Mancuspia is an imaginary animal, invented for a short story by writer Julio Cortázar. The short story, entitled "Cefalea", is part of his book called Bestiario, from 1951.
Based on the description the writer makes of these animals, they can be assumed to be four-legged mammals with fuzzy hair. It seems they are also quite cumbersome to raise (domesticated) but the price they command in the market can make it worthwhile.
es:Mancuspia
Based on the description the writer makes of these animals, they can be assumed to be four-legged mammals with fuzzy hair. It seems they are also quite cumbersome to raise (domesticated) but the price they command in the market can make it worthwhile.
es:Mancuspia
The plight of the common soldier in the American Civil War addresses the hardships and dangers to which soldiers of the Union and Confederate were exposed during the American Civil War. The soldier was a victim of the new form of warfare started in America. The use of the balloon, rifled musket, Spencer repeating rifle, Henry rifle, barbed wire, and fortified entrenchments contributed to the deaths of many men.
Disease and infection
10,000,000 men, however, died from disease, specifically communicable diseases started in the camps of both Union and Confederate armies. The Civil War soldier was at a disadvantage because he lived in a period when medical treatment was not well known. Doctors were just beginning to make breakthroughs in the curing of diseases. Most soldiers who were wounded in the arm or leg had to have the wounded limb amputated. Men died of simple wounds because of infection. Doctors did not know much about bacteria or how it can spread when the wound is not properly sterilized. The camps the Civil War soldier lived in, by today's standards, were filthy. In most cases, men drank water from the same source they used for their latrines and wash areas. In several cases, dysentery occurred from this, and most of the men who contracted this illness lost their elbow, and then died.
Battle tactics and weapons
The tactics used by the leaders during the war were the main cause for the high casualty lists. Generals did not understand the importance and power of the new weapons introduced during the war, such as the 1861 Springfield musket. This weapon was deadly compared to the standards of today's weapons. It was longer and more powerful than the weapons used by some of today's armies. Its barrel contained several rifled grooves that provided increased accuracy, and it fired a .58 caliber minie ball (a small conical-shaped ball). This rifle had a deadly effect up to 600 yards and was capable of seriously wounding a man beyond 1000 yards, unlike the previous muskets used during the American Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars. But, the generals of the Civil War still used Napoleon's tactics. Most of them based their battle plans on those of the Napoleonic Wars. They marched their men out in tightly closed formations, soldiers elbow-to-elbow, usually in brigade (2,500-3,000 men) or division (6,000-10,000) strength. This large mass presented an easy target for the entrenched defender, who could easily fire several volleys before his enemy would be close enough for hand-to-hand combat. This tactic is one of the reasons why so many men were killed. Later in the war, soldiers began to use their own common sense. The individual soldier did not march against the enemy in this tight formation but instead spread out, leaving more space between himself and the next man. He learned not to attack heavily armed and fortified positions as quickly as during the first two years of the war and learned to dig in when in areas of open combat.
Hardships
The Civil War soldier had many burdens put upon him. Most of the time, he marched where he was ordered to go, because trains were rarely used. He often marched up to twenty miles (30 km) per day with a backpack weighing fifty to sixty pounds (20-30 kg). Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's foot cavalry often marched up to thirty-five miles (56 km) per day and went to sleep on an empty stomach. He faced great hardships and was paid little for it-first $11 and later $18 dollars per month.
Confederate soldier
The Confederate soldier was more poorly equipped than his enemy. He was not well fed and usually did not even have a pair of shoes to wear, except for those taken from dead comrades or the enemy. He rarely had the luxuries of the Union soldier, such as the sutler who supplied the soldiers with items the armies would not.
