I hope all is going well in all areas of your lives. It is hard to believe that it is now October and already many areas are experiencing much cooler weather and some have even had a little snow that has fallen.
Things around here have been busy with new members joining us and getting to know our site family by chatting, and many enjoying playing their favorite games or attending events while new games are in the process of being created, and will be placed soon on our weekly schedule. Our quarterly game tournament took place just a few days ago, and several had a good time participating in this event.
Our annual fall fund raising auction was again a great success and was well attended and enjoyed by all. We appreciate all those who donated items or bid upon those items, along with those who were there to support the event and encourage the bidders to keep on their toes.
It took all these, along with those behind the scenes before, during, and after the actual auction, to make it another milestone for our site. It is because of all of you that our site continues to be the place to be.
Everyone keep up the good work!On Saturday, September 27th, over 50 members piled into the Town Square to witness the replay of our We are the World Performance. This presentation kicked off our 7th Annual Fall Auction, and was met with thunderous applause! People were amazed and moved at the work that went into this little pipe dream that was created in the summer of 2013. 101 participants sent their welcome greetings to the site, along with 29 of them singing lines from the fitting and heartfelt tune, We are the World. Thanks again go out to everyone who helped make this project an example of the love, friendship, and camaraderie found here on the site.
After the special presentation, members so graciously donated to the site, by bidding on the 70 auction items, and spent several hours laughing and cutting up with each other. The site made $3,003, which will be kept safely in the bank, so that others down the road, in years to come, may enjoy the games, events, and presentations just as much as we do now! Katie Chandler, Ted Galanos, and Cheryl Spencer won a Logitech Wireless Headset, from participating in our three contests offered this year. It was a super amazing day! Thanks go out to all of the donors and winners of the bids. Thanks for making this another successful auction, and thanks for continuing to make this an Out-Of-Sight place to be!
Thank you for your time in exploring BrailleSmith. We have a wide variety of braille and large print products to offer that we know you will be satisfied with. My name is Gail Smith and I would like to share a little about the foundation of BrailleSmith.
I have been reading Braille for more than forty years and have been using braille devices and other types of assistive technology for more than twenty years. I am active in many support groups and networks that serve in advancing the interests and needs of the blind and visually impaired.
I began embossing braille in the early 90\'s using a DOS-based program called Megadots. At that time, I was receiving requests from my friends asking me to braille recipes, craft instructions, telephone and address lists, among other items. Soon others began asking me for braille items such as business cards, hand-out cards, items for the commercial market and forms used by professionals. Since those early days, technology has changed and I have managed to maintain my knowledge and skills with each advance. In order to expand our services, BrailleSmith was created and now offers a highly efficient, talented supportive production team. we have a group of dedicated transcribers and proofreaders. In addition, this team consists of two gifted designers for creating the print products and laying out the business cards with your logos.
We are glad to provide products and services that are not a luxury or even optional, but are absolutely essential for millions of individuals with visual disabilities. We believe that braille allows a blind person to have equal access to printed information, which is essential to having competitive jobs, independent skills at home and equal access in social settings.
KRAVE takes jerky to another level! Out with the tough, chemical-laden, processed meat snacks and in with all-natural, whole-muscle cut, hand-sliced pieces of MEAT. After bathing in our marinade for 48 hours it\'s off to BAKE, resulting in a moist & tender jerky experience unlike any other.
KRAVE is entirely gluten-free and devoid of nitrites, MSG, and corn syrup – so you can feed your hunger without worry & focus on the flavor! Whether you are fueling up after a run, snacking on your way to yoga, filling the kids\' lunch boxes, or warming up on the ski slopes, KRAVE really is the perfect accessory and a JERKY FOR ALL SEASONS.
What do you KRAVE? Whether it is a bright, aromatic Basil Citrus Turkey, a savory & spicy Garlic Chili Pepper Beef, or a rich & tangy Black Cherry Barbecue Pork, we have got you covered. Expect the first bite to change your life, as you realize how sweet it is to SNACK A CUT ABOVE. Because KRAVE is the best of the best – from ingredients, to process, to packaging - and you deserve nothing less.
From the day two airline pilots working in a garage set out to invent a new kind of aviation headset until today, we have considered breakthroughs in audio technology as our daily business. We pioneered the lightweight headset, the mobile headset, noise-canceling technology and the personal speakerphone, always driven by a single obsession: remove the barriers to simply smarter communications.
The result? Our products are used by everyone from pilots, astronauts, and 911 emergency workers to 100% of the Fortune 100. From friends conversing across the globe, to mobile professionals doing business on the road, to contact centers and executive offices, Plantronics is the choice for everyone united by digital technology and the human need to communicate.
Plantronics is a publicly held company (NYSE: PLT) headquartered in Santa Cruz, California with offices in 20 countries, including major facilities in China, England, Mexico, and the Netherlands. Our products are sold and supported through a worldwide network of Plantronics partners, including resellers, systems integrators, retailers and mobile carriers.
And a half a century later, we are striving every day to deliver simply smarter communications with innovative design and technology.
We also thank those members who made generous donations of items and their talents to the auction.
And, thanks to the winners of the bids for your generous donations of funds to our site. Names are listed in alphabetical order by first name.
The spotlight has headed 957 miles northwest from Westville, Florida to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to shine brightly on Morey Worthington, our October spotlight member. Morey was born in Washington, DC in 1943. He lived in Pennsylvania for a short time before moving to Milwaukee Wisconsin at the age of eight. Morey has no siblings. I asked him if he was spoiled, and he said a little bit. I am thinking more than just a little bit, hmm? He would ask his mom why he had no siblings, but she never did answer him. If you ask me, maybe it was because she thought he was a perfect little boy and why try for more.
Both of Morey’s parents worked. His father was in the army, and then a bridge tender for the city of Milwaukee, and an over-the-road semi driver. His mother was a cashier at a grocery store, and later worked in an office at a shoe store. So Morey was pretty much alone in his school days. He would go to school, come home for lunch, go back to school, come home in the afternoon, and then his parents would come home later. I commented that he must have been very independent and responsible at a young age, and of course, he agreed with me. He graduated from high school in 1961. After graduation, he worked as a bus boy at the well-known restaurant, Big Boys for $1.10 an hour.
