, but the victim does not ?vomit blood?. And it would not spread at the necessary rate.

Once again, Professor Sam Cohn of Glasgow University has collated many hundreds os contemporary accounts of the disease. Most of the accounts talk not of ?buboes?, but instead of dark blotches spreading across the skin, the dark pustules erupting, and the vomiting of blood. If you vomited blood that was it. You were dead.

This is not Bubonic Plague. What was it? And how was it spread?

The case of the Derbyshire village of Eyam is very important for a number of reasons. First, because the records are so good. Second, because the community is relatively isolated, it provides a gene pool which allows us too peer back in time and uncover clues about what might have allowed for resistance to the disease.

In their excellent and readable ?The Return of the Black Death?, Professor Christopher Duncan, Emeritus Professor of Zoology at Liverpool University and Susan Scott, Social Historian (Wiley Press, available on Amazon) set out the results of their meticulous research into the patterns infection at both Eyam and in the Cumbrian outbreak of 1598. From the available records they establish what is to my mind a really pretty clear picture of how the disease spread. Their research makes perfect sense. In respect of Eyam in particular, by mapping the various families and relationships within the village and cross referencing dates of death you can do two things.

First, you can work out links between the infected victims and follow the spread of the disease by human contact. Second, you can make a reasonable guess from the dates about how long the victim had the disease and crucially remained infectious without showing the symptoms.

I should say that I have spent quite a bit of time looking at modern forensic archeological attempt to work out what the Black Death was. I have indeed been helpfully referred to some results by readers of the Blog last weekend. The gist of these involve taking samples from what are known or believed to be the skeletons of victims of the plague. This process involves taking samples from the bones and particularly teeth of skeletons and searching for signs of the DNA of the Y Pestis bacteria DNA; that being the bacillus that causes modern Bubonic Plague.

Very briefly, from what I can ascertain the position is patchy. It seems that there are strong indications that there are traces of a DNA which matches the DNA of Y Pestis. But, and it is a big but, the match is not 100%. According to my understanding, some scientists think there is a perfect match; some think there is not enough evidence because of the age of the samples: and some that there is a roughly 93% match with the DNA of Bubonic Plague but you have to be careful, because bits of DNA are being patched together. However, the DNA strongly suggested that whatever these people died of, it was closely related to, and maybe the grandparent of, Bubonic Plague.

These, then, are my conclusions.

The Black Death was not Bubonic Plague in its modern incarnation, although it may be closely related to it and have similar DNA. Or in certain there may have been Bubonic Plague around as well; a double whammy for our Medieval ancestors.

The disease would arrive in an area within the body of one or more humans. In the case of the Penrith outbreak, in the body of a travelling stranger called Andrew Hodgson. All infectious diseases have a basic common pathology. There is a period of time when the disease will be present but latent and passive. Then it begins to spread and multiply in the host, and in most cases the bacillus becomes contagious by whatever means ? touch, or breath, or more intimate matters depending on the pathology of the individual disease, but without the victim displaying any symptoms. What this infectious period is also varies from disease to disease. In the case of the very highly infectious chicken pox, for example, the infectious period is 10-11 days. In the case of standard influenza which from time to time sweeps the land it is a mere 2-3 days. Then the first visible symptoms arrive, although the victim will usually remain capable of infection. From an evolutionary point of way, it is a very clever way of spreading yourself about, and indeed necessary if you were virus which was so potent as to probably kill the host.

I am convinced that Professor Duncan and Susan Scott are broadly correct in their conclusions that analysis of patterns of death in the Cumbrian outbreak, and that one can make a pretty good calculation of the pathology of this thing. It is as follows:

  • ? A probable latent period of infection of 10 to 12 days;
  • ? And infectious period without symptoms appearing of 20 to 22 days;
  • ? An average period of 3-5 days between onset of symptoms and probable death during which the victim remained infectious.

That is an astonishing infectious period of around 27 days, and for the great bulk of this the victim was free from obvious symptoms. It is, as far as I can tell, unlike nothing on God?s earth today. This is why there was a gap between the deaths of Andrew Hodgson and George Viccars and the outbreak in the wider community. And it is this which explains why the disease spread like wildfire, as its innocent hosts travelled around, meeting with friends and family, or gathering in the local tavern or market. Duncan and Scott even point to a particular wedding party as being one of the key moments of the spread of the Plague in Eyam.

