text:
research papers for graduate courses on Ernst Cassirer and Jean Gebser, and Christianity and Ecology
on November 10, 2011 April 23, 2015 By Matthew David Segall
I'm enrolled in two courses this semester here at CIIS. The first is taught by Prof. Eric Weiss; the second by Prof. Jacob Sherman. We're well into the second week of November already, so its time to start fleshing out my term papers.
Weiss' course is on the evolutionary schemes of the 20th century cultural philosophers Ernst Cassirer and Jean Gebser. Alfred North Whitehead has also been a near constant companion in our class discussion. Cassirer is famous for articulating the notion of symbolic forms, which could be defined as the various shapes of consciousness that have held sway over human society during the long course of its development, from early magico-mythic to late techno-scientific forms. Cassirer distinguishes mythic, artistic, linguistic, historical, religious, and scientific symbolic forms, among others. Each has its own characteristic way of interacting with the world and of making meaning of it. Cassirer does not suppose that we pass through each form, leaving the prior forms behind as we ascend to more scientific–that is, truer–modes of apprehending reality. Rather, he is quite aware of the extent to which even science remains a cultural activity, embedded in and dependent upon the symbolic webs of meaning that have accumulated and complexified since human beings first began to dance in ritual celebration beneath the stars.
Gebser, whose only translated work The Ever-Present Origin is perhaps the most profound text I've yet to read, lays out a scheme not unlike Cassirer's. His picture of the evolution of human beings distinguishes 4 mutations connecting 5 structures of consciousness: the archaic, the magic, the mythic, the mental, and the integral. What is different about Gebser is the unabashedly spiritual and cosmological scope of his project. While Cassirer only claims to be speaking about the evolution of human culture, Gebser is explicit about the ontological reach of consciousness into the very structure of space-time itself. In other words, like any good Kantian, Cassirer limits himself to speaking about human access to reality, while Gebser explodes the cognitive limits of transcendentalism in order to bring forth an entirely new way of knowing, namely, integral-aperspectival consciousness. Integral consciousness is "aperspectival" in that it is not limited to the partial perspective of spatially-oriented mental consciousness, a consciousness unable to perceive the whole because of its deficient apprehension of concrete time as mere abstract succession. Gebser refers to this deficiency as the false spatialization of time, which turns what is in fact a spiritual intensity into a material extensity (i.e., lived time becomes clock-time). This is where Whitehead comes in. Gebser mentions his process philosophy as a possible inception of the new integral structure. In his critiques of Humean and Kantian accounts of experience, Whitehead unpacks his doctrine of causal efficacy. Experience in the mode of causal efficacy has been entirely overshadowed by modern philosophy's obsession with another, more abstract and alienated mode of experience: presentational immediacy.
In my essay for this course, I want to explore the possibility that presentational immediacy, a mode of experience Whitehead suggests is only available to especially complex organisms, is in fact a capacity that developed quite late even in human beings. I think the deficient form of mental-rational consciousness currently reigning (though it is increasingly fragmented and in an obvious state of decay) only became possible as presentational immediacy took on an increasingly dominant role in human experience. Gebser's other structures (archaic, magic, and mythic) can be characterized by their instinctuality and lack of reflective capacity, and by the absence of a distinction between "appearance" and "reality" so characteristic of the mental structure. I will attempt, in this essay, to unpack the changing relationship between presentational immediacy, causal efficacy, and the hybrid mode of experience, symbolic reference, as human beings move through each of the structures articulated by Gebser and Cassirer. In the course of this analysis, I hope to both integrate Gebser's account of the evolution of consciousness with Whitehead's cosmology, and further draw out the differences between Cassirer's Kantianism and Gebser and Whitehead's participatory realism.
Sherman's course is focused both on why the ecological crisis emerged out of the Christian cultural matrix and on how this same matrix may enable Western humanity to respond to it. We've been reading quite widely in the field of religion and ecology. My favorites thus far are Thomas Berry's New Story, Matthew Fox's creation spirituality, Wendell Berry's and Norman Wirzba's agrarian Christianity, and Leo Boff's liberation theology. I've also read Robert N. Bellah's new book Religion in Human Evolution to help me write a paper for this course, as I think the ecological crisis forces us to ask a larger question concerning not just the role of Christianity, but religion more generally. A religious response to the ecological crisis requires that we first unpack the relationship between science and religion, and between mythic and secular reality. I think ecology, on its own, has much to teach us all, Christian or not. But the combination of Christianity and ecology changes everything, since in the Christian context we are dealing with a Creation and not simply a haphazardly existing cosmos. Ecology is the study of our home; unless our home is hallowed, how can we live in it peacefully and joyously? In my paper, I hope to use Bellah's thesis regarding the role of play in human evolution to critique modern industrial society's anxiety driven obsession with work. The role of religion in our ecologically troubled time is to re-imagine not only what's worth living for, but what's worth working for. What we need now is a renewed sense of how to play with seriousness. What ought we to be doing with our time here on earth together? Industrial civilization has its answer. Christianity has another. The two are not compatible in the least. My task in the essay for this class will be to articulate what a consciousness of Creation brings to ecology and to respond to the challenges presented by scientific cosmology to "Creationism." In short, I think authentic science (i.e., the gentle empiricism of Goethe, or the naturphilosophie of Schelling) is fully compatible with cosmotheandric accounts of the creative universe. When scientists like Hawking and Dawkins say that science has made it all but impossible (or at the very least unnecessary) to believe in a Creator, I think they are expressing the industrial values of late capitalism more so than that of science, in its pure, disinterested form. Industrial capitalism has a vested interest in maintaining a cosmological picture in which owners hire workers to remake an otherwise dead and purposeless world in their own image. If the world is God's Creation, "private property" becomes a pragmatic shorthand at best, blasphemous at worst.
Posted InAlfred North Whitehead, Ernst Cassirer, Jean Gebser, Religion, Robert N. Bellah
Taggedecology, evolution, Evolution of consciousness
Previous What is Enlightenment? – a response to Levi Bryant
Next Conversations about consciousness…
Pingback: Thinking with Latour and Bellah: Religion beyond Nature and Culture « Footnotes to Plato


Although New York Fashion Week's focus is to promote new collections there is a lot happening behind the scenes relating to vintage! Barneby's are on-site covering the weeks events from a vintage perspective. We managed to catch the founders of celebrated vintage chain of boutiques What Goes Around Comes Around between the racks for an exclusive interview!
Gerard Maione and Seth Weisser opened the vintage retail fashion store What Goes Around Comes Around (WGACA) in SoHo, NYC in 1993 and in 2008 they opened an LA location. Setting high standards for the vintage goods WGACA's buying team travels the world hand selecting the finest items from the most coveted fashion brands. In addition WGACA also maintains an appointment-only Archive to service the fashion industry, housing one of the most extensive vintage clothing and textile libraries in the world servicing vintage aficionados, editors, stylists and the industry's top designers.
How did you get into the vintage clothes & accessories scene?
After we graduated from Syracuse university, we moved to the city to find work. We were supplementing our salaries with vintage and realized that most shops had no merchandising- no pizzaz. We wanted to open a vintage store with a point of view that was curated with a lifestyle in mind, so we did.
What is the difference between buying new and vintage?
One of the largest differences is the quality. Most vintage pieces were made with stronger fabrics, many details or the entire production are hand made. In addition, many of these pieces are one of a kind at this point; there isn't a rack of the same shirt in 50 other stores across America.
What is your favorite era and why? Who is your style icon?
We're obsessed with 60's rock here. Gotta say Brian Jones and Keith Richards. Mick Jagger too.
What is the best find you have made at an auction, where and at what price?
We found the most insane Hermes bag made of mixed materials in exotics and leathers, multi-colored in a pop art sort of way with an asymmetrical lean. It is one of the most spectacular bags we have ever seen. We got in Japan, as for the price, gotta keep some secrets!
What are you busy with during NYFW?
We are all over the place! We are booked with buying appointments at our showroom as everyone is in town for the shows. In addition, we hosted a party Monday night at the store to celebrate with a retrospective on Azzedine Alaia! It was an amazing night; Lana Del Rey, Francesco Carrozzini, Taryn Manning and the entire Dexter-Jones family were among our guests!
Check out Fashion & Vintage on on Barnbeys here.


text:
A look at the impact of a crime, and what follows that life-changing collision. Three connected viewpoints show how a crime forever alters the lives of those involved.
Shattered - Season 3Shattered - Season 2Shattered - Season 1
In The Shadows Of South Hill
In 1980, a woman falls victim to a notorious rapist. A desperate detective brings in dozens of potential other victims, can they identify the attacker?
One Wrong Turn
In 2005, a doting grandmother interrupts the murder of her grandson. However, as detectives investigate it seems the witness knows more than she is letting on.
End Of Innocence
In 1986, Geri Muck searches desperately for her missing daughter. However, it's too late and a prosecutor and her brother want to exact their own types of justice.
Requiem For Murder
In 1993, a woman is brutally attacked in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Police suspect a local man, but one detective believes this is the work of a serial killer.
In 1993, a shootout in broad daylight leaves a police officer dead. The gunmen flee, but the Alabama police will stop at nothing to catch the shooters.
Do You Know My Voice
In 2017, Linda Harden was convinced that her husband was the perfect partner. However, after he is arrested for murder her devotion is put to the test.
The House On Hamilton Avenue
In 2006, residents in Indianapolis called 911 to report gunfire coming from a house. Police find a total of seven bodies in a terrible mass shooting.
The Green Light
In 1991, a single mother takes her daughter to an electronics store. However, nearly 9 hours later she emerges as a battered survivor of a monumental hostage crisis.
The Last Song
In 2004, a concert is interrupted when a man pulls out a gun, opens fire and takes a hostage. As fans flee, a police officer faces an active shooter without...
In 2009, one woman's painful struggle to overcome addiction and help others is thwarted when police performing a routine wellness check make a sinister discovery.
The World's Worst Car Names
The Most Famous Cars from TV

