As a result of search engine changes, linkingwith other sites is becoming an increasingly iportant way to generate traffic to your website. Links done properly will repay the effort and not be subject to the whims of the search engines.No more need to be concerned unduly about algorithmnchanges and the "Google dance".
Why have a Links Page ? A links page should give your visitors a choiceof quality information and resources, not justa web page to improve your search engine rankings.Quality information on a links page is the bestlong-term strategy to improve search engineranking.Search engines are becoming very sophisticatedand realise that many sites are putting up linksmerely to improve their rankings. Always exchangelinks with web sites that are connected withyour site's theme. How Do you Find Link Exchange Partners?One way is to go to the search engines and lookfor sites that are compatible with your own.Send the webmaster an email requesting requesting a link or phone him or her personally.
An easier way is to register with the SiteSellfree link exchange program which will giveyou quality links and save you a lot of time. can I tell the web site I want to exchange withhas any traffic? Check the traffic ranking with Alexa (www.alexa.com).This will give you a good idea of its popularity.Another way is to check its page rank with Google.If a web site has a page rank of 4, it is morepopular than one with a page rank of 20. Try to exchange links with sites that have moretraffic but you must be realistic also.
How do I show my links on my web Site?You can put your links anywhere on your web site,provided you do not have a large page with linksto all kinds of sites. Remember, keep your linksrelevant to the content of your site.If you have only a few links, the best way is tohave a list with the title of the web site and ashort description of its content. Large numbers of links are not recommended as it looks a bit tacky.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Fed up With the Fed OF ECONOMIC
Public opinion of the Fed is that of being a vigilant watchdog of inflation. Always seen as watching economic indicators and ready to adjust the interest rates in order to “fight” inflation. This is of great irony, because it is the very same Fed that is increasing the money supply thereby causing a reduction in value and subsequent higher prices of goods and services.The confusion stems from the definition of the word inflation. Properly defined, inflation relates to an increase in the money supply in the same way as a balloon is inflated with a volume of air. This has the effect of causing a rise in the prices of goods and services because the value of the unit of money has fallen.
The inflation of a money supply does not have a direct 1:1 effect on pricing of goods and services. For instance, a 10% increase in the money supply does not mean that prices across the board will uniformly increase by 10%. It has a much different effect.To use an example, let us assume that the U.S. government decides to spend money on a new computer system for jets. Let us also assume that this money is newly created money - it wasn’t collected through taxation or the issuing of government bonds (i.e. debt). This newly created money first goes to the people involved with the company that designs and manufactures these said computer systems.
Accordingly, these people become wealthier and have more to spend. Let us assume that they buy cars and wine. Now the new money has gone to those people involved with the making of cars and wine. They in turn buy books and shoes. Now those people become wealthier. And so on…Now what about the average person who doesn’t work in these industries. All he sees is an increase in cars, wine, books and shoes. He now has less to spend on beer and pretzels. So now the beer and pretzel industry experiences a downturn. New entrepreneurs, seek business opportunities within the car, wine, book and shoe industries and avoid the making of beer and pretzels.So what we have is an unequal increase in the pricing of certain goods and services. Some go up, while others actually go down. We also experience a transfer of capital investment from some industries to others.Additionally, the Fed distorts the market through the manipulation of interest rates. Left to it own devices, the market would determine its own rate of interest based upon a consensus of the market participants. If economic conditions were seen as favourable, than new businesses would stand a good chance of succeeding and money lenders would compete with one another to lend out their capital to entrepreneurs.
Conversely, if economic conditions were seen as unfavourable, money lenders would charge a higher rate of interest as they would see it as a greater risk to lend out capital. This theoretical, as it currently exists, interest rate is the market rate of interest.Under the governance of the Fed, the interest rates are dictated by a council of twelve men in expensive suits. The rate of interest is determined and set in accordance with their decision. As it is in the interests of the government to have a boisterous economy, this set rate of interest is often set at a rate below the natural market rate of interest. As such, the entrepreneurs may see profitable ventures
where in fact there are none.
For instance, let us assume that the market rate of interest is 10%. The Fed sets the rate so that banks will lend money to entrepreneurs at only 5%. An entrepreneur will conduct his calculations for the construction of a cheese factory. He needs to borrow one million dollars and forecasts a profit before interest payments on debt of $80,000 per year. Under a natural rate of interest, that being 10%, he would not go ahead with the business model, as it would be losing $20k per year. However, with the seemingly generous 5% rate of interests, his business model will provide a profit after paying the interest payments of $30k per year.
As such, he decides to go ahead with the business.At first blush this seems like a great idea since the cheese factory will produce a profit and provide employment. However, what is lost here is that given the current state of affairs within the marketplace there is insufficient demand for his product as revealed by the 10% market rate of interest that would reveal the business as unprofitable and thus it should never exist.
Things will seem to go along well enough as long as the Fed keeps the interest rate low. A multitude of business models such as this cheese factory comprise what is commonly known as a boom.However, as history shows, the Fed cannot do this indefinitely, because inflation (in the sense of rising prices for goods and services) will erode the consumer base. The Fed responds by raising interest rates. Seemingly overnight, the cheese factory and all other businesses that really shouldn’t exist become unprofitable and a bust occurs. Companies lay off employees (think Nortel, GM), there are an increased number of bankruptcies (think 360Networks, Worldcom) and corporate scandals are exposed (think Enron).Austrian economists refer to these processes as malinvestment. This is the description of capital moving towards unprofitable businesses as a direct result of manipulation of the money supply and interest rates. Economists and pundits refer to it as “overinvestment” or “the economy is overheating”.
Fed up With the Fed OF ECONOMIC
Public opinion of the Fed is that of being a vigilant watchdog of inflation. Always seen as watching economic indicators and ready to adjust the interest rates in order to “fight” inflation. This is of great irony, because it is the very same Fed that is increasing the money supply thereby causing a reduction in value and subsequent higher prices of goods and services.The confusion stems from the definition of the word inflation. Properly defined, inflation relates to an increase in the money supply in the same way as a balloon is inflated with a volume of air. This has the effect of causing a rise in the prices of goods and services because the value of the unit of money has fallen.
The inflation of a money supply does not have a direct 1:1 effect on pricing of goods and services. For instance, a 10% increase in the money supply does not mean that prices across the board will uniformly increase by 10%. It has a much different effect.To use an example, let us assume that the U.S. government decides to spend money on a new computer system for jets. Let us also assume that this money is newly created money - it wasn’t collected through taxation or the issuing of government bonds (i.e. debt). This newly created money first goes to the people involved with the company that designs and manufactures these said computer systems.
Accordingly, these people become wealthier and have more to spend. Let us assume that they buy cars and wine. Now the new money has gone to those people involved with the making of cars and wine. They in turn buy books and shoes. Now those people become wealthier. And so on…Now what about the average person who doesn’t work in these industries. All he sees is an increase in cars, wine, books and shoes. He now has less to spend on beer and pretzels. So now the beer and pretzel industry experiences a downturn. New entrepreneurs, seek business opportunities within the car, wine, book and shoe industries and avoid the making of beer and pretzels.So what we have is an unequal increase in the pricing of certain goods and services. Some go up, while others actually go down. We also experience a transfer of capital investment from some industries to others.Additionally, the Fed distorts the market through the manipulation of interest rates. Left to it own devices, the market would determine its own rate of interest based upon a consensus of the market participants. If economic conditions were seen as favourable, than new businesses would stand a good chance of succeeding and money lenders would compete with one another to lend out their capital to entrepreneurs.
Conversely, if economic conditions were seen as unfavourable, money lenders would charge a higher rate of interest as they would see it as a greater risk to lend out capital. This theoretical, as it currently exists, interest rate is the market rate of interest.Under the governance of the Fed, the interest rates are dictated by a council of twelve men in expensive suits. The rate of interest is determined and set in accordance with their decision. As it is in the interests of the government to have a boisterous economy, this set rate of interest is often set at a rate below the natural market rate of interest. As such, the entrepreneurs may see profitable ventures
where in fact there are none.