Morey had an interest in art. He decided to attend the Layton School of Art. He attended for a year and realized that it was in fact not the thing for him. Then he and some friends of his formed a garage band. Morey’s role in The band named, The Reasons Why, was as lead singer. You Rock Morey! They performed in small venues such as halls and VFW’s for two years.
Next, Morey took off to California, to as in his words, quote bum around end quote. His mother received a letter from the military. She kindly forward it to her son in California, and Morey was drafted into the army. He served in Korea for one and a half years, and made it to the rank of Sargent. Thank you Morey. He spent one year as the Colonel’s driver. This was a time when the Beatles were big and a Korean ban decked out with the hippie wigs performed a concert for the military men. Morey recalls the band playing great music, but difficult to understand, hmm, wonder why. Another great memory Morey has during his military times comes from his grandmother. His wonderful and thoughtful Sicilian grandma sent him a care package via boat. Well, it arrived three months later. Morey said that the mail staff would not go near the package. Inside was a whole Italian sausage and a couple loaves of Italian bread. At least there wasn’t a block of cheese with it. They had to burn it. You have to admit it; Morey’s grandmother was definitely thinking of him.
Morey was out of the army in 1965, and returned home. He started up The Reasons Why again, but this time with a completely different group of people. This was a rhythm and blues band. They were well known and had many gigs. While Morey would be singing the blues at night, he drove a concrete truck during the day. There were no blues singing for this job, as he earned $4.25 an hour; an increase by four times as much as he was making as a bus boy.
The drummer’s wife came to watch the band one night with a girlfriend of hers, Patricia. Morey and she hit it off and the rest as they say is history. Morey stayed with the band until 1969, and then he and Patricia were married. Patricia was a second grade teacher. Morey even helped her to correct her pupil’s math test, how kind of him. I am sure she taught Morey a thing or two. Morey worked as a parts manager for a Nissan auto dealership until 1976. He then worked behind the counter at a NAPA store. He and a friend of his were thinking about purchasing a NAPA store of their own.
Unfortunately, Morey did not purchase the store with his friend for the following reason. In 1979 Morey was in a serious car accident. He was driving along and another car had hit a telephone post and it went through Morey’s windshield and hit him between his eyes. He lost his sight, sense of smell, and 40% of his taste buds. Morey, like most of us, went through the phases of dealing with a loss. With time, and the support and push from his wife he persevered. His wife made it pretty clear that if Morey wanted something he was going to have to do it for himself. This may sound harsh to some, but it was effective, reality, and it worked. It was also during this time that Morey learned who his true friends were. That too is true, the way in which others perceive you after a serious injury. You would think, and hope that nothing would change, but not everyone is like that, a sad reality. Morey did invest in his friend’s NAPA store until it was sold in 2000.
Like I previously stated Morey persevered, and he did it on his own! Morey never had a mobility instructor or lesson. He, on the other hand came up with an idea of his own. He used an old car antenna as his first cane. Yep, a straight off the car antenna. He would go out for his walks early in the morning to avoid traffic and maneuver short routes at a time. Once he mastered that route he would either add to it, or do a different one. I find this to be very clever and to show his strong determination, to do things on his own and for himself.
Morey does not cook because he has no sense of smell, therefore making it difficult. However, he wanted to help get things ready for dinner one evening before Patricia got home from work. They were having liver for dinner on this particular evening (I know yuck, right?). So Morey thought being the helpful husband he would have the liver all breaded so Patricia would just have to pan fry it. So he put some flour in a bowl with salt and pepper and breaded the pieces of liver. Well, when Patricia got home, she noticed that Morey had breaded the liver with powdered sugar instead of flour. Not sure even that mistake would make the liver taste better. I give you an A for effort Morey.
Many may remember Morey having the screen name Mossback, and still does on some other sites. That was a nick name of one of the players on the original Negro Baseball League. It is an old turtle that lives in a swamp that has an abundance of algae on its back. Morey liked the name and he picked it. Hope Morey doesn’t have any algae on his back. Now a days on Out of Sight Morey goes by Turtle.
That is not the only nick name Morey had. He was known for a long time as the bra man, yep, I said bra man. Don’t worry Morey is not a cross dresser. In 1989 Morey started working at the Kohl’s store. His first job there was to work out back unloading the clothes off the large semi trucks. Then Morey’s job was to take the clothes out of the boxes and plastic, and put them on hangers and then on the racks to be displayed on the floor. A lot of those items Morey had to handle were bras. Morey did that for so long that he could easily determine the bra size from just feeling the bra. Morey confessed that he really knew the larger sizes best. That may also explain why when he was recently on the newlywed game that he deemed himself as a breast man. After 22 years of working at the Kohl’s store, Morey retired in 2011. Patricia had retired from her teaching job just ten years earlier. That was 33 years of dedicated teaching! This year Morey and his wife celebrated 45 years of marriage, and as Morey said, quote to the same person end quote.
Morey was an avid ten pin bowler. In 1985 he earned the title, National Champion. Way to go! Morey also was a golfer. After his accident, some friends of his took him golfing again. He told me how they would line up his cane to point in the direction where Morey should hit the ball. Once on the green, they would put his cane, oh yeah, by now he had a real white cane, in the hole and make noise with it, so Morey could hear what direction to putt the ball. Do to some physical limitations now, Morey does not bowl or golf anymore. Could it be from hanging up all those bras, just asking?
Back to Morey’s perseverance. Morey started out on the computer in 1997. He taught himself how to use the screen reader JAWS. He has quote grown up with Jaws end quote, starting with the 3.2 version and moving up.
Morey’s first quote blind site end quote experience was with For the People. Then he, Bob (AKA Bobcat), and a few others created In the Blind Spot. After about a year or so they closed it down. Morey, along with others then became members of Out Of Sight. Morey truly enjoys playing all of the trivia games the most. He likes password, and recently has become a part time host. He hosted the women verses the men challenge. It was a great game, and by the way if you forgot who won, it was the women, of course! Morey could also be known as the OOS score keeper, since he does it so much and is very good at it. He is what I would call a thorough score keeper. He not only tells the score, but he also gives the score to what the teams have missed points on, and if the host of the game has earned any points as well.
