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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Dating
The joys of being in love aside, the lack of that special somebody is not a reason to despair
Finding Mr or Ms Right will not solve all of our problems and it will not necessarily make us happy.
People have a tendency to feel that 'If I can just meet that person ... ' and get really caught up with the idea that they can finally be happy
The author of this article Trees stresses that happiness is not dependent on finding someone – or on any other life events.
He points to a study that compared the happiness of lottery winners, non-winners and paraplegics.
Initially, lottery winners were elated but in the long term were no happier than non-winners.
In fact, non-winners were reported to still get pleasure from simple things such as watching TV and conversations, while winners found it more difficult to do so.
Paraplegics started out despondent but again, in the long term, their happiness was reported to be fractionally less than everybody else's.
What was found was that everybody has a pretty constant line of happiness in their life and while both fortunate and distressing events have an impact, these deviations are temporary and soon became just part of your life.
The most important factor is having a rich and fulfilling life, with or without someone.
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Trees gave these little tips for finding that someone
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Send your introductory emails on a Monday; sending them on the weekend tells others that you've too much spare time.
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Bumping into the object of your desire promotes familiarity – essential in mutual attraction.
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Keep the first meeting short.
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Women take just five seconds to decide if there is any chemistry and it's 10 seconds for men.
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So keep a first meeting to just 45 minutes – this will allow you just enough time to test your first feelings.
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If you like someone, try mirroring – and not just movement; it also occurs with speech patterns and tone of voice.
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It promotes intimacy.
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Try "priming cues"; this is really about getting someones heart racing and them associating this excitement to being attracted to you.
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Even the most crude priming mechanisms work – for instance, handing someone a warm drink will make them see you as a warm person.
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When with a new partner, act as if they already have the qualities you like: people try and become the good opinion others have of them.
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Trees - Independent
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Not sure about some of his ideas however if you are single and try them out - why not
Monday, April 12, 2010
Solar Dynamics Observatory
The depth of the solar minimum in 2008-2009 really took us by surprise, says sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
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It highlights how far we still have to go to successfully forecast solar activity.
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That's a problem, because human society is increasingly vulnerable to solar flare ups.
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Modern people depend on a network of interconnected high-tech systems for the basics of daily life.
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Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services, emergency radio communications—they can all be knocked out by intense solar activity.
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According to a 2008 study by the National Academy of Sciences, a century-class solar storm could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.
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Understanding solar variability is crucial, says space scientist Judith Lean of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. Our modern way of life depends upon it.
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Enter the Solar Dynamics Observatory—"SDO" for short—was slated to launch on Feb. 11, 2010, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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SDO is designed to probe solar variability unlike any other mission in NASA history.
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It will observe the sun faster, deeper, and in greater detail than previous observatories, breaking barriers of time-scale and clarity that have long blocked progress in solar physics.
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SDO is going to revolutionize our view of the sun.
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The revolution begins with high-speed photography.
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SDO will record IMAX-quality images of the sun every 10 seconds using a bank of multi-wavelength telescopes called the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). For comparison, previous observatories have taken pictures at best every few minutes with resolutions akin to what you see on the web, not at a movie theatre.
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Researchers believe that SDO's rapid-fire cadence could have the same transformative effect on solar physics that the invention of high-speed photography had on many sciences in the 19th century.
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SDO doesn't stop at the stellar surface.
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SDO's Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) can actually look inside the sun at the solar dynamo itself.
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The solar dynamo is a network of deep plasma currents that generates the sun's tangled and sometimes explosive magnetic field.
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It regulates all forms of solar activity from the lightning-fast eruptions of solar flares to the slow decadal undulations of the sunspot cycle.
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Understanding the inner workings of the solar dynamo has long been a 'holy grail' of solar physics, says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. HMI could finally deliver this to us.
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The dynamo is hidden from view by about 140,000 miles of overlying hot gas.
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SDO penetrates the veil using a technique familiar to geologists—seismology.
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Just as geologists probe Earth's interior using waves generated by earthquakes, solar physicists can probe the sun's interior using acoustic waves generated by the sun's own boiling turbulence.
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HMI detects the waves, which researchers on Earth can transform into fairly clear pictures.
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It's a little like taking an ultrasound of a pregnant mother, Pesnell explains. We can see 'the baby' right through the skin.
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Astronomers were once so convinced of the sun's constancy, they called the irradiance of the sun "the solar constant," and they set out to measure it as they would any constant of Nature.