For instance, let us assume that the market rate of interest is 10%. The Fed sets the rate so that banks will lend money to entrepreneurs at only 5%. An entrepreneur will conduct his calculations for the construction of a cheese factory. He needs to borrow one million dollars and forecasts a profit before interest payments on debt of $80,000 per year. Under a natural rate of interest, that being 10%, he would not go ahead with the business model, as it would be losing $20k per year. However, with the seemingly generous 5% rate of interests, his business model will provide a profit after paying the interest payments of $30k per year.
As such, he decides to go ahead with the business.At first blush this seems like a great idea since the cheese factory will produce a profit and provide employment. However, what is lost here is that given the current state of affairs within the marketplace there is insufficient demand for his product as revealed by the 10% market rate of interest that would reveal the business as unprofitable and thus it should never exist.
Things will seem to go along well enough as long as the Fed keeps the interest rate low. A multitude of business models such as this cheese factory comprise what is commonly known as a boom.However, as history shows, the Fed cannot do this indefinitely, because inflation (in the sense of rising prices for goods and services) will erode the consumer base. The Fed responds by raising interest rates. Seemingly overnight, the cheese factory and all other businesses that really shouldn’t exist become unprofitable and a bust occurs. Companies lay off employees (think Nortel, GM), there are an increased number of bankruptcies (think 360Networks, Worldcom) and corporate scandals are exposed (think Enron).Austrian economists refer to these processes as malinvestment. This is the description of capital moving towards unprofitable businesses as a direct result of manipulation of the money supply and interest rates. Economists and pundits refer to it as “overinvestment” or “the economy is overheating”.
How to Promote Your Website and Generate Traffic Using Free Methods???
You have created your website or have signed up as an affiliate and received a free website, now it is up to you to promote it and generate traffic to your business in order to make money.Now you may be thinking that, in order to make money you are going to need money. Not true, for many of us, we just do not have the resources or money to generate traffic to our websites like some do.
Well, you don’t have to spend a penny; really all you need to do is to have the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. As well, the perseverance and drive to work hard and do your research to generate traffic to your site. How sweet it is to generate traffic to your website without having to spend a single penny.
Now, I am not about to beat around the bush here, and I will tell you honestly that it may take a bit more time. When you pay for your advertisements you are going to get results faster. But at least you will have a fighting chance with some of the free methods I am about to tell you.Write good content on your website Once your site is discovered and if the content is good quality content, people will return to read more or tell friends about it. Search engines will index it more frequently because humans are visiting often due to your great quality content.Search engine optimization is also extremely important, but I am no expert when it comes to this topic. About the best advice I can give you about search engine optimization is that you will need to have the right keywords in order to get higher rankings in the search engines.
But I can assure you that you can get plenty of free information about it if you type those keywords into your browser. Enlist your website into the hottest Internet directories that are free. It is an easy and effective website promotion tactic. Start with this and the rest of the good things will follow. Just don’t forget to spruce up your website so that you have a higher chance of getting accepted in your directory of choice.Write articles You will want your articles to pique the attention of your target audience. Provide tips and guides of interest to them. The article must be related to what your website is about. That way, when they read your resource box, there will be a higher chance that they will click on your link so that they can get more information or buy your product. Submit your article to article directories, many are free, and don’t stop at writing just a few articles because you are not getting any results. Keep it up, become known as the expert that you are in your field, and people will begin to trust you.
Exchanging links with other sites. All that is required of you is to reach an agreement with another webmaster to trade links. Ok, so it’s not all that simple, it takes time and persistence because some webmasters will not agree to link back to you, but it is possible and free. As long as you link to the right sites, ones that are related to yours. You can attain a good ranking with the search engines. Spend some time on online forums and online communities. You can locate forums that target your niche. You can answer and ask questions, wow them with your range of expertise about the subject. Build a good reputation for your company and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.
Do not sell, but you can let them know about your site in your signature and attract instant visitors right away.Each of these methods will generate more traffic to your website for free. It only takes a bit of effort and some additional man-hours. Educate yourself about the methods depicted here and you will soon generate traffic to your site without the usual costs that come with it.Connie McKenzie is a full-time work at home mom who devotes herself to doing the things she loves to do most. One of those things being affiliate marketing. Once I discovered the power of affiliate marketing and promoting my website, I started making a lot of money online. Do you want to do the same? Register for a FREE high quality Link Exchange
Well, you don’t have to spend a penny; really all you need to do is to have the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. As well, the perseverance and drive to work hard and do your research to generate traffic to your site. How sweet it is to generate traffic to your website without having to spend a single penny.
Now, I am not about to beat around the bush here, and I will tell you honestly that it may take a bit more time. When you pay for your advertisements you are going to get results faster. But at least you will have a fighting chance with some of the free methods I am about to tell you.Write good content on your website Once your site is discovered and if the content is good quality content, people will return to read more or tell friends about it. Search engines will index it more frequently because humans are visiting often due to your great quality content.Search engine optimization is also extremely important, but I am no expert when it comes to this topic. About the best advice I can give you about search engine optimization is that you will need to have the right keywords in order to get higher rankings in the search engines.
But I can assure you that you can get plenty of free information about it if you type those keywords into your browser. Enlist your website into the hottest Internet directories that are free. It is an easy and effective website promotion tactic. Start with this and the rest of the good things will follow. Just don’t forget to spruce up your website so that you have a higher chance of getting accepted in your directory of choice.Write articles You will want your articles to pique the attention of your target audience. Provide tips and guides of interest to them. The article must be related to what your website is about. That way, when they read your resource box, there will be a higher chance that they will click on your link so that they can get more information or buy your product. Submit your article to article directories, many are free, and don’t stop at writing just a few articles because you are not getting any results. Keep it up, become known as the expert that you are in your field, and people will begin to trust you.
Exchanging links with other sites. All that is required of you is to reach an agreement with another webmaster to trade links. Ok, so it’s not all that simple, it takes time and persistence because some webmasters will not agree to link back to you, but it is possible and free. As long as you link to the right sites, ones that are related to yours. You can attain a good ranking with the search engines. Spend some time on online forums and online communities. You can locate forums that target your niche. You can answer and ask questions, wow them with your range of expertise about the subject. Build a good reputation for your company and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.
Do not sell, but you can let them know about your site in your signature and attract instant visitors right away.Each of these methods will generate more traffic to your website for free. It only takes a bit of effort and some additional man-hours. Educate yourself about the methods depicted here and you will soon generate traffic to your site without the usual costs that come with it.Connie McKenzie is a full-time work at home mom who devotes herself to doing the things she loves to do most. One of those things being affiliate marketing. Once I discovered the power of affiliate marketing and promoting my website, I started making a lot of money online. Do you want to do the same? Register for a FREE high quality Link Exchange
What you don’t know about property tax could be costing you thousands of dollars each year?
If you are over 55 and have owned your home for several years you may be eligible for property tax relief!There are currently three propositions that affect eligibility for tax relief; Proposition 13, Proposition 60 and Proposition 90. You’ll learn how each of these propositions are saving the over 55 home owners a significant amount of money.
Prop 13 – The Golden EggProposition 13 prohibits property tax increases until property ownership is changed. If you currently own your home you know how much money you are saving in light of the fact that housing values have sky rocketed over the last 5 years! However, what happens when you sell your home? Will you have to give up the advantage of the lower cost property tax you currently enjoy? Not necessarily…Prop 60 – Transferring Made EasyProposition 60 allows you to transfer your current property value to a new home within the same county you live in now.
You must be replacing your primary residence and the cost of the new home must be equal or lesser value than your current home.This allowance can be used once in your lifetime. For those of you who have a spouse that has taken advantage of this tax break previously, you will not be allowed as a couple to use this tax loophole again.What happens if you move out of your current county?Prop 90 – Distance No Longer an IssueProp. 90 allows a county to choose to accept or deny Prop. 13 and accept a grandfathered property value assessment when buying a new home. As of June 1, 2005, seven California counties honor Proposition 13; Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Ventura. Prop. 60 and 90 apply if you are “trading down.” (i.e. The value of your new home is less than the value of your old home.) However, the government being who they are, has stipulations. If you buy your new home first, then sell the old home, you must go down in price. If you sell the old home first, then buy the new home:o In the first 365 days after the sale of your old home, you may go up 5% in the purchase price of your new home.o If you buy your new home more than one year from the sale of your old home, but less than two years, you may go up 10%.o You must file a claim with your county assessor’s office within three years of the acquisition or completion of construction of the replacement property.o
Claim forms are available at the Assessor’s public counter and in regional offices, or you may visit the State of California website, State Board of Equalization at: www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/assessors.htm.Some buyers may choose to pay the commissions outside of escrow to keep the cost of the purchase price down. Your lender will prove invaluable in helping you maximize your costs/mortgage package to take full advantage of this incredible tax break.
