Category: News

[JURIST] Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday called for an investigation into the deaths of 25 people during recent anti-government protests. The group stated that it would welcome a pledge by the Thai government to “investigate promptly, effectively, and impartially the recent violence,” and urges it to “provide accountability for any violations by security forces as well as abuses by violent protesters.” The protesters, known as red shirts, claim that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva came to power illegitimately and that he should resign and call for elections. After the death toll rose to 21, the Thai army was called in on Monday to prevent the protests from spreading into Bangkok’s financial district. While AI’s statement recognized that the military’s use of force may have been justified by the fact that some of the protesters were armed with guns and grenades, the group also urged the Thai government to adhere to international principles on crowd dispersal and the use of force. Such principles dictate that law enforcement officials may use firearms only when less dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary
The protests are currently in their fifth week and have led to an increasingly hostile political climate in Thailand. Earlier this month, a Thai court issued arrest warrants for at least 17 high-profile protesters, including top red shirt officials. Abhisit hopes that the arrest warrants will encourage the protesters to disperse. Abhisit was forced to declare a state of emergency earlier this month after a Thai court refused to issue an injunction against the protesters. The protesters are supporters of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed from power during a 2006 military coup. Thaksin was convicted in absentia on corruption charges in October 2008. Despite the conviction, the Cambodian government refused to extradite the ousted prime minister to face a two-year prison sentence.

Materials: Erslev rug in light green

Description:

1. I created a stencil by tracing a Moroccan tile shape onto a piece of card stock and cutting out the negative space with an Exacto knife.
2. I placed the stencil on the rug starting in the top left corner.
3. I used a washable white fabric paint and a stippling brush to fill in the stencil.
4. I repeated steps 2 and 3 working my way from left to right all the way down the rug until the design was completed.
5. Painting freehand, I filled in the unfinished spots left by the “bridges” of the stencil.

~ Natalie, San Francisco

And so it ends. The sixth and final episode of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” airs this Friday on ABC in a stadium. From the promos, it looks like there will be tears, hugs, surprises and twists aplenty, and general yumminess bursting over Huntington, West Virginia, like fireworks.

I’ve streamed the first three episodes online, and will certainly see the rest. Though I find some of the reality TV tropes cheesy and manipulative, the message of this show is incredibly compelling, and its truths cut deep. It presents a powerful indictment of our food system.

Have you been watching the show? Do you think Jamie Oliver is really planting the seeds for change in our school lunch programs nationwide, or do you find his quest too idealistic?

Investors and analysts want to know what impact the SEC’s civil fraud charges will have on Goldman Sach Group Inc.’s client relationships. Defending the firm from these allegations could very well be a lengthy and highly public process that motivates some of Goldman’s capital market competitors to try and take market share.

In Canada, Royal Bank stands out as having the most global reach in its capital markets business and may therefore stand to gain more on a relative basis from the current situation, according to Stonecap Securities analyst Brad Smith. He points out that Royal has been quietly hiring a great deal of talent from global competitors that were stung by the credit crisis in the past couple of years.

“Having selectively added to its global capital markets capabilities we view the bank as being well positioned to capitalize on any competitive vacuum that may emerge in the months ahead,” Mr. Smith told clients.

The possibility of Goldman and other Wall Street competitors having to turn their attention to defending a government led push to reregulate the business, coupled with slowing deterioration in Royal’s U.S. credit portfolios in the first quarter, suggests Royal banks shares will begin recovering some of the relative performance gains lost in recent months. Stonecap rates the stock at Outperform with a price target of $70, which represents upside of roughly 14%.

Other Canadian banks like CIBC and National Bank have been hit by subprime related credit default swap (CDS) and collateralized debt obligation (CDO) losses. Mr. Smith noted that may also stand to recoup some losses if things do very badly for Goldman, opening the door to potential third-party claims.

“The time to recovery and likely costs associated with pursuing any future claims are however less compelling in our view than the potential immediate benefit to earnings that Royal could experience should a protracted defense against the SEC’s allegations cause any disruption to Goldman’s market competitiveness.”

Jonathan Ratner

If you’re in Denver and need to commute, do yourself and the environment a favor and shun the city bus and your car. Use a cycle instead. And if buying one worries you, simply enroll in the cities bike-sharing program! This Earth Day will see B-Cycle fling their doors open to what will be the first city-wide bike sharing program in the US. Compromising insurance company Humana, bike maker Trek Bicycle, and advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bugosky, B-Cycle will open 50 stations across Denver, Colorado.