Morey also enjoys playing games on Blind Adrenaline and All in Play. He has his own Texas Holdem Invitational every Wednesday evening on All in Play at 9:30 Eastern time on table 431. All are invited to play cards and have some fun.
I have to say that this was truly a wonderful and fun interview that I had with Morey. He is a funny, polite, inspirational and intelligent man. Thank you Morey for sharing a part of you with the Out of Sight members.
Sometimes, they are convinced I live in a tent and ride a camel. But all of them want to know what it\'s like being blind in Israel. So here are some facts about the life of the blind in the Holy Land.
- There are about 50000 blind and visually impaired people in Israel. Most of them are elderly folk, with a small percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 65.
- We have one store that offers special gadgets, located in Tel Aviv. The selection is similar to America: Electronic devices, such as Milestone and Victor Stream, some gadgets for the kitchen, games marked for the blind, CCTV\'s, canes, Braille machines and paper, talking watches, etc. Unlike in the States, the store does not include general items that could be helpful to blind people or be easier to work with, like some of the kitchen gadgets one can find in the online stores for the blind. The nice thing is that we can order things by phone and they arrive by mail.
- The library for the blind in Israel has two branches and offers many of its books on CD in MP3 format. This is very convenient. But the even cooler feature is the catalog, which is available on the phone! You can call in, use the numbers corresponding to the Hebrew letters to search for a title or an author, as well as browse through the new titles which have been recorded recently. There are also books in Braille and on tape, still available for any interested reader.
- The agency which organized rehab and O&M lessons was closed and reopened with new management about two years ago. Now we have rehab teachers, who teach everything from mobility through kitchen work and from Braille to using smart phones and computers. - There are some vocational projects here, which help blind people find work. Unfortunately, it is not an easy task, much like anywhere else in the world.
- The sighted population in Israel can experience the world of the blind and VI by visiting one of two attractions. The first is called Dialog in The Dark, which is an exhibit of different rooms mimicking different environments, in complete darkness and guided by blind people. The second is a restaurant in the dark, where food is served by blind waiters and the visitors rely on their other senses to enjoy it.
- Public transportation is quite good in Israel, including regular buses and trains. When you use the train, you can call ahead and schedule assistance, meaning help getting through the station and onto the right train and off the train and out the station at your destination. Sometimes we are forced to rely on taxis, because there are some places that cannot be accessed by public transportation.
- We have an excellent guide dog school in Israel, located near the center of the country. It mostly works with Labradors and Golden Retrievers. The place itself is heavenly: Quiet, with many trees and walking paths marked for the blind, an enclosed running area for the dogs, and dorms that look more like a hotel! The thing I love most is the response of the school to incidents that occur from time to time, when someone with a guide dog is not allowed into a public place. The school invites the entire staff of the place in question to the school and teaches them about the importance of guide dogs. It definitely does the job!
- Several years ago, a new tradition took hold: Every June 6, Israel celebrates Blind Day - a day of activities which are designed to raise awareness about blindness and visual impairment. These days are total success, being marked in schools, malls, train stations, etc. The response has been very positive!
All in all, being blind in Israel is getting better. There is still room for improvement, as usual, but things are looking up.
I just received my Bradley timepiece and here are my first impressions. Let\'s hope what is said answers at least some questions.
The unit is round, about 2 inches in diameter. Being that it is a wrist watch, straps are fastened at the 12 and the 6 o\'clock positions. The buckle end is at 12. This is not the heaviest watch I have owned. It weighs about 45 grams, 1.6 ounces. My heaviest watch weighs 64 grams and the lightest one weighs 32 grams. (I would have expected that one to be heavier because it\'s a radio controlled watch.
There is no cover for the face as we see on Braille watches. At the outer edge of the face, or front, there are raised lines pointing to the center of the dial. At 3, 6 and 9 o\'clock we have long lines. All other lines are short. 12 o\'clock is marked with a short line but with another short line at right angles to it, forming a print T. All lines point to a small groove which runs around the dial. This groove holds the little ball bearing which marks the minutes.
Moving inward just slightly past the groove is a shiny disk which fills the remaining area of the face. I found it best to touch the disk and the groove in order to locate the minutes bearing more quickly. The ball bearing used to mark the hour is not on the face but on the outside of the case. You\'ll see the groov which holds that bearing and can trace it around the case. The two bearings are a bit larger than Braille dots.
Only a slight pressure on a bearing will be necessary for most people to read its position. Should you happen to push a bearing just a bit, it will move back to its correct place when it is released. It feels to me that the bearings are held in their positions by magnets. Apparently it is this magnetic field is what moves the bearings. This is very deep water because electromagnets would drain a watch battery very rapidly. If they\'re permanent magnets, some gearing must move them. Shouldn\'t this mean that there should be some sound which one can hear when putting the watch to one\'s ear? I don\'t hear a thing!
Will the maker keep silent about the technology? Let\'s face it. Most folks don\'t care about such matters as long as they can use a device.
As is the case with Braille watches, the stem is at 3. It is pulled out when you wish to set the watch. Turning it counterclockwise moves the bearings forward. A clockwise turn moves them backward. There are different wrist bands which ship with the timepiece. The band on my watch is typical. The buckle\'s tang fits into a hole, the position of which depends on wrist size. This strap is quite inflexible, making it a bit difficult to buckle. Over time the strap will conform to your wrist and putting the watch on will become easier.
The price is $275 and priority shipping is $5.50. I placed my order Saturday, August 23 and received it Wednesday, August 27.
Is the watch worth the money? Only you can evaluate that. I have been interested in clocks and watches since early childhood, going back to the 1930\'s. It is worth it to me to see a device which contains new and very different operating principles. I sincerely wish the manufacturer, Eone, much success with this very different timepiece. I can only hope, however, that the price can drop so many more people can afford to purchase it.
For more information about this watch, go to:The National Association of Guide dog Users Inc., a division of the National Federation of the Blind and the nation’s leading service animal advocacy organization, announced today that it has release the NAGDU Guide & Service Dog Advocacy & Information app. This new IOS app provides comprehensive information about the rights and responsibilities of service animal users under state and federal law.
Every law in the United States concerning service animals can now be in your pocket, says Marion Gwizdala, NAGDU’s president and a guide dog user himself. There is no other single source for this type of information.
