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Society and Culture: George Washington Carver

Last Updated: 2011/10/07

Heads of state from Mahatma Gandhi to Joseph Stalin sought his talent. The top business leaders and entrepreneurs of his day eagerly desired to work with him. Henry Ford offered him unlimited resources, laboratory facilities and assistants if he would do research for his company. Thomas Edison reportedly told him, “Together we can remake the world.”

How is it that George Washington Carver, who was born a slave in southern Missouri and orphaned as an infant, generated such demand and respect in the society and culture of the 19th century? What insight could this humble teacher of botany and agriculture bring to a world that was racing into an industrial and technological future?

STRUGGLING FOR KNOWLEDGE

Carver was born sometime near the end of the American Civil War on a small plantation. While he was still an infant, a marauding band of criminals kidnapped him and his mother. The owner of the plantation was able to rescue Carver, but his mother was never found. Thus began a difficult life, with many obstacles to be overcome.

Carver was unable to attend school regularly until he was 12, but he desperately wanted to be there to learn as much as he could. He was forced to leave home and live with another family in order to attend school, paying for his board by doing the household chores. According to a number of accounts, he had to forgo recess at school so he could return home to help with the laundry, but he invariably took a book with him and continued to study during his chores.

Throughout his education, Carver spent almost as much time working to pay for his schooling as he did studying. But he was determined to learn, and neither lack of money nor the walls of racial discrimination that so dominated late-nineteenth-century America would deflect him from his goal. Despite all the obstacles, his attitude remained free from bitterness, his character bolstered by a warm and charismatic humility. Very often his gentle nature defused the tension when racially motivated criticisms and attacks came his way. His fellow students loved him and came to his defense many times when he faced the specter of hatred that still haunted the nation.

In 1890 he enrolled in Iowa’s Simpson College to study art and music. He was quite a good artist by most accounts, but opportunities for blacks in those fields were limited. So on the advice of a friend, he returned to his first love, agriculture and botany, with which he had become fascinated while growing up on the plantation. His motivation for this change was selfless. He felt that he could serve his people more through a knowledge of agriculture than through art. As a result, he left Simpson after one year and enrolled in Iowa State University.

Carver completed his master’s degree at Iowa State in 1896. But even before he graduated, his reputation as a bright student, researcher and inspiring teacher began to spread. Many universities and colleges were ready to offer him a position.

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How to Care for Your Bufo Alvarius Toad

Last Updated: 2011/10/06

The Bufo Alvarius toad can live for quite a long time in captivity. The Sonoran Desert toad, in general, lives for five to fifteen years, but one toad lived to 36, although it was not a Bufo Alvarius. But if you have gone to all the trouble of searching the Sonoran Desert to find them, or have purchased either a single or a pair of Bufo Alvarius toads from a reputable source, such as Bouncing Bear Botanicals, you will surely want to give it or them proper care so they will live a long time and give you many years of pleasure.

The first care tip is handling. You should handle your toad as little as possible, and, especially if you have other pets in your home, always wash your hands both prior to and subsequent to touching your toad. This is because the skin of an amphibian is permeable, which is to say it is porous, and any toxic substances on your hands may easily be absorbed into their bloodstream. The reason why you should always wash your hands after touching the toad is because of the venom glands located on their head and legs. The toad venom has a milky appearance, and it may be sufficiently toxic to kill a small cat or dog. It can also cause serious irritation to eyes and nose, so make sure never to touch your face until after your hands have been cleaned.

Toads are sensitive to light, sound and vibrations, so their housing should be kept in a quiet place where there is not a lot of noise and goings-on. Never put their aquarium on top of a stereo speaker or TV set, or even near them, because the vibrations are not good for them. Toads are nocturnal animals. They rest in the day time and come out at night, so the place where you house your Bufo Alvarius toad should not be too brightly lit.

Probably the best place to keep your toads would be in an aquarium of a twenty gallon size or larger. These toads are very large and they are excellent at jumping, so make sure their aquarium has a cover that fits snugly. During the day, they like to burrow into the ground to conceal themselves, so the aquarium should have a floor made not with soil but with chunks of bark, smooth stones that are too big for them to swallow, peat moss or sphagnum moss that has been dried. These are cold-blooded animals, which means their body temperature comes from their environment, so keep your Bufo Alvarius in a place where the temperature ranges from 24 to 27 C or 75 to 80 F. Their living space should not be wet, but they do need a bowl of non-chlorinated water. They don’t drink the water, but they immerse themselves in it, absorbing it through their skin.

Feeding your pet toad should not be too problematic if you live in an area where there are lots of insects such as crickets, or at least a pet shop that sells them. In the wild, they eat anything from small rodents and fish to bees, wasps and scorpions. These Colorado River toads even eat smaller frogs and toads.

If you keep your toad’s accommodations clean and comfortable, and take proper steps to look after them, you should be able to enjoy the company of your Bufo Alvarius for many years.

Read more: How to Care for Your Bufo Alvarius Toad

Can Baby Sign Language Delay Speech?

Last Updated: 2011/09/14

Using baby sign can help ease frustration for parents and babies during those preverbal times offering a simple form of communication to help enable babies to get them selves understood.

But does using baby sign language actually delay speech?

The short answer to this is no.

Signing is a very good start to communicating as a babies physical development does not allow them to start speaking properly until around 18 months old.

Communication is communication and using forms of sign and gestures are all very effective ways for a child to get their message across and get others to understand them.

By using Auslan, the official sign language of Australia, as your form of baby sign language communication, you are enabling your baby to be able to communicate with a potentialy wider range of people and/or carers. Many people working in the childcare industry have had some form of basic training in sign language so using Auslan can be of great benefit for consistency rather than having to try and work out what made up signs or gestures may mean.

Part of the problem when parents get concerned that their baby is not speaking yet is because they think that their baby should be speaking by now. But that is rarely the case. Their are common milestones in your baby’s language development but these have to be considered as guidlines only since each baby is unique.

There is a huge variance in the rate of vocabulary development and while many babies will start to babble or attempt their first words soon after their first birthday some will babble endlessly while others may skip it completely and begin speaking in short sentences. Whether a baby starts to speak late or early rarely gives any true indication of that baby’s future capabilities.

Research carried out in America and published in the Journal of Non Verbal Behaviour by Dr Linda Acredolo showed that when using baby sign language and talking to your baby at the same time on average the children in their studies at 36 months of age were speaking at an equivalent level of non signing 47 month olds.

It is important to encourage your baby’s attempts at speech by talking to them when using baby sign language so that they can connect the spoken word with the sign.

Start slowly and focus on 4-5 keywords to begin with. Encourage attempts to say words and repeat the words back to your baby. Listen to what they have to say and speak slowly back to them while giving them time to respond just as you would with an adult conversation.

If you have trouble understanding your baby but they are profficient in signing don’t stop speaking to them simply because it is easier to use signs to work out what they want. If you dont take the time to speak with them they may become used to simply getting what they want by signing and not worry about trying to speak. While this wont affect them in the long run it is much better to continue with using speech and sign together.

For more information on how to help encourage your baby’s speech you may like to read my article a little help on the road to talking http://www.australianbabyhands.com/articles/a-little-help-on-the-road-to-talking.html

Read more: Can Baby Sign Language Delay Speech?

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