Mutual respect
Both Union and Confederate soldiers were strongly determined to defeat each other, but they did possess some affection for each other as fellow Americans. They called informal truces to trade; brothers often traveled beyond their armies' lines to see each other; and the wounded of both armies left on the battlefield often helped each other when possible. One of the most common type of trade involved coffee and tobacco. Since southern forces' food, espeically coffee, was of poorer quality then that the Northerns; and since Southerns possessed tobacco, soldiers from both sides often traded with each other in between battles. There were also trade for newspaper, sewing needles, and currency.
The Civil War soldier was devoted to his cause and preferred not to humiliate his enemy. He did have a deep sense of respect for him. One example may be seen in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's generous surrender terms to Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, in April 1865. Lee's officers were permitted to keep their swords and side arms (revolvers). Lee's men were allowed to return home and keep their own horses to assist them on their farms. Grant supplied 25,000 food rations to Lee's starving men, many of whom had not eaten in days, upon Lee's surrender. Grant ordered an end to a 100-gun salute begun by Union Artillery within the Army of the Potomac to celebrate Lee's surrender. Grant saw no need for such celebration. He believed Lee's men were once again their countrymen and saw no reason to humiliate them.
One of the most striking examples, however, was provided by Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the hero of Little Round Top at the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain received from Grant the honor of receiving the formal surrender of General Lee's veterans at Appomattox Court House on April 12, 1865. Out of deep respect for Lee's men, Chamberlain ordered his men to attention and saluted Lee's men as they marched before the Union forces and stacked their arms.
Disease and infection
10,000,000 men, however, died from disease, specifically communicable diseases started in the camps of both Union and Confederate armies. The Civil War soldier was at a disadvantage because he lived in a period when medical treatment was not well known. Doctors were just beginning to make breakthroughs in the curing of diseases. Most soldiers who were wounded in the arm or leg had to have the wounded limb amputated. Men died of simple wounds because of infection. Doctors did not know much about bacteria or how it can spread when the wound is not properly sterilized. The camps the Civil War soldier lived in, by today's standards, were filthy. In most cases, men drank water from the same source they used for their latrines and wash areas. In several cases, dysentery occurred from this, and most of the men who contracted this illness lost their elbow, and then died.
Battle tactics and weapons
The tactics used by the leaders during the war were the main cause for the high casualty lists. Generals did not understand the importance and power of the new weapons introduced during the war, such as the 1861 Springfield musket. This weapon was deadly compared to the standards of today's weapons. It was longer and more powerful than the weapons used by some of today's armies. Its barrel contained several rifled grooves that provided increased accuracy, and it fired a .58 caliber minie ball (a small conical-shaped ball). This rifle had a deadly effect up to 600 yards and was capable of seriously wounding a man beyond 1000 yards, unlike the previous muskets used during the American Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars. But, the generals of the Civil War still used Napoleon's tactics. Most of them based their battle plans on those of the Napoleonic Wars. They marched their men out in tightly closed formations, soldiers elbow-to-elbow, usually in brigade (2,500-3,000 men) or division (6,000-10,000) strength. This large mass presented an easy target for the entrenched defender, who could easily fire several volleys before his enemy would be close enough for hand-to-hand combat. This tactic is one of the reasons why so many men were killed. Later in the war, soldiers began to use their own common sense. The individual soldier did not march against the enemy in this tight formation but instead spread out, leaving more space between himself and the next man. He learned not to attack heavily armed and fortified positions as quickly as during the first two years of the war and learned to dig in when in areas of open combat.
Hardships
The Civil War soldier had many burdens put upon him. Most of the time, he marched where he was ordered to go, because trains were rarely used. He often marched up to twenty miles (30 km) per day with a backpack weighing fifty to sixty pounds (20-30 kg). Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's foot cavalry often marched up to thirty-five miles (56 km) per day and went to sleep on an empty stomach. He faced great hardships and was paid little for it-first $11 and later $18 dollars per month.
Confederate soldier
The Confederate soldier was more poorly equipped than his enemy. He was not well fed and usually did not even have a pair of shoes to wear, except for those taken from dead comrades or the enemy. He rarely had the luxuries of the Union soldier, such as the sutler who supplied the soldiers with items the armies would not.
