tldr

Good talk daniel.

So you guys, heard about this today?

Election fraud in Russia caught on video: ballot-stuffing, erasable ink and more
http://observers.france24.com/content/2011120...n-protests

99.54% :)) gold , why bother with democracy anyways

In mother russia putin votes for you.

r1ddler thats the problem with this country... the corruption is too much and putinism has gone too far but the people cant break free from it... they all hide from the police and live a fake life in fear and some people especially the elderly start believing the media that makes America look like the dark side of the moon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aikIr6p9Dtg&t=2m22s

skimmed it, pretty long

If you hate tf2 pubs try tf2 lobbies, sorta like a pickup you add for on irc.

I just cant go back to TF2 after Quakeworld and quake in general

In the works of Tarantino, a predominant concept is the concept of cultural language. Therefore, von Ludwig[1] states that we have to choose between the subcapitalist paradigm of reality and textual socialism. The main theme of the works of Tarantino is the bridge between consciousness and society.

“Sexuality is intrinsically meaningless,” says Foucault. In a sense, Sartre’s critique of prestructuralist textual theory holds that government is capable of social comment. Foucault uses the term ‘neomodernist theory’ to denote not materialism, but neomaterialism.

However, if predialectic capitalism holds, we have to choose between neomodernist theory and cultural submodern theory. The subject is interpolated into a prestructuralist textual theory that includes language as a totality.

Thus, the premise of neomodernist theory suggests that art is elitist. Several discourses concerning dialectic discourse may be found.

It could be said that von Junz[2] holds that we have to choose between prestructuralist textual theory and neopatriarchialist desituationism. The subject is contextualised into a neomodernist theory that includes reality as a reality.

Therefore, the primary theme of Dahmus’s[3] model of cultural feminism is a self-justifying totality. Derrida promotes the use of neomodernist theory to analyse class.
2. Smith and the precapitalist paradigm of discourse

If one examines neomodernist theory, one is faced with a choice: either reject prestructuralist textual theory or conclude that context is created by the masses. In a sense, if cultural socialism holds, we have to choose between dialectic discourse and Marxist socialism. In Clerks, Smith denies subcapitalist objectivism; in Chasing Amy, although, he affirms dialectic discourse.

“Sexual identity is part of the defining characteristic of consciousness,” says Derrida; however, according to Wilson[4] , it is not so much sexual identity that is part of the defining characteristic of consciousness, but rather the meaninglessness, and subsequent rubicon, of sexual identity. But Marx uses the term ‘neomodernist rationalism’ to denote the role of the observer as writer. Derrida’s essay on prestructuralist textual theory states that the law is unattainable, but only if sexuality is interchangeable with reality; otherwise, narrativity serves to entrench class divisions.

“Society is part of the dialectic of reality,” says Marx. Thus, Sargeant[5] holds that the works of Smith are postmodern. A number of desublimations concerning a textual paradox exist.

In a sense, the characteristic theme of the works of Smith is not patriarchialism, as Baudrillard would have it, but subpatriarchialism. The subject is interpolated into a neomodernist theory that includes art as a totality.

Therefore, many discourses concerning neocapitalist desublimation may be revealed. Debord uses the term ‘neomodernist theory’ to denote a mythopoetical reality.

However, in Dogma, Smith examines Lyotardist narrative; in Clerks, however, he affirms dialectic discourse. Conceptual subdialectic theory suggests that language is fundamentally used in the service of sexism, given that the premise of dialectic discourse is valid.

Therefore, the subject is contextualised into a Marxist class that includes art as a totality. Dialectic discourse holds that government is capable of truth.

“Class is a legal fiction,” says Baudrillard. However, several narratives concerning a mythopoetical reality exist. The subject is contextualised into a dialectic paradigm of consensus that includes sexuality as a totality.

But if prestructuralist nihilism holds, the works of Tarantino are empowering. Marx uses the term ‘the dialectic paradigm of consensus’ to denote the failure of textual society.

Therefore, the primary theme of the works of Tarantino is a neocapitalist reality. The premise of precultural nationalism implies that the law is capable of social comment.
3. Tarantino and prestructuralist nihilism

“Sexual identity is part of the fatal flaw of language,” says Sontag; however, according to Porter[2] , it is not so much sexual identity that is part of the fatal flaw of language, but rather the collapse, and thus the absurdity, of sexual identity. However, Debord uses the term ‘precultural nationalism’ to denote the bridge between society and truth. In Erotica, Madonna deconstructs constructive dematerialism; in Sex, although, she analyses prestructuralist nihilism.

In the works of Madonna, a predominant concept is the distinction between ground and figure. It could be said that Sontag promotes the use of postcultural patriarchialist theory to challenge sexual identity. Debord uses the term ‘the dialectic paradigm of consensus’ to denote the paradigm, and subsequent dialectic, of neodialectic society.

However, Marx suggests the use of precultural nationalism to deconstruct sexism. The subject is interpolated into a dialectic paradigm of consensus that includes language as a totality.

But Foucault uses the term ‘Marxist capitalism’ to denote the difference between class and sexual identity. The opening/closing distinction which is a central theme of Madonna’s Material Girl emerges again in Sex.

In a sense, many structuralisms concerning precultural nationalism may be found. Foucault uses the term ‘textual Marxism’ to denote a self-sufficient whole.

Therefore, Hamburger[3] suggests that we have to choose between prestructuralist nihilism and the cultural paradigm of expression. A number of constructions concerning the role of the writer as artist exist.
4. Narratives of meaninglessness

If one examines the dialectic paradigm of consensus, one is faced with a choice: either reject prestructuralist nihilism or conclude that the raison d’etre of the reader is deconstruction, but only if Baudrillard’s essay on precultural nationalism is invalid; if that is not the case, truth is capable of intent. In a sense, if neomodernist narrative holds, the works of Madonna are an example of mythopoetical libertarianism. Prestructuralist nihilism holds that art may be used to oppress the underprivileged.

“Class is meaningless,” says Marx; however, according to Parry[4] , it is not so much class that is meaningless, but rather the futility, and eventually the fatal flaw, of class. But Derrida uses the term ‘structural dematerialism’ to denote not situationism, but subsituationism. The premise of prestructuralist nihilism states that truth, perhaps ironically, has objective value.

In a sense, the characteristic theme of Cameron’s[5] model of the dialectic paradigm of consensus is the role of the poet as participant. In Material Girl, Madonna examines modern desublimation; in Sex, however, she reiterates prestructuralist nihilism.

It could be said that the primary theme of the works of Madonna is not discourse per se, but postdiscourse. The subject is contextualised into a neocultural materialism that includes language as a paradox.

Therefore, the stasis, and some would say the rubicon, of precultural nationalism prevalent in Madonna’s Erotica is also evident in Sex, although in a more self-referential sense. Brophy[6] implies that we have to choose between dialectic discourse and subcapitalist deappropriation.

However, Foucault uses the term ‘precultural nationalism’ to denote the common ground between society and truth. The subject is interpolated into a textual Marxism that includes art as a reality.

wow, an interesting read on sexual identity and conciousness but Im afraid I lost the point...

lol :)

copy-pasta from wikipedia ftw.

no, if you think that's a wiki article (or any article at all for that matter) i feel bad for you :C

Your assuming I read (any of) it, just like I assumed you copy-pasted it from wikipedia :)

http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/ :)

Hah.

Nice :)

would read again

The cornerstone of the hyperdimensional model (as applied to the problem of "unexplained" astrophysical energy sources) is that historically, there is a perfectly natural explanation for such "anomalous energy" appearing in celestial bodies ... which, unfortunately, hasn't been seriously considered by Science for over 100 years:

The existence of unseen hyperspatial realities ... that, through information transfer between dimensions, are the literal "foundation substrate" maintaining the reality of everything in this dimension.

The mathematical and physical parameters required for such "information/energy gating" into this spatial dimension from potential "n-dimensions" were primarily founded in the pioneering work of several 19th Century founders of modern mathematics and physics: among these, German mathematician Georg Riemann; Scottish physicist Sir William Thompson (who would eventually be Knighted by the British Crown as "Baron Kelvin of Largs" for his scientific and technological contributions); Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell; and British mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton.

