New American Chemical Society video focuses on ancient secrets of alchemy

Public release date: 1-Jul-2013
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

The pursuit that obsessed some of the world's greatest geniuses for centuries alchemy and its quest for the "Philosopher's Stone" that would transform lead and other base metals into gold is the topic of a new episode in the American Chemical Society Bytesize Science video series. The video, from the world's largest scientific society, is at http://www.BytesizeScience.com.

It features Laurence Principe, Ph.D., a noted historian of science and expert on alchemy, which, far from being solely a misguided pseudoscience, helped set the stage for the emergence of modern science. Principe, who is with the Johns Hopkins University, shows viewers how to decipher cryptic alchemical symbols, images and texts. He explains how alchemists worked almost exclusively in symbols and codes to protect the powers of alchemy from falling into the wrong hands. Instead of recipes and chemical formulas, alchemists created woodcut prints and images of dragons, warriors and monsters all symbolic representations of chemical ingredients.

Principe used these historical artifacts to recreate experiments once performed by alchemists. His lab features a collection of authentic alchemical tools and apparatuses, all used to perform alchemical experiments as accurately as possible.

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For more entertaining, informative science videos and podcasts from the ACS Office of Public Affairs, view Prized Science, Spellbound, Science Elements and Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 1-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

The pursuit that obsessed some of the world's greatest geniuses for centuries alchemy and its quest for the "Philosopher's Stone" that would transform lead and other base metals into gold is the topic of a new episode in the American Chemical Society Bytesize Science video series. The video, from the world's largest scientific society, is at http://www.BytesizeScience.com.

It features Laurence Principe, Ph.D., a noted historian of science and expert on alchemy, which, far from being solely a misguided pseudoscience, helped set the stage for the emergence of modern science. Principe, who is with the Johns Hopkins University, shows viewers how to decipher cryptic alchemical symbols, images and texts. He explains how alchemists worked almost exclusively in symbols and codes to protect the powers of alchemy from falling into the wrong hands. Instead of recipes and chemical formulas, alchemists created woodcut prints and images of dragons, warriors and monsters all symbolic representations of chemical ingredients.

Principe used these historical artifacts to recreate experiments once performed by alchemists. His lab features a collection of authentic alchemical tools and apparatuses, all used to perform alchemical experiments as accurately as possible.

###

For more entertaining, informative science videos and podcasts from the ACS Office of Public Affairs, view Prized Science, Spellbound, Science Elements and Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/acs-nac070113.php

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iPad 5 schematics leak with iPad mini-size sides

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This is a fabulous day for talking about your feelings, especially if you can confide in someone you trust. Be prepared to discuss your innermost and most private emotions, particularly if it will be a huge relief to do so. If you've been bottling up your feelings for a long time it will do you the world of good to get them off your chest at long last.

Source: http://www.topix.com/tech/ipad/2013/06/ipad-5-schematics-leak-with-ipad-mini-size-sides?fromrss=1

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'Out of control': Vigilante justice grips impoverished South African slum

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News

Ethiopians Ersido Ayele, left, and his uncle Areg Aroso were devastated when a mob rampaged through their shop in Diepsloot, South Africa, last month.

By F. Brinley Bruton, Staff Writer, NBC News

DIEPSLOOT, South Africa ? Ersido Ayele is still wearing the same pants, shirt and sweatshirt he had on when some 40 looters broke through the corrugated iron roof of his corner store almost three weeks ago.

?They burned all my clothes,? the 33-year-old Ethiopian said. ?They burned everything.?

?Everything? included plastic bags of rice, beans and flour; bars of deodorant and soap; bottles of detergent, shampoo and cooking oil; a refrigerator full of soda. Everything equaled around 180,000 rand ($17,000) worth of stock and savings that he and his uncle Areg Aroso had built up over two years trying to make it in South Africa.?