Next, the disease was even worse and more virulent than Bubonic Plague. The fever was horrific and agonizing. A common feature was vomiting blood. Bleeding from the nose and other orifices was often noted. Something like boils or pustules would break out over the whole body, not just the area on the lymph nodes. My research tells me that the depiction above is taken from a 15th Century Bible; I am ashamed to say I have not been able to track down which one. However, whoever created that image was neither a fool, nor had any need to exaggerate. It plainly indicates the pustules ? or something ? raging over the whole body.

This is an account of autopsies undertaken in Rome and Naples in the mid 17th Century. ?Petechiae?, by the way, are in modern parlance livid black and purple blotches caused by failure of the blood vessels beneath the skin:

?The exterior part of the body was found to be covered by black petechiae?the omentum rotten, the gust all black, the peritoneum cyanotic, the stomach very thin, the spleen rotten, the liver doubled in size but of a bad colour and consistency, the gallbladder full of black bile?.the pleurae were rotten?the heart livid with its tip black, both ventricles full of very dark blood. The lungs, of bad consistency and colour, were all covered with black petechiae?

It was noticed that all the organs ? namely the heart, lungs, liver, stomach and guts ? were covered with black spots. Moreover, the gall bladder was found full of black bile, which was very thick and fattish?Especially, however, the major vessels of the heart were full of blood, which was clotted and black.?

I think these symptoms go way beyond what would be expected of Bubonic Plague. As Professor Duncan, Scott and Professor Cohn all argue, they are much closer to what would be expected of what is now known as Haemorragic Fever, such as Ebola and Marburg Fever. Today, these are amongst the most feared killers on earth. Death is almost certain, and it is a very nasty way to go. In brief, the major organs and blood vessels simply start to melt under attack from the virus. Another version is Crimea-Congo haemorragic fever, a disease now occurs sporadically throughout much of Africa, Asia, and Europe and results in an approximately 30% fatality rate. It is spread by ticks. I have taken this description from a scientific journal. After a short incubation period, CCHF is characterized by a sudden onset of high fever, chills, severe headache, dizziness, back and abdominal pains. Additional symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, neuropsychiatric, and cardiovascular changes. In severe cases, hemorrhagic manifestations, ranging from petechiae to large areas of livid bruising appear. Sound familiar?

In ?The Return of the Black Death?, Scott and Duncan put sum up the results of their research about the effect with this dramatic conclusion:

?Once the dreaded symptoms appeared, the agonizing end seemed inevitable: when ?Gods Tokens? ? haemorragic spots caused by blood seeping from damaged blood vessels beneath the skin ? were found on the body, this was the death certificate and four of five days of agony, frenzy and delirium followed. The victim?s thirst was unquenchable and some of them ran naked through the streets, screaming, and plunged into water cisterns. Others went completely mad with pain and threw themselves out of windows. There was internal bleeding and in the final days the vital organs began to liquefy.?

Very, very nasty.

But why did some people survive unscathed even though in close proximity to many who died? In the third and final part of this series, I shall try to set out the probably reason, namely the inbuilt immunity of a proportion of the European population probably caused by a slight genetic mutation called the CCR5 ? Delta32 mutation, and the and how this is now throwing light on the battle against Aids, and conclude with some reflections on the legacy of the Plague

Many thanks to Odin?s raven for directing me to ?The Return of the Black Death?.

And a postscript. The Reverend William Mompesson remarried. He married Elizabeth, the widow of Charles Newby, and she bore him four more children. He did rather well in the Church and prospered, and died age 70. He lies buried at Eakring. I think he deserves his rest.

?Gildas the Monk

Editor?s Note: We have a new tab at the top of the page; a huge technological achievement on Anna?s part, please note!

If you click on ?Monk?s Ramblings? you will find all Gildas? erudite past posts under one heading ? no need to wander through Anna?s meanderings to find what you really want any longer?..sniff, sniff. We might even issue a book of them?

oBAvFoWKb4U

Source: http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/danse-macabre-the-black-death-part-2/

kim kardashian and kanye west henrik stenson jobs act greg mortenson jim marshall died 2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees

Scientists 'surprised' to discover very early ancestors survived on tropical plants, new study suggests

Dec. 14, 2012 ? Researchers involved in a new study led by Oxford University have found that between three million and 3.5 million years ago, the diet of our very early ancestors in central Africa is likely to have consisted mainly of tropical grasses and sedges. The findings are published in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

An international research team extracted information from the fossilised teeth of three Australopithecus bahrelghazali individuals -- the first early hominins excavated at two sites in Chad. Professor Julia Lee-Thorp from Oxford University with researchers from Chad, France and the US analysed the carbon isotope ratios in the teeth and found the signature of a diet rich in foods derived from C4 plants.