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Looney and Schriner Finish at the Top [VIDEO]
David Settle Published: February 28, 2017
David Settle, Townsquare Media
Senior's Carless Looney and Kaden Schriner capped their careers as state champions at last weekend's 4A State Wrestling tournament in Casper.
Looney won his second straight title and capped a 46-2 season with a major decision in the title match at 195 pounds. He won his first three matches by fall. His first round was a quick 19 seconds for a pin. That was followed by a pin in 1:36 and then 1:40 in the semifinals.
Laramie head coach Mikah Kadera said Carless can wrestle with anybody in the state.
"He's also one of the best kids in the state, but he also proved that whatever weight he needs to go, he'll do that for the team."
Looney took on Terren Swartz of Gillette in the finals. Just a week earlier at the regional tournament, Looney prevailed in a tight, 6-4 match. This time he out-maneuvered Swartz for a 17-8 major decision.
Kadera said of Looney in the championship, "(He) wrestled smart, wrestled aggressive, you know, we had a two-point match with that kid last week at regionals. We took a little bit different focus, and he was a little bit different attitude, I think; and ready to win that second one."
Schriner won his first state championship at 145 pounds after being a runner-up and taking third the two previous years. Schriner rolled to the finals with three victories by fall. He got quicker as the rounds progressed. Schriner won his first round with a pin at 2:27. Then it took just 1:05 in round two followed by a pin in 37 seconds in the semis.
Kadera said of Schriner,
"(He) wrestled great. First three matches had pins, and then had to gut out a finals performance. He's deserved one his whole career."
The championship was a major battle against Javen Palmer of Kelly Walsh. It went to a third overtime, ultimate tie break, and Schriner prevailed 4-3. He concluded his season at 50-3.
In the title match, Kadera described Palmer as very defensive oriented. "The kid had a great game-plan… that's what he had to do to keep a match with his… We did everything we needed to win; a lot closer than we wanted, but a state championship's a state championship."
KOWB caught up with the state champs and asked them about their title, their path and more.
Laramie finished with four other placers for a total of six at state wrestling. Senior Idris Elias lost in the title match at 126 pounds. He was ahead 5-2 before he lost by fall at 3:24. Elias finished his season at 45-6. Sophomore Ethan Sell (39-12) and junior Arsenio Lemus (35-13) both placed fourth at 106 and 132 pounds, respectively. Senior Tony Ortega (11-10) added a sixth place finish at 285 pounds.
As a team the Plainsmen took eighth with 125 points.
Kadera added, "It was tough as team stand-point. We got six placers again; same as last year; something that hadn't been done since the early 2000's. Again we got two champs, one runner-up, two fourths and a sixth. Overall, those guys wrestled well… As a team stand-point, the guys are little disappointed."
Green River repeated as state champs with 221 points. Natrona and Gillette were second and third, respectively.
4A State Wrestling Results
Filed Under: Carless Looney, Kaden Schriner, Laramie High School Sports, Laramie Plainsmen, Plainsmen Wrestling, Videos, Wyoming State Wrestling Championships
Categories: Laramie Sports, News, Sports, Videos
Laramie Wrestling Hosts Cheyenne Central on Thursday Night
Laramie High School Sports Roundup Jan. 19, 2023
Indoor Track Season Kicks off in Casper
Laramie High School Sports Round-up 12-14-22
Young Laramie Boys Team Out to Prove Themselves [VIDEO]
Laramie High School Nordic Skiing 2023 Season Preview [VIDEO]
Laramie Plainsmen Try to Keep the Streak Rolling in the Pool [VIDEO]
Laramie High School Sports Roundup 10-25-22
Laramie Plainsmen Face Cheyenne South on Senior Night [VIDEO]


text:
"Since we have partnerships with Intel and VMware, we're always on the cutting edge, so we have the privilege of working with brand new technology. Expedient is pretty much a techie's dream; all it takes is a walk around one of the data centers."
Lead Windows Engineer, Operations Support Center
Brian Dors
1 Allegheny Square, Suite 600
Other Operating Locations
Significant Company Milestones
Sep 2001 Founded as US VoiceData. (Cleveland, Ohio)
Dec 2001 Acquired RMRC. (Cleveland, Ohio)
Apr 2002 Acquired Expedient. (Cleveland, South Florida)
May 2002 Acquired Yipes Markets. (Boston, Miami, PIttsburgh)
Feb 2003. Acquired 6 Verio Markets.(Ohio, Tampa, Sacramento, Syracuse, Topeka)
Jun 2003. Acquired APK. (Northeast Ohio)
Oct 2003 Acquired Stargate. (Pittsburgh, Erie and Hagerstown, MD)
Oct 2005 Acquired by Continental Broadband, a Landmark Communications Company
Feb 2007 Acquired Data Center business of SafeCore (Boston, MA)
Jan 2007 Expanded into Indianapolis via our sister company, nFrame
Feb 2008 Over $1 million in expansion in Cleveland
May 2008 Expedient expands to 2nd data center in Pittsburgh (Allegheny Center Mall)
Aug 2008 Invests in a $4.8 Million build of 2nd data center (Cleveland)
Aug 2008 Became PCI-DSS compliant through self-attestation
Dec 2008 All offices become interconnected with a 10GB fiber backbone
Oct 2009 Opened 2nd Data center (Cleveland)
Dec 2009 Launch Operations Support Center (OSC)
Dec 2010 Opened first Columbus data center- 14,000 square feet
Jan 2011 Expand Boston Data Center by 3,600 square feet
Feb-Jul 2011 Multi million dollar power plant upgrade (Cleveland and Pittsburgh)
Dec 2011 Expansion of 2nd Baltimore Data center- 10,000 additional square feet
Apr 2012 Expansion of 152 Cleveland data center- 7,000 additional square feet
Nov 2013 Second Baltimore Data Center opened in Owings Mills area – 21,000 square feet
Dec 2013 Expansion of Pittsburgh ACM Data center- additional 8,000 square feet for a total of 30,000 square feet of space
Feb 2014 Expedient named to CRN top data center list for second year in a row
Sept 2014 Announcement of 2nd Columbus Data Center in Dublin, Ohio to be built from the ground up
Oct 2014 Announcement of 7th market, Memphis, TN with an open date of mid-year 2015
Jan 2015 151 NEO facility data center expansion completed – 6,000 sq ft added
July 2015 Opened First Memphis Data Center
Nov 2015 Opened Second Columbus Data Center in Dublin, OH
Nov 2015 Achievement of Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) Attestation of Compliance (AOC) for Report on Compliance (ROC) from Qualified Security Assessor (QSA)
March 2016 Expansion of Boston data center (8,000 sq. ft.)
July 2016 Offers SlimLine Cage for colocation
August 2016 Offers Push Button DR 2.0 with Software Defined Networking
September 2016 Offers On-Site Private Cloud with Disaster Recovery as a Service
June 2017 Receives recognition in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service
Receives recognition as a Top 10 MSP Worldwide from MSP Mentor
December 2017 Expansion of Pittsburgh ACM (Nova Place) data center (10,000 sq. ft.)
Expansion of Indianapolis data center (3,500 sq. ft.)
February 2018 Recognized on CRN's Data Center 100 list
May 2018 Named Zerto's Growth Partner of the Year – Cloud Services Provider
June 2018 Named #7 managed services provider in the world on the MSP 501
Completed network backbone upgrade to 100 Gbp/s
July 2018 Positioned in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service
Shawn McGorry
Jonathan H. Rosenson
Expedient combines data centers, network access and managed services to deliver information technology infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solutions. With a physical presence in seven (7) cities, local experts ensure continuous service availability at eleven (11) locations where client data is secured in both physical and virtual platforms, including colocation cabinets, cages and public and private clouds. The company ensures application and data availability through the delivery of a variety of complementary products, predictable monthly expense forecasting, mitigation of the risks associated with industry and government compliance mandates and collaboration with teams of local experts, who are focused on maintaining an environment of operational excellence–freeing clients to focus on strengthening their own differentiators to effectively compete.
Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Memphis, Pittsburgh.
Expedient is a privately-held company and has maintained positive EBITDA since its inception.
Our on-site, local Operations Support Centers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.


Image Title: Resume Template Instant Download Best CV Cover Letter With White Painted Floors Inspirations 7. Post Title: White Painted Floors. Filename: resume-template-instant-download-best-cv-cover-letter-with-white-painted-floors-inspirations-7.jpg. Image Dimension: 640 x 960 pixels. Images Format: jpg/jpeg. Publisher/Author: Domingo Kub. Uploaded Date: Tuesday - June 19th. 2018 15:01:16 PM. Category: Architecture. Image Source: homestyler.com. Floors Prepare Inside 17. Kristina For In 13. White Elements Blog Crush Pertaining Painted A 15. Of Wolf With Paint Current Design Com Good Intended Brody 6. And 12. Wood Like The Painting To Improvised Hardwood 0. Pro How 19. 17 Out Within Prefinished Love House Turned Floor Ideas Plans Style Secret 16. Designs They Idea DIY Claire Life Updated 10. Decor Shabbyfufu Inspiration Bad Inspirations About Best Boards Remodel New Lovers Revisited 11.