Nobody has been prosecuted in relation to the looting, which swept through other parts of this dusty patch of land crisscrossed by rivers of open sewage.? And it was not an isolated incident ? like many thousands of others, particularly foreigners, Ayele and Aroso fell victim to violence shaking Diepsloot with increasingly frequency. ?

Diepsloot has become synonymous with so-called "mob violence," or vigilante justice.? Crowds of residents are known to attack and sometimes kill those they believe are responsible for crimes, from burglaries to murder.? And of course there is no telling if the vigilante mob has actually captured a criminal, as the Ethiopian shopkeepers can attest to.

Such attacks perpetrated in the name of retribution go hand-in-hand with runaway crime in the settlement ? rape, assault, murder and arson is common here.?

AFP - Getty Images, file

Police stand guard outside a foreign-owned shop in Diepsloot, South Africa, on May 27 after a mob of looters targeted outlets amid simmering anger toward immigrants.

?This violence in South Africa is currently out of control,? said Stella Mkiliwane, the director of Refugee Ministries Centre, which was set up to help the influx of refugees flooding into South Africa. ?It is so violent, you wonder if this is been done by another human being to another.?

While Diepsloot lies within an hour of Johannesburg?s malls, tony restaurants and wide, gracious avenues, it feels like a different country.?Much of the settlement is a slum crowded with shacks lacking electricity and plumbing.

Government services are non-existent in some parts of Diepsloot. A lack of proper roads makes it difficult for police to access some areas and a lack of street lights means many of its roughly 380,000 residents refuse to visit the latrines after dark because they?re afraid of being assaulted or worse.

Reported incidents of arson in Diepsloot jumped from 260 percent in 2011/2012, according to police statistics.? Murder rose 41 percent and violent assaults increased by 380 percent.

The violence can be extreme.?

Golden Mtika, a journalist who works and lives in Diepsloot, has filmed and photographed dozens of examples of residents taking the law into their own hands. ?

One video shot in September shows a Zimbabwean man being beaten to death with sticks and rocks in broad daylight ?like a snake,? Mtika said, after he was accused of trying to rob a nearby shop.? In another, police struggle to hold back dozens of screaming bystanders as ambulance workers try to come to the aid of a man beaten senseless by the same crowd.?

Another photograph from May shows the body of a man cut in two by residents, according to Mtika.

?This is instigated by a number of people who are unemployed,? he said.? ?When someone is not working they will do anything.?

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News

Samuel Maira, local representative for the ruling ANC party, says growing joblessness and desperation are behind the violence in Diepsloot, South Africa.

Samuel Maira, local representative for the ruling ANC party, says growing joblessness and desperation are behind the violence.

?People are angry about food,? he said, pointing out that a small minority of residents are involved in violence.? ?When you?re hungry you can do anything, even kill someone.?

He said the government of President Jacob Zuma must concentrate on creating jobs: ?That would help people not commit crimes.?

With unemployment rates of around 30 percent, and youth unemployment at over 50 percent, the issues faced by authorities in Diepsloot mirror those throughout the country, said Prince Mashele, a political analyst and director of the Centre for Politics and Research in Pretoria.

?People are becoming more and more impatient with the government,? he said. ?We are dealing with a deeper problem of unemployment.?

The government?s so-called Youth Wage Subsidy and millions of dollars promised towards job creation have not worked, and the consequent anger all too often spills over into xenophobic attacks, he said.

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News

Streams of sewage and garbage run through the streets of Diepstloot, South Africa.

?The nearest target is poor Somalians who are running a corner shop,? Mashele said.

Martin Manganye is a local South African businessman who says his corner shop in Diepsloot was driven out of business by immigrants who charged less than he did.?

The government should help South Africans, and not immigrants, he said.

?A lot of South African shops closed? as a result of immigrants opening theirs, he said. ??Every day they are building a shop. If we don?t reduce immigration there will be more attacks.?