Professor Lee-Thorp, a specialist in isotopic analyses of fossil tooth enamel, from the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, said: "We found evidence suggesting that early hominins, in central Africa at least, ate a diet mainly composed of tropical grasses and sedges. No African great apes, including chimpanzees, eat this type of food despite the fact it grows in abundance in tropical and subtropical regions. The only notable exception is the savannah baboon which still forages for these types of plants today. We were surprised to discover that early hominins appear to have consumed more than even the baboons."

The research paper suggests this discovery demonstrates how early hominins experienced a shift in their diet relatively early, at least in Central Africa. The finding is significant in signalling how early humans were able to survive in open landscapes with few trees, rather than sticking only to types of terrain containing many trees. This allowed them to move out of the earliest ancestral forests or denser woodlands, and occupy and exploit new environments much farther afield, says the study.

The fossils of the three individuals, ranging between three million and 3.5 million years old, originate from two sites in the Djurab desert. Today this is a dry, hyper-arid environment near the ancient Bahr el Ghazal channel which links the southern and northern Lake Chad sub-basins. However, in their paper the authors observe that at the time when Australopithecus bahrelghazali roamed, the area would have had reeds and sedges growing around a network of shallow lakes, with floodplains and wooded grasslands beyond.

Previously, it was widely believed that early human ancestors acquired tougher tooth enamel, large grinding teeth and powerful muscles so they could eat foods like hard nuts and seeds. This research finding suggests that the diet of early hominins diverged from that of the standard great ape at a much earlier stage. The authors argue that it is unlikely that the hominins would have eaten the leaves of the tropical grasses as they would have been too abrasive and tough to break down and digest. Instead, they suggest that these early hominins may have relied on the roots, corms and bulbs at the base of the plant.

Professor Lee-Thorp said: "Based on our carbon isotope data we can't exclude the possibility that the hominins' diets may have included animals that in turn ate the tropical grasses. But as neither humans nor other primates have diets rich in animal food, and of course the hominins are not equipped as carnivores are with sharp teeth, we can assume that they ate the tropical grasses and the sedges directly."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oxford.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. J. Lee-Thorp, A. Likius, H. T. Mackaye, P. Vignaud, M. Sponheimer, M. Brunet. From the Cover: Isotopic evidence for an early shift to C4 resources by Pliocene hominins in Chad. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; 109 (50): 20369 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204209109

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/qTa5zKyMwqo/121214200916.htm

sopa and pipa bills censoring the internet blackout blackout congress censored jerry yang

Obama signs Russia trade, human rights bill

Driving in the rural town of Veazie, Maine, after midnight, a woman accidentally hits what she thinks is an oversized cat. She puts the unconscious animal in her car and drives several miles. In the town of Bangor, Maine, the cat regains consciousness.?That?s when the...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-signs-russia-trade-human-rights-bill-183336662.html

new jersey atlantic city ocean city maryland Nexus 7 KDKA Pumpkin Carving Ideas denver broncos

How broken windows can impact our health and fitness | My Body ...

Happy Friday!

In Malcolm Gladwell?s Tipping Point he brought to light the idea of the broken window theory ? although it?s been around since the early ?80?s.

The broken window theory is fascinating, and I believe it applies so much to our health and fitness.

It suggests that people on streets with lots of broken windows, graffiti, garbage, etc., are more likely to throw trash on the street, graffiti the
walls, and overall have much less respect for the property on that street than if it were gleaming.

Think about it this way?

When you?re in a sparkling bathroom you?re way more likely to keep it that way, right?

When former Mayor Giuliani first become mayor of NYC, he went after the small infringements like meter skipping for subways, graffiti, and getting rid of the guys that washed car windows whether you asked them to or not.

He felt that if you attack the small nuances, the serious ones like assault, rape and murder would diminish.

He was right.

So, I believe this applies to us as well?

I find that:

When my office is messy, I?m not nearly as productive, organized and on point.

When my kitchen is messy, I tend to order in food more.

When my laundry is piling up, I skip the gym because I don?t have any clothes to wear.

When I don?t have healthy food stocked up, I?m way more likely to eat unhealthy.