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By definition, the solar constant is the amount of solar energy deposited at the top of Earth's atmosphere in units of watts per meter-squared.
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All wavelengths of radiation are included—radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays and so on.
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The approximate value of the solar constant is 1361 W/m2.
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Clouds, atmospheric absorption and other factors complicate measurements from Earth's surface, so NASA has taken the measuring devices to space.
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Today, VIRGO, ACRIM and SORCE are making measurements with precisions approaching 10 parts per million per year.
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Future instruments scheduled for flight on NASA's Glory and NOAA's NPOESS spacecraft aim for even higher precisions.
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To the amazement of many researchers, the solar constant has turned out to be not constant.
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Solar constant' is an oxymoron, says Judith Lean of the Naval Research Lab. Satellite data show that the sun's total irradiance rises and falls with the sunspot cycle by a significant amount.
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At solar maximum, the sun is about 0.1% brighter than it is at solar minimum.
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That may not sound like much, but consider the following: A 0.1% change in 1361 W/m2 equals 1.4 Watts/m2.
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Averaging this number over the spherical Earth and correcting for Earth's reflectivity yields 0.24 Watts for every square meter of our planet.
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Add it all up and you get a lot of energy, says Lean. How this might affect weather and climate is a matter of—at times passionate—debate.
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Because SDO specializes in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, it won't be making direct measurements of the total solar irradiance, which requires sensitivity across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
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Nevertheless, a combination of data from SDO and other spacecraft could shed new light on this important topic—and perhaps reveal other oxymorons as well.
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Finally – and of most immediate relevance for Earth--SDO will observe the sun at wavelengths where the sun is most variable, the extreme ultraviolet (EUV). EUV photons are high-energy cousins of regular UV rays that cause sunburns.
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Fortunately, our atmosphere blocks solar EUV; otherwise a day at the beach could be fatal.
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In space, solar EUV emission is easy to detect and arguably the most sensitive indicator of solar activity.
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If human eyes could see EUV wavelengths, no one would doubt that the sun is a variable star, says Tom Woods of the University of Colorado in Boulder.
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During a solar flare, the sun's extreme ultraviolet output can vary by factors of hundreds to thousands in a matter of seconds.
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Surges of EUV photons heat Earth's upper atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to "puff up" and drag down low-orbiting satellites.
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EUV rays also break apart atoms and molecules, creating a layer of ions in the upper atmosphere that can severely disturb radio signals.
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.According to Judith Lean, EUV controls Earth's environment throughout the entire atmosphere above about 100 km.
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EUV is where the action is, agrees Woods.
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That's why Woods and colleagues built an extreme ultraviolet sensor for SDO called the EUV Variability Experiment (EVE). EVE gives us the highest time resolution (10 sec) and the highest spectral resolution (< 0.1 nm) that we've ever had for measuring the sun, and we'll have it 24/7, he says. "This is a huge improvement over past missions."
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Woods expects EVE to reveal how fast the sun can change—we really don't know, he points out—and to surprise astronomers with the size of the outbursts.
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EVE, AIA, HMI. For the next five years, the Solar Dynamics Observatory will use these instruments to redefine our star and its potential for variability.
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What unorthodox ideas will they beam back?
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Old teachings beware!
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Author: Dr. Tony Phillips
Credit: Science@NASA
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Liquid glass
Spray-on miracle could revolutionise manufacturing
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Liquid glass sounds like the stuff of sci-fi.
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But can it really live up to the hype?
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It sounds too good to be true: a non-toxic spray invisible to the human eye that protects almost any surface against dirt and bacteria, whether it is hospital equipment and medical bandages or ancient stone monuments and expensive fabrics.
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But true it is.
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The spray is a form of "liquid glass" and is harmless to living things and the wider environment.
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It is being touted as one of the most important, environmentally-friendly products to emerge from the field of nanotechnology, which deals in objects at the molecular end of the size scale.
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Tests have revealed an astonishing variety of potential uses for the liquid glass, from protecting vineyards against fungal attacks to coating medical implants with non-stick, antibacterial surfaces.
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Scientists have even used it to spray fabric with an invisible, dirt-resistant film – emulating the fictional invention of unstainable clothing in the 1951 Ealing comedy The Man in the White Suit.
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The secret of liquid glass is that it forms an ultra-thin film between 15 and 30 molecules thick – about 500 times thinner than human hair.
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On this nanoscale – a few millionths of a millimetre thick – liquid glass turns into a highly flexible invisible barrier that repels water, dirt and bacteria, yet is resistant to heat, acids and UV radiation but remains "breathable".