The bikes, unlike the old gas guzzling four-wheeler you’ve got back home, are equipped with computers that display the kilometers you’ve travelled, the calories you’ve burnt and the number of carbon offsets you’ve earned. B-Cycle is eager to set up shop in Boston and Minneapolis too in future. Clean transport like this deserves a pat on its back.

[Gas2]

Are you a Facebook developer but can’t make it out to tomorrow’s sold-out f8 developers conference in person? Never fear — the social networking site is teaming up with Livestream to allow viewers to watch and even participate in the conference from afar. Beginning Wednesday, April 21 with Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT, Facebook will launch f8 Live, which will stream all sessions from the conference live on the Interwebz, along with a number of interactive features that are designed to let those who can’t attend feel like they are a part of the action.

Facebook will have multiple channels available to online viewers, enabling them to watch the keynote and other sessions, as well as “behind the scenes” live interviews with Facebook executives, f8 launch partners, notable developers and other attendees through the Inside f8 Channel. That channel will be moderated by Randi Zuckerberg, and will allow remote viewers to ask questions and interact with the featured attendees.

In addition to streaming video from the event, f8 Live will have employees live blogging the event, and will allow viewers to watch video of one session live while following the blogging or discussion around a different session. Since Facebook developers are global, chat and discussions will support eight different languages. Finally, f8 Live will have a scrolling ticker to alert viewers when new sessions or interviews are about to begin.

The f8 Live embeddable widget is available here, or you can watch the embedded stream below. A complete schedule of planned events can be found on the Facebook f8 site.

Image courtesy of Flickr user David Berkowitz.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: Lessons from Twitter: How to Play Nice With Ecosystem Partners (subscription required)

Rihanna was hospitalized for a mystery aliment after playing a concert in Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday night.

The “Umbrella” star, 22, was rushed to a local hospital just after midnight early Tuesday — after performing to a sold-out crowd at the Hallenstadion Arena. Rihanna was briskly swept into the ER by her driver, bodyguard and assistant to be treated for an undisclosed condition, hospital officials have confirmed.

“Rihanna arrived at the accident and emergency unit. We’re not going to give any details,” says Alenka Ambroz, a rep for the medical center.

She was treated for approximately two and a half hours and was discharged from the hospital at around 2.55AM.

Rihanna managed to take the stage for was able to take to the stage in Lyon, France last night.

The island-born beauty is preparing for her “Last Girl on Earth” Summer Tour.

Luke Timmerman wrote:

Seattle-based HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals has nailed down a full Series B round of financing worth $12 million, according to a company statement. This means HemaQuest has secured a second installment of $6 million, after grabbing the first chunk of cash in late January, which we first reported based on a regulatory filing.

The complete deal is being led by a new investor, San Francisco-based Aberdare Ventures. The financing also included HemaQuest’s crew of original backers: Palo Alto, CA-based De Novo Ventures, San Diego’s Forward Ventures, and Lilly Ventures, the startup investment arm at Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY). Naheed Misfeldt, a partner at Aberdare, is joining the HemaQuest board in connection with the financing, the company said in a statement.

HemaQuest is led by a familiar biotech name in Seattle—Ron Berenson, a former cancer physician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who went on to be a co-founder of Xcyte Therapies and CellPro. Those two companies failed, but his third venture, HemaQuest, got off to an auspicious start when it raised a $20 million Series A venture round in November 2007. The company, based on research from the University of Washington, Boston University, and Colorado State University, was founded in Newton, MA. HemaQuest never issued a statement when it moved to Seattle, but it appears to have arrived here last spring, based on scanning datelines from its press release archive. (It sure looks like a Seattle company now, with a beautiful picture of the Space Needle and Mount Rainier on its website.)

What is HemaQuest doing with that $32 million it has raised in the past few years? It is developing “short-chain fatty acid” molecules for life-threatening blood disorders. The company has two experimental drugs now in the middle stage of drug development—one for sickle cell anemia, and one for patients with lymphoma that’s associated with an infection of Epstein-Barr virus. If those trials are successful, Hemaquest says it’s possible it could enter the third and final phase of clinical trials as soon as 2011.