I'm a fan of capturing enemy ships intact if possible, due to the greater rewards involved. With a teleporter, a couple of Mantis "spare" crewmates and an S. Bomb, this is very effective.
I've managed to asphyxiate the crew once before, but in general I find this to be very difficult - it's hard to keep the O2 system down without causing extra damage to the ship's hull. And since it's a waiting game for the O2 levels to drop, it's likely necessary to disable the enemy weapons/drone systems too, causing further "collateral damage" to the hull.
Could ion weapons be a feasible way to do this, or would it take two or more (i.e. an unlikely number to find) to pull this off?
Are there any other approaches that would work - fire, for example? Has anyone had success with using fire bombs/beams to specifically target the crew? Did you have problems with rampant fire causing damage to systems and thus destroying the hull?
In any non-boarding case, I recognise that you almost certainly need to know where the enemy crew is, so I'm assuming that upgraded sensors, or a Slug crewmember, is a prerequisite.
Breach bombs damage systems and crew, and cause cracks, but don't hurt hulls. Alternate bombing the medical bay and the O2 generator. Put priority on whichever one the crew is trying to repair. Eventually they'll have so little health they won't try to repair things, and you can just wait. If the ship doesn't have a medical bay it's even easier - just bomb the O2 generator until they stop trying to repair it.
If you're taking this tack, it helps to upgrade your own shields (and maybe have a defense drone) so you can sit and wait them out without having to waste missiles bombing their weapons as well.
Ion weapons can help, but it's hard to get enough of them to punch through 3-4 shields reliably, while you are still getting shot at. If you have them, great, but don't prioritize them.
You are correct about sensors. Don't even bother trying to kill crew without damaging the ship until you have the first sensor upgrade or a slug crew member.
Anti-bio Beams are incredibly good at killing enemy crew, if you can find one. They need the target's shields to be completely down, but will kill most races in 2 hits and have enough range to hit 2 or more enemies most of the time. Arguably the fastest, safest and cheapest way to kill enemy crew. I used anti-bio beams and burst laser 2 throughout the game (on easy), only switching to other weapons to deal with the boss and unmanned ships.
The Slug ship is great for this, as you start with Anti-bio Beam, Breach II and Dual Lasers. Use breach II when you need to keep multiple systems suppressed until you find some better rapid fire weapons. Get a Defense drone Mk 1 to protect yourself from enemy missiles and you are golden (just completed a run on easy with this setup - maxed out every possible subsystem, bought a bunch of stuff and still had scrap to spare).
Some ship layouts have a disconnected O2 system. If you can take that out, the enemy crew will be totally unable to repair it.
I use the Engi cruiser. I havent beaten the game yet, but early game, using the ion cannon II is really effective to capture intact ships. Any ship with one shield can be captured easily by just leaving the ion cannon hitting there o2 room. As long as youre not taking damage... a defence drone is handy here.
This takes a bit, as the occasional miss allows there o2 to regen a bit, but has the added bonus of leveling your crew. You can easily get a extra star for all 4 crew members per engagement!
against tougher ships the firebomb is very effective in conjunction with the ion cannon.
after sector 4 this no longer works, as many ships have too many shields to keep the o2 offline.
Ion weapons work, but you need at least two of them. In the game I won, i was using the Torus, and i had two attack drones and three ion weapons. Once the drones had done enough damage to two sstems i wanted down, i would switch them off, and keep the ship ionised until everyone died.
Note that if you focus on upgrading your shields, and have some decent dodge from pilot/engne, you can basically oak many opponents without even disabling their wepons. This leaves you with 3 targets that need to be on lockdown from fire or ions: Medibay, Oxygen, and also very importantly shields, because if shields are not kept down at all time you will spend your ions redisabling them forever. focus the shields frst, then set some stuff on fire, and keep those 3 elements (or only 2 if they lack a medibay) on lockdown and you can just get the opponents over time.
Alternately, use advanced sensors or simply a slug (ltho you wont see hps) do some damage to the ship, and use anti-êrsonal bombs to kill the damaged crew members. Once there's only one or two left and they are damaged, it's fairly easy to prevent them from repairing, especially if their ship is on fire.
Fire beam is moderately effective. In many cases, the fires destroy the ship before all of the crew dies, but often not. Coupled with ion something to keep the shields down and sensor upgrades to see the crew and fires, it is decent.
It is possible to take out the crew of even a Rock cruiser using fire weapons. Ions beams can take out shields, fire beams can start fires in wide swaths of the ship, and if you have a breach bomb (or even a regular one), you can help things along the way. The important thing is to keep the shields on fire. If the shields are burning, the crew won't put out fires in life support until it's too late... And rock crew are so slow, they can't reach O2 before the shields start burning again!
Medbays are a very high priority target - they need to go as much as the O2 system. That's one reason the beam is so good - multiple rooms at once!
Good luck, and happy burning.
If you use a hacking drone you could completely bombard the oxygen while they cannot get in until it is on fire and if they do get in they will die and the fire will spread further. It works for me all the time and is usually a good break as it takes time depending on how close the other people see to it. You would also need to make sure they cannot fire at you so maybe instead do the same thing on the weapons?
Whilst it could technically be construed as a 'boarding party', the Boarding Drone requires no teleporter and can deal pretty effectively with crewmembers whilst also preventing them from repairing the room they're in, AND causing a hull breach.
Passes through regular shields and (unlike missiles or bombs) cannot miss.
Requires Drone System (upgraded to at least 3 power) and correct schematic.
Can't be directed or controlled, chooses random room to board and random direction to move.
Enemy repair drones can repair whilst in the same room as the Boarding Drone (and cannot be targeted directly), although this is true of regular boarding parties as well.
Can I disable a ship without destroying it and without teleporters in FTL?
How can I maximise the amount of scrap I collect?
What are some effective strategies for boarding enemy ships?
How to destroy AI ships without weapons?
Any way to make your crew stop attacking a system?
Is there any benefit to damaging enemy Sensors?
What are the easiest ways to deal with AI ships when playing as the Mantis Cruiser?
What are all the Beacon Special Effects?
Does a beam weapon have to hit a crew member - or just the square they're in?


As well as meeting spatial requirements, bespoke MCCs can be designed to the exact technical demands of a company's processes without being limited to the standard options given by the manufacturer. By working with an independent MCC specialist, companies can mix and match components from different manufacturers instead of having to go for a predesigned standard model.
One design feature that can make MCCs easier to maintain and replace is the option of withdrawable starters. The benefits of this can be reaped in facilities that run numerous processes simultaneously, for example in water facilities or an oil or gas company.
A bespoke MCC can also be designed to suit the conditions of its operating space. Some environments can be much harsher so components with higher ingress protection (IP) ratings may be required to safeguard the equipment from foreign bodies, humidity or other environmental factors.
Because MCCs have a lifespan of around 25-30 years, a bespoke design must be made to meet all future challenges. In the case of older MCCs, it is possible to replace or upgrade panels to meet new specifications, although commissioning a new one might often be a wiser decision. In an ideal situation, an MCC should be equipped for future challenges from the onset.
MCCs are crucial in simplifying power distribution. While an off-the-shelf motor control centre might be suitable for many applications, a bespoke MCC offers a flexible footprint, better use of space and suitability for its environment. Just like Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to undertake a unique project, purchasing a bespoke MCC may be the key to a resilient design, perfect for your space.


