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Myths of organic farming
by Dave of Darlington
A few years ago Anthony Trewavas, Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at Edinburgh University, published, in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, an article entitled Urban Myths of Organic Farming, in which he tried to discredit organic farming on the basis that, according to him, it did not promote any more biodiversity than conventional farming, that it used just as much energy as conventional farming and, most extraordinary of all, that trace quantities of toxic pesticides in our food were actually good for us!
Most people will probably regard these claims as absurd. But at the same time it has to be acknowledged that there really are some myths associated with organic farming, albeit different ones from those Prof. Trewavas suggested. One that is widely believed is that, to carry on organic farming, you have to keep animals and use their manure as a fertiliser. Readers of this magazine will not need any convincing of the falsehood of that one. But there are some supposed tenets of organic farming, the mythical quality of which is perhaps not quite so obvious. They are: that in organic farming we grow the crops in nature’s way, that green manures, unlike chemical fertilisers, are harmless to the environment and that in organic farming we feed the soil, from which the plants then get their nutrients, whereas in conventional farming they feed the plants directly. All these claims are very misleading and can fairly be described as myths.
Let us look first at the question of feeding the plants. To simplify the argument let us confine ourselves to considering only one plant nutrient, namely nitrogen, but much the same considerations apply to phosphorus too (although not to mineral nutrients like potassium and calcium.) In nature the cycling of nitrogen (and other nutrients) is very tightly controlled and each plant experiences strong competition from adjacent plants, as well as from soil microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, for the small amount of water-soluble nitrogen compounds that are available. In most cases the restricted nitrogen supply limits plant growth, which is one reason why plants grow more slowly in nature than in agricultural systems.
Because of the shortage of inorganic nitrogen in natural soils, plants in natural ecosystems are almost entirely dependent on the small amount of nitrogen that is supplied by the slow microbial decomposition of the organic matter stored in the soil (the humus). In this sense they can be said to feed from the soil. This is not the case with plants in agricultural systems (whether conventional or organic), which still get some nitrogen in that way from the soil organic matter, but draw a lot of their nitrogen from the relatively large quantity of inorganic nitrogen that is dissolved in the soil water and which originates directly from chemical fertilisers and green manures respectively.
For the sake of brevity I will use the term fertiliser here to denote both chemical fertilisers and organic ones. Then roughly what happens in an arable soil under a crop of some kind is that the applied fertiliser greatly increases the nitrogen content of the soil water. This excess of dissolved nitrogen, mostly in inorganic form (ammonia and nitrate), can do one of three things. Some of it (between 0 and 30%, depending on the weather and soil) is lost to the environment. It is either leached down into the sub-soil or it is emitted into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide and nitrogen gases as a result of bacterial nitrification and denitrification1.
The nitrogen remaining in the soil water is split two ways.
Some of it is consumed by the soil microorganisms and some is taken up by the roots of the crops. The quantitative balance between these two depends on many factors, including the root development of the crop plants, the amount of microbial activity in the soil and the availability of organic matter for the microorganisms to consume. This last point is an important one – the microorganisms cannot use nitrogen unless there is a corresponding source of carbon to complement it. An appropriate source of carbon might be, for example, a stubble or other form of residue from a previous crop. Given the availability of such a carbon source, the microorganisms will take up nitrogen and incorporate it into their own tissues. When they die, a little of this nitrogen will be absorbed into the soil’s store of organic matter (humus), but most of it will be released back into the soil water again as ammonia.
Besides the part consumed by the soil microorganisms, a substantial part of the dissolved nitrogen is absorbed by the plant roots. However, the crops do not get all the nitrogen they need in this way. The rest comes from the soil. There are other species of soil microorganisms that are continually feeding on the humus in the soil and, since this normally contains more nitrogen than they need, they release the surplus nitrogen into the soil water and it becomes available to the crop plants, which use it to make up the balance of their nitrogen requirements. So ultimately the crops get part of their nitrogen from the fertiliser and part from the humus. Thus there is a continual flow of nitrogen into, as well as out of, the humus. Much of the additional nitrogen going into the humus as microbial remains comes originally from the fertiliser, of whatever kind it may be.
The processes I have described happen in all agricultural systems, whether conventional or organic. It makes no difference in principle whether the fertiliser is chemical or organic. So in both conventional and organic farming we are feeding both the plants and the soil. This is not to say that there is no difference at all between conventional and organic farming in respect of the nitrogen cycle, but the difference is only one of degree. Generally the nitrogen from organic fertilisers, such as green manures, contributes proportionately less to the needs of the crops and more to those of the soil microorganisms, compared with chemical fertilisers.
So it is difficult to claim that organic crops are growing in a natural way that is qualitatively different from conventional crops. We could, of course, force agricultural crops to mimic nature and feed entirely from the soil, by hardly providing them with any external nitrogen supply of any kind. The result of this, however, would be a serious decline in yield, which is a price that most of us would be unwilling to pay.
I need to end with the usual word of caution – that all the above is an over-simplification of the truth, which is actually far more complicated than this. For example, organic nitrogen compounds, such as amino-acids, can also be taken up by plants and microorganisms. But in agricultural systems nitrate is by far the most important form in which nitrogen is consumed.
1 I will consider this in more detail in the next article, which will compare organic and conventional farming in relation to losses of nitrogen to the environment.
More myths of organic farming
(the second of four articles on the nitrogen cycle)
In the previous article in this series1 I drew attention to two of the myths associated with organic farming and gardening. In this one I will refer to two more such myths: firstly, that nitrogen losses in organic farming are necessarily much smaller than in conventional farming and, secondly, that organic farming solves the problem of nitrate leaching by using winter cover crops.
To appreciate the misleading nature of these statements we need to look in detail at why nitrogen losses take place. The main pre-condition for such losses is that the soil should be in a state of so-called nitrogen saturation. This has been defined as a state of the soil in which nitrification 2 exceeds immobilisation3. In other words, the supply of nitrate to the soil water exceeds microbial demand for it. This leaves an excess of inorganic nitrate in the soil and makes nitrogen loss very likely, unless the nitrogen is removed from the soil by some other agent, such as plants. But for plants to do that effectively, they need to have a relatively dense root system and to be actively growing and photosynthesising.
The above-mentioned state of nitrogen saturation hardly ever exists in nature. It is more characteristic of arable farming, where it is deliberately created by the application of fertilisers (chemical or organic) to the soil. The reason for this is to ensure a plentiful supply of nitrate to the crops and hence high yields. So, while in nature (apart from a very low background level of nitrous oxide emission4) there is practically no loss of nitrogen from the soil, in farming and growing (whether conventional or organic) the loss of nitrogen can be massive (up to 30% of the nitrogen applied as fertiliser).
The main causes of nitrogen loss from soil are nitrate leaching5 and nitrous oxide emission. Both processes are favoured by the above-mentioned state of nitrogen saturation, as well as by an ample supply of water. The water is required by the microorganisms that carry out the reactions, so in a completely dry soil the nitrogen losses should theoretically be nil. Water is also necessary (in the case of leaching) to transport the nitrate downwards and (in the case of nitrous oxide production by denitrification6) to fill the soil pores and create the necessary anaerobic conditions for the denitrifying bacteria.
It is clear, from the above considerations, that any agricultural operation that produces nitrogen saturation, in the absence of plants that can take up the excess nitrate, will give rise to relatively large nitrogen losses from the soil. One of the worst operations in this respect is the incorporation into the soil (by ploughing or digging) of cover crops and green manures, particularly when the soil is warm and wet and when the plants are fresh and young. These conditions will give rise to a huge release of nitrate into the soil and hence to a potentially substantial loss of nitrogen through leaching and nitrous oxide emission. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that, at the time of the incorporation, the soil is inevitably bare, so there are no plants to take up the excess nitrate, and there will be no such plants for several weeks – until the following crop has been sown and well established. The incorporation of green manures into the soil in this way is almost universally practised in organic farming and is, in fact, the main method used to fertilise the soil.