Resident are indeed becoming fed up, said Lizzie Chauke, a community leader in Diepsloot.

?There has been no changes since 1996,? he said.

People are so poor and desperate that they don?t even have the money to bury their dead, which has resulted in a backlog of unburied bodies in the morgue, she said.

?People come to us and we take them to (ANC officials),? she added. ?I am angry because we report things and they do nothing.?

?They keep on promising but nothing,? Chauke said.

Meanwhile Ayele, the shop owner, has nobody to appeal to or go to for help. He fled hunger in Ethiopia and cannot go back there.? He has no rights or protection within South Africa.

?We had no food, no work so we came to South Africa,? he said.? ?But here there are lots of problems.?

?I do not have a solution,? Ayele added.

Related:?

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Dog buries puppy in Iraq: Why is this video so popular? (+video)

Dog buries puppy: A video of a dog compassionately burying a puppy in Iraq has gone viral. Why?

By Elizabeth Barber,?Contributor / June 25, 2013

A video of a dog compassionately burying a dead puppy has gone viral. That the video garners such attention among humans is perhaps a reflection on how we see the world ? as much as the how a canine in mourning behaves.

Skip to next paragraph Elizabeth Barber

Intern

Elizabeth Barber is an intern on The Christian Science Monitor?s Web desk. She holds a master?s degree from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor?s degree in International Relations and English from SUNY Geneseo. Before coming to the Monitor, she was a freelance reporter at DNAinfo, a New York City breaking news site. She has also been an intern at The Cambodia Daily, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and at Washington D.C.?s The Middle East Journal.

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In the video, whose title translates from Arabic to ?dog buries his son in Iraq,? a dog gently sniffs the puppy ? found in a ditch with empty water bottles ? then proceeds to tenderly bury it, nudging with his nose the sand and dirt over the little body. In the background, three men talk inaudibly in Arabic while the dog works and then call out, in English, ?thank you very much? as the dog finishes and leaves.?

The video does not give any other information about the scene, such as where exactly it was shot, who took the video, the relationship between the two dogs, or how the puppy died.

The video, posted last week to YouTube, has since gone viral. There?s nothing that web audiences like more than animals behaving like people, especially when that animal is replicating our kindest, most selfless practices. Last month, an Oklahoma zoo captured a lion and a puppy "kissing."? Last year, a video of a dog assuming maternal duties for an abandoned kitten also went viral, as did another video of a dog trying to push a dog that a car had just hit and killed out of a road. Other videos of dogs standing sentry at the graves of their owners or crying for deceased animal friends have also made the Internet rounds.

Humans have a tendency to anthropomorphize the animal kingdom. But these videos arguably offer a portrait of a moral animal who embodies the best in human behavior.

"Grief is one of the basic emotions dogs experience, just like people, Dr. Sophia Yin, a San Francisco-based veterinarian and applied animal behaviorist, told HealthDay.com. Dogs also feel fear, happiness, sadness, anger, as well as possessiveness.

While dogs do experience emotion, the recognizable behavior through which dogs express that emotion is probably learned from humans, say some scientists. Studies have found that dogs have an extraordinary capacity to learn and mimic human behavior.?Two years ago,?researchers found?that dogs learn from their owner?s facial cues to perform good behavior when their owner is watching and to save the misbehavior until their owner?s back is turned, like a wised-up child pilfering from the cookie jar.

Does that mean this dog in Iraq learned from its owners how to mourn the loss of a child? We don't know. Certainly, Iraq has been a venue for some of the worst in human behavior in recent years. But the fact that "even dogs" can express compassion is perhaps why we respond so well to such videos: They are encouraging, hopeful reminders that such actions are natural to all beings, including humans.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/93I2v7aU3Rs/Dog-buries-puppy-in-Iraq-Why-is-this-video-so-popular-video

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Lebanese troops disperse Sunni protesters

BEIRUT (AP) ? Lebanese troops fired in the air Friday to disperse dozens of Sunni Muslims demonstrating in support of a hardline cleric who has been on the run since the military crushed his fighters earlier this week.