text:
Inspiring West Virginians
Inspiring West Virginians is a 7-part radio documentary series for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which aired from 2010 to 2016. Each hour-long program features profiles of West Virginians who have risen up from humble roots to become global leaders in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or business.
In addition to the radio series, Jean produced two television programs for Season 1. You can find links to those programs near the bottom of this page.
In 2015, in partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Jean also produced five video profiles of Inspiring West Virginians aimed at middle school students. These profiles of noted scientists and engineers are available on PBS Learning Media, along with curriculum for teachers and students. They are also airing on WVPB-TV and the West Virginia Channel.
The 7th and final season of Inspiring West Virginians premiered on West Virginia Public Broadcasting at the end of 2016
Dan Carder – Emissions Engineer
Carder and his team discovered Volkswagen had programmed their on-board computers to cheat on diesel emissions tests.
For 25 years mechanical engineer Dan Carder, 46, has worked for CAFEE — the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University — an enterprise within the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. Today he serves as its director. For more than 20 years CAFEE has been carrying out pioneering emissions research and testing work on engines of every description — mostly unnoticed and unsung. That is, until they discovered that Volkswagen, the largest carmaker in the world at the time, was using a "defeat device" on their diesel cars. The discovery brought Dan and the CAFEE team global attention, and in 2016, Dan was named among TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the world.
Growing up a country boy in rural Wood County, West Virginia, Dan loved tinkering with cars, motorcycles and anything else on wheels. His main goal in life was to become a mechanical engineer at Ford Motor Company. But after an internship at Ford, Dan realized his real passion was working on engines and emissions at West Virginia University. Today he leads a large team of professors, engineers, technicians and students in what is certainly the best vehicle emissions testing facility in the United States, if not the world.
You can read more of Dan's story on West Virginia Public Broadcasting's website: Inspiring West Virginians Program Profiles Engineer Who Uncovered Huge Automobile Cheating Scandal .
Or listen to Dan's story here.
Justin Ellis – Gravitational Wave Scientist
Working to detect gravitational waves using pulsars
When Justin Ellis, now 30, was growing up outside Charles Town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, all he wanted to do was play baseball, and later race dirt bikes. As a teenager he won dozens of trophies as a Motocross champion. But when he got to college, he had a professor who got him interested in science, and it changed the direction of Ellis' life. Ellis became a NASA Einstein Fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Caltech — both in Pasadena, California. He works with a team who are trying to detect gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time, first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916. In 2015 gravitational waves were detected for the first time using earth-based lasers, but Ellis works with a team of scientists around the world who are trying to detect gravitational waves using pulsars. Once the detection of gravitational waves becomes more common, it will change the way people understand the universe — rather than "looking" at it using light, they will "listen" to it. This will allow scientists to have a greater understanding of objects in the universe that don't radiate light, like black holes. One of Ellis' colleagues at JPL and Caltech describes him as "brilliant – he has a Sherlock Holmes-like sense of having to find out the solution to a very difficult problem".
Read more of Justin Ellis' story on West Virginia Public Broadcasting website: Inspiring West Virginian is Inspired by Cosmos and Science Professor
or listen to Justin's story here:
Ken Allman – Entrepreneur and Community Leader
Brought his business back to his hometown of Hinton, West Virginia, then helped restore Historic Hinton
In 1995, Ken Allman started a business, PracticeLink.com, an online resource for physician recruitment, out of his small apartment in St Louis, Missouri. Five years later he moved the business to his hometown – Hinton, West Virginia. Today PracticeLink is the oldest and largest physician job bank in the United States. More than half of all doctors have used it at one time or another when looking for a new position. But Allman didn't stop there. He and other community members began to restore many of the buildings in Hinton's Historic District — a theater, a bed and breakfast, a hotel — and people opened new businesses in these restored buildings. Today a second company led by Allman – MountainPlex Properties – manages 20 buildings in the Historic District. And it's not only been breathing new life into the once-prosperous railroad town, other communities in West Virginia are noticing. In 2014 Allman was named Small Business Person of the Year in West Virginia and in 2016 he won an award from the West Virginia Preservation Alliance.
You can read more of Ken Allman's inspiring story Inspiring West Virginian is Inspiring a Revitalization of Historic Railroad Town
Or listen to Ken's story:
Season 6 of Inspiring West Virginians featured four amazing stories of West Virginia pioneers in energy engineering, computing, and business, including the woman who founded the very first assisted living facility in the world.
Brian Anderson – Rising Star in Energy Research
World authority on geothermal energy and gas hydrates
37-year old Brian Anderson is a chemical engineer and professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown. This Roane County native is also Director of the WVU Energy Institute, a world-class research institution which studies geothermal energy, gas hydrates, wind power, solar power, biomass, oil, shale gas and coal production – aiming to make all of West Virginia's rich energy resources both productive and environmentally friendly. A noted singer, Anderson was a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Boston while he was doing his PhD at MIT, and now sings with the Mendelssohn Choir in Pittsburgh.
In 2013, Anderson won the President's Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed to young scientists and engineers by the US government.
Read more of Brian's story here.
Listen to Brian's story.
Rod Van Meter – Pioneering Computer Architect
Expert in quantum computers and networks – the future of computing
In the coming decades, when quantum computers finally become reality, they may be a thousand, or a million or a trillion times faster than computers are today, according to quantum computer and network architect Rod Van Meter, from Williamson, in Mingo County. Van Meter teaches and does research at Keio University in Japan, and is one of a few thousand scientists and engineers in the world working to bring the IT future closer. In 2014 the world's first book on quantum networking, written by Van Meter, was published. n 2014-2015 Rod spent a fellowship year at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina. During that time, he worked with other colleagues to try to find solutions to some of the most vexing problems in the way of building quantum computers and networks. It also gave Rod and his family more time to spend with his parents and sisters in West Virginia.
Read more of Rod's story here.
Listen to Rod's story.
Marilyn Johnson – Global Business Leader
CEO of the International Women's Forum in Washington, DC
When Marilyn Johnson was a little girl in the Kanawha Valley in the 1950s, she had a fire in her belly to succeed. She worked extra-hard to achieve at school, became the first black cheerleader at South Charleston Junior High, later the head cheerleader at Marshall University before earning two Masters degrees in education from Marshall. When she joined the IBM Corporation in 1977, she helped customers learn to use their business equipment. By the time she retired in 2012, she was Vice President for Women and Diversity Marketing, greatly expanding IBM's market share worldwide. In 2014 she was recruited to become the CEO of the International Women's Forum in Washington, DC, a group of 6000 preeminent women leaders – high-achieving women in business, finance, politics, law, academia, sports, media and other fields – from 33 countries around the world.
Read more of Marilyn's story here.
Listen to Marilyn's story.
Keren Brown Wilson – "Mother of Assisted Living"
A revolutionary entrepreneur who founded a worldwide industry
When she was 19 years old and a college student, Keren Brown Wilson's 55-year- old mother, Jessie F Richardson, had a stroke. For the next 10 years she lived in nursing homes. When her daughter was a graduate student studying gerontology – the study of aging and older people – her mother asked: "Why don't you do something to help people like me?" Wilson's mother wanted more autonomy, more choices in her life, like what to eat and when to go to bed. But she was poor, and at the time there were few choices other than nursing homes. So in the 1980s, while Wilson was a professor at Portland State University in Oregon, this McDowell County native set about to build a facility that felt more like "home", a place her mother would approve. It gave elders more choices and autonomy, while providing many of the nursing and other services they needed. That was the beginning of the assisted living movement. Today, through the work of the Jessie F Richardson Foundation, Wilson aims to help frail, low-income elders in the US and around the world live with greater joy and dignity.
Keren Brown Wilson's story is featured in the book, Being Mortal, by Boston surgeon Atul Gawande. It's been on The New York Times bestseller list for more than a year.
Read more of Keren's story here.
Listen to Keren's story.
Bill Petros – Clinical Pharmacologist
He leads a team at WVU carrying out cutting edge cancer drug research
Back in the 90s Wheeling-native Bill Petros was leading his own research team at Duke University Cancer Center, when a call came from his alma mater, West Virginia University. Though he was highly successful where he was, Petros felt a pull back to his home state. Today Petros holds the Mylan Chair of Pharmacology at West Virginia University. He is also associate director for anti-cancer drug development at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at WVU, and, as such, is one of the few clinical pharmacologists in the United States who leads cutting edge research into cancer drugs. In his laboratories at WVU, Petros and his team are exploring how cancer drugs react differently from one person to the next, depending on a number of factors. Their findings help clinicians more accurately predict the right dose of a drug for individual patients.
Having worked in research centers around the country, Bill Petros is glad to be back in his home state. "The environment here between the scientists – the basic scientists – and the clinicians is very unique, and they love working with each other, they love listening to each other. It's unique, and it's reflective of West Virginia".
You can read more of Bill's story here.
Listen to Bill's story
Adrian Melott – Imagining the Universe
He was the first person to use supercomputers to envisage the large-scale structure of the universe
Adrian Melott, a theoretical physicist from Moundsville, is known internationally for his work in two major areas of space science – cosmology and astrobiophyics. In the 1980s Melott was the first person in the world to use supercomputers to envisage the large-scale structure of the universe — "Structure on scales of tens and hundreds of millions of light-years", says Melott. "The way the galaxies are arranged on those scales is kind of in a frothy web-like structure where the galaxies are concentrated along strings and walls and there are large empty voids". Initially other cosmologists ignored his work, until a few years later when astronomers confirmed that Melott's theory was actually correct.
After years of working at the forefront of cosmology, in 2003 Melott became fascinated with gamma ray bursts — intense but short-lived high energy electromagnetic radiation — and their possible effect on Earth. Since the new field involves astronomy, physics and biology (among many other disciplines) Melott named it: "astrobiophycis".
Read more about Adrian here.
Listen to Adrian's story:
Patrice Harris – Visionary Psychiatrist and President of the American Medical Association
She's responsible for a million patients
UPDATE: In June 2019, Dr Harris became the new president of the American Medical Association — the first African-American woman to hold that office. She also became the second woman from West Virginia to be president of the AMA. This profile was produced when she was head of all public and mental health services for the Atlanta area.
Dr Patrice Harris, from Bluefield, is one of the nation's leading psychiatrists and serves on the board of the American Medical Association. A child, adolescent and forensic psychiatrist, Harris heads up all public and mental health services in Fulton County, Georgia – home to the city of Atlanta – serving a million patients. Harris, a national expert on issues surrounding abused and neglected children, spearheaded the development of some of America's most innovative public health centers.
From the time she was in the 8th grade, Patrice Harris knew she wanted to be a doctor. "I was inspired to become a physician by Marcus Welby, MD – a 1970s TV show. He was just very caring" Harris recalls. "And I knew that I wanted to be like that. It never dawned on me that I couldn't, even though I didn't know personally any physicians – particularly in the African-American community at that time."
Harris is a Distinguished Alumni of West Virginia University where she earned degrees in psychology, counseling and medicine. In 2015 she was elected "Chair-Elect" of the AMA and will chair its board in 2016.
Read more about Patrice here.
Listen to Patrice's story:
Jake Harriman – Social Entrepreneur
"We're trying to build the world's first self-sustainable, self-scalable, integrated development model to fight extreme poverty."Jake Harriman – Social Entrepreneur
Former Marine Platoon Commander and Preston County native, Jake Harriman, is giving his life to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. In 2003, while in combat in Iraq, Harriman began to see that one of the seeds of terrorism and insurgency is extreme poverty. After leaving the Marines he founded Nuru International, a social entrepreneurial organization trying to end extreme poverty in remote rural areas using a "bottom up, self-sustaining" model. To date, more than 30,000 people in rural Kenya and Ethiopia have been able to pull themselves out of poverty.
Harriman grew up on a farm in the Whetsell Settlement – high up on a hill that overlooks a broad section of the Cheat River Valley. The oldest of four children, Harriman was valedictorian of his class at Preston High School before going to West Virginia University and later the US Naval Academy. He founded Nuru while completing a Masters at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Read more about Jake here.
Listen to Jake's story:
John Forbes Nash, Jr – Mathematician, and Winner of 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics & 2015 Abel Prize
Nash won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics for his contributions to game theory
UPDATE: May 23, 2015 – Professor Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia, 82, were killed in a car accident. They were in a taxi on the New Jersey Turnpike, returning from a trip to Norway where Dr Nash received the Abel Prize, often described as the "mathematicians' Nobel Prize".
"John's remarkable achievements inspired generations of mathematicians, economists and scientists who were influenced by his brilliant, groundbreaking work in game theory,'' the president of Princeton University, Christopher L. Eisgruber, said, "and the story of his life with Alicia moved millions of readers and moviegoers who marveled at their courage in the face of daunting challenges."
And I would like to add my sincere condolences to their families and loved ones.
Jean Snedegar
When John Nash was a little boy in Bluefield, West Virginia, he liked using larger numbers in math than those being taught at school. His teacher thought he didn't understand math, but his mother knew he did — he just did math differently from other kids. Nash's "different way of doing the math" led to his solving important mathematical problems — both as a teenager and a college student. Indeed, his PhD thesis in game theory, which later became known as the Nash Equilibrium, eventually won him world acclaim and a share in the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. John Nash also solved a few extremely difficult problems in pure mathematics, and he did so in such a creative way that it astounded other mathematicians.
But Nash also spent more than 25 years of his life suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, a serious mental illness. The story of his meteoric rise in mathematics as well as his descent into mental illness was documented in the 1998 biography, A Beautiful Mind, by Sylvia Nasar, and in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe as Nash. In this profile, Jean spends an afternoon with Nash in his office at Princeton University, visits Nash's sister Martha at her home in Virginia and interviews an economist and two mathematicians about Nash's contributions to mathematics and economics.
You can read more of Nash's story by clicking here.
Listen to John Nash's story
Diane Lewis – WV Small Business Person of the Year
In 10 years she took her company from one employee to more than 300.
Diane Lewis, the youngest of seven children of a Clarksburg family, credits a third grade teacher, Mrs Bonner, with her success: "She really changed my life. It's like she believed in me. And she told me, 'Diane – you can do whatever you want to do'. "
Lewis excelled in school and later excelled in business. In 2001 she started a company, Action Facilities Management, Inc, in her basement in Morgantown, West Virginia, with her then teenage son as her only employee. Today the company provides building, maintenance and grounds services for an impressive list of government agencies as well as commercial clients. A graduate of Fairmont State University, Diane Lewis serves on the boards of both West Virginia University and WVU Hospitals, and with her husband Kenny Jackson runs a non-profit organization, Members of Diversity, where they train area youngsters in job-search skills.
Read more of Diane's story here.
Listen to Diane's story
Rodney Bartgis, Keeping the "Wild" in West Virginia
Bartgis has helped to conserve some of West Virginia's wildest places.
As a boy, Rodney Bartgis loved exploring the woods and countryside around his family's farm near Hedgesville, in Berkeley County. As a teenager, he joined with other guys interested in discovering more of the natural world of West Virginia. They made many discoveries. And after training as a field biologist and plant ecologist, he covered most of West Virginia on foot — looking for rare plants, special habitats and unique natural areas.
In the process, Bartgis continued to discover dozens of rare plants and animal species in West Virginia — even some that were thought to be extinct!
Many of his colleagues say he knows more about the natural history of West Virginia than anyone alive.
While State Director of The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia, Bartgis worked tirelessly to help preserve unique wild places in a state known as a national hotspot of biodiversity. He had a hand in preserving parts of the New River Gorge, Canaan Valley, the Smoke Hole Canyon, Cheat Mountain, Cranberry Glades, Bear Rocks on the Dolly Sods, Panther Knob, Pike Knob and many, many others.
"In the history of The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia so far, we've protected about 120,000 acres of West Virginia over the last 50 years" says Bartgis. "That sounds like a lot, but in every decade there will be probably be 300,000 or more acres of West Virginia converted from natural habitat to something else – everything, from a mall, to a surface mine, to a subdivision, to a factory."
Read more of Rodney's story here.
Listen to Rodney's story
You can view the new video about Rod's work — produced in 2015 for middle school students in West Virginia and available on PBS Learning Media — here.
Linda Powers – Looking for Life in Extreme Environments
Using light, Linda Powers' handheld biosensors can detect microbes in the Arctic, or high deserts or in hospital operating rooms.
When she was in the 3rd grade in Beckley, West Virginia, Linda Powers asked her parents for a telescope for Christmas. She got her telescope, and from then on she was hooked on science. By 8th grade, she won first place at the state science fair for a project using light, and at 17 she was among the top five winners in the nation of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (now sponsored by Intel). And today, nearly 50 years later, she is a world authority on building florescence instruments to detect life at the microbial level. Her instruments are used to detect bacterial contamination in water, pathogens in food preparation areas or hospital operating rooms, and to test blood for pathogens such as HIV or malaria, without having to culture cells first.
To do all this, Powers has to combine her expertise in a wide variety of disciplines: biology, physics, chemistry, optics, engineering and mathematics. Currently she is the Thomas R Brown Professor of Bio-Engineering at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She is also a professor of electrical engineering, computer engineering and bio-medical engineering.
To the youngsters in West Virginia, who, like her, are science geeks, Powers has a message about pursuing their dreams: "The sky is the limit. And in West Virginia, that sky is even closer! There's no reason for you to have any problem doing what you want to do – if you want it – do it! Somebody will take notice along the way and help you. They certainly did me, and this was back when girls didn't do things like that. Don't let anybody stand in your way! Decide what you want and simply go for it. You'll be surprised of the people you'll find who will support you..and especially in West Virginia."
You can read more of Linda's story here.
Listen to Linda's story
Download a podcast of Linda's story
Homer Hickam – "Rocket Boy"
Rocket Boy, aerospace engineer, author
Homer Hickam Jr is best known for his 1998 memoir, Rocket Boys, the story of six teenagers in a 1950s West Virginia coal company town who went on to win the National Science Fair in 1960. The book, which was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, quickly became a classic and spawned the 1999 film October Sky. The story of these McDowell County youngsters has inspired millions of people around the world to pursue their dreams. Last year, Rocket Boys the Musical premiered in West Virginia.
In this profile, Homer revisits the Underwater Astronaut Trainer he helped design and build at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and recalls how one 2000-word article he wrote for Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine moved him from being a successful NASA aerospace engineer into a successful writer. To date Hickam has sold more than 2.5 million books. For his success, he regularly credits his teachers in Coalwood and at Big Creek High School.
Listen to Homer's story
Kim Weaver – Pioneer in X-Ray Astronomy
Pioneer in studying black holes
Like Homer Hickam, as a child Kim Weaver looked at the sky above West Virginia and wanted to explore space, but her dream took her to the very outer reaches of the universe. At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Dr Kimberley Weaver is an astrophysicist who studies black holes, the early universe and star formation in galaxies. She was among the first scientists in the world to use a space-launched x-ray telescope to study black holes.
A member of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni at West Virginia University, Kim grew up in Cheat Lake near Morgantown, and spent much of her young childhood working and playing at her father's campground nearby. She believes time there helped to instill her own work ethic: "When I travel around and I meet people from other places, the one thing I can say about West Virginians is there is a tremendous work ethic here. I think that's an amazing part of the culture and an amazing part of the way West Virginians think about themselves – they are very proud to be who they are and they put a lot of that into what they do."
Listen to Kim's story
Watch Kim's story in a new video about her career produced for middle-schoolers in West Virginia. You can view the video here.
Lewis Cantley – Biochemist and Inaugural Winner of Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
2013 Winner of Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Back in 1985 Dr Lewis Cantley, a native of Big Chimney in Kanawha County, discovered an enzyme called PI3-Kinase. At the time his scientific colleagues thought he couldn't be right. The enzyme couldn't exist, they said. And besides, how could a chemist discover something so fundamental to biology? But Cantley was proved right and PI3-Kinase turned out to be revolutionary in cell biology. It explains the growth of a child to an adult and plays a major role in how the body regulates glucose, central to our understanding of diabetes. But PI3-Kinase also helps explain the growth of a variety of cancers, so is key in the development of new drug treatments targeting cancer.
For more than 30 years Cantley worked at Harvard University, most recently as head of The Cantley Lab at Harvard Medical School and Director of Cancer Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. There he carried out cutting edge research into PI3K and its role in diabetes, obesity and cancer. At the beginning of 2013 Cantley became Director of the newly-established Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, where he carries on his research. In February 2013 he was named one of the inaugural winners of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the world's largest award in the sciences, worth $3 million, for his discovery of PI3K. Many of his colleagues speculate he will also one day win a Nobel Prize.
Listen to Lew's story, produced when his lab was at Harvard Medical School
You can view the new video of Lew – aimed at middle schoolers in West Virginia – here.
Judy Sheppard – Entrepreneur and Business Leader
Inspires women to succeed, despite obstacles
Judy Sheppard is one of West Virginia's most honored entrepreneurs. In 2013 she won the Bronze Stevie Award (American Business Awards) for Female Entrepreneur of the Year for business services. In 2011 she was named the state's Small Business Person of the Year as well as Distinguished West Virginian of the Year. Sheppard is founder, president and CEO of Professional Services of America, Inc, a multi-million dollar services business based in Parkersburg. With more than 200 employees, PSA, as it's known, provides services for some of America's largest corporations as well as numerous government agencies. Sheppard also serves as a mentor to other women business owners in West Virginia and beyond.
To get where she is today, Judy Sheppard has come a very long way. Born in Blue Goose, a tiny dot on the map in Roane County, she was brought up in Fonzo, a remote community in Ritchie County — without electricity or indoor plumbing or a telephone. In this profile, Judy returns to her home place. She remembers many hardships she endured growing up, and the determination it gave her to help others.
Listen to Judy's story
Mark Williams – Energy Engineer ("Mr Fuel Cell")
Scientists and engineers refer to him as "Mr Fuel Cell"
Mark Williams is the world's leading authority on solid-oxide fuel cells. A native of Mill Creek, West Virginia, Mark leads a team of energy engineers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia. Williams' vision is behind all commercial solid-oxide fuel cell production today. In the coming decades, fuel cells may become one of the world's leading energy producers, fueling vehicles, homes and power plants.
Williams grew up the fifth of six boys in a small Tygart's Valley community. His mother was a first-generation Polish immigrant and devout Catholic who wanted the best for her sons. They went to church in Huttonsville next door, where there was also a Catholic seminary at the time, and Mark was able to meet seminary students from all over the world. For most of his career, Williams' father worked in coal mines and steel mills, and while Mark was in high school , the family moved to Richwood, in Nicholas County, so his dad could take a mining job. Mark graduated as valedictorian of the 1970 class at Richwood High School.
Listen to Mark's story
Verna Gibson – Fashion Retailing Executive Who Broke the "Glass Ceiling"
She broke the glass ceiling
In 1985, when she was named President of The Limited Stores, Verna Gibson was the first woman in the United States to earn her way to the top of a Fortune 500 company, thus breaking the corporate "glass ceiling" that kept women from the top job. Up until that time, no other woman in America had earned her way to the top of a major corporation. During her leadership The Limited became the nation's first billion dollar specialty retailing chain. Today she works with women's clothing chain, Chico's FAS, which has more than a thousand stores.
For many years Gibson served on the Board of Governors of her alma mater, Marshall University, most recently as chairman. She and her husband Jim (who met at Marshall more than 50 years ago) continue to serve the university and its students in many ways. Gibson is a native of Elkview in Kanawha County and graduated from Point Pleasant High School in Mason County. Her father was an entrepreneur but it was her mother who most inspired the young Verna.
"My mother was the one who said, 'You can do more than you think you can do – you can always do more than you think you can do. I think she probably above all instilled that 'Well, just try it' kind of attitude. 'Jump off and see if you can swim.'"
Listen to Verna's story
Dr Geoffrey Cousins – Pioneering Heart Surgeon
A pioneer in robotic-assisted heart surgery
One of West Virginia's most innovative heart surgeons, Dr Geoffrey Cousins is a pioneer of robotic-assisted heart surgery in the United States. He is the youngest of 11 children of a coal miner in the tiny community of McDowell, in McDowell County. Due to his father's on-going health problems, Cousins traveled with his parents to hospitals and doctors' offices across southern West Virginia, seeking help that didn't materialize. When he was 9, his father retired and moved the family to Detroit. But Geoffrey Cousins promised himself that he would one day return to help the people of his home state. As soon as he finished his heart surgery residency he returned to West Virginia and practices at the Charleston Area Medical Center. This father of four is happy to be back. "I love West Virginia and I love West Virginians."
Listen to Geoff's story…
Download a podcast of Geoff's story
You can also watch a video — produced in 2015 — about Geoffrey Cousins and his work. It's the first in a series of videos for the Inspiring West Virginians for Students – an educational project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting for PBS Learning Media. You can view the video here.
John Ochsendorf – Structural Engineer
Ochsendorf' curated a major exhibition of the Guastavino brothers' unique ceilings for the Boston Public Library, National Building Museum in Washington, DC, and the Museum of the City of New York
John Ochsendorf grew up in Elkins, one of six children. He has pursued his multiple interests in engineering, archeology and architectural history to become a world authority on ancient masonry structures — domes, vaults and Gothic cathedrals. His study of the Guastavino brothers' unique ceilings — found in more than a thousand buildings in the United States — became a widely acclaimed book as well as a major exhibition at the Boston Public Library (2012), the National Building Museum in Washington, DC (2013) and the Museum of the City of New York (2014). Today Ochsendorf uses old principles in modern, green design. A professor of engineering and architecture at MIT, John helped design the 2009 World Building of the Year.
Ochsendorf, who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2008, credits West Virginia's sense of community, work ethic and love of the outdoors as important ingredients to his success.
"So, fundamentally, you know how to work hard, how to live close to the land and how to help out your neighbor – those are all things I got from growing up in West Virginia."
Listen to John's story
View the new video about John, available on PBS Learning Media here.
This inaugural series featured the stories of amazing scientists and business people from West Virginia. Season 1 also included two television programs. You can see them by clicking on the links below.
The Ice Hunters: Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie Thompson
Ice-core drilling pioneers
Marshall University graduates Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson are two of the world's leading paleoclimatologists. Using ice cores they drill themselves, Lonnie, from Gassaway, in Braxton County, and Ellen, from Charleston, study the history of climate at the Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC) at The Ohio State University. In 1983 Lonnie became the first scientist in the world to drill ice cores on glaciers in tropical regions, and continues to do so 30 years later. As a consequence, Lonnie has spent more time above 20,000 feet than anyone in history. (Update: Due to heart damage over many years, Lonnie underwent a successful heart transplant in 2012. In 2013 he went on his 59th expedition to the Tibetan Himalayas.)
Ellen was one of the first women to lead an ice-drilling expedition to a polar region, and in 2010 led an expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. Among their many awards and honors, Lonnie received the National Medal of Science – the nation's highest award in science. Today Ellen serves as the Director of BPRC at Ohio State.
Watch the television program — Inspiring West Virginians: The Ice Hunters.
Or listen to Lonnie and Ellen's story
Sylvia Mathews Burwell – 2016 West Virginian of the Year and the new President of American University
On December 31, 2016, the Charleston Gazette-Mail named Sylvia Mathews Burwell "West Virginian of the Year"
In January 2017 American University appointed Sylvia Mathews Burwell as its new President. She will start her new position in June. For the last three years she has held top jobs in the Obama Administration — first as the Director of Management and Budget and latterly as the Secretary of Health & Human Services. Before that Burwell spent 12 years in global philanthropy, where she worked to help some of the world's most disadvantaged people. From November 2011 until early 2013 Mathews Burwell served as President of the Walmart Foundation and led their Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative. Earlier she served as President of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest charitable organization. She was responsible for giving away $750 million a year to help some of the world's poorest people have access to better agricultural techniques, financial services and clean water. Mathews Burwell is a former Deputy White House Chief of Staff in the Clinton Administration. From 1998 – 2001 she was No 2 at the Office of Management and Budget when the US had three years of surpluses. Sylvia appreciates her West Virginia upbringing along the New River in Hinton, "It is an incredible thing to be from our state and to be proud of it. I spout my 8th grade West Virginia History on a regular basis because I am proud of being from a place where so many important values of hard work, respect and sense of community are instilled."
Listen to Sylvia's story – produced when she was President of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Brad Smith — President & CEO of Intuit, Makers of Quickbooks & Turbotax
Proud of his hometown and university: "There's not a person in this company who couldn't tell you about Kenova, West Virginia or Marshall".
Since 2008 Brad Smith has been at the helm of the global financial software giant, Intuit, frequently voted the World's Most Admired Software Company by Fortune Magazine. And for more than a decade, Intuit has been named "One of the Top 100 Best Places to Work". Smith's colleagues appreciate his values and his humility, and say his steady moral compass make him the best ambassador West Virginia could ever have.
"My lessons from West Virginia – ", says the Wayne County native, "boil down to three things – integrity, humility and teamwork…. You learn in West Virginia that life is a team sport. Communities stick together. Families stick together.
Those things have stuck with me and they keep me grounded."
Listen to Brad's story
Download a podcast of Brad's story
In Search of Meaningful Work: D Holmes Morton MD and Caroline Morton
High school drop-out who turned his life around
Travel to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to hear about one of the most unusual medical clinics in the United States — the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, founded by Dr D Holmes Morton, of Fayetteville, and his wife, Caroline, from Beckley. Here doctors and scientists diagnose and treat rare genetic disorders in children from Old Order Amish and Mennonite communities.
Inspired by the physician/scientist model of her father and grandfather
Newborn screening programs developed at the clinic have been adopted by Pennsylvania as a whole, and by many states across the country. And the Clinic is equipped to do sophisticated genetic testing rapidly and inexpensively for the communities they serve.
You can see the television program Inspiring West Virginians: In Search of Meaningful Work. It's the story of how Holmes and Caroline started the world-renowned treatment and research center for rare genetic disorders.
or listen to their story.
Inspiring West Virginians was conceived by June Myles. Her desire is to see West Virginia's scientists, engineers and business people celebrated. And almost from the beginning, Suzanne Higgins oversaw the project as Senior Producer for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Apart from her editorial assistance, Suzanne has been the "chief cheerleader" for the series.
Inspiring West Virginians is funded by
Additional funding for Season 1 was provided by the National Science Foundation's West Virginia Experimental Project to Stimulate Competitive Research – investing in West Virginia's future by building infrastructure for scientific research.
One Response to Inspiring West Virginians
Phyllis Vaughan Pilewski says:
These are wonderful programs, and I believe that every West Virginia student should hear these stories!
WV Timber Series-2017
IWV-PBS LearningMedia