In conventional farming, on the other hand, nitrogenous fertiliser is nowadays applied progressively in two or three doses, mostly at times when the crop is growing fast and hence is capable of taking up all the nitrate that it can get access to. Of course there will still be some nitrate that will escape, not being taken up either by crops or microorganisms, but the nitrogen losses may sometimes be considerably less than in the case of organic farming.
Leguminous green manures are potentially an even more serious source of nitrogen losses. They do not even need to be incorporated into the soil to cause nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emission. Even while the crop is growing, nitrogen loss may be taking place. This is because the soil under a leguminous green manure crop, especially if it is being grown as a pure stand or with a relatively small admixture of grass in it, may be replete with nitrate, ready to be leached or denitrified. (This will only be the case, however, when the bacteria on the plant roots are actively fixing nitrogen, so not in winter.) Also, many nitrogen-fixing bacteria, especially the Rhizobium species, also carry out denitrification when free-living in the soil, i.e. when they are not contained in root nodules on the legume plants. This will increase the nitrous oxide emissions from the soil.
Besides nitrogen saturation and wet conditions, anything that increases the anaerobic character of the soil will promote nitrous oxide production. A common example is compaction of the soil, due to tractor traffic (or even just footsteps in the case of a bare soil). Denitrification can also be stimulated by the cycles of repeated freezing and thawing that often take place in winter in soils in temperate zones. For this reason nitrous oxide emissions can be just as great in winter as in the other seasons of the year. Obviously these factors apply equally to organic and conventional farming.
As for cover crops, it needs to be pointed out first of all that they are by no means a monopoly of organic farming. In fact, farmers of all kinds use cover crops, as anyone who travels round the English countryside in winter will see. However, they are not as much in evidence as they used to be in the old days, when it was normal practice for farmers to leave the stubble over winter, which provided a feeding paradise for seed-eating birds like tree sparrows and yellow hammers, now unfortunately both in serious decline. It was usual then to grow a dual-purpose fodder/cover crop – commonly the so-called stubble turnips. Nowadays farmers in England often plough the stubble straight after harvest and immediately sow an overwintering crop. So the function of a cover crop is served by next year’s cereal or rape crop.
The second point to understand about cover crops is that they do not completely prevent nitrate leaching. They just reduce it by, on average, about half. Their effectiveness depends when and how they are grown and what is done with them afterwards. The point at which the crop is dug or ploughed into the soil is, as explained above, crucial for the conservation or loss of soil nitrate. The period between crops is also very important from this point of view. The watchword of cover-crop growers should be “Mind the gap!”, because it is precisely in the gaps between harvest and the establishment of a cover crop and between the incorporation of the cover crop and the establishment of the following crop that the soil is most liable to leaching.
All this demonstrates that organic (including vegan-organic) farming and growing can be just as bad as, if not worse than, conventional, where nitrogen losses to the wider environment are concerned. Of course this does not mean that organic farming is inferior to conventional farming. There are many ways in which organic farming is clearly superior to conventional, not least in its much lower consumption of fossil fuels and consequent lower carbon dioxide emissions. It just happens that nitrogen loss is often a weak point in the organic system. In the next article in this series I will discuss some ways in which such losses can be minimised.
1. The article entitled Myths of Organic Farming, in issue no. 20 of this magazine
2. Nitrification is the process by which bacteria oxidise ammonia (NH3) to nitrate (NO3–). The process takes place in a series of stages, in one of which nitrous oxide (N2O) is produced as a by-product and is emitted from the soil to the atmosphere. The bacteria involved are aerobic, that is, they need to breathe air.
3. Immobilisation of nitrogen is the process by which soil microorganisms take up inorganic nitrogen from the soil (in the form of ammonia or nitrate) and incorporate it into their own bodies as organic nitrogen compounds such as proteins.
4. The term nitrous oxide emission refers to the production of the gas nitrous oxide (N2O) in the soil and its upward percolation through the soil into the atmosphere (where it acts as a powerful agent of global warming, 240 times stronger than CO2). In well-oxygenated soils nitrous oxide comes mainly from the process of nitrification, as described in note 2 above, but denitrification is also a major source of nitrous oxide (note 6 below).
5. Nitrate leaching takes place when water (from rain or irrigation) washes nitrate out of the topsoil into the subsoil, from where it can either percolate down into the groundwater or enter the field drains, which will carry it into ditches, ponds and water courses.
6. Denitrification is the bacterial reduction of nitrate to nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrogen (N2) gases. The bacteria in this case are anaerobic – they do not need air, because they get the oxygen they need from the nitrate itself (NO3–). There are small airless pockets in the soil at all times, so, even in a well aerated soil, there is a constant stream of nitrous oxide being produced by denitrification as well as that from nitrification, but denitrification greatly increases, and becomes the main source of nitrous oxide, when the soil is predominantly anoxic, for example, when it is waterlogged after heavy rain.
Some ways to minimise nitrogen losses in organic farming
In the second article in this series1 I described how organic (including vegan-organic) farming and growing can cause serious pollution of the environment as a result of nitrogen losses from the soil. In this article I want to discuss some ways in which those losses, which are to some extent unavoidable, can at least be minimised.
A major source of nitrogen loss that I mentioned is leguminous green manure crops. They tend to have a lot of nitrate around their roots, which, especially in wet conditions, is susceptible to leaching and to denitrification to nitrous oxide. These losses may be extremely high when the legume is being grown as a pure stand. In a previous article2 I stressed the importance, for quite different reasons, of including a non-leguminous plant, such as a grass, in a green manure. Among other benefits the grass will take up any excess nitrate in the soil around the legumes and so will reduce the rate of nitrogen losses. The more grass there is in the mixture, the less the losses will be. It is best to plan for at least 50% grass. If you have no experience of doing this, your seed merchant will probably advise you on what seed rates to use to achieve this sort of mixture of plants.
Another potentially big source of nitrogen loss is the incorporation into the soil of plant material of any kind, including crop residues, green manures and cover crops. This may lead to the release of large quantities of nitrogen compounds from the material and if, as is usually the case, the soil remains bare or only sparsely vegetated for a few weeks after the ploughing or digging, the danger of nitrogen loss is immense. However, the actual amount of nitrogen lost depends very much on the conditions that exist at the time of the incorporation. If the soil is warm and moist, the rate at which nitrate is released into the soil from the incorporated material will be greater than if it is cool and dry. Also, if the ploughing or digging is followed by heavy rain, this will also exacerbate the nitrogen loss. So autumn is clearly a bad time to do this operation. Spring cultivation is preferable, but is also not without its problems, which I will mention shortly.
But first, the post-harvest period is always a critical one, especially for a crop that is harvested late in the year. The plant residues will decay, releasing nitrogen, and, apart from a few weeds, there is no plant cover to take that nitrogen up, so the leaching risk is high. It is therefore important to sow another crop as quickly as possible, which may be either an overwintering crop to be harvested in the following year or simply a cover crop, the sole function of which is to protect the soil and mop up excess nitrogen and other nutrients. This needs to be established and be growing fast before the onset of the autumn/winter rains, so the earlier it is sown the better (preferably in August). In temperate climates October is already too late for effective leaching reduction.
But even with an early sowing there will always be a gap between the harvesting of one crop and the establishment of the next. As already mentioned, during this period the soil is bare or only sparsely vegetated, so there is a significant danger of nitrate leaching. One way to get round this problem is relay sowing, that is, sowing the next crop before the first crop is harvested. A common example of this is the undersowing of a cover crop into a cereal such as wheat. In such a case the cover crop is already growing strongly when the cereal is harvested, so it can make a much earlier start with the task of protecting the soil and taking up excess nutrients.
I mentioned earlier that spring incorporation of green manures, although preferable to autumn, was still not without its problems. Again the main problem is the gap between the ploughing/digging of the soil and the establishment of the following crop. This is not nearly so serious as it is in the autumn, because the soil is colder, so plant residue decay and nitrogen release take place more slowly, but in a warm wet spring (or early summer) there could be a significant leaching risk. Once more it is important to get the following crop sown as quickly as possible after the cultivation.
