What to do when they arrive

Purchased silkworm eggs usually arrive loose in a vial. working on a large piece of white paper,womens silk pajamas, use the little paintbrush to divide the eggs into eight piles, and put one pile into each of eight vials. Cap the vials. Keep them in a warm place out of direct sunlight until you are ready to introduce them to students.

Eggs from a colleague may be stuck to paper. If this is the case, cut or tear the paper so that each piece has 10–15 eggs, and put the bits of paper into the vials.

A shoe box is all that you need to make a silkworm habitat. Choose a place in the room where the silkworms will be warm but not in direct sunlight. Place the shoe box in an open plastic bag, or drape a sheet of plastic over the box. The idea is to reduce evaporation from the leaves a bit without developing a humid environment.

If the eggs are scattered all over the box, that is OK, but the larvae should be placed on a leaf. New larvae must be rounded up each day and delivered to a fresh mulberry leaf.

Silkworm math

Have the kids measure the length of the silkworms and graph them as they grow.

 

Rainfall: When the silkworms are large, take the lid off the container and have the children be extremely quiet. They will be able to hear the sound of the silkworms moving around! It sounds like a gentle rainfall. The sound is not chewing, but their little suction-cup feet lifting off the leaves and plopping back down again.

 

Silkworm pet. Give each kid a silkworm in a cut-down milk carton on their desk. Have them put in a fresh leaf twice a day, and empty the droppings out. Put the silkworm on a stick and they can see it crawl around. Wait until the caterpillars are two weeks old since there is a high mortality rate for the first few weeks.

 

Heartbeat. With a full-grown caterpillar,silk pajamas, you can easily see the heart pumping blood through the translucent skin. The heart is located at the rear end of the caterpillar on the top. You can see it pulse. The main artery carrying the blood is where the backbone would be if it had one.  For more information on insect circulatory systems, check out

 

 

 

Silk Industry

History
The coveted secret of silkworm cultivation began 5000 years ago in China. Sericulture (the production of raw silk by raising silkworms) spread to Korea and later to Japan and southern Asia. During the eleventh century European traders stole several eggs and seeds of the mulberry tree and began rearing silkworms in Europe. Sericulture was introduced into the Southern United States in colonial times, but the climate was not compatible with cultivation.

Today
Today, silk is cultivated in Japan, China,mens silk pajamas, Spain, France, and Italy, although artificial fibers have replaced the use of silk in much of the textile industry. The silk industry has a commercial value of $200-$500 million annually. One cocoon is made of a single thread about 914 meters long. About 3000 cocoons are needed to make a pound of silk.

To gather silk from cocoons, boil intact cocoons for five minutes in water turning them gently. Remove from the water and using a dissecting needle or similar tool, begin to pick up strands. When you find a single strand that comes off easily, wind the silk onto a pencil. Several of these strands are combined to make a thread.

Prepare for silkworm moths

Once the larvae spin cocoons, they require no further care. The moths will emerge in a couple of weeks and can be handled by students. They do not eat or drink—they mate, lay eggs, and die.

 

Get a large flat box,Fantastic silk scarves, or cut a taller one down to about 10 cm (4"). Line the bottom with paper. As the adults emerge, move them to this new box. The moths will stay in the open box. The females will lay eggs on the paper, making them easy to collect.

The eggs will remain viable for a year with minimal care. Seal them in a labeled zip bag and put them in the refrigerator (not the freezer!) as soon as all the moths have died. If you don't refrigerate the eggs, they will still hatch, but over an extended period of time instead of all at once.

Farm workers painstakingly

Farm workers painstakingly place the 500 plus eggs the prized grayish-white moth lays, upon strips of paper or cloth (not made of silk!),mens silk pajamas, until the following spring, when the incubated eggs hatch, and the tiny, black worms emerge. Once hatched, workers transport the worms to trays brimming with the worm's favorite fodder of finely chopped, white mulberry leaves. After approximately 6 weeks, the satiated worms begin slowly to sway their heads back and forth to signal that show time is at hand.

Once the silkworm completes its cocoon, the farmer snatches his cocoon from him, to prevent the shrunken chrysalis, carefully encased inside, from hatching into a moth in 12 days. The silk farmers ensure that this event does not transpire, and does not kill his moneymaking venture, by exposing the cocoons to heat, thereby executing the chrysalis. Now, the silkworm's labor of love is prepared for the silk production process.

The process begins by bathing the now-empty cocoons in troughs of warm water, which serves to soften the gum binding the silken filaments together. He now proceeds with the arduous task of unraveling several cocoons, and winding the filaments onto a reel that twists 10-12 filaments together into a "single" thread of silk. The end product is a skein of raw silk, which the farmer profits from by selling to the highest bidder.

Cloth and clothing manufacturers, use the trade terminology, in labeling their product, as being either 2 or 3 threaded, depending upon the number of threads woven into the cloth.

China

Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China,[1] with some of the earliest examples found as early as 3,500 BC.[2] Legend gives credit for developing silk to a Chinese empress, Lei Zu (Hsi-Ling-Shih, Lei-Tzu). Silks were originally reserved for the Kings of China for their own use and gifts to others, but spread gradually through Chinese culture and trade both geographically and socially, and then to many regions of Asia. Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants because of its texture and luster. Silk was in great demand, and became a staple of pre-industrial international trade. In July 2007, archeologists discovered intricately woven and dyed silk textiles in a tomb in Jiangxi province, dated to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty roughly 2,500 years ago.[3] Although historians have suspected a long history of a formative textile industry in ancient China, this find of silk textiles employing "complicated techniques" of weaving and dyeing provides direct and concrete evidence for silks dating before the Mawangdui-discovery and other silks dating to the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD).[3]

The first evidence of the silk trade is the finding of silk in the hair of an Egyptian mummy of the 21st dynasty, c.1070 BC.[4] Ultimately the silk trade reached as far as the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. This trade was so extensive that the major set of trade routes between Europe and Asia has become known as the Silk Road. The highest development was in Japan and China.

The Emperors of China strove to keep knowledge of sericulture secret to maintain the Chinese monopoly. Nonetheless sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC,Fantastic silk scarves, about the first half of the 1st century AD had reached ancient Khotan[5], and by AD 300 the practice had been established in India.[citation needed]

Wuxi was originally

  Wuxi was originally a mining town, which, legend has it, exhausted its tin deposits, hence its name, which in Chinese literally means "tinless". It subsequently became an arts and cultural center, with several famous Chinese authors claiming Wuxi as their home town. Among them, most recently, Qian Zhongshu,Sexy silk dresses, author of Fortress Besieged, a comedy of manners set in China in the 1930s. One of the handicraft specialties of Wuxi is the production of Huishan clay figurines. In modern times Wuxi has also produced a number of cultural figures such as Hua Yanjun (1893-1950) also know as Xiazi Abing, famous for his erhu and pipa music. As for cuisine, Wuxi is famous for its Wuxi-style spareribs, sweetened pork mini buns and oil gluten.