“HemaQuest is working in areas of increasing interest to investors and the pharmaceutical industry; serious and life‐threatening orphan diseases in which patients have few therapeutic options,” Aberdare’s Misfeldt said in a statement. “They have made great progress with their first two drug candidates.”

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

Befuddled old judges? Not quite! Turns out Roberts is “the strongest proponent of Fourth Amendment protection” in City of Ontario v. Quon, a case that will affect the future of privacy for electronic communications. It’s not a dumb question! [DCDicta] More »

We’ve heard of environment hugging eco-friendly laptops before. Sony’s Vaio W Series Eco-Edition was one of them. Lenovo have started thinking green too and have built a laptop that will have environment conscious users giggling like little girls. The eco-friendly ThinkPad L Series by Lenovo will get all your work done without a hitch and keeps out harmful materials from its body too.

Available in two variants, the 14-inch L412 and 15-inch L512, the ThinkPad L Series uses recycled materials straight of the office desk for its body. The ThinkPad’s LCD cover, palm rests, bottom and top case are made from office water jugs and used IT equipment. With Intel Core i3 or i5 processors, this laptop also boasts ATI Radeon graphics and an 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G wireless connectivity options, and Windows 7 OS. You can pick one of these for $649.

[Laptoping]

by Elizabeth Henderson

“We wanted to connect ‘safe’ foods and the support of organic farming with the survival of family farmers, with the preservation of the environment, with opposition to militarism and imperialism, with demands for social justice, and with our need to work collectively to create a better future.”—A 20-year teikei (CSA) member at the Urgenci conference

KOBE, JAPAN—Attending the Urgenci conference “Community Supported Foods and Farming” in Kobe, Japan, in February reminded me that sometimes traveling to the other side of the world can bHonoring Japanese CSA farmers at the Urgenci event in Kobe, Japan.Elizabeth Hendersonring new insights to our local work.

Urgenci is an international network based in the south of France governed by an 8-member board than includes one American, Benjamin Shute of Hearty Roots Farm in New York State. Urgenci’s bi-annual gatherings bring together farmers, activists, and researchers involved in community-supported agriculture (CSA) and other cooperative ventures linking consumers directly with producers. In Japan, the word for CSA is teikei.

For the past two years, Urgenci has been focusing on “missions,” sending two-person teams, an AMAP farmer and a consumer activist, to countries in Eastern Europe and north Africa to spread the word about consumer-producer cooperatives and to facilitate adaptations in each country.

A thousand or so people attended the 2-day conference, and 75 stayed on for the 9 am-8 pm Urgenci meeting.  While Japanese outnumbered other nationalities, there were representatives from England, France, the US, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Latvia, Roumania, Mali, and Morocco.  Aside from Ben Shute and me, the only other Americans were his wife Lindsay, and Jo and Jim Sluyter from Michigan.  The presence of the Eastern Europeans and Africans is testimony to the success of Urgenci’s missions and international exchanges.

Before the conference, a bus carried us into the hills behind Kobe to tour organic farms.  Many of the pine trees in the forests we passed seemed to be dying. Etched out of the surrounding forests, the villages are patchworks of small bermed fields, many with the residues of rice plants standing in neat rows. Traditional Japanese farm houses with their curving tiled roofs are sturdy and very beautiful.  Even in this winter season, you can see the ornamental gardens that surround them.

Our first stop was a blueberry field, perhaps three quarters of an acre.  The young couple that grows these plants told us that fresh blueberries are not a familiar fruit in Japanese markets.  The husband spent a year learning organic farming as an intern with Teikei farmer Shinji Hashimoto before marrying and settling in the village with his wife who agreed to farm with him on condition that they grow the blueberries.  Five years later, the blueberry plants look well-nourished and carefully pruned.  The wife treated us to some of her first batch of jam.  A culinary success.  The couple runs their own Teikei with 40 families, selling to restaurants as well.  All of their fields are certified organic.

That evening, these two were among the 17 new farmers honored at a grand dinner party and celebration of local organic food.  Shinji confided to me that he had invited the mayor of the town and other local dignitaries to speak at the dinner so that they would see these young farmers and taste the food they are growing.  In an area that has been losing farmers steadily and where the average farmer age is 70, the Ichijima prefecture (county) has been subsidizing organic farms for a number of years, paying 50,000 yen per hectare per year of vegetables, covering half of the certification fee, and paying the entire salary of interns who commit to farming there for five years. The results were tangible at this sumptuous dinner.