Another way of reducing the rate of decay of a green manure, and thus limiting the nitrogen supply and the leaching risk, is to allow the green manure to grow on to a point where the stems are quite woody, since woody material decays much more slowly than fresh green material. An even better way to slow down the release of nitrogen into the soil would be to mix the green manure with woody material before incorporating it into the soil, since then the rate of decay could be controlled more accurately. Success with either of these approaches would depend on careful selection of the species and the sowing date of the green manure and also careful selection of the woody material. It might be necessary to experiment a few times to get it right. (I have never tested this in practice.)
All these nitrogen losses can be greatly reduced if, instead of incorporating the green manure or cover crop into the soil, we simply cut it and mulch it on the soil surface. In this case there will be negligible nitrate leaching or nitrous oxide emissions. However, there will still be some loss of nitrogen in the form of ammonia volatilisation3. The rate of ammonia loss will be greater, the higher the temperature, moisture and nitrogen content of the mulch material, but will normally not amount to more than about 5% of the total nitrogen in the mulch.
The decay of a mulch is much slower than that of plant material that has been turned into the soil, which gives the following crop more time to develop to a point where it can start taking up the nitrogen that is released into the soil from the plant residues. However, in dry conditions the decay of the mulch could be too slow, thus reducing the supply of nitrogen to the following crop. A possible solution to this problem (which again I have never actually tried out in practice) is, from time to time, to break up the mulch layer between the crop rows and mix it with the surface soil a bit, using a hoe or other suitable implement. This would speed up the decay of the mulch a little and increase the nutrient supply to the crop.
Ultimately the best answer to the problem of nitrogen loss in organic farming and growing may be bi-cropping, in which the crop and the legume are grown together in a mixture. In this case some of the nitrogen fixed by the legume is made directly available to the accompanying crop. No incorporation of the legume into the soil is necessary, as, after the harvest of the crop, the legume (normally a perennial) is allowed to grow on until the following spring. Then, after it has been mown to reduce its competitiveness (at which stage there is a small risk of nitrogen loss by leaching), the following crop can be sown or planted into it. (This means that, contrary to what I recommended previously, the legume would, for part of the year, be growing in a pure stand, but this would be in the winter, when there is practically no nitrogen fixation going on in the root nodules of the clover and hence the danger of nitrogen loss is much less.) Bi-cropping is still a relatively new technique and, while it has been used successfully for cereals and brassicas, it may not work for every crop. There is some evidence that, like mulching, it can provoke serious slug damage, especially in small gardens and allotments.
1. The article entitled More Myths of Organic Farming, in issue no. 21 of this magazine
2. The article entitled Excuse Me! There’s a Grass in my Legume, in issue no. 16 of this magazine
3. Ammonia (NH3) is continuously emitted in small amounts from all plant material, whether living or dead. It is not a greenhouse gas, but still causes some environmental damage in the form of acidification and eutrophication of soil and water.
Too much nitrogen
(the fourth & final article in the series on the nitrogen cycle)
When I was a child, people often used to say “You can have too much of a good thing.” I have never heard this saying used in recent years, perhaps because it does not fit the hedonistic culture that is prevalent in England today. But you really can have too much of good thing, particularly when the good thing is plant-available nitrogen1 in the soil.
It may seem surprising to say that there can be too much available nitrogen in the soil, when it is well known that supplying more nitrogen to the crops increases their yields. But unfortunately the increase in yield is not proportionate to the increase in nitrogenous fertiliser applied. Doubling the nitrogen supply does not double the yield. The law of diminishing returns applies here. All other factors being equal, as we apply more and more fertiliser (inorganic or organic), the proportion of it taken up by the crop decreases. And at the same time the proportion that is lost from the soil to the wider environment increases. It is this lost nitrogen that is of particular concern. Some of it goes into the atmosphere as nitrogen-containing gases and some of it dissolves in water and is leached down into the subsoil, from where it may carried by the field-drains into ditches, ponds and watercourses. In ponds and other areas of still water the nitrogen can accumulate and lead to an over-feeding (or eutrophication) of algae and other small organisms in the water, which eventually damages the ecosystem of the pond.
But it is not just a few ponds that are being eutrophied. In a sense the whole world is eutrophied. Everywhere there is an excess of nitrogen in the soil and in the water. Nitrogen enters the atmosphere mainly in centres of human population and intensive agriculture, but it is carried by winds all over the world. Some of the nitrogen-containing gases, like ammonia and nitrogen dioxide, are soluble in water and therefore dissolve in rain drops and are deposited on the soil when it rains. So even the remotest ecosystems, like the vast coniferous forests of the northernmost parts of Asia, Europe and America, are getting fertilised with nitrogen to an extent that they never did before human intervention. The global nitrogen cycle has been augmented to an enormous extent. In the last two hundred years, largely through the production of nitrogenous fertilisers and the growing of leguminous crops, the amount of atmospheric nitrogen being fixed2 has more than doubled. A significant part of that extra fixed nitrogen gets carried into natural ecosystems.
It might not seem a bad thing that plants in nature are being fertilised. It should make them grow faster, you might think. But it has to be borne in mind, as I mentioned in a previous article, that most natural plants are highly adapted to grow in a very restricted nitrogen supply, because in natural ecosystems nitrogen is very tightly controlled. So for such plants suddenly to get extra nitrogen is not necessarily helpful. On the contrary, it could be a source of stress for them. There is evidence, too, that the excess of nitrogen suppresses the growth of mycorrhizal fungi3, on which most plants are highly dependent for their nutrient supply, especially for phosphorus. So, while the plant gets more nitrogen, it could suffer from deprivation of other important nutrients.
As well as harming individual plants, the extra nitrogen could also harm the ecosystem as a whole, because there are some species of wild plants that, like cultivated crops, can thrive on nitrogen. In a nitrogen-saturated ecosystem the growth of these nitrogen-loving species would be favoured at the expense of the rest and the whole balance of the ecosystem would be upset. The beginnings of this sort of ecological damage has already been detected in some of the colder parts of the world, where natural nitrogen cycling is slowest.
Then there is the effect of inorganic nitrogen compounds on the pH of the soil. They tend to make the soil more acid and, if they accumulate in the soil, the acidity could reach a point where it seriously impairs plant growth. Below a certain pH the cycling of nutrients in the soil practically ceases, partly because most microorganisms will not function in very acid conditions. Aluminium and other metals that are toxic to plants can be mobilised at low pH, while non-metals that the plants need, like phosphorus, can become immobilised.
Finally, there is evidence that excess nitrogen in the soil de-activates the bacteria that oxidise methane. These bacteria play an important part in limiting the atmospheric concentration of methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Any inhibition of the activity of the bacteria will increase that concentration.
So, all in all, too much nitrogen in the soil can do serious harm to the natural ecology of this planet. There is therefore a pressing need to reduce the quantity of inorganic nitrogen compounds in the environment (quite apart from the global warming effect of atmospheric nitrous oxide). Industry and motor transport are important sources of these nitrogen compounds, but agriculture plays a major part in the problem too, principally as a result of the emission of oxides of nitrogen from the soil. The only way to cut that down is to reduce the inorganic nitrogen concentration in the soil water by applying less nitrogenous fertilisers (including green manures) to the soil. However, that would cause a reduction in crop yields, which would not be popular, either with farmers who depend on high yields to make a living or with people who are concerned about world hunger.
In the short term the answer to the latter problem is vegan-organic growing, since this would immediately make much more farm land available for feeding people, which would compensate for the lower crop yields. But in the longer term serious consideration has be given to reducing the demand for food by limiting or even reversing the growth in the world’s human population so that human demand for the earth’s resources is brought down to as sustainable level.
1. The term plant-available nitrogen here denotes not only inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonia) but also organic nitrogen that is readily mineralised into inorganic forms.
2. Fixation of nitrogen means taking nitrogen from the air and combining it with other elements to form compounds such as ammonia or nitric oxide. The principal means by which this takes place in nature is through lightning or through the action of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, some of which are free-living in the soil and others living symbiotically on the roots of plants.
3. Mycorrhizal fungi are those fungi that live in very close association (symbiosis) with plant roots, getting their carbohydrate from the plant while supplying the plant with phosphorus and minerals that they get from the soil. Most plants need the help of these fungi to survive, especially in poor soils, because fungi can scavenge scarce nutrients from the soil much more effectively than plant roots can and they can also digest more recalcitrant nutrient sources like woody residues and rock particles, which plants cannot do.