In 1867 Thompson, following decades of inquiry into the fundamental properties of both matter and the space between, proposed a radical new explanation for the most fundamental properties of solid objects -- the existence of "the vortex atom." This was in direct contradiction to then prevailing 19th Century theories of matter, in which atoms were still viewed as infinitesimal "small, hard bodies [as] imagined by [the Roman poet] Lucretius, and endorsed by Newton ..." Thompson's "vortex atoms" were envisioned, instead, as tiny, self-sustaining "whirlpools" in the so-called "aether" -- which Thompson and his 19th Century contemporaries increasingly believed extended throughout the Universe as an all-pervasive, incompressible fluid.

Even as Thompson published his revolutionary model for the atom, Maxwell, building on Thompson's earlier explorations of the underlying properties of this "aetheric fluid," was well on the way to devising a highly successful "mechanical" vortex model of the "incompressible aether" itself, in which Thompson's vortex atom could live -- a model derived in part from the laboratory-observed elastic and dynamical properties of solids. Ultimately, in 1873, he would succeed in uniting a couple hundred years of electrical and magnetic scientific observations into a comprehensive, overarching electromagnetic theory of light vibrations ... carried across space by this "incompressible and highly stressed universal aetheric fluid ..."

Maxwell's mathematical basis for his triumphant unification of these two great mystery forces of 19th Century physics were "quaternions" -- a term invented (adopted would be a more precise description) in the 1840s by mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton, for "an ordered pair of complex numbers" (quaternion = four). Complex numbers themselves, according to Hamilton's clarifications of long-mysterious terms such as "imaginary" and "real" numbers utilized in earlier definitions, were nothing more than "pairs of real numbers which are added or multiplied according to certain formal rules." In 1897, A.S. Hathaway formally extended Hamilton's ideas regarding quaternions as "sets of four real numbers" to the idea of four spatial dimensions, in a paper entitled "Quaternions as numbers of four-dimensional space," published in the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society [4 (1887), 54-7].

It is obvious from Maxwell's own writings that, even before Hathaway's formalization, his choice of quaternions as mathematical operators for his electromagnetic theory was based on his belief that three-dimensional physical phenomena (including even perhaps the basis of human consciousness itself) are dependent upon higher dimensional realities. For, in honor of another great mathematician of the time, multi-dimensional geometer Arthur Cayley, Maxwell wrote ...



"Oh WRETCHED race of men, to space confined!
What honour can ye pay to him, whose mind
To that which lies beyond hath penetrated?
The symbols he hath formed shall sound his praise,
And lead him on through unimagined ways
To conquests new, in worlds not yet created.

First, ye Determinants! In ordered row
And massive column ranged, before him go,
To form a phalanx for his safe protection.
Ye powers of the nth roots of - 1!
Around his head in ceaseless* cycles run,
As unembodied spirits of direction.

And you, ye undevelopable scrolls!
Above the host wave your emblazoned rolls,
Ruled for the record of his bright inventions.
Ye cubic surfaces! By threes and nines
Draw round his camp your seven-and-twenty lines-
The seal of Solomon in three dimensions.


March on, symbolic host! With step sublime,
Up to the flaming bounds of Space and Time!
There pause, until by Dickenson depicted,
In two dimensions, we the form may trace
Of him whose soul, too large for vulgar space,
In n dimensions flourished unrestricted."

-- James Clerk Maxwell
To the Committee of the Cayley Portrait Fund -- 1887

Confirmation that Maxwell's "hyper-dimensional" inquiries extended far beyond "mere" physical interactions can be seen from another of his "unknown" poems ...

"My soul is an entangled knot,
Upon a liquid vortex wrought
By Intellect in the Unseen residing.
And thine doth like a convict sit,

With marlinspike untwisting it,
Only to find its knottiness abiding;
Since all the tool for its untying
In four-dimensional space are lying."

In another work ("The Aether," 1876), Maxwell underscored the "ultimate" significance of these inquiries ...

"Whether this vast homogeneous expanse of isotropic matter [the aether] is fitted not only to be a medium of physical Interaction between distant bodies, and to fulfill other physical functions of which, perhaps we have as yet no conception, but also as the authors of The Unseen Universe seem to suggest, to constitute the material organism of beings excercising functions of life and mind as high or higher than ours are at resent, is a question far transcending the limits of physical speculation ..."


This startling connection -- between Maxwell's demonstrably deep interest in questions "hyperdimensional," including his direct homage to one of his scientific mentors', Arthur Cayley's hyperdimensional geometry (the "27 lines on the general cubic surface" problem -- see diagram, right); and our rediscovery over a century later of that same geometry ... at a place called "Cydonia" ... on Mars -- is nothing short of astonishing. But, if you doubt such a compelling connection, just reread those key lines--

"...Ye cubic surfaces! By threes and nines, Draw round his camp your seven-and-twenty lines- The seal of Solomon in three dimensions [emphasis added] .."

Which, of course, are nothing less than the geometrical and mathematical underpinnings of the infamous "circumscribed tetrahedral latitude" memoralized all over Cydonia ... 19.5 degrees, the identical, hyper-dimensional quaternion geometry whose physical effects (see below) we have now rediscovered all across the solar system ... and beyond!

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism, ERM, was a system introduced by the European Community in March 1979, as part of the European Monetary System (EMS), to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability in Europe, in preparation for Economic and Monetary Union and the introduction of a single currency, the euro, which took place on 1 January 1999. After the adoption of the euro, policy changed to linking currencies of countries outside the Eurozone to the euro (having the common currency as a central point). The goal was to improve stability of those currencies, as well as to gain an evaluation mechanism for potential Eurozone members. This mechanism is known as ERM2.

The ERM is based on the concept of fixed currency exchange rate margins, but with exchange rates variable within those margins. This is also known as a semi-pegged system. Before the introduction of the euro, exchange rates were based on the European Currency Unit (ECU), the European unit of account, whose value was determined as a weighted average of the participating currencies.

A grid (known as the Parity Grid) of bilateral rates was calculated on the basis of these central rates expressed in ECUs, and currency fluctuations had to be contained within a margin of 2.25% on either side of the bilateral rates (with the exception of the Italian lira, which was allowed a margin of 6%). Determined intervention and loan arrangements protected the participating currencies from greater exchange rates fluctuations.

Ireland's participation in ERM resulted in the Irish pound breaking parity with the pound sterling in 1979. Shortly after the launch of the ERM, the pound sterling, which was not an ERM currency, appreciated against all ERM currencies. Continued parity between the Irish pound and the pound sterling would have taken the Irish pound outside its agreed band. Therefore, the Irish government was required to break the parity of the Irish pound with the pound sterling to fulfil the ERM conditions.

The United Kingdom entered the ERM in October 1990, but was forced to exit the programme within two years after the pound sterling came under major pressure from currency speculators, including George Soros. The ensuing crash of 16 September 1992 was subsequently dubbed "Black Wednesday". There has been some revision of attitude towards this event given the UK's strong economic performance after 1992, with some commentators dubbing it "White Wednesday".[1] Some commentators, following Norman Tebbit, took to referring to ERM as an "Eternal Recession Mechanism",[2] after the UK fell into recession during the early 1990s. The UK spent over £6bn trying to keep the currency within the narrow limits with reports at the time widely noting that Soros's individual profit of £1bn equated to over 12 pounds sterling for each man, woman and child in Britain [1][2][3] and dubbing Soros as "the man who broke the Bank of England".

The Tory government suffered badly as a result of Black Wednesday. The change of prime minister to John Major following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher in November 1990 had seen the Tories overhaul the Labour Party in the opinion polls, having trailed them by a double-digit margin in most polls during 1990, and eventually manage to win the general election in April 1992. However, within a few short months of Black Wednesday, opinion polls showed that the Tory lead had disappeared and Labour had a double-digit lead over the Tories in the opinion polls once more. Despite the strong economic recovery over the next few years, Tory support barely recovered and their 18-year tenure in government was ended in May 1997 by a Labour landslide, followed by 13 years on the opposition benches.

In 1993, the margin had to be expanded to 15% to accommodate speculation against the French franc and other currencies.

On 31 December 1998, the European Currency Unit (ECU)[3] exchange rates of the Eurozone countries were frozen and the value of the euro, which then superseded the ECU at par, was thus established.

In 1999, ERM II replaced the original ERM. The Greek and Danish currencies were part of the new mechanism, but when Greece joined the euro in 2001, the Danish krone was left at that time as the only participant member. A currency in ERM II is allowed to float within a range of ±15% with respect to a central rate against the euro. In the case of the krone, Danmarks Nationalbank keeps the exchange rate within the narrower range of ± 2.25% against the central rate of EUR 1 = DKK 7.460 38.