text:
At The Buzzer
All the sports you love, everyday.
How the Miami Marlins Could Ruin the Entire 2020 MLB Season
by Avi Paulson
August 2, 2020 October 28, 2020
Just over a week ago, the MLB started up its 2020 season, which was around 4 months later than intended. The MLB tried to put in place regulations and precautions in order to keep players safe from COVID, and have been been working hard to keep players safe without having a bubble league.
It is late July. The Marlins stand alone atop the NL East.
A post shared by Miami Marlins (@marlins) on Jul 26, 2020 at 5:39pm PDT
For the first few days of the season, everything was going great, with no players testing positive for COVID, and lots of people watching the games on TV. However soon after its start, one player tested positive, which sent an entire team crashing down. Here is the timeline for the Miami Marlins COVID collapse:
Sunday, July 26th:
The Miami Marlins played the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia where they won 11-6. They were planning to fly home after the game in preparation for their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles, but they had to stay when four of their players tested positive for COVID. They planned to leave their infected teammates to quarantine in Philadelphia and to fly back home on Monday to play the Orioles.
Monday, July 27th:
Before flying home to Miami, the Marlins once again took COVID tests, and this time 11 players and 2 coaches tested positive. The Marlins immediately postponed their game that day with the Orioles, and the Phillies postponed their game with the Yankees, as they had just played the Marlins. Just as one player getting COVID could spread it to the whole team, one team postponing games can throw off every team's schedules.
Miguel Jordan
The Marlins remained in Philadelphia, as they were not safe to fly, and the Orioles flew to Miami but were met with no opponent. Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke out saying the situation was not one of "nightmare" caliber: "That's why teams have replacement players."
Tuesday, July 28th:
On Tuesday, 4 more Marlins players tested positive for COVID, bringing their number of infected up to 15 players (half of their roster), and 2 coaches. At this point, the MLB stepped in and paused their season, for a minimum of 1 week. In such a short season, 1 week without games will throw off the Marlins' entire season, in addition to the seasons of their opponents. Once again, the Phillies vs. Yankees game was postponed. Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke out saying he thinks the outbreak could endanger the entire MLB season.
Wednesday, July 29th:
Wednesday was probably the most uneventful day for the Miami Marlins during this fiasco, with no new players testing positive. However, it was not completely uneventful. In accordance with the Marlins disaster of a week, Marlins Triple-A team owner, Lou Schwechheimer passed away due to complications from COVID. Lou had been working in the minor leagues for over 30 years. The Phillies game, this time against the Blue Jays, was once again postponed, but as a replacement, the Yankees and Orioles played each other.
Thursday, July 30th:
Bells of the long ball. 🛎
RELATED: White Sox's Michael Kopech Files for Divorce Six Months After Marriage to Actress Vanessa Morgan
On Thursday, the Miami Marlins had yet another player test positive for COVID. This brought the teams total to 19 cases (17 players). Once again, the Orioles played the Yankees. At this point, both the Phillies and Marlins have fallen far behind in their schedules.
Friday, July 31st:
After an 18th Marlins player tested positive for COVID, the Marlins finally began transporting their infected teammates back home to Miami. The Marlins have been stuck in Philadelphia this entire time. This means that without the infected players, the Marlins could start playing games again.
A preliminary schedule has the Marlins playing the Phillies again, then bussing to New York, and then to Buffalo (The Blue Jays play there because Canada does not want them) before returning to Miami in the middle of August. However, it is not even clear if the Marlins will have enough players to compete, that being if any team would want to face them.
Talk your talk, Miggy Ro
A post shared by Miami Marlins (@marlins) on Jul 26, 2020 at 11:22am PDT
While this seems like a complete disaster, which it is, it does not necessarily mean the end for baseball in 2020. Because of the MLB's format this season, this whole disaster will only affect the Eastern divisions. The Western and Central divisions will not be at all affected as they have no overlapping games with the East.
Who knows what will happen next, and when or if the Marlins will play again. And this issue is not completely limited to the Marlins, recently, two Cardinals have tested positive for COVID, in what might be a very short-lived season.
Avi Paulson
Avi Paulson is a student at the College Preparatory School. He lives in the Bay Area, and is an avid viewer of baseball. He plays various sports, and is a writer for At the Buzzer.
What to Read Next...
Athletes Who Have Sadly Passed in 2022
Taking a Look Back at the Past 20 NFL Teams to Start…
15 Best NFL Defenses in Years Past
Sports Legends We Lost in 2021
25 of the Oldest NFL Players Right Now
25 of the Oldest NBA Players In the League Today
About At The Buzzer
At The Buzzer, or ATB is the place for those who love sports, life, family, community, and so much more. We are far from the run-of-the-mill 24/7 sports news websites. We not only bring you what's happening in the world of sports in terms of trades and breaking news, but we also bring you the news that goes on behind the scenes, like big life moments, and so much more. So take a minute and read one of our articles, we promise you won't regret it.
Tags:coronavirusheadlineMiami MarlinsMLB
ALL POSTS Select Month January 2023 (78) December 2022 (76) November 2022 (70) October 2022 (72) September 2022 (84) August 2022 (68) July 2022 (84) June 2022 (81) May 2022 (81) April 2022 (84) March 2022 (97) February 2022 (113) January 2022 (97) December 2021 (99) November 2021 (94) October 2021 (94) September 2021 (92) August 2021 (91) July 2021 (99) June 2021 (102) May 2021 (88) April 2021 (84) March 2021 (95) February 2021 (80) January 2021 (85) December 2020 (92) November 2020 (84) October 2020 (84) September 2020 (73) August 2020 (92) July 2020 (93) June 2020 (101) May 2020 (70) April 2020 (73) March 2020 (39) February 2020 (14)