domain: agronomy


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Sweet Potato Biscuit Mix
sweet potato biscuit MIX
Sweet potato biscuits, made easy. Don’t forget to grab the jam.
Makes 8 biscuits. Adapted from Martha Stewart.
1 bag Sweet Potato Biscuit Mix
6 tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces,
plus 2 tbsp. melted butter
3/4 cup sweet potato puree
1/3 cup buttermilk
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl, empty the biscuit mix and whisk together to incorporate all ingredients. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some pea-sized lumps of butter remaining.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together sweet potato puree, 1 tbsp. melted butter, maple syrup and buttermilk. Stir into flour mixture until combined (do not overmix).
4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead very gently until dough comes together but is still slightly lumpy, 5 or 6 times. (If dough is too sticky, work in up to 1/4 cup additional flour.) Shape into a disk, and pat to 1” thickness.
5. With a floured 2” cutter, cut out biscuits as close together as possible. Gather together scraps, and repeat to cut out more biscuits (do not reuse scraps more than once).
6. Spray an 8” cake pan and arrange biscuits snugly. Brush tops with remaining melted butter. Bake until golden, 20-24 minutes.

domain: food


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Please note there has been a time change for this concert. We had to move to a 7 pm start due to a scheduling conflict in the afternoon. Hope this is okay for those who have already purchased tickets. If you are still looking to get tickets they are available on line: acousticavenue.tickit.ca or in person at Roots and Blues office or Acorn Music or by reservation by calling The Handmade Shoppe 778-489-5048. Doors open at 6pm.
From England via Wales comes one of the hottest young proponents of the blues-folk tradition on the other side of the pond.
A triple threat as a fine singer, instrumentalist and songwriter, Harley has been creating such a buzz in his backyard that he has landed coveted and multiple spots at the Glasonbury Festival (Avalon Main Stage), landed tours and opening slots with artists like Bruce Hornsby and Iron and Wine, received considerable airplay on BBC and landed on the Euro Americana charts while going on full length tours in theatres and classy cabarets through Germany, France and England..
Roots Magazine called him “a slide guitar master” while respected BBC music host Johnnie Walker simply called Harley “awesome.”
Not that Harley hasn’t ventured to North America before, his last two albums were recorded stateside, the latest being the duo disc Live at Southern Ground with upright bassist Daniel Kimbro a mainstay with the Jerry Douglas Band. He also showcased with great impact at the most recent Americana Music Conference in Nashville and Kimbro will be supporting Harley at Roots and Blues.
Along with his stand alone concert at Roots and Blues, Martin Harley will be no doubt be part of some smokin’ hot chemistry on our blues and singer-songwriter workshops.
Oh yeah, and he’s also performed at Royal Albert Hall and completed an entire tour on a bicycle and broken the world record for the highest gig ever and no we aren’t sure if that has something to do with substances or altitude!
“With depth that accompanies wisdom, the grit of anxiety and influences of yesteryear’s troubadours, enter Martin Harley: an artist fitting perfectly into your broken heart” – www.grammy.com
Find out more about Martin Harley: www.martinharley.com

domain: artistic


Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, January 19, 2010 — Argosy, a leading UK-based international supplier of HD broadcast cables and studio infrastructure products, will have the inaugural demonstration of the high-definition cables from Belden, a world leading supplier of signal transmission solutions for the broadcast industry, at BVE 2010 (Stand no. I 34, 16-18 February 2010 at the Earls Court 2, London).
Following the recent distribution agreement between the two companies, Argosy will showcase Belden’s extensive range of cables including the 1855ENH, 1505ENH and the 1694ANH HD digital video cables. Designed specifically to meet the needs of broadcasters and the professional audio visual communities, Belden cables offer superb performance and reliability together with absolute signal integrity.
“Belden cables are renowned for their high performance and dependability in both fixed and mobile broadcast applications,” said Mike Purnell, director at Argosy. “At BVE we will be showcasing Belden’s HD cables alongside our existing portfolio of HD IMAGE cables to provide customers with the broadest choice of cabling solutions available in the UK market today.”
Visitors to BVE will also see the UK début of some of the latest Argosy fibre management tools including the SDI fibre video converters, patch panels, the ADC OMX Fibre Optic frame and the company’s BendBright-XS ruggedized fibre optic cables. Furthermore BVE will showcase the introduction by Argosy of the latest Miranda NVISION Compact routers alongside a range of HD infrastructure products including connectors, rack systems as well as an array of video accessories.
Established in 1984 Argosy has a broad range of experience in advising and supplying studio installation products such as cabling, connectivity solutions, equipment racking, cable management & patching and is recognised as a leading international distributor and expert in this field. With customer locations around the world, Argosy is renowned as a “one-stop-shop” for systems integrators and end-users alike, however large or small the project. For more information, please go to http://www.argosycable.com/
MKM Marketing Communications
+44 (0)20 8537 2698


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“My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:33-35)
I do love this Gospel and I know that the most important lesson God wants us to learn is how to love. Loving one another should be our most important objective and greatest ambition in this life.
In his homily, Father Greg said that “love was a choice”. We make a conscious decision to love. I’ve tried to take that to heart as I go about my week. Most times I wait for that loving feeling to come from the depths of my soul and bubble up to the surface. But…now I am trying to make the mindful decision to love. What I have found is that when the mind and soul are in concert, the feeling is even more powerful.
I’m not saying this is easy; in fact, it is very hard at times. To love when someone has disappointed you; to love when you witness meanness; to love when you are angry; to love when you are jealous; to love when someone you have never seen before is sitting in your seat at Church. But yet, there it is: love one another as I have loved you. Boy, does He love us! He loves when we are mean, nasty, jealous, vulnerable, sad, depressed, joyful, content, whatever our present state, at our best and our worst, Jesus loves us. He never stops….so why do we?
To quote one of my favorite lines from A Raisin in the Sun, Mama’s son has just lost a lot of money and is about to sacrifice his integrity as a man. His sister has just called him a “toothless rat” and says there is nothing left of him to love and Mama says to her,
“Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”
I think all of us should listen to Mama.

domain: literature


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3 Big Things Today, March 2, 2021
1. Soybeans, Corn Lower Overnight While Wheat Futures Rise
Soybeans and corn were lower in overnight trading on signs of slack overseas demand for U.S. supplies.
Exports of agricultural products haven’t reported sales of 100,000 metric tons or more to offshore buyers since Feb. 12, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA last week said corn export sales in the seven days that ended on Feb. 18 hit a marketing-year low of 453,300 metric tons and that soybean sales plunged 63% week-to-week.
Soybean crushings in January totaled 197 million bushels, or 5.9 million tons, up from 193 million bushels during the same month a year earlier, the agency said in a report yesterday.
That topped expectations from analysts polled by Reuters for 195.6 million bushels.
Soybean futures for March delivery fell 3¼¢ to $13.88 a bushel overnight on the Chicago Board of Trade. Soymeal was down $2.50 to $415.80 a short ton, and soy oil rose 0.08¢ to 49.31¢ a pound.
Corn for March delivery dropped 3½¢ to $5.34¾ a bushel.
Wheat futures, meanwhile, were higher overnight after a report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service showed the condition of crops in Kansas declined week-to-week.
Some 37% of winter wheat in the state, the biggest producer of the grain in the U.S., was rated good or excellent as of Sunday, down from 40% a week earlier, the agency said.
Soil moisture was 58% adequate or in surplus vs. 56% a week earlier. Subsoil moisture was 54% adequate or in surplus, down from 56% the previous week.
Wheat futures for March delivery added 5½¢ to $6.55¾ a bushel, while Kansas City futures gained 5¢ to $6.28¼ a bushel.**
2. Export Inspections of Corn and Beans Rise Week-to-Week
Inspections of corn and beans for overseas delivery rose week-to-week while wheat assessments declined, according to the USDA.
Corn inspections rose to 1.64 million metric tons in the seven days that ended on Feb. 25 from 1.27 million the previous week, the agency said in a report.
That was well above the 896,221 tons examined during the same week a year earlier.
Soybean assessments were reported at 879,582 metric tons, up from 803,548 tons the previous week, the government said.
Last week’s total was up from 589,230 tons assessed at the same time in 2020.
Wheat inspections totaled 272,820 metric tons, down from 324,597 tons the previous week and well below the 656,160 tons examined during the same week last year, the Department of Agriculture said.
Since the start of the marketing year on Sept. 1, the USDA has inspected 25.7 million metric tons of corn for offshore delivery.
That’s well above the 14.2 million tons assessed during the same time frame a year earlier, the agency said.
Soybean assessments since the beginning of September now stand at 51.9 million metric tons, up from 29.4 million tons inspected during the same period last year.
Wheat inspections since the start of the grain’s marketing year on June 1 have totaled 18 million metric tons, down from 18.8 million tons at this point last year, the USDA said in its report.
3. Dry Conditions Result in Red-Flag Warning in North-Central Kansas
A red-flag warning has been issued for several counties in north-central Kansas and the surrounding areas are under a fire watch due to extremely dry conditions, according to the National Weather Service.
Winds are forecast to be sustained from 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph, the NWS said in a report.
Relative humidity is expected to fall as low as 10%, the agency said.
“Any fires that start will have extreme fire behavior and spread rapidly,” the agency said. “Outdoor burning is not advised.”
Farther north in Wisconsin, gale-force winds are possible along the Lake Michigan shore today. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph are likely this afternoon, which may result in difficult conditions for high-profile vehicles, the NWS said.
Along with the strong winds, some light freezing drizzle is possible in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the agency said.