The National Association of Guide dog Users is the nation’s leading membership organization for blind people who use guide dogs. NAGDU is a strong and proud division of the National Federation of the Blind. NAGDU conducts public awareness campaigns on issues of guide dog use, provides advocacy support for guide dog handlers who face discrimination, supports sound policy and effective legislation to protect the rights of guide dog users, offers educational programs to school and civic organizations, and functions as an integral part of the National Federation of the Blind. For more information about the National Association of Guide Dog Users and to support their work, you can visit their website at
HTTP://NAGDU.ORGNicknamed the “Big Fat Greek Expedition,” archeologists this week have embarked on a new mission to explore an ancient wreckage where one of the most complicated scientific antiques in existence was discovered over 100 years ago in the Aegean Sea.
The antikythera mechanism, which was found inside a Roman shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera, is an ancient computer thought to be at least 2,000 years old. It’s believed that this complex clock-like device was used by ancient Greeks to calculate the movement of the stars and planets. The mechanism was composed of at least 30 different bronze gears and the whole thing was housed in a wooden frame that was decorated with at least 2,000 characters.
The history of this device is shrouded in mystery. It is unclear how this intricate device ended up in the hands of Romans, but some believe the ill-fated ship was transferring a woman of importance to be married in Rome. The mechanism, among other impressive riches on board, may have been a wedding gift from her family. Thanks to carbon dating, we know that this booty-laden ship sank around 60 B.C.
Eager to find out more about this enigmatic antique, researchers are returning to the wreckage with the aid of a sophisticated diving suit that is taking them deeper than they’ve ever been before. The $1.3 million exosuit will allow the team to dive to depths of 150 meters (492 feet) and carefully explore the ship for several hours. But before they send divers down, the team will first use a robot to map the wreck and the seafloor around it. This will hopefully also confirm the presence of a second ship that researchers suspect lies nearby.
Since archeologists have previously only been able to operate at a depth of 60 meters, the team is confident that their month-long expedition will yield many other artefacts. So far, 36 marble statues, several bronze statues, gold jewelry and human remains have been recovered from the wreck. “There are dozens of items left, this was a ship bearing immense riches from Asia Minor,” Dimitris Kourkoumelis, an archeologist on the team, told AFP. But to the researchers, the real treasure is the missing pieces of the mechanism.
While the researchers have no idea what they may happen upon in the wreckage, any extra information that can help explain the device’s extraordinary first century B.C. origins would be exciting to say the least.
In a partnership dedicated to making information about fashion accessible to people who have disabilities, Emily Davison and Laura Legendary have created Fashionability, a social media franchise consisting of an audio channel on the Audioboo platform, a Facebook group and page, a Twitter account, and a blog and RSS feed.
Davison, blogger on the Fashioneyesta.com blog based in the UK, and Legendary, designer and owner of Elegant Insights Braille Creations, based in the US, joined forces in a very stylish collaboration to create an audio guide to accessible style.
The Fashionability channel aims to cover many aspects of fashion and beauty, jewelry and accessories, health and fitness, to provide tips and education, as well as to raise awareness about representation of people with disabilities in the media. I have been campaigning with a team of dedicated individuals with the organization Models of Diversity to target fashion brands to add models with disabilities to their advertising campaigns. Says Davison. there is the fundamental fact that people with disabilities are not equally represented in the fashion advertising industry. This immediately creates problems for people with disabilities as it shows society that disability is not considered to be relevant to fashion and thus all these unfair stereotypes occur.
Content on the Fashionability channel will also be provided by guest contributors, people with disabilities who are subject matter experts in a variety of fashion-related topics. One such contributor is the organization Living Paintings, www.livingpaintings.org, based in the UK.
The Fashionability channel is set to launch on September 19, 2014, and will be available via RSS feed and in the Lifestyles category on Audioboo,
www.audioboo.fmPlans are also in the works for text transcripts of the audio programming, which will be made available on the Fashionability blog. The Fashionability brand will focus on accessibility and inclusion, says Legendary. When most people think of fashion, or more broadly, style, they may think of it only in terms of a visual medium. The lack of accessible information suggests that people with disabilities are somehow less interested in looking and feeling their best. I hope that, with the help of Emily and our contributors, we can create a resource inclusive of all walks of life, all ages, all socio-economic strata, all body types and all abilities. I want to provide sensible, approachable, fashion and style information that is within reach...of everyone.
For more information, send an email to:It\'s best known as the main ingredient of atomic bombs like the infamous Fat Man, dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, which killed some 70,000 people. Japan surrendered six days later, but the threat of nuclear annihilation locked the world into Cold War for decades.
Yet the story of plutonium is not all about Armageddon or the threat of it. It is also the story of an incredible voyage of discovery into an unknown world.
You\'ve probably heard the quote Houston, we have had a problem.end quote It was what Commander Jim Lovell told the Nasa command centre back on Earth in the moments after the Apollo 13 spacecraft had been rocked by an explosion.
It was April 1970, and Apollo 13 was 56 hours and 200,000 miles into its mission, mankind\'s third attempt to land people on the moon. One of the oxygen tanks had exploded, severing the spacecraft\'s main power supply, and causing the temperature on board to plummet dangerously and carbon dioxide levels to rise. Lovell and his crew had to retreat to the lunar module, which carried a suite of scientific instruments powered by a warm battery containing 8.5lb of pure plutonium.
That battery helped save the astronauts\' lives.
Plutonium has since been key to a number of more successful missions. The Voyager space probes contain batteries that still provide an estimated 300 watts of power today, down from 500 watts when they were launched in 1977. The Mars rover also relies on plutonium\'s heat to stop its joints freezing, as well as for power.
The battery works because plutonium\'s nucleus is far bigger than any naturally-occurring element, and that makes it unstable. It cracks open producing radiation, and also heat, which can be converted into electricity.
Plutonium: Key factsRadioactive element of the actinide series in the periodic table, with atomic number 94 Only trace amounts exist naturally on Earth
Silvery metal that takes on a yellow tarnish in air - The heat generated by decay in relatively pure plutonium-238 is such that a solid sphere the size of a golf ball will glow red
The plutonium in these batteries isn\'t the same as the stuff that atomic weapons are made of, plutonium-239 - which is perhaps just as well, given that the Apollo battery ended up with the rest of the lunar module, deep in the waters of the Tonga Trench.