Along with Eliane Joumond, a French fruit grower with a CSA, Kristen Glendinning, who organizes CSAs for the Soil Association in England, and Judith Hitchman, our translator, I spent the night at Shinji’s home.  As the morning light was breaking, we visited the Shinto shrine, perfectly camouflaged in the woods next to the house. Over a traditional breakfast of rice and miso soup,  Shinji’s wife told us about her work; she does all the washing, prepping and packing, while Shinji and his two interns do the growing.  In the seven years since I visited before, Shinji has been able to purchase several of the small scattered fields that make up his farm.  Where one chicken house stood before, there are three now.  Together with 5 other farmers, Shinji supplies the vegetables and eggs for 400 households.

in the greenhoue of a Japanese CSA farm, greens thrive. Photo: Elizabeth Henderson As Shinji tells the story, their Teikei began in 1975 and at its peak 20 years ago encompassed 30 organic farms and 1500 households. Then a serious split took place.  It would be fascinating to get the whole story.  These days, the five farmers negotiate their crop mix among themselves and each sets goals for what he needs to earn.  They invoice the group for what each puts in the shares, and pay 2 – 3% for a book keeper provided by the agricultural cooperative to which they all belong. Deliveries are made by truck with the consumers paying the driver.  The members also pay a fee and the farmers can take out interest-free loans from this sum. Now this is a tip we might want to bring home to US CSAs!

That afternoon, the tour continued to an organic rice grower and sake maker.  Unfortunately, those of us who were speakers at the conference returned to Kobe for a briefing. The organizers were justifiably nervous about the logistics of a gathering of over 1000 people with translation into English, French and Japanese.  Dozens of student volunteers served as staff.

Here are some highlights from the conference. On day one, after greetings by dignitaries from the national and prefecture ministries of agriculture, Professor Shigeru Yasuda provided a history of organic agriculture in Japan.  Now retired from Kobe University, Yasuda was a founding member of the Japanese Organic Agriculture Association (JOAA) in 1971 and one of the authors of the 1978 Ten Principles of Teikei, based on the first five years of Teikei experience (you can read them on p. 269 of my book  Sharing the Harvest).  The man who inspired and provided the philosophical grounding for JOAA was Teruo Ichiraku, an organizer of farmer cooperatives.  Upset upon learning that even mother’s milk was contaminated by pesticides, Ichiraku developed a critique of increasingly corporate industrial agriculture and proposed direct relations between farmers and their customers as the antidote.  This quote from “River Basin Region Self Sufficiency and Teikei will Drive Organic Agriculture,” summarize his teachings:

“Teikei in its most pure sense is cooperation of people supporting one another in the basics of life and living via farm produce for both farmers and consumers.  It also establishes self-reliance for both farmers and consumers…It is correct to say that organic agriculture and Teikei are the links between people, nature and all creatures on earth that nurture thoughts for others and desire to create a society that cherishes warm-hearted living.  Such human relations will go beyond the boundaries of nations, growing and reaching out to each region and each country around the world, creating world wide solidarity.  This will certainly be the foundation of world peace.” (From booklet distributed at the conference by the Japanese Organic Agriculture Association (JOAA). February 2010, p. 75.)  Professor Yasuda went on to state that the three pillars of organic agriculture are 1. clean up the environment 2. protect the earth and 3. promote health.  He concluded his talk by asking the audience to reflect on their own behavior.  If they had eaten bread for breakfast, they had enriched US fields instead of supporting local, organic rice growers.

The conference was rich in testimonials from participants in the Teikei movement.  Yoshinori Kaneko, whose farm is still supplying families with shares of their harvest after 35 years, talked about the 95 younger farmers he has trained. Katsuo Watanabe was one of the 18 farmers from Miyoshi Village who responded to the group of Tokyo women from “The Grow and Eat Safe Food Society,” to form the very first cooperative Teikei in 1974. “Food is life, not a commodity,”  Wakashima Reiko, a 20-year member of that group, gave voice to a theme that echoed throughout the two days.  She outlined their basic principles: 1. we take everything the farmers offer, 2. the farmers set the prices, 3. consumers cooperate with producers for distribution. Kobe Professor Toshiko Masugata moved the audience to tears with her memories of the way Teikei farmers and members supported one another through the devastation of the Kobe earthquake.