Weaving looms in workshop near machines spinning silk from cocoons of silkworms. From the labor of silkworms weaving cocoons comes the thread for silk fabric. Picture of weaving loom producing Chinese silk. The silkworms produce the silk which is woven into silken fabrics. The moths lay eggs to produce silkworms which weave cocoons, from which silk thread is spun to make silk fabrics.
 

 

White Catholic split

Pat Oliphant's cartoon, printed last Wednesday on Washingtonpost.com, received criticism for being offensive, particularly from some 350 Pentecostals. Debra Howell, who appeased such responses in her column, continued the discussion with a more general piece on the politics of cartoons. In response,silk pajamas, a Getreligion post by Mollie pointed out that not only is the cartoon offensive to Pentecostals, but that "Howell neglected to mention in her lengthy column was that Oliphant was so ignorant of Palin’s religious views that he didn’t even know that she is no longer Pentecostal." Actually, it's not entirely clear what Palin's religious views are at this point in time. In 2002, she did leave the Assemblies of God church that belonged to for almost all of her life and joined a nearby Bible church, but she remains a "friend' of her old church and is reported to attend an Assemblies of God church when she's in Juneau.

The Faith of Palin

Max Blumenthal, scourge of the religious right, has come up with a Wasilla Assembly of God video of a Kenyan pastor, Thomas Murthee, laying hands on Sarah Palin prior to her gubernatorial run in 2005, praying that God make a way for her in politics on a number of fronts, including by protecting her from "every from of witchcraft" (which perhaps is more common in Kenya than in metro Anchorage, but who knows?). Blumenthal says he managed to videotape an appearance of Murthee at the church a few days ago, and promises a posting of it shortly. Meanwhile,silk pajamas, Kos and Olbermann picked up on the old recording yesterday, and so it looks as though we're due for another round of speculation about the Faith of Palin.

Will Palin permit herself to be engaged in a discussion about her religious beliefs before the election? Such that someone could ask her, for example, whether she shares Pastor Murthee's wish that America's schools be filled with "tongue-talking, devil-casting" children rather than little followers of Buddha or Muhammad? Or why she (sort of) left the Wasilla Assembly of God after nearly 40 years? Or just what her views of the role of religion in public life are? I'm not holding my breath.
 

Religious Right Voodoo

OK, the touchstone of the narrative of John McCain and the religious right is his angry denunciation, following the 2000 South Carolina primary, of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance." But now, thanks to Jo Becker and Don Van Natta Jr.'s fascinating investigative piece on John McCain and the gambling industry in today's NYT, we learn the sequel--and something more about the underworld of Republican inside politics in the Bush-Delay years.

As anyone who has followed the Abramoff scandal even slightly knows, the Great Game had to do with playing one Indian tribe off against another. Tribes that wanted gaming licenses hired lobbyists to get them in,Sexy silk dresses, while other tribes, feeling their business threatened, hired lobbyists to keep them out. From the moral values standpoint, a politician could claim to be opposing gaming interests even as he was taking money to protect gaming interests. Sweet.

Now it seems--and truth to tell, the Times has the goods--that McCain has been playing his own version of the Great Game. As chairman of the key Senate committee, he learned what the Abramoff gang was up to from those it had ganged up on, and quickly adopted the stance of Senate Savonarola, investigating the corruption (I'm shocked, shocked!) even unto its innermost parts. And then, having gotten mad, came the chance to get really, really even.

That's because it turned out that right in the middle of the hanky-panky were Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, paladins of the religious right and the guys who put the smear on him in South Carolina.

“It was like hitting pay dirt,” said one associate of Mr. McCain’s who had consulted with the senator’s office on the investigation. “And face it — McCain and Weaver [John Weaver, McCain's chief political strategist] were maniacal about Ralph Reed and Norquist. They were sticking little pins in dolls because those guys had cost him South Carolina.”
Neither Norquist nor Reed was ever indicted for anything, and Norquist has more or less been able to skate away. But Reed had decided on a career in electoral politics for himself, and in 2006 was running for the GOP nomination to be lieutenant governor of Georgia. Thanks to the revelations, he had to kiss that sucker goodbye.

It now becomes clearer why the McCain campaign went so hysterically after the Times last week. The necessary response calls were being made, and the campaign knew what was coming down the pike. The last thing it needs is for the country to take another close look under the Abramoff rock, not with the Maverick as one of the creatures crawling around.

Pew Premie

McCain's support among white evangelical Protestants, a key Republican voter group, has inched up to 71% (Obama is supported by 21% of evangelicals). Based only on voters who express a preference between the two candidates, McCain's lead among evangelicals (77%-23%) is comparable to Bush's final margin among this group (78%-21%). McCain has a small edge among white Catholic voters, 48% to 41%. He also holds a clear lead among white Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly (52% McCain vs. 36% Obama). Four years ago, Bush beat Kerry 61% to 39% among this group.
It sure looks as though this race is reverting to type--i.e. to the 2000 and 2004 pattern--when it comes to religion. Thank Sarah Palin for that.

Specifically, the religion (or God) gap is back to previous levels. Among those who say they attended worship weekly or more, the Republican margin has risen from 10 points in August to 18 points in September. Meanwhile, among those who seldom or never attend, the Democratic margin jumped from 19 to 30. Not surprisingly, the Palin choice pulled all evangelicals toward McCain, and a few white Catholics; while the unaffiliated have shifted even more toward Obama. As in the past, frequent-attending white Mainline Protestants showed themselves less inclined to support GOP candidates who cozy up to evangelicals. Between August and September, McCain's margin among this group was cut nearly in half, from 25 points (57-32) to 14 (53-39).

One caveat, however. Pew's polling took place September 9-14--at the height of the GOP convention (or Palin) bounce. Since then, the polls seem to be showing a reversion to the August status quo ante. In other words,Fantastic silk scarves, this snapshot may be more of a retrospective than a portrait of what's to come.

Ixnay on the ulgarityvay

In a communication to me, reader B. DelMonico writes, "I appreciate this forum,Silk Queen Quilt Cover, but could I ask you to please not post comments that use the term "Papal Bull S***", or at least edit the term out. It is flat-out offensive and has no place in civil discourse." Being offensive I do not consider grounds for refusing to post comments--and anyway, one never knows what will offend whom. Ditto with sacrilege. But the comment in question is vulgar, and I'll request that those who wish to have their comments posted avoid vulgarity, which most of us recognize when, to paraphrase Justice Stewart, we see it.
 