I try very hard not to let the small annoying things build up.

Seems like common sense but it can make a BIG difference, and it?s certainly not common practice.

Like ?-> spending just 5 minutes every night cleaning and organizing, stopping at the grocery store (no matter how annoying it might be), and doing laundry every week, as opposed to letting it build up.

THE PROBLEM WITH LETTING THINGS BUILD UP?

Is that they become DAUNTING! As tempting as it is to say, ?Alright, I?ll do everything once??, it?s much more effective and way LESS daunting to do a little every day.

I find that when I stay on top of these small but impactful tasks, staying consistent with my diet and exercise is easier.

Just like nothing begets nothing ?-> consistency begets consistency.

So, if you?re unsure of what to do this weekend, why not spend some time cleaning and organizing?

Small things can make a big difference, and we might as well make them work in our favor.

##

Curious to know how MBT gets our clients such amazing results? Click here.

Thoughts? I'd love to hear them! Share them with me on Twitter or on our feedback page.

Source: http://www.mybodytutor.com/blog/2012/12/how-broken-windows-can-impact-our-health-and-fitness/

walmart nfl nfl best buy sears Aeropostale Jcpenny

Gmail (for iPhone)

Since the release of the standalone Gmail app for iPhone (free), Google has tweaked and fine-tuned its mighty little program to be faster, cleaner, sleeker, and, now it includes support for multiple accounts, more comprehensive. You can already use Gmail on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch via the bundled Mail app from Apple, but Google's own app is simply a better experience, especially for search. Many people, I'm sure, will continue to the use Mail as their primary email application because of how it shows you many inboxes from multiple services at once, but you'll want the Gmail app for search at the very least. And if you're solely a Gmail user, it could?and maybe will?replace Apple's Mail app.

Mail vs. Gmail
The Gmail app has a clean and clear design, with a collapsible menu pane appears to the left of the central interface, similar to the Facebook iOS app and the recently released Yahoo! Mail app (free, 4 stars) (and increasingly other apps, too). Toggle the menu open, and it nudges its way into view, taking up not more than half the screen so that it's roomy and easy to read. Here, you can find the requisite Gmail folders, such as Important, Sent, Drafts, and Starred, as well as all the custom folders you've made. Labels, the Trash, and an All Mail button appear at the bottom of the menu, while the top contains a button that lets you quickly switch between your various Gmail accounts.

The Settings, also accessible from a button at the top of the main menu, has one invaluable feature for mobile users: controls for automated vacation response emails. Who hasn't returned from traveling and forgotten to switch off that interminable out-of-office message? And, the moment you remember, you're never by a computer. Now you don't have to be.

There's a menu listing for Chats, although it's not an active messaging service; it's just a folder (which appears in your Web-based Gmail account, too) where your chat dialogs are saved if you enable a setting). When you preview messages, the majority of text in the Gmail app appears in light gray type, indicating read messages. The only time you'll see bold or black is for unread mail. Compared to the bold, black lettering of cascading point sizes used in the Mail app, Gmail's text is much harder to read.

Open a message, and each person on the thread appears in a different color, using the same color-coding scheme seen in the Gmail website. Whoever initiates a new email has her name in green. The first respondent shows up in purple. The third is red, and so on.?Threading the messages in this way is a signature Gmail features, which is why you won't find anything similar in the standalone Yahoo! Mail app, even though the two are quite similar in several other respects.?

Message text appears in whatever color text the sender uses (usually black, with blue for hyperlinks), although other information, such as the sender details in a forwarded message, appear in a harder-to-read light gray.

In terms of search performance, the Gmail app outperforms Mail easily, because it searches your entire mailbox, whereas the Mail app restricts you from searching beyond the folder that's open (usually, it's Inbox). You can search all Gmail mail from the Mail app, but you have to first navigate to the All Mail folder within your Gmail account, and even there it's restricted to the messages that are loaded. The Mail app gives you results letter-by-letter as it finds matches, in part because it's only searching a limited subsection of your entire mailbox. Gmail waits until you've typed all your letters and hit "Search" before embarking on the hunt to match the terms anywhere in your mail.

Which Gmail iPhone App to Use?
Both the Gmail iOS app and the native Mail app connected to a Gmail account do a fine job of getting your messages to you when you're not in front of a full-sized computer. Which one you choose is largely a matter of preference, although I think anyone who uses Gmail nearly exclusively will opt for the official Gmail for iPhone app from Google. It's smooth, fast, and now supports multiple Gmail accounts.