EU countries that have not adopted the euro are expected to participate for at least two years in the ERM II before joining the Eurozone.

On 1 May 2004, the ten National Central Banks (NCBs) of the new member countries became party to the ERM II Central Bank Agreement. The national currencies themselves were to become part of the ERM II at dates to be agreed.

The Estonian kroon, Lithuanian litas, and Slovenian tolar were included in the ERM II on 28 June 2004; the Cypriot pound, the Latvian lats and the Maltese lira on 2 May 2005; the Slovak koruna on 28 November 2005.[4] The currencies of the three largest countries which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 (the Polish zùoty, the Czech koruna, and the Hungarian forint) are expected[by whom?] to follow eventually.

Other countries to have since joined the eurozone, and hence left ERM II, include Slovenia (1 January 2007), Cyprus (1 January 2008), Malta (1 January 2008), Slovakia (1 January 2009) and Estonia (1 January 2011).

The Hungarian Ministry of Finance said that Hungary originally wanted to adopt the euro in 2010,[5] but this has been delayed. Experts say that the earliest date when Hungary will adopt the euro is 2015.[6] Bulgaria wanted to apply for ERM II membership as soon as possible after the EU entry. In November 2009, Bulgaria confirmed that it planned apply for joining ERM II in early 2010, but was forced to delay its application for at least one year after updated figures put the budget deficit for 2009 at 3.7% of GDP, outside the Maastricht criteria.[7] Romania plans to join ERM in 2010–2012.[8]

Sweden is expected to participate in ERM II in order to meet the convergence criteria required for switching currency, but has deliberately chosen to stay out of the mechanism so far. This choice is currently tolerated by the ECB, but it has warned that such an option will not be permitted for newer union members.[citation needed]

The Swiss Franc had always floated independently until its currency appreciation became unsustainable during the Eurozone debt crisis, at which point it made a compromise to keep the exchange rate at a minimum of 1.20 francs to the euro, which does not constitute a peg[9]. It is important to note that Switzerland is not officially a member of ERM II as it is not an EU member and expresses no ambitions to become an EU member.

false, A + 3 = neptune

Hawking's calculation suggested that the radiation which black holes emit is not related in any way to the matter that they absorb. The outgoing light rays start exactly at the edge of the black hole and spend a long time near the horizon, while the infalling matter only reaches the horizon much later. The infalling and outgoing mass/energy only interact when they cross. It is implausible that the outgoing state would be completely determined by some tiny residual scattering.

Hawking interpreted this to mean that when black holes absorb some photons in a pure state described by a wave function, they re-emit new photons in a thermal mixed state described by a density matrix. This would mean that quantum mechanics would have to be modified, because in quantum mechanics, states which are superpositions with probability amplitudes never become states which are probabilistic mixtures of different possibilities

damn that's actually pretty interesting. MOAR FROM YOU, YES?

The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest, such as bones; food material after all the nutrients have been extracted, for example cellulose or lignin; ingested matter which would be toxic if it remained in the digestive tract; and dead or excess gut bacteria and other endosymbionts.

Amphibians, reptiles, and birds use the same orifice for excreting liquid and solid wastes, and for copulation and egg-laying; this orifice is known as the cloaca. Monotreme mammals also have a cloaca, which is thought to be a feature inherited from the earliest amniotes via the therapsids. Marsupials have two nether orifices: one for excreting both solids and liquids; the other for reproduction, which appears as a vagina in females and a penis in males. Female placental mammals have completely separate orifices for defecation, urination, and reproduction; males have one opening for defecation and another for both urination and reproduction, although the channels flowing to that orifice are almost completely separate.

The development of the anus was an important stage in the evolution of multicellular animals. In fact it appears to have happened at least twice, following different paths in protostomes and deuterostomes. This accompanied or facilitated other important evolutionary developments: the bilaterian body plan; the coelom, an internal cavity that provided space for a circulatory system and, in some animals, formed a hydrostatic skeleton which enables worm-like animals to burrow; metamerism, in which the body was built of repeated "modules" which could later specialize, for example the heads of most arthropods are composed of fused, specialized segments.

In animals at least as complex as an earthworm, the embryo forms a dent on one side, the blastopore, which deepens to become the archenteron, the first phase in the growth of the gut. In deuterostomes, the original dent becomes the anus while the gut eventually tunnels through to make another opening, which forms the mouth. The protostomes were so named because it used to be thought that in their embryos the dent formed the mouth while the anus was formed later, at the opening made by the other end of the gut. More recent research, however, shows that in protostomes the edges of the dent close up in the middle, leaving openings at the ends which become the mouth and anus.

Noise health effects are both health and behavioral in nature. The unwanted sound is called noise. This unwanted sound can damage physiological and psychological health. Noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and other harmful effects.[3][4][5][6] Furthermore, stress and hypertension are the leading causes to health problems, whereas tinnitus can lead to forgetfulness, severe depression and at times panic attacks.[4][7]

Chronic exposure to noise may cause noise-induced hearing loss. Older males exposed to significant occupational noise demonstrate significantly reduced hearing sensitivity than their non-exposed peers, though differences in hearing sensitivity decrease with time and the two groups are indistinguishable by age 79.[8] A comparison of Maaban tribesmen, who were insignificantly exposed to transportation or industrial noise, to a typical U.S. population showed that chronic exposure to moderately high levels of environmental noise contributes to hearing loss.[3]

High noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects and exposure to moderately high levels during a single eight hour period causes a statistical rise in blood pressure of five to ten points and an increase in stress[3] and vasoconstriction leading to the increased blood pressure noted above as well as to increased incidence of coronary artery disease.

Noise pollution is also a cause of annoyance. A 2005 study by Spanish researchers found that in urban areas households are willing to pay approximately four Euros per decibel per year for noise reduction.[9]

Noise can have a detrimental effect on animals, increasing the risk of death by changing the delicate balance in predator or prey detection and avoidance, and interfering the use of the sounds in communication especially in relation to reproduction and in navigation. Acoustic overexposure can lead to temporary or permanent loss of hearing.[10]

An impact of noise on animal life is the reduction of usable habitat that noisy areas may cause, which in the case of endangered species may be part of the path to extinction. Noise pollution has caused the death of certain species of whales that beached themselves after being exposed to the loud sound of military sonar[11] (see also Marine mammals and sonar).

Noise also makes species communicate louder, which is called Lombard vocal response.[12] Scientists and researchers have conducted experiments that show whales' song length is longer when submarine-detectors are on.[13] If creatures do not "speak" loud enough, their voice will be masked by anthropogenic sounds. These unheard voices might be warnings, finding of prey, or preparations of net-bubbling. When one species begins speaking louder, it will mask other species' voice, causing the whole ecosystem to eventually speak louder.

European Robins living in urban environments are more likely to sing at night in places with high levels of noise pollution during the day, suggesting that they sing at night because it is quieter, and their message can propagate through the environment more clearly.[14] The same study showed that daytime noise was a stronger predictor of nocturnal singing than night-time light pollution, to which the phenomenon is often attributed.

Zebra finches become less faithful to their partners when exposed to traffic noise. This could alter a population's evolutionary trajectory by selecting traits, sapping resources normally devoted to other activities and thus lead to profound genetic and evolutionary consequences.[15]

Technology to mitigate or remove noise can be applied as follows:

There are a variety of strategies for mitigating roadway noise including: use of noise barriers, limitation of vehicle speeds, alteration of roadway surface texture, limitation of heavy vehicles, use of traffic controls that smooth vehicle flow to reduce braking and acceleration, and tire design. An important factor in applying these strategies is a computer model for roadway noise, that is capable of addressing local topography, meteorology, traffic operations and hypothetical mitigation. Costs of building-in mitigation can be modest, provided these solutions are sought in the planning stage of a roadway project.

Aircraft noise can be reduced to some extent by design of quieter jet engines, which was pursued vigorously in the 1970s and 1980s. This strategy has brought limited but noticeable reduction of urban sound levels. Reconsideration of operations, such as altering flight paths and time of day runway use, has demonstrated benefits for residential populations near airports. FAA sponsored residential retrofit (insulation) programs initiated in the 1970s has also enjoyed success in reducing interior residential noise in thousands of residences across the United States.

Exposure of workers to Industrial noise has been addressed since the 1930s. Changes include redesign of industrial equipment, shock mounting assemblies and physical barriers in the workplace.