text:
Shonkys 2015
Shonkys turn 10
Shonky behaviour from companies is the unfortunate gift that keeps on giving.
Since 2006, we've given out more than 70 awards to companies that have flouted consumer protection laws, sold products that were faulty by design, and shown blatant disregard for consumer safety.
Ten years on, it should be getting harder for us to find products and services that are deserving of Shonky shame, yet in 2015 we faced the opposite problem, as we debated how to whittle down the long list of nominations.
What's disturbing when you look back over the past 10 years of 'winners' is that there are some persistent themes.
One of the strongest is outrageous marketing claims. These are clearest where the very name of a product or business is misleading. The 2006 award to Lean Cuisine's 'Purely Fish' frozen meal – that was only 48% fish – has had many successors, such as the 2013 award to Credit Repair Australia, which actually can't repair your credit record and, if anything, is likely to leave you out of pocket.
Another common bugbear is outrageous fees and charges, particularly when paying by credit card. Over 10 years we've singled out major airlines, taxi companies and ticketing businesses for this shonky behaviour.
Some awards are for products that are downright irresponsible – as highlighted by two from this year's batch. It's simply not acceptable for a major company like Kleenex to make consumers think that flushable wipes break down as well as toilet paper, when in reality they're causing havoc for sewerage authorities across the country.
And NAB should hang its head in shame for its 'low rate' credit card. Not only has NAB increased the interest rate on this card during a period where official interest rates have plunged, with a rate that's 40% higher than plenty of genuine low-rate cards this product fails to live up to basic standards of decency.
You might ask why we keep on with the Shonkys if it's such a frustrating experience. The answer is we know it's effective.
After the 2014 Shonky to CBA for its terrible handling of its financial advice scandal, the big four banks beat a path to our door, suddenly keen to consult us about their consumer compensation schemes.
When we called out the Jetset Travelworld Group for forcing consumers to sign away their credit card chargeback rights in 2012, consumer regulators swung into action and within weeks the group had agreed to change its standard contracts.
And our relentless campaign on credit card surcharges is bearing fruit, with several states capping credit card surcharges on taxi fares and increasing pressure on the federal government to put some teeth behind RBA rules that ban excessive surcharges.
We hope that one day the Shonkys won't need to exist, but while we continue to find deserving companies, we'll keep handing them out. View our 2015 Shonky winners.
Alan Kirkland, CEO
Email: alan@choice.com.au
Twitter: @AlanKirkland