Rosemarie Mandel has been providing outstanding lending service to her hundreds of clients for over 5 years. Her clients span the United States from coast to coast. Rosemarie may be reached by calling 818-444-4788, by visiting her website at www.innovativemortgagesolutions-sandiego.com, or by email at rosemarie@ims-sandiego.com. All Rights Reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirely including contact information.
Prop 13 – The Golden EggProposition 13 prohibits property tax increases until property ownership is changed. If you currently own your home you know how much money you are saving in light of the fact that housing values have sky rocketed over the last 5 years! However, what happens when you sell your home? Will you have to give up the advantage of the lower cost property tax you currently enjoy? Not necessarily…Prop 60 – Transferring Made EasyProposition 60 allows you to transfer your current property value to a new home within the same county you live in now.
You must be replacing your primary residence and the cost of the new home must be equal or lesser value than your current home.This allowance can be used once in your lifetime. For those of you who have a spouse that has taken advantage of this tax break previously, you will not be allowed as a couple to use this tax loophole again.What happens if you move out of your current county?Prop 90 – Distance No Longer an IssueProp. 90 allows a county to choose to accept or deny Prop. 13 and accept a grandfathered property value assessment when buying a new home. As of June 1, 2005, seven California counties honor Proposition 13; Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Ventura. Prop. 60 and 90 apply if you are “trading down.” (i.e. The value of your new home is less than the value of your old home.) However, the government being who they are, has stipulations. If you buy your new home first, then sell the old home, you must go down in price. If you sell the old home first, then buy the new home:o In the first 365 days after the sale of your old home, you may go up 5% in the purchase price of your new home.o If you buy your new home more than one year from the sale of your old home, but less than two years, you may go up 10%.o You must file a claim with your county assessor’s office within three years of the acquisition or completion of construction of the replacement property.o
Claim forms are available at the Assessor’s public counter and in regional offices, or you may visit the State of California website, State Board of Equalization at: www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/assessors.htm.Some buyers may choose to pay the commissions outside of escrow to keep the cost of the purchase price down. Your lender will prove invaluable in helping you maximize your costs/mortgage package to take full advantage of this incredible tax break.
Rosemarie Mandel has been providing outstanding lending service to her hundreds of clients for over 5 years. Her clients span the United States from coast to coast. Rosemarie may be reached by calling 818-444-4788, by visiting her website at www.innovativemortgagesolutions-sandiego.com, or by email at rosemarie@ims-sandiego.com. All Rights Reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirely including contact information.
Show Your True Colours with Beads-fashion
If you have heard the saying "you are what you wear" then beads would certainly tell how fantastical, romantic, fun loving, adaptable and versatile person you are. Beads are a great way to add zing and spice to your look and style. You can create your own style statement with various kinds of beads, or you can simply mix and match things to put forth a sizzling combination together with an easy going attitude. Beads are the best way to define and complement your style, your dress and all kinds of occasion.
You can wear beads almost everywhere. Apart from your ear pieces and necklace, you can wear beads around your wrists; in bracelets; in armlets; in anklets, and also in your belt – a loose loop around your waist defines your slender waist and also it looks quite nice. You can also add beads to your exquisite jewellery, like the tiaras.Not just as jewellery, you can also put beads in your clothes and in your accessories like bags and purses to make them look cool, trendy and friendly. Beads in your accessories always give you a young look and feel, despite your real age. It also shows that you are in tune with times and passionately follow trends. You can pep up any simple, ordinary looking bag or outfit by adding a few beads with the help of ex-beading accessories.Beads can be simple and non-expensive. And at the same time there are those beads which are precious and, therefore, cost a little more than others. You have to know which beads to wear in different kinds of occasions.
Beads are great when you want to catch up with friends; then there are beads that can be worn to the office; and also there are those gorgeous looking precious beads that are meant for parties and high social gatherings.Paul Shane cherishes a hobby of studying and collecting jewellery, to dig out the making and story behind them, especially the rare or exquisite ones, also the Beads being used for manufacturing the jewellery. He also loves studying consumer behaviour related to jewellery selecting and buying. At present he is associated with a leading group called E-Beads Limited.
BEADS
dZi (lucky) beads are traditional Tibetain beads made from semi-precious gemstones and bones. According to Tibetan customs, dZi beads bring luck, health and happiness. The beautifully crafted designs all have varying symbolic values and meanings. Browse through this unique collection to find exceptional beads to add to your jewellery designs.
Flash Drive Undelete.....
Data Doctor USB Drive Data Undelete Utility restores deleted jpg, jpeg, gif, midi and wav files and audio video music files and folder. Pen drive data recovery tool recovers MS Office documents like word, excel, power point, access, text files and application program files even USB drive is accidentally formatted or drive not detected message is displayed on the screen.
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Memory stick data recovery software supports windows operating system like windows 98, 2000, 2003 server, NT Workstation, NT Server, Windows XP Home edition, Me, Pro edition and Vista. Features: * Pen drive data recovery utility recovers deleted audio video music files and folders. * Thumb drive data undelete tool has read only permission so it does not affect other files in the disk.
* Memory stick data rescue utility is GUI (Graphical User Interface) based so it is easy to use. * USB drive data restoration software restores MS office documents and application programs even pen drive is formatted.
* For assistance of user tool provides help manual so it is easy to use for users. * Pen drive data undelete utility supports windows operating system like windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, XP media center 2005 and windows vista.Download Now
The data recovery software for removable media recover deleted files or corrupted or formatted folders directories Mp3 MP4 midi music digital images video/pictures from all type of USB removable storage media such as thumb drive, mobile phone memory card, external flash drive, micro drive, smart drive and other USB storage devices.
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The award winning Data Doctor Software is the perfect utility to data restore and is fully integrated for your Flash Drives usb keys/pens, Smart Media, Zip drive, compact flash (CF), secure digital (SD), XD Picture Card and other removable media. Very easy to use and does not require any technical skills to operate the software. Just install it on your Microsoft Windows based machine and you can even recover data lost due to accidental formatting, corruption, virus worm error in different version of MS Windows, Apple Mac (Macintosh) operating system.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Singing bowl
Singing bowl
Singing bowls (also known as 'Himalayan bowls' or 'rin gongs' in Japan) are a
type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell. Rather than hanging
inverted or attached to a handle, standing bells sit with the bottom surface
resting. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound. Singing
bowls were traditionally used throughout Asia as part of Buddhist meditation
practice. Today they are used worldwide for meditation, relaxation, healthcare,
personal well-being and religious practice.
Singing bowls were historically made in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bhutan, China,
Japan and Korea. Today they are made in Nepal, India, Japan and Korea. The best
known type are from the Himalayan region and are often called "Tibetan singing
bowls."
Origins, history and usage
In Buddhist practice, singing bowls are used as a
support for meditation, trance induction and prayer. For example, Chinese
Buddhists use the singing bowl to accompany the wooden fish during chanting,
striking it when a particular phrase in a sutra, mantra or hymn is sung. In
Japan and Vietnam, singing bowls are similarly used during chanting and may also
mark the passage of time or signal a change in activity.
The use of singing bowls in Tibet is the subject of much debate and many
stories. Some people say they were used for meditation while others say they
were magical tools for transformation of self and of matter.