domain: economics


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active life expectancy 中文 Active
Active life expectancy
Active life expectancy translation in English-German dictionary en Compared to cross-sectional analysis， the longitudinal analysis carried out here describes active life expectancy with reference to single birth cohorts.
Active life expectancy.
This study was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of forecasting functional health for the elderly. Using life-table techniques， we analyzed the expected remaining years of functional well-being， in terms of the activities of daily living， for noninstitutionalized elderly people living in Massachusetts in 1974. The expected years， or active life expectancy， showed a decrease， …
Active life expectancy: factors influencing regional and …
Active life expectancy (ALE) is defined as an expected duration to be spent with a certain level of physical/mental function. The objectives of this article are to indicate ALE values based on our prospective observation， and to discuss factors influencing regional and …
life expectancy definition: 1. the length of time that a living thing， especially a human being， is likely to live: 2. the…. Learn more. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the
Life expectancy: 78.7 years Source: Mortality in the United States， 2018 Related FastStats Deaths and mortality More data Trends in Life expectancy from Health， United States Changes in Life Expectancy at Birth: 2010-2018 Mortality in the United States， 2018
Active life expectancy of Americans with diabetes: …
1/1/2015 · Measuring active life expectancy is a useful way to understand effects of diabetes on health. This central measure of population health estimates the proportions of remaining life from a given age with and without disability， as well as life expectancy ， .
Active Life Expectancy of Filipino Older People
· PDF 檔案Active Life Expectancy of Filipino Older People Grace T. Cruz m Abstract singdata from the 1996Philippine Elderly Study，the study presents resultswhich provide a baseline estimate ofthe Active Life Expectancy (ALE) among Filipino older people 60 years and over.
Life Expectancy (WHO)
4. Does Life Expectancy has positive or negative correlation with eating habits， lifestyle， exercise， smoking， drinking alcohol etc. 5. What is the impact of schooling on the lifespan of humans? 6. Does Life Expectancy have positive or negative relationship with
25 Countries With the Highest Life Expectancy
“How long will I live” is a question few people want to know the answer to， but in some countries people may not be afraid to ask anyway because they will probably like the response.[slideshow:103687]In general， people all over the world are living longer due to improvements in lifestyle， living standards and better healthcare. The average life expectancy …
What’s Your Sexually Active Life Expectancy? RateMDs …
So even though they have a shorter sexually active life expectancy， it might not be so bad after all because they aren’t as interested in it to begin with. To put things into perspective: in a group of 75-85 year old men and women， nearly 40% of them stated that they were sexually active， compared to a mere 17% of women.

domain: sociology


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World Immunization Week (24-30 April) is run by the World Health Organization to promote the use of vaccines to protect people against disease. Immunization is one of the best public health tools that we have. It saves millions of lives every year, is cost-effective, and fights against poverty. This is why Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is so important, especially in this time of crisis.
Vaccines will, of course, be vital in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As the most vulnerable communities will be affected, we must ensure that everyone is able to access a vaccine equally once they have been developed. A global pandemic demands a global response.
Get up to date with this year’s World Immunization Week by reading these blogs:
Find out what Gavi is, how it works, the amazing results it has achieved, what the world might look like without Gavi, and how it’s helping during COVID-19.
Want to brush up on your general knowledge about vaccines? This blog has five important facts about this tiny lifesaver.
Unfortunately, not everyone who needs a vaccine is able to get one. Here are five challenges that are preventing vaccination, and what can be done to fight them.
Who are the people spreading the word and actually getting vaccines out to the people who need them? Meet some of the educators, transporters, and administers of vaccines.
How long will it take to develop a vaccine? How can we prevent future pandemics? Find out in this blog.

domain: medical


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The US government on Thursday executed Corey Johnson, a convicted murderer, marking one of the final two federal executions planned under President Donald Trump's administration, after the Supreme Court rejected a plea to allow him to recover from COVID-19.
Johnson, strapped to a gurney in the US Justice Department's execution chamber at its prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, was put to death by an injection of phenobarbital, a powerful barbiturate.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority had earlier rejected a lower court's ruling that the final two scheduled federal executions of Trump's administration be delayed to allow the condemned men to recover from COVID-19.
Trump, a Republican and a long-standing advocate of capital punishment, oversaw the resumption of federal executions as the coronavirus spread. Death row inmates, at least two of their lawyers, other prison inmates and multiple prison and execution staff have since become ill with COVID-19.
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, will be inaugurated next Wednesday, and says he will seek to abolish the death penalty.

domain: news


Home Tags Peer Review
Tag: Peer Review
A new essay in the peer-reviewed literature searches for the secret formula by which to manipulate public opinion.
Canadian greens say lake-destroying research is all about science - but how do we know for sure?
Don't believe everything you read - especially about the supposed link between global warming and natural disasters.
The IPCC's response to the leak of three data sticks is typical of that organization. It expects us to accept its version of reality at face value. Its statement provides no opportunity for the public to draw its own conclusions.
Links to two recent interviews with yours truly. One was conducted via e-mail and the other is a 40-minute audio interview.
The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has systematically misled us regarding the quality and kind of material his organization consults.
An opinion piece in Scientific America alleges that, over the long term, a great deal of scientific research turns out not to be true. Independent replication of research findings is apparently far less common than we think.
Last year a committee investigating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told it to pull up it socks and to start following its own rules. This week, the IPCC decided that following one particular rule was too much of a bother - so it abandoned it instead.
Written by a senior Australian scientist, The Climate Caper explores some of the reasons why official IPCC science has become so pervasive. For one thing, it's affiliated with huge government agencies employing large numbers of civil servant scientists.
A year ago a group of volunteers from 12 countries struck a blow for truth-in-advertising. Our audit revealed that 1 in 3 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report references are to non-peer-reviewed literature. For years we've been told the climate bible bases its conclusions exclusively on peer-reviewed research.
President Obama's science advisor says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change bases its conclusions on source material that has been vetted in excruciating detail. According to IPCC insiders, this is bunk.
I regard a recently-released 700-page document containing candid IPCC insider comments as Climategate 2.0. This gold mine confirms some of our worst fears.
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Part of the reason the royal family is so intriguing is that they’re so mysterious.
It’s impossible to keep up with them on a reality show or through social media, so the only time we find out personal information about them is when they explicitly decide to share it themselves, and Prince Harry’s latest message is one of his most important yet. In a new interview with the Telegraph, Prince Harry opened up about his struggles with his mental health, particularly when it came to grieving the death of his mother, Diana. And everything Harry is sharing is so important in reducing the stigma around getting help.
As Harry explained in the newspaper’s Mad World podcast, the unexpected loss of his mother at such a young age was obviously incredibly difficult to deal with, so instead of coping, he ignored it.
Not facing his grief led to “total chaos” in his life over 10 years later.So with the encouragement of his older brother, Prince William, he decided to seek counseling three years ago. And now, he’s finally ready to open up about what that period of time in his life was like, as well as how he’s doing today.
It’s hard to imagine what that must have been like for him — especially while living life in the spotlight.
But as brave and as important as it is that he’s coming forward with such honesty, what he learned in the process is important, too: The fact that he’s not alone in this, because so many people suffer from issues like grief and depression.
As someone who has struggled with depression, I can say that in my own experiences, Harry is 100 percent right.When I was finally able to admit to my friends how I felt and that I had seen a doctor about it, it was amazing how quickly many of them shared that they’d been going through the same thing.
It’s awful that so many people can relate to this problem, but there’s strength in numbers.Like Harry said in the interview, he’s part of “quite a big club. ”
And an added bonus? The more people get talking about their own struggles with depression and mental illness, the less stigmatized they become, and maybe, it will really help someone who needs to hear that they’re not alone and that it’s OK to ask for help when they need it. It can be really stressful and hard just being a person, but if it can be easier, why not encourage people to take that first step in living a happier and healthier life?
It’s awesome that Harry (along with William and Kate Middleton) has decided to make this his mission through the UK’s Heads Together campaign, and that he’s speaking so candidly about why this is personal for him. Hopefully, Harry’s words will inspire those who needed to hear them.
Please remember to LIKE our Facebook page and SHARE this story with your friends and family!

domain: psychology


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July 21, 2021
TRENTON, NJ (MERCER)–Mayor W. Reed Gusciora today announced that the Trenton Animal Shelter and Trenton Animals Rock will be hosting a free rabies and parvo vaccine clinic for city dogs at Unity Square Park on Hamilton Avenue in Trenton on July 24 between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The clinic will offer vaccines for rabies and parvovirus, a dangerous gastro-intestinal illness that has been on the rise in Trenton over the last few months. There is no registration for the clinic, but dog owners must have a valid Trenton I.D. to qualify.
“In recent months, it has become increasingly clear that vaccines are just as important for our canine companions as they are for us,” said Mayor Gusciora. “Trenton Animals Rock and the Trenton Animal Shelter are taking incredible steps to ensure the health and safety of all city pets, and we thank them for making these services available at no charge to our residents.”
In addition to the July 24 event, ongoing vaccine clinics are available for all City dogs at the Trenton Animal Shelter on 72 Escher Street every Thursday and Friday between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Trenton Animals Rock is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that has worked with the City of Trenton since June 2018. It provides funding for medical care, training, and boarding for injured, abandoned, and abused dogs, and is the key entity connecting homeless dogs to households throughout New Jersey and beyond.
Since Trenton Animals Rock began managing the shelter’s behavior assessment and foster program in June 2019, the euthanasia rate at the shelter decreased from 47 percent to less than 10 percent, putting the shelter on track to become a no-kill shelter for the first time.
Any residents with questions about Parvo or the vaccine can contact Officer Jose Munoz at 609-989-3254 or firstname.lastname@example.org.

domain: pet


General Motors says it will substantially withdraw from the ailing Russian new car market by the end of the year, according to reports in the German media. It will also close its factory near St Petersburg, with the expected loss of as many as 1000 jobs.
German newspaper Handelsblatt quoted Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann as saying that GM believed the prospects for the Russian new car market were "not good" over the short, medium and longer term.
“We do not have the appropriate localisation level for important vehicles built in Russia, and the market environment does not justify a major investment to further localise," Neumann also said in an official statement.
The American car maker will end sales of Opel cars by the end of this year, and only two or three Chevrolet models will continue to be offered on the Russian market. "Contract assembly of Chevrolet vehicles at [Russian car maker] GAZ will [also] be discontinued in 2015."
Sales of Cadillac models will continue, however, and production of the next-generation Lada-based Chevrolet Niva will also go ahead from 2016.
Russia’s economy has taken a triple hit in the last 12 months, with the crash in oil prices hitting the country hard. The Russian ruble has collapsed against the dollar, increasing the cost of imported vehicles. Russian consumers are also suffering significant inflation.
The country’s economy is also suffering from Western economic sanctions imposed over the conflict in the Ukraine, which borders Russia.