Noise Free America, a national anti-noise pollution organization, regularly lobbies for the enforcement of noise ordinances at all levels of government.[17]

Governments up until the 1970s viewed noise as a "nuisance" rather than an environmental problem. In the United States there are federal standards for highway and aircraft noise; states and local governments typically have very specific statutes on building codes, urban planning and roadway development. In Canada and the EU there are few national, provincial, or state laws that protect against noise.[citation needed]

Noise laws and ordinances vary widely among municipalities and indeed do not even exist in some cities. An ordinance may contain a general prohibition against making noise that is a nuisance, or it may set out specific guidelines for the level of noise allowable at certain times of the day and for certain activities.

Dr. Paul Herman wrote the first comprehensive noise codes in 1975 for Portland, Oregon with funding from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and HUD (Housing and Urban Development). The Portland Noise Code became the basis for most other ordinances for major U.S. and Canadian metropolitan regions.[18]

Most city ordinances prohibit sound above a threshold intensity from trespassing over property line at night, typically between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and during the day restricts it to a higher sound level; however, enforcement is uneven.[citation needed] Many municipalities do not follow up on complaints. Even where a municipality has an enforcement office, it may only be willing to issue warnings, since taking offenders to court is expensive.

The notable exception to this rule is the City of Portland Oregon which has instituted an aggressive protection for its citizens with fines reaching as high at $5000 per infraction, with the ability to cite a responsible noise violator multiple times in a single day.

Many conflicts over noise pollution are handled by negotiation between the emitter and the receiver. Escalation procedures vary by country, and may include action in conjunction with local authorities, in particular the police. Noise pollution often persists because only five to ten percent of people affected by noise will lodge a formal complaint. Many people are not aware of their legal right to quiet and do not know how to register a complaint.[citation needed]

Noise pollution is a major problem in countries like India during the festivals of Diwali, Navratri and Ganpati. The Government of India has regulations against fire crackers and loudspeakers but enforcement is extremely lax. [19]

Long known as the angels of agriculture, honey bees have received global attention due to losses attributed to a combination of factors: Colony Collapse Disorder, mites, deforestation and industrial agriculture. Honey bees provide pollination for crops, orchards and flowers; honey and wax for cosmetics, food and medicinal-religious objects; and inspiration to artists, architects and scientists.

While there are thousands of insects in the Hymenoptera order (for example, wasps, sawflies and ants), honey bees are the only living members of the tribe Apini, within the family Apidae. The one genus of honey bee Apis can be divided into three branches based on how honey bees nest: the giant open-nesting honey bees Apis dorsata and Apis laboriosa; the dwarf, single-combed honey bees Apis florae and Apis andreniformis; and the cavity-nesting honey bees Apis cerana, Apis koschevnikovi, Apis nuluensis, Apis nigrocincta, and Apis mellifera. These nine species thrive in environmental extremes like deserts, rain forests and tundra, but most people only know Apis mellifera, the agricultural darling.


Honey bees are eusocial. Adult bees are divided into a queen, female workers and male drones. The queen will leave the hive only once to mate with several drones, storing sperm in her spermatheca to last her lifetime. In order to rear and defend the eggs lain by the queen, worker bees develop stinging mechanisms, pollen baskets, dance languages and labor divisions. Tasks are divided according to age and colony needs. Younger worker bees tend to the queen, and older worker bees forage, construct wax cells, convert nectar into honey, clean cells and guard the hive. Ideally, a healthy hive is a collection of overlapping generations.

Evolving from short-tongued, spheciform wasps, honey bees first appeared during the Cretaceous period about 130 million years ago. At that time, present-day continents such as Africa, India, South America, Australia and Antarctica formed a single landmass called Gondwana. Germinating in the warm dry Gondwanan climate, flowering plants called angiosperms developed colors and petal patterns to attract insects, which were more reliable than wind to transfer pollen. In addition to pollen, flowers eventually produced nectar, providing carbohydrates to their winged vectors. About 120 million years ago, the honey bee developed its morphologies specifically to collect pollen and nectar such as increased fuzziness, pollen baskets, longer tongues, and colonies to store supplies.

As Gondwana gradually broke apart and temperatures cooled dramatically during the Oligocene-Miocene about 35-40 million years ago, European honey bees went extinct, while Indo-European honey bees survived and began to speciate. Open-nesting honey bees perhaps evolved before cavity-nesting bees, probably in India, but evidence is still lacking. In any event, a cavity-nesting honey bee spread east and north about six million years ago. During a Pleistocene warming about 2-3 million years ago, this bee spread west into Europe and thence into Africa to become Apis mellifera.

Early civilizations quickly mastered honey hunting skills, shown in rock art in Africa, India and Spain. Egypt, Greece, Italy and Israel developed organized beekeeping centers until the Roman Empire dissolved in approximately 400 A.D. Christianity monasteries and convents then served as apiculture centers until Henry VIII closed them at the beginning of the Reformation. Science and technology provided the next insights into apiculture during the Enlightenment.

Honey bees expanded to North America with human-assisted migration during the 17th century. Many Europeans fleeing wars, poverty, land laws or religious persecution brought extensive beekeeping skills to the United States during the next two centuries. Meanwhile, English colonists took bees to New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania, completing human-assisted migration of Apis mellifera around the globe.

Beekeeping became commercially viable during the 19th century with four inventions: the moveable-frame hive, the smoker, the comb foundation maker, and the honey extractor. These inventions still support commercial apiculture. A fifth invention, a queen grafting tool, allows beekeepers to control genetic lines.

Honey bees are such efficient pollinators that industrialized countries developed specialized agriculture dependent upon migratory pollination and one race of honey bee, Apis mellifera. Alarmed at the damage tracheal mites were doing to honey bees in Europe, the United States Congress passed a Honey Bee Restriction Act in 1922, in effect protecting Apis mellifera until tracheal and varroa mites arrived in the 1980s. U.S. beekeepers lost 50-80 percent of their colonies. The ban was partially rescinded in 2004.

Rural economic development programs promote honey bees with mixed results. Honey and wax remain in high demand on global markets, and honey production tasks generate several lines of income. But different honey bee races can clash with pre-existing insect species. In the 1950s, the honey bee Apis mellifera scutellata (one type of African honey bee) was taken to Brazil via human assistance, creating ramifications for the endemic bee species in both South and North America. Similarly, Apis mellifera was introduced to India and China, but it competes with the smaller Apis florae for floral sources.

Honey bees can adapt to minor changes in global warming, but Colony Collapse Disorder is the most recent bittersweet reminder that human society threatens honey bee habitats and breeding patterns on a global scale. Promoting genetic diversity of honey bees and providing safe environments are crucial steps toward future sustainable agriculture.

Stimulation
A usual precursor to ejaculation is the sexual arousal of the male, leading to the erection of the penis, though not every arousal nor erection leads to ejaculation. Penile sexual stimulation during vaginal, oral or anal sexual intercourse, or manual stimulation (masturbation) may provide the necessary stimulus for a man to achieve orgasm and ejaculation. Men typically reach orgasm 5–10 minutes after the start of penile-vaginal intercourse, taking into account their desires and those of their partners.[1][2] Most men could achieve orgasm sooner or delay it until later if they wished to do so.[citation needed] A prolonged stimulation either through foreplay (kissing, petting and direct stimulation of erogenous zones before penetration during intercourse) or stroking (during masturbation) leads to a good amount of arousal and production of pre-ejaculatory fluid. While the presence of sperm in pre-ejaculatory fluid is thought to be rare, sperm from an earlier ejaculation, still present in the urethra, may be picked up by pre-ejaculatory fluid.[citation needed] In addition, infectious agents (including HIV) often can be present in pre-ejaculate.
Premature ejaculation is when ejaculation occurs before the desired time. If a man is unable to ejaculate in a timely manner after prolonged sexual stimulation, in spite of his desire to do so, it is called delayed ejaculation or anorgasmia. An orgasm that is not accompanied by ejaculation is known as a dry orgasm.
Ejaculation