As Perry (1996) and Jansen(1992) state, little is known in western scholarship
regarding Himalayan singing bowls. It is likely they were used in rituals,
having a specific function like other instruments (such as the ghanta, tingsha
and shang). The oral and written traditions from the Himalayan region are vast
and largely unknown in the west. To date, no specific texts have been found
discussing the use of singing bowls in depth, but according to Joseph Feinstein
of Himalayan Bowls (2006), paintings and statues dating from several centuries
ago depict singing bowls in detail. Singing bowls from at least the 10th-12th
century are found in private collections. The tradition may date significantly
earlier since bronze has been used to construct musical instruments since
ancient times. Bronze bells from Asia have been discovered since as early as the
8th-10th century BCE (Feinstein, 2006).
Singing bowls are played by the friction of rubbing a wooden, plastic, or
leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to produce overtones and a
continuous 'singing' sound. Genuine antique singing bowls produce a complex
chord of harmonic overtones. Singing bowls may also be played by striking with a
soft mallet to produce a warm bell tone.
Antique singing bowls are unique because they are multiphonic instruments,
producing multiple harmonic overtones at the same time. Antique singing bowls
are the fruit of sophisticated metallurgy, techniques currently deemed lost and
provide a unique study in the Timeline of materials technology and do high
quality bells and other instuments. The overtones are a result of their
metalworking and fabrication which consists of multiple metals and were produced
by a sophisticated hammered or beaten technique with . The majority of new bowls
are cast metal and not hammered and beaten with Metalworking hand tools.
Both Antique and New Bowls are widely used as an aid to meditation (see the
"Meditation and the brain" section in Meditation) and as a tool for trance
induction. They are also used in yoga, music therapy, sound healing, religious
services, performance and for personal enjoyment.
Antique singing bowls
Traditionally, antique singing bowls were made of Panchaloga: an alloy
of bronze, copper, tin, zinc and other metals. Antiques often include silver,
gold, iron and nickel.
Antique singing bowls produce multiphonic and polyharmonic overtones which are
unique to the antique instruments. The subtle yet complex multiple harmonic
frequencies are a special quality of the high quality bronze alloy. The art of
making singing bowls in the traditional way is considered a lost art.
Antique singing bowls may display abstract decorations like lines, rings and
circles engraved into the surface. Decoration may appear outside the rim, inside
the bottom, around the top of the rim and sometimes on the outside bottom.
Antique singing bowls are highly prized and collected worldwide. Their
popularity is due to their fine craftsmanship and remarkable sound.
New singing bowls
New bowls may be plain or decorated. They sometimes feature religious
iconography and spiritual motifs and symbols, like the Tibetan mantra om mani
padme hum, pictures of Buddhas, mandala, etc.
New singing bowls are made from industrial quality metal, mainly copper. They
are exported widely from Nepal and India.
High quality new singing bowls are made in Japan and Korea but are not widely
exported.
New singing bowls and crystal bowls do not produce the warm and complex tone of
fine antiques. They sound like clear and simple bells, without the warm
undertones and bright harmonic overtones for which antiques are famous.
Crystal singing bowls
Crystal bowls are often categorized together with metal singing bowls
but they are very different. The use of the word "crystal" is misleading because
crystal bowls are actually made from silicon glass. Their manufacture was an
offshoot of medical containers like test tubes. Crystal bowls produce what is
referred to as a pure sine tone (refer pure tone). This pure sine tone can be
very intense and piercing. The tone is qualitatively different from the warm
timbre and complex polyphonic experience of antique singing bowls. Crystal bowls
do not produce multiple harmonic overtones and lack the warm and mellow quality
of antique singing bowls.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Refugee
According to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who
“
owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country.
”
The concept of a refugee was expanded by the Conventions’ 1967 Protocol and by regional conventions in Africa and Latin America to include persons who had fled war or other violence in their home country. A person who is seeking to be recognized as a refugee is an asylum seeker. In the United States a recognized asylum seeker is known as an asylee.
Refugee was defined as a legal group in response to the large numbers of people fleeing Eastern Europe following World War II. The lead international agency coordinating refugee protection is the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which counted 8.4 million refugees worldwide at the beginning of 2006. This was the lowest number since 1980.The major exception is the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees under the authority of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), who are the only group to be granted refugee status to the descendants of refugees according to the above definition.The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants gives the world total as 12,019,700 refugees and estimates there are over 34,000,000 displaced by war, including internally displaced persons, who remain within the same national borders. The majority of refugees who leave their country seek asylum in countries neighboring their country of nationality. The "durable solutions" to refugee populations, as defined by UNHCR and governments, are: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin; local integration into the country of asylum; and resettlement to a third country.
Refugees arrive in Travnik, central Bosnia, during the war, 1993. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
As of December 31, 2005, the largest source countries of refugees are the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, and Sudan. The country with the largest number of IDPs is Sudan, with over 5 million. According to UNHCR estimates, over 4.2 million Iraqis have been displaced since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with 2 million within the Iraq and 2.2 million in neighbouring countries. At least 60,000 Iraqis are losing their homes and becoming refugees every month. This has become the largest refugee crisis in Middle East since the upheaval that greeted the creation of Israel nearly 60 years ago.[7] A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the United States.
“
owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country.
”
The concept of a refugee was expanded by the Conventions’ 1967 Protocol and by regional conventions in Africa and Latin America to include persons who had fled war or other violence in their home country. A person who is seeking to be recognized as a refugee is an asylum seeker. In the United States a recognized asylum seeker is known as an asylee.
Refugee was defined as a legal group in response to the large numbers of people fleeing Eastern Europe following World War II. The lead international agency coordinating refugee protection is the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which counted 8.4 million refugees worldwide at the beginning of 2006. This was the lowest number since 1980.The major exception is the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees under the authority of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), who are the only group to be granted refugee status to the descendants of refugees according to the above definition.The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants gives the world total as 12,019,700 refugees and estimates there are over 34,000,000 displaced by war, including internally displaced persons, who remain within the same national borders. The majority of refugees who leave their country seek asylum in countries neighboring their country of nationality. The "durable solutions" to refugee populations, as defined by UNHCR and governments, are: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin; local integration into the country of asylum; and resettlement to a third country.
Refugees arrive in Travnik, central Bosnia, during the war, 1993. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
As of December 31, 2005, the largest source countries of refugees are the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, and Sudan. The country with the largest number of IDPs is Sudan, with over 5 million. According to UNHCR estimates, over 4.2 million Iraqis have been displaced since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with 2 million within the Iraq and 2.2 million in neighbouring countries. At least 60,000 Iraqis are losing their homes and becoming refugees every month. This has become the largest refugee crisis in Middle East since the upheaval that greeted the creation of Israel nearly 60 years ago.[7] A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the United States.
World War II and UNHCR
The conflict and political instability during World War II led to massive amounts of forced migration. In 1943, the Allies created the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to provide aid to areas liberated from Axis powers, including parts of Europe and China. This included returning over seven million refugees, then commonly referred to as displaced persons or DPs, to their country of origin and setting up displaced persons camps for one million refugees who refused to be repatriated.
After the defeat of Germany in World War II, the Potsdam Conference authorized the expulsion of German minorities from a number of European countries (including Soviet- and Polish-annexed pre-war East Germany), meaning that 12,000,000 ethnic Germans were displaced to the reallocated and divided territory of Allied-occupied Germany. Between the end of World War II and the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, more than 3,700,000 refugees from East Germany traveled to West Germany for asylum from the Soviet occupation.
Also, millions of former Russian citizens were forcefully repatriated (against their will) into the USSR.[10] On 11 February 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with the USSR. The interpretation of this Agreement resulted in the forcible repatriation of all Soviets regardless of their wishes. When the war ended in May 1945, British and U.S. civilian authorities ordered their military forces in Europe to deport to the Soviet Union several millions of former residents of the USSR, including numerous persons who had left Russia and established different citizenship many years before. The forced repatriation operations took place from 1945-1947.
At the end of the World War II, there were more than 5 million "displaced persons" from the Soviet Union in the Western Europe. Nearly two million had been forced laborers (Ostarbeiter) in Germany and occupied territories. Millions of Soviet POWs and forced laborers transported to Nazi Germany were on their return to the USSR treated as traitors, cowards, and deserters. Many of them were executed or deported to the Soviet prison camps. The Soviet POWs and the Vlasov men were put under the jurisdiction of SMERSH (Death to Spies). 60% of Soviet POWs died during the war. Over 1.5 million surviving Red Army soldiers imprisoned by the Germans were sent to the Gulag (10 to 20 years was the usual term).