text:
Helen Duncan
Putting the psycho in
Kai Muegge
Tricia Robertson
By the powers of tinfoil
Sensing Murder
Spirit guide
Rapid prompting method
Society for Psychical Research
Helen Duncan (1897-1956), nicknamed "Hellish Nell", was a Scottish medium well known for producing fake ectoplasm made from cheesecloth. She was the last person to be imprisoned under the British Witchcraft Act of 1735, when she was jailed in 1944.[1] Because of this she has become a martyr for spiritualists, Wiccans, and a certain number of feminists who see her as part of a tradition of persecuted wild women. The reality is that she was a fraud, prosecuted for fraud.
2 Harry Price investigation
3 1944 trial
3.1 The myth
3.2 The truth
4 Death
Duncan in a séance with fake spirits. Click to enlarge.
In 1928 during a séance Harvey Metcalfe took flashlight photographs of Duncan which reveal fraudulent ectoplasm "spirits" such as a doll made from a painted papier-mâché mask draped in an old sheet. In 1931 the London Spiritualist Alliance examined Duncan's mediumship and concluded she was a fraud. An early examination of pieces of Duncan's ectoplasm revealed it was made of cheesecloth, paper mixed with the white of egg and lavatory paper stuck together. Duncan refused to be investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, even claiming she wouldn't do it for a million pounds; however, she was investigated by some psychical researchers such as Harry Price.
One of Duncan's tricks was to swallow and regurgitate some of her ectoplasm and according to Haynes (1982) she was persuaded to swallow a tablet of methylene blue before one of her séances by the London Spiritualist Alliance to rule out any chance of this trick being performed and no ectoplasm appeared. An investigation by the psychical researcher Harry Price into the mediumship of Duncan revealed she was using natural substances such as cheesecloth and eggs mixed with paper as ectoplasm in her séances (see below). It has also been suggested by some researchers that Duncan achieved some of her tricks with the help of an accomplice. In 1933 at a séance in Scotland a little girl called Peggy emerged in the séance room, someone grabbed her and the lights were turned on and the spirit was revealed to be Duncan. She was prosecuted and fined £10. Later Duncan was caught cheating again, pretending to be a spirit in the séance room; this time Duncan and four of her traveling companions were prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to nine months in prison.
Harry Price investigation[edit]
Duncan with a roll of cheesecloth.
The psychical researcher Harry Price investigated Duncan at his laboratory and exposed her as a fraud in 1931. Because Duncan had been swallowing natural substances to regurgitate in the séance room for her ectoplasm, she declined to be X-rayed by some of the psychical researchers who investigated her, went out into the street and made a scene. According to Harry Price in a report of the mediumship of Duncan:
""At the conclusion of the fourth séance we led the medium to a settee and called for the apparatus. At the sight of it, the lady promptly went into a trance. She recovered, but refused to be X-rayed. Her husband went up to her and told her it was painless. She jumped up and gave him a smashing blow on the face which sent him reeling. Then she went for Dr. William Brown who was present. He dodged the blow. Mrs. Duncan, without the slightest warning, dashed out into the street, had an attack of hysteria and began to tear her séance garment to pieces. She clutched the railings and screamed and screamed. Her husband tried to pacify her. It was useless. I leave the reader to visualize the scene. A seventeen-stone woman, clad in black sateen tights, locked to the railings, screaming at the top of her voice. A crowd collected and the police arrived. The medical men with us explained the position and prevented them from fetching the ambulance. We got her back into the Laboratory and at once she demanded to be X-rayed. In reply, Dr. William Brown turned to Mr. Duncan and asked him to turn out his pockets. He refused and would not allow us to search him. There is no question that his wife had passed him the cheesecloth in the street. However, they gave us another séance and the "control" said we could cut off a piece of "teleplasm" when it appeared. The sight of half-a-dozen men, each with a pair of scissors waiting for the word, was amusing. It came and we all jumped. One of the doctors got hold of the stuff and secured a piece. The medium screamed and the rest of the "teleplasm" went down her throat. This time it wasn't cheesecloth. It proved to be paper, soaked in white of egg, and folded into a flattened tube… Could anything be more infantile than a group of grown-up men wasting time, money, and energy on the antics of a fat female crook?[2]
Harry Price and his team of investigators took many photographs of Duncan which revealed her fraudulent ectoplasm to be made from cheesecloth, rubber gloves and cut-out heads from magazine covers which she would pretend to her audience were spirits. Following the report written by Price, Duncan's former maid Mary McGinlay confessed in detail to having aided Duncan in her mediumship tricks, and Duncan's husband admitted that the ectoplasm materialisations were the result of regurgitation.
1944 trial[edit]
The myth[edit]
There is a myth about Helen Duncan, that during World War Two she was conducting seances and exposing British naval secrets.[3] As a result, the story goes, the state put her on trial for witchcraft, as it has done to many other strong, independent women over the centuries. Scottish paranormalists Full Moon Investigations led a campaign to have her pardoned as an example of the unjust persecution of witches, herbalists, and medicine women.[4] Andrea Byrne of Full Moon called her "the Joan of Arc of the spiritualist movement".[5] One Australian Spiritualist church claims she was "a simple Scottish housewife, who was forced to serve time in London's notorious Victorian Holloway women's prison for the appalling 'crime' of holding physical phenomena séances".[6] This isn't entirely accurate.
The truth[edit]
It is said that she exposed a military secret, the sinking of the HMS Barham with the loss of 861 men in 1941, at a spiritualist meeting in Portsmouth in November that year. The truth is that the sinking was not a state secret: it had not been widely publicised by the government, but the families of the 861 men had been informed of the circumstances, Portsmouth was a city with a large naval population, and there had been one press report about the sinking.[7] She claimed to have spoken to the spirit of a seaman with a hat band that said "HMS Barham", but in wartime the navy was more secretive and hats did not carry ship's names.[8] If you were a fake medium in a naval port during wartime, one surefire cold reading trick would be to keep an eye out for reports of ships that had sunk with all hands, because it's almost certain someone would be connected.
She was investigated by authorities for some time following that seance in November 1941. It is suggested that the authorities finally took action because they suspected she was a spy and because of the approach of D-Day, a vast secret undertaking which could not be endangered, and she was arrested on 19 January 1944.[1][3] She was not charged with witchcraft, but was prosecuted for staging fake seances under section 4 of the Witchcraft Act 1735.[7] This criminalised those who "pretend to exercise or use any kind of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, or Conjuration, or undertake to tell Fortunes, or pretend, from his or her Skill or Knowledge in any occult or crafty Science, to discover where or in what manner any Goods or Chattels, supposed to have been stolen or lost, may be found".[9] The key word here is "pretend", and she was convicted of staging fake seances, and sentenced to 9 months in jail.[1]
One other curiosity is that despite widespread claims, she was not the last person to be convicted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act: that honour went to Jane Rebecca Yorke later in 1944, but she received only a fine rather than prison because of her advanced age.[1] The act was repealed in 1951 and replaced with the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951.[1][10]
Death[edit]
In 1956, the Nottingham police raided another of Duncan's séances and found evidence of fraud. She became ill and died after a month, 59 years old. Contrary to what spiritualists have written there was nothing odd about her death and it was not caused by her "trance" being disturbed by the police. Duncan's medical records showed that she had a long history of ill health and as early as 1944 she was described as an obese woman who could only move slowly as she suffered from heart trouble.[11]
Mary Marshall
Michael E. Tymn
The Cheese-Cloth Worshippers by Harry Price
The rise of the cheese-cloth eaters
Simeon Edmunds (1966) Spiritualism: A Critical Survey Aquarian Press.
Renée Haynes (1982) The Society for Psychical Research 1882-1982: A History London: MacDonald & Co.
Helena Normanton The Trial of Mrs. Duncan Edited with a Foreward by C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, Jarrolds Publishers, 1945.
Harry Price (1931) Regurgitation and the Duncan Mediumship (Bulletin I of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, 120pp with 44 illustrations.)
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Scotland's Last Witch, BBC History
↑ A report written by Harry Price on the mediumship of Helen Duncan in Paul Tabori The Art of Folly 1961
↑ 3.0 3.1 Helen Duncan - The Last Convicted Witch?, CatherineCavendish.com, 19 Aug 2013
↑ Toil and trouble: the last witch?, The Independent, 29 Feb 2008
↑ The Last Witch, Stephen Phelan, stephenphelan.co.uk, January 2008, first published in The Sunday Herald
↑ Helen Duncan Story, Michael Colmer, Centre Christian Spiritualist Church Western Australia, accessed 10 July 2019
↑ 7.0 7.1 Hellish Nell - the Scottish "witch" jailed in 1944, Allison Campsie, The Scotsman, 26 October 2017
↑ See the Wikipedia article on Helen Duncan.
↑ Witchcraft Act 1735, WikiSource
↑ Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 (repealed), Legislation.gov.uk, acccessed 10 July 2019
↑ Nothing unexplained about Helen Duncan
Retrieved from "https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Helen_Duncan&oldid=2092876"
Woo-meisters