When a man has achieved a sufficient level of stimulation, ejaculation begins. At that point, under the control of the sympathetic nervous system, semen containing sperm is produced (emission).[3] The semen is ejected through the urethra with rhythmic contractions.[4] These rhythmic contractions are part of the male orgasm. They are generated by the bulbospongiosus muscle under the control of a spinal reflex at the level of the spinal nerves S2-4 via the pudendal nerve. The typical male orgasm lasts several seconds.
After the start of orgasm, pulses of semen begin to flow from the urethra, reach a peak discharge and then diminish in flow. The typical orgasm consists of 10 to 15 contractions, although the man is unlikely to be consciously aware of that many. Once the first contraction has taken place, ejaculation will continue to completion as an involuntary process. At this stage, ejaculation cannot be stopped. The rate of contractions gradually slows during the orgasm. Initial contractions occur at an average interval of 0.6 seconds with an increasing increment of 0.1 seconds per contraction. Contractions of most men proceed at regular rhythmic intervals for the duration of the orgasm. Many men also experience additional irregular contractions at the conclusion of the orgasm.[5]
Ejaculation begins during the first or second contraction of orgasm. For most men the first spurt occurs during the second contraction. The first or second spurt is typically the largest and can contain 40 percent or more of the total ejaculate volume. After this peak the flow of each pulse diminishes. When the flow ends, the muscle contractions of the orgasm continue with no additional semen discharge. A small sample study of seven men showed an average of 7 spurts of semen (range between 5 and 10) followed by an average of 10 more contractions with no semen expelled (range between 5 and 23). This study also found a high correlation between number of spurts of semen and total ejaculate volume, i.e., larger semen volumes resulted from additional pulses of semen rather than larger individual spurts.[6]
Alfred Kinsey measured the distance of ejaculation, in "some hundred" of men. In three-quarters of men, the semen exuded from the penis, "In other males the semen may be propelled from a matter of some inches to a foot or two, or even as far as five or six (rarely eight) feet".[7] Masters and Johnson report ejaculation distance to be not greater than 30–60 cm.[8] Distance of ejaculation however, has nothing to do with sexual functioning, as during penetration of penis in vagina the distance of ejaculation plays no role. Dribbling of semen from the penis is usually sufficient for impregnation.
Refractory period
Most men experience a refractory period immediately following an orgasm, during which time they are unable to achieve another erection, and a longer period again before they are capable of achieving another ejaculation. During this time a male feels a deep and often pleasurable sense of relaxation, usually felt in the groin and thighs. The duration of the refractory period varies considerably, even for a given individual. Age affects the recovery time, with younger men typically recovering faster than older men, though not universally so.[8]
However, some men are able to achieve sufficient sexual arousal immediately after ejaculation, and others may have refractory periods of fewer than 15 minutes. A short recovery period may allow them to seamlessly continue sexual play from one ejaculation to sexual stimulation in preparation for the next. However, other men are averse to stimulation during the early part of the refractory period.
There are men who are able to achieve multiple orgasms, with or without the typical sequence of ejaculation and refractory period. Some of those men report not noticing refractory periods, or are able to maintain erection by "sustaining sexual activity with a full erection until they passed their refractory time for orgasm when they proceeded to have a second or third orgasm".[9]
Volume
The force and amount of semen that will be ejected during an ejaculation will vary widely between men and may contain between 0.1 and 10 milliliters.[10] (By way of comparison, note that a teaspoon is 5 ml and a tablespoon holds 15 ml.) Adult semen volume is affected by the time that has passed since the previous ejaculation; larger semen volumes are seen with greater durations of abstinence. It is not clear whether frequent ejaculation increases,[11] reduces[12] or has no effect[13] on the risk of prostate cancer. The duration of the stimulation leading up to the ejaculation can affect the volume.[14] Abnormally low volume is known as hypospermia. One of the possible underlying causes of low volume or complete lack of semen is ejaculatory duct obstruction. It is normal for the amount of semen to diminish with age.
Quality
The number of sperm in an ejaculation also varies widely, depending on many factors, including the time since the last ejaculation,[15] age, stress levels,[16] and testosterone. Greater lengths of sexual stimulation immediately preceding ejaculation can result in higher concentrations of sperm.[14] An unusually low sperm count, not the same as low semen volume, is known as oligospermia, and the absence of any sperm from the semen is termed azoospermia.

Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above the mean sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of the Earth observation satellites. The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos. Salar de Uyuni is also a climatological transitional zone, for towering tropical cumulus congestus and cumulus incus clouds that form in the eastern part of the massive salt flat during summer, cannot permeate beyond the salt flat's considerably more arid western eges, near the Chilean border and the Atacama Desert.

Salar de Uyuni is part of the Altiplano of Bolivia in South America. The Altiplano is a high plateau, which was formed during uplift of the Andes mountains. The plateau includes fresh and saltwater lakes as well as salt flats and is surrounded by mountains with no drainage outlets.

The geological history of the Salar is associated with a sequential transformation between several vast lakes. Some 30,000–42,000 years ago, the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin. Its age was estimated from radiocarbon dating of shells from outcropping sediments and carbonate reefs and varies between reported studies. Lake Minchin (named after the Juan B. Minchin of Oruro[9]) later transformed into paleolake Tauca having a maximal depth of 140 meters (460 ft), and an estimated age of 13,000–18,000 or 14,900–26,100 years depending on the source. The youngest prehistoric lake was Coipasa, which was radiocarbon dated to 11,500–13,400 years. When it dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyini spreads over 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi), which is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. Lake Poopó is a neighbor of the much larger lake Titicaca. During the wet season, Titicaca overflows and discharges into Poopó, which, in turn, floods Salar De Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni.

Underneath the surface of the Salar is a lake of brine 2 to 20 meters (7 to 66 ft) deep. The brine is a saturated solution of sodium chloride, lithium chloride and magnesium chloride in water. It is covered with a solid salt crust with a thickness varying between tens of centimeters to a few meters. The center of the Salar contains a few "islands", which are the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes which were submerged during the era of lake Minchin. They include unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae.

The area has a relatively stable average temperature with a peak at 21 °C (70 °F) in November–January and a low of 13 °C (55 °F) in June. The nights are however cold all through the year with temperatures between -9 and 5 °C (16 and 41 °F). The relative humidity is rather low and constant throughout the year at 30–45 %. The rainfall is also low at 1–3 millimeters (0.039–0.12 in) per month between April and November, but it may increase up to 70 millimeters (2.8 in) in January. However, except for January, even in the rainy season the number of rainy days is below 5 per month.

The Salar contains large amounts of sodium, potassium, lithium and magnesium (all in the chloride forms of NaCl, KCl, LiCl and MgCl2, respectively), as well as borax. Of those, lithium is arguably most important as it is a vital component of many electric batteries. With estimated 9,000,000 tonnes (8,900,000 long tons; 9,900,000 short tons), Bolivia holds about 43% of the world's lithium reserves; most of those are located in the Salar de Uyuni. Lithium is concentrated in the brine under the salt crust at a relatively high concentration of about 0.3%. It is also present in the top layers of the porous halite body lying under the brine; however the liquid brine is easier to extract, by boring into the crust and pumping out the brine. The brine distribution has been monitored by the Landsat satellite and confirmed in ground drilling tests. Following those findings, an American-based international corporation has invested $137 million to develop lithium extraction. However, lithium extraction in the 1980s and 1990s by foreign companies met strong opposition of the local community. Despite their poverty, locals believed that the money infused by mining would not reach them. There is currently no mining plant at the site, and the Bolivian government doesn't want to allow exploitation by foreign corporations. Instead, it intends to build its own pilot plant with a modest annual production of 1,200 tonnes (1,200 long tons; 1,300 short tons) of lithium and to increase it to 30,000 tonnes (30,000 long tons; 33,000 short tons) tonnes by 2012.

Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tonnes (9.8 billion LT; 11 billion ST) of salt, of which less than 25,000 tonnes (25,000 long tons; 28,000 short tons) is extracted annually. All miners working in the Salar belong to Colchani's cooperative.

Because of its location, large area and flatness, the Salar is a major car transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano.

Salar is salt flat in Spanish and Uyuni originates from the Aymara language and means a pen (enclosure). Thus Salar de Uyuni can be loosely translated as a salt flat with enclosures, the latter possibly referring to the "islands" of the Salar. Uyuni is also the name for a town of 10,600 people, which serves as a gateway for tourists visiting the Salar.

Aymara legend tells that the mountains Tunupa, Kusku and Kusina, which surround the Salar, were giant people. Tunupa married Kusku, but Kusku ran away from her with Kusina. Grieving Tunupa started to cry while breast-feeding her son. Her tears mixed with milk and formed the Salar. Many locals consider the Tunupa an important deity and say that the place should be called Salar de Tunupa rather than Salar de Uyuni.