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A family-owned German company called Nanopool holds patent rights on the technology behind the liquid glass, which emerged from research at the Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken.
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Nanopool is already talking to British firms and the NHS about using the product for a diverse range of applications, from coating designer handbags to spraying the nose cones of high-speed trains.
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An NHS hospital in Southport, Lancashire, has just completed a year-long trial where a variety of surfaces were coated with liquid glass to test its ability to resist dirt and microbial growth.
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The results of the trial are expected to be published next month.
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Similar tests by food-processing firms in Germany have shown that sterile surfaces treated with liquid glass are just as clean and free of microbial contamination after being washed in hot water as untreated surfaces washed in the usual way with strong bleach, and the antimicrobial effect continued over many months.
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The liquid glass is composed of almost pure silicon dioxide, the chemical constituent of quartz or silica, the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust.
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It is quite inert and has no known harmful impact on the environment, unlike many of the domestic and industrial cleaning products its use could help to reduce.
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The "easy-clean" properties of the liquid glass could lead to drastic cuts in the amount of potentially toxic cleaning agents used in factories, offices, schools, hospitals and the home, as well as cutting the costs of labour and the amount of time spent scrubbing surfaces.
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It works by forming a highly water-repellent or "hydrophobic" layer that resists dirt and bacteria, so that treated surfaces can be quickly be washed clean with plain water, according to Neil McClelland, Nanopool's UK project manager.
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Many UK supermarkets are unwilling to stock the technology as many of the other cleaning products which they sell will become redundant.
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This is also the case with some major cleaning companies who are scared of having to clean less frequently and to change from using cleaning chemicals to using water in most instances," Mr McClelland told The Independent.
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A number of leading organisations are conducting cleaning tests with the product, including a train company in Britain which is using it to protect the front of the train as well as inside its carriages; an international chain of luxury hotels; an upmarket fabric and clothing firm; and a German branch of a hamburger chain.
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The secret of the glass's unique properties lies in the way it is manufactured so that it can be sold in a solution of water or alcohol, depending of the type of surface to be covered.
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When sprayed on a surface, the glass solution forms a flexible, ultra-thin film that generates strong electrostatic forces that bind it to the material in question, yet repel water from the opposing, exposed surface.
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In essence, we extract molecules of silicon dioxide from quartz sand and add molecules of water or ethanol depending on which surface is being coated.
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The really clever part is that there are no added nano-particles, resins or additives – the coatings form and bond due to quantum forces," Mr McClelland said.
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When bacteria or other microbes land on the glass surface they are not killed, but they cannot divide and replicate easily, he said.
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This imparts a natural, antibacterial property to the layer of liquid glass similar to the silver-ion surfaces used to protect some kitchen equipment, but with a longer-lasting effect, Mr McClelland claimed.
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Very soon almost every product you purchase will be protected with a highly durable, easy-to-clean coating ... the concept of spray-on glass is mind boggling," Mr McClelland said.
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Sprayed onto outdoor stone or brick, the liquid glass creates a water-resistant surface that is easier to clean.
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It allows the stone to breathe, preventing a build-up of mildew under the nano-coating.
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Graffiti is more easily removed from treated statues, without the unsightly "shadowing" from conventional anti-graffiti treatment, Mr McClelland said.
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Britain's war graves organisation, Alrewas, is in discussions with Nanopool about treating its stone monuments and Turkish scientists are conducting tests of liquid glass on important national monuments in Turkey, such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara and the 15th Century Ilyas Bey Mosque in Miletus.
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Professor Bekir Eskici of Ankara University, director of the mosque project, said that the liquid glass solution was applied to the building's dome as well as its decorative marble surfaces in August 2008.
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The surfaces are still water-repellent and there are no colour changes to the materials, Professor Eskici said.
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Sascha Schwindt, managing director of Nanopool, said that agricultural companies were also interested in liquid glass as a treatment against fungal attack on plants and seeds.
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Vineyards are testing it against a common grape fungus and wine makers are interested in using the product to prevent "corking".
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Mr Schwindt said that tests have also shown that seeds sprayed with the liquid glass are not just protected against fungal attacks, but germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds.
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We think it's because the energy of the seeds is used for development and growth rather than defence against bacteria and fungi in the soil, he said.
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The agricultural aspects of the liquid glass came out of tests showing that treated wood is resistant to termite attack.