Personally, I use about five email accounts regularly, two of which are Gmail-based, and I use both the Mail app and Gmail app. I like to see from the Mail app the activity across all my personal accounts, whereas I access office email from the Gmail app, where search often matters more than in my personal email.

If search is of the utmost essence, you'll definitely appreciate the Gmail app, even if, like me, you end up using both apps. Gmail is the clear Editors' Choice for email on the iPhone.

More iPhone Apps Reviews:
??? Yahoo! Mail (for iPhone)
??? Gmail (for iPhone)
??? Tripomatic (for iPhone)
??? City Guides, Offline Maps (for iPhone)
??? Elgato EyeTV Mobile
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/25Wj5kbXl5k/0,2817,2395783,00.asp

daylight savings time john mccain game changer selection sunday corned beef recipe time change rpi

Google Maps (for iPhone)

Our short national nightmare is over. People can stop heading to the wrong cities, falling off of warped bridges, and dying of heat strokes while using Apple Maps. iPhone owners running iOS 6 can now restore Google Maps to its prominent place on the home screen for free, thanks to a new, standalone Google Maps app that's available in Apple's App Store. Also, for the first time, it brings parity with Android by including a beta version of voice-enabled car navigation. Just as Google Maps Navigation works well on Android phones, Google Maps now does the same thing on iPhones; the only difference is that you have to download it first. It's not the best at car navigation, but thanks to everything else it offers, it's an easy Editors' Choice for iPhone GPS?apps.

Interface, Map Graphics, and POI Search
In some ways, the new Google Maps app is actually smoother, more attractive, and more fun to use than the previous version. Fire it up and you'll see a 2D overhead map view of your current location. The little blue icon still pulses with light when it has a lock on your GPS location, but it's more subtle now, without the rings that emanated from it in earlier versions. Across the top is a search bar. To the right is a small icon that gives you fast access to your saved destinations, both from here and your regular Google desktop account.

Map and satellite graphics look fantastic on the iPhone 5's large Retina screen, with 3D buildings appearing in Manhattan as you zoom in closer, thanks to the new vector-based rendering engine. You can tip the view over from 2D to 3D even in pedestrian mode. Google's famed Street Views for major cities make an appearance as well. Tap the small vertical bar of dots on the bottom right, and a panel opens up giving options for real-time traffic, public transit, satellite view, and a shortcut to the Google Earth app (if you have it installed). Highlight a point of interest, and Google will display its identity on screen. Then you can swipe up to see the location, reviews, contact information, and other relevant data.

Inputting destinations for navigation is simple; you tap the navigation icon near the top, which looks like a junction arrow that splits in two directions. You can type in anything: a street address, a point of interest, a search term, whatever you want?and then select it from the resulting list below. The app also presents you with alternative routes in each mode, with a visual of how they look on the map, so you can choose whether you'd want to take a given highway or subway. There's no way to tell it up front if you want the fastest or shortest routes, or to avoid highways, though. Regardless, during my tests, everything I searched for resulted in the correct answers, just as you would expect from Google.

Car Navigation, Other Features, and Conclusions
Many iPhone users prized Google Maps for its solid, real-time pedestrian navigation, but new to this version is a voice prompt-based mode that you can use when behind the wheel. It takes a few extra taps to begin voice navigation. Once on the road, the car navigation view is a little sparse compared with what you see on TomTom, Garmin, and other car-focused navigation apps. For example, there's no current speed, road speed limit display, or configurable speed limit alerts. There's also no way to display the trip ETA, the current time, and the distance remaining simultaneously.

Audio prompts are excellent, with a smooth voice, correct pronunciation, and detailed, complete sentences at just the right times. When Google first launched Google Maps Navigation on the Motorola Droid in 2009, voice prompts were a total mess, so this is a clear victory. Google has done a lot to add photo-realistic junction views and destination photos to its navigation, but there still aren't enough of them. In fact, if there's no photo available of a highway exit, you don't see any lane assistance at all?either a 3D rendering or 2D lane arrows?which is disappointing.?

All of the routes I tested in Manhattan and in New Jersey were accurate and worked well. As always, Google Maps data is super-accurate; it even knew that you couldn't access the Lincoln Tunnel from West 34th street traveling east, and that I had to go up to West 40th Street. Real-time traffic information was also on the mark, for the most part, although saying there are "delays" in New York City in the afternoon is like saying there are stars in the sky at night.?In addition to voice navigation, Google Maps now has bike directions and Zagat reviews, and it caches maps offline in case you're outside of a cellular coverage area.