Lebanon is grappling with rising tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims linked to the more than 2-year-old conflict in neighboring Syria, which has sparked deadly street fighting on several occasions in Lebanese cities between the rival sects.

The Lebanese military moved Friday to break up the demonstration in the southern port city of Sidon after protesters tried to reach the mosque complex where the Sunni cleric Ahmad al-Assir used to give his sermons. There were similar protests by Sunnis in the capital Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon's third largest.

The compound has been under army control since Monday following two days of fighting between troops and al-Assir's followers that left dozens of people dead.

Al-Assir's rapid rise in popularity among Sunnis underscored the deep frustration of many Lebanese who resent the influence Shiites have gained in government via the powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Al-Assir has been one of Hezbollah's harshest critics in Lebanon and had called on fellow Sunnis to go fight in Syria against President Bashar Assad's forces. His calls intensified earlier this year after Hezbollah fighters joined Assad's forces against the Syrian opposition, which is dominated by Sunnis.

Syria's conflict has increasingly taken on sectarian overtones. The rebels fighting to remove Assad are primarily Sunnis, and have been joined by Sunni fighters from other Muslim countries. Assad's regime, in contrast, is led by the president's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and his forces have been bolstered by fighters from Hezbollah, a factor that has helped fan the sectarian nature of the conflict.

Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries that are easily enflamed. Lebanon, a country plagued by decades of strife, has been on edge since the uprising in Syria against Assad erupted in March 2011.

Sidon, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Beirut, had largely been spared from violence plaguing Lebanon's border areas where Syria's civil war has been spilling over with increasing frequency.

On Friday, troops fired into the air with heavy machineguns mounted on armored personnel carriers to disperse the protesters. People ran in fear in the streets as cars sped away from the area.

Fighting in the Mediterranean city began Sunday after troops arrested an al-Assir follower. The army says the cleric's supporters opened fire without provocation on an army checkpoint.

Official reports said at least 18 soldiers were killed and 50 wounded in the fighting, while more than 20 of al-Assir's supporters died in the battle.

Some Sunni activists said the army was joined by Hezbollah fighters in the battle against al-Assir, a claim that the army denied.

Sidon's demonstration started after thousands attended Friday prayers in a mosque in the city center. The prayer was attended by prominent ultraconservative Sunni Salafi cleric from northern Lebanon, Daia Al-Islam Al-Shahal and the Sunni mufti of Sidon, Sheik Salim Soussan.

Soussan urged the army to open a "fair, objective and legal investigation" into the fighting in Sidon.

"We totally reject that some illegitimate armed groups take part in the raids, provocations and interrogation of people," Soussan said in an apparent reference to Hezbollah. "We put the state responsible for that."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanese-troops-disperse-sunni-protesters-121534805.html

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Bagpipes play up a storm in Pakistan's boomtown

One Pakistani city has turned into a boom town by manufacturing and exporting a diverse array of products from bagpipes to replica Civil War uniforms. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports from Sialkot, Pakistan.?

By Amna Nawaz, Correspondent, NBC News

SIALKOT, Pakistan ? It's not a sound you expect to hear in Pakistan. And yet, here we stand, in the heart of the country's Punjab province, listening to the theme song from ?The Titanic? played on traditional bagpipes.

The Pakistani teenager serenading us with the soaring wails of this iconic Scottish instrument?was taught to play by his father, who was taught by his father before him.

And his bagpipe was made right here in Sialkot, a city of 3 million that's emerged as the world's leading manufacturer of the instrument. More than 100,000 locally made bagpipes are exported every year.

M.H. Geoffrey's factory is one of over a dozen in the city. His grandfather began the business when a British army officer, part of the colonial forces in the region in the 19th century, approached him to get his own bagpipe fixed.

