TECH PRIOR

Happiness is an expansive concept, it goes without saying. At its fundament, the term
“happiness” is abstract and abstruse and can be a mind-numbing, migraine-inducing
thing to try to explain with words. But it was this complex idea—the thought of being
truly happy—that led us to live simpler lives. Happiness was at the precipice of our
journey. It was happiness that led us to minimalism. Eventually.
But let’s rewind.
Before we discovered the concepts of minimalism, and before we understood the
importance of simplifying our lives, we were successful young professionals from
Dayton, Ohio. But we were only ostensibly successful.
You see, back then people saw two best friends with their large homes with more
bedrooms than inhabitants. They were envious. They saw our six-figure jobs, our luxury
cars, our new gadgets, and our life of opulence, and they thought, These guys have it
figured out. I want to be just like them. They saw all of those things—all of that
superfluous stuff—and they just knew that we were successful. After all, we were living
the American Dream, weren’t we?
But the truth is that we weren’t successful at all. Maybe we looked successful—
displaying our status symbols as if they were trophies—but we weren’t truly successful.

Because even with all of our stuff, we knew that we were not satisfied with our lives. We
knew that we were not happy. And we discovered that working 70 to 80 hours per week
and buying even more stuff didn’t fill the void. In fact, it only brought us more debt and
more anxiety and more fear and more loneliness and more guilt and more overwhelm
and more paranoia and more depression. It was a very solipsistic existence.
What’s worse, we found out that we didn’t have control of our own time and thus
didn’t control our own lives.
And then, as our lives were spiraling downward in ever-diminishing circles
towards empty oblivion, we inadvertently discovered minimalism. Or perhaps it
discovered us, as it were. It was a beacon in the night. We lingered curiously on the
limbic portions of minimalism’s perimeter, scouring feverishly through Internet page
after Internet page looking for more information and guidance and enlightenment,
watching and learning and trying to understand what this whole minimalism thing was
all about. Through months of research we traveled farther and farther down the rabbit
hole, and over time we had discovered a group people without a lot of things but with
myriad happiness and passion and freedom, things for which we desperately yearned.
Eventually we embraced these concepts—the concepts of minimalism and
simplicity—as a way of life and discovered that we too could be happy, but it wasn’t
through owning more stuff, it wasn’t through accumulation. We took back control of our
lives so we could focus on what’s important, so we could focus on life’s deeper meaning.
Happiness, as far as we are concerned, is achieved through living a meaningful
life, a life that is filled with passion and freedom, a life in which we can grow as individuals and contribute to other people in meaningful ways. Growth and
contribution: those are the bedrocks of happiness. Not stuff.
This may not sound sexy or marketable or sellable, but it’s the cold truth.
Humans are happy if we are growing as individuals and if we are contributing beyond
ourselves. Without growth, and without a deliberate effort to help others, we are just
slaves to cultural expectations, ensnared by the trappings of money and power and
status and perceived success.
Minimalism, in its many forms, is a tool that allowed us to simplify our lives so
that we could focus on what’s important. We were able to strip away the excess stuff and
focus on living meaningful, happy, passionate, free lives.
We invite you to join us. Membership is free. You deserve to be happy. You
deserve to live a meaningful life.

On average, every minute of walking can extend your life by 1.5 to 2 minutes.

• Walking an extra 20 minutes each day will burn off 7 pounds of body fat per year.

• To burn off 1 plain M&M candy, you need to walk the full length of a football field. Think about that next time you dip your hand into a candy bowl at someone's office!

• Longer, moderately-paced daily walks (40 minutes at 60% to 65% maximum heart rate) are best for losing weight.

• Shorter, faster walks (20-25 minutes at 75% to 85% maximum heart rate) are best for conditioning your heart and lungs.

Walking provides the following benefits:

• Improves efficiency of your heart and lungs

• Burns body fat

• Raises your metabolism so you are burning calories faster, even while you rest

• Helps control your appetite

• Increases your energy

• Helps relieve stress

• Slows aging

• Lowers high blood pressure

• Helps control and prevent diabetes

• Reduces risk of some forms of cancer including colorectal, prostrate, and breast

• Promotes intestinal regularity

• Helps promote restful sleep

• Strengthens your bones and reduces bone density loss in older women

• Reduces stiffness in your joints due to inactivity or arthritis

• Relieves most cases of chronic backache

• Improves flexibility

• Improves posture

• Promotes healthier skin due to increased circulation

• Improves mental alertness and memory

• Spurs intellectual creativity and problem solving

• Elevates mood

• Helps prevent and/or reduce depression

• Improves your self-esteem

• Helps control addictions to nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and other drugs  

So why did prehistoric dragonflies get so huge? Scientists think the Earth’s climate 300 million years ago is the key to solving this mystery. The Earth was warm and humid, much like today’s tropics. The tropical conditions were perfect for early plants, like ferns and club mosses, to grow fast.