Did it or didn't it

From the latest bit of Couric interview:

She took issue with news reports that one of [the churches she attends], The Wasilla Bible Church, sponsored a conference where gays could be made straight through prayer.

Palin: Well, it matters though, Katie, when the media gets it wrong. It frustrates Americans who are just trying to get the facts and … be able to make up their mind on,Silk Queen Quilt Cover, about a person's values. So it does matter.

From Rachel D'Oro's September 6 article in Huffpost:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

"You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Civil Religion unexclusive and exceptional

The Immanent Frame, purveyor of religious cogitation from the Social Science Research Council, has begun a new series of essays inspired by this passage from President Obama's inaugural address:

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism--these things are old.  These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

Is there a problem with this rather banal reflection? Well, there's the perennial worry among some religion scholars that any appeal to shared values is by definition exclusionary. As Frame editor-at-large David Kyuman Kim frames it:

Nonetheless, by casting certain values as "old" and as "true," Obama has enjoined the American public in an affirmation of a tradition that may or may not be in fact be as "common" as he claims.  For while he invites the American citizenry to think of ourselves as part of a common conversation that makes for a tradition, he presumes a common inheritance.  And yet: there will no doubt be those who feel left out of this inheritance and from this invitation.  They will feel so for a host of reasons: differences over political positions or moral points of view, or disputes about the master narratives that have rendered the lives of various people invisible or "insignificant."  This is one of the perils of making an appeal and a claim to "the common good" and to shared values. When a tradition aspires to be encompassing, if not universal, in its moral claims, it will inevitably leave many feeling excluded.

This, it seems to me, is a fine expression of the characteristic American concern that the ingrained celebration (viz: valorization) of pluralism (viz: difference) as marker of America's collective identity not be threatened by the enunciation of common traditions (except, of course, pluralism itself). The great bogey for such religion scholars is the idea of an American civil religion. The hegemony, the hegemony!

But the species of civil religion experienced in America is a far cry from the kinds of political religion associated with Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, , and Soviet Russia. Here's how Europe's great student of those political religions, Emilio Gentile, defines it (in his Politics as Religion,mens silk pajamas, p. xvi): 

the conceptual category that contains the forms of sacralization of a political system that guarantee a plurality of ideas, free competition in the exercise of power, and the ability of the governed to dismiss their governments through peaceful and constitutional methods. Cvil religion therefore respects individual freedom, coexists with other ideologies, and does not impose obligatory and unconditional support for its commandments.

Those scholars anxious about creeping Obamaite civil religion would do well to broaden their national and historical horizons, perhaps bearing in tmind he president's response when asked by a reporter if he subscribed to the "school of  'American exceptionalism.":

I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

Strategizing SSM

With New England now five-sixths on board with same-sex marriage, you figure those planning for campaigns in other states would be embracing what worked up here by way of devising their own strategies. But judging by a new report from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's National Religious Leadership Roundtable, I'm not so sure. The report, by Rev. Rebecca Voelkel,Silk Queen Quilt Cover, argues at great length for the need to include religious partners in future pro-SSM efforts in California. (Same goes for another new report, on Michigan.) Fine.

But what's clear from the New England experience is that it was not having pro-SMM religious folks around that made the difference. It was providing assurances that religious institutions opposed to SSM would not be forced to act against their convictions. In short, "marriage equality" wins when coupled with "religious liberty." If I were organizing an SSM campaign, I'd be looking especially for people who oppose SSM on religious grounds but back it on equality grounds, provided there are religious protections.

Update: At a conference call held by the Center for American Progress to discuss the reports today, Gene Robinson (the gay Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire) independently brought up the importance of religious reassurances in the New Hampshire campaign. From the discussion among the reports' authors, it seemed clear that this was 1) too new for the reports to have taken account of; and 2) likely to be part of future efforts.

Catholic Marital Blitz

Dan Gilgoff calls attention to a new ad supporting same-sex marriage in Maine that features Yolande Dumont sitting with her gay son,silk pajamas, his partner, and their son. She says, in part:

 "I've been a Catholic all my life. My faith means a lot to me. Marriage to me is a great institution that works, and it's what I want for my children, too."

Brian Burch of CatholicVoteAction.org is calling for the ad to come down on the grounds that, because of this statement, it is "pretending that the Catholic faith supports" same-sex marriage. I can see how someone from Mars might draw that conclusion, but citizens of voting age in the Pine Tree State?

Still, for those Mainers who might be unaware of the Church's position, I would heartily recommend this draft of the Catholic bishops' forthcoming pastoral letter on marriage--which the National Catholic Reporter has succeeded in prying loose from headquarters. As the NCR's editorial on the draft suggests, it doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room in re: same-sex relationships in general, and same-sex marriage in particular:

One of the most troubling developments in contemporary culture is the proposition that persons of the same sex can "marry." This proposal redefines the nature of marriage and the family, and, as a result, harms both the intrinsic dignity of every human being and the common good of society.

I think they'll have some trouble convincing Yolande of this. And maybe a lot of other voters up there too.

Latino Catholics v. political meddling

It is important to note that modern Latin Catholicism has a dual nature: it is "conservative" in the sense of family communalism and tradition that the church offers, yet it is classically "liberal" in the sense of not wanting the Catholic Church to have power in political life-- particularly after the long historical experience of the Latin American Church "meddling in politics." As Mexicans put it: "No meta en la política." A sizable majority of U.S. Latino Catholics shares these attitudes with them. Increasingly they are joining their Latin counterparts in accepting gays and lesbians as part of the social family that is both Catholic and liberal.

This makes sense to me--particularly since so large a proportion of Latinos in California have roots in Mexico, where keeping the church out of public life has been a state ideology since the revolution.

What's worth pondering are the implications of this for Catholicism in America. Over the past couple of decades, the (mostly non-Latino) hierarchy has become increasingly inclined to meddle in politics--an inclination most recently manifested in the USCCB's effective alliance with the Republican Party in seeking to block health care reform.

As the church becomes increasingly Latino, it will be interesting to see if the rank and file become "Americanized" into a more assertive political stance,silk pajamas, or if they stick to their own inclination, and continue to ignore the bishops' heated rhetoric about how (in this case) same-sex marriage signals the end of civilization as we know it. It's even possible, I suppose, that the bishops will take a deep breath and consider the virtues of keeping a respectful distance between the church's norms and the norms of a pluralistic civil society.