"My grandfather not only fixed that one, he made?two more!" Geoffrey said.

Today, Geoffrey's company makes and exports nearly 3,000 bagpipes a year.

In a narrow, high-ceilinged room covered in sawdust and lit by an over-sized skylight, five workers squat before their lathes, expertly churning out intricately carved bagpipe parts. When the power goes out, as it often does in Pakistan, a single generator spurts to life, filling the room with a deafening hum.

Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images file

Ibrahim, the son of Farooq Ahmad, owner of the Imperial Bagpipe Manufacturing Company, tests a bagpipe at a bagpipe factory in Sialkot, Pakistan.

Every piece is handcrafted. Every bagpipe is hand-assembled. The cheapest bagpipes cost around $100; the most expensive, over $1,000. But Geoffrey, like many local businessmen, has also found other niche markets.

A combination of cheap textiles and skilled seamstresses prevalent in Sialkot led to the costume wing of his company. They now make, sell and export hundreds of replica U.S. Civil War uniforms every year.

The vintage, leather goods wing followed soon after ? manufacturing everything from footballs to cleats.

?Anything you need made? We can make it here. Anything at all,? Geoffrey said.

Sialkot is an anomaly in Pakistan?s economy. In a country where taxes aren?t regularly collected, power companies can?t produce sufficient electricity, and the currency continues to lose value, Sialkot?s business community decided to go its own way.

Ten years ago, business leaders pooled their resources to construct the nation?s first privately funded airport. It now boasts the country?s longest runway and more than 30 domestic and international flights a week. Last year alone, more than 6,000 tons of locally produced exports were flown out.

Those products run the gamut from bagpipes and costumes to medical instruments and sporting goods.

Companies around the world have long tapped into Sialkot?s manufacturing prowess for access to cost-effective, high-quality goods. Nike, Adidas and Puma all have contracts here. A walk down one main market street reveals over a dozen medical instrument and surgical supply storefronts, all selling local goods.

Sheikh Abdul Majid, the chairman of the local chamber of commerce, said Sialkot?s exports brought in more than $1.4 billion last year, and the local economy had grown by 10-15 percent every year for the last five years.

The IMF estimates the national economy, by comparison, may grow by just 3.5 percent this fiscal year. Across the country, fewer than a million Pakistanis pay income taxes.

Majid said?all local exports were taxed, with the money re-invested into the city.

Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images file

A Pakistani laborer prepares components to make bagpipes at a bagpipe factory in Sialkot, on April 14, 2011.

?We?ve fixed roads, built schools, even put in sewage systems with the money we?ve been able to bring in,? he said. ?And we plan to continue doing that, every year.?

For a new national government, elected largely on its promise to right an upended economy, the secrets to Sialkot?s success could prove useful.

Much voter frustration centered on 20-hour power cuts in parts of the country, a failure of the previous government to tackle corruption, and a lack of any clearly articulated plan to address either.

After just one month on the job, the new leaders? plans for emergency cash infusions to the power sector and increasing tax revenues are beginning to take shape. However, economists say an economic revival on a national level could take years.

Back in Sialkot, Geoffrey said business had never been better. Bagpipe sales now make up half of their revenue, and with the addition of online sales, his costume orders have grown exponentially.

?My sons are now learning the business, helping me to run it,? Geoffrey said. ?One day, this whole business will be given to the next generation ? the fourth generation to run it.?

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Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:

ABC's "This Week" ? Julian Assange, founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks; Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights director at the Government Accountability Project; Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign; Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage; Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.; state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Texas.

___

NBC's "Meet the Press" ? Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" ? Davis; Ted Olson, a former solicitor general; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Michael Hayden, a former director of the National Security Agency and the CIA; NAACP President Ben Jealous.

___

CNN's "State of the Union" ? Reps. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., and Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

___

"Fox News Sunday" ? Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Reps. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guest-lineups-sunday-news-shows-183815643.html

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