Thick forests covered the land, releasing more and more oxygen into the Earth’s atmosphere. The oxygen levels reached 35 percent, much greater than today’s level of 21 percent. Bugs could get oxygen into their bodies more easily and grow bigger. The giant dragonfly wasn’t the only large bug found during this period.

Others include a 6-inch cockroach, a grasshopper-like insect with a 14-inch wingspan, a 6 -foot long millipede, and a 7-foot long giant sea scorpion. Meganeuropsis probably hunted in the swamps for mayflies, cockroaches, and small amphibians to eat. As time went by, the Earth’s climate grew colder and drier, with less oxygen.

Giant dragonflies died out around 250 million years ago, but their smaller relatives still remain.

Almost every country in the world has a postal system for delivering its mail. They also produce stamps that represent important things in their lives. People all over the world like to collect the stamps that various countries produce. It’s fun, and it helps collectors learn about other cultures. Stamp collectors are called philatelists and the agencies in countries that sell stamps to collectors are called philatelic agencies.

Philatelics is divided into many categories, and people often just collect certain categories. There is a whole category about bugs on stamps, and almost every country has stamps with pictures of their native bugs on them.

Charles Darwin spent five years traveling around the world learning about different types of plants and animals. As noted in the article, Scientists Are People Too, on page 21, Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle in 1831 and returned in 1836. He kept notebooks full of new information about the plants and animals he found along the way. You can trace Charles Darwin’s journey around the world by using a world map. You may need an atlas or a wall map because you need to be able to read the names of places. Start in England and find each place he stopped. You can find free maps to download and trace Darwin’s journey on the Internet at: http:// www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/world.html. If you really want a research challenge, go to the Internet or the library to find out what he found at each stop.

1. December 27, 1831 – Darwin leaves Plymouth, England, aboard HMS Beagle. 2. Passes through the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands 3. Visits the Island of Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands (first curious discovery) 4. Sailed toward Brazil, crossed the equator 5. Salvador, Brazil (beautiful beyond his wildest dreams) 6. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (collected specimens of plants and animals) 7. Montevideo, Uruguay 8. Patagonia (collected fossils of armadillo shell, ground sloths and giant teeth) 9. Around Cape Horn to Pacific Ocean(delayed by violent storms) 10. Chiloe Island, Chile 11. Valparaiso, Chile (explored in the Andes Mountains) 12. Lima, Peru 13. Galapagos Archipelago (rode on the back of giant tortoises) 14. Tahiti, 3,200 miles into the Pacific from the Galapagos Islands 15. New Zealand

Have you ever thought about how you think? Have you ever wondered how we can look at something that’s confusing and make sense out of it? Scientists do this all the time. Learning how scientists think can help us become better thinkers. The scientific inquiry process is an important part of discovering and learning how the world works. When reading Spigot, look for opportunities to Think Like a Scientist.

Zoology is the branch of biology that involves the scientific study of animals and all aspects of animal life. Entomology is the branch of zoology that deals with the study of insects. Bug collecting is the beginning of becoming an entomologist. Bug collecting is also a fun and informative way of getting to know a lot about the world around you. You can start in your own back yard, in the park, on the playground, in fields, at the seashore or even in your own home. As a caution, it is important to know which bugs could harm you—some spiders, ticks, and bees, to begin with. Always wear gloves! Here are important bug collecting suggestions from scientist John F. Kuhns, a practicing chemist, ichthyologist, paleontologist and inventor. For a more in-depth discussion see ―An Interview with John Farrell Kuhns on Bug Collecting‖ at http://www.spigotsciencemag.com/bugs.

How to Start Collecting Bugs

1. Have an interest in entomology. Fortify that interest by reading about different bug species and their ecology—where and how they make their living.

2. Have the proper collecting tools:
Sturdy collecting net
Tweezers,
Magnifying glass
A set of vials to hold specimens
Journal and pen
Gloves
Digital camera
Self-sticking labels
Bug-repellant for chiggers and ticks

3. Prepare a killing jar with some ethyl acetate on a sponge of cotton batting on the bottom. Putting the bugs in the jar will put them to sleep and then painlessly kill them.

4. Use ―Japanned‖ steel pins, insect display boxes, and labels to preserve the collected bugs.

5. Make detailed observations in a journal or on your computer. Record everything: where, when, and how each bug is collected.