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Wood sprayed with the liquid glass survived undamaged after being buried in a termite mound for nine months, Mr Schwindt said.
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Our hypothesis is that the termites do not see the treated wood as wood but as a solid barrier," he said.
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Professor Colin Humphreys of Cambridge University, a respected expert in the field of materials science, said that Nanopool's liquid glass appears to have a striking range of applications. "I have to say the product looks impressive," he said.
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Agriculture
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Wood treated with liquid glass was found to be resistant to termite attacks in tropical climates.
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This led to tests on vines showing that treated plants are more resistant to a fungus that attacks the grapes.
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Seeds coated with liquid glass are less likely to be be attacked by fungal spores and germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, probably because they do not waste energy fending off the microbes.
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Wine corks treated with liquid glass may also be protected against "corking", when contaminants in the cork taint the flavour of the wine.
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Stone monuments
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Stone surfaces coated with liquid glass are protected against the weather and easier to clean, especially if grafittied.
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For 18 months, scientists in Turkey have been running trials on the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara and a 15th-Century mosque.
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They report continued water protection and no discolouration.
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Talks are taking place about the possible use of liquid glass in Britain to protect memorials and war graves.
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Domestic bathrooms
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Millions of homes use cleaning agents and bleach.
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Tests by food processing companies in Germany have shown that sterile surfaces treated with the liquid glass can be cleaned with plain hot water and have levels of sterility seen on surfaces washed in bleach.
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Its uses in the fashion industry
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The liquid glass produces a highly flexible, invisible barrier to liquids and dirt. It cannot be seen by the naked eye and yet it allows fabrics to "breathe", according to its manufacturers.
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Expensive fabrics could be treated to make them stain resistant and at least one maker of upmarket handbags and coats is understood to be conducting negotiations about treating its products before they leave the factory.
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The day may soon come when the clothes are routinely treated with liquid glass to give them protection against dirt – the angle in the 1951 classic comedy movie The Man in the White Suit.
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Steve Connor
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Repetitions
From brushing your teeth to combing your hair
Many many thousand of times
Do you always use the same toothpaste?
The same brush
Do you notice the little changes?
Do you notice that ninety nine percent of all toothpastes have fluoride in them
What does this mean to you?
Something, nothing?
We have so many repetitions in our lives
Life is repetition
Day after day
And yet often we treat it in an offhand way
Just my teeth
Just brushing my hair
Notice how others handle their repetitions
Do they pay more attention?
What do they do differently?
Do they put the same emphasis on things that we do?
Ever thought that how you handle your repetitions is what determines much of your life
Your repetitions whoever you are determine your experience of life
Why?
Because an unconscious approach to your repetitions means that you are not learning
When we focus on whatever we are doing and particularly our repetitions we get more out of life
It's a bit like using energy the more we consciously put out the more we get back
One of the attractions of exercise is the feeling of being alive
The conscious choice of exercise
The feeling of one's body working
The pleasure and feeling of reward when we finish our exercises
And then guess what the body responds and we feel good
Same thing for our other senses
Consciously exercise them and they will reward you
This is why the attention we pay to our repetitions is more important than we think
Where we just do our daily repetitions our thoughts elsewhere we are dulling our experience of life
We are losing yet another day to worry and mental stress
If we are conscious of our repetitoins then we are not mentally worrying about other things
And this added up is a very helpful release from stress
Pay attention to your repetitions please
Friday, April 09, 2010
This 'n that
If you desire to labour for the good of the world, it will be unwise for you to strive to include it all at once in your efforts.
If you can help elevate or teach but one person - that is a good beginning, and more than is given to many
It is peace you are seeking, therefore it is best that the good in everything is found.......
For this brings peace
All sin has its origin in the mind
The more the mind dwells on any course of conduct, whether with pleasure or pain
the less chance there is for it to become detached from such action
When mind loses its interest in any object there will no longer be a link between the Karma connected with that object and the individual
It is the attitude of mind which draws the Karmic cords tightly round the soul
It imprisons the aspirations and binds them with chains of difficulty and obstruction
It is desire that causes the past Karma to take form and shape and build houses of clay
It must be through non attachment that the soul will burst through the walls of pain
It will only be through a change of mind that the Karmic burden will be lifted
WQJ
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Churches
Churches are so much property that has to be preserved
And church ministers are so many men who get salaries they have to earn
With families to support and reputations to sustain
Many houses of worship are intimately connected with the material progress of the town they are in
Congregations hire their priests at so much a year to give out a definite sort of theology
And do not like being told the truth about themselves
Nor to have too high a standard of altruism held up to them in a way from which there would be no escape
Consequently many churches pursue political support to smear or call evil any who challenge their teachings
In many churches today the teachings have little if anything to do with the label on the door of the church or the teaching of it's founder
It has much more to do with their own power and the protection of that power
In one country today the church has been given a monopoly on certain tobacco sales?