The conference also covered other forms of producer/consumer solidarity. I spoke on “CSA Around the World,” an update of the chapter from Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to CSA (Chelsea Green, 2007, you can read the full text on the publisher’s blog or on the Urgenci website). The newest developments include a first CSA near Beijing, and the remarkable Urgenci missions to Eastern Europe and Africa.  Andrea Calori, an Italian professor and organizer of “Gruppi di acquisito solidali,” (GAS, or Solidarity-Based Buying Groups) gave a lively talk on local, not as a geographical dimension, but as a way of thinking.  A holistic approach to sustainable development, in Calori’s terms, must empower local people through partnerships that integrate commerce, agriculture, land use planning, fully honoring a community’s cultural heritage. Since 1994, over 600 GAS have allowed groups of 10 to 80 families to purchase directly from producers of food, clothing, and all kinds of services, and these local groups have formed regional clusters and a national network with links to Fair Trade.

On a panel on local food systems, Joy Daniel from the Institute for Integrated Rural Development (IIRD) in Aurangabad, described their work in a part of India where small-scale farmers survive on less that $1 a day. The IIRD has enabled over 10,000 mainly women farmers to move from organic farming by default to conscious use of organic methods of production for local farmers markets where they can get a better price for their food than by selling to brokers. Instead of third party certification, they have a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS); women who have gone through the IIRD training act as technical advisors and coaches to the others.  Since most of them are illiterate, they use a verbal pledge to a list of 14 simple and clear standards.

Andre Leu, Australian farmer and vice president of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) delivered a passionate speech on the vital role of small holdings in solving the world food crisis.  He sited studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that show that over a billion people, one sixth of humanity, go hungry every day.  The solution is small scale organic food production and marketing to ensure the food security of local communities.  Like Joy Daniel, Leu emphasized the conclusions of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) that if we are to feed all the world’s people, we must increase agricultural biodiversity, enhance the care of soils, water and ecosystems, improve rural enterprises and village opportunities, grow and consume local farm products and eat less meat. Leu announced that IFOAM is making PGS and support for small holders their top priorities.

The conference concluded with an official “Declaration,” affirming the role of Teikei and Urgenci “in protecting organic small scale farming and promoting partnerships… where the food and farms support the community and the communities support the earth.  This is the meaning of true food sovereignty.  It means thinking globally and acting locally.”

That night the conference organizers treated us speakers and international visitors to a gala dinner in a swanky restaurant on the 30th floor of the Portopia Hotel.  A bit rich for my blood, though I do not deny I enjoyed the food and the abundant sake. The view of the port and the city was truly spectacular.  The Portopia is part of a new section of Kobe, constructed on an artificial island in the harbor.

The next day was work –  the marathon meeting of the Urgenci Network.  Since previous meetings, both the one I attended in Portugal and the subsequent one in France, had been fraught with conflict, among the French and between the French and everyone else, Arthur Getz had been asked to act as mediator and facilitator.  Arthur is an American with long ties to Japanese organic agriculture who currently directs Global Policy Change and Food Systems Advocacy for Heifer International.  He conducted the meeting with humor and skill, preventing a relapse into the angry debates and cultural misunderstandings that had scarred the earlier meetings.  Board president Katsu Murayama and Jocelyn Parot reported on Urgenci’s work over the past two years and presented the budget.  French support has kept the organization going; finding a more sustainable solution is one of the challenges ahead.  In honor of his energetic and dedicated work organizing the international missions, the group elected Daniel Vuillon honorary president.  As a result of the day’s discussions, Urgenci will continue encouraging the spread of CSA-like projects, try to establish regional networks and seek membership fees from each project, all their members and existing networks like Just Food in NYC. The other top priority is closer partnerships with IFOAM and Via Campesina, the other international network of small farmers.  Board elections concluded the meeting. To fill out an application to join Urgenci, go to www.urgenci.net.  There you can also read the network’s newsletters and reports on the dissemination missions.

 

Related Links:

Me, on Edible Radio

That smarts! Dutch pranksters go car-tipping, and more

Food safety: How local can you go?