6. Identify and label each bug using an insect field guide. Once started, you can add a collection from any place that you visit. And you’ll be thinking like a scientist—an entomologist.

Bugs can affect us in many different ways depending on where we live and the time of the year. Even in colder climates like Alaska, bugs can be a problem. Steve Kroschel of the Kroschel Wildlife Centre in Haines, Alaska, reports that the hungry black flies arrive in late spring. They love to suck human blood, and their sting hurts more than a mosquito bite.

The caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are so bothered by mosquitoes that they migrate east toward Canada in large herds to get away from them. In late May, the big female mosquitoes that survived the winter lay eggs in the wetlands. When the eggs hatch, the mosquitoes swarm in clouds, invading everywhere. ―They are also clever in squeezing between the logs in the log cabin, or reminding you if the doors are not shut tight or the window is open,‖ Kroschel said.

A type of tiny aphid called "No-See-Ums" also like to bite, and they affect many animals from mice to moose. These small bugs cause big animals like caribou to stop, shake, and roll all day long. Pesky bugs aren’t all bad. They serve a purpose, too. Other animals love to eat them, so they provide the food needed for the birds, spiders and others to survive. They are an important part of the food chain for some, but pests for others.

1. Bugs Near You 

Think about where you live and the kinds of bugs you see at different times of the year. Talk with other students and compare notes. Use the Internet or books to find the correct names of these bugs and learn facts about them. Make a bug calendar that shows which bugs occur in which months of the year in your area.

2. Pesticides 

One of the ways that humans deal with pesky bugs is to use insecticides or pesticides. These are chemicals that kill the bugs. Using books or the Internet, find some common pesticides that kill common bugs like ants or spiders. See if there are any side effects of using these chemicals. See also if there are some other ways to get rid of these bugs without using pesticides. Discuss your findings with others.

Spit, goo, and honey pots. Is this some kind of weird recipe? Or perhaps, the answer to some silly joke? Not quite. These are Mother Nature’s ways of giving bugs the means to protect themselves.

Spit Protection 
The Frog Hopper larva spits to protect itself. The bubbly froth is known as ―cuckoo-spit‖ or ―snakespit.‖ This happens when the larvae, the immature form of a bug, blows air into a liquid from its rear end. This foamy froth keeps the larvae from drying out. It also hides them from the eyes of predators, and tastes pretty bad if bitten into. Predators think twice before taking a bite. Look for it on plant stems. Bombs Away!

The termite’s worst enemy is the ant. To stop ants from attacking, some termites are protected by exploding soldiers. These guys swell up and burst open to stop an invasion. And it works! The sticky, slimy goo covers the enemy ants, stopping them in their tracks. Other termites have a special jaw. They just pick up the attacking ant and flick it into the air.

A Tasty Snack? 

Honey pot ants feed on nectar. But what do they do in the dry season when there is no nectar available? They go to their living warehouses, also known as repletes (re-pleets). Repletes are special ants that are constantly fed by the worker ants. Repletes get so big they almost burst. But before this happens, the hungry ants will feed from them. So nobody goes hungry. In fact, aboriginal tribes in Australia will raid these nests in search of honey pot ants. They pop these tasty ants into their mouths for a sweet treat.

They seem to be everywhere – creeping and crawling and flying around. Sometimes we call them bugs and sometimes we call them insects. But how do we know the difference between bugs and insects? Bug is a general term referring to several classifications of animals. (Yes, insects and bugs are animals.) They belong to a class called Arthropods. The word bug is not a scientific classification. It’s more like a nickname given to some Arthropods. There are four classes within Arthropods as shown in the table below. We often refer to three of the classes as bugs. We seldom call Crustacea bugs. Somehow a shrimp or lobster doesn’t seem like a bug!

These classifications help us divide the members of the animal kingdom into groups so we can see how they are alike and different. It helps us make sense of the many animals in our world. Insects have their own classification called Insecta. These animals have three parts to their bodies – head, thorax, and abdomen. They also have three pairs of legs and a pair of antennae. Sometimes they have wings. Notice these parts on the picture of the ant.

The other classes that we call bugs are different from insects. Arachnida have two parts to their body – a cephalathorax (a head and thorax combined) and an abdomen. They have four pairs of legs, no antennae and no wings. You’ll never see a flying arachnida.

Notice these parts on the picture of the tarantula. The third class of arthropods that we call bugs is Myriapoda. These bugs have a head and a trunk. They have many pairs of legs, one pair of antennae and no wings. Notice these parts on the picture of the centipede.

Now that you know the difference between the three classes of bugs, you can identify them when you see them and begin to think like a scientist as you make sense of our world filled with bugs.