What a mockery!
I am not sure the Good Lord would want his children smoking or the church using his name to be making a profit from sales of tobacco and cigarettes
A debate in 2010 about whether women can be priests
What a farce
Hundreds of different branches all claiming their differences
All claiming to be the one truth
Churches apparently live in a different universe where they can make outragious claims and find it unacceptable that anyone should challenge those claims
Churches come in all shapes and sizes as do their teachings
Many sitting on valuable propert sites, most underutilised
Many being sold because the congregation disapeared
Time to move beyond religion
Churches too, they had a role now is time to let many go
Let us keep a few to remind us of their architecture and our history
Churches
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Family
Is something we all have issues with
Even if we have no family we have the issue that we do not have a family!
Our understanding of how this family situation can best be is critical for our well being
Over the course of a lifetime not sorting this out can cost you dearly
Not being at peace with how it is can really hurt
Running away or rejecting family is not a smart solution as this just causes more wear and tear
Many families pretend that you have to behave in certain ways
That you owe them
That they made huge sacrifices so now you must
It is said that you must do this or that
All of this without mentioning the rivalries
The divisions between various branches of the family
So how best to be with family then?
Being clear about the games being played is a good start
Once you see who is using who
Who does not like who
Who is manipulating who
These are all to be seen and where you do not see them ask a neutral what they see
Ask an outsider
Once you have some objectivity about this then consider where are you?
Who is using you?
Who are you using?
Do you want to continue this?
Most important as an idea is that you chose this family
You chose your parents as those best able to give you the start you needed in this life
Not the kindest maybe but those best able to give you that start
Your brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces nephews are often relationships with those you had problems with in other lives
Now how is that for a thought?
Which of course is why you have these issues with them this time around
Frequently this will be the reverse of that in the previous life
For example if you were a bully last life then this time around you might well find yourself being bullied
Once you look at it this way it is easier to make sense of things in the various family relationships
And once you learn to sort it then it changes
You can move on
Family is always a challenge
Take your power back and use it to place all the relationships on a reasonable basis
Where this is not possible then behave correctly and leave alone
Get on with your own life
Move on
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
The unthinkable - 2
With too many billions of us on the planet
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We need to think about our lives differently
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To pretend that grabbing what we can is what it is all about is no longer a viable or acceptable approach
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Worshipping money and crude power is self defeating and pointless
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Many perhaps most of those with money and power have brought little to the well being of those in need
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Indeed they bring little of real or lasting benefit to themselves either
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If it were not for their controlling the media we could open our eyes and see how unattractive most of those with money and power are
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Time for us to point out that the Emperor is indeed naked
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Greedy behaviour is not admirable, nor is selfish behaviour
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Time to say it as it is
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Time also for us to stop trying to emulate stupid selfish greedy people
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The way forward is to see that we need to change our perceptions of well being and plenty
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Money does not bring well being nor does it bring plenty except in the most narrow sense
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Money brings fear
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Fear of losing it often creates paranoia
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Fear of abuse by others leading to violence and manipulation
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Plenty creates other issues of generosity and sharing usually traits not associated with the wealthy, selfishness and self centeredness being more often associated with the rich
We need to think about our lives differently
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To pretend that grabbing what we can is what it is all about is no longer a viable or acceptable approach
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Worshipping money and crude power is self defeating and pointless
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Many perhaps most of those with money and power have brought little to the well being of those in need
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Indeed they bring little of real or lasting benefit to themselves either
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If it were not for their controlling the media we could open our eyes and see how unattractive most of those with money and power are
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Time for us to point out that the Emperor is indeed naked
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Greedy behaviour is not admirable, nor is selfish behaviour
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Time to say it as it is
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Time also for us to stop trying to emulate stupid selfish greedy people
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The way forward is to see that we need to change our perceptions of well being and plenty
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Money does not bring well being nor does it bring plenty except in the most narrow sense
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Money brings fear
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Fear of losing it often creates paranoia