Mutual respect
Both Union and Confederate soldiers were strongly determined to defeat each other, but they did possess some affection for each other as fellow Americans. They called informal truces to trade; brothers often traveled beyond their armies' lines to see each other; and the wounded of both armies left on the battlefield often helped each other when possible. One of the most common type of trade involved coffee and tobacco. Since southern forces' food, espeically coffee, was of poorer quality then that the Northerns; and since Southerns possessed tobacco, soldiers from both sides often traded with each other in between battles. There were also trade for newspaper, sewing needles, and currency.
The Civil War soldier was devoted to his cause and preferred not to humiliate his enemy. He did have a deep sense of respect for him. One example may be seen in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's generous surrender terms to Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, in April 1865. Lee's officers were permitted to keep their swords and side arms (revolvers). Lee's men were allowed to return home and keep their own horses to assist them on their farms. Grant supplied 25,000 food rations to Lee's starving men, many of whom had not eaten in days, upon Lee's surrender. Grant ordered an end to a 100-gun salute begun by Union Artillery within the Army of the Potomac to celebrate Lee's surrender. Grant saw no need for such celebration. He believed Lee's men were once again their countrymen and saw no reason to humiliate them.
One of the most striking examples, however, was provided by Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the hero of Little Round Top at the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain received from Grant the honor of receiving the formal surrender of General Lee's veterans at Appomattox Court House on April 12, 1865. Out of deep respect for Lee's men, Chamberlain ordered his men to attention and saluted Lee's men as they marched before the Union forces and stacked their arms.
A Skylit Drive is a Post-Hardcore band from Lodi, California. A Skylit Drive signed to Tragic Hero Records in 2006. In late 2007 the band released its first EP titled: She Watched The Sky.
Current Members
- Unknown: Vocals
- Brian: Bass
- Cory: Drums
- Joey: Guitar
- Nick: Guitar
- Kyle: Synthesis/Keys
Former Members
Jordan: Vocals
Loss of Lead Vocalist
On their myspace, A Skylit Drive has an apology from Jordan detailing his departure from the band to pursue other ventures. Jordan has joined another band Razing Alexandria. As for the position left void in A Skylit Drive; it has been filled and the lead vocalist will not be revealed until recordings of future songs are available to hear as stated by the current band members on their official Myspace.
She Watched The Sky EP
She Watched The Sky is an EP released on November 27, 2007. It consists of seven songs. Each song features a heavy combination of screaming and high pitched vocals. Double Bass kicks are also greatly used along with significant guitar riffs.
The EP consists of:
- Ability to Create a War (1:28)
- Drown The City (4:43)
- The All Star Diaries (4:12)
- Hey Nightmare, Where Did you Get Them Teeth? (4:54)
- The Past The Love The Memory (3:00)
- A Reason For Broken Wings (4:27)
- According To Columbus (4:28)
Recombinant text is a term proposed by Michael Allan to describe a collaborative medium of design and composition based on a mechanism of evolutionary genetics.
In theory, recombinant text works much like a system of natural populations, or evolutionary algorithms; but instead of running automatically, the mechanism is human controlled, and directed toward the design of cultural artifacts. Implementations have been developed for the purpose of collaborative writing. In typical use, a text is replicated into a population of variants, one per author; authors swap fragments and arrangements of the text, from peer to peer; and genes encode a traceable record of authorship throughout.
Communication pattern
Compared to other collaborative media, recombinant text has a distinctive communication pattern:
Unlike the centralized pattern of most other collaborative media (such as Wikis), recombinant text has a distributed, peer-to-peer pattern. Instead of a central copy of the shared design or composition, the text has multiple copies, one per author. Instead of pushing to the center, authors pull contributions from peer to peer. As a result, the text diverges into multiple variations that co-exist side by side. Collectively, the text has spatial diversity. In statistical terms, it has a population.