For some animals, sex involves the ultimate sacrifice. Some species of spider, for example, redefine the concept of a dangerous liaison when the female turns around and devours her mate in a post-coital attack of the munchies. For males, it’s important that this act of sexual cannibalism isn’t in vain and that they die while impregnating the best possible mate. And for the wasp spider Argiope bruennichi, that means no sisters allowed.

Klaas Welke and Jutta Schneider from Hamburg’s Zoological Institute found that male wasp spiders are more likely to succumb to their grisly fate if they have just mated with an unrelated female than a sibling. Doing so allows them to avoid the heavy costs of inbreeding, where two copies of the same harmful or faulty genes have a high chance of ending up in the same individual. That’s bad news and both sexes do their best to avoid it, but for these spiders, the female holds all the cards.

She can mate with multiple partners and she can even control whose sperm actually fertilises her eggs. So the male must do everything he can in order to ensure that his genes pass on to the next generation. His job is even more difficult because he can only ever mate twice in his life. He has a pair of sexual organs – pedipalps – and each has only one use. And of course, his mate invariably attacks him after sex with murderous intent. Around 80% of sexual encounters end with the male becoming a meal and even if he survives his first time, the second time will kill him.

The male’s chances of living to mate again depend entirely on how long he lasts during his virgin encounter. If he jumps off the female within the first five seconds, he has a shot at survival. If he hangs around for more than ten seconds, he will almost certainly die. The trouble is that the longer he sticks around, the more sperm he can pump into the female and the greater his odds of fathering the next generation. It’s a tricky dilemma – with only two chances at mating, he should only make the choice to stay, inseminate and die if his mate is worth the trouble.

And according to Welke and Schneider, that’s exactly what happens. They found that males escaped being eaten almost half of the time (47%) if they were mating with their sisters, but just a fifth of the time (22%) if they mated with an unrelated female. This was directly related to the length of their flings – when they had sex with sisters, they left after 5.8 seconds but they kept at it for 9 seconds when it came to unrelated females.

Of course, it’s possible that this represents a choice on the part of the female – perhaps she cuts the male off early if he’s a relative. However, Welke and Schneider think that this is unlikely because females will attack any male regardless of how closely related he is. They get their say by choosing to mate with another male if they wish. The decision to end sex early appears to be the will of the male.

But why should a male mate with their sister at all, if she’s such an undesirably partner? The duo suggests that males lead precarious lives anyway, and the longer they spend searching for a mate, the greater their odds of dying before becoming fathers. So high is this risk that they’ll accept even undesirable mating opportunities; they’ll just try to move on to better things without getting eaten first.

Reference: Biology Letters http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2010.0214

More on cannibalism:

• March of the locusts – individuals start moving to avoid cannibals
• Attack of the pregnant cannibal fathers

This is a fantastically odd letter about hypnotising animals that appeared in a 1992 edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Hypnotising lobsters, etc.

Sir: I was very surprised that the idea of hypnotising lobsters was thought to be evidence of gullibility requiring further photographic proof (Brooks, Journal, July 1992,161,134).

As a young child in rural Ireland I was taught to ‘hypnotise’ various animals by my mother. My particular expertise was in hypnotising turkeys and geese, for which I gained immense kudos as most of my peers were afraid of them. The technique involved stroking them firmly on the back of the neck, until the head rested on the ground at which point a white line was drawn in front of their heads. I often had dozens of them all over the yard, immobile until either they were moved or a loud noise disturbed them.

One recognised technique for hypnotising young children involves gentle, firm massage as this produces the relaxation and narrowing of attention required for induction.

My interest in hypnosis has continued although I confine my practice to people and my cat, Martha, when she requires calming at the vet’s.

P. Power-Smith

Link to copy of letter.
Link to PubMed entry for same.

Generation 20mm Linear Actuator Completes an Entire Line of High Output Can-stacks

Waterbury, CT – Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, Inc., a leading manufacturer of linear motion products, introduces the G4 19000 Series Can-stack Stepper Motor Linear Actuator, built for extended reliability and high performance. This is the 3rd linear actuator size added to the Haydon™ line of high output can-stacks offering superior force output and reliability compared with similar stepper motor linear actuators in the marketplace today.