Common Good Catholics

By way of a footnote to the last post, consider the following items. First, there's today's column by E.J. Dionne, foremost example of a Common Good Catholic in the pundit biz. Dionne makes the case for embracing pro-life Dems, contends that the Stupak Amendment is no biggie, and challenges his bishops to step up to the plate now on health care reform.

Then there's Rep. Tom Perriello, co-founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and the only freshman congressman representing a district that voted for McCain last year to vote for the health care bill. As Walter Shapiro points out in an appreciative (and slightly aghast) profile over on Politics Daily, Perriello, whose district includes Virginia's very conservative Southside,silk pajamas, also voted for the president's stimulus package and cap-and-trade. But he was one of 64 Democrats to vote for Stupak.

Yes, Dionne hints that it might be a good idea to allow abortion coverage into the public option (which Stupak prohibits). And Perriello would seem to be a dependable vote for whatever health care bill emerges from an eventual House-Senate conference committee. But pro-choicers need to realize that there are pro-lifers of conscience even among the staunchest liberal Democrats.

Why pro lifers arent pro HCR

Expanding health coverage reduces abortions. That's what T.R. Reid argues in today's WaPo, and it's a powerful argument. Look at our peer countries in the developed world. All have universal health coverage and most include abortion in that coverage and all have lower rates of abortion than we do. Why? On the front end, women have access to contraceptive services; on the back end, they know there will be health coverage for them and their babies if they carry to term. So, says Reid:

For various reasons, then, expanding health-care coverage reduces the rate of abortion. All the other industrialized democracies figured that out years ago. The failure to recognize this plain statistical truth may explain why American churches have played such a small role in our national debate on health care. Searching for ways to limit abortions, our faith leaders have managed to overlook a proven approach that's on offer now: expanding health-care coverage.

The only thing wrong with that paragraph is that it assumes that the pro-life faith leaders he's talking about are focused on reducing the number of abortions. That's the same mistake, I'm afraid, that the Obamaite "common ground" folks also make. But what's become clear over the past year is that the pro-lifers who oppose HCR not merely as a pretext are concerned with principle and personal purity,silk pajamas, not abortion reduction. That is to say, they want to push the principle of "no public funding for abortions" as far as they can because 1) it helps establish the idea that abortion is disapproved of by the government; and 2) it permits them to believe that none of "their" taxpayer dollars are going to pay for abortions.

They will no doubt claim that if their efforts bear fruit in the long run, abortion will be banned and the abortion rate will go down big time. In fact, however, there is little correlation between abortion rates and the legal status of abortion. The strong correlation is between abortion legality and abortion safety. Where abortion is legal, abortions are safe; where it's not, women die. What's important to recognize is that that's a price a lot of hard-line pro-lifers are prepared to pay.

Frozen Chosen

evangelicals, whom he wasn't supposed to be making headway with, by a full 11 points. What gives? Here's the best I can manage by way of an answer, based on currently available data.

Mainliners were the only Judeo-Christian grouping whose vote for Bush decreased from 2000 to 2004. And that decline occurred solely among those who attended worship frequently (once a week or more), to the tune of 8 percentage points. Bush actually picked up one percentage point among the less frequent attenders. (These data, worked up by John Green for an article in Religion in the News, can be found here.) We don't yet have the crosstabs for religious traditions by frequency of attendance in 2008, but we do know that among white Protestants, the evangelical portion of the vote increased (by three points),mens silk pajamas, while mainliners dropped by a point. And in the overall attendance categories, there was a drop in turnout only among the more-than-weekly attenders. I'm guessing that the part of the mainline community that had not been in motion--the less frequent attenders--remained in place as it had in 2004, while among those who had been in motion--the frequent attenders--all that changed was that a small number decided not to vote for president this time around.

OK, but so what? My hypothesis is that 1) lukewarm mainliners have for the past decade been frozen into their partisan commitments in a way that may have more to do with where they live and what particular denomination they belong to than with their identity as generic mainline Protestants; and 2) worshipful mainliners reached a new partisan equilibrium in 2004, such that in 2008 just a few were sufficiently torn between conflicting impulses (economic conservatism, anti-Palinism, whatever) that they crossed their arms and stayed at home. Bottom line: White mainliners are now kind of like white Catholics--modestly more Republican than Democratic but less likely to shift around.
 

Vault Freezes Coral Cells to Preserve Them From Extinction

In an effort to preserve the biodiversity of Hawaiian coral species, scientists at the University of Hawaii have created the first frozen coral cell bank — similar in concept to a seed bank for plants.

“Because frozen banked cells are viable, the frozen material can be thawed in one, 50 or, in theory,Sexy silk pajamas, even 1000 years from now to restore a species or population,” said biologist Mary Hagedorn of the University of Hawaii in a press release. “In fact, some of the frozen sperm samples have already been thawed and used to fertilize coral eggs to produce developing coral larvae.”

 
Summer interns, Malia Paresa and Kelly Martonrana, place coral into the frozen repository.
Coral reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate due to warming, acidifying oceans and other types of human impact. Just last week, scientists reported that a spike in ocean temperatures off the coast of Indonesia is causing the most massive die-off ever seen in the region, already killing 80 percent of the coral species on several reefs. These types events are expected to get more frequent across the globe, with some scientists warning extinction of coral reefs is eminent within the next century.

Coral reefs cover less than a tenth of the ocean’s surface but are home to a quarter of all marine species. Corals enable this diversity by building complex structures where many creatures can live and hide.

Permanent press and other resins

If the fabric has been treated with a no-iron finish, or with a stain resistant coating, or with any sort of water repellant, dye will not be able to reach the fabric evenly, resulting in pale, uneven dyeing. A permanent press finish can be removed with muriatic acid, but the chemical is too hazardous to be suitable for home or studio use. Also, some after-dyeing dye fixatives,silk pajamas, which are invaluable for combatting the poor wash-fastness of direct dyes and all-purpose dyes, will afterwards prevent dye from reaching the fiber properly. This may present a problem in dyeing the many garments that have been commercially dyed with direct dye.

This is a fundamental

The unexpected emergence of complex patterns in an apparently unremarkable dish of muscle cells may give researchers a valuable tool for studying self-organizing systems.

Similar patterns are seen in bird flocks,silk pajamas, the Milky Way and even the stock market. For the last two decades, researchers have searched for unifying laws to explain how small-scale interactions lead to common behaviors in very different systems.

“This is a fundamental question of physics: How does order emerge? What is the basis of self-organization?” said Andreas Bausch, a biophysicist at Germany’s University of Munchen. “As a model system, this is as pure as it gets.”