Poland and Soviet Ukraine conducted population exchanges - Poles that resided east of the established Poland-Soviet border were deported to Poland (ca. 2,100,000 persons) and Ukrainians that resided west of the established Poland-Soviet Union border were deported to Soviet Ukraine. Population transfer to Soviet Ukraine occurred from September 1944 to April 1946 (ca. 450,000 persons). Some Ukrainians (ca. 200,000 persons) left southeast Poland more or less voluntarily (between 1944 and 1945).
At the time, UNRRA was shut down in 1949 and its refugee tasks given to the International Refugee Organization (IRO). The International Refugee Organization was a temporary organization of the United Nations (UN), which itself had been founded in 1945, with a mandate to largely finish the UNRRA's work of repatriating or resettling European refugees. It was dissolved in 1952 after resettling about one million refugees.The definition of a refugee at this time was an individual with either a Nansen passport or a "Certificate of Eligibility" issued by the International Refugee Organization.
After the defeat of Germany in World War II, the Potsdam Conference authorized the expulsion of German minorities from a number of European countries (including Soviet- and Polish-annexed pre-war East Germany), meaning that 12,000,000 ethnic Germans were displaced to the reallocated and divided territory of Allied-occupied Germany. Between the end of World War II and the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, more than 3,700,000 refugees from East Germany traveled to West Germany for asylum from the Soviet occupation.
Also, millions of former Russian citizens were forcefully repatriated (against their will) into the USSR.[10] On 11 February 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with the USSR. The interpretation of this Agreement resulted in the forcible repatriation of all Soviets regardless of their wishes. When the war ended in May 1945, British and U.S. civilian authorities ordered their military forces in Europe to deport to the Soviet Union several millions of former residents of the USSR, including numerous persons who had left Russia and established different citizenship many years before. The forced repatriation operations took place from 1945-1947.
At the end of the World War II, there were more than 5 million "displaced persons" from the Soviet Union in the Western Europe. Nearly two million had been forced laborers (Ostarbeiter) in Germany and occupied territories. Millions of Soviet POWs and forced laborers transported to Nazi Germany were on their return to the USSR treated as traitors, cowards, and deserters. Many of them were executed or deported to the Soviet prison camps. The Soviet POWs and the Vlasov men were put under the jurisdiction of SMERSH (Death to Spies). 60% of Soviet POWs died during the war. Over 1.5 million surviving Red Army soldiers imprisoned by the Germans were sent to the Gulag (10 to 20 years was the usual term).
Poland and Soviet Ukraine conducted population exchanges - Poles that resided east of the established Poland-Soviet border were deported to Poland (ca. 2,100,000 persons) and Ukrainians that resided west of the established Poland-Soviet Union border were deported to Soviet Ukraine. Population transfer to Soviet Ukraine occurred from September 1944 to April 1946 (ca. 450,000 persons). Some Ukrainians (ca. 200,000 persons) left southeast Poland more or less voluntarily (between 1944 and 1945).
At the time, UNRRA was shut down in 1949 and its refugee tasks given to the International Refugee Organization (IRO). The International Refugee Organization was a temporary organization of the United Nations (UN), which itself had been founded in 1945, with a mandate to largely finish the UNRRA's work of repatriating or resettling European refugees. It was dissolved in 1952 after resettling about one million refugees.The definition of a refugee at this time was an individual with either a Nansen passport or a "Certificate of Eligibility" issued by the International Refugee Organization.
Poverty
Poverty
A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found.
Look up poverty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Poverty is understood in many senses. The main understandings of the term include:
Descriptions of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, and or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. These essentials may be material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to information, education, health care, social status, political power, or the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society.
Descriptions of social relationships and need, including social exclusion dependency and the ability to participate in society. This would include education and information.
Describing a (persistent) lack of income and wealth. The World Bank, for example, uses a global indicator of incomes of $1 or $2 a day. In relative terms disparities in income or wealth income disparities are seen as an indicator of poverty and the condition of poverty is linked to questions of scarcity and distribution of resources and power.
The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor," based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. These include
precarious livelihoods
excluded locations
physical limitations
gender relationships
problems in social relationships
lack of security
abuse by those in power
disempowering institutions
limited capabilities, and
weak community organizations.
Most important are those necessary for material well-being, especially food. Others of these issues relate to social rather than material issues. However it should be noted that this text has come in for scathing criticism that argues that it recreates old, highly pejorative and sometimes racialized colonial stereotypes and projects them on to poor people.
Poverty may be defined by a government or organization for legal purposes, see Poverty threshold.
Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in this sense entire nation-states are sometimes regarded as poor. A more neutral term is developing nations. Although the most severe poverty is in the developing world, there is evidence of poverty in every region. In developed countries examples include homeless people and ghettos.
Poverty is also a type of religious promise, a state that may be taken on voluntarily in keeping with practices of piety. In Christianity it is one of the evangelical counsels intended to aid the imitation of the example of Christ.
Causes of poverty
Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. Some possible factors include:
Natural factors such as the climate or environment
Geographic factors, for example access to fertile land, fresh water, minerals, energy, and other natural resources. Presence or absence of natural features helping or limiting communication, such mountains, deserts, sailable rivers, or coastline. Historically, geography has prevented or slowed the spread of new technology to areas such as the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa. The climate also limits what crops and farm animals may be used on similarly fertile lands.[20]
On the other hand, research on the resource curse has found that countries with an abundance of natural resources creating quick wealth from exports tend to have less long-term prosperity than countries with less of these natural resources.
Inadequate nutrition in childhood in poor nations may lead to physical and mental stunting that may lead to economic problems. (Hence, it is both a cause and an effect). For example, lack of both iodine and iron has been implicated in impaired brain development, and this can affect enormous numbers of people: it is estimated that 2 billion people (one-third of the total global population) are affected by iodine deficiency, including 285 million 6- to 12-year-old children. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged 4 and under suffer from anaemia because of insufficient iron in their diets. See also Health and intelligence.
Disease, specifically diseases of poverty: AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis and others overwhelmingly afflict developing nations, which perpetuate poverty by diverting individual, community, and national health and economic resources from investment and productivity. Further, many tropical nations are affected by parasites like malaria, schistosomiasis, and trypanosomiasis that are not present in temperate climates. The Tsetse fly makes it very difficult to use many animals in agriculture in afflicted regions.
Lacking rule of law.
Lacking democracy.
Lacking infrastructure.
Lacking health care
Lacking equitably available education.
Government corruption.
Overpopulation and lack of access to birth control methods. Note that population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition.
Tax havens which tax their own citizens and companies but not those from other nations and refuse to disclose information necessary for foreign taxation. This enables large scale political corruption, tax evasion, and organized crime in the foreign nations.
Historical factors, for example imperialism and colonialis
Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Monarchy, Fascism and Totalitarianism have all been named as causes by scholars writing from different perspectives. For example, poorly functioning property rights is seen by some as a cause of poverty, while socialists see the institution of property rights itself as a cause of poverty.
Lacking free trade. In particular, the very high subsidies to and protective tariffs for agriculture in the developed world. For example, almost half of the budget of the European Union goes to agricultural subsidies, mainly to large farmers and agribusinesses, which form a powerful lobby.[39] Japan gave 47 billion dollars in 2005 in subsidies to its agricultural sector, nearly four times the amount it gave in total foreign aid. The US gives 3.9 billion dollars each year in subsidies to its cotton sector, including 25,000 growers, three times more in subsidies than the entire USAID budget for Africa’s 500 million people. This drains the taxed money and increases the prices for the consumers in developed world; decreases competition and efficiency; prevents exports by more competitive agricultural and other sectors in the developed world due to retaliatory trade barriers; and undermines the very type of industry in which the developing countries do have comparative advantages.
A homeless woman with her dog in a street of Rome
Lack of trade barriers on incoming (often highly subsidized) goods from wealthier countries is also considered by some economists a cause of poverty. Almost all wealthy countries developed through some forms of import substitution and direct government protection of and investment in local industries.
Substance abuse, such as alcoholism and drug abuse.