Your Cadillac dealership isn't the only place to locate genuine or original equipment quality repair parts to fix your Seville. Obviously, you didn't buy your Seville unless you understood you would be getting best-in-class service and a trusted brand both rolled up into one car, truck, or SUV. Anyone who owns a Cadillac knows that when it comes to maintaining their car, truck, or SUV only the absolute best replacement parts will do. While it's not hard to find replacement parts for Cadillac vehicles, these days only the highest quality are required to fix your car or truck.
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Southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state water utility Corsan has called three tenders valued at a total 10.5mn reais (US$5.78mn) for work to improve state potable water and sewerage services.
Priced at 4.47mn reais, the first tender involves a 12-month project to install a sewerage system in the town of Glorinha. The hired contractor will need to install a pumping station, building connections, collector pipelines and sewerage outfalls.
Proposals will be opened on October 31. For more information, in Portuguese, go to this link
The second, budgeted at 4.33mn reais, contemplates a 12-month project for maintenance work in the city of Canoas, such as removing and resurfacing pavement, repairing storm conduits, earthworks and masonry work.
Bids will be opened on October 29. More information is available here
Finally, Corsan launched a 1.71mn-real tender for an 18-month project to deploy some 5.52km of water main pipeline between the city of Guaíba and Pintada island near state capital Porto Alegre.
Offers are due to be opened on November 4. For more information, go to this link


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I am still processing everything I have been reading the last couple of weeks. I am normally a quick read, but this book has proven to be so thought provoking that I find myself only able to get through two chapters a night....
I am not normally a big conspiracy theory kind of guy... but our American culture/political machine, or whatever you want to call it, has our very society on a crash course with disaster!
In the name of more/cheep/forever shelf life/over processed food, we are ruining our very bodies.... making more health problems, and putting a greater strain on our health care system.
the epic levels of obesity and other diseases are all directly related to our over eating.... even when we don't think we are over eating, we are, due to all the extra stuff they are putting into ALL of our foods ( challenge, walk into your kitchen and try to put together a meal without ANY High fructose Corn Syrup, or any derivative of it.... good luck)
HFCS has an ad campaign now to give it a positive spin. If it needs this, shouldn't that be telling us something is very wrong?
Look at it this way, if the Meat industry has found that feeding the cattle a diet of corn can fatten them up three times faster then their normal grass diet, shouldn't that tell us something?
Corn is the wonder food... it packs an amazing caloric punch, too much of one. without us knowing or trying, we are eating TONS of it, every year. This is making us fatter and fatter...
and adding to a host of medical problems....
The human body is designed to crave sweet things ( it is a survival trait, so we put on weight to get through the next drought or disaster ) the more sweet we eat, the more we crave.... this insane packed diet of HFCS's is feeding into this cycle... trapping us into becoming fatter and more unhealthy.
I know I sound a little crazy right now.... but read this book, and you will understand it.
I have a lot to learn about food and nutrition. I really didn't understand how much I didn't know.


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Jesse and Mary Ann Kelley/Kelly of Rockvale township
I'm seeking any information about Jesse and Mary Ann Kelley/Kelly who lived in Rockvale township in 1870.
comments powered by
Jesse b. abt 1814 in Ontario, Canada and Mary Ann b. abt 1816 in New York. They were married in Coburg, Ontario on 11/30/1836.
Jesse died prior to the 1880 census and Mary Ann between 1880 and 1900. They likely died in Ogle county as several of their children died in the area.
There is a Jesse Kelley buried in Plainview Cemetery in Mount Morris township who died in 1873. I can't confirm whether this is "my" Jesse Kelley.

domain: history


text:
- Getting Started
- Academic Resources
- Financial Support
- Building Community
- Student Support
- Stories of Graduate Student Success
Welcome to Marquette University and the Graduate School. We are excited you are here and ready to help you get started. Explore resources below.
Have you started setting up your Marquette University graduate student account? Follow the checklist on our Admitted Students page so you’re ready to succeed when you start!
Use the Marquette University Academic Calendar to view important academic deadlines for registration, withdrawal, session dates, exams, graduation, breaks, and academic submissions. Students are responsible for adhering to these deadlines.
Marquette University, as a Jesuit institution, is enriched by the tradition of Ignatian spirituality and discernment. Find out more about Ignatian discernment and how it shapes the important decisions you make in your life as a graduate student at Marquette University and beyond.
Welcome to Marquette University, your home away from home. From start to finish, we’re with you every step of the way so you feel supported. Visit our International Graduate Student Resources webpage to learn more.
Information Technology Services (ITS)
Raynor Memorial Library, 1st Floor
Prepare for your upcoming semester with these nine Technology To-Dos for New Students.
Need further support? Marquette University’s Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) assists students, faculty, and staff with technological services and needs. For a full list of IT Services, visit us here.
Contact the TechSquad for assistance:

domain: library


text:
I found a story treatment that claims to be written by Steven Spielberg in 1982 for "E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears," a sequel to the original E.T. It's only a few pages long and after reading it, I'm glad they didn't make it.
The treatment describes a race of evil aliens, carnivourous albino versions of E.T.'s race with red eyes and big fangs. Kid you not. They land on Earth in the same forest as E.T., and have been doing all sorts of evil things like cattle mutilations and caging specimens. Now they're looking for E.T. for no apparent reason.
Meanwhile, Elliott is still waiting for a reply from E.T., and the communicator has been reacting to the signals from the evil aliens. Elliott and his friends head out to the forest and are captured. This time, the aliens talk telepathically, and the leader of the evil aliens is named Korel. At this point, we discover E.T.'s real name is Zrek. The aliens torture Elliott, trying to find Zrek, but Elliott can't help them. As he's dragged back to his cell, E.T. (or Zrek) comes waddling in like the cavalry in an Old West movie. He opens all the cages (somehow), reprograms the Evil alien ship to leave (somehow), and then E.T. leaves on his own ship after many hugs and kisses.
I'm assuming Spielberg had plans to add more to this story, because as it stands it is barely more than I described. It's more like a one-hour Christmas special than a two-hour movie, and Lucas can attest to how badly those turn out. And E.T. doesn't show up until the end. It's so horrible that I wonder if it's even real, but it is. I'll bet Spielberg wishes it had disappeared twenty years ago.
NOTE: This post has been expanded to include the review (05/23/2009).

domain: entertainment


text:
Bob's Red Mill Hemp Protein Powder -- 16 oz
I BEEN USING THIS PRODUCT ABOUT A MONTH.
SO FAR SO GOOD!
January 23, 2015
Perfect boost to my daily protein shake!
I like to consume the majority of my daily protein with my morning shake. Red Mill Hemp is the perfect "get me over the fence addition". High in essential protein and it tastes great!
December 31, 2014
Of all the protein powders I've tried for my shakes this is the one that has the mildest flavor, not overpowering other flavors. It dissolves easily and completely (although this is hard to be sure with all the seeds and nuts in the shakes). I like it and recommend it
December 6, 2014
Good product. Happy with the product. Good punt of protein. I would say comparable to brown rice protein.
October 14, 2014
I use this source of protein when making my own special recipe breakfast bars. I think it is affordable and nutritious as well as easy on the palate. It adds a green color to your food but I am all about eating green food any way.
July 2, 2014