Unlike biologists who use E. coli to investigate genetic rules and rats to study physiological function, self-organization researchers have few model systems. It’s not easy to put a starling flock under glass

From sea shells

From sea shells and spiral galaxies to the structure of human lungs,womens silk pajamas, the patterns of chaos are all around us.

Fractals are patterns formed from chaotic equations and contain self-similar patterns of complexity increasing with magnification. If you divide a fractal pattern into parts you get a nearly identical reduced-size copy of the whole.

The mathematical beauty of fractals is that infinite complexity is formed with relatively simple equations. By iterating or repeating fractal-generating equations many times, random outputs create beautiful patterns that are unique, yet recognizable.

We have pulled together some of the most stunning natural examples we could find of fractals on our planet.

North America

James I of England introduced silk-growing to the American colonies around 1619, ostensibly to discourage tobacco planting. The Shakers in Kentucky adopted the practice as did a cottage industry in New England.^[13] In the 19th century a new attempt at a silk industry began with European-born workers in Paterson, New Jersey, and the city became a US silk center, although Japanese imports were still more important.

World War II interrupted the silk trade from Japan. Silk prices increased dramatically, and US industry began to look for substitutes, which led to the use of synthetics such as nylon. Synthetic silks have also been made from lyocell, a type of cellulose fiber,Sexy silk pajamas, and are often difficult to distinguish from real silk (see spider silk for more on synthetic silks).

Thailand

Silk is produced, year round, in Thailand by two types of silkworms, the cultured Bombycidae and wild Saturniidae. Most production is after the rice harvest in the southern and northeast parts of the country. Women traditionally weave silk on hand looms, and pass the skill on to their daughters as weaving is considered to be a sign of maturity and eligibility for marriage. Thai silk textiles often use complicated patterns in various colours and styles. Most regions of Thailand have their own typical silks. A single thread filament is too thin to use on its own so women combine many threads to produce a thicker, usable fibre. They do this by hand-reeling the threads onto a wooden spindle to produce a uniform strand of raw silk. The process takes around 40 hours to produce a half kilogram of Thai silk.

Many local operations use a reeling machine for this task, but some silk threads are still hand-reeled. The difference is that hand-reeled threads produce three grades of silk: two fine grades that are ideal for lightweight fabrics, and a thick grade for heavier material.

The silk fabric is soaked in extremely cold water and bleached before dying to remove the natural yellow coloring of Thai silk yarn. To do this,mens silk pajamas, skeins of silk thread are immersed in large tubs of hydrogen peroxide. Once washed and dried, the silk is woven on a traditional hand operated loom.^[6]

Nobel Reactions

          Nobel Reactions - ,silk pajamas
 

         Every summer an extraordinary meeting between Nobel Laureates and young scientists takes place on Lindau Island in Germany. In 2009 it was the turn of the chemists and we were there to capture moments of this unique meeting of minds on film. Nature Video presents five short films on chemistry plus a special film feature on climate change.
 

Our Products

In 1987 I had the chance to introduce to our fiber world,Sexy silk dresses, the superior filament TIRE silk thread and I quickly seized upon the opportunity. The threads lead me to devloping a market for silk ribbon and silk bias and eventually had developed an instant set silk dye (Colorhue) that color enhanced all of our silk products.

We have sold our silk and silk related products on our web site for the past 10 years and find it a successful way to educate fiber enthusiasts about the versatility of silk. We have learned to used mixed media techniques of sewing, , dyeing , surface design and embellishing techniques with superior silk products that have provided our students and customers unique creativity and originality.

Spread to other countries

England under Henry IV was also looking to develop a silk industry, but no opportunity arose until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in the 1680s when hundreds of thousands of French Huguenots, many of which were skilled weavers and experts in sericulture, began immigrating to England to escape religious persecution. Some areas, including Spitalfields saw many high-quality silk workshops spring up, their products distinct from continental silk largely by the colours used.^[32] Nonetheless, the British climate prevented England's domestic silk trade from becoming globally dominant.

Many envisioned starting a silk industry in the British colonies in America starting in 1619 under the reign of King James I of England. The silk industry in the Colonies never became very large. Likewise, silk was introduced to numerous other countries, including Mexico,Sexy silk dresses, where it was brought by Cortez in 1522. Only rarely did these new silk industries grow to any significant size.^[33]

Silk in modern times

Following the crisis in Europe, the modernization of sericulture in Japan made it the world's foremost silk producer. Italy managed to rebound from the crisis, but France was never able to. Urbanization in Europe saw many French and Italian agricultural workers leave silk growing for more lucrative factory work. Raw silk was imported from Japan to fill the void.^[5] Asian countries, formerly exporters of raw materials (cocoons and raw silk), progressively began to export more and more finished garments.

During the Second World War, silk supplies from Japan were cut off,Silk Queen Quilt Cover, so western countries were forced to find substitutes. Synthetic fibres such as nylon were used in products such as parachutes and stockings, replacing silk. Even after the war, silk was not able to regain many of the markets lost, though it remained an expensive luxury product.^[5] Postwar Japan, through improvements in technology and a protectionist market policy, became the world's foremost exporter of raw silk, a position it held until the 1970s.^[5] The continued rise in importance of synthetic fibres and loosening of the protectionist economy contributed to the decline of Japan's silk industry, and by 1975 it was no longer a net exporter of silk.^[37]

 

With its recent economic reforms, the People's Republic of China has become the world's largest silk producer. In 1996 it produced 58,000 tonnes out of a world production of 81,000, followed by India at 13,000 tonnes. Japanese production is now marginal, at only 2500 tonnes. Between 1995 and 1997 Chinese silk production went down 40% in an effort to raise prices, reminiscent of earlier shortages.^[38] World demand for silk in the 1990s stayed fairly low with the exception of a few markets, including India and the United Kingdom. Silk's image suffered on account of distribution of low quality fabric, though it has improved recently. Today the silk trade is largely dependent on a few consuming countries, including India and Japan.

In December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres, so as to raise the profile of silk and other natural fibres.

History of silk

According to Chinese tradition, the history of silk begins in the 27th century BCE. Its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter half of the first millennium BC. China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years. Not confined to clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing, and the colour of silk worn was an important indicator of social class during the Tang Dynasty.

Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 CE, and by 522 the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time. As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market. The Crusades brought silk production to Western Europe,Silk Queen Quilt Cover, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe. Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing. During the 16th century France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, though the efforts of most other nations to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful.

The Industrial Revolution changed much of Europe’s silk industry. Due to innovations in spinning cotton, it became much cheaper to manufacture and therefore caused more expensive silk production to become less mainstream. New weaving technologies, however, increased the efficiency of production. Among these was the Jacquard loom, developed for silk embroidery. An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered. In the 20th century Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world’s largest producer of silk. The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a somewhat rare luxury good, much less important than in its heyday.