Individual beliefs, actions and choices.
Discrimination of various kinds, such as age discrimination, stereotyping, gender discrimination, racial discrimination.
A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found.
Look up poverty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Poverty is understood in many senses. The main understandings of the term include:
Descriptions of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, and or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. These essentials may be material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to information, education, health care, social status, political power, or the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society.
Descriptions of social relationships and need, including social exclusion dependency and the ability to participate in society. This would include education and information.
Describing a (persistent) lack of income and wealth. The World Bank, for example, uses a global indicator of incomes of $1 or $2 a day. In relative terms disparities in income or wealth income disparities are seen as an indicator of poverty and the condition of poverty is linked to questions of scarcity and distribution of resources and power.
The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor," based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. These include
precarious livelihoods
excluded locations
physical limitations
gender relationships
problems in social relationships
lack of security
abuse by those in power
disempowering institutions
limited capabilities, and
weak community organizations.
Most important are those necessary for material well-being, especially food. Others of these issues relate to social rather than material issues. However it should be noted that this text has come in for scathing criticism that argues that it recreates old, highly pejorative and sometimes racialized colonial stereotypes and projects them on to poor people.
Poverty may be defined by a government or organization for legal purposes, see Poverty threshold.
Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in this sense entire nation-states are sometimes regarded as poor. A more neutral term is developing nations. Although the most severe poverty is in the developing world, there is evidence of poverty in every region. In developed countries examples include homeless people and ghettos.
Poverty is also a type of religious promise, a state that may be taken on voluntarily in keeping with practices of piety. In Christianity it is one of the evangelical counsels intended to aid the imitation of the example of Christ.
Causes of poverty
Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. Some possible factors include:
Natural factors such as the climate or environment
Geographic factors, for example access to fertile land, fresh water, minerals, energy, and other natural resources. Presence or absence of natural features helping or limiting communication, such mountains, deserts, sailable rivers, or coastline. Historically, geography has prevented or slowed the spread of new technology to areas such as the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa. The climate also limits what crops and farm animals may be used on similarly fertile lands.[20]
On the other hand, research on the resource curse has found that countries with an abundance of natural resources creating quick wealth from exports tend to have less long-term prosperity than countries with less of these natural resources.
Inadequate nutrition in childhood in poor nations may lead to physical and mental stunting that may lead to economic problems. (Hence, it is both a cause and an effect). For example, lack of both iodine and iron has been implicated in impaired brain development, and this can affect enormous numbers of people: it is estimated that 2 billion people (one-third of the total global population) are affected by iodine deficiency, including 285 million 6- to 12-year-old children. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged 4 and under suffer from anaemia because of insufficient iron in their diets. See also Health and intelligence.
Disease, specifically diseases of poverty: AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis and others overwhelmingly afflict developing nations, which perpetuate poverty by diverting individual, community, and national health and economic resources from investment and productivity. Further, many tropical nations are affected by parasites like malaria, schistosomiasis, and trypanosomiasis that are not present in temperate climates. The Tsetse fly makes it very difficult to use many animals in agriculture in afflicted regions.
Lacking rule of law.
Lacking democracy.
Lacking infrastructure.
Lacking health care
Lacking equitably available education.
Government corruption.
Overpopulation and lack of access to birth control methods. Note that population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition.
Tax havens which tax their own citizens and companies but not those from other nations and refuse to disclose information necessary for foreign taxation. This enables large scale political corruption, tax evasion, and organized crime in the foreign nations.
Historical factors, for example imperialism and colonialis
Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Monarchy, Fascism and Totalitarianism have all been named as causes by scholars writing from different perspectives. For example, poorly functioning property rights is seen by some as a cause of poverty, while socialists see the institution of property rights itself as a cause of poverty.
Lacking free trade. In particular, the very high subsidies to and protective tariffs for agriculture in the developed world. For example, almost half of the budget of the European Union goes to agricultural subsidies, mainly to large farmers and agribusinesses, which form a powerful lobby.[39] Japan gave 47 billion dollars in 2005 in subsidies to its agricultural sector, nearly four times the amount it gave in total foreign aid. The US gives 3.9 billion dollars each year in subsidies to its cotton sector, including 25,000 growers, three times more in subsidies than the entire USAID budget for Africa’s 500 million people. This drains the taxed money and increases the prices for the consumers in developed world; decreases competition and efficiency; prevents exports by more competitive agricultural and other sectors in the developed world due to retaliatory trade barriers; and undermines the very type of industry in which the developing countries do have comparative advantages.
A homeless woman with her dog in a street of Rome
Lack of trade barriers on incoming (often highly subsidized) goods from wealthier countries is also considered by some economists a cause of poverty. Almost all wealthy countries developed through some forms of import substitution and direct government protection of and investment in local industries.
Substance abuse, such as alcoholism and drug abuse.
Individual beliefs, actions and choices.
Discrimination of various kinds, such as age discrimination, stereotyping, gender discrimination, racial discrimination.
Monday, September 10, 2007
LEGAL LAW
LAW
Law is a system of rules usually enforced through a set of institutions.Law
affects everyday life and society in a variety of ways. Contract law regulates
everything from buying a bus ticket to trading swaptions on a derivatives
market. Property law defines rights and obligations related to buying, selling,
or renting real property such as homes and buildings. Trust law applies to
assets held for investment, such as pension funds. Tort law allows claims for
compensation when someone or their property is harmed. But if the harm is
criminalised in a penal code, criminal law offers means to prosecute and punish
the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework for creating laws,
protecting people's human rights, and electing political representatives, while
administrative law allows ordinary citizens to challenge the way governments
exercise power. International law regulates affairs between sovereign
nation-states in everything from trade to the environment to military action.
"The rule of law", wrote the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in 350 BCE, "is
better than the rule of any individual."
Legal systems around the world elaborate legal rights and responsibilities in
different ways. A basic distinction is made between civil law jurisdictions and
systems using common law. Some countries base their law on religious scripts.
Scholars investigate the nature of law through many perspectives, including
legal history and philosophy, or social sciences such as economics and
sociology. The study of law raises important questions about equality, fairness
and justice, which are not always simple. "In its majestic equality", said the
author Anatole France in 1894, "the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep
under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread."The most important
institutions for law are the judiciary, the legislature, the executive, its
bureaucracy, the military and police, the legal profession and civil society.
Legal subjects
Though all legal systems deal usually with the same or similar issues, different
countries often categorise and name legal subjects in different ways. Quite
common is the distinction between "public law" subjects, which relate closely to
the state (including constitutional, administrative and criminal law), and
"private law" subjects (including contract, tort, property). In civil law
systems, contract and tort fall under a general law of obligations and trusts
law is dealt with under statutory regimes or international conventions.
International, constitutional and administrative law, criminal law, contract,
tort, property law and trusts are regarded as the "traditional core
subjects",although there are many further disciplines which might be of greater
practical importance.
International law
Main articles: Public international law, Conflict of laws, and European Union
law
Providing a constitution for public international law, the United Nations was
conceived during World War II.In a global economy, law is globalising too.
International law can refer to three things: public international law, private
international law or conflict of laws and the law of supranational organisations.
Public international law concerns relationships between sovereign nations. It
has a special status as law because there is no international police force, and
courts lack the capacity to penalise disobedience.The sources for public
international law to develop are custom, practice and treaties between sovereign
nations. The United Nations, founded under the UN Charter, is the most important
international organisation, established after the Treaty of Versailles's failure
and World War II. Other international agreements, like the Geneva Conventions on
the conduct of war, and international bodies such as the International Court of
Justice, International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, or the
International Monetary Fund, also form a growing part of public international
law.
Conflict of laws (or "private international law" in civil law countries)
concerns which jurisdiction a legal dispute between private parties should be
heard in and which jurisdiction's law should be applied. Today, businesses are
increasingly capable of shifting capital and labour supply chains across
borders, as well as trading with overseas businesses. This increases the number
of disputes outside a unified legal framework and the enforceability of standard
practices. Increasing numbers of businesses opt for commercial arbitration under
the New York Convention 1958.