Fake news is not new but as Mark Thompson points out in his new book Enough Said,10 “our digital eco-systems have evolved into a near perfect environment for distorted and false news to thrive”. In the last weeks of the US election, according to an analysis by Buzzfeed News, fake stories such as the Pope endorsing Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton selling weapons to ISIS outperformed real news on Facebook with more shares, reactions and comments.

There is a danger of exaggerating the extent of fake news. Mark Zuckerberg argues that it amounts to less that 1% of what people actually see in their newsfeed, but the election has made a long-standing issue around fake and misleading content much more apparent. This matters because our Reuters Institute research shows that in almost all countries more people now rely on social media as a source of news than printed newspapers. More than one in ten (12%) now consider social media as their main source of news and around a quarter of adults under the age of 25.But solving these problems is going to be complicated by a diffi culty in defi ning fake news in an era of increased partisanship and polarisation – not least with the next president of the United States himself an enthusiastic practitioner and sharer of fake news. So will Facebook, as the largest social network, recognise and face up to its new editorial power? How might publishers respond to these trends in the year to come?

This may be wishful thinking with others pointing out that the discussion of fake news may further harm the public’s trust in media or cause people to turn away from news altogether. This is clearly a turning point for media and all eyes will be on how both publishers and platforms respond to this crisis of credibility. 

Ken took dialysis Tuesdays and Thursdays. It fell to Tommy after his
mom passed to check his stepdad out of the Pine Lodge Correctional
Facility. Drop him at the hospital. Take him back three hours later.
Ken groaned as he climbed up the truck. —Whatcha got there,
Tom?
Tommy looked over the backseat. —Pole and tackle.
—You goin’ fishin’ this weekend?
—I ain’t skydivin’.
Ken stared out his window. —You stop me by a store?
There was a downtown grocery sold Lotto, fortified wines, and
forties. Ken hopped out. Tommy spun radio stations till Ken come
back with a can a corn.
—Oh, no you ain’t, Ken.
—So got-damn tired, Tom. Can’t sit on that blood machine today.
—You’d rather die?
—I’d rather fish.
—No way, Ken.
He drove toward Sacred Heart. But when Tommy stopped at a red
light Ken reached back, got the pole and jumped out. Fine, Tommy
thought. Die. I don’t care. The old man walked toward the Spokane
River. Tommy pulled up next to him, reached over and rolled down
the passenger window.

—Get in the damn truck, Ken.
Ken ignored him.
—That pole ain’t even geared.
Ken walked, facing away.
Tommy drove alongside for another block. —Get in the truck,
Ken.
Ken turned down a one-way. Tommy couldn’t follow.
Fine. Stupid bastard. Tommy went back to work, but the only
thing in the pit was a brake job on some old lady’s Mercury: four
hundred in repairs on a shit-bucket worth three. Pissed, Tommy gave
the Mercury to Todd and drove back downtown.
He parked, got his tackle box from the truck and walked back
along the river. Found his stepfather under a bridge, dry pole next
to him.
Tommy gave him hook and weight.
Ken’s gray fingers shook.
—Give it here. Tommy weighted and hooked the line. He pulled
a can opener from the tackle box and opened Ken’s corn. Carefully,
Tommy pushed the steel hook into the corn’s paper skin until, with a
tiny spurt, it gave way.
He handed the old man back the pole. Ken cast it.
Half-hour later, Ken reeled in a dull catfish, yellow-eyed and spiny.
No fight in the thing at all. Almost like it didn’t mind.
Ken held it up. —Well I will be got-damned.
Tommy released the fish. It just kind of sank.
He dropped the old man at the front gate of the prison, his breath-
ing already shallow. Rusty. He was so weak Tommy had to reach over
and pop his door.
—Hey that wadn’t a bad got-damn fish. All things considered. His
eyes were filming over already. —We should go again Tuesday.
—We gonna start playin’ catch now, too? Tommy asked.
Ken laughed. —I doubt it.
Then Tommy watched the dying old man pass through the metal
gate.