Western blot analysis

Whole cell lysates were prepared as previously described [25]. Briefly, treated and untreated cells were extracted with lysis buffer (50 mmol/l Tris–HCl, pH 7.5, 5 mmol/l EDTA, 150 mmol/l NaCl, 0.5% Triton X-100, 10 mmol/l sodium fluoride, 20 mmol/l β-mercaptoethanol,womens silk pajamas, 250 μmol/l sodium orthovanadate, 1 mmol/l PMSF, and complete protease inhibitor cocktail; Sigma, St Louis, MO), and incubated at 4 °C for 30 min. The lysates were sonicated and centrifuged at 14,000x g for 15 min. The supernatants were collected and stored at −80 °C. Protein concentrations were determined by the BCA method. Protein (50 μg) was separated on 8-12% polyacrylamide-SDS gel and electroblotted onto nitrocellulose membranes (Bio-Rad laboratories, Hercules, CA). After blocking with TBS/5% skim milk, the membrane was incubated overnight at 4 °C with primary antibodies against HIF-1α (Cat: MA1-516; ABR, Rockford, IL) at concentration of 1:2,000 or polyclonal antibody against VEGF (Cat: sc-507; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc., Santa Cruz, CA) , at 1:200 followed by peroxidase conjugated anti-mouse IgG or anti-rabbit IgG for 1 hr at room temperature. Signals were detected with ECL. Data was analyzed using Un-scan-it gel analysis software (Silk Scientific, Orem, UT). Relative increase in protein expression compared to its own control is calculated.

the earth spider web

5 Juzhu skills - the earth spider web,cheap archlord gold, toughness extraordinary. Sword difficult injury, but as long as cobweb hooded, they even think about escape. Two continuous poly-gas,Silk Queen Quilt Cover, two of the spider's web There are four meters away from a distance,Tales of Pirates gold, the oak, and swords,DBO Gold, as a right and then is supposed to split the moves instead of sweeping, from the spider's web beneath the Cuanguo, two at the same time Baotui. Jian-Ying Ju Zhu and Dao Qi sweep in, so that the spider legs Juzhu adds a lot of scars. Juzhu scream your voice can no longer disregard, rapid Benlai to swords and oak, it is very anger, must take these two small non-point pieces.

"Into the array, do not go after the chaos, and I will take a month to bring you out, fast." Oak and swords in the range from the cobwebs a little time to collapse Ze shouted. This time nearly a month of physical exercise showed his role. Although the two-body less than a trace of a grudge the rest. However, the body remains constant bouncing on the ground and finally disappeared in the array in the body, but this time with a bazaar, such as Qiu Ji has array, charges cloning, Phyllis with Orchid back tens of meters, so with the Ju Zhu attention.
 

Results

During hypoxia (0.5% O2), 5 μM cadmium chloride completely inhibited HIF-1α expression and reversed the protection by hypoxia preconditioning.  HIF-1α siRNA (15 nM) reduced HIF-1α expression by 90% and produced a complete loss of protection provided by hypoxia preconditioning.  Since VEGF is induced by hypoxia, can be HIF-1α dependent, and is often protective, we examined the changes in transcription of VEGF and its receptors after 4 h of hypoxia preconditioning.  VEGF and its receptors Flt-1 and Flk-1 are up-regulated after hypoxia preconditioning.  However,Fantastic silk scarves, the transcription and translation of VEGF were paradoxically increased by siHIF-1α, suggesting that VEGF expression in stromal cells is not down-stream of HIF-1α.

Fire Yao tenrai

Fire Yao tenrai - down." Ze gestures stopped, and then was extended index and middle finger close together that day, the other three fingers close together Quan Zhao. The bottom left hand on the right hand, is continually changing the gestures, with the last one down the word prominent,mens silk pajamas,atlantica gold, Stone Sentinel Maze on the dark a condensate. Then an arm thickness of the tenrai Pixia. That brought the emperor's. For all a kind of feeling of fear. Stone Sentinel Maze has been tenrai split moment, while the lineup has become the nuclear magic powder.

Just Juzhu see their prey, there was no happy roar several more. Yi Gu from the danger of life. Make it an instant wake up and want to dodge,EverQuest Plat, but the body has been tenrai locked. Can not move nothing. The tenrai appeared in Juzhu moment, it split in the Juzhu body.

Instant Xueguang splash. Ju Zhu's back was Pichu pit the size of a basin above Green's blood mixed with minced meat charred continuous outflow. However, Ju Zhu is still alive. Exposed eyes staring at Ze Xiong Guang crazy. That bloodthirsty madness. Let Ze feel horror.
 

Blew the Juzhulijiao soon

Blew the Juzhulijiao soon as you want, including a fear, there are more unwilling to be crazy.

"Bang!" Tenrai to Juzhu body split into the earth, surrounded by the emergence of a pit 10 meters, while Ze vomit a halo of blood directly to the past. Although there are auxiliary jade pieces,Final Fantasy XIV Gil, but is not motivated tenrai Ze-saver for people with this there is no quoted immobile. Had Ze special body, together with the Five Elements of the gas stream. Ze had long been emptied of vitality. But even if alive, is also seriously injured. Ze unconscious in an instant,mens silk pajamas, saw a pear tear in her eye's face. And the pit of fire.

"Finished." Ze heart with emotion, in the days under fire, even if only eight of the Juzhu left a gray, mad efforts. Eventually, even a mod has not got. Ze even coma, but also that depressed ah.

Slowing the decline

 

            Slowing the decline

      The search is on for disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson's disease, but,womens silk pajamas, as Ruth Williams discovers, developing a compound is only part of the problem.

Ruth Williams

Lithospheric layering in the North American craton

      ,womens silk pajamasLithospheric layering in the North American craton

     These authors show that changes in seismic anisotropy with depth across the stable part of North America reveal the presence of two lithospheric layers. The top layer, which is chemically depleted, is ~150 km thick under the ancient core of the continent and tapers out along its younger borders. The bottom of the lithosphere is relatively flat, in agreement with the presence of a thermal conductive root that subsequently formed around the depleted chemical layer.

Huaiyu Yuan & Barbara Romanowicz

Types of Fabrics

Fabrics made are plain weaves (taffeta, pongee), cords (faille, poplin), gauzes (net malines), pile fabrics (plush, velvet), crepes, satins, damask, ribbons, and brocade. Some of these weaves are ancient,Sexy silk dresses, developed on the shuttle looms of China and the handlooms of India, Greece, and Europe. In Europe and Asia the handloom is still used for the finest fabrics. Japan and China lead in the production of raw silk, with India, Italy, and France following. The United States is the largest importer.