Plutonium batteries use a different isotope, plutonium-238, which contains one neutron fewer in its nucleus, and decays quite quickly. It has a half-life of 88 years, a fraction of the 24,000-year half-life of plutonium-239, or the 80-million-year half-life of plutonium-244.
But even 80 million years is peanuts compared with the 4.5 billion years our planet has existed, which is why only minute traces of plutonium-244 remained on Earth - until 1940.
This was when another great voyage of discovery began, this time into the unknown chemical world of \"trans-uranic\" elements.
Uranium for a long time was seen as the end of the periodic table, Ultima Thule, explains Prof Andrea Sella of University College London, employing a term medieval geographers applied to a place beyond the borders of the known world. It was as far as you could go.
That began to change in 1932, with the invention by the American scientist Ernest Lawrence of the cyclotron - a device for accelerating particles around a circular chamber using electromagnets.
The cyclotron built by Ernest Lawrence and collaborators at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, California The 60-inch cyclotron built by Ernest Lawrence at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California By smashing atoms and particles together, it achieved nothing less than alchemy, transforming one element into another. What makes an element chemically unique is the number of protons in its nucleus. Force another proton in, and suddenly you have a whole new chemical. This is how synthetic plutonium came to be created in December 1940.
A team led by radiochemist Glenn Seaborg used the cyclotron to bombard a sample of uranium with deuterium, creating an element that had first been identified earlier in the year by Seaborg\'s colleague Edwin McMillan - neptunium, as we now call it.
It decayed in two days, yielding another new element - plutonium.
Berkeley seems an unlikely place for this sinister substance to be created. The warm Californian sun filters through the eucalyptus trees on to the laboratory buildings that hug the hills above San Francisco bay. But in 1940 much of the world was at war and the race was on to create the most lethal weapons ever seen - atomic bombs. Now, there are naming rights associated with the discovery of a new element and fortuitously both Seaborg and a UK team, which had come across it simultaneously as a by-product of a nuclear reaction, proposed the same name.
Uranium, element 92, is named after the planet Uranus. The next planet out is Neptune, hence element 93 became neptunium - and logically element 94 became plutonium, after what was then believed to be the final planet in the solar system. Prof Seaborg playfully suggested that this be abbreviated to Pu - \"poo\". It passed without comment into the periodic table and plutonium remains Pu to this day.
Plutonium-239 atoms fire out neutrons as they decay. Put enough close enough together and you get an explosive chain reaction.
I was lucky enough to meet the famous nuclear scientist Heino Nitsche at Berkeley just a few days before he died on 15 July 2014. No fan of nuclear weapons, he compared plutonium to a boxful of mousetraps loaded with ping-pong balls, into which you drop one ball to detonate it. The development of the atomic bomb was not the only research into plutonium and its kin that raised ethical questions.
In the 1990s, an American journalist named Eileen Welsome of the Albuquerque Journal won the Pulitzer Prize after she brought to light secret studies commissioned by the US military into the effects of radiation exposure on the human body. These included experiments conducted at the behest of the US military on human subjects without their consent. Prisoners and hospital patients were used as human guinea pigs. In one experiment doses of radiation were even fed to orphaned children with their breakfast.
TORONTO - There is an “airtight business case” for hiring people with disabilities, Ontario’s outgoing lieutenant-governor said Monday in his last major speech. David Onley, who uses a motorized scooter after having polio as a child, used his term to champion accessibility issues. When he was installed in 2007, Onley defined accessibility as “that which enables people to achieve their full potential.” Accessibility is more than the wheelchair curb cuts, parking spots, automatic doors and “the ubiquitous wheelchair symbol,” Onley said in a speech Monday at the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
Onley, whose term ends next week, said a group of businesses that have policies of hiring people with disabilities will be announced this week and the organization will help companies access the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. It will include companies who hire a percentage of people with disabilities that reflects the number in the general population, which is about 15 per cent, he said. Onley will be the honorary patron of the organization called Canadian Business SenseAbility, he said. Onley said accessibility is ultimately about good business practices.
“There is an airtight business case to do what is counterintuitive and that is to hire people with disabilities for one and only one reason and it’s not because of some touchy feely notion of social responsibility, although there is a degree of social responsibility,” he said. “The only reason is for cold, calculating business reasons: to increase productivity and to increase your profits.”
Onley also announced a new annual award to recognize people and organizations who demonstrate leadership in accessibility and disability issues. This is a “watershed” time for accessibility, he said, as it’s near the midpoint of the 20-year implementation period of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and while a “great deal” has been achieved, there is a long way to go to build full accessibility by 2025. Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid also spoke to the Board of Trade and said after his speech that becoming more accessible could lead to a $7.9 billion impact on the economy. “That’s opening up new markets to customers, but just as importantly opening up our business to people with disabilities so that they can fully contribute the skills and talent that they have,” Duguid said. “There’s a really good business case to do this.”
Onley was one of Canada’s first visibly disabled newscasters and was a prominent face on television as a science and technology specialist and weatherman. The incoming lieutenant-governor, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former undersecretary general of the United Nations with a long public service record, will be sworn in Sept. 23.
Does a distinctive mechanism work in the brain of congenitally blind individuals when understanding and learning others\' gestures? Or does the same mechanism, as with sighted individuals work? Japanese researchers figured out that activated brain regions of congenitally blind individuals and activated brain regions of sighted individuals share common regions when recognizing human hand gestures. They indicated that a region of the neural network that recognizes others\' hand gestures is formed in the same way even without visual information. The findings are discussed in The Journal of Neuroscience (July 23, 2014 electronic edition).
Our brain mechanism perceives human bodies from inanimate objects and shows a particular response. A part of a region of the \"visual cortex\" that processes visual information supports this mechanism. Since visual information is largely used in perception, this is reasonable, however, for perception using haptic information and also for the recognition of one\'s own gestures, it has been recently learned that the same brain region is activated. It came to be considered that there is a mechanism that is formed regardless of the sensory modalities and recognizes human bodies.
Blind and sighted individuals participated in the study of the research group of Assistant Professor Ryo Kitada of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences. With their eyes closed, they were instructed to touch plastic casts of hands, teapots, and toy cars and identify the shape. As it turned out, sighted individuals and blind individuals could make an identification with the same accuracy.