European Union law is the first and only example of a supranational legal
framework. However, given increasing global economic integration, many regional
agreements—especially the Union of South American Nations—are on track to follow
the same model. In the EU, sovereign nations have pooled their authority through
a system of courts and political institutions. They have the ability to enforce
legal norms against and for member states and citizens, in a way that public
international law does not. As the European Court of Justice said in 1962,
European Union law constitutes "a new legal order of international law" for the
mutual social and economic benefit of the member states.
Constitutional and administrative law
Main articles: Constitutional law and Administrative law
The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, whose principles
still have constitutional valueConstitutional and administrative law govern the
affairs of the state. Constitutional law concerns both the relationships between
the executive, legislature and judiciary and the human rights or civil liberties
of individuals against the state. Most jurisdictions, like the United States and
France, have a single codified constitution, with a Bill of Rights. A few, like
the United Kingdom, have no such document; in those jurisdictions the
constitution is composed of statute, case law and convention. A case named
Entick v. Carrington[10] illustrates a constitutional principle deriving from
the common law. Mr Entick's house was searched and ransacked by Sheriff
Carrington. When Mr Entick complained in court, Sheriff Carrington argued that a
warrant from a Government minister, the Earl of Halifax, was valid authority.
However, there was no written statutory provision or court authority. The
leading judge, Lord Camden, stated that,
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their
property. That right is preserved sacred and incommunicable in all instances,
where it has not been taken away or abridged by some public law for the good of
the whole… If no excuse can be found or produced, the silence of the books is an
authority against the defendant, and the plaintiff must have judgment."
The fundamental constitutional principle, inspired by John Locke,[11] is that
the individual can do anything but that which is forbidden by law, and the state
may do nothing but that which is authorised by law. Administrative law is the
chief method for people to hold state bodies to account. People can apply for
judicial review of actions or decisions by local councils, public services or
government ministries, to ensure that they comply with the law. The first
specialist administrative court was the Conseil d'État set up in 1799, as
Napoleon assumed power in France.
Criminal law
Main article: Criminal law
A depiction of a 1600s criminal trial, for witchcraft in SalemCriminal law is
the body of law that defines criminal offences and the penalties for convicted
offenders.[13] Apprehending, charging, and trying suspected offenders is
regulated by the law of criminal procedure. In every jurisdiction, a crime is
committed where three elements are fulfilled. First, the accused must commit the
criminal act, or actus reus (guilty act). Second, there must exist a victim, who
suffered a legally recongnised harm. In the case of victimless crimes, the legal
system regards the accused, or society at large, as the victim of the criminal
act. Third, there must exist causation, which is a logical connection, supported
by evidence, that establishes the link between the criminal act and the harm
suffered. If it cannot be proven that the act caused the harm, a conviction
cannot be sustained. For most, but not all crimes, the criminal must also have
the requisite malicious intent to do a criminal act, or mens rea (guilty mind).
A mens rea, however, is not a required element for strict liability crimes, such
as statutory rape, which require only that the accused engaged in a criminal
act; the legal system does not take into account the mental state of the accused
when determining culpability for the offense.
Examples of different kinds of crime include murder, assault, fraud or theft. In
exceptional circumstances, defences can exist to some crimes, such as killing in
self defence, or pleading insanity. Another example is in the 19th century
English case of R v. Dudley and Stephens,which tested a defence of "necessity".
The Mignotte, sailing from Southampton to Sydney, sank. Three crew members and a
cabin boy were stranded on a raft. They were starving and the cabin boy close to
death. Driven to extreme hunger, the crew killed and ate the cabin boy. The crew
survived and were rescued, but put on trial for murder. They argued it was
necessary to kill the cabin boy to preserve their own lives. Lord Coleridge,
expressing immense disapproval, ruled, "to preserve one's life is generally
speaking a duty, but it may be the plainest and the highest duty to sacrifice
it." The men were sentenced to hang, but public opinion, especially among
seafarers, was outraged and overwhelmingly supportive of the crew's right to
preserve their own lives. In the end, the Crown commuted their sentences to six
months.
Criminal law offences are viewed as offences against not just individual
victims, but the community as well.[13] The state, usually with the help of
police, takes the lead in prosecution, which is why in common law countries
cases are cited as "The People v. …" or "R. (for Rex or Regina) v. …" Also, lay
juries are often used to determine the guilt of defendants on points of fact:
juries cannot change legal rules. Some developed countries still have capital
punishment and corporal punishment for criminal activity, but the normal
punishment for a crime will be imprisonment, fines, state supervision (such as
probation), or community service. Modern criminal law has been affected
considerably by the social sciences, especially with respect to sentencing,
legal research, legislation, and rehabilitation.[13] On the international field,
104 countries have signed the enabling treaty for the International Criminal
Court, which was established to try people for crimes against humanity.
Contracts
Main article: Contract
The Carbolic Smoke Ball offer, which bankrupted the Co. because it could not
fulfill the terms it advertisedThe concept of a "contract" is based on the Latin
phrase pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept). Contracts can be simple
everyday buying and selling or complex multi-party agreements. They can be made
orally (e.g. buying a newspaper) or in writing (e.g. signing a contract of
employment). Sometimes formalities, such as writing the contract down or having
it witnessed, are required for the contract to take effect (e.g. when buying a
house).
In common law jurisdictions, there are three key elements to the creation of a
contract. These are offer and acceptance, consideration and an intention to
create legal relations. For example, in Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball
Company[21] a medical firm advertised that its new wonder drug, the smokeball,
would cure people's flu, and if it did not, buyers would get £100.[22] Many
people sued for their £100 when the drug did not work. Fearing bankruptcy,
Carbolic argued the advert was not to be taken as a serious, legally binding
offer. It was an invitation to treat, mere puff, a gimmick. But the court of
appeal held that to a reasonable man Carbolic had made a serious offer. People
had given good consideration for it by going to the "distinct inconvenience" of
using a faulty product. "Read the advertisement how you will, and twist it about
as you will", said Lord Justice Lindley, "here is a distinct promise expressed
in language which is perfectly unmistakable".
"Consideration" means all parties to a contract must exchange something of value
to be able to enforce it. Some common law systems, like Australia, are moving
away from consideration as a requirement for a contract. The concept of estoppel
or culpa in contrahendo can be used to create obligations during pre-contractual
negotiations. In civil law jurisdictions, consideration is not a requirement for
a contract at all.[24] In France, an ordinary contract is said to form simply on
the basis of a "meeting of the minds" or a "concurrence of wills". Germany has a
special approach to contracts, which ties into property law. Their 'abstraction
principle' (Abstraktionsprinzip) means that the personal obligation of contract
forms separately from the title of property being conferred. When contracts are
invalidated for some reason (e.g. a car buyer is so drunk that he lacks legal
capacity to contract) the contractual obligation to pay can be invalidated
separately from the proprietary title of the car. Unjust enrichment law, rather
than contract law, is then used to restore title to the rightful owner.
Tort law
Main article: Tort
The "McLibel" two were involved in the longest running case in UK history for
publishing a pamphlet criticising McDonald's restaurantsTorts, sometimes called
delicts, are civil wrongs. To have acted tortiously, one must have breached a
duty to another person, or infringed some pre-existing legal right. A simple
example might be accidentally hitting someone with a cricket ball. Under
negligence law, the most common form of tort, the injured party can make a claim
against the party responsible for the injury. The principles of negligence are
illustrated by Donoghue v. Stevenson. Mrs Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of
ginger beer in a café in Paisley. Having consumed half of it, she poured the
remainder into a tumbler. The decomposing remains of a dead snail floated out.
She fell ill and sued the manufacturer for carelessly allowing the drink to be
contaminated. The House of Lords decided that the manufacturer was liable for
Mrs Donoghue's illness. Lord Atkin took a distinctly moral approach, and said,
"The liability for negligence… is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment
of moral wrongdoing for which the offender must pay… The rule that you are to
love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the
lawyer's question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must
take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee
would be likely to injure your neighbour."