Overall, aside from some issues with the 3D interface while driving, Google Maps is a must-download for iPhone users, whether you're on foot or behind the wheel. There's no iPad version yet, unfortunately, though I imagine Google will rectify that sooner rather than later. Just as I've said in our Google Maps Navigation?review, it does a nice job with car navigation, but dedicated car nav apps still offer more, and work more like standalone GPS devices. I wouldn't automatically discount every paid navigation app from consideration, but make no mistake: Google Maps for the iPhone is a comprehensive GPS and voice navigation solution for walking, driving, biking, and taking public transit. I can't help but wonder if Apple even needs to bother fixing its own maps anymore.

More GPS Reviews:
??? Google Maps (for iPhone)
??? LandAirSea Tracking Key
??? LandAirSea SilverCloud
??? Microsoft Streets & Trips 2013 with GPS Locator
??? LiveViewGPS Live Trac EZ
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/xiphiEUvBzU/0,2817,2413207,00.asp

the shining mariano rivera mariano rivera jobs report tiger woods masters 2012 nikki haley stan van gundy

Big-data research spurs industrial development

Dec. 14, 2012 ? One of the world's largest specialist groups within the field of big-data analytics is being assembled in Norway. The centre for Information Access Disruptions (iAD), with its head office in Troms?, is at the core of this activity.

It is a great credit to Norwegian IT research that Microsoft is moving 50 positions from the US to Norway. The draw is the iAD and its extensive expertise in big data -- currently one of the hottest areas of research.

Facing never-ending demands

The amount of data being produced around the world is increasing at an explosive rate. Research on how to accommodate and retrieve information from such vast amounts of data is in high demand.

"We have seen that many groups are jockeying for a position in this area. With significant help from the Research Council of Norway, we have succeeded in building up a unique pool of expertise in Norway over the past seven years. This is one of the main reasons why Microsoft has decided to invest here," states Bj?rn Olstad, Centre Director of the iAD and CTO of Microsoft Development Center Norway (MDCN).

The iAD is one of 21 centres granted status as a Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI) by the Research Council of Norway. The MDCN is the host institution, and partners comprise the University of Troms? (UiT), University of Oslo (UiO), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo. The centre's research focuses on the next generation of search engines and how to retrieve user-friendly information from large and complex sets of data.

A cluster in Troms?

In the short term, fifty positions are to be moved from Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington to Norway. Thirty of these will be relocated to UiO, where the iAD is working towards defining and developing new user experiences within commercial searches. The remaining 20 will be situated in Troms? where activity will focus on accessing and analysing large amounts of data.

In the longer term, Microsoft would like to add 20 more employees to the Troms? office in addition to the 30 already working there, and the 20 new positions that are soon being relocated from Redmond, Washington. Combined with personnel working in this area at UiT, this will bring the total size of the research community in Troms? up to close to 100 people.

"There has been a deliberate effort to organise the division of labour according to a cluster model. Such a large group has the potential to come up with many exciting developments together that could pave the way for other activities to come," says Dr Olstad.

A professor with clout

One of the factors behind Norway's head start within big data is a man named Dag Johansen. An IT Professor at UiT, Dr Johansen began researching systems for big data in close collaboration with Cornell University in New York as early as in 1993. Since then, his projects have resulted in over a hundred Master's and Ph.D. graduates who are working in Norwegian and international enterprises today. Dr Johansen points out that the Research Council played a pivotal role in making this possible.

"We have been in constant competition with big research groups in the US with enormous resources at their disposal. The playing field has not been level, but long-term funding from the Research Council kept our research activity going. As a result of that support, we are today at the cutting-edge and attractive partners to international industrial players.

"In 2007, when the iAD was granted status as a Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI), we gained some extra muscle that allowed us to expand our activities. The synergy effects gained through our cooperation with Microsoft and other top-notch national research groups have also been key factors," Dr Johansen emphasises.

Can attract major stakeholders

"This is a prime example of a successful union between research and industry," says Anne Kjersti Fahlvik, Executive Director of the Division for Innovation of the Research Council.

"This Centre for Research-based Innovation has helped to build a dynamic research environment that truly fulfils the needs of industry. This is the reason why Microsoft has chosen Norway for its research activities in this area. It shows that Norway is fully able to attract major international research and industrial stakeholders when we invest in large-scale, targeted initiatives," she states.