Reeling the filament

,womens silk pajamas

• Reeling may be achieved manually or automatically. The cocoon is brushed to locate the end of the fiber. It is threaded through a porcelain eyelet, and the fiber is reeled onto a wheel. Meanwhile, diligent operators check for flaws in the filaments as they are being reeled.
  
• As each filament is nearly finished being reeled, a new fiber is twisted onto it, thereby forming one long, continuous thread. Sericin contributes to the adhesion of the fibers to each other.

 The end product, the raw silk filaments, are reeled into skeins. These skeins are packaged into bundles weighing 5-10 pounds (2-4 kg), called books. The books are further packaged into bales of 133 pounds (60 kg) and transported to manufacturing centers.

Medieval and modern Europe

Venetian merchants traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy. By the 13th century, Italian silk was a significant source of trade. Since that period,silk pajamas, the silk worked in the province of Como has been the most valuable silk in the world. The wealth of Florence was largely built on textiles, both wool and silk, and other cities like Lucca also grew rich on the trade. Italian silk was so popular in Europe that Francis I of France invited Armenian silk makers to France to create a French silk industry, especially in Lyon. Mass emigration (especially of Huguenots) during periods of religious dispute had seriously damaged French industry and introduced these various textile industries, including silk, to other countries.

 

James I attempted to establish silk production in England, purchasing and planting 100,000 mulberry trees, some on land adjacent to Hampton Court Palace, but they were of a species unsuited to the silk worms, and the attempt failed. British enterprise also established silk filature in Cyprus in 1928. In England in the mid 20th Century, silk was produced at Lullingstone Castle in Kent. Silkworms were raised and reeled under the direction of Zoe Lady Hart Dyke. Production started elsewhere later. In Italy, the Stazione Bacologica Sperimentale was founded in Padua in 1871 to research sericulture. In the late 19th century, China, Japan, and Italy were the major producers of silk.^{[citation needed]} The most important cities for silk production in Italy were Como and Meldola ^[12] (Forlì). In medieval times, it was common for silk to be used to make elaborate casings for bananas and other fruits.

Silk was expensive in Medieval Europe and used only by the rich. Italian merchants like Giovanni Arnolfini became hugely wealthy trading it to the Courts of Northern Europe.

Background

Silk has set the standard in luxury fabrics for several millennia. The origins of silk date back to Ancient China. Legend has it that a Chinese princess was sipping tea in her garden when a cocoon fell into her cup, and the hot tea loosened the long strand of silk. Ancient literature, however, attributes the popularization of silk to the Chinese Empress Si-Ling, to around 2600 B.C. Called the Goddess of the Silkworm, Si-Ling apparently raised silkworms and designed a loom for making silk fabrics.

The Chinese used silk fabrics for arts and decorations as well as for clothing. Silk became an integral part of the Chinese economy and an important means of exchange for trading with neighboring countries. Caravans traded the prized silk fabrics along the famed Silk Road into the Near East. By the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great is said to have introduced silk to Europe. The popularity of silk was influenced by Christian prelates who donned the rich fabrics and adorned their altars with them. Gradually the nobility began to have their own clothing fashioned from silk fabrics as well.

Initially, the Chinese were highly protective of their secret to making silk. Indeed, the reigning powers decreed death by torture to anyone who divulged the secret of the silk-worm. Eventually, the mystery of the silk-making process was smuggled into neighboring regions, reaching Japan about A.D. 300 and India around A.D. 400. By the eighth century, Spain began producing silk, and 400 years later Italy became quite successful at making silk, with several towns giving their names to particular types of silk.

The first country to apply scientific techniques to raising silkworms was Japan, which produces some of the world's finest silk fabrics. Other countries that also produce quality silks are China, Italy, India, Spain, and France. China was the largest exporter of raw silk in the early 1990s, accounting for about 85% of the world's raw silk, worth about $800 million. Exports of China's finished silk products were about half of the world's total at about $3 billion.

Silk is highly valued because it possesses many excellent properties. Not only does it look lustrous and feel luxurious, but it is also lightweight, resilient, and extremely strong—one filament of silk is stronger then a comparable filament of steel! Although fabric manufacturers have created less costly alternatives to silk, such as nylon and polyester,nike shoes cheap, silk is still in a class by itself.

SILK DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

When silk was first discovered, it was reserved exclusively for the use of the ruler. It was permitted only to the emperor, his close relations and the very highest of his dignitaries. Within the palace, the emperor is believed to have worn a robe of white silk; outside, he, his principal wife, and the heir to the throne wore yellow, the color of the earth.

Gradually the various classes of society began wearing tunics of silk, and silk came into more general use. As well as being used for clothing and decoration, silk was quite quickly put to industrial use by the Chinese. This was something which happened in the West only in modern times. Silk, indeed, rapidly became one of the principal elements of the Chinese economy. Silk was used for musical instruments, fishing-lines, bowstrings,discount nike shoes, bonds of all kinds, and even rag paper, the word's first luxury paper. Eventually even the common people were able to wear garments of silk.

During the Han Dynasty, silk ceased to be a mere industrial material and became an absolute value in itself. Farmers paid their taxes in grain and silk. Silk began to be used for paying civil servants and rewarding subjects for outstanding services. Values were calculated in lengths of silk as they had been calculated in pounds of gold. Before long it was to become a currency used in trade with foreign countries. This use of silk continued during the Tang as well. It is possible that this added importance was the result of a major increase in production. It found its way so thoroughly into the Chinese language that 230 of the 5,000 most common characters of the mandarin "alphabet" have silk as their "key".

Cultivation

Silk moths lay eggs on specially prepared paper. The eggs hatch and the caterpillars (silkworms) are fed fresh mulberry leaves. After about 35 days and 4 moltings, the caterpillars are 10,nike shoes sale,000 times heavier than when hatched and are ready to begin spinning a cocoon. A straw frame is placed over the tray of caterpillars, and each caterpillar begins spinning a cocoon by moving its head in a "figure 8" pattern. Two glands produce liquid silk and force it through openings in the head called spinnerets. Liquid silk is coated in sericin, a water-soluble protective gum, and solidifies on contact with the air. Within 2–3 days, the caterpillar spins about 1 mile of filament and is completely encased in a cocoon. The silk farmers then kill most caterpillars by heat, leaving some to metamorphose into moths to breed the next generation of caterpillars.