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Over the weekend, an article from The Register laid out complaints of Google AMP and how it negatively impacts the web. Then, John Gruber of Daring Fireball linked to the article and added his own comments, such as how AMP pages scroll differently than the rest of Safari. Andrew Orr finds out the differences between scrolling on iOS.
Ford just announced that CarPlay is coming to all of its 2016 model vehicles with a new software update. CarPlay requires an iPhone 5 or later, and running iOS 7.1 or later. You can either take your car to the nearest Ford dealer for the Ford CarPlay update, or do it yourself.
While reading news about Google I/O, Andrew Orr found that a feature coming to Android O that Apple already put into iOS. It’s a neat trick that should save you time while using iOS.
One of the features announced today at Google I/O 2017 is Gmail Smart Reply. It was first released in the web in 2015, as a way to let people send short, canned messages in email, similar to iMessage on the Apple Watch. Andrew Orr tells us it’s finally coming to the Gmail app on iOS.
The internet has turned into the Wild, Wild West. People are exposed to threats daily, but help is often far away in time and space. But, like the old American Wild, Wild West times and technology change. It’s high time our leading tech companies like Apple and Microsoft put artificial intelligence to work truly protecting us. That’s the noblest cause for advanced technology right now.
Using iCloud Drive? Then you need to know how to download all of your Pages, Numbers, or Keynote files to your iOS devices automatically. This’ll definitely save you some headaches if you need access to your spreadsheets when you head out into an area with sketchy cell coverage!
Public Wi-Fi hotspots are terrific, when they work. Unfortunately, sometimes they get hung up and won’t deliver the proper login page. Jeff Butts shows you what to do when your favorite public Wi-Fi hotspot won’t connect to the internet, and you really want to get back to surfing the web.
If you’re a privacy conscious individual like Andrew Orr, you’ve probably wanted to remove location data from your photos before sharing them to social media. It’s possible to do this on macOS, but did you know you can do it on iOS too? Here’s how to remove photo metadata.
Sing the lyrics to The Beatles’ “Come Together.” Before you get to “holy roller” there will be a new instance of Android malware out there. That’s according antivirus firm G-Data, who claimed it found 754,958 instances of Android malware in just the first quarter. The company is projecting 3.5 million Android malware samples in 2017, a figure that would beat 2016’s record of more than 3.2 million.
With so many Star Wars apps, how do you pick which ones to use on Star Wars Day? Jeff Butts has spent hours scouring the App Store for Star Wars games, and then playing around with them to. see how good they are. Don’t let his sacrifice go in vain. Let him help you find some of the best apps to keep you one with the Force.
Microsoft has made a number of product announcements that trouble Jeff Butts. The products look great, and it’s certain to give Google’s Chromebooks a run for their money. However, Apple is caught squarely in the crossfire of this battle, and needs to act soon to improve its placing in the education market.
Today Uber announced the introduction of a Privacy Settings in its app. This lets you delete Uber account data and give you more control over app notifications and contacts that the app has access to. You can also control location data within the app. Andrew Orr tells us the details.
Google updated its Google Maps app for iOS Monday. Version 4.30’s chief new feature is turn-by-turn directions on the lock screen courtesy of a Directions widget. With that widget, users can arrow through each direction in any active route from the lock screen or the Today view (swipe left on the Home Screen). Users can also send their location via Google Maps through iMessage. Both features give Google Maps a dramatically more integrated experience in iOS, erasing some of the pain points of not being the built-in Maps service for Apple’s mobile operating system. The Directions widget will need to be added to your lock screen, while the location feature is available through iMessage. The update is free, meaning you remain the product.
Andrew Orr had a funny little incident over the weekend while using iOS. One night, he decided to control his Safari cookies by having the browser always block cookies. Everything seemed okay at first. Then the next day, he cleared his website history and data. What happened next will change your way of thinking.
If you’ve got a pair of Apple’s bluetooth headphones, dubbed “AirPods,” then it’s good to know that there are tons of ways to check their battery levels. Considering that the AirPods don’t have a physical indicator of how much charge they’ve got, that’s a good thing! In today’s Quick Tip, Melissa Holt’s gonna go over a number of methods for finding out how much more listenin’ you can do.
German software company fournova has put together a delightful illustrated history of iOS to mark its ten hear history. It starts with the Steve Jobs introducing a device that runs on special version of what was then called OS X. Each iteration of iOS through iOS 10 then gets its own panel highlighting what was new and some of the people involved with presenting it. It’s a fun look through the years, and I saw a couple of things I hadn’t thought about in a long time. Check it out!


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Four-year-old Alessandra, above, climbs up a rock wall at the Guilderland Rock Adventure Barn on Friday, Aug. 2. The facility recently reopened for the general public to harness up and scale its walls.
Photo by John Purcell.
continued “People who want to really rock climb, they will go outside now,” he said. “They will climb on the real rock outdoors. They would use this to train on more.”
Moore said the town “likes to break even” on its cost to keep the facility open to the public. He said it isn’t seen as a way to make money.
Even though the facility hasn’t been open to the public it was still being actively used through the town’s youth summer camp.
“We use this as fitness for the kids,” Moore said. “We have around 250 kids in camp that we bring over here every day. We bus them over from right across the street at Tawasentha, and they come and climb as one of their activities.”
Stepping into the facility you’ll notice the spongy floor, which is made from the rubber of ground up tires and has been in the barn since it opened. One of the workers will likely greet you if they aren’t already belaying someone and can teach you climbing basics.
Taylor Treadgold, an Altamont resident and University at Albany senior, was running the facility on Friday, Aug. 2. Treadgold became interested in rock climbing as a college freshman through a weeklong outdoor exploration program.
“I went and I did the trip, and I pretty much got hooked on climbing from there,” Treadgold said. “Since then I have been climbing three or four times a week.”
Treadgold said he enjoyed climbing because of the sense of adventure it offered along with the “sports sense” of it.
“It’s nice because it has the dichotomy between an activity and a sport, so you can be really serious about it but you can also just go in and have a good time,” he said. “It is kind of for the love of it as opposed to for sport or anything else.”


Starved of habitat, maligned and hunted, painted dogs have plummeted in number from an estimated half a million to fewer than 7,000, surviving on the edge of oblivion in a few pockets of southern Africa. Scientists believe climate change threatens to wipe them out completely. As underdogs go, they are hard to beat. But they do have some friends, and none more friendly than the man who has been recognised by the charity Tusk as its ranger of the year for his work over a quarter of a century bringing these curious animals back from the brink.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN


Hungary host Faroe Islands and Latvia take on Andorra the group’s other encounters.Attacks fullbacks the hole, and does not shy from contact with linemen the box.I am delighted that those fans be able to every kick of every match of the 2017 Tour, presented by Aon, on the new MUTV app.Philadelphia 76ers vs.
13, Wolfe of reports.While Mularkey isn’t ruling DeMarco out for the showdown with the Patriots after the veteran running back sat out the team’s playoff-opening win over the Chiefs last weekend, be line for the lead role again after producing 191 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown on 25 touches the upset victory.Davy Propper, a surprise inclusion place of playmaker Sneijder, scored his first international goal after seven minutes a bright start for the hosts, who had not won their previous seven matches at the Amsterdam Arena.Back to Home Page.Stewart , Scottish FA Chief Executive, said: We are delighted to have secured such exciting opposition for our matches and I am looking forward to seeing the team continue on its current upward trajectory.He had a close https://www.redskinsofficialonlinestores.com/Clinton_Portis_Jersey_Cheap call on that final drive with a near-fumble that was taken to the house by the defense, Clinton Portis Jersey but review conclusively showed that was down before the ball came out.carried 28 times for 51 yards and parlayed his only catch into a 66-yard TD the Week 17 win over the Jaguars, but the 6-foot-3-pound running back was not satisfied with his effort the contest.
The penalty save had fired up the hosts though and Scotland needed Andy Robertson to be the right place to stop Guzmics’ header going inside the far post following a corner seconds before half-time.should dominate passing downs and mix on early downs, with getting a larger share of the carries and the vast majority of short-yardage goal-line work.To find all players born within a certain month and year, for example all players born December of 1985, choose the month and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Year Search’ option.since 2011.
July 26 Barcelona FedEx Field, Washington, D.C.
Everybody is excited for the tour and it gives us the opportunity to play front of some of the millions of Manchester United supporters which we have across the USA, said Woodward.Schemes with emphasis on outside zone are best known for maximizing the talents of physically underwhelming running backs along the lines of , Arian or , but there’s nothing to say a freak athlete like can’t also find success.Adept coverage, can get his hands on a slot receiver or tight end, yet still come off to run with a crosser.
Uses hands very well.NFL Comparison.Elsewhere, Portugal ensured they cannot finish lower than second Group B after they ground out a 1 win over 10- Hungary.After that scare, though, Scotland kept their shape and saw out the victory relatively comfortably.recent years, so naturally it is something that everybody is very much looking forward to this .
With DeMarco ruled out, per of the Tennessee Titans’ official site, is line to head the Titans’ backfield Sunday against the Jaguars.The Titans can secure a wild-card playoff spot with a win, so we’d expect to plenty of on Sunday.The draw for the UEFA Nations League take place on January 24, with Scotland Pot One League C.However, made up for the underwhelming rushing effort with a spectacular 66-yard receiving touchdown on a second-quarter screen pass that opened the scoring on the afternoon.isn’t doing much more than stating the obvious, considering Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur has spent most of his career working under Kyle Shanahan.
The club said it has more than 659 million fans worldwide.The Aces statement from that night: Given the travel issues we faced over the past two day s- 25+ hours spent airports and airplanes, cramped quarters and having not slept a bed since Wednesday night-and after consulting with Players Association leadership and medical professionals, we concluded that playing tonight’s game would put us at too great a risk for injury.Hungary, meanwhile, take on Australia before they head to this summer’s tournament Russia.I am sure our fans relish away trips to Hungary, Peru and Mexico and be looking forward to a long-overdue rematch against Costa Rica.
Elsewhere, Portugal ensured they cannot finish lower than second Group B after they ground out a 1 win over 10- Hungary.Da’Rick set a state high school record for receiving yards as a senior, but decided to head for Tennessee instead of staying with the home-state Bulldogs.Though the top-seeded Patriots are heavy favorites the matchup, ‘s status as the unquestioned top option out of the backfield makes him a solid DFS building block against a New England rush defense that ceded 4 yards per during the regular , the Malik Jackson Jersey second-worst the NFL.
9 as part of The 13th Annual http://www.jaguarsofficialsprostore.com/Nike-Malik-Jackson-Jersey.html Chicago Ducky Derby to benefit Special Olympics Illinois.McLeish’s squad join up for friendlies against World Cup hopefuls Peru and Mexico May and June respectively.Milwaukee Bucks vs.