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Fear of abuse by others leading to violence and manipulation
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Plenty creates other issues of generosity and sharing usually traits not associated with the wealthy, selfishness and self centeredness being more often associated with the rich
Having extreme wealth creates issues of buying whatever or whoever you want until nothing has meaning anymore everyone and everything can be bought
Plenty often brings cynicism and contempt
No time for others
Domination of conversation, knows best in all possible situations
From plenty springs power
Power seldom brings peace of mind only paranoia
Conversley when we look at those who are manifestly happy we find different traits
They share whatever they have
They care about others
They have time for others
They appreciate what they have
They usually listen well
This sufficiency unto their needs creates well being
An ability to love others brings peace of mind
Altruism brings release from fear and a freedom not possible for those who are selfish
Being selfish is not something that we can continue to support and admire
Selfish behaviour is detrimental to the well being of us all
Greed and corruption are destroying this planet
We need to move towards publicly pointing out this simple fact
Observing publicly that we do not like or admire greedy selfish people
These people need naming and shaming
Moving towards transparency where we dig the greedy out of the shadows
Making all transactions more transparent
On a simple practical level we must support those who push for these goals
Let us support and encourage more altruistic behaviour
Let us give our admiration to those who help others
The way forward for all of us is to become more loving caring people
Helping those who have less than ourselves
This is the only way to find peace of mind
To find peace of mind and self respect are what we all want
Make your own choice we can only change this planet through our own behaviour
By our own examples
No one can do this for you
You must act yourself
Monday, April 05, 2010
Only the lonely
Only the lonely can know how bad loneliness can feel
But then don't we all have the experience of being alone
Being really really alone
At some time in our lives we all have this experience
And because we all have it some question why?
Looking at life we all experience ourselves to be different
Sometimes we admit to being alike
Being different from you I can only imagine how you feel
How you experience life
What if we are not really different?
What if we are all more similar than dissimilar?
More so than we think
Look at your life
Notice how we all go through the same or similar experiences
Sure I might do this before you
Sure this might be longer
Shorter even, after you perhaps
The point though is that most humans go through the same things
Beginning middle, and end of life
Take out the differences in our financial situations
Take out the different climates and cultures we live in
Take out the other material aspects of our lives
Even our family or work relationships are more similar than dissimilar
Because we all know pain
We all laugh
We all cry
We all lose
And so an observer can see that we have so much more in common in our lives than we do differences
Many of the good books say this but we have not taken in what it means
If we all have more in common
If our lives are in many respects so similar
Then how come the pain and loneliness I feel is not easier to understand?
What does this say?
It says amongst other things that we can learn more from each other
We can anticipate more than we do
We can save ourselves damage
Be more conscious and you can improve your life by paying more attention as to why people experience what they do
And what you can take from them
Be more conscious of what is going on above you
Above you?
Yes learn from those who are experiencing the next predictable step in life
And yes they are predictable
So save yourself some grief
Learn from those who have been there
Who was it who came out in one piece
Why?
What did they do differently?
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Did you know
Women also played an important role in bringing about the March revolution of 1917 in Russia
Much more so than appears in current history books
The revolution began on International Women's Day and was sparked by women demonstrating against high bread prices.
During 1917 differences between radical and feminist women faded.
With the Bolshevik coup in November 1917, a new chapter in the history of Russian women began.
It was dominated by the philosophy of the "common cause."
In 1919 the Party established a women's section and in 1920 a journal called the Woman Communist was founded.
As feminists before the revolution had argued, the oppression of women was the result of forces different than the forces of class oppression.
The Bolsheviks gave women in the 1920s a platform on which to press for further gains, but the expected release from male oppression was not provided by the revolution.
By the time of Stalin the burden on women had in many ways increased with the introduction of the idea of the New Soviet Woman .
That burden continued to grow through the following years when few families escaped the experience of sudden seizures of family members
The frequent purges of society fell heavily upon women
That was then and today what has changed?
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Women today have more freedom to earn and work where they want
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More women are in business, often for themselves
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Critically this gives them some or more financial freedom
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More choice in their lives
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This in turn means that women are less tolerant of male behaviour
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Maybe but men still dominate in big business and politics women being the exception and few on the ground
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Divorce is easier than under Soviet times
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Again this frees women to leave unacceptable relationships
.
Women today can emigrate, which was not possible before, and many Russian women are doing so
.
Non Muslim Russian women are having fewer babies and having them later
.
Women in other words are helping to shape Russia in ways that might not be very visible but we suspect in ways that are going to have far reaching consequences
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