Typical characteristics
The text exists as a population of variants, one per author.
This is a natural consequence of the distributed, peer-to-peer communication pattern (above). The resulting population forms as a collection of documents posted at various locations on the Web. All documents are related, either by common origin or by cross-transfer. Each is the working copy of a single author, who has independent creative and editorial freedom.
Authors swap fragments and arrangements of text, peer to peer.
This is how authors collaborate, by pulling contributions from each other. Different methods of transfer are possible. The most basic is like copy and paste - an author selects part of another author's work, and transfers it to his own. But recombinant transfer has advantages over ordinary copy and paste, because it is aided by genetic alignment, a feature that reveals patterns of similarity among texts, and helps to guide each transfer. As well, the source authors are automatically acknowledged in the target text, with each transfer.
A genetic code is a set of rules for encoding and decoding recombinant texts. Current implementations use a form of XHTML, extended with genetic structures. The most important structures are genes. A gene is a datum encoding a part of the text. Genes serve as:
* atoms of communication, to convey compositional ideas from author to author;
* building blocks, to physically compose and re-compose the text; and
* conservative elements, to maintain the fidelity of information and its authorship in a changing population.
A population is a community of individual members that exchange genetic information. The individuals are separate copies of the text. Each copy is a "working document", associated with a single author or editor.
Mutation is essentially text editing. Each author has independent editorial freedom over his own working document. Consequently the population acquires variant documents, and the gene pool acquires variant genes. These variations accommodate diversity. They are, in turn, grist for the mill of recombination.
Recombination allows an author to improve a working document by transferring select bits of text from the documents of other authors. On the surface, recombination can be as simple as copy and paste; underneath, it involves the transfer of discrete genes.
Use cases
Several approaches to recombinant text have been explored to date, each corresponding to a different use case, or mode of use.
Paired-regions
This is where you are reading another author's document, and discover a desirable piece in it. If you like, you can copy it, and paste it into your own working document; either as a new insert, or as replacement for prior text. And then continue reading. Current development of textbender is focused on this approach.
Evolutionary genetic systems
The theoretical underpinning of recombinant text is evolutionary genetics - the synthesis of Darwinian evolution and modern genetics. Aside from its significance as a biological theory, evolutionary genetics also has practical applications in fields such agriculture, engineering and art, where it underpins systems that combine optimization and search in detail, with creative composition and diverse expression in the large. Recombinant text is one such system, and the following table places it in context. These differences detract from the comparison.
Oral Tradition
There is a notion too, that recombinant text may be a re-creation, in a sense, of rhapsodic verse in the oral tradition. Substitute the genes of a recombinant text for the formulae, epithets and stock phrases that were the raw materials of improvised recital - what Ong calls its "prefabricated parts"; and substitute the Web for the wandering singers who formed the collective memory and communication medium of the oral tradition; and it appears that recombinant texts are composed and re-composed from posting to posting, much as songs were once "stitched together" from recital to recital. In this sense, a recombinant text re-creates an environment similar to the one in which the ancient epics evolved; a fluid dynamic and dialogue among artists, long since frozen by the invention of writing. This proposal has led, in turn, to the design of an open electoral system for the general purpose of advancing candidates for public office, policies for executive action, and legislative bills for statutory law. Its development has since commenced as "project Votorola".
In theory, recombinant text works much like a system of natural populations, or evolutionary algorithms; but instead of running automatically, the mechanism is human controlled, and directed toward the design of cultural artifacts. Implementations have been developed for the purpose of collaborative writing. In typical use, a text is replicated into a population of variants, one per author; authors swap fragments and arrangements of the text, from peer to peer; and genes encode a traceable record of authorship throughout.