Intro 

The first several pages will attempt to describe the design in everyday language, keeping numbers to a minimum and avoiding formulas and jargon. I apologize in advance for my loose use of language and imperfect analogies. The second section is for those with a technical background. There are no doubt errors of various kinds and superior optimizations for elements of the system. Feedback would be most welcome – please send to hyperloop@spacex.com or hyperloop@teslamotors.com. I would like to thank my excellent compadres at both companies for their help in putting this together. Background When the California “high speed” rail was approved, I was quite disappointed, as I know many others were too. How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL – doing incredible things like indexing all the world’s knowledge and putting rovers on Mars – would build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world? Note, I am hedging my statement slightly by saying “one of”. The head of the California high speed rail project called me to complain that it wasn’t the very slowest bullet train nor the very most expensive per mile. The underlying motive for a statewide mass transit system is a good one. It would be great to have an alternative to flying or driving, but obviously only if it is actually better than flying or driving. The train in question would be both slower, more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized) and less safe by two orders of magnitude than flying, so why would anyone use it? If we are to make a massive investment in a new transportation system, then the return should by rights be equally massive. Compared to the alternatives, it should ideally be:

 Safer
 Faster
 Lower cost
 More convenient
 Immune to weather
 Sustainably self-powering
 Resistant to Earthquakes
 Not disruptive to those along the route

Is there truly a new mode of transport – a fifth mode after planes, trains, cars and boats – that meets those criteria and is practical to implement? Many ideas for a system with most of those properties have been proposed and should be acknowledged, reaching as far back as Robert Goddard’s to proposals in recent decades by the Rand Corporation and ET3. Unfortunately, none of these have panned out. As things stand today, there is not even a short distance demonstration system operating in test pilot mode anywhere in the world, let alone something that is robust enough for public transit. They all possess, it would seem, one or more fatal flaws that prevent them from coming to fruition.

Jack Frost was tired and discouraged. For years he had stood like a tin soldier on the side of a blue box holding a tablet in his arms and smiling, smiling all the time. It began to be harder and harder to smile and the tabled seemed ever so heavy. Finally Jack thought of a plan. he would get his twin brother, who looked like him, to take his job for a month. After all, he reasoned, when you’re a trade-mark you ought to know all about the thing you represent.

So the next morning a boat left with Jack aboard. Soon they landed in Havana, Cuba and Jack stepped off the boat. He did not stay in the city of Havana, though it was very interesting and modern, but drove quickly out into the open country. There he found, as far as he could look, acres and acres of sugar cane. Some of the sugar cane reached as high as twelve feet in the air. When he walked into the fields Jack saw that the sugar can was something like bamboo, with joints up and down the stalk and wide grass-like leaves and feathery flowers all up at the top.

The dark natives dressed in loose garments and big sun hats walked through the rows in the blazing sun, cutting the canes with a very sharp knife called a machete. Then they loaded the canes on an open cart drawn by oxen. Finally they reached the sugar mill or central, as it is called, and drove into a big yard. In the mill a very nice man who seemed to be the mill superintendent explained what happened to the sugar cane. First, the canes were crushed between great rollers and all the juice squeezed out.

Then this juice was chemically treated with lime and then heated, with the result that the dirt and straw and other impurities went to the bottom of the tanks and the pure cane juice came to the top. The third step was to syphon the pure juice off into another tank. It was so thin it looked just like colored water to Jack. He watched them apply heat to these big closed tanks and gradually this thin fluid turned to a syrup. The syrup was then run into what was called vacuum pans with heated copper coils in them. As it came out of the pans it was a sticky substance with tiny granules all through it, and the man explained that the granules were really sugar floating around in molasses. The next step was to get it separated from the molasses, and this was done in great round drums which spun around at a terrific speed so that the molasses ran out through the holes.

The brownish raw sugar was then ready to be shipped. It was packed in burlap bags, about 320 pounds to a bag, and shipped away from the central. These bags were loaded on the boat, which Jack boarded, bound for home. The boat docked at the pier after reaching New York and Jack watched them unload the great bags and wondered how it was made into the glistening white crystals that had come out of his boxes. He soon learned how raw sugar was made into lovely, white sparkling sugar in the sugar refinery.

The bags were emptied and the raw sugar carried up into the building by endless bucket elevators and dumped into a long mingling trough. The raw sugar in the mingling trough was then mixed with syrup and the whole mushy mixture was passed into a big mixing tank to separate the crystals from the syrup, after which the mixture was run into big centrifugal drums like those Jack had seen in Cuba and as they spun around rapidly the liquid flew off through the fine wire mesh of the drums and the washed crystals were left begind [sic].

These washed crystals were melted in hot water and certain substances added to clarify it and the whole mixture was pumped through closely woven cloth in the filter presses. After this there was still one more purifying process through which to go, so the liquid was run through great tanks of bone black, eighteen or twenty feed deep, called char filters. The liquid which flowed out of these filters was no longer muddy and colored but clear and sparkling like pure spring water.

Again the liquid went into the big whirling drums but this time the crystals left on the inside of the drums were pure glistening white sugar. Jack’s adventure was over and he had to go back to his job, but now he was happy and was really glad to be the Jack Frost trade-mark, as he knew what he represented and he was proud to be the guarantee of every package of sugar that went out of his refinery.