The 19000 Series is a 20mm linear actuator in the G4 line of products that leverages the same improvements as the recently released 25mm and 36mm linear actuators. Technical enhancements include optimized stator tooth geometry, high energy neodymium magnets, custom engineered plastics, and larger ball bearings for greater rotor support and high axial loading capability.
The G4 19000 Series provides a high linear force-to-size ratio and is ideal for precision linear motion in a variety of applications including medical equipment, bar code scanning devices, printing equipment, laboratory instrumentation, and other mechanisms requiring high force and extreme durability from a small linear actuator package.

There are 3 configurations available as with other Haydon stepper motor linear actuators; Captive, Non-Captive, and External Linear. For more information on our entire line of high output linear actuators, please contact Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions at [email protected] or visit www.HaydonKerk.com.

About Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, Inc.
Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, Inc. is the joining of two world class brands in the field of linear motion; Haydon Switch and Instrument, Inc. and Kerk Motion Products, Inc. Together, the company now offers a broad range of linear motion products. Recognized as a leading manufacturer of stepper motor based linear actuators, rotary motors, lead screw assemblies, and linear rail and guide systems used in niche market applications, Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions offers a wide range of high performance and precision products. Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions has developed industry-renowned brands built upon its technical innovation, versatility, customization, product durability, and dedicated customer service. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.HaydonKerk.com.

BinMaster Level Controls of Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
announces the BM-30 LGX particulate monitoring system designed for general process and
environmental monitoring. Applications for the BM3-LGX include continuous emissions monitoring,
baghouse filter leak detection and process particulate flow monitoring. It detects many types of particulate
including solid particulates such as dusts, powders, granulars and pellets. The BM-30 LGX is designed to
help companies meet regulatory requirements by detecting leaks before emissions are visible, and
prevents the escape of valuable or dangerous powders while providing a cleaner, safer workplace.

The BM-30 LGX employs a highly reliable technology based on induction. This particulate monitoring
system consists of a control unit, a particulate sensor probe and a sensor coaxial cable. The sensor probe
is mounted in an airflow stream such as a pipe, duct or stack. As particulate flows near and over the
sensing element, the concentration of particulate is measured. When a predetermined threshold is
detected, an alarm is activated. The BM-30 LGX is CE conformant, CSA certified and complies with EN
61010 safety requirements for electrical equipment for measurement, control and laboratory use.
This intrinsically safe device can be used in hazardous environments and helps ensure air quality and
plant safety. Particulate monitoring is applicable to most any industry where dust and particulate matter
are problematic including the cement, mining, foundry, and steel or aluminum processing industries.
Power plants that use coal or any operation that utilizes or outputs carbon black will also require
particulate monitoring to comply with OSHA and EPA regulations. Industries such as grain, food
manufacturing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and wood processing endeavor to prevent explosions, protect
employee safety and air quality, and ensure valuable equipment is not harmed.
“BinMaster level controls are installed in many environments where dust and particulate matter are
present,” stated Todd Peterson, vice president of sales for BinMaster. “The BM-30 LGX is an ideal
complement for the customer who needs to monitor particulate matter as well as track bin level
inventories. Our goal is to provide customers with the right solutions for their bin challenges.”

SICOM6496 is a modular layer 3 managed industrial Ethernet switch with 48 10/100/1000Base-T(X) ports or 48 Gigabit SFP TP/fiber ports specially designed for core backbone network. It supports layer 3 data full wire-speed forwarding and full duplex or half duplex flow control. And SICOM6496 also supports DT-Ring protocols and the recovery time is less than 50ms.

1. Modularized switch, up to 48 Gigabit SFP ports or 10/100/1000Base-T(X) RJ45 ports
2.Supports DT-Ring protocols (recovery time<50ms), STP/RSTP/MSTP, VRRP 3. Supports IGMP Snooping, port mirroring, QoS, VLAN 4. Supports static routing protocol and dynamic routing protocols such as RIP v1/v2, OSPF v2, BEIGRP, BGP v4 5. Supports various multicast routing protocols such as PIM-SM, PIM-DM, DVMRP 6. Hardware and Layer 3 data message forwarding with full wire-speed 7. Powerful ACL, hardware supports data filtering from L2-L7 8. Supports DHCP, BOOTP and other address-attaining ways 9.Broadcast storm auto-detection and control, supports IGMP V1/V2 message detection, effectively preventing broadcasting overflow 10. Supports full/half duplex flow control with the speed limitation of the step of 64K 11. Supports QinQ to realize double VLAN security 12. Highly reliable network with DAP (defense system against DOS attacks) function 13. Improves network monitoring ability through RMON (Group 1, 2, 3 and 9) 14. Multiple management methods such as CLI, TELNET, WEB, SNMP V1/V2, OPC 15. Unified management software for SICOM series: Kyvision 3.0 16. EMC industrial level 4, complies with IEC61850-3 17. Operating temperature: -40 to 65°C 18. Ribbed aluminum case for heat dissipation (patent), dual fans 19. 8U rack mounting 20. IP30 protection class