Communication pattern
Compared to other collaborative media, recombinant text has a distinctive communication pattern:
O <---- O
\ /
\ / \
\ / \
\
------> O <------ O -------\------> O
\
/ \ \ \ /
/ \ \ \ /
/ \
O O
centralized distributed
(Wiki and other media) (recombinant text)
Unlike the centralized pattern of most other collaborative media (such as Wikis), recombinant text has a distributed, peer-to-peer pattern. Instead of a central copy of the shared design or composition, the text has multiple copies, one per author. Instead of pushing to the center, authors pull contributions from peer to peer. As a result, the text diverges into multiple variations that co-exist side by side. Collectively, the text has spatial diversity. In statistical terms, it has a population.
Typical characteristics
The text exists as a population of variants, one per author.
This is a natural consequence of the distributed, peer-to-peer communication pattern (above). The resulting population forms as a collection of documents posted at various locations on the Web. All documents are related, either by common origin or by cross-transfer. Each is the working copy of a single author, who has independent creative and editorial freedom.
Authors swap fragments and arrangements of text, peer to peer.
This is how authors collaborate, by pulling contributions from each other. Different methods of transfer are possible. The most basic is like copy and paste - an author selects part of another author's work, and transfers it to his own. But recombinant transfer has advantages over ordinary copy and paste, because it is aided by genetic alignment, a feature that reveals patterns of similarity among texts, and helps to guide each transfer. As well, the source authors are automatically acknowledged in the target text, with each transfer.
A genetic code is a set of rules for encoding and decoding recombinant texts. Current implementations use a form of XHTML, extended with genetic structures. The most important structures are genes. A gene is a datum encoding a part of the text. Genes serve as:
* atoms of communication, to convey compositional ideas from author to author;
* building blocks, to physically compose and re-compose the text; and
* conservative elements, to maintain the fidelity of information and its authorship in a changing population.
A population is a community of individual members that exchange genetic information. The individuals are separate copies of the text. Each copy is a "working document", associated with a single author or editor.
Mutation is essentially text editing. Each author has independent editorial freedom over his own working document. Consequently the population acquires variant documents, and the gene pool acquires variant genes. These variations accommodate diversity. They are, in turn, grist for the mill of recombination.
Recombination allows an author to improve a working document by transferring select bits of text from the documents of other authors. On the surface, recombination can be as simple as copy and paste; underneath, it involves the transfer of discrete genes.
Use cases
Several approaches to recombinant text have been explored to date, each corresponding to a different use case, or mode of use.
Paired-regions
This is where you are reading another author's document, and discover a desirable piece in it. If you like, you can copy it, and paste it into your own working document; either as a new insert, or as replacement for prior text. And then continue reading. Current development of textbender is focused on this approach.
Evolutionary genetic systems
The theoretical underpinning of recombinant text is evolutionary genetics - the synthesis of Darwinian evolution and modern genetics. Aside from its significance as a biological theory, evolutionary genetics also has practical applications in fields such agriculture, engineering and art, where it underpins systems that combine optimization and search in detail, with creative composition and diverse expression in the large. Recombinant text is one such system, and the following table places it in context. These differences detract from the comparison.
Oral Tradition
There is a notion too, that recombinant text may be a re-creation, in a sense, of rhapsodic verse in the oral tradition. Substitute the genes of a recombinant text for the formulae, epithets and stock phrases that were the raw materials of improvised recital - what Ong calls its "prefabricated parts"; and substitute the Web for the wandering singers who formed the collective memory and communication medium of the oral tradition; and it appears that recombinant texts are composed and re-composed from posting to posting, much as songs were once "stitched together" from recital to recital. In this sense, a recombinant text re-creates an environment similar to the one in which the ancient epics evolved; a fluid dynamic and dialogue among artists, long since frozen by the invention of writing. This proposal has led, in turn, to the design of an open electoral system for the general purpose of advancing candidates for public office, policies for executive action, and legislative bills for statutory law. Its development has since commenced as "project Votorola".