So with a smiling face, contented and proud, he took the tablet from his brother and stepped back onto the side of the blue pasteboard box.

Long, long ago in a city of France there lived a king who had a beautiful daughter named Elizabeth. One day as she was walking through her garden a fierce dragon swooped down upon her and carried her away.

There was a great sorrow throughout the land. Her father said that he would give the hand of his daughter and half of his kingdom to the man who would save her. Ther lived not far from the palace a lad whose name was Roland. when he heard what the king had said he decided to go and try his luck. He set out on his journey to the palace.

On his arrival he asked to see the king. When he was admitted he told him that he would save his daughter or get killed by the dragon. The king told him to stay over night and rest. The next day he set out on his journey. When Roland came in sight of the dragon’s cave he hid behind a rock. Suddenly the dragon came with fire coming from his nose and mouth.

Roland was near by and drew his sword, swung it with all his might upon the dragon. he gave a fierce cry of pain and fell dead. Roland went into the cave and brought out the princess and took her to the palace. Later Roland and Elizabeth were married.

7. “Krokodil”

Desomorphine, known by the street name Krokodil, is an opioid derivative of codeine. Like heroin and another opioid, it has sedative and analgesic effect is highly addictive and harmful as well. Those who use it can develop extreme skin ulceration, infections, and gangrene. It is used as a substitute for Heroin in Russia and Ukraine.

 

8. “Calculus Bridge”

                   It’s not related to Maths.
It’s hardened plaque across teeth – a big old chunk of it. Technically it has to be chipped away by a Dentist. It’s not something you would like to see.



(Source)

9. “Lemon Party”

Sounds like a bunch of teenagers having a lemon party thing but it’s an orgy of a very old man. But why is it called a “Lemon Party”? No. Don’t even think about it.



(Source)

 

I hope you enjoyed this list of Weird Things You Should NEVER Google
Comment below with some things you have googled :D | Featured Image    

It was the last day of school and four boys were walking home. Their names were Time, Jack, Bill and Joe. Time said, “Let’s go fishing Wednesday if it’s a nice day.” So all boys agreed. Then they went home.

Jack’s mother said, “Jack please go to the store for me.” Jack pouted and said, “Let sister go.” So his sister went. On Wednesday Jack was just leaving the house when his mother said, “Where are you going, Jack??” Jack answered, “I am going fishing with the boys.”

Jack’s father said, “No, you disobeyed your mother yesterday, so go out into the back yard and chop all the wood in the pile.” Just then the boys came along and said, “Come on, Jack, we are going fishing.”

Jack did not answer but he just looked at them. Jack’s dog looked up as if to say, “Do not go Jack, you would be disobeying your parents.” Jack did not go.

That evening the boys came home and Tim had fallen into the pond and had gotten all wet, but Jack was glad he did not go because he might have fallen in the water too.

- By Jemima Moyle

There once was an aviator who was called Ace High. He was called Ace High because he won cups and medals for records and tricks that no other aviator could perform. When the World War broke out he went as an aviator. One day five American aviators went out and met with a German airship. Ace High was one of the five to fight with the German airship.

Ace High’s partner was killed. Consequently he drove and took charge of the machine gun. After one hour of fighting with the enemy Ace High wa the only one left.

The men in the airship shot their machine guns at him but could not hit him because he did tricks. Ace High tried to get ontop of the airship so he could drop a bomb on it but every time he tried the airship would go up higher. There were twenty-five men in the airship and Ace high shot six of them. One of the men in the airship shot ace high in the shoulder but he didn’t give up. Ace High fought and fought and fought.

At last he got on top of the airship and dropped a bomb on it and the German airship went down in flames. Ace High went back to quarters and told his story. he received a medal for what he had done.

When the war was over he went home to his parents and told about the fight he was in. He received seven medals during the war. The people then called him “The Hero of the Air.”

- By Benny Buchberg 

There was once a parson who was such a tyrant that whenever he met anyone on the road he would cry out, “Out of my way!” One day it happened that he met the king on the road and he did not recognize him. He called out as usual, “Out of my way!”

But the king kept on and it was the parson who had to turn his horse. “Come to see me tomorrow,” called the king. “If you can not answer three questions I will ask you, you will lose your position as parson.” “Well,” thought the parson, “all this is fine except I can’t answer any questions.

I’ll get the clerk to go in my place.” The following morning he sent his clerk to the king. When the clerk appeared the king said, “Well, I see you’re here.” “Yes, sire,” answered the clerk. “Tell me, said the king,” how far is the east from the west?” “Just a day’s journey,” replied the clerk. “How is that?”