The Salar is virtually devoid of any wild life and vegetation. The latter is dominated by giant cacti (Echinopsis atacamensis pasacana, Echinopsis tarijensis, etc.). They grow at a rate of about 1 centimeter (0.39 in) per year to a length of about 12 meters (39 ft). Other shrubs include Pilaya, which is used by locals to cure catarrh, and Thola (Baccharis dracunculifolia), which is burned as a fuel. Also present are quinoa plants and quenua bushes.

Every November, Salar de Uyuni is the breeding grounds for three species of pink South American flamingos: the Chilean, Andean and rare James's Flamingos, their color presumably originating from feeding on pink algae. There are about 80 of other bird species present, including the horned coot, the Andean goose and the Andean Hillstar. Andean fox (culpeo) is a representative animal, and the "islands" of Salar (in particular the Incahuasi island, which is also called Isla del Pescadores) host a colony of rabbit-like viscachas.

Salar de Uyuni attracts tourists from around the world. As it is located far from the cities, a number of hotels have been built in the area. Due to lack of conventional construction materials, many of them are almost entirely (walls, roof, furniture) built with salt blocks cut from the Salar. The first such hotel was erected in 1993-1995 in the middle of the salt flat, and soon became a popular tourist destination. However, its location in the center of a desert produced sanitary problems, as most waste had to be collected manually. Mismanagement caused serious environmental pollution and the hotel had to be dismantled in 2002. New salt hotels were built near the periphery of the Salar, closer to roads, in full compliance with environmental rules.

One major tourist attraction is an antique train cemetery. It is 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) outside Uyuni and is connected to it by the old train tracks. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals enroute to Pacific Ocean ports. The rail lines were built by British engineers arriving near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizeable community in Uyuni. The engineers were invited by British-sponsored Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Companies, which is now Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia. The rail construction started in 1888 and ended in 1892. It was encouraged by Bolivian President Aniceto Arce, who believed Bolivia would flourish with a good transport system, but it was also constantly sabotaged by the local Aymara indigenous Indians who saw it as an intrusion into their lives. The trains were mostly used by the mining companies. In the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly because of mineral depletion. Many trains were abandoned, producing the train cemetery. There are proposals to build a museum from the cemetery.

Salt flats are ideal for calibrating the distance measurement equipment of satellites because they are large, stable surfaces with strong reflection, similar to that of ice sheets. As the largest salt flat on Earth, Salar de Uyuni is especially suitable for this purpose. In the low-rain period of from April to November, due to the absence of industry and its high elevation the skies above Salar de Uyuni are very clear, and the air is dry (relative humidity is about 30%, rainfall is roughly 1 millimetre or 0.039 inches per month). It has a stable surface which is smoothed by seasonal flooding (water dissolves the salt surface and thus keeps it leveled). As a result, the variation in the surface elevation over the 10,582-square-kilometer (4,086 sq mi) area of Salar de Uyuni is less than 1 meter (3 ft 3 in), and there are few square kilometers on Earth which are as flat. The surface reflectivity (albedo) for ultraviolet light is relatively high at 0.69 and shows variations of only a few percent during the daytime. The combination of all these features makes Salar de Uyuni about five times better for satellite calibration than the surface of an ocean. Using Salar de Uyuni as the target, ICESat has already achieved the short-term elevation measurement accuracy of below 2 centimeters (0.79 in).

With the use of modern GPS technology, it can now be proved that the Salar de Uyuni is not perfectly flat. New measurements revealed previously missed features resembling ridges, hills, and valleys measuring only millimeters in height. They originate from the variation in material density, and thus the gravitational force, beneath the Salar's sediments. Just as the ocean surface rises over denser seamounts, the salt flat surface also rises and falls to reflect the subsurface density variations.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AFC1BI2QgfY/TmdJmbu...o1_500.jpg

As has been frequently noted, the ancient Greeks did not have terms or concepts that correspond to the contemporary dichotomy of ‘heterosexual’ and ‘homosexual’. There is a wealth of material from ancient Greece pertinent to issues of sexuality, ranging from dialogues of Plato, such as the Symposium, to plays by Aristophanes, and Greek artwork and vases. What follows is a brief description of ancient Greek attitudes, but it is important to recognize that there was regional variation. For example, in parts of Ionia there were general strictures against same-sex eros, while in Elis and Boiotia (e.g., Thebes), it was approved of and even celebrated (cf. Dover, 1989; Halperin, 1990).

Probably the most frequent assumption of sexual orientation is that persons can respond erotically to beauty in either sex. Diogenes Laeurtius, for example, wrote of Alcibiades, the Athenian general and politician of the 5th century B.C., “in his adolescence he drew away the husbands from their wives, and as a young man the wives from their husbands.” (Quoted in Greenberg, 1988, 144) Some persons were noted for their exclusive interests in persons of one gender. For example, Alexander the Great and the founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium, were known for their exclusive interest in boys and other men. Such persons, however, are generally portrayed as the exception. Furthermore, the issue of what gender one is attracted to is seen as an issue of taste or preference, rather than as a moral issue. A character in Plutarch's Erotikos (Dialogue on Love) argues that “the noble lover of beauty engages in love wherever he sees excellence and splendid natural endowment without regard for any difference in physiological detail.” (Ibid., 146) Gender just becomes irrelevant “detail” and instead the excellence in character and beauty is what is most important.

Even though the gender that one was erotically attracted to (at any specific time, given the assumption that persons will likely be attracted to persons of both sexes) was not important, other issues were salient, such as whether one exercised moderation. Status concerns were also of the highest importance. Given that only free men had full status, women and male slaves were not problematic sexual partners. Sex between freemen, however, was problematic for status. The central distinction in ancient Greek sexual relations was between taking an active or insertive role, versus a passive or penetrated one. The passive role was acceptable only for inferiors, such as women, slaves, or male youths who were not yet citizens. Hence the cultural ideal of a same-sex relationship was between an older man, probably in his 20's or 30's, known as the erastes, and a boy whose beard had not yet begun to grow, the eromenos or paidika. In this relationship there was courtship ritual, involving gifts (such as a rooster), and other norms. The erastes had to show that he had nobler interests in the boy, rather than a purely sexual concern. The boy was not to submit too easily, and if pursued by more than one man, was to show discretion and pick the more noble one. There is also evidence that penetration was often avoided by having the erastes face his beloved and place his penis between the thighs of the eromenos, which is known as intercrural sex. The relationship was to be temporary and should end upon the boy reaching adulthood (Dover, 1989). To continue in a submissive role even while one should be an equal citizen was considered troubling, although there certainly were many adult male same-sex relationships that were noted and not strongly stigmatized. While the passive role was thus seen as problematic, to be attracted to men was often taken as a sign of masculinity. Greek gods, such as Zeus, had stories of same-sex exploits attributed to them, as did other key figures in Greek myth and literature, such as Achilles and Hercules. Plato, in the Symposium, argues for an army to be comprised of same-sex lovers. Thebes did form such a regiment, the Sacred Band of Thebes, formed of 500 soldiers. They were renowned in the ancient world for their valor in battle.

The wall of text is a disruptive noticeboard and talk page tactic where an editor attempts to shut down discussion with a mass of irrelevant kilobytes. Not all long posts are walls of text—some are nuanced and thoughtful—but when an editor responds to a cogent complaint with a post that looks like a short novel, the odds are good that it's a wall of text. Remember, the more you type, the less people will read.

Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. An older and closely related meaning still in use today is that found for example in Aristotle, whereby "science" refers to the body of reliable knowledge itself, of the type that can be logically and rationally explained (see "History and etymology" section below).

Since classical antiquity science as a type of knowledge was closely linked to philosophy. In the early modern era the two words, "science" and "philosophy", were sometimes used interchangeably in the English language. By the 17th century, "natural philosophy" (which is today called "natural science") had begun to be considered separately from "philosophy" in general. However, "science" continued to be used in a broad sense denoting reliable knowledge about a topic, in the same way it is still used in modern terms such as library science or political science.

In modern use, "science" is a term which more often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, and not the knowledge itself. It is "often treated as synonymous with ‘natural and physical science’, and thus restricted to those branches of study that relate to the phenomena of the material universe and their laws, sometimes with implied exclusion of pure mathematics. This is now the dominant sense in ordinary use." This narrower sense of "science" developed as a part of science became a distinct enterprise of defining "laws of nature", based on early examples such as Kepler's laws, Galileo's laws, and Newton's laws of motion. In this period it became more common to refer to natural philosophy as "natural science". Over the course of the 19th century, the word "science" became increasingly associated with the disciplined study of the natural world including physics, chemistry, geology and biology. This sometimes left the study of human thought and society in a linguistic limbo, which was resolved by classifying these areas of academic study as social science. Similarly, several other major areas of disciplined study and knowledge exist today under the general rubric of "science", such as formal science and applied science.