Ms Fahlvik stresses the potential for big data to become a field crucial to future Norwegian ICT initatives. "Over the past year, the Research Council has been working on a knowledge base for future ICT research. Big data has emerged as an extremely interesting subject in this process," Anne Kjersti Fahlvik concludes.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Research Council of Norway. The original article was written by Nils Ragnar L?vhaug/Karin Totland; translation by Glenn Wells/Carol B. Eckmann.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/IoRwAb2fSg0/121214085847.htm

donovan mcnabb lottery ticket megga millions what is autism the giver march 30 rimm

Outlook remains cloudy for "fiscal cliff" deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More public jousting in the "fiscal cliff" talks is expected from Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday in what has become a daily ritual of demanding more specific proposals to avert the steep tax hikes and budget cuts set for the end of the year.

On Tuesday the White House and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner traded offers still couched in broad and familiar terms that neither side found sufficiently detailed.

Boehner was expected to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

At noon, Obama planned to discuss the economy, deficit, taxes and the fiscal cliff with bipartisan group of mayors and community leaders, although that event was private.

If the public back and forth between Boehner and President Barack Obama reflects what's happening behind the scenes, negotiations to avoid the cliff have a long way to go in the short time remaining in 2012.

Obama and Boehner each have proposed cutting deficits by more than $4 trillion in the next 10 years as a way of averting the cliff, but they differ on how to get there. Economists have warned that failure to strike a deal could send the economy back into a recession.

On Tuesday Boehner rejected what the White House viewed as a concession, shrinking the proportion of deficit reduction to come from revenue from $1.6 trillion over 10 years to $1.4 trillion. Boehner has called for $800 billion in revenue through tax reform.

The White House has also repeated a proposal it made in February to consider reductions in corporate tax rates, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters.

That proposition is considered relatively uncontroversial compared to such politically sensitive matters as cutting entitlement programs such as Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly.

On Wednesday, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats in the House objected to raising the age when seniors become eligible for Medicare, which now stands at 65, as a way to cut government spending.

"Raising the retirement age does not get you that much money, so you're doing a bad thing when it comes to seniors, and you're not achieving your goal," she told CBS, adding that she was optimistic that a deal could get done before Congress adjourns for Christmas.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to Boehner to make concessions on revenues.

"To this point, there hasn't been a lot of progress, and I'm very, very disappointed," Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning.

'PLAYING TO THE MEDIA'

White House press secretary Jay Carney, commenting Tuesday on suggestions of vagueness in Obama's dealings with Boehner, responded by holding up copies of prior administration budget proposals that include, among other things, corporate tax reductions, and comparing them to the two-page offer that Boehner has sent to the White House.

A senior Republican fiscal hawk, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, faulted both sides for playing politics.

"There's no leadership in Washington either at the presidential level or the leadership level in Congress," Coburn said on CNN Tuesday night. "People are playing to the media rather than playing to the future of the country."

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky suggested in a Fox News interview late on Tuesday that, to get things moving, the House vote on the stickiest issue - whether to extend expiring tax cuts to all taxpayers except high-earners, as Democrats want, or to everyone, as Boehner wants.

Republicans would simply vote "present" on the Democratic plan, he said, allowing it to pass.

Let the Democrats approve a tax increase on upper-income taxpayers, Boehner said.

But "do it with their votes, not our votes," he said. "Republicans vote present in the House. Democrats can pass the tax increase with only Democrat votes and then the Democrats are the parties of high taxes and the Republicans are the party of lower taxes. And I think that's the way it should be."

(Editing by Xavier Briand and David Storey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/outlook-remains-cloudy-fiscal-cliff-deal-125612021--business.html

2012 kids choice awards kansas ohio state wrestlemania results womens final four josh hutcherson google april fools office space

The Best Advice For Running A Home Based Business | Fatherly ...

If you'd like to become successful with your home business then you would like to try and the best of you ability to learn as much as possible about how to achieve success in home business. To do that you need look for new tips wherever you can, like the ones in this piece here.

If you're running a home-based business, ask yourself why anybody would come to you before somebody else. Then ensure you have a good answer. Look for methods to make your product or service stand out, be different and obvious! If you stand out, you will be among the front-runners!