Typical applications :

– interventions in dangerous zone in “monitored-diagnostic” mode

– interventions in manual mode for adjustment and maintenance of moving and rotating machines, machining centers and automatic production lines

– interventions on assembly of parts requiring precise commands and, in the event of a problem, immediate shutdown of machine

The RADIOSAFE product provides personnel working in a dangerous machine area with :

– a means of controlling the equipment (manual mode)
– an individual protection system by holding the 3-position trigger (monitored-diagnostic mode)

The system comprises :

– a wireless validation handle with 3-position trigger ensuring a SIL3 safety level, 4 function buttons configurable as “4 control buttons” or “function selection buttons”, a display configurable according to the applications

– a charger ensuring contactless charging of the handle and handle presence management

– a safety receiver with the following features :

. emergency stop input (ES) two-channel type, or one safety light barrier input type 4 as per EN61496, or gate input

. radio input associated to the wireless enabling handle

. 6 static outputs associated to the function buttons of the wireless enabling handle

. 3 static outputs for indication of the operating state

. inputs monitoring presence of the charger on its charger support, to ensure automatic operation of the equipment

Highest Performance

Onvio’s authentic planetary, AP, provides designers with the greatest positioning accuracy and highest torsional stiffness, along with the lowest backlash gearbox available. The AP design incorporates single or two stages of planetary gearing to create five frames sizes with rated torque from 40 Nm up to 900 Nm.

Standard backlash is 5 – 8 arc minutes and reduced backlash is 3 – 5 arc minutes, so designers can choose the appropriate level of precision for each application. Available in twelve standard ratios from 4:1 to 90:1 with optional ratios upon request. With a two-piece modular design, Onvio’s AP gearbox can be customized to meet your OEM requirements.

Custom housing designs Washdown environments
Integrated servo motor design Various lengths of output shafts
Wide range of operating temperatures Select Onvio’s AP gearbox when low backlash and dynamic response are critical.

The KEMPER robocab is a robot booth with integrated extraction. Its modular design allows the size of the booth to be adapted to the size of the welding robot. The robocab is suitable for the robotic welding of small to medium sized components.

The booth consists of a self supporting base frame with a walkable floor onto which the side walls, the robot, its base and the welding equipment are permanently fixed.

The KEMPER robocab is specially designed for welding robots. In addition to the assembly units for the robot, floor gratings are fitted as standard, so that dust and slag can fall through the
bottom.

A dust collector is fitted under the KEMPER robocab for easy cleaning. This conveniently disposes of the smaller particles. The booth is quickly cleared of troublesome welding debris. The dust collector is positioned directly between the integrated forklift pockets and may be pulled out on a rail if required. This
also ensures the correct positioning.

The individual powder-coated cartridges are embedded in steel struts. At the front the KEMPER robocab is either suspended with strips down to the floor or a revolving wall with the welding
equipment is installed.

The welding equipment can be controlled manually or in conjunction
with the robot controller. Thus employees are protected from dangerous radiation and welding sparks and spatter. On the rear side there is a door to allow staff to enter the booth,
making the KEMPER robocab and the robot easily accessible for repair and maintenance.

The KEMPER robocab has NW 250 mm connections, allowing an existing or a new extractor to be fitted to the robot booth. The recommended size of plant depends on the size of the cabin and the welding methods in use.

The installation of the robot is tailored to your requirements.

The KEMPER robocab has a stable and compact construction. Supplied in a container construction, the welding robot booth requires little space and can be easily positioned in the workshop. A side window allows the robot to be observed during operation. A webcam can be installed in the robot booth to monitor the entire production sequence.

The KEMPER robocab can be moved using a forklift truck and positioned in the production area. The booth is fitted into the floor with anchor bolts, requiring no further installation work. The power, compressed air and welding gases are then connected up. After installing the desired robot, the booth is ready for use.