Science existed before the modern era, but modern science is so distinct in its approach and successful in its results that it now defines what science is in the strictest sense of the term. Descriptions of disciplined empirical investigations of the natural world exist from times at least as early as classical antiquity (for example, by Aristotle and Pliny the Elder), and scientific methods have been employed since the Middle Ages (for example, by Alhazen and Roger Bacon). However the dawn of modern science is generally traced back to the early modern period during what is known as the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. This period was marked by a new way of studying the natural world, by methodical experimentation aimed at defining "laws of nature" while avoiding metaphysical concerns such as Aristotle's theory of causation.

Rapid accumulation of knowledge, which has characterized the development of science since the 17th century, had never occurred before that time. The new kind of scientific activity emerged only in a few countries of Western Europe, and it was restricted to that small area for about two hundred years. (Since the 19th century, scientific knowledge has been assimilated by the rest of the world).
—Joseph Ben-David, 1971

This modern science developed from an older and broader enterprise. The word "science" is from Old French, and in turn from Latin scientia which was one of several words for "knowledge" in that language. In philosophical contexts, scientia and "science" were used to translate the Greek word epistemē, which had acquired a specific definition in Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle, as a type of reliable knowledge which is built up logically from strong premises, and can be communicated and taught. In contrast to modern science, Aristotle's influential emphasis was upon the "theoretical" steps of deducing universal rules from raw data, and did not treat the gathering of experience and raw data as part of science itself.

From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, science or scientia continued to be used in this broad sense, which was still common until the 20th century. "Science" therefore had the same sort of very broad meaning that philosophy had at that time. In other Latin influenced languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, the word corresponding to science also carried this meaning.

Until the 18th century, the preferred term for the study of nature among English speakers had been "natural philosophy", while other philosophical disciplines (e.g., logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics) were typically referred to as "moral philosophy". (Today, "moral philosophy" is more-or-less synonymous with "ethics".) Science only became more strongly associated with natural philosophy than other sciences gradually with the strong promotion of the importance of experimental scientific method, by people such as Francis Bacon. With Bacon, begins a more widespread and open criticism of Aristotle's influence which had emphasized theorizing and did not treat raw data collection as part of science itself. An opposed position became common: that what is critical to science at its best is methodical collecting of clear and useful raw data, something which is easier to do in some fields than others.

The word "science" in English was still however used in the 17th century to refer to the Aristotelian concept of knowledge which was secure enough to be used as a prescription for exactly how to accomplish a specific task. With respect to the transitional usage of the term "natural philosophy" in this period, the philosopher John Locke wrote in 1690 that "natural philosophy is not capable of being made a science". However, it may be that Locke was not using the word 'science' in the modern sense, but suggesting that 'natural philosophy' could not be deduced in the same way as mathematics and logic.

Locke's assertion notwithstanding, by the early 19th century natural philosophy had begun to separate from philosophy, though it often retained a very broad meaning. In many cases, science continued to stand for reliable knowledge about any topic, in the same way it is still used today in the broad sense (see the introduction to this article) in modern terms such as library science, political science, computer science, and the auxiliary sciences of history. In the narrower sense, as natural philosophy became linked to an expanding set of well-defined laws (beginning with Galileo's laws, Kepler's laws, and Newton's laws for motion), it became more common to refer to natural philosophy as natural science. Over the course of the 19th century, moreover, there was an increased tendency to associate science with study of the natural world (that is, the non-human world). This move sometimes left the study of human thought and society (what would come to be called social science) in a linguistic limbo by the end of the century and into the next.

Through the 19th century, many English speakers were increasingly differentiating science (i.e., the natural sciences) from all other forms of knowledge in a variety of ways. The now-familiar expression “scientific method,” which refers to the prescriptive part of how to make discoveries in natural philosophy, was almost unused until then, but became widespread after the 1870s, though there was rarely total agreement about just what it entailed. The word "scientist," meant to refer to a systematically working natural philosopher, (as opposed to an intuitive or empirically minded one) was coined in 1833 by English polymath William Whewell. Discussion of scientists as a special group of people, who did science, even if their attributes were up for debate, grew in the last half of the 19th century. Whatever people actually meant by these terms at first, they ultimately depicted science, in the narrow sense of the habitual use of the scientific method and the knowledge derived from it, as something deeply distinguished from all other realms of human endeavor.

By the 20th century, the modern notion of science as a special kind of knowledge about the world, practiced by a distinct group and pursued through a unique method was essentially in place. It was used to give legitimacy to a variety of fields through such titles as "scientific" medicine, engineering, advertising, or motherhood. Over the 20th century, links between science and technology also grew increasingly strong. As Martin Rees explains, progress in scientific understanding and technology have been synergistic and vital to one another.

Richard Feynman described science to his students as: "The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following: The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific 'truth'. But what is the source of knowledge? Where do the laws that are to be tested come from? Experiment, itself, helps to produce these laws, in the sense that it gives us hints. But also needed is imagination to create from these hints the great generalizations — to guess at the wonderful, simple, but very strange patterns beneath them all, and then to experiment to check again whether we have made the right guess." Feynman also observed, "...there is an expanding frontier of ignorance...things must be learned only to be unlearned again or, more likely, to be corrected."

Working scientists usually take for granted a set of basic assumptions that are needed to justify a scientific method: (1) that there is an objective reality shared by all rational observers; (2) that this objective reality is governed by natural laws; (3) that these laws can be discovered by means of systematic observation and experimentation. Philosophy of science seeks a deep understanding of what these underlying assumptions mean and whether they are valid. Most contributions to the philosophy of science have come from philosophers, who frequently view the beliefs of most scientists as superficial or naive—thus there is often a degree of antagonism between working scientists and philosophers of science.

The belief that all observers share a common reality is known as realism. It can be contrasted with anti-realism, the belief that there is no valid concept of absolute truth such that things that are true for one observer are true for all observers. The most commonly defended form of anti-realism is idealism, the belief that the mind or spirit is the most basic essence, and that each mind generates its own reality. In an idealistic world-view, what is true for one mind need not be true for other minds.

There are different schools of thought in philosophy of science. The most popular position is empiricism, which claims that knowledge is created by a process involving observation and that scientific theories are the result of generalizations from such observations.[19] Empiricism generally encompasses inductivism, a position that tries to explain the way general theories can be justified by the finite number of observations humans can make and the hence finite amount of empirical evidence available to confirm scientific theories. This is necessary because the number of predictions those theories make is infinite, which means that they cannot be known from the finite amount of evidence using deductive logic only. Many versions of empiricism exist, with the predominant ones being bayesianism and the hypothetico-deductive method.

Empiricism has stood in contrast to rationalism, the position originally associated with Descartes, which holds that knowledge is created by the human intellect, not by observation. A significant twentieth century version of rationalism is critical rationalism, first defined by Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper. Popper rejected the way that empiricism describes the connection between theory and observation. He claimed that theories are not generated by observation, but that observation is made in the light of theories and that the only way a theory can be affected by observation is when it comes in conflict with it. Popper proposed falsifiability as the landmark of scientific theories, and falsification as the empirical method to replace verifiability and induction by purely deductive notions. Popper further claimed that there is only one universal method in science, and that this method is not specific to science: The negative method of criticism, trial and error. It covers all products of the human mind, including science, mathematics, philosophy, and art.

Another approach, instrumentalism, colloquially termed "shut up and calculate", emphasizes the utility of theories as instruments for explaining and predicting phenomena.[28] It claims that scientific theories are black boxes with only their input (initial conditions) and output (predictions) being relevant. Consequences, notions and logical structure of the theories are claimed to be something that should simply be ignored and that scientists shouldn't make a fuss about (see interpretations of quantum mechanics).

Finally, another approach often cited in debates of scientific skepticism against controversial movements like creationism, is methodological naturalism. Its main point is that a difference between natural and supernatural explanations should be made, and that science should be restricted methodologically to natural explanations. That the restriction is merely methodological (rather than ontological) means that science should not consider supernatural explanations itself, but should not claim them to be wrong either. Instead, supernatural explanations should be left a matter of personal belief outside the scope of science. Methodological naturalism maintains that proper science requires strict adherence to empirical study and independent verification as a process for properly developing and evaluating explanations for observable phenomena. The absence of these standards, arguments from authority, biased observational studies and other common fallacies are frequently cited by supporters of methodological naturalism as criteria for the dubious claims they criticize not to be true science.