Through measuring the activated brain region using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), for plastic casts of hands and not for teapots or toy cars, the research group was able to pinpoint a common activated brain region regardless of visual experience. On another front, it also revealed a region showing signs of activity that is dependent on the duration of the visual experience and it was also learned that this region functions as a supplement when recognizing hand gestures.
As Assistant Professor Ryo Kitada notes, Many individuals are active in many parts of the society even with the loss of their sight as a child. Developmental psychology has been advancing its doctrine based on sighted individuals. I wish this finding will help us grasp how blind individuals understand and learn about others and be seen as an important step in supporting the development of social skills for blind individuals.
Hello everybody, this month I would like to chat about depression.Depression is very common and often we may know someone who is depressed but even worse, we know someone but don’t know that they are depressed.
These people can live with their depression in silence. They don’t ask for help and suffer in their own quiet way. If you know someone with depression or you struggle with depression yourself then here is some information that may be helpful.
Here are 10 ways that may helpMany Americans across racial and ethnic groups describe losing eyesight as potentially having the greatest impact on their day-to-day life, more so than other conditions including: loss of limb, memory, hearing and speech (57% of African-Americans, 49% of non-Hispanic whites, 43% of Asians and 38% of Hispanics). When asked which disease or ailment is the worst that could happen to them, blindness ranked first among African-Americans followed by AIDS/HIV. Hispanics and Asians ranked cancer first and blindness second, while Alzheimer\'s disease ranked first among non-Hispanic whites followed by blindness.
When asked about various possible consequences of vision loss, \"quality of life\" ranked as the top concern by non-Hispanic whites (73%) and Asians (68%) while African-Americans (66%) and Hispanics (63%) ranked \"loss of independence\" as number one. These and other findings from a new national public opinion poll commissioned by Research!America and the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) point to various perspectives among racial and ethnic groups regarding eye and vision health.
\"Every segment of the population has major concerns about the impact of eye disorders on quality of life,\" said Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America. Individuals realize the importance of good eye health in maintaining productive lives and fear its loss. But the reality is that advances in the prevention and treatment of eye disorders will not be possible without stronger investments in research.
National support of research that focuses on improving the prevention and treatment of eye and vision disorders is considered a priority among a strong majority of respondents (83% of African-Americans and non-Hispanic whites, 80% of Asians and 79% of Hispanics). When told that the federal government spends on average $2.10 per person each year on such research, half of African-Americans (51%) and Hispanics (50%) say this is not enough followed by non-Hispanic whites (47%) and Asians (35%). About half of all groups believe that non-governmental sectors - industry, patient groups and philanthropies - should also increase funding for eye and vision research (57% of Hispanics, 51% of African-Americans, 49% of Asians and 47% of non-Hispanic whites). Knowledge about specific eye disorders was uneven among populations. More than half of all groups have heard of cataracts and glaucoma but fewer were aware of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic eye disease. Hispanics (35%) and Asians (31%) are more likely to say they have not heard of these conditions compared to 22% of non-Hispanic whites and African-Americans.
As for causes of eye disorders, a majority of all respondents (80% of non-Hispanic whites, 77% of Hispanics, 76% of Asians and 70% of African-Americans) believe that excessive sunlight or ultraviolet radiation is a risk factor for eye disease along with ethnic heritage (64% of Asians, 60% of non-Hispanic whites, 59% of Hispanics and 52% of African-Americans). Chronic exposure of eyes to sunlight can cause cataracts and macular degeneration as well as eye irritation. Minority groups are often at a higher risk for vision impairment and blindness due to higher rates of certain eye conditions such as glaucoma, cataract and diabetic retinopathy.
More than half of Asians (57%), Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites (52%) and a plurality of African-Americans (42%) agree that obesity is also associated with greater risk for eye disease, and 62% of Hispanics, 60% of Asians, 54% of non-Hispanic whites and 48% of African-Americans agree smoking is a risk factor. Research has shown the risks of AMD, diabetic retinopathy, cataract and glaucoma increase with obesity-related systemic diseases such as diabetes or a high body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference or waist-hip ratio. Smoking also increases the risk of AMD, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and chronic dry eye.
Looking ahead, many respondents believe health care costs from eye disorders will increase by the year 2050 (62% of non-Hispanic whites, 58% of Asians, 54% of Hispanics and 50% of African-Americans). A June 2014 report by Prevent Blindness estimates that the total cost of vision disorders is expected to reach $717 billion in 2050 compared to the current annual cost of $145 billion.
The poll, conducted by Zogby Analytics in August 2014 and supported by a grant from Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), is a rigorous attitudinal survey among non-Hispanic whites and minority populations about eye health and research. The margin of error for the sample sizes range from /-3.2 to /-5.8 percentage points. To view the poll, visit: www.researchamerica.org/uploads/AEVRRApoll.pdf.
\"AEVR thanks Research to Prevent Blindness for supporting this poll, which builds upon the first-ever attitudinal survey it conducted fifty years ago in 1965 and updated in 1976 and 1988,\" said James Jorkasky, executive director of AEVR. Although vision loss remains top-of-mind, we must continue to educate and advocate for research, especially due to an increasing at-risk aging population, vision disorders resulting from chronic diseases, and the disproportionate incidence of eye disease in growing minority populations.
Among other findings:About half of all respondents say they would likely participate in a clinical trial for eye and vision research if recommended by a health care provider (52% of non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics, 49% of Asians and 48% of African-Americans).
About half of all respondents say they have insurance coverage for routine eye exams or glasses (56% of Asians, 54% of Hispanics, 50% of non-Hispanic whites and 48% of African-Americans).
A third of all respondents say they have eye exams less frequently than they would like because of their insurance situation (31% of African-Americans, 31% of Hispanics, and 29% of Asians and non-Hispanic whites).
A strong majority of all respondents (90% of non-Hispanic whites, and 84% of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians) agree that good eye health is important to overall health.
About Research!America pollsResearch!America began commissioning polls in 1992 in an effort to understand public support for medical, health and scientific research. The results of Research!America\'s polls have proven invaluable to our alliance of member organizations and, in turn, to the fulfillment of our mission to make research to improve health a higher national priority. In response to growing usage and demand, Research!America has expanded its portfolio, which includes state, national and issue-specific polling. Visit www.researchamerica.org.