Exchange flyers with folk who run similar companies. You might publicize somebody elses products or services by sending out one of their flyers to your clients and have them do the same for you. Select an enterprise that will not thieve your customers: associate with another business owner that sells something new.

Look into all your options. When you get a concept for a home based business, spend the time to explore what sorts there are. Your very first thought may not be the most prominent, but looking into the many sorts of home businesses can show you which one would be the most profitable for you.

If you're just getting going on an exciting new business venture, the nicest thing to do is to focus on one thing at a time. Attempting to take on too many business ventures can only lead straight to catastrophe. Focus on one thing and then expand later once you get a grip on things.

You have 2 types of home management tools: downloadable desktop applications or internet-based applications. A benefit of a desktop application is that you don't need net access to control your tasks. The advantage of using a net-based programme is you can manage your tasks anywhere, including a coffee shop, or airport.

Involve your folks as a team and play for home-based business success. Your extroverted better half could be eager to do cold calls and handle clients. Your daughter could be excellent for articles and ad copy, while your child could create cool trademarks, websites and brochures. Above all else , they must have a great time.

Take your Internet. If your home run enterprise has a website, or runs utterly online, you can subtract up to fifty percent of your bill from your taxes. Use your best judgment when determining how much of a % you want to subtract, because if you're checked, you'll need to prove the amount of time you spend online.

Start saving for your retirement. When you have a small business, you can subtract from your taxes part of what you invest in your retirement fund. You may also write off half of what you pay to social security if you have employees working for you. Keep a record of these expenses.

So begin with all the tips you learned today, and see what works for both you and your small business. Remember that knowing something is only 1/2 what needs to be done. You need to apply all that you learned how to the best of your capability if you're expecting to achieve success.

Body Details offers the very best in Laser Tattoo Removal and Miami Laser Hair Removal being the only company that uses TrueLaser Technology. They are also the only Laser Hair Removal Company offering TrueLaser Technology West Palm Beach Laser Hair Removal.

Source: http://fatherlyours.com/?p=727

awkward awkward chase CJ Spiller tracy morgan Chase.com Talk Like a Pirate Day

Vegetable compound could become ingredient to treating leukemia

Dec. 12, 2012 ? It looks like your mother was on to something when she said, "Eat your vegetables!"

A concentrated form of a compound called sulforaphane found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables has been shown to reduce the number of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells in the lab setting, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine. The findings appear in the current edition of PLOS ONE.

"Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a type of cancer of the white blood cells common in children," said Dr. Daniel Lacorazza, assistant professor of pathology & immunology. "There is about an 80 percent cure rate, but some children don't respond to treatment. For those cases, we are in need of alternative treatments."

Lacorazza and his colleagues focused on purified sulforaphane, a natural compound found in broccoli believed to have both preventive and therapeutic properties in solid tumors. Studies have shown that people who eat a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables have a lower risk of some cancers.

"There have not been definitive studies showing how this compound interacts with blood cancers," Lacorazza said.

To study how this compound would act on acute lymphoblastic leukemia, researchers, led by Dr. Koramit Suppipat, lead author of the study who performed this work while a clinical fellow in the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Centers, incubated human-derived leukemic cell lines and primary lymphoblasts from pediatric patients with the compound. The cancer cells died while the healthy cells obtained from healthy donors were unaffected. Studies tested in pre-clinical mouse models showed similar results.

Lacorazza said the compound works by entering the cells and reacting with certain proteins. More studies will be needed, but researchers believe this compound could one day be used as a treatment option in combination with current therapies. They also are working to determine which proteins are affected by sulforaphane and how. This could identify a new treatment target that might be affected by other types of cancer cells as well.

"Sulforaphane is a natural product. However, what we used in this study is a concentrated purified form," said Lacorazza. "So while eating cruciferous vegetables is good for you, it will not have the same effect as what we saw in the lab."

Others who contributed to the study include Chun Shik Park and Ye Shen, both with the department of pathology & immunology at BCM; and Xiao Zhu, with the Summer Medical and Research Training Program (SMART) at BCM. Lacorazza is also with the department of pediatrics, BCM. Suppipat is currently a clinical instructor in the department of medicine at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Baylor College of Medicine.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Koramit Suppipat, Chun Shik Park, Ye Shen, Xiao Zhu, H. Daniel Lacorazza. Sulforaphane Induces Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (12): e51251 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051251

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/4oBksGYSQ80/121212205602.htm

beasley trailblazers michael beasley jermaine jones hbo luck unc asheville stephen jackson