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How do you define possibility?
This definition has stuck with me: standing in curiosity, sensing, and creating the future.
Growing up, I was curious about everything – like every child. I loved to learn about space and dinosaurs, go on bike ride adventures and visit new places. Try new foods, experiment with clothes, and dye my hair. I also loved and still do love art. I would spend so much time looking through books, experimenting in the print room, visiting galleries to see what it felt like to see real art I’d seen in books in real life.
As I got older and focused more on the career ladder, I started to lose this sense of curiosity. I was much more focused on how to get from A-B in as much time as possible. Things outside of this part of life felt like ‘time-wasting.’ I would often think, “I don’t have time for that anymore.” I used my non-work life to socialise, eat and drink (and often far too much of the latter!)
As time went on, the knock-off effects of this lifestyle started taking its toll on my health in several ways. It’s funny (well, amusing now I’ve overcome it) to look back and see myself as the person that didn’t take the time to prioritise their health. I wanted a quick fix, and when it didn’t work, I looked outwards for the next thing, it felt like a never ending cycle and it was always going to be this way. I never felt like it was my doing. I thought it was happening to me rather than because of me and how I lived my life.
Fast forward ten years, and I am not even close to that person I was.
The pivotal moment of change was when I stepped outside of myself (my current lifestyle, habits, routines) and stood in curiosity. I let go of what I knew and was open to what I didn’t.
I had that light-bulb moment. What I was doing no longer worked for me anymore and I wanted to change and improve my life:
My go-to ways to unwind didn’t energize me; they drained me.
My work was no longer serving my purpose.
My non-work life was becoming repetitive and didn’t motivate me.
My ‘healthy diet’ was depriving me rather than nourishing me.
My go-to exercise routine…well, it didn’t exist.
It was like going back in time to childhood, but with a wiser head and heart. Standing in curiosity took me above and beyond anything I thought was possible.
Today I’m aware that my beliefs, assumptions, and past experiences can limit my view, so whenever I feel my reality is ‘fixed,’ I know this is the time to stop and expand my curiosity.
A fixed reality is when you have an awareness of the state of things and the inability to change or shift this reality.
To help you determined a fixed reality, you can ask yourself:
It can be challenging to confront what answers come up – however, this awareness of fixed reality is the first step to finding out what is possible for you!
The next step is to ignite curiosity by creating a unicorn brainstorm, and it’s simple. Start with an idea and continue to say, “wouldn’t it be cool if…”
Please don’t respond with no; let your answers flow; they will surprise you. Write everything down, and nothing is off-limits.
This exercise is most effective when you do it with someone else as it also helps you hold yourself accountable to keep going with it. It can be easy to stop once fears or self-doubt start to kick in. Don’t let that stop you. If you haven’t got someone to do this with, begin with your brainstorm on your own, set a timer for 10 minutes, and have fun with it!
Now you have your ideas on the page, circle the things that stand out to you, focus on the things you would love to find out are possible for your life.
Consider how important is it to you to make this change? And, why?
Then consider these three questions and find out how ready you are to turn these ideas into goals:
On a scale of 1-10 (1 being not ready, 10 being fully ready)
Q1: How ready are you to make this change? Why did you decide on this number?
Q2: How ready were you three months ago? Has anything changed?
Q3: What would you rate your confidence to succeed? ____ if it’s not a 10, what would need to change to get it there?
Repeat with the ideas you’ve circled, and then choose the one you feel most ready to start turning in your reality and set it as a goal.
Setting goals to improve your life:
Goals are to help focus us, to challenge us to go all in, shape our future and support you to live with meaning, purpose, and passion.
The way that you write a goal sets you up for success. To do this, focus on these three essential elements: reach, define, and time.
Your goal should stretch you (in a good way) through effort and commitment. Difficult but possible is key!
Write your goal using definitive language with enough detail to know what success looks like in your life. You need to know when you can tick it off.
Using “I will…” to start your goal expresses a strong intention about the future with determination and drive.
Set a date to have it completed. The ideal completion date is roughly between 6 and 18 months. This time frame keeps you feeling actively engaged.
Consider if your goal is an achievement goal (can be ticked off once completed or a continuous goal (habit-forming).
If you have a habit-forming goal (continuous goals), decide how often you’ll do it and when you’ll start.
Start by writing down 1-3 goals that will support you to improve your life.
I will___________________________ starting/ by__________
I will set up a side hustle by July 21.
I will complete a marathon race by October 21.
I will write in my gratitude journal daily for 90 days, starting June 21.
“The proper role of goals is to liberate us, so that we can enjoy the here and now.” – Tal Ben Shahar
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Assessing findings from the Fast Track Study.
Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2013). Assessing findings from the Fast Track Study. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 9(1), 119-126.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to respond to the Commentary, "Reassessing Findings from the Fast Track Study: Problems of Methods and Analysis" provided by E. Michael Foster (Foster, this issue) to our article "Fast Track Intervention Effects on Youth Arrests and Delinquency" Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2010, Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6, 131-157). Our response begins with a description of the mission and goals of the Fast Track project, and how they guided the original design of the study and continue to inform outcome analyses. Then, we respond to the Commentary's five points in the order they were raised. Conclusions: We agree with the Commentary that efforts to prevent crime and delinquency are of high public health significance because the costs of crime and delinquency to society are indeed enormous. We believe that rigorous, careful intervention research is needed to accumulate evidence that informs prevention programs and activities. We have appreciated the opportunity to respond to the Commentary and to clarify the procedures and results that we presented in our paper on Fast Track effects on youth arrests and delinquency. Our response has clarified the framework for the number of statistical tests made, has reiterated the randomization process, has supported our tests for site-by-intervention effects, has provided our rationale for assuming missing at random, and has clarified that the incarceration variable was not included as a covariate in the hazard analyses. We stand by our conclusion that random assignment to Fast Track had a positive impact in preventing juvenile arrests, and we echo our additional caveat that it will be essential to determine whether intervention produces any longer-term effects on adult arrests as the sample transitions into young adulthood. We also appreciate the opportunity for open scientific debate on the values and risks associated with multiple analyses in long-term prevention program designs such as Fast Track. We believe that, once collected, completed longitudinal intervention datasets should be fully used to understand the impact, process, strengths, and weaknesses of the intervention approach. We agree with the Commentary that efforts to prevent crime and delinquency are of high public health significance because the costs of crime and delinquency to society are indeed enormous. As a result, we argue that it is important to balance the need to maintain awareness and caution regarding potential risks in the design or approach that may confound interpretation of findings, in the manner raised by the Commentator, with the need for extended analyses of the available data so we can better understand over time how antisocial behavior and violence can be effectively reduced.


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Ecuador Pinnacle rock of Galapagos
- Please to see the geo position & weather for this photo spot
This is the iconic place if Galapagos with its peak
Pleaseto see the photography tips.
You can only get there by a boat tour and stay with a limited time on the reserve

domain: geography