Harvested cocoons are then soaked in boiling water to soften the sericin holding the silk fibers together in a cocoon shape. The fibers are then unwound to produce a continuous thread. Since a single thread is too fine and fragile for commercial use, anywhere from three to ten strands are spun together to form a single thread of silk.^[19]

India

Silk, known as "Paat" in Eastern India, Pattu in southern parts of India and Resham in Hindi/Urdu, has a long history in India. Recent archaeological discoveries in Harappa and Chanhu-daro suggest that sericulture, employing wild silk threads from native silkworm species, existed in South Asia during the time of the Indus Valley Civilization, roughly contemporaneous with the earliest known silk use in China.^[7] Silk is widely produced today. India is the second largest producer of Silk after China. A majority of the silk in India is produced in Karnataka State, particularly in Mysore and the North Bangalore regions of Muddenahalli, Kanivenarayanapura, and Doddaballapur.^[8] India is also the largest consumer of silk in the world. The tradition of wearing silk sarees in marriages by the brides is followed in southern parts of India. Silk is worn by people as a symbol of royalty while attending functions and during festivals. Historically silk was used by the upper classes, while cotton was used by the poorer classes. Today silk is mainly produced in Bhoodhan Pochampally (also known as Silk City), Kanchipuram, Dharmavaram, Mysore, etc. in South India and Banaras in the North for manufacturing garments and sarees. "Murshidabad silk", famous from historical times, is mainly produced in Malda and Murshidabad district of West Bengal and woven with hand looms in Birbhum and Murshidabad district. Another place famous for production of silk is Bhagalpur. The silk from Kanchi is particularly well-known for its classic designs and enduring quality. The silk is traditionally hand-woven and hand-dyed and usually also has silver threads woven into the cloth. Most of this silk is used to make sarees. The sarees usually are very expensive and vibrant in color. Garments made from silk form an integral part of Indian weddings and other celebrations. In the northeastern state of Assam,discount nike shoes, three different types of silk are produced, collectively called Assam silk: Muga, Eri and Pat silk. Muga, the golden silk, and Eri are produced by silkworms that are native only to Assam. The heritage of silk rearing and weaving is very old and continues today especially with the production of Muga and Pat riha and mekhela chador, the three-piece silk sarees woven with traditional motifs. Mysore Silk Sarees, which are known for their soft texture, last many years if carefully maintained.

WALVISBAAI

 

     The special attraction of Walvisbaai (meaning Whale Bay) situated on the Skeleton Coast is the huge natural lagoon with its overwhelming abundance of seabirds including cormorants and flamingos and is perhaps the most important coastal wetland in Southern Africa.

 

  

Situated on the Atlantic Coast, we approach Swakopmund through the Namib Desert and is an excellent preserved example of German colonial architecture. There will be an option to take a flight over the Skeleton Coast,Fantastic silk scarves, named for all the shipwrecks that are beached on these inaccessible and remote shores. This coastline is one of the most inhospitable and least visited places on earth.

TRIVANDRUM & KANANYAKUMARIi

 

    The Deccan Odyssey arrives in Trivandrum in the early morning. After breakfast we visit the Napier Museum and the dominating Padmanabhaswamy Hindu Temple. Following lunch we head to Kanyakumari which is mainland India's southernmost point, where the three seas - Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal - meet and where the shore temple to the Virgin Goddess Kanyakumari stands.

   The Temple City of Madurai was the capital of the Pandya Kingdom but it was during the reign of the Nayaks that the magnificent Meenakshi Temple was constructed. In the evening we will witness a Hindu ritual, an Aarti Ceremony in Madurai

    Pondicherry is the former capital of the French territories in India. Landmarks include Raj Nivas, the residence of the Lt Governor of Pondicherry - a handsome 200 year old building which faces Government Park with its paths and lawns,womens silk pajamas, fountains and sculptures. Tonight is our final night on board the Deccan Odyssey.

MADRAS - DELHI

 

    This afternoon we fly from Madras to Delhi where we are transferred to spend 3 nights at the 5-star Taj Mahal Delhi. Sprawling on the banks of the River Yamuna, Delhi, the Capital of India, reflects the soul of the country. The city is a curious blend of the modern and traditional, skyscrapers, beautiful gardens and wide tree-lined avenues.

   Today we take a tour of Old Delhi. The walled city is crowded,Sexy silk dresses, full of activities and still has the influence of the great Mughals who once ruled India through the ramparts of the majestic Red Fort. In Old Delhi we will visit Jama Mosque, built in the 17th Century and is the largest mosque in India; Chandni Chowk the typical Indian market always abuzz with activities and Raj Ghat a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.

   

HISTORY

 

       These tours all have an historical element, whether it is travelling in Marco Polo’s footsteps along the ancient Silk Trading Route; discovering more about one of the world’s oldest civilisations, the Egyptians, and marvelling at the Pyramids at Giza; learning the fascinating history of Siberia,Sexy silk dresses, this infamous area of Russia; or visiting the Himalayan hill-station of Darjeeling and being served traditional British “afternoon tea” in the drawing room of the colonial style hotel.

CRUISE ON LAKE NASSER

 

 

     This morning we board the luxury cruise ship MS Eugenie which will be for our exclusive use for the next 3 nights as we cruise Lake Nasser, formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam. After lunch we visit the Kalabsha temple,womens silk pajamas, the rock cut temple at Beit El Wali and the Roman temple of Kertassi.

 

       Spend the morning to the temple of Wadi El Seboua and enjoy a cocktail while passing the Tropic of Cancer. Lunch is served on board. This afternoon we visit the Wadi El Seboua temple, the temple of Dakka and the temple of Meharakka.

 

   

A morning visit is made to the temples of Amada and Derr as well as the tomb of Penout, before we visit the citadel of Kasr Ibrim. (Note: the tour is conducted from the ship's sundeck as entrance to the site is not permitted). Continue to cruise to Abu Simbel as lunch served on board. In the afternoon we visit the Abu Simbel temples before we attend the Sound & Light show in the evening. A candlelight dinner is served on our final night on board.

CAIRO

 ,Silk Queen Quilt Cover

 

    Breakfast is on board before our disembarkation. We depart from Abu Simbel for a 1 hour scheduled flight to Cairo where we will be staying at the Four Seasons First Residence Hotel for 2 nights, with its views of both the Nile and the Great Pyramids. In the afternoon we visit the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

   

Today we have a morning tour of the amazing Giza Pyramids and Sphinx. After lunch we take an afternoon tour of Saqqara and Memphis. This evening we celebrate the end of our African Voyage of a Lifetime with a Farewell Dinner in the hotel.

 

    Transfer to the airport for departing flights as our epic journey reaches its conclusion.