About Research!AmericaResearch!America is the nation\'s largest nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Founded in 1989, Research!America is supported by member organizations representing 125 million Americans. Visit www.researchamerica.org.
About the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR)AEVR, a 501c3 non-profit educational foundation comprised of 55 member organizations including professional societies in ophthalmology and optometry, patient and consumer groups and industry, serves as the privately-funded \"Friends of the National Eye Institute (NEI).\" In 2009, Congress passed H. Res. 366 and S. Res. 209 to recognize the 40th anniversary of the NEI and designate 2010-2020 as the \"decade of vision.\" AEVR\'s Decade of Vision 2010-2020 Initiative is a sustained educational effort to inform policymakers, patients, and the media about the benefits of federally funded vision research. Visit www.eyeresearch.org.
About Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB)Research to Prevent Blindness seeks to preserve and restore vision by supporting research to develop treatments, preventives and cures for all conditions that damage and destroy sight. Within this mission is a commitment to grow and nurture a robust and diverse vision research community. Since it was founded in 1960 by Dr. Jules Stein, RPB has awarded over $320 million in research grants to the most talented vision scientists at the nation\'s leading medical schools. The flexible nature of RPB grants fosters groundbreaking findings by funding innovative, out-of-the-box research and by giving researchers the freedom to pursue emerging discoveries. As a result, RPB has been associated with nearly every major breakthrough in the understanding and treatment of vision loss in the past 50 years.
Visit www.rpbusa.org.The federal government has found one of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition ships lost in the Arctic nearly 170 years ago, a discovery Prime Minister Stephen Harper says has solved one of Canada\'s greatest mysteries. Sir John Franklin\'s effort to map and navigate the Northwest Passage for Britain foundered after his ships became locked in ice.
The Canadian government says the find was confirmed Sunday using a remotely-operated underwater vehicle owned by Parks Canada. Ottawa says it doesn\'t know whether the vessel is HMS Erebus or HMS Terror, the two British naval vessels lost in 1846, but they have accumulated enough evidence to confirm the find is authentic.
The failure of the Franklin Expedition in the mid-19th century was a major event in the United Kingdom, perhaps akin to a moon landing gone wrong today. A series of recovery missions that followed produced a major benefit for future generations: British explorers mapped significant portions of the Arctic during their hunt for the Franklin ships – data that underpinned charts of the region for a long time. The Harper government has made finding the Franklin ships a top priority and poured millions of dollars into successive hunts for the wrecks.
While it might seem like an esoteric endeavour to some Canadians, Mr. Harper has considered it important for Canada to find the Franklin ships rather than private or foreign expeditions.
“This is truly a historic moment for Canada. Franklin’s ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expeditions, which took place nearly 200 years ago, laid the foundations of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty,” Mr. Harper said. “I would like to congratulate and pay tribute to all partners involved in this year’s momentous Victoria Strait Expedition, including Parks Canada, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), the Arctic Research Foundation (ARF), the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), the Royal Canadian Navy and the Government of Nunavut,” he said. “This discovery would not have been possible without their tireless efforts over the years, as well as their commitment, dedication and the perseverance of the many partners and explorers involved.
Canada didn\'t assume control of the entire Arctic Archipelago at Confederation in 1867. The British government retained some islands and only handed the remaining territories over in 1880. By that time London had lost interest in the Arctic and the British admiralty had been dispirited by the disappearance of the Franklin ships and the failure of extensive hunts to find them.
“Since 2008, there have been six major Parks Canada-led searches for the lost Franklin Expedition ships, covering many hundreds of square kilometres of the Arctic seabed. It is gratifying that the ship’s remains were found during the Government-supported 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition,\" Mr Harper said. Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum – or wind in our sails – necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition’s crew.
A lot of people in North America are getting ready to close down their pools as fall sets in. Some lucky ducks have a pool open year round depending on their weather, but, for the most part, if folks want to keep swimming anytime throughout fall and winter, it will have to be in doors. I have always marveled at how seamlessly folks naturally move through the water, as though they were made for it. As with anything, determination and practise are the backbone in getting better and better as a swimmer. Yet, for those who live with vision loss, we have an added challenge in takeing up swimming. However dificult it is as a blind person, it\'s not impossible to be a great swimmer. I was thoroughly impressed with everyone\'s skills, listed below in the comments section, with all the abilities that he/she has in the water. Wow, comment #6 can surely do a thing or two in the water, wouldn\'t you say? And, I really got a kick out of comment #9, LOL, very funny!
Here is the Survey Question that you all weighed in on, followed by all the comments that folks submitted:Being able to swim is an important recreational and safety skill to have. There are many challenges to learning how to swim. Do you have, at the very least, basic swimming skills?
Results: Yes - 85.71%, No - (14.29%OK great, thanks again for everyone who completed the survey and who took the time to share their comments. Here is October\'s Survey question. And, as always, you can feel free to submit a comment along with your vote, or, you can simply just do the vote. Results will be published in November\'s newsletter.
Halloween is coming up later this month. Many people have a variety of views as to whether or not the blind should participate in any of the dressing-up, trick or treating, or costume parties. Without vision, some feel that a blind person can\'t fully appreciate Halloween. However, on the other hand, there are many who say that vision isn\'t the only way one could enjoy Halloween. How about you? Please vote Yes or No to the following question: Should a blind person participate in any aspects of Halloween? Remember, any comment that you submit can be anonymous. Please visit the following URL to place your vote:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5THXM59We can store dried foods for a long time, up to 25 years according to Mountain House and over 30 years according to US government tests.
Wheat, Wheat rice, corn and sugar - 30 years.Findings of recent scientific studies conducted by a team of researchers at Brigham Young University show that properly packaged, low-moisture foods stored at room temperature or cooler (75°F/24°C or lower) remain nutritious and edible much longer than previously thought. The studies, which are the first of their kind, increase the estimated shelf life for many products to 30 years or more (see chart for new estimates of shelf life). Previous estimates of longevity were based on \"best-if-used-by\" recommendations and experience. Though not studied, sugar, salt, baking soda (essential for soaking beans), and vitamin C in tablet form also store well long-term. Some basic foods do need more frequent rotation, such as vegetable oil every 1 to 2 years. While there is a decline in nutritional quality and taste over time, depending on the original quality of food and how it was processed, packaged, and stored, the studies show that even after being stored long-term, the food will help sustain life in an emergency.