Although some scientific research is applied research into specific problems, a great deal of our understanding comes from the curiosity-driven undertaking of basic research. This leads to options for technological advance that were not planned or sometimes even imaginable. This point was made by Michael Faraday when, allegedly in response to the question "what is the use of basic research?" he responded "Sir, what is the use of a new-born child?". For example, research into the effects of red light on the human eye's rod cells did not seem to have any practical purpose; eventually, the discovery that our night vision is not troubled by red light would lead search and rescue teams (among others) to adopt red light in the cockpits of jets and helicopters. In a nutshell: Basic research is the search for knowledge. Applied research is the search for solutions to practical problems using this knowledge. Finally, even basic research can take unexpected turns, and there is some sense in which the scientific method is built to harness luck.

Based on observations of a phenomenon, scientists may generate a model. This is an attempt to describe or depict the phenomenon in terms of a logical, physical or mathematical representation. As empirical evidence is gathered, scientists can suggest a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon.[33] Hypotheses may be formulated using principles such as parsimony (also known as "Occam's Razor") and are generally expected to seek consilience—fitting well with other accepted facts related to the phenomena. This new explanation is used to make falsifiable predictions that are testable by experiment or observation. When a hypothesis proves unsatisfactory, it is either modified or discarded.[34] Experimentation is especially important in science to help establish causational relationships (to avoid the correlation fallacy). Operationalization also plays an important role in coordinating research in/across different fields.

Once a hypothesis has survived testing, it may become adopted into the framework of a scientific theory. This is a logically reasoned, self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of certain natural phenomena. A theory typically describes the behavior of much broader sets of phenomena than a hypothesis; commonly, a large number of hypotheses can be logically bound together by a single theory. Thus a theory is a hypothesis explaining various other hypotheses. In that vein, theories are formulated according to most of the same scientific principles as hypotheses.

While performing experiments, scientists may have a preference for one outcome over another, and so it is important to ensure that science as a whole can eliminate this bias. This can be achieved by careful experimental design, transparency, and a thorough peer review process of the experimental results as well as any conclusions. After the results of an experiment are announced or published, it is normal practice for independent researchers to double-check how the research was performed, and to follow up by performing similar experiments to determine how dependable the results might be.

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[4] The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: "That was an excellent troll you posted".

While the word troll and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, media attention in recent years has made such labels subjective, with trolling describing intentionally provocative actions outside of an online context. For example, mass media uses troll to describe "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families."[5][6] The "trollface" (pictured right) has become a well-recognized icon of Internet trolling. It was drawn by deviantArt user Whynne and uploaded to the site in 2008. Whynne claims that the drawing was an attempt at recreating a comic character named "Rape Rodent."[7] Etymology

The verb troll originates from Old French troller, a hunting term. The noun troll comes from the Old Norse word for a mythological monster.[8]

In modern English usage, the verb troll is a fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat.[9] The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children's tales, where they are often creatures bent on mischief and wickedness.

The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s,[10] but the earliest known example is from 1992.[11] Early non-internet related use of trolling for actions deliberately performed to provoke a reaction can be found in the military; by 1972 the term trolling for MiGs was documented in use by US Navy pilots in Vietnam.[12]

Early history
The most likely derivation of the word troll can be found in the phrase "trolling for newbies", popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group, alt.folklore.urban (AFU).[13][14] Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time. Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been discussed a lot, but new subscribers to the group would not realize, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a practice to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution.[13][15] One of the most notorious AFU trollers, Snopes,[13] went on to create his eponymous urban folklore website.

By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort was frowned upon. Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed or deluded user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. In such contexts, the noun troll usually referred to an act of trolling, rather than to the author.

In other languages
In Icelandic, þurs (a thurs) or tröll (a troll) may refer to trolls, the verbs þursa (to troll) or þursast (to be trolling, to troll about) may used.

In Japanese, tsuri (釣り) means "fishing" and refers to intentionally misleading posts whose only purpose is to get the readers to react, i.e. get trolled. arashi (荒らし) means "laying waste" and can also be used to refer to simple spamming.

In Korean, nak-si (낚시) means "fishing", and is used to refer to Internet trolling attempts, as well as purposefully misleading post titles. A person who recognizes the troll after having responded (or, in case of a post title nak-si, having read the actual post) would often refer to himself as a caught fish.[citation needed]

In Thai, the term "krean" (เกรียน) has been adopted to address Internet trolls. The term literally refers to a closely cropped hairstyle worn by most school boys in Thailand, thus equating Internet trolls to school boys. The term "tob krean" (ตบเกรียน), or slapping a cropped head, refers to the act of posting intellectual replies to refute and cause the messages of Internet trolls to be perceived as unintelligent.[citation needed]

I CAN DO IT TOO!

One of the most substantial uses in education is the use of technology. Also technology is an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and mobile phones are used in developed countries both to complement established education practices and develop new ways of learning such as online education (a type of distance education). This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are interested in learning. The proliferation of computers also means the increase of programming and blogging. Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and understandings of students, including Multimedia, and provides new ways to engage students, such as Virtual learning environments. One such tool are virtual manipulatives, which are an "interactive, Web-based visual representation of a dynamic object that presents opportunities for constructing mathematical knowledge" (Moyer, Bolyard, & Spikell, 2002). In short, virtual manipulatives are dynamic visual/pictorial replicas of physical mathematical manipulatives, which have long been used to demonstrate and teach various mathematical concepts. Virtual manipulatives can be easily accessed on the Internet as stand-alone applets, allowing for easy access and use in a variety of educational settings. Emerging research into the effectiveness of virtual manipulatives as a teaching tool have yielded promising results, suggesting comparable, and in many cases superior overall concept-teaching effectiveness compared to standard teaching methods.[citation needed] Technology is being used more not only in administrative duties in education but also in the instruction of students. The use of technologies such as PowerPoint and interactive whiteboard is capturing the attention of students in the classroom. Technology is also being used in the assessment of students. One example is the Audience Response System (ARS), which allows immediate feedback tests and classroom discussions.[20]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a “diverse set of tools and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.”[21] These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. There is increasing interest in how computers and the Internet can improve education at all levels, in both formal and non-formal settings.[22] Older ICT technologies, such as radio and television, have for over forty years been used for open and distance learning, although print remains the cheapest, most accessible and therefore most dominant delivery mechanism in both developed and developing countries.[23] In addition to classroom application and growth of e-learning opportunities for knowledge attainment, educators involved in student affairs programming have recognized the increasing importance of computer usage with data generation for and about students. Motivation and retention counselors, along with faculty and administrators, can impact the potential academic success of students by provision of technology based experiences in the University setting.[24]

The use of computers and the Internet is in its infancy in developing countries, if these are used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the attendant high costs of access. Usually, various technologies are used in combination rather than as the sole delivery mechanism. For example, the Kothmale Community Radio Internet uses both radio broadcasts and computer and Internet technologies to facilitate the sharing of information and provide educational opportunities in a rural community in Sri Lanka.[25] The Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU), established in 1969 as the first educational institution in the world wholly dedicated to open and distance learning, still relies heavily on print-based materials supplemented by radio, television and, in recent years, online programming.[26] Similarly, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India combines the use of print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio and television, and audio conferencing technologies.[27]

The term "computer-assisted learning" (CAL) has been increasingly used to describe the use of technology in teaching. Classrooms of the 21st century contain interactive white boards, tablets, mp3 players, laptops, etc. Teachers are encouraged to embed these technological devices in the curriculum in order to enhance students learning and meet the needs of various types of learners.

i agree

Interesting...

fun to play? money doesn't bring u happiness...
nothing worth playing as of yet..

thanks for the nice reply I think they all read it but really had nothing useful to say

we grow old.. thats whats wrong + money is making people less creative nowdays.

had nothing useful to say

pretty much sums you up

Gamers complain all the time about the decay of the videogame industry and how easy and boring games are. The problem is really that for all this talk about how shitty games are they still buy crap like cod or tf2. They're like everyone else and get caught up in the social hype.

You want to encourage education? step up and read a book yourself. That's not directed personally at you. But perhaps you can make more threads like this or start a book club on esr.

games turned into soulless one hundred man production shit