“Well, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and he makes the journey nicely in one day.” “Tell me how much do you think I am worth as I stand here before you?” asked the king. “Our Lord was worth thirty pieces of silver,” answered the clerk, “so I couldn’t price you any higher than twenty-nine.”

“Well done,” exclaimed the king, “but can you tell me what I am thinking of now?” “You’re thinking the parson stands before you, but you are mistaken, sire, because I am only the clerk.” “Well then, go home abe be you parson and let him be clerk.” And so it ended.

- Grace Schallowhorn

Dr. Roy Andrews and his party of forty men have traveled in a great caravan, of seven automobiles and one hundred twenty-five camels, into the Gobi Desert of China. The are searching for skeletons of men and animals that are supposed to have lived millions of years ago. They are examining the rocky places and digging deeply into the sand for relics.

First the explorers found bits of jewelry that were made of ostrich egg shells. There were holes in the shells where they had been fastened together. Soon after this the party discovered dinosaur eggs in a ledge of rock. Those eggs were the first ones that had ever been found although the skeletons of dinosaurs have been discovered in many parts of the world. Today you may see this ledge of rock containing the eggs in the museum in New York City.

Lately they discovered the skull and bones of the largest animals that lived. These bones were sent to the New York museum, too. since there was no picture of this strange beast called the baluchiterium, it was a puzzle to match and fit the bones together.

When it was finished it looked like an elephant without a trunk. It is like a giraffe without a long neck. It is like each one and yet it is very different. Although Dr. Andrews has not found the skeletons of men his work is very valuable for he thinks that he has found the place where the oldest race in the world once lived.

“Sheep, Autumn”, was painted by a Dutch artist whose name was Anton Maure. A weary white-haired farmer is returning home from the hills where he has been watching his flock of sheep. In his right arm he has a baby lamb.

He holds a crooked stick in his left arm. Running along beside the shepherd is a brave helpful dog. The tired lambs trudge along behind because they can’t keep up with the others. I think this picture is very interesting because it shows a shepherd in Holland.

Jack Edwards

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Edgar Small The heroes of this story by Mark Twain are Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Tome and Huck were treasure hunting. They decided to try the haunted house first. Upon entering they crept upstairs to explore. They went into a closet which promised mystery. But the promise was a fraud -- ther was nothin in it. The wer about to go down stairs when ---- “Sh ! ---

There !---Hear it?” “Yes!---Oh, my ! Let’s run!” “Keep still! Don’t budge they’re coming toward the door.” The boys stretched themselves upon the floor with their eyes glued to knot-holes in the planking, and lay waiting in misery and fear for the worst to happen. If you would like to know the outcome of this incident read, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, by Mark Twain.

- Edgar Small

• Livestock sector significantly contributes to national AGDP by nearly one third and the dairy sub-sector shares more than half of the livestock sector contribution.
• The annual production of milk is 1.35 million metric ton per year. Buffaloes contributes more than two third of the total .production and rest by cows.
• About 13 percent of the total population of cattle (0.9 million) and 26 percent of buffaloes (1.19 million) are in milking conditions. Crossbreeding with Jersey and Holstein Friesian cattle and Murrah buffaloes is the major breed improvement activity.
• There is predominance of small holder production system. Nearly 125 thousand farm families are engaged in milk production and are organized in about 1500 primary cooperatives.

• Dairy development efforts started in early fifties with assistance from FAO. Initiatives were focused in Himalayan region with establishment of yak cheese factories.
• Besides FAO, bilateral assistance from the governments of Switzerland, New Zealand and Denmark has made remarkable contribution.
• Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) was established under corporation Act in 1964. DDC started functioning from 1969. DDC is the pioneer in dairy development in Nepal a fully government state owned corporation DDC was initiated for the economic advancement of the poor small milk producing farming communities. It is still one of the major players in the milk market and handles about half of the total milk marketed in the formal sector (about 13 percent of the total milk produced in the country is believed to be marketed through formal marketing channel.
• Private sector investment in dairy has increased over the years and in past two decades their share has increased to nearly half of the total milk marketed in formal sector. Main operation area is in and around Kathmandu which is the major market for milk and milk products.
• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was established as apex body to oversee that dairy sector in the country 1992. The DANNIDA Support Project funded by the Royal Danish Government supported to prepare and implement Ten Year Dairy Development Plan (1990-2000) and strengthened NDDB.