Your lawn and landscape are extremely important parts of your property, so one of the biggest priorities is to keep it healthy and attractive at all times. A nice landscape is an investment that you want to enjoy for years to come.
At Rainmaker Irrigation, we are dedicated to helping our clients maintain their properties in excellent condition throughout the year.
We have the knowledge, skills, and experience to tackle any landscaping service you need in Milford. If you don't already have a nice landscape, we can help you design and install a beautiful landscape that enhances and adds value to your home.
You can always rely on us for quality workmanship and superior service. We understand how important the exterior of your property is to you. All of our Howell landscaping experts are seasoned professionals who provide high-quality workmanship and professional service.
Give us a call today to ask any questions you have about the services that we provide, or to schedule your appointment for service. We'll be looking forward to working with you!
We begin each landscape design project by discussing the goals that the client has in mind for the project. Our Milford landscapers work with our clients directly to choose the perfect plants and other landscaping elements to create landscapes that are perfect for their home or business and their lifestyles.
We work with you directly when you hire us for landscaping service in Milford. Whether you are looking to add an elegant garden path, create a new patio, or just maintain your lawn or garden, you can depend on our expert landscapers for excellent work.
Lawns are an extremely important part of any landscape, but keeping up with property maintenance isn't always easy. Our professional Milford property maintenance experts can help you keep your lawn healthy and attractive at all times.
Whether you need mowing, trimming, fertilization services, weed prevention or removal, or seasonal lawn clean-ups, our professionals will always be ready and eager to tackle the job.
If you are looking for a professional residential or commercial Milford landscaping company, please call Rainmaker Irrigation at 734-564-1373 or complete our online form.


text:
Henry William Ravenel ( * Condado de Berkeley, Carolina del Sur, 19 de mayo 1814 - Aiken, Carolina del Sur, 17 de julio 1887) fue un botánico, micólogo, y briólogo estadounidense, que profundizó el estudio de criptógamas de Carolina del Sur, descubriendo un gran número de nuevas especies. Fue uno de los primeros naturalistas estadounidenses durante el periodo de su guerra civil.

Primeros años y educación
William Henry Ravenel nació en la granja familiar Pooshee, estando su familia allí desde antes de 1716. Estudió en las inmediaciones, en la "Academia de Pineville", graduándose en 1832 en el "Colegio South Carolina", hoy Universidad de Carolina del Sur, donde fue miembro de la "Sociedad literaria Clariosófica". La granja Pooshe ahora se encuentra bajo las aguas del lago Moultrie, que fue creado en 1939. El lugar más cercano existente es Bonneau, Carolina del Sur.

Con el reverendo Moses A. Curtis (1808-1872), fueron probablemente los únicos estadounidenses que acumularon un conocimiento de las plantas y los hongos de los Estados Unidos en momentos de guerra interna.

Honores

Epónimos
Familia
 Raveneliaceae, Uredinales, Incertae sedis, Urediniomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi
Géneros
 Ravenelia Berk.
Especies
 (Apiaceae) Eryngium ravenelii A.Gray
 (Asteraceae) Boltonia ravenelii Fernald & Griscom
 (Cyperaceae) Trichophyllum ravenelii (Britton) House
 (Eriocaulaceae) Eriocaulon ravenelii Chapm.
 (Poaceae) Dichanthelium ravenelii (Scribn. & Merr.) Gould
 (Rosaceae) Crataegus ravenelii Sarg.

Referencias

 Childs, arney robinson. 1947. The Private Journal of Henry William Ravenel, 1859-1887. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press
 Haygood, tamara miner. 1987. Henry William Ravenel, 1814-1887: South Carolina Scientist in the Civil War Era (History of American science and technology series). Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 8.º., xii + 204 pp. illustrations. ISBN 0-8173-5372-0
 Sanders, albert e., william d. Anderson, jr. 1999. Natural History Investigations in South Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press
 Herr, john m. jr., john b. Nelson. comp 2004. The Henry W. Ravenel Collection of Converse College. Inventory: Alphabetical Listing of Specimens in the A. C. Moore Herbarium (USCH). Columbia, S.C.: A.C. Moore Herbarium, Department of Biological Sciences

Enlaces externos

Micólogos de Estados Unidos
Briólogos de Estados Unidos
Botánicos de Estados Unidos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Tom Padley
REVIEW: "ALLIED" (2016) Paramount Pictures
With Brad Pitt's big return to the screen since his personal life news overtook his career for a bit there, we have him here in "ALLIED" as Max Vatan, a 1940's wartime intelligence office who finds himself in a predicament with his fellow French Resistance (or is she?) spy and soon-to-be wife, Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard). A predicament I might add that can be figured out in the first 15 minutes of the film as Marianne makes a quote that let's you know really where the film will end up going if you're paying attention. And it's exactly where it goes.
With uneven pacing and script, the film benefits from beautiful cinematography. The weakness in the lack of ability to successfully leave a lasting emotional impact on the audience, is in the writing and executive producership of it all. As we see Max and Marianne do a 30-sec assasination-shoot em' up scene reminiscent of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith', and they fall in 'love' in about half that time, makes it all a bit unbelievable and undercuts the storyline.
For films that are not as much about the spectacle as they are the drama between characters and the challenge faced therein, it is important for personal/interpersonal relationships go beyond the screen to directly impact the audience. All the makings were here for a deeply moving cinematic story, but it just doesn't quite make that transition from the mostly superficial and distant. The ending, which tried to be sentimental is done completely in an overly-compensated, dramatic fashion that comes off very falsly.
Supporting work comes via Jared Harris, Lizzy Caplan, August Diehl, Marion Bailey, Simon McBurney, and Matthew Goode. With no stand-out performances, and my screening being on a 50/50 basis of who liked it and who didn't, I think it will do a couple of good weeks and the box office, but the competition along with a slate of excellent films coming out, might drag this one down after that.
Grade: C-
@pegsatthemovies
Media Review Screening: Thursday, November 17, 2016 ~ Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
NOW PLAYING IN THEATRES NATIONWIDE
Tags Allied, Anton Lesser, August Diehl, Brad Pitt, Camille Cottin, Celeste Dodwell, Charlotte Hope, Christian Rubek, Daniel Betts, Jared Harris, Josh Dylan, Lizzy Caplan, Marion Bailey, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Goode, Raphael Acloque, Raphael Desprez, Robert Zemeckis, Sally Messham, Tom Padley, Vincent Latorre


text:
Scott A. Armstrong, M.D., PhD
Home » Research » Advisory Councils » Scott A. Armstrong, M.D., PhD
Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD
Chairman of the Department of Pediatric Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children's Hospital
Associate Chief, Department of Hematology/Oncology
David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Dr. Scott A. Armstrong is Chairman of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Associate Chief, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, and the David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Armstrong received his MD and PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. He performed his residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children's Hospital Boston, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School. His work has been recognized by a number of awards including the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the E. Mead Johnson Award for Outstanding Research in Pediatrics and the Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology. He is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Armstrong's studies have led to several findings that point to promising new therapies. The major focus of his career has been on delineating the biology of leukemia and the development of new therapeutic approaches for cancer. His research program has focused on the mechanisms of leukemia development and the relationship between leukemia and normal hematopoietic stem cells. His lab has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of how leukemia arises from different cells in the hematopoietic system. Through this work, he has shown that myeloid leukemia stem cells are often most similar to committed myeloid progenitors that inappropriately express stem cell programs; a concept that has now been replicated in multiple cancers. His group also studies how chromatin-associated complexes control cancer-causing gene expression and has used this understanding to develop small molecule approaches that he continues to pursue. This work has led to the development of clinical trials that are being assessed in adults and children with cancer.