This became the basis for the four principles of negligence; Mr Stevenson
owed Mrs Donoghue a duty of care to provide safe drinks he breached his
duty of care the harm would not have occurred but for his breach and
his act was the proximate cause, or not too remote a consequence, of her
harm.Another example of tort might be a neighbour making excessively loud noises
with machinery on his property. Under a nuisance claim the noise could be
stopped. Torts can also involve intentional acts, such as assault, battery or
trespass. A better known tort is defamation, which occurs, for example, when a
newspaper makes unsupportable allegations that damage a politician's
reputation.More infamous are economic torts, which form the basis of labour law
in some countries by making trade unions liable for strikes,when statute does
not provide immunity.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
SILK
Silk dressesSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven
into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the
larvae of the silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The
shimmering appearance for which silk is prized comes from the fibers' triangular
prism-like structure which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at
different angles.
"Wild silks" or tussah silks (also spelled "tasar") are produced by caterpillars
other than the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori). They are called "wild" as the
silkworms cannot be artificially cultivated like Bombyx mori. A variety of wild
silks have been known and used in China, India, and Europe from early times,
although the scale of production has always been far smaller than that of
cultivated silks. Aside from differences in colors and textures, they all differ
in one major aspect from the domesticated varieties: the cocoons that are
gathered in the wild have usually already been damaged by the emerging moth
before the cocoons are gathered, and thus the single thread that makes up the
cocoon has been torn into shorter lengths. Commercially reared silkworm pupae
are killed before the adult moths emerge by dipping them in boiling water or
piercing them with a needle, thus allowing the whole cocoon to be unraveled as
one continuous thread. This allows a much stronger cloth to be woven from the
silk. Wild silks also tend to be more difficult to dye than silk from the
cultivated silkworm.
There is some evidence that small quantities of wild silk were already being
produced in the Mediterranean area and the Middle East by the time the superior,
and stronger, cultivated silk from China began to be imported (Hill 2003,
Appendix C).
Silks are produced by several other insects, but only the silk of moth
caterpillars has been used for textile manufacture. There has been some research
into other silks, which have differences at the molecular level. Silks are
mainly produced by the larvae of insects with complete metamorphosis, but also
by some adult insects such as webspinners. Silk production is especially common
in the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and is sometimes used in nest
construction. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various
arachnids such as spiders (see spider silk).
India and Nepal
Silk, known as Pattu or Reshmi in southern parts of India and Resham in Hindi,
has a long history in India and is widely produced today. Historically silk was
used by the upper classes, while cotton was used by the poorer classes. Today
silk is mainly used in Bhoodhan Pochampally (also known as Silk City),
Kanchipuram, Dharmavaram, Mysore, etc. in South India and Banaras in the North
for manufacturing garments and Sarees. "Murshidabad silk", famous from
historical times, is mainly produced in Malda and Murshidabad district of West
Bengal and woven with hand looms in Birbhum and Murshidabad district. Another
place famous for production of silk is Bhagalpur. The silk from Kanchi is
particularly well-known for its classic designs and enduring quality. The silk
is traditionally hand-woven and hand-dyed and usually also has silver threads
woven into the cloth. Most of this silk is used to make saris. The saris usually
are very expensive and vibrant in color. Garments made from silk form an
integral part of Indian weddings and other celebrations. In the northeastern
state of Assam, three different types of silk are produced, collectively called
Assam silk: Muga, Eri and Pat silk. Muga, the golden silk, and Eri are produced
by silkworms that are native only to Assam. The heritage of silk rearing and
weaving is very old and continues today especially with the production of Muga
and Pat riha and mekhela chador, the three-piece silk saris woven with
traditional motifs. Mysore Silk Sarees, which are known for their soft texture
and expensive class last easily as long as 25 to 30 years, if maintained well.
Cocoon
The tough brown cocoon of an Emperor Gum MothA cocoon is a casing spun of silk
by many moth caterpillars and numerous other holometabolous insect larvae as a
protective covering for the pupa.
Cocoons may be tough or soft, opaque or translucent, solid or meshlike, of
various colors, or composed of multiple layers, depending on the type of insect
larva producing it. Many moth caterpillars shed the larval hairs (setae) and
incorporate them into the cocoon; if these are urticating hairs then the cocoon
is also irritating to the touch. Some larvae attach small twigs, fecal pellets
or pieces of vegetation to the outside of their cocoon in an attempt to disguise
it from predators. Others spin their cocoon in a concealed location - on the
underside of a leaf, in a crevice, down near the base of a tree trunk, suspended
from a twig or concealed in the leaf litter.[3]
Insects that pupate in a cocoon must escape from it, and they do this either by
the pupa cutting its way out, or by secreting fluids that soften the cocoon.
Some cocoons are constructed with built-in lines of weakness along which they
will tear easily from inside, or with exit holes that only allow a one-way
passage out; such features facilitate the escape of the adult insect after it
emerges from the pupal skin.
Silkworm cocoons are processed and used to produce natural silk for clothing.
 An Emperor Gum Moth caterpillar spinning its cocoon.
|  Assortment of Luna moth cocoons.
|  Luna moth emerging from silk cocoon.
| |
 Luna moth pupa removed from cocoon.
|  Pupation of Inachis io
|  Monarch Butterfly chrysalis
|
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
PASHMINA
Pashmina refers to a type of
cashmere wool and
textiles
made from it. The name comes from Pashmineh, made from
Persian pashm (= "wool"). This wool comes from a special breed of
goat indigenous to
high altitudes of the
Himalayan
mountains. The special goat's fleece has been used for thousands of years to
make high-quality shawls that also bear the same name. The Himalayan Mountain
goat, Capra hircus, sheds its winter coat every spring and the fleece is
caught on thorn bushes. One goat sheds approximately 3-8 ounces of the
fiber. Villages
would scour the mountainside for the finest fleece to be used.
Cashmere
shawls have been manufactured in
Kashmir and
Nepal for
thousands of years, but the Indians never called them "pashmina". They were
popularly called Kashmiri wool shawls. The test for a quality pashmina has been
warmth, feel and the passing of the shawl through a wedding ring.
Pashmina is an indigenous Nepali word which only became popular after the
so-named shawls, woven in Nepal, started being popular in the west. What are
commonly thought of as pashminas have their origin in Nepal, where the people
have a cultural heritage of hand-weaving pashmina shawls with the well-known
fringing and hand dyeing.
A pashmina shawl
can range in cost from as little as about $35US for a pure pashmina
scarf or up to
hundreds of $US for a super high-quality pure pashmina shawl. They are known for
their softness and warmth. A craze for pashminas in the mid-1990's resulted in
high demand for pashminas, so demand exceeded supply.
A stack of pashmina fabric
To meet the demands of cashmere lovers, the goats are now commercially reared
in the Gobi Desert
area in Inner and Outer
Mongolia.
The region has identical harsh weather conditions to those of the Himalayan
region, and is thereby apt for the goats to grow this inner wool, but also has
acres of grazing ground to produce cashmere economically and commercially.
During spring (Molting Season), the goats shed this inner wool, which they
develop all over again during the course of the winter. The inner wool is
collected, sheared and spun to produce cashmere. The quality is just as high,
while the costs have become more reasonable as a result.
Pashmina accessories are available in a range of sizes, from "scarf" (12" x
60") to "wrap" or "stole"
(28" x 80") to fullsize shawl (36" x 80"). Pure pashmina is a rather gauzy, open
weave, as the wool cannot tolerate high tension. The most popular pashmina
fabric is a 70% pashmina/30%
silk blend, but
50/50 is also common. The 70/30 is tightly woven, has an elegant sheen and
drapes nicely, but is still quite soft and light-weight.
When pashmina shawls rose into fashion prominence during the mid 90’s, they
were marketed dubiously. Cashmere used for pashmina shawls was claimed to be of
a superior quality attributable to the enhanced sheen and softness that the
fabric (cashmere blended with silk) encompassed. In the consuming markets,
pashmina shawls were again defined as a shawl/wrap with cashmere and silk,
notwithstanding the actual meaning of pashmina - which is technically an
accessory of pure pashmina and not the blend. Following up, some unscrupulous
companies marketed the man-made fabric
viscose as "pashmina"
with deceptive marketing statements as "authentic viscose pashmina". These are
often sold for a very low price, leaving the buyer to decide whether it is
authenticity, quality, or price that motivates their purchase.
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