• Promoting private sector investment in dairy sector has resulted in establishment of two milk powder plants with installed capacity to utilize nearly 200 thousand liter milk per day.
• Public-private partnership strategy promoted by the DLS in ADB supported TLDP and CLDP projects has been useful in expansion of milk collection networks, raising awareness in hygienic milk production, products diversifications, improving keeping quality of milk and strengthening management capabilities of dairy cooperatives and private dairies (small and medium scale).
• Milk Producers Cooperatives Societies involvement in milk processing and marketing (large scale) is constrained by limited investment capacity and technical capability.
• Provisions of the Agribusiness Policy on promotion of dairy industry are not fully operational (for e.g. waiver of customs duties on import of dairy equipment, refrigerated vehicles and so on for first 10 years of establishment of the industry).
• Human resources development in dairy sector have not received due priority there is lack of qualified professionals in the public as well as in the private sector.
• Forage based milk production system although found remunerative to the producers has not widely been expanded and is limited in some of the production pockets.
• Adoption of code of practices in dairy industries and its monitoring/ regulation has not been implemented effectively. There are wide variations in the quality of milk and milk products in the market.

• Dairy Development Policy 2008; main policy document of the government; guided by the provisions and the spirit of the Agriculture Perspective Plan (1995-2015), National Agriculture Policy 2004, National Milk marketing and Strategy Study 2001, Agri-business Promotion Policy 2006. The Three Year Interim Plan (2007-2009) of the Government of Nepal has also projected to have fairly higher growth rate in milk production (4.6 percent per annum).
• Policies of the government on meeting food security arising from the global food grain crisis and the priorities accorded for securing food grains production will affect the public sector investment in dairy sector.
• Improvement in access to institutional credit and the associated credit insurance/ livestock insurance schemes/ policies of the financial institutions will have positive implications on dairy production.

• Scientific milk pricing policy is lacking. A persistent problem the dairy industry faces is poor milk quality. This is associated with a lack of farmer awareness in clean milk production. Unhygienic milk production starts with the farmer and causes loss of income along the milk chain.
• Predominance of small holder producers or subsistence production systems and scattered production; no commercial orientation, higher production cost and also increased collection cost
• Large number of low producing animals; cattle produce about 400 liters milk per lactation and a buffalo produce about 834 liters per lactation.
• NDDB (2001) estimated that during the next decade, milk demand from the urban sector will grow by 11.1% per annum (NDDB, 2001). This indicates that the present growth rate in milk production must increase from 3% per annum to 17% per annum (when imports are excluded).
• Problems in disposal of unproductive cattle on religious ground.
• Weak in implementation of policy provisions.
• Lack of human resources and technology support in private sector

• Substitute the import of milk and milk products in the country through increased production and productivity of milk
• Encourage private sector investment in dairy sector; product diversification, export of niche products.
• Emphasis on quality improvement in whole chain from farm to fork (introduction of code of hygienic practices, GMP, HACCP in dairy industries).
• Implement scientific milk pricing policies that encourage quality milk production
• Improve the competitiveness of Nepalese dairy producers/ entrepreneurs; efficient animal breeding and veterinary services, promotion of forage based production etc.
• Strengthening of farmers institutions and improving their capabilities.
• Continuously review and update the policies to make Nepalese dairy sector competitive.
• Nationwide detailed market survey study on milk and milk products should be carried out to undertake appropriate dairy development strategies and program.
• NDDB has to formulate and recommend policies on import and export of goods necessary for production and promotion of milk and milk products and to or cause to implement approved policies.

NATIONAL LIST OF ESSENTIAL DRUGS

NEPAL (Third Revision) 2002 18.5 Insulins & Antidiabetic drugs
• Insulin - injection (soluble) - injection, 40 IU / ml in 10- ml vial,
• Intermediate acting insulin - injection, 40 IU / ml in 10- ml vial,
(as compound insulin zinc suspension or isophane insuline ) • Metformin - tablet, 500mg
• Glibenclamide - tablet, 2.5mg, 5 mg
• Protamine Zinc Insulin – injection - 40 IU / ml (long acting) 100 IU / ml in 10- ml vials
• Complementary list: – Glipizide - tablet, 2.5 mg, 5 mg
Local Self Governance Act (LSGA) 1999 Health Systems Decentralization
• Decentralizing local health facilities to local bodies to
– promote efficiency
– generate financial resources
– encourage people’s participants
– Enhance management capacity.
• 1433 health facilities from 28 districts have been handed over to local bodies
• Encouraging results but political process stuck at the local level which has impeded this Diabetes clinics
• Bir Hospital
• TU Teaching Hospital
• Patan Hospital
• Ganga Lal Hospital
• Other private hospital