Keeping Food For YearsCertain Dry Foods Are Good Past Their Best-before Date, Food Scientists Say. Some low-moisture foods such as dried apples can be safe to eat even years after their expiration date, if properly stored, food chemists say. They verified this in a tasting experiment of 28-year-old rolled oats. Heat, moisture and light can degrade food\'s nutritional value. The next time you find forgotten food in the pantry, don\'t just toss it.
Past its expiration date may not seem like a good idea, but certain foods last a lot longer than you think -- years longer. Food scientists now know that, when properly sealed, some dried food that\'s been sitting on shelves for years, could still be OK to eat. It lasts a lot longer than we thought, Oscar Pike a food scientist at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, tells DBIS. Scientists have known certain foods like sugar and salt can be stored indefinitely, but wanted to learn the shelf life of other food like dried apples stored since 1973 -- tried by taste testers. I like to call it the emergency shelf life of the food, food that you\'d still be willing to eat in an emergency, Pike says. \"It\'s not as though it were freshly canned, but it\'s certainly edible. He says the best foods to store are low in moisture, like wheat and powered milk. But keep all foods away from heat and light to stop it from going stale and losing nutritional value. \"All the foods that we\'ve tested have been stored at room temperature or below, so you want to avoid attic and garage storage. In the study, researchers taste-tested rolled oats that had been stored in sealed containers for 28 years. Three-fourths of tasters considered the oats acceptable to eat in an emergency.
BACKGROUND: Food science researchers subjected a panel of human tasters to samples of very old food. They discovered that even 20-year-old dried milk and 28-year-old rolled oats were still edible -- and sometimes even tasted okay. So a lot of food well past the manufacturer\'s expiration date might still be edible for years or decades to come.
ABOUT THE STUDY: Food scientists have long maintained that certain foodstuffs salt, granulated crystal sugar, seeds, and wheat kernels, for example can be stored indefinitely at room temperature or below. But what about more processed grains, such as rolled oats? So the researchers prepared oatmeal from 16 samples of regular and quick-cooking rolled oats that had been stored up to 28 years in sealed containers. A panel of tasters rated the oats on aroma, texture, flavor, aftertaste and overall acceptability. The scientists also analyzed the samples\' nutritional quality. Tasters rated the quality of the old oats from 4.8 to 6.7 on an ascending scale from 1 to 9. Three-fourths of the testers considered the old oats acceptable in an emergency. WHY DOES FOOD SPOIL? Processing and improper storage practices can expose food items to heat or oxygen, which is what causes deterioration. In ancient times,salt was used to cure meats and fish to preserve them longer, while sugar is added to fruits to prevent spoilage. Certain herbs, spices and vinegar can also be used as preservatives, along with anti-oxidants, most notably Vitamins C and E. In processed foods, certain FDA-approved chemical additives also help extend shelf life. CONSUMER TIPS: If you\'re stocking up on food in case of an emergency, be sure to include lots of water: one gallon per person per day for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. The best foods for stockpiling are canned or freeze-dried soups; dried meats,fruits and vegetables; ready-to-eat-cereals and crackers; peanut butter, granola,or trail mix; energy bars, cookies and crackers; powdered or evaporated milk;and basic stables such as sugar, salt, pepper, rice, coffee or tea. Use only food-grade containers, and make sure the storage area is cool and dry,since hot, humid environments speed up spoilage. Date and rotate foods at least once a year.
what should I do when my family does not want to help me when I have problems fixing problems with my computer? every so often my computer will shut down and speech will turn itself off. when I ask for help my family does not have time right away.I would ask my dog but he does not read english, because he is a German Shepheard. can u help me with this problem?
Sincerely,Well, when I first read your question, my gut told me to tell you to get a hair cut and a real job. And then, I wanted to ask you how often you tooked a shower. These are the main reasons why folks avoid people. Then, I saw your name and where you\'re writing from, and all I could envision is a tall, dark and handsome hombre. So, move over Juan Valdez, Betty is on to Mexico, not Columbia. OK, Jamie, sweetheart, let\'s meet up on a sunny Mexican beach and I\'ll teach you all you need to know, and then some...hint hint, wink, wink. I\'ll have your hard drive running smooth, I\'ll show youhow to use your mouse, and your ram will be at peak performance all night long. Give me a call anytime and we\'ll sip tequilas together and I\'ll get all your bugs ironed out, as long as it takes, I\'m there for you baby! Asta la vista!
Insincerely,I think my husband Donny has lost his mind. One night when I wanted to watch one of my favorite television shows, I asked him to put it on. He said he couldn\'t because he was watching Wrestling. This not being the worst of it, he then told me he couldn\'t change it because it was Pay per View. He spent $59.95 on a wrestling show without asking my permission, so I gave him a piece of my mind. This still not being the worst of it, I was getting calls the next week about ordering another Pay per View event and they were near harassing me to do it, then I found out it was a prank from a radio station that my husband put them up to doing. I think I want to kill him, but I don\'t want to go to jail. Do you have a solution for me.
Sincerely,So, let me get this straight. You were in the living room, with a 50 inch high definition TV. And, for several hours, you had images of tall, strong, handsome hunks, who were barely wearing shorts, streaming on the screen right in front of you. And, your issue is what? Give your head a shake and get a life. That is a dream date, so, if you don\'t want to be their watching those gorgious hunks of manly steel on your TV, let me know when hubby will be buying pay per view again and me and the girlfirends will be over. You can go clean or dust or sulk somewhere else.
Insincerely,Thank you to everyone who submitted answers to last months brain teasers. Many of you were very close, but close only counts in horseshoes!
Congratulations to Cheryl Spencer, Christine Opperman, Karen Clark, Karen Santiago, Ricky London, and Roger Khouri for answering both of the brain teasers correctly!
Also, a job well done goes out to Charles Rivard, Karen Clark, Linda Knights, and Yasir Saleem for getting one of the brain teasers correctly!
In case you missed them, here are the September brain teasers and their answers: