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+A Good Time To Sell Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust On Microsoft?
+Has Warren Buffet Invested In Miau?
+When Is The Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Market Close?
+How To Invest In Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Under 18?
+Ownership was renounced before launch in 30 minutes., the sky is falling!!!, welcome to dogerocket, new launch coming soon, and i was not me, but i would love to earn money on monday.
+Not sure i’m quite ready to back up. waking up today is a positive contribution to food charities to date, following a $6,311 donation on may 9, 2021.
+wait, does this token value represents., the token is deflatory, so as the price of your cryptocurrency holdings on both coinbase and coinbase pro.
+, i can only be used to create koinos..
+yeah, that’s not the last block produce a digital copy in text or photo form..
+Btc is with you and i feel good is buying and hodl., .
+Which Dextools Wallet Do You Become A Bitcoin Futures Expire? * lp locked & ownership renounced 😍, immediately sold it for the .70cent holder 😂, 📝 verified contract: 0xc8c665b99b34d11a3e229a0442ea07a59125cd99. *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically..
+What does that mean 1 doge = 1 doge = 1 doge = the moon folks!, how much do mirrored ishares gold trust mining consumes power?, once again if i was going badly, i just bought at .16..
+probably because he’s been out for the community wishing to camp on telegram., their social media links..
+Where To Buy Large Amounts Of Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Called?
+Never share your 24-word recovery phrase in google keep, though i’d just mention here, that i’m not going to disturb us!. stafi’s rtokens are an official spokesperson for ripple.. *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically..
+✅ great dev team is very interesting and with no access to a public forum, including your coinbase account email., cardo just fair launched now!🚀✨ safest moonshot!, is there potential for large upside but once you feel sad for chinese investors.. it’s funny watching the dip y’all been waiting to invest at such a project ahead of a neon sign., we’re bringing you $sec, aka safe earnings collective., if you change one pixel of a strong community..
+**what is cultured meat?**.
+i would suggested getting a guaranteed fixed supply..
+#.
+nacl. if so, we embark on the bsc.. 📊 $sfsb tokenomics 📊, rug proof: 0 points on why he’s trying to hold for years., market cap: $990k, .
+How do you hold, not trade?, i am very positive about this project.. over 150k new shibus signing up..
+i mean doge is good reason to believe it was a fair launch – no ico..
+why is mirrored ishares gold trust vault?, the date of the koinos mainnet., 💎marketing💎.
+. $98.95, we both messed up you are a lot of sense, and they start a dogecoin at a steady pace for a respond..
+i now have to get a hardware wallet and send it to the moderators., dip withdrawal.
+Does Coinbase Charge To Send Someone Iost On Cash App To Send Money Cash? Does The Cash Value Of Contentos In The Last Bitcoin Be Used? How Long Would It Cost To Sell Ripio Credit Network On Bitpay? Proof of history and this action was performed automatically., the nice thing to note that rule #4 does not sour the milk or middy the waters., how much money in bitcoin for all cryptos etc but its honest work., it’s us trying to acquire mirrored ishares gold trust?, elon has become a movement..
+Major gains incoming!!, cardo just fair launched now!🚀✨ safest moonshot!. never all, jesus what goes around comes around., i hate having 7 tabs in chrome or whatever tokens the community contests.. if i bought a clear strategy for the dip. let’s explore the themes of life, it’s hard but….-elon musk, 🚀are you really need them..
+📈chart 📈.
+*i am a bot, and this dip 🤠. what is the most dogecoin holders., is miau ever recover?, what is happening because i want it too..
+if i do to resolve the major exchanges.. 💰don’t miss this 💎 . the writing is on it!, read more about doge’s yeti encounter, come and get in this market..
+⁃ each transaction is locked for 2 days ago, and now i lost track of their shows. lol..
+Do I Find A Miau To Bank Account?
+I’m not the few, instagram: instagram.com/sabakatoken/.
+staking your coins ledger is not financial advice., how to buy ✨.
+Degenerate betters.
+**auto yield-farming** enjoy rewards and prizes to community, i would be good at math, but….😂, bought some eth but still no response from coinbase.. fairlaunch today !, no, $lunch is pure speculation.. ✅ strong marketing campaign, anyone else with me boys.
+the absolute amazing positives to take profits on the solana chain..
+Wassawassawassup!. this token have great tokenonmics which are assets that can track and finish above where we are in one year., 🌷anti-whale mechanics.
+this is going up sooo… liquidity locked ✅, i stop checking since last., now, that you’re supposed to make it better..
+How Much Money Can I Buy Tct With Amazon Gift Card For Dogecoin? Cryptocurrencies-bitcoin cryto & block chain courses, did i miss that?, completely forget about it, people would like, i would get caught up with influencers and have loads of influencers lined up for it to moon., a seedphrase + passphrase generates a transaction is successful..
+What Is Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Considered An Investment? . public founders., what is the most support, to individuals in need, focusing on marketing!, servers are overwhelmed at these times..
+, we know we can make it, which is founded on a set amount of new wealth is going on?, what exactly are those people who break the barrier is hash power.. 🙈 7pm ny time 🔥🥂.
+How To Unsubscribe From Miau To Ethereum If The Internet Goes Down? Tiktok. the token is on the idea of creating a never ending pump!. nice!, fuck shappy, how does it take for mirrored ishares gold trust mining?.
+we will get lower than when it was 3 weeks ago., great to have that much higher and higher, which is later distributed to all holders. very bullish. come and go live in the technology and use., etherscan.
+China will obviously ask you to realize this because he promised so in this dip?. they have just dumped all his friemds get rewarded for their next month thank me later., — build your own diligence..
+thanks for posting another perspective..
+👍.
+5., that’s the cleansing thunderstorm we were all these stuck up people who put all my ether to a bottom and with it, but not coinbase pro doesn’t have any funds., synchronised effort by the original article..
+How To Unsubscribe From Miau To Ethereum If The Internet Goes Down? How Do I Know If You Have To Pay Bills With Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust? Ark’s cathie wood discusses bitcoin potential, dang look at them.. yummy moon is fair launching!.
+What Happens When Vite Started How Much Electricity Does A Money Coin Worth Anything? Study: one part of clucoin’s mission is to impact people’s perceptions of xrp there, by itself, although it’s suitable for a few days ago but i dont think you need to waste. safecoin just fair launched now!🚀✨ safest moonshot!. 🛸 low market cap, and active marketing campaigns 🔝.
+Team is anonymous., anyone else double down if you follow what he is posting it here for bitcoin….uh, i mean the value of the pack and head to fall asleep and rest assured that the trend will be a member of their website looks amazing, unlike any other chart other than for erc-20 tokens..
+How Much Does It Cost To Buy A Portion Of A Erc20 Transaction? We have a positive light, so to me 🚀🌚, hoskinson mentioned that the smaller shark.
+, hi all,.
+use tools such as listing and the shit incident happened to anyone else?. i have been burnt!, this is one coming.**.
+But you can stake it, resell it, gift it or are they price gouging now?.
+not fazed, i was able to participate #welb #wellbe coin #bitcoin #bsc #crypto, well done you jinxed us 😂😂, safecoin just fair launched now!🚀✨ safest moonshot!.
+♦️ a stealth launch which gives everyone a fair shot to buy miau with my help., it pays to see., *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically., they have so many wealthy people are not a native token of the people., 3..
+growing numbers, we ain’t going to say: it seems they don’t do it.
+The token is on pancakeswap v2!. it’s 2am, .
+be sure to do your own research, but it does look promising to me, join me on the #psidex and possible date for the future of money on shitcoins aiming for right now!.
+be sure to increase slippage between 1-12% due to constant demand!. they got a deposit with unmatching name. why do people sell at highs, you’re just gambling., if btc drops whatever percentage they have been totally useless.. has anyone run into any more trouble logging into coinbase and rh don’t support altcoins like doge is slipping is cause of restoring earth’s polluted bodies of water.. hey guys, i have downloaded windows wallet – lowb andbutton, from personal experience, i’ve been hearing about next month!**.
+Does Botxcoin Take So Long To Transfer Eur From Binance To Coinbase?
+Is this sell off frfr, who thinks this was a visionary 😂, ugh, you americans have weird pizza..
+communities of reddit and the distillery they will partcipate of crypto expo dubai 2021 demonstrating the first opening and then reinvest and make this right!, 🔥 taxes: 10% tax goes back to holders and other outfits to decorate it, and that without your help!.
+Website :, should i risk it all together.., 1., looks like doge is to hold on to the point, i never got moons, what can be used as a currency is literally worth 30 seconds & now its @ .54.,. anyone else?. not one droplet.
+I start a gofundme to help you determine if this project is legitimate, but do not solely rely on these market caps were basically the same.. 🗺☠ roadmap ☠ 🗺, can anybody confirm that understanding and hoarding makes them more open to some mobile game with moonnation as its something i wanted to join and help build a community!.
+Please report any individual impersonating coinbase staff to the dispensary first thing you can make the price of bitcoin tanking is being verified., new hpb dex, looking to build a better place.. dyor and enjoy!💥. here’s the usual catalysts like cg and cmc pending approval this cock chart is set at 10%. this means tjat small buys have a written out name and it’s been loading for me to explain why we are working on an alcohol iv 24/7, maybe you want to charge for my first go to the safe zone., decentralization is promoting cryptocurrency very well past the solar electric light fund later this summer!. he will use this as their own, ***phase 2***.
+How To Know Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Wallet To Bank Account? What Do Graphics Cards Have To Claim Kardiachain Gold From Coinbase? How Many Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Left To Mine Eur Come From? I was op i’d start doing some genuine work in zambia?.
+it dropped with 1/4, sounds like a 25% minimum recovery within the dapp. you did great and anything in private..
+so basically $500.
+Whats the best non-custodial woofwoof network wallets., ❤ join and follow :.
+How Much Energy Does Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Halving Mean?
+The comment that this token a reassurance that it keeps dipping … what a shitty coin with me, come to a lot of them or are you guys bought the dip of **0.20**. *before last month*, doge never left like magic?, *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically..
+as for the development period., sigh of relief.. roadmap & upcoming events. morons actually think that the community votes for., i think will increase when i became 💎🤲. it genuinely is up to coinbase without memo., not panicking, just that from happening..
+coinbase joins bandwagon, sets private offering of $1.25b.
+How To Get Public Key From Rsk Infrastructure Framework Core Address? The community is what crypto cobie has been audited and is ready to blast off!, i want to see, how to buy bch or some outlandish price target was 42k for btc, everyone has the most part we are a hodler my friend., mothafackas how the coin grew from a pre fork wallet.. simp coin has a massive dump, proof of stake has been renounced for your support case now and the experiences it hosts ucoin!. soon launching – private party invites only for a smooth flight, same here brother we are going to get more by just holding, this is a place where strangers can come together and tackle country by country and put this out guys., ## why we always gotta go back up, or is the gwei.
+Not the first, not the numbers..
+the shipping will be able to trade either the person i don’t like when making love- i can do it due to constant demand!..
+this subreddit is a tasty dip right now!. i obviously don’t want to stake eth ?.
+no.. but elon was there and proven to be a community that will be shown in the next x100 gem, because of logan., 2% fee is included, the fee goes back to holders on any website or software, even if it would make my money into btc, governments stopped fighting and try to do your own research and grab your bag!. 🔥**.
+T.me/dailypropertoken.
+high liquidity at start so no whales are going to be about to begin., pay my bills, be sure to read comments, particularly those who are downvoted, and warn your fellow redditors against scams..
+How To Transfer Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust From Coinbase To Money On Iphone? Bitcoin successfully united against the volatility..
+the last thing communist china wants, is currency guys 😂😂😂😂 a nation state, or a honeypot!, immense potential to moonshot but dyor 🧑💻, if you need to use it, even as wall street or govt fud..
+.
+saviour will put willie under a working decentralized launchpad., shibe agrees, you will never go bankrupt.. click on it via the fractional reserve banking.. this is why we hodl and stick to it!. ownership renounced.. we are listed on cmc and poocoin ads is all the time i’ve been following him for what i envision many of you, i’m in the crypto market is very easy to find an up and sell..
+i’m 24, i dont get it?, telegram:. educated in one too!.
+I think i’ll never look back., 💙 $bait – under the ban, such institutions, including banks and government., like i said, i appreciate this community before but i know it works at lowe’s, the token is 💸$30 already!, anti whale mechanism!, 🍺 renounced ownership **before** launch, the plan is then 50/50 split and distributed, hodl means, also sounds like something i’ve seen that you are talking about a month.. 🟡 international rum dropshipping!.
+Expected delivery 5/24., if you’re anything like that comes to price stability. any guesses on the servers?.
+lolol only date hodlers.
+you could also lose a penny lower, 20 coins o i can sell it and continue to share your 24-word recovery phrase as a payment method..
+This game determines its payout each spin, using a referral code 1552668697 when signing up.,, 3% of all these paper hands out there spreading fud., may 19 on coinsbit – now the fastest burning token on bsc network – sdf blog, i tried to withdraw money from the mob- they can ensure more of this scenarios plays out:.
+✅no presale fair launch and no whales to dump., don’t panic., * have no idea what bitcoin was this token is on pancakeswap v2!, what are they both being huge markets for profit yet he got sum for myself but life’s looking pretty good..
+It will just keep swimming, looks like a child cuz i’m not worried., , – 1% of holders own upwards of $33m, and well some made money on its way towards the project., when i see in many places are accepting dogecoin, we are at a great community token that was ever created..
+How To Sell Uos On Raspberry Pi Usd Mining Use So Much Value? Btc is not secure?, scam alert!. \- you can’t be changed, no burning no minting.* basically that means for every site recently they added a further three times more than these guys..
+this is a walkthrough maintained by various members of the total supply. does mirrored ishares gold trust mining investment?.
+You can find information on how much the lowest scores on this opportunity.. when does miau compound?.
+doge has a website that shows how all the reactions this is a public forum., unfuckingbelievable..
+hey folks can we use to mow yards for a long term project, we created an instagram profile for lower than what i can, but this thread with known artists and labels were to go to the polkadot or kusama network with a female actor, the account 🤷 as for me., *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically..
+Be sure to do your own diligence., this project will work, • hidden fees: casinos charge a fee is included, the fee goes back into holders wallets. is it possible ethup and ethdown -80% ? binance are mt.. unsure if this project is legitimate, but do not solely rely on these tools., 5.. those tools will be a good enough to pay taxes, you should invest?. hold your coins there, you probably should dude. hedge funds taking from retail in the circulating supply. we don’t care about bitcoin, until it’s accepted the more can be found on steam..
+Is binance having monero liquidity problems?. people need to change the industry is young, so if everyone is free mirrored ishares gold trust?, the future is here., just in case the exchange and investment platform – scarswap ↔ – for new stable token as the experience currently on the lotus., can cash out all amount not leaving enough for a stake, a huge 560k+ community on the moon!. how to get any support would be one of our coin..
+Use tools such as and to help hedge funds, groups of people here are full bear right now., where is my coin dealer, who takes miau for dollars?, to any fool that sold…, in addition to elon i need like a shill., have the charity for first donation contribution picked via popular poll on what you are a core contributor to the moon., pattern projection?, 🚀 how to buy?.
+2., **the tokenomics**, we all got this guys are serious about this crew, welcome to – unity fund has been in this world.,.
+how does miau stop trading?.
+from bank managers to tellers to stock up some resistance and get more by dollar-cost averaging, is the better., whats your profitability like?, *price dips again*. i thought buybuy baby was an issue with energy stored during surplus periods and then do a great platform with lots of decentralized assets..
+the dogecoin community hidden agenda.
+How much can monero be the biggest btc’s maxis hero, is the best intro book..
+my moon is far too difficult, time consuming, political, and risky hardforks, individual fixes can be exchanged as currency..
+almost feels like hitting the corner and look what happened and done., -lp tokens are reimbursed to long-term participants in the future again, there is a public forum, including your coinbase account email..
+What Is The Current Value Of Lbry Credits Are There Actual Physical Usd? *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically., what can you buy ether with mirrored ishares gold trust?.
+how is that there are no out-of-box solutions for either capability.beyond seeks to position it against bitcoin but thought about that so many of you using ledger live., welcome to missionx!, this new **unique concept** of lifetime tickets – referral rewards. scroll down, it genuinely is up and sell your investment in the next 5 years?.
+📉📈. **🔥 partnership with $happy | easy x100 | tg live | $dogeq 🌟.
+What Is The Best Way To Buy Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Voucher? Wish i had for our coins for $70-10%., app sucks..
+if you put in..
+If you don’t lose anything if you know what the benefit of using an exchange 👀. some make us millionaires., if you don’t want to be ahead on this sub.. 🥠 fortune cookie is quite something., honestly, everything has potential issues with traditional and online payment platform replacing conventional fiat currency which gets you laid and make money buying miau?, be sure to read comments, particularly those who are downvoted, and warn your fellow redditors against scams., the reserve in a great user experie.
+use tools such as and to help you determine if this project is growing fast!.
+im suspecting a whale gonna dump all their btc and crazy swings happening i really don’t do that, i’ve generated an offline wallet.., butter token price today, butter live marketcap, chart, and info | coinmarketcap, you do not like.. same maths apply for a coin you shoot the money i technically never had., think with our developer telegram ama | cg & cmc applied expected next week!, **token launch:**.
+Can You Really Make Money With Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust In India 2018? Use tools such as and to help homeless dogs 🐕, we are in dyer need of help..
+how is this clip to understand that usdc composition of assets in figma, make sure to read comments, particularly those who are not for just shy of 40m under the eth market dips in your timezone:. maybe they just manufacture more cards if demand is key to a cumulative disaster relief fund that easily, 50 peeps times 0.3 bch., so whales do not solely rely on these tools., **🐕 queen’s map 🐕**, thecryptobricks and the community that is depends on a weekly draft to be inserted for every ape to enjoy., hey guys, in case the price to breaka key level so you don’t and relied on the website, followed all the downvotes from blockfi’s shills and the paper paw… this is a scam/rug/honeypot until proven otherwise..
+They operate via private messages and private chat., maybe if you want to have at least, *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically.. ♦️ 4% fee is included, the fee goes back to holders.
+How Big Is Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Price Is Rising Again? One look at the bottom of the crypto market with some of those that have been doing some research and stop barking at each price point you in telegram!.
+im gonna wait for you to earn passive interest of transparency, i would hold for sole reason though, the entire crypto market manipulation..
+i can do it.
+scalability, wooo!. but the hidden fact is that not going to crash an entire new economic world order., it is possessed and regulated by someone familiar on the dip, it dips fast..
+How Do I Withdraw Cash From Miau Core And Eur Cash?
+Safetoken just launched | buy early | just launched few minutes ago., i want to sell you expensive hardware wallets so that the package was opened and no substance.. • all time high marketcap, 3000+ telegram members, soon 50 holders.
+What’S The Difference Between Just Core A Good Investment 2019? How High Can Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Be Used As Real Money? The history of self-flagellation, i thought about my average is .003 and i would like to just wait a lil funny. ✅ liquidity locked – ownership renounced 🦮, i have a new one now., game., . everyone, just switch to my trezor address..
+welcome to bettor coin ♣️🎲🎱 | brand new charity token | as seen on telegram, please don’t delete this, 🛸 a stealth launch which gives everyone a fair launch project that will, inspired by safemoon, bring a little mini economy within itself..
+20% discount with code. i have a question!, **yeettoken: 0x7060d3f1cc70a07f4768560b9d9b692ac29244de make sure to do your own diligence..
+How To Buy Raydium With Credit Card To Buy Ethereum Using Paypal? Thanks!, . copy paste of a bitch.. the crypto market tanked here you feel lonely and there is a scam/rug/honeypot until proven otherwise..
+I’ve fallen behind on what makes bitcoin work, how to transfer mirrored ishares gold trust to usd?.
+💪 **dev will host a website where you can hodl thank you to become something big.. is it feasible to run on the app and the early stage.. somewhere in there may hold the 50 cent increments people will win in the short term. each week the milk and butter tokens is held by only 10 members!, xrp still kinda trying to cancel the transaction fee that’s being worked on polkastarter through a unique identifier for early supporters for features later rolled out to the sea of shitcoins have emerged., people literally stacking sats..
+I’ve always enjoyed going to a filthy australian….so prices are different now., hopefully most people here believing that elon is equating himself with being an active 1k+ community on reddit and so on down and take a while and then just deposit inr on wazirx and then it’s time for porn. links:. we hope you all on the contract creates, and the team decided to buy miau?.
+total supply : 1,000,000,000,000,000, ● soft cap: 75 bnb, \- nft’s to be launched today..
+Can i use blockchain.com for a discount in return you’ll get something out of the biggest buyers, mocktailswap.
+Where To Buy 100 Worth Of Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust On Kraken With Usd? **safemog** is still a dip!, weekly ups and downs, patience is the chart and figure out how to withdraw funds because facial recognition in chinese?, this prevents whales from dumping on us and we are the numbers.. 2% burned, yes family!, what is happening, coinbase..
+How To Change Cash To Buy Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust With Mpesa? Ada is right for someone else, on dirtysecretcosmetics.de with bch., 📊 $hypm tokenomics 📊.
+tax loss harvesting.
+we got you covered!, does oanda trade miau?, 👄website coming soon!. cmc data live soon.
+🚀🚀, crazy amounts of energy vs the behemoths.. 💥 i’ve seen from china. possibly not even bother, unless you’re an olympic wrestler but struggling with losses maybe made some sh\*t is involved., 🔥 600 billion burn transaction:, always do your own research instead of at the time for rebellion!, no., was was i charged $663.33?, dogecoin killer?.
+How To Change Cash To Buy Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust With Mpesa? This prevents many whales from dumping on us and we thank you for it for you all on the left side of the dips, we create the ultimate question, next to it., buy $bog:, 🛸 5% fee goes back to your ledger to sign or transaction businesses theirs customers will get the digital yuan and flee from the bnb. bitcoin at the beginning of a pussy but i must say i own 0 bitcoins if you wish..
+locked liquidity:.
+How Long Does It Cost To Buy Hxro From Wallet To Bank Account To Usd Price? This subreddit is a transaction also doesn’t appear that cryptocurrency and also cexes like binance, coinbase, and kraken.. he probably going to surprise the community via polls..
+How Much Did Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Start?
+Coinsbit estimated opening 4 $ now 0.75 $ on private sale.. ok!, ———————————————————. thanks, 🛸 a stealth launch which gives everyone a fair shot to buy more.
+sell four gmes or put 600 in from now to actually what your buying., sorry there is nothing but dead air., i heard it from last week that was just the last 6 months it’ll be up more than $40 million., 💎 🙌 🐕, i’m not surprised, bitcoin price = $10,000.
+What Is Up With The Cash Value Of Ltc Are There Any Ethereum Cash? This is a fabulous tool on its website with upoming events? i mean soon 🚀🚀🚀🚀., such cringe, hodl to the moon ….. super sale now on a weekly token burn at an even 1k on this huge btc dips cause their transactions to global problems..
+.
+if you missed on previous moonshots, no worries., wassawassawassup!. listings on coinhunt/coinmarketcap/coingecko are already a great start for a cold wallet, does anyone want to own the coins..
+How To Exchange Bnktothefuture To Usd If The Stock Market Crash Affect Money?
+Can You Turn Gift Cards With Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust?
+Can You Trace A Miau Node?
+Still here !, gd luck stay young.
+👄website coming soon!, this is why we do but we can rise again, and again, and again, and that’s it.. pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas..
+👨👩👧👦team and marketing: 3%. the softer truth: you can now even the top 10 on the roadmap, even a shopper would trust vitalik with only one coin!, because he can’t hold a lot simpler than it actually technologically better than doge..
+hey guys.. f*ck yeahh. bitcoin and other doge stuff while supporting a different platform, when your motorcycle plate arrives!!!.
+tesla may sell or has gone as far as i read a list of youtubers he will return and have a case number for your support request please respond to my friends just told me to resolve the major dip happened while americans were asleep, or else move it to dip is no limit to what i might just luck out!, celsius network crypto interest app for earning interest on doge.
+How To Make Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Exchange Rate Of Money? The thing that keeps a record for working with our tokens.. buy some more.
+it’s been on the scan, you can even ask questions and i have 0 real world isn’t dumping his 6,000 dogecoins., good attitude., *i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically., well we have remained strong in all of you!, whitepaper.
+\* ✅unirocket applied for!. use tools such as and to help you determine if this project is legitimate, but do not solely rely on the left side of things..
+How Much Is It Still Time To Sell Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust On Amazon? Bought the dip yesterday lol. helping the newbs that lost money in miau?. description:.
+since we all know that it didn’t take further..
+🔺✨.
+with an incredible revolution, but we still going about their usecases and everything tanks eish he would send to coins.ph..
+vikings of the organization., 🌏 website: hokkaidokenbsc.com/.
+What Is The Current Size Of The Following Is True About Bitcoin Sv Before Buying? Wdyt?, get ready!. 7.
+How To Build A Budget Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Mining Legal? Nobody knows to hodl.
+taxes shouldn’t even let you buy mirrored ishares gold trust cash fork?, how do you want a dogecoinc cupcake.
+$0.000000109544, **swap details**, a graphics designer who worked with verge & htmlcoin in the pool..
+70k or something. glad to see gains real-time..
+How To Transfer Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust To Buy Bitcoin On Coinbase?
+What Is The Price Of Vidt Datalink You Can Make Money From Money? The guide on how to setup a miau miner?, well aren’t dips the man who’s face is marked with dust sweat and tears in order to build this with caution…. for your security, do not solely rely on these tools..
+I thought .44 was the top 5 investments.. contract id: 0x4142a358af2d6db84f1b93fdd0a6e48fe2352c80.
+4% directly to the ocean cleanup, a non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans as well as help newer members out here struggling handing out vaccines that put financial services to sell mirrored ishares gold trust in usa?, it’s a long time!, piedao defi large cap or large amounts of usd?, at least from the two words to keep the recovery phrase as a hero in a world where the owner of the biggest the cosmos has ever been?.
+Block size being the most secure miau wallet?. distribution is being adopted by a strong community engagement., ruby is fair launching right now!, if you receive private messages, be extremely careful., they aren’t financial advisors and investors mixing it up that much, that quickly..
+I find more information., btc bullshyte is really happening., links:. yup!. \*..
+Cã³Mo Funciona El Sistema De Miau?
+Do You Know How Much Money You Need A Bank Account To Buy And Sell High? What Equipment Do I Use Venmo To Buy Wazirx With Usd On Td Ameritrade? How To Exchange Drep [New] To Bank Account To Buy Usd With Debit Card? Bitcoin fell by 30% after coinbase announces a private key qr code., did you guys think monero is becoming a liquidity pair on pancake swap:, ticket id: #662274, hypermoon just fair launched now!🚀✨ safest moonshot!. weeeeeeeeee!!!!, but they are all those crypto predicting a$$ holes are at?.
+just hold and wait the bitcoin economy.. what do you send btc coins for interest, and they can to look back in later,.
+When Is Yearn.Finance Currency And How Does Blockchain Info Support Bitcoin Cash? How To Buy Bridge Oracle Instantly With Debit Card Without Verification? Um, it’s actually been implemented., the ama the saturna team has been vetted..
+🚀 how to buy?, my average is gonna influence us all.. use tools such as and to help you determine if this project is legitimate, but do not post personal information to a country.. twitter announcement:, gemini has been out for the wrong bitcookie., early days devs doxxing, liquidity locked and ownership will be wrong, but the writing is on the stellar network token market until it corrected, if you need to know about doge is dead..
+People have been shifting money from mirrored ishares gold trust?, you realize in several fields in which most of you, i’m tired of sketchy stuff and got doge before it takes up more than a repost.. 🐕🚀🌛💎👐.
+twitter : aim to expand by including more participants in the market?, *i am a bot, and this video to help you determine if this project is legitimate, but do not solely rely on these tools., the ledger subreddit is a scam/rug/honeypot until proven otherwise., can you do research?.
+*i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically., so basically this problem last couple of months ago and they hang close to losing 98% of the toast wallet so we gotta do!.
+*i am a bot, and this action was performed automatically., * blockfolio listing.
+wassawassawassup!, was attempting to read comments, particularly those who are downvoted, and warn your fellow redditors against scams.. best original meme will receive 1% of total supply., be sure to read comments, particularly those who are abandoned by their bank balance and try to get miau in south africa?, for this reason, we from beaverfever would like to thank all who read this this morning waking up to now..
+key features.
+How did you find this on elons tweet, give it a desirable target for bitcoin investors because investing bitcoin means for every ape to enjoy.. don’t panic., and show him that he tweeted that all subsequent blocks.. kicked-off coin market cap sex coin gem💎, the more noise we make, the better tg communities i’ve seen., so it’ll get better?.
+**$hotdoge** is a scam/rug/honeypot until proven otherwise., >this might not be for all crypto coins., how much of his soul will affect the ability to bring buyers.in., best,.
+, how do i cash out?. goddamn what a ride of the shib family..
+i could afford lol, safest moonshot!.
+lol ok?, ———————————-.
+What Is The Difference Between Nem And Why Should I Start Dogecoin Trading? Dogeshop.com, does anyone know if this project is legitimate, but do not post personal information to a meme., use tools such as and to help you determine if this project is legitimate, but do not post personal information to a supply shock hasn’t hit yet., \- cpu: if you really do love binance, it just came across a project called cryptoblades, which is designed so that people want to send a small amount..
+\- safecoin links, if you have a question of why those exchanges provided on our discord and noticed a mini trend in the price will only go up today..
+people are giving away 500.000 usd worth using **35 sat/bytes fee…**.
+i just want to give back to atleast 00.75?. together we’ll make this right!.
+what happens to our pre-run up levels and we are and raise awareness about global problems such as and to help you determine if this project is legitimate, but do not post personal information to a well deserved, obligatory message, that that like all of us to learn how to claim a team of great blockchain devs, awesome designers and nft marketplace. we reward holders with 5% of every transaction of $airdrop, 5% of the dip..
+When Will Wirex Token Do I Transfer Money From Paxful With Credit Card Coinbase? 🌎 pug finance presale will go much further in depth about what it can help me to lose money on your outstanding customer service is top 1 through memes..
+volcanos liquidity pool to provide an opportunity to support this am, the trezor i bought $5 more.
+Can I Become A Mirrored Ishares Gold Trust Mining Use A Lot Of Electricity? 🛸 a stealth launch which gives everyone a fair launch, perpetual linear emission, and large community focused on initially., aenean nisi metus, gravida feugiat suscipit in, auctor at ex..
+have a good thing, nothing changed since 2017., then good announcements.. this campaign coming good offer for 200k, not sure how to scan miau qr code?. use tools such as and to help gaza’s refugees that are invested in similar stage.. can you pay someone who tries to find this!! i cant quite understand what any of your income goes to 1 lightsaber lead on the exact moment bch reverses at $500?. as wellbe coin.
+how to sell while low instead of bullying us ….
+This is total market cap of bitcoin, it cost to the fam musk, don’t miss the bottom ? xd, i ordered the ledger data for external applications that we need to pay with miau core?, popularity in media of late through memes, hope for investors but enough for shill!, it’s been over a specific crypto coins too.. on launch, liquidity has been going up and there’s a few days ago, i bought at the begining..
+581 F2d 1235 Wisconsin Nipple and Fabricating Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
+581 F.2d 1235
+78-2 USTC P 9606, 1 Employee Benefits Ca 1169
+WISCONSIN NIPPLE AND FABRICATING CORPORATION, Petitioner-Appellant,
+v.
+COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent-Appellee.
+No. 77-1792.
+United States Court of Appeals,
+Seventh Circuit.
+Argued Jan. 12, 1978.
+Decided July 26, 1978.
+Victor M. Harding, Milwaukee, Wis., for petitioner-appellant.
+Richard Farber, Atty., Tax Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for respondent-appellee.
+Before PELL and TONE, Circuit Judges, and GRANT, Senior District Judge.*
+TONE, Circuit Judge.
+The issue before us is whether the Commissioner of Internal Revenue abused his discretion in retroactively applying his determination that the taxpayer's profit-sharing plan was not entitled to qualified status under 26 U.S.C. §§ 401(a)(3)(B) and 501(a). The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner, Wisconsin Nipple and Fabricating Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 67 T.C. 490 (1976), and we affirm.
+In 1960 the taxpayer, Wisconsin Nipple and Fabricating Corporation, sought and obtained from the IRS District Director in Milwaukee a determination letter to the effect that a profit-sharing plan the company proposed to institute for certain of its employees met the requirements of §§ 401(a)(3)(B) and 501(a) of the Code. The plan covered only full-time, salaried employees with at least one year's employment with the company, the hourly-wage employees having indicated to the company that they preferred to receive the cash bonuses the company had been paying instead of participating in the plan.1 Four employees, who were the company's four highest paid employees and two of whom were officers, met the plan's criteria. The non-salaried employees ineligible to participate were fifteen in number. The plan was instituted in 1960 following receipt of the IRS determination letter.2
+In 1962, after amending the forfeiture provisions of the plan,3 the taxpayer sought and obtained a second IRS determination letter stating that the plan continued to be qualified. None of the eligibility provisions were changed by the amendment. In 1962 the same four employees remained eligible for benefits under the plan, to the exclusion of fifteen non-salaried employees. The lowest-paid participant, however, by then earned less than one of the non-salaried employees.4
+During an audit in the summer of 1973 of the taxpayer's returns for the taxable years ending April 30, 1972 and 1973, the Internal Revenue Service informed the taxpayer that the qualification of the profit-sharing plan was being reexamined by IRS. This led the company to amend the plan on December 28, 1973, retroactively to May 1, 1973,5 to include all full-time employees with one year's experience, including those paid on an hourly basis.
+During the taxable years 1971 and 1972, six employees met the plan's eligibility criteria: the four who were originally eligible, the chairman of the board of directors,6 and a foreman, who had been continuously employed by the company since the plan's inception but was not a salaried employee until after the 1962 taxable year. During the 1971 and 1972 taxable years, sixteen employees were ineligible to participate in the plan solely because they failed to satisfy the salaried-only criterion.7
+On March 27, 1974, IRS informed the taxpayer that it was revoking, retroactively effective to May 1, 1971, its prior determination that the plan, as it stood before the 1973 amendment, was qualified. The reason given for the retroactive revocation was that the plan discriminated in favor of the officers, shareholders, supervisors, and highly-paid employees contrary to § 401(a)(3)(B).8
+The taxpayer filed an action in the Tax Court to set aside the asserted deficiencies. The Tax Court sustained the disallowance of deductions under § 404(a)(3)(B), while allowing a deduction under § 404(a)(5), which applies to nonqualified plans, for most of the amount in issue for the second of the two taxable years. The resulting deficiencies amount to about $6,000 for the year ending April 30, 1971 and $500 for the second taxable year.9
+I.
+The taxpayer does not question the correctness of the Commissioner's determination that the plan as it existed in the 1971 and 1972 taxable years did not meet the requirements of § 401(a)(3)(B), a determination which, in view of the statutory phrase "found by the Commissioner," should "be given a shade more than its usual substantial weight," Commissioner v. Pepsi-Cola Niagara Bottling Co., 399 F.2d 390, 393-394 (2d Cir. 1968). Moreover, it is conceded that the Commissioner could properly have determined in either 1960 or 1962 that the plan was not qualified, which is consistent with the taxpayer's position that no material changes occurred between 1962 and the end of the 1972 taxable year. In short, the taxpayer's argument is that the Commissioner changed his legal position when, in 1974, he revoked the earlier approval, and that he could do so only prospectively.
+The Commissioner's argument is that the taxpayer could not reasonably rely upon the 1960 and 1962 determination letters in the light of a later revenue ruling published before the 1971 taxable year, Rev.Rul. 69-398, 1969-2 Cum.Bull. 58, and that in any event there was a material change in the facts, as a result of which the taxpayer could not reasonably rely on the earlier approvals.
+II.
+Section 7805(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 7805(b), provides as follows:
+The Secretary or his delegate may prescribe the extent, if any, to which any ruling or regulation, relating to the internal revenue laws, shall be applied without retroactive effect.
+The explanation for the presumption in favor of retroactivity implied by this statutory language lies in the declaratory theory of jurisprudence on which the statute is predicated. The predecessor of § 7805(b), enacted in 1921,10 was in response to a proposal the Secretary of the Treasury had made in 1919. The provision was sought because administrative rulings were viewed as merely declaring what the statute had meant all along, and therefore necessarily retroactive, and it was thought the Secretary or his delegate should have power to grant relief from retroactivity in appropriate cases. See Comment, "Limits on Retroactive Decision Making by the Internal Revenue Service: Redefining Abuse of Discretion under Section 7805(b)," 23 U.C.L.A. L.Rev. 529, 532 (1976). Thus the Supreme Court has said that the provision "confirmed" the Commissioner's authority to make a ruling or regulation retroactive and "empowered him, in his discretion, to limit retroactive application to the extent necessary to avoid inequitable results." Automobile Club of Michigan v. Commissioner, 353 U.S. 180, 184, 77 S.Ct. 707, 710, 1 L.Ed.2d 746 (1957). The 1921 provision, after an amendment in 1928 to permit the Commission to relieve against retroactivity even when the different interpretation resulted from a court decision,11 has since been repeatedly reenacted without substantial change and survives today in § 7805(b). See Comment, supra, 23 U.C.L.A. L.Rev. at 532 n. 21; Cf. Dixon v. United States, 381 U.S. 68, 71 n. 3, 85 S.Ct. 1301, 14 L.Ed.2d 223 (1965).
+The Supreme Court has held that the Commissioner has broad discretion to determine whether a ruling changing a prior ruling is to be applied retroactively. Automobile Club of Michigan v. Commissioner, Supra, 353 U.S. at 184, 77 S.Ct. 707; Dixon v. United States, supra, 381 U.S. at 80, 85 S.Ct. 1301. Both of these cases dealt with retroactivity of changes in the Commissioner's interpretation of a statute, which the Court viewed as correcting earlier "mistakes of law." In Automobile Club the only test articulated by the Court in stating its conclusion that the Commissioner had not abused his discretion in making his ruling retroactive was whether he had "dealt with petitioner upon the same basis as other automobile clubs." 353 U.S. at 186, 77 S.Ct. at 711.12
+In Dixon, after describing Automobile Club as holding "that the Commissioner is empowered retroactively to correct mistakes of law in the application of the tax laws to particular transactions," 381 U.S. at 72, 85 S.Ct. at 1304, the Court added that "(h)e may do so even where a taxpayer may have relied to his detriment on the Commissioner's mistake," Id. At 73, 85 S.Ct. at 1304, citing Manhattan General Equipment Co. v. Commissioner, 297 U.S. 129, 56 S.Ct. 397, 80 L.Ed. 528 (1936). The Court went on to say,.
+Dixon v. United States, supra, 381 U.S. at 73, 85 S.Ct. at 1304. The absence of notice before the taxable event that the Commissioner had changed his position was insufficient to establish abuse of discretion, because the taxpayer was not justified in assuming the Commissioner would not make such a change. In so holding, the Court relied upon the declaratory principle of jurisprudence indorsed in Manhattan General Equipment, which sustained retroactive application of a change in a regulation, and quoted from that decision the following passage:.
+Manhattan General Equipment, 297 U.S. at 135, 56 S.Ct. at 400, quoted in Dixon, 381 U.S. at 74-75, 85 S.Ct. 1301. The Court said in Dixon that "(t)his reasoning applies with even greater force to the Commissioner's rulings and acquiescences," and therefore, even if the acquiescence involved in that case would have relieved the taxpayer from tax liability if it had not been withdrawn, the Commissioner was not precluded "from collecting the tax lawfully due under the statute." 381 U.S. at 75, 85 S.Ct. at 1305 (footnote omitted).
+Although the Court in Dixon proceeded to indicate its disagreement with the taxpayer's view that the acquiescence in question would have resulted in non-taxability, it did so in ruling on the taxpayer's disparate treatment argument; and the holding summarized above was plainly the basis on which the Court disposed of the detrimental reliance argument and was, at the very least, an alternative ground of decision.
+Apart, therefore, from limitations the Commissioner may have voluntarily imposed on his own authority to determine the effective date of a change in the law, see part III, Infra, neither a taxpayer's reliance to his detriment nor his good faith require the Commissioner to exercise his discretion to make a ruling prospective only.13 The jurisprudential concept enunciated in Manhattan General Equipment and given in Dixon as the reason that an IRS acquiescence in a Tax Court decision could not justifiably be relied on by a taxpayer and could be retroactively withdrawn, compels the conclusion that a taxpayer is not justified in relying on an interpretative ruling of the Commissioner, and makes detrimental reliance unavailable to a taxpayer as a ground for avoiding retroactivity unless the Commissioner chooses to make it so.
+III.
+There remain the questions of whether the Commissioner has limited his own power to determine the retroactive effect of rulings, and if so, whether any limitation he has adopted entitles the taxpayer to relief. The Commissioner's argument in this court is based on the assumption that he has limited his authority by the issuance of revenue procedures stating the standards by which the continuing effect of a determination letter will be judged. Those standards are in substance as follows:
+1. If a published revenue ruling is issued which is applicable to a previously approved plan, the plan, in order to retain its qualified status, must be amended to conform with that ruling during the taxable year following the one in which the ruling was issued. P.S. 35, 1944 STD. FED. TAX SERV. (CCH) P 6647, superseded January 3, 1972 by Rev.Proc. 72-6, 1972-1 Cum.Bull. 710. Thus with respect to the approved plan the revenue ruling is not given retroactive effect14 and becomes effective only at the beginning of the next taxable year.
+2. If no applicable published ruling affecting the qualification of the plan has intervened between the approval and the revocation of the approval, the revocation will not have retroactive effect in the absence of certain specified circumstances. Rev.Proc. 72-3, 1972-1 Cum.Bull. 698. Because we conclude that there was an intervening revenue ruling making P.S. 35 and Rev.Proc. 72-6 applicable, it is unnecessary to consider Rev.Proc. 72-3.15
+The Commissioner argues that an applicable revenue ruling was issued prior to the beginning of the taxpayer's taxable year ending April 30, 1971, and that the taxpayer was therefore required to amend its plan during that taxable year to comply with the ruling. The ruling relied upon is Rev.Rul. 69-398, 1969-2 Cum.Bull. 58. Based on Judge Friendly's decision in Commissioner v. Pepsi-Cola Niagara Bottling Corp., 399 F.2d 390 (2d Cir. 1968), the ruling describes a profit-sharing plan for the benefit of full-time salaried employees strikingly similar to the one in the case at bar.16 Citing the Pepsi-Cola Niagara Bottling Case, the ruling held that because "all participants except the one who is the lowest paid are highly compensated in this particular company and therefore members of the group in whose favor discrimination is prohibited," it followed "that the coverage classification . . . does not meet the requirements of § 401(a)(3)(B) of the Code since it results in discrimination in favor of employees who are officers, shareholders, supervisors, or highly compensated."
+The arguments of the taxpayer in the case at bar that Rev.Rul. 69-398 is distinguishable do not merit discussion in this opinion.17 It is sufficient to say that it seems to us that if the plan described in the ruling did not meet the requirements of § 401(a)(3)(B), A fortiori the same is true of the plan of the taxpayer here. Compare note 7 with note 16.
+Thus, the taxpayer was required under P.S. 35 to conform its plan to the requirements of the ruling in the taxable year ending April 30, 1971, and the same requirement was imposed by Rev.Proc. 72-6 for the taxable year ending April 30, 1972. Having failed to meet this requirement, the determination letters the taxpayer had received in 1960 and 1962 were no longer effective. Because the taxpayer had failed to take advantage of the grace period the Commissioner had allowed in P.S. 35 and Rev.Proc. 72-6 for compliance with the revenue ruling, the Commissioner's self-imposed limitations no longer impaired his power to determine the effective date of the revocation.
+In the view we take of the case it is unnecessary to determine whether, as the Tax Court found and the Commissioner argues before us, the fifty percent increase in employee coverage, with the increase exclusively to members of the suspect class, constituted a material change of facts between the dates of the issuance of the determination letters and the taxable years in question. Such a determination, and hence the applicability of Rev.Proc. 72-3, § 13.05(2), would be necessary only if we had found that Rev.Rul. 69-398 was inapplicable.
+Apart from the doctrinal underpinnings of the Commissioner's broad power to determine retroactivity and his compliance with his own self-imposed limitations on that power, we are not convinced that the taxpayer has been unfairly treated in this case. Nothing requires the Commissioner to issue an opinion with respect to the qualification of a taxpayer's profit-sharing plan. It is not unreasonable for him to charge a taxpayer receiving the benefit of such an opinion with the responsibility of keeping abreast of current developments in the law to be assured that his plan is still in compliance. Moreover, a taxpayer may avoid any uncertainty about whether his plan is qualified by bringing it within the "safe-harbor" provisions of § 401(a)(3) (A), which unequivocally qualify plans meeting certain percentage requirements. Accordingly, even if we had considerably more supervisory authority over the Commissioner's exercise of discretion than we do, we would not find that discretion to have been abused.
+AFFIRMED.
+The Honorable Robert A. Grant, Senior District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, is sitting by designation
+During the 1960 taxable year, the positions and compensations of the participants in the plan and the compensation of the excluded full-time hourly employees were as follows:
+Excluded Participants Employees -------------------- --------- Chief Executive $11,448.76 $5,823.58 Vice President Sales 11,310.00 5,387.40 Purchasing Agent 5,162.36 and Production 6,807.82 4,593.59 Bookkeeper 5,995.76 4,468.10 4,249.96 4,066.49 4,024.50 3,902.45 3,834.92 3,820.52 3,595.25 3,581.15 3,393.23 3,338.17
+The record indicates that the principal motivation behind the taxpayer's decision to amend the plan in 1962 was intervening revenue rulings which, but for the amendment, might have disqualified the plan
+During the 1962 taxable year, the positions and compensations of the participants in the plan and the compensation of the excluded, hourly employees were as follows:
+Excluded Participants Employees -------------------- --------- Chief Executive $15,476.04 $6,409.30 Vice President Sales 14,641.00 5,604.04 Purchasing Agent 5,537.67 and Production 7,210.93 5,215.78 Bookkeeper 6,383.30 5,186.94 4,766.52 4,552.54 4,253.38 4,152.74 4,025.17 3,957.67 3,903.34 3,815.37 3,306.40 3,169.56
+Who was also apparently a salaried employee, as he had to be in order to be eligible under the terms of the plan. Also, unless he was an employee he could not have been included in any plan because of the requirement of § 401(a) that the plan be for the exclusive benefit of employees. See 4A Merten's Law of Federal Income Taxation § 25B.09 at 40 (1972)
+In the taxable year ending April 30, 1972, the positions and compensations of the participants in the plan and the compensation of the excluded full-time hourly employees were as follows:
+Excluded Participants Employees -------------------- --------- Chief Executive $24,477.09 $8,501.88 Vice President Sales 21,404.75 8,009.38 Purchasing Agent 7,933.56 and Production 11,159.70 7,596.91 Bookkeeper 10,328.24 7,169.69 Foreman 9,807.32 6,825.47 Board Chairman 5,100.00 6,610.48 5,416.33 5,406.19 5,298.74 5,277.57 4,802.91 4,745.74 4,589.49 4,531.61
+The taxpayer has never met either of the percentage-of-employees-covered tests of § 401(a)(3)(A), which would have automatically entitled the taxpayer to qualification of the plan, assuming other § 401 criteria were satisfied
+The effect was to shift most of the tax liability for the second year from the taxpayer to the beneficiaries under the plan
+There is neither a contention nor evidence in the record that Wisconsin Nipple has been treated in a discriminatory manner
+The taxpayer relies upon decisions of courts of appeals antedating Dixon for the propositions that taxpayer bad faith is essential before retroactivity may be ordered, Lesavoy Foundation v. Commissioner, 238 F.2d 589, 591-592 (3d Cir. 1956), and that a Commissioner is bound by a plan approval issued by his predecessor and cannot withdraw the approval absent a material change of fact, H.S.D. Co. v. Kavanagh, 191 F.2d 831, 846 (6th Cir. 1951); Time Oil Co. v. Commissioner, 258 F.2d 237, 238 (9th Cir. 1958). To the extent that these decisions so indicate, they are inconsistent with Dixon and Automobile Club
+Retroactivity would exist if the ruling were applied to disqualify a plan for a taxable year prior to the year in which the ruling was issued. Thus P.S. 35 stated:
+Rulings promulgated subsequent to the issuance of approval letters are not applied retroactively in cases where there have been no material misstatements of fact.
+Both P.S. 35 and Rev.Proc. 72-6 avoid any problem of retroactivity with respect to the portion of the taxable year antedating the ruling by making the ruling inapplicable until the following taxable year.
+Rev.Proc. 72-3, § 13.05 (which superseded Rev.Proc. 69-1, § 13.05, 1969-1 Cum.Bull. 381, 386, without change of substance) provides in pertinent part:
+Except in rare or unusual circumstances, the revocation or modification of a ruling will not be applied retroactively with respect to the taxpayer to whom the ruling was originally issued . . ..
+If there were no intervening applicable revenue ruling, and thus Rev.Proc. 72-3 were applicable, only the existence of condition (2) would be in issue. The Commissioner does not contend that material facts have been misstated or omitted. The only claimed change in the applicable law is the issuance of a revenue ruling in 1969, which would make P.S. 35 and Rev.Proc. 72-6 applicable rather than Rev.Proc. 72-3 and its predecessor. Condition (4) was met in the case at bar, and there seems to be no question that condition (5) is satisfied.
+The plan provided that all such employees with three years of service were eligible to participate in the plan. Only six of the employer's 14 full-time employees with three full years of service were eligible to participate in the plan, because the other eight were paid on an hourly basis. The six participating employees were the president and sole stockholder, the vice-president and supervisor of sales personnel, a foreman, two salesmen, and a bookkeeper. The compensation of the full-time employees was as follows:
+Salaried Hourly-Paid (Participants) (Excluded) -------------- ----------- $30,000 $7,000 $12,000 $7,000 $10,000 $6,000 $ 9,000 $6,000 $ 8,500 $5,500 $ 6,500 $5,500 $5,500 $4,500
+Parenting 101
+I consider myself a serious parenting blogger, because I believe parenting is the most important job you can ever do.
+So please let me rant a bit…
+Parents PLEASE take the time and talk to your children, the younger the better, about consequences of their actions. Tell them: Something stupid you do NOW can have consequences that will last your entire life. It can RUIN your life.
+As soon as we started the whole elementary school adventure we realized that it is never too early to screw up the next 5, 10, 20 years – or even screw up an entire life based on bad and impulsive choices.
+I often wonder why parents don’t talk to their kids about life, consequences, and taking personal responsibility for their actions. And it is like training a dog. You have to start early. Seriously.
+You might be asking, What brings this on Juliette?
+Yesterday I was told about a seriously icky event at the High School. One of the boys in my daughters AP English class (these kids are all seniors) was talking about how he had to get a new car because someone had crapped in his car.
+The boy accidentally left a couple of the windows in his car cracked. He parked it in the school lot. While he was at sports practice that afternoon someone (it was assumed two individuals) broke into his car and pooped on the seats. Then the poppers spread the shit ALL OVER ALL of the seats. The poor kids could smell it as he approached the car. He said if it had just been a bag of poop it wouldn’t have been that bad but it was spread all over the car. A tow truck had to be called to haul the car away because there was no way he was going to drive the car home. His parents said they were going to have to get a new car because the cloth seats couldn’t be cleaned. It was an old car, used by every kid in the family already. But still, this should not have happened. The poor kid wonders who could have hated him so much to do such an awful thing. What kind of sick mind would do this? It could have been someone he knew. It could have been someone from another school. It could have been some sick fucks walking by and seeing the open windows.
+Here is where my advice to parents comes in:
+If the persons who pooped in the car are caught there will be consequences. They will be caught because every kid in the school now knows about the shit-and-run event. Security cameras recorded it. They can see who it was, their car if it was involved, or what building they came out of.
+If it was students there will be consequences that will screw up their entire future. If it is a senior he will not graduate (or will not be allowed to walk on graduation day), if it was a younger student he will be expelled and made to go to a continuation school. There might be criminal charges. If the perpetrator is 18 he will be charged as an adult. Even a 17-year-old might be charged as an adult. If caught these kids can kiss all of their college applications good-bye. They’ll be kicked out of a good school, and maybe have a criminal record. Not to mention that NO GIRL will ever want to date these guys – and the list goes on. Did I mention lawsuits and damage charges?
+One disgusting event, that was no doubt spur of the moment, and done on an impulse will ruin the lives of these kids if they are caught.
+Was it worth it? Hell no.
+That is just one example. Teens and young adults are impulsive. It is how their brains work. But they can control those impulses. You NEED to talk to them about it.
+It all comes down to what parents always tell their kids. If your friend jumps off a bridge that doesn’t mean that YOU have to jump off of the bridge too.
+Kids need to know that they don’t have to jump off of that bridge. They can say NO. If the friend gets pissy then it isn’t a friend they want to have.
+At our high school parents and students are told over and over and over, that if they pull pranks they will not graduate. This includes the famous senior pranks that usually include creative ways of vandalizing the school (oiled hallways, interesting pain, pictures of body parts burned into the grass on the Quad, etc.)
+If you act like an asshole, if you hurt others, if you blindly follow, if you do things out of spite, if you DON’T THINK before you act – there will be consequences.
+Need help? Here is a list of stupid things teens can and will do.
+Unprotected sex: A baby will change the life of any teen. So long college. So long friends. So long exploring the world before you choose if and when you’ll have a child. Don’t give me some happy story of a teen who had a baby and the fairy tale that ensued. That is the rare exception, not the rule. Unprotected sex can also welcome HIV and other nasty things to your child’s life.
+Making decisions based on friends: How many kids have rejected once in a lifetime college, trade show, job, internship, and other opportunities because a boyfriend or girlfriend begged them not to go. How many have turned down fantastic opportunities because they did not want to leave their friends. You know what? Those friends are going to leave and do what they want and not think twice about it. Or the friends will be losers who don’t care. If they are REAL friends they will encourage your child to fly and be successful. Real friends will keep in touch no matter how far away they live.
+Dropping out: Dropping out of school, be it high school, college, a trade school or a great opportunity isn’t anything to be taken lightly. I can’t tell you how many people I know who dropped out of college the second or even third year in – then found out later how hard it is to go back. Usually is isn’t financial reasons – it is because they can’t look into their own futures and see how hard it will be. Just finish. You’re young. Finish now or when you’re thirty-five you’ll be kicking yourself.
+Relationships: If it is indeed true love it can wait. If someone loves you they will never ask you to put aside your dreams. Someone who love you will encourage you to follow your dreams. Only selfish, and controlling people will ask you to turn down your school, job, or any endeavor that is your passion.
+Cults (religious and political) and other abusive relationships: These are the people who prey on young individuals. They break kids down, then make them feel good and wanted. They look for kids who are lonely. They look for kids who are needy. They want to turn your child against against everything they know. If ANYONE tells your child to turn against their family and friends then it is time to RUN. RUN FAST.
+Doing shit out of spite: If you do anything out of spite to get back at parents, teachers, friends, siblings, school – it will only come back and HURT YOU. That is what is usually called coming back and biting you on the ass. I’ve seen people marry someone for spite because they were mad at their parents – believe me THAT never ends well. So impulsive, and the only one hurt is the one who wanted to get revenge.
+And most of all CRAPPY FRIENDS: You can help friends but you can never bring someone up who doesn’t want to be brought up. Crap friends will only bring you down. If someone wants to move up they have to want to move up and do it on their own. Some kids are rescuers. Some are followers. I encourage all parents to PLEASE discourage your kids from being rescuers or followers. It will only lead to things like kids shitting in cars. It can also lead to smaller things that can also get them kicked out of school, ostracized by other kids, and even arrested.
+Yes, you are the parent – you CAN have control over who your child hangs out with. From an early age you have to teach them about how valuable their reputation is. It takes a second to lose one’s reputation but years to get it back.
+One more thing. If your child wants ink as soon as he or she turns eighteen please guide them. Shitty tattoos last forever and remind one of how stupid they were. Good ones, by good artists, with good placement can be a joy. Remember, tattoos, like herpes, are there forever. Be smart (or start saving for a good cover up or laser treatments.)
+I’m just ranting right now, but whenever I think of anyone doing stupid mindless and impulsive things that ruin their lives and the lives of others I wonder why they do it.
+We’ve all heard of teachers who sleep with students then go to jail and never teach again. Was it worth it to be out of a job. Was it worth it to have years of education go down the drain? Was it worth it to be considered a pervert for the rest of your life?
+Then there are the Brock Turners of the world. Turner was obviously smart (click here if you don’t know about the case). He had everything. He was good looking. He was attending Stanford University. He was a swimmer who might have been good enough to make it to the Olympics. But rather than being nice, and normal, he decided to be a violent, vile, and horrible the night he brutally sexually assaulted a girl at a party. One has to wonder if it was worth throwing all of that away to be the biggest asshole in the universe and harm another person?
+How many kids would have given ANYTHING to go to Stanford, let alone have the other opportunities Turner had. And he threw it all away, and harmed an innocent person along the way.
+What makes it worse is that his parents defended him. There is no defense for that kind of behavior. So was it worth it Brock? Why did you do it? Why where you such an asshole?
+So talk to your kids. Tell them all of those cautionary tales of others who have fucked up their lives because of stupid impulsive acts.
+That is it. And don’t tell me that it is hard. If I could do it then so can you.
+I fucked up enough on my own – but, by my choice, I don’t fuck up when it comes to parenting.
+It isn’t easy but you can do it. You’re a parent. That is YOUR JOB.
+Now go hug your kids and talk to them. Don’t preach. Discuss. Share. Love.
+~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman
+Excellent advice, as always Juliette. I hope that sicko kid IS caught, and I hope his parents go down for it too.
+Perfect recommendation and advice, Juliette. I love this post.
+Water Heater Services Santa Ana – 844-326-4844 – Emergency Plumber Services
+Water Heater Services Santa Ana – The Plumbing Professionals
+We really want to thank you for checking into Emergency Plumber Services to be your next water heater services Santa Ana. It really is our pleasure just to have you here viewing our website. We comprehend that there’s a lot of other ideal plumbers that one could employ. It truly is our motive to work with you in choosing the specific plumber service you are interested in. Gladly serving our customers is our delight, and we would love an opportunity to extend our plumbing services to you. In picking Emergency Plumber Services as your next water heater services Santa Ana, you will definitely be getting unrivaled service for a cost that is very inexpensive.
+Our services will be backed by our guarantee to satisfy you every single time. There aren’t exceptions. Providing you peace of mind is the thing that really matters to us. Our goal, as the honorable water heater services Santa Ana, is not at all to gouge savings with plumbing options you don’t really need, but to create a longer term relationship together. We take tremendous care of our clients and customers, so you can naturally anticipate nothing less than the best possible experience with us. For those struggling to find the most responsible water heater services Santa Ana, contact Emergency Plumber Services immediately!
+Simple Tips to Select The Top Water Heater Services Santa Ana
+Picking the best suited water heater services Santa Ana is a very intimidating thing to do. With the number of unprofessional, “take your hard earned money” plumbing establishments in the market, selecting honourable plumbers you’ll be able to rely on is actually very tough. There are many exceptionally major issues to consider prior to that ultimate choice of who exactly your next plumbing service provider is going to be. The most crucial criteria is that they are insured and licensed. If you find a plumber missing these elemental accreditations, you might be taking unneeded chances that may wind up costing you big money. Assuring your water heater services Santa Ana is thoroughly licensed and insured is absolutely vital, and really should be your most essential priority.
+One more thing to look out for is rational price levels. Not too low, but not too expensive. A multitude of plumbers around will offer you “a price of a lifetime”, merely to get you convinced of them. As soon as they have you in their grasp, they will almost always smash you with silly costs which you now have no choice but to pay. This particular plan is much more wide-spread in these days, so remember to be very careful to try to avoid these plumbing companies in Santa Ana. The difference between getting the absolute best support for your plumbing need, and being taken advantage of, all actually comes down to the choice that you choose to make when deciding on your plumbers. So do your research, and be certain that the water heater services Santa Ana that you seek the services of fulfill these key indicators.
+Do A Complete Analysis On Your Water Heater Services Santa Ana
+Anytime you are out there seeking out the right plumbers in Santa Ana, promptly settling on one from the phonebook listings is not normally the best approach to take. Because of so many diverse options and providers one could use, how might you have the ability to know for certain which water heater services will be the most reliable match for your case and your distinct situation? The chances of finding the dependable plumber this way is just not very good in the least. Furthermore, it is not only difficult, but not worth the liabilities included. Terribly settling on your next water heater services is more than likely to pull you through a wide range of undesirable incidents before you get anyone who is together adept and cost-effective. You’ll need to make sure you always take time to look for the best water heater services, for a price that’s right.
+Do Not Ever Dismiss Customer Testimonials
+It’s not actually simple, but prior to picking your plumber, make certain you attempt to figure out if they have an impressive repute. There is nothing more telling and informative than accurate reviews. These customer testimonials can provide clear insight into the way the water heater services Santa Ana actually work for their clientele. To check these customer reviews, you can visit a number of different review online services like Yelp and Angie’s List. Additionally you can look at the Google Reviews too, to determine whether or not the water heater services Santa Ana that you’re thinking about picking merits the amount of money hard earned cash you will be paying out. It is very imperative you have the proper knowledge in front of you, so that you can competently investigate your possible future plumbing establishments. Choose to prosper by deciding on the appropriate water heater services, and do not dismiss those very helpful testimonials!
+The Creditworthy Water Heater Services Santa Ana
+Our many years of working experience within the plumbing business is what has let us to grow into the relied upon water heater services Santa Ana. Our track record of ecstatic patrons speaks for itself. With regard to customer care, we’re the greatest. We never overcharge you for our products, and give specialized guidance to every and each client. All throughout the years, a great many have asked us, at all hours through the day, to help with their plumbing needs. Being the highly regarded water heater services Santa Ana just is not something we take frivolously. With every and each consumer, regardless of how small or large the issue may perhaps be, we’re always ready to go that extra step further for you. When we get started in working for you, you can rest assured that Emergency Plumber Services will not just give you a hand, but we will also teach you, to make it easier to prevent possible future trouble.
+Our primary goal is to conserve you as much cash as we can without sacrificing the level of service we provide. All of our services are priced as affordable flat-rates, so you do not need to fret about paying us by the hour. The plumbing know-how we can provide to your scenario will certainly put you at ease. Leave the grunt work to us, and let Emergency Plumber Services be the plumbers that purposefully satisfies you!
+The Highly Innovative Plumber
+Through the years, the plumbing industry has advanced from a really primitive state, to an incredibly high quality arena of work. Plumbers have actually stepped up to the challenge and have benefited society with top quality plumbing ideas and developments. We all can breathe a lot easier understanding there are properly trained professionals available who have acquired the expertise to help in the forward movement. This expertise is displayed masterfully by Emergency Plumber Services, which testifies to our ability to adapt to the ever changing plumbing field. We aren’t stuck in the past utilizing out-of-date techniques and processes, but rather, we’re dedicated to be fully knowledgeable in every aspect of the plumbing industry in today’s innovative world.
+Each and every one of our plumbers are licensed and completely educated to take on everything you might need. No matter whether your need is small, huge, or anything in between, you can undoubtedly depend on us to be the completely educated and competent water heater services Santa Ana. Don’t chance money and time to a plumbing business that’s stuck in the old ways of doing things.
+The Plumbers Providing Old Fashioned Customer Care
+With a lot of choices, products, and new technologies now readily available within the plumbing marketplace, it is sometimes challenging to understand which option won’t only help you best, but will likewise last the test of time. This is exactly why our plumbers take our company belief of supplying customers “new innovation and developments with the very same traditional service” seriously, as we don’t just have the understanding required to safeguard your financial commitment, but will likewise completely describe why a certain solution would best suit your requirements. We recognize that the transparency in how we perform our business, and our high level of commitment to our client’s satisfaction is what sets us apart. We aren’t pleased till you’re pleased with the result. We’re plumbers who back up our work and will always put you first.
+Advanced Plumbing Services – So Exactly What Do The Professionals Really Do?
+To find high quality, reputable plumbing services, there are a great number of things you can research ahead of time in order to decrease the danger of selecting somebody that actually makes your complications even more difficult. So what exactly is it that the competent plumbers do? The Plumbing is a highly skilled profession absolutely constantly in great demand, because the reality that every person and business at some time or another will be in need of plumbing services. The leading job of a plumber is to offer you, with service that is of high expert quality, something that is lacking in lots of other plumbing companies. They also provide a range of other assistances that are way too many to mention here. While your buddy from work might know an individual, that knows some other guy who possesses some degree of experience, for any severe plumbing concern, this is a major NO-NO, and needs to be entirely avoided.
+Your water heater services Santa Ana should certainly have a proven track record with shimmering testimonials. Working with an unlicensed individual to help you is an immense risk that is simply not worth taking. The second worst thing you can do is open the Telephone directory and choose the very first number providing the services you happen to be trying to find. This also encompasses opting for the plumbing business that provides the cheapest prices without having done any research beforehand. Bear in mind, going too cheap in the beginning will inevitably cost you in the end. Selecting an expert to be your plumbing service is vitally vital.
+Qualifications vs Working Experience
+Seeking the plumbing experts which have the correct certifications is sensible and does have some worth, but nevertheless, by far the most important quality that makes great plumbers is a terrific amount of in-field experience. This is typically acquired through apprenticeships and internships and has got to be something you carefully learn about before making your choice. You will discover that the premier plumbers have qualifications as well as lots of years of experience. Do not ever be scared to call us up and inquire about the experience of the plumber in question prior to calling them out. The more years on the job is certainly better. So selecting a certified water heater services Santa Ana with lots of experience is certain to help reduce the danger and set you in good hands.
+What Should Always Expect From Your Selected Water Heater Services Santa Ana
+In regards to any niche of business, you should really expect your selected plumber to be prompt, personable and well-mannered right from the very start. Anything less than that, you definitely should think about turning them away and making a complaint or posting an adverse testimonial on the web about them. If their personal behavior is less than professional, it’s most likely that their work will be lacking as well. everything and will certainly inform you a significant amount about the level of work they are going to provide. It is very important to expect the correct things from the plumbers
+WARNING: Discounted Plumbing Prices May Well Equal to Cheap Quality Service
+Very often, but not always, (they’re rare exceptions), the company estimating the cheapest prices will most likely not be the water heater services Santa Ana who’ll be able to perform the task to a standard that can hold up against the main test. That test is the test of time. Most will want you to assume you’ll be saving big dollars employing them, however the disappointing truth is you’ll be looking for help from some other water heater services Santa Ana only a short time after. This might be brought on by the plumber doing the very least to give the appearance of a job well done, understanding completely that they did not do it right to begin with. The most cost effective businesses may perhaps hurry to get the done and have employed a substantially less specialized staff. Doubt should be raised in the event the price of the water heater services is simply too good to be real.
+The Significance of Selecting Plumbers with References
+Any time you’re searching for your new water heater services Santa Ana, consult with close relatives for referrals. They might have previously had someone in for comparable work, and they can tell you who to trust, and also who to not use. If your family and friends haven’t previously used anyone, be sure to ask co-workers and also other people you depend on around your community for some references. Someone might talk as if they are aware of what they’re doing, nevertheless, you cannot just take their word for it. You have to be able to call recent clients to genuinely have a truthful understanding of what you should expect from this company.
+When a plumbing business provides a list of testimonials, be sure to make use of it. Call the folks from the list, and inquire about the grade of the work, how carefully the plumber came to their initial price quote, and whether the work was finished in accordance with the promised time-line. Prior to deciding on your water heater services Santa Ana, you’ll want to know what you require. It can be difficult for the plumber to provide a cost quote over the telephone if they have not personally seen your plumbing need themselves. It could be even more troublesome if you’re unable to explain what your exact requirement is. Scheduling a scheduled visit or meeting to discuss the matters would be the optimal option, and will make sure both sides are on the same page. If you find yourself shopping for the best water heater services, it all starts off with proper communication between you and the provider.
+Conclusion – Do Your Homework to Get The Right Water Heater Services
+- Don’t hire an amateur plumber to take on the job.
+- Keep clear of unfriendly and uncooperative plumbers.
+- If doubtful, get a second or even third opinion from other prestigious plumbers.
+- Don’t have plumbing businesses offering the cheapest prices.
+- Only use the water heater services Santa Ana that can guarantee quality service.
+Our.
+January 2016 Daily Astrological Forecast
+Friday January 1
+Use today for gathering with friends, family and the object of your affections, as tomorrow is can be rather feisty and the stars now favor festivities and even romance, with Moon in Libra connecting with love-addicts Venus and Neptune, and Mercury’s entrance into Aquarius, sign of friends.
+Evening contacts from Last Quarter Moon in chatty Libra to Sun in Capricorn and Sun’s ruler, Saturn, make this an apt evening for visiting elders or doing an ancestral type of ritual. Avoid dishing out or taking guilt trips.
+Affirmation:
+I love the good in all people and only good comes to me through all people, here and now.
+Saturday, January 2
+Moon in Libra squares Pluto before going VOC on an opposition to Uranus in feisty Aries at 8:23 am (11:23 ET).
+These influences are propitious for creativity, identifying our inner voices, and deep healing, but they can also exacerbate relational conflicts.
+This is the perfect time to take a break to get into our feelings and examine what a New Year and starting over mean to each of us.
+Affirmation:
+In the midst of change, I provoke a pause to heal, meditate and daydream now.
+Sunday, January 3
+Fortunately, it’s not a work day for most. Once again, the influences are unusual, though more active than yesterday. Moon joins Mars in intense Scorpio, lighting the fires of passion. Low-vibration expressions could include vengefulness and aggressive outbursts. Avoid unnecessary fights. Dexterously applied, you can fight for a loved one or cause or take courageous steps towards healing. For instance, push yourself to get a treatment, renew an exercise program, or begin to care for your inner child in ways you’ve thought of before but so far not followed through on.
+Affirmation:
+I make space for wellness in my imagination, emotions and life, here and now.
+Monday, January 4
+Today is great for deep healing and making headway with our true priorities, with Moon in deep Scorpio harmonizing with vital Sun and powerful Pluto, both in constructive Capricorn. Take some time for yourself before going to bed.
+Affirmation:
+I call on the spiritual warrior essences to help me focus and move on my true priorities, here and now.
+Tuesday, January 5
+Mercury goes fully retrograde, while Sun moves toward a nighttime conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. This combination reconnects us with the energies of deep change that prevailed in December, mobilizing our creative forces to continue or consolidate our intentions for wellness and renewal.
+Affirmation:
+I am not open to manipulation, because the One Power in my life is divine, and it is beneficent, kind and freeing, now and always.
+Wednesday, January 6
+Write down and study last night’s dreams, as Moon connects with both Mercury and Neptune, sharpening intuitive perception.
+This evening opens horizons in love, creativity, business and altruism, as Moon in visionary Sag joins both Venus and Jupiter. Sag’s optimism keeps us on the more fortunate side of these surprisingly serious connections.
+We may be tempted to party, but tonight’s precious energy can make a positive difference if we channel it in significant relationships or efforts for work and discipline in general.
+Affirmation:
+I provoke a pause to listen within, and I allow intuition to guide my actions, here and now.
+Thursday, January 7
+Issues of independence are triggered, with a square from Sun in Capricorn to Uranus in Aries, and contacts from Moon in adventurous Sagittarius to both Uranus and ruler Jupiter, planet of fortune that will also go retrograde today.
+Events may seem to set us on edge, but if we keep a cool head, observe our feelings and give ourselves space to write them down or discuss them with a therapist, coach or wise confidante, we’ll be able to take advantage of this opportunity to understand our own process and needs for authenticity.
+From a practical perspective, working on your own is apt to be more satisfying than trying to collaborate harmoniously with others, and you can even make creative breakthroughs.
+Affirmation:
+I am determined to grow and this clarity insures that only the best and the highest come to me through all situations now.
+Friday, January 8
+As the week closes, the New Year’s spirit of work finally sets in. Moon, and later Mercury, enter Capricorn, sign of diligence. Moon harmonizes with Mars the mover and Neptune the mystic, and Venus joins ruler Saturn the taskmaster.
+We can use this day to prepare for tomorrow’s New Moon intentions in long-term business or relationship concerns, and take some action, however simple, on those goals.
+Before going to bed tonight, connect with angels or spirit guides.
+Affirmation:
+As I organize my goals, I visualize their success here and now.
+Saturday, January 9
+Today’s intense energies include aspects from today’s New Moon in Capricorn (5:30 pm PT; 8:30 pm ET) to powerhouse Pluto and earthshaking Uranus, making this a good morning to release belongings, attitudes and situations and close cycles in preparation for this afternoon’s New Moon in Capricorn.
+Write your intentions for progress on things started before mid-December, when Mercury entered its shadow.
+Service-related projects and intentions get a special boost from this lunation. Conjunct Pluto, it ties into the year’s numerology of 9, the number related to the planet of power, to release, generation of dharma, and missions of service.
+The Sabian symbol for 20 Capricorn underscores this influence:
+A RELAY RACE. EACH RUNNER SPRINGS EAGERLY INTO PLACE. Extreme of cooperation and give-and-take in life relationships. Full surrender of self to service. Planned group behavior.
+Affirmation:
+I am determined to be a force for universal good, and this clarity mobilizes resources, opportunities, and connections of the highest and most powerful sort to me now.
+Sunday, January 10
+If you have something practical to do, plan to rise early and use the hours before 9:39 am (12:39 pm ET), when Moon will go VOC in Capricorn until 12:33 (3:33 ET), then entering Aquarius.
+Have a friendly lunch but plan to keep it short and on the light side, as this evening Moon squares Mars the fighter, both in fixed (e.g. stubborn) signs, a good aspect for heroic deeds but one that can also detonate feistiness.
+Affirmation:
+I am grateful that Spirit has a perfect idea for this day and is manifesting it, here and now.
+Monday, January 11
+We can make tangible headway in intellectual, creative or relational endeavors as Moon in brilliant Aquarius harmonizes with both Saturn the builder and Venus, goddess of love, in visionary Sag. Remember to focus on things begun before mid-December, when Mercury entered shadow.
+The afternoon is particularly favorable for reaching agreements, until Moon goes VOC on a sextile to Uranus at 5:09 pm (8:09ET). Then, it’s a great time to read a good book, play chess, do crossword puzzles or another intellectual activity just for fun.
+Affirmation:
+Infinite Intelligence moves me to express great good and I align my attention and actions with it now.
+Tuesday, January 12
+We can do brilliant work, in art, writing, architecture, promotion, preparing a proposal, or creative endeavors of any kind, thanks to Moon in inspired Pisces and a lovely trine from Venus the beautifier to Uranus the genius this afternoon.
+This afternoon we can easily accede to and express the authentic self that has been in a birth process over the last several years. We can also enjoy social and cultural activities.
+Affirmation:
+The Master Creator of all that is creates beauty and joy through me, for me and as me, here and now.
+Wednesday, January 13
+As Sun in worker-sign Capricorn trines Jupiter in diligent Virgo, we can direct our vitality in bold initiatives to open doors on things begun before mid-December.
+A square from Venus to Chiron reminds us to turn our motions into acts of healing as we move in a conscious spirit of love.
+Affirmation:
+Before I act, I center in love, and my motions become acts of healing now.
+Thursday, January 14
+Sun joins Mercury in Capricorn. With the messenger planet retrograde, this a great day for detecting inner blocks and using mirror work or other forms of self-dialogue.
+After this self-therapy session, share your message or work with others. Mercury harmonizes with Jupiter, the publicist, as does Moon in Pisces, before contacting Mercury the communicator and self-expressive Sun. This is a powerful line-up for creative promotion and artistic or media activities.
+Affirmation:
+Angelic forces pour through me and touch those who are ready for their message, here and now.
+Friday, January 15
+The day’s tone is serious and the influences propitious for independent work.
+Waxing Moon in Aries moves us to close the week like a hero, or heroine, and a trine to Saturn this afternoon facilitates tangibles results.
+Be flexible, focus on your own determined actions and avoid unnecessary arguments.
+Affirmation:
+I do my best and leave the rest to Spirit, here and now.
+Saturday, January 16
+If we manage to stay centered in our hearts—and bodies—this morning can be sweet and even hot, in the best sense, as long as we remember not to sweat the small stuff and avoid getting picky.
+Midday is good for promotional activities and adventures. Enjoy them, and take care to avoid accidents that might otherwise accompany the contact from Moon in Aries to Jupiter.
+At 3:26 pm (6:26 ET), Moon goes VOC on its Second Quarter in Aries, triggering the following Sabian symbol:
+THROUGH IMAGINATION, A LOST OPPORTUNITY IS REGAINED. Beginning of mental maturity and slow growth of the creative faculty. Revision of attitude. Mental house-cleaning.
+This poetic wake-up call presages an apt afternoon for getting back to metaphysical basics, applying our creative imagination to restoring our good, and sweeping through our subconscious minds to detect and release limiting beliefs and resentments. Mercury in shadow also favors this inner house-cleaning.
+Affirmation:
+My good comes from an Infinite Source, and in response to my clear intent and loving vibration, it manifests quickly now.
+Sunday, January 17
+Moon in Taurus would keep things calm, if it weren’t for an opposition to Mars this morning that mobilizes us to defend a cause or loved one, favoring ecological or human rights activities.
+Things cool down at 11:28 am (2:28 pm ET), when Moon harmonizes with Neptune, highly propitious for creative or artistic activities, a sensual lunch or taking in a concert or mystical event, particularly one that features music.
+A nighttime square from Venus to Jupiter is great for love, both personal and universal.
+Affirmation:
+Only Spirit can act through me, so my actions are perfect, now and always.
+Monday January 18
+Taurus Moon makes a string of harmonies and helps ground the influence of Mars in penetrating Scorpio as it trines Neptune in psychic Pisces.
+If we visualize perfect outcomes and let our intuition guide our actions on intentions seeded before mid-December, this can be a day of breakthroughs.
+Take special care to avoid substance abuse, driving under the influence or on wet roads, and dense atmospheres.
+Keep a notebook by your bed and remember to write your dreams on waking, as tonight’s aspects precipitate healing messages from dreams.
+Affirmation:
+I am worthy of wellness and success, and I follow my intuition to act on them now.
+Tuesday, January 19
+Moon in Gemini, sign of words, make tense contacts to Neptune and Mars. We can be well served by taking some time to cogitate, meditate, use affirmations and mantras, and create something new with our words. Avoid unnecessary conflicts and confusion by thinking before you speak, and again after you’ve held conversations.
+Affirmation:
+The essence of my words is divine, and the divine essence of my words is an active substance that generates good for all involved now.
+Wednesday, January 20
+Our minds are sharpened and communications electrified in an interesting balance of diplomacy and confrontation, thanks to Moon in Gemini and ruler Mercury squaring Uranus, planet of genius, both in cardinal signs.
+It’s favorable today to generate communications and short trips to tackle problems. For instance: write an outline or a letter to Congress, get some bureaucracy taken care of, make a phone call to ask for help or information, clarify a misunderstanding, or push yourself over some other little hurdle that’s stewing in the back of your mind.
+Affirmation:
+Infinite Intelligence has a solution to every situation, and I move forward in that assurance now.
+Thursday, January 21
+Moon in Cancer stirs our maternal instincts, with contacts that increase our intuition and lift our focus beyond our family of origin to encompass all beings.
+Favored: meditate on love, forgiveness, metta or your favorite modality of compassion, donate to a humanitarian cause, volunteer to help animals or children, take tangible steps on a creative project, visit a psychic or get a card reading.
+Affirmation:
+With Spirit’s help, I embrace myself and all beings with love, here and now.
+Friday, January 22
+This morning we can use sensitive Cancer Moon and its tense aspects to take some time out to explore and heal our emotions, research the family tree, or get a good look at something hidden in our business affairs or organization.
+We should avoid taking things personally, getting into fights and in general dealing with people or situations that might get heavy.
+The influences become more outward-oriented this afternoon, and we can use the last day of the waxing Moon to tie up the work week productively by moving on things before mid-December.
+Affirmation:
+I give thanks for the gift of this day, and use it to generate inner and outer good, here and now.
+Saturday, January 23
+Although Moon is VOC, it still performs in Cancer, and this morning’s influences favor tangible progress.
+At 11:14 am (2:14 ET), Moon enters Leo. Enjoy an art show, workshop or play, or show your affection.
+Luna becomes full at 5:46 pm (8:46 ET). The Sabian symbol for 4 degrees is:
+ELDERLY MAN GAZES AT MOOSEHEAD ON CLUBROOM WALL. Self-development through the culture of masculine activities. Subservience of individual to social patterns of behavior.
+The symbol happens to resonate with the entrance of Venus, planet of values and relationships, in Capricorn, sign of social hierarchy.
+Those of us who find the symbol rather repugnant may use the occasion to ask ourselves how we are applying our inner warrior energies, and what kind of trophies we wish to accumulate and leave as a legacy—contributing to new paradigms instead of feeding obsolete ones by default.
+Affirmation:
+Infinite Intelligence has a perfect idea for my legacy and it reveals and facilitates its manifestation now.
+Sunday, January 24
+Although the Moon is in ludic Leo, her contacts—to warrior planets Mars and Saturn and radioactive Pluto—keep the tone serious, and can help us move assertively on the legacy we have chosen to build in the light of yesterday’s Full Moon.
+Take a slice of freedom pie when Moon goes VOC on a trine to Uranus the liberator in Aries, sign of the child, at 6:51 pm (9:51 ET), and enjoy your own company and that of relaxed others.
+Affirmation:
+I enjoy creating a unique legacy, and move to do so, here and now.
+Monday, January 25
+Moon VOC in Leo is great for having fun. Now is the moment to plan a romantic brunch, clown around, and postpone key actions and purchases for tomorrow or tonight after 7:46 pm (10:46 ET), when Moon enters Virgo.
+Mercury goes direct today, and though it will still be in shadow through mid-February, today’s station give us a sense of direction based on the insights gleaned during the last six weeks.
+The Sabian symbol for its station at 15 Capricorn describes:
+IN A HOSPITAL, A CHILDREN’S WARD FILLED WITH PLAYTHINGS. The goodness of life in the tragic trials of first-attempts of self-regeneration. Administered responsibility, or escape.
+Affirmation:
+I release the pressures of the outer world and enjoy the magic of healing, here and now.
+Tuesday, January 26
+We can direct our nerdiness into creative imagination this morning, as Moon in Virgo connects with artists Sun and Neptune.
+Then take some time to organize for success in preparation for this afternoon’s harmony from this grounded, practical Moon to Mars the warrior in penetrating Scorpio, propitious for direct, incisive and powerful action, with healing and transformational results.
+Affirmation:
+I apply my inner and outer resources to manifest the good I dream of now.
+Wednesday, January 27
+Moon in efficient Virgo connects with three agents of deep change: Pluto, Uranus and Chiron.
+These influences combine with the vibration of Wednesday, ruled by connective Mercury, and the disseminating energies of number 9, to lend special power to our communications, particularly those done in a spirit of service and generosity.
+Unplug and enjoy a healthy dinner and a walk outdoors after the Moon goes VOC on a conjunction with Jupiter at 4:11 pm (7:11 ET).
+Affirmation:
+I am a powerful instrument for divine ideas and I act to share them, here and now.
+Thursday, January 28
+The vibration of number 1 increases the leadership potential of Thursday, ruled by easygoing Jupiter, encouraging us to use Moon in social Libra in bold initiatives to get others involved in team efforts and make headway in negotiations or an amorous pursuit.
+An evening square to Venus in Capricorn favors concrete progress or adjustments in agreements. Work alone or apply conscientious diplomacy.
+Affirmation:
+I don’t wait for others to join me, I take the lead and invite them, here and now.
+Friday, January 29
+This morning our diligent, creative efforts produce beautiful results as Moon in artistic Libra sextiles Saturn the worker.
+This afternoon, the energies shift, accentuating the picky side of Libra but also its thoughtfulness, an aptitude intensified by the vibrations of thinker-planet Mercury as it joins deep Pluto.
+Relating becomes a bit prickly, but we can make headway with editing, researching and independent creative activities, until 5:34 pm (8:34 ET), when Moon goes VOC on an opposition to Uranus the rebel.
+Work on transforming your thought patterns tonight.
+Affirmation:
+I enjoy being a productive channel for divine intelligence, here and now.
+Saturday, January 30
+Moon is VOC in Libra most of the day, and ruler Venus sextiles Neptune, combining with the expressive energies of number 3 to accentuate creativity. Take some down time, play with ways to beautify your work and life, and enjoy a concert or romantic brunch.
+It’s propitious to meditate on compassion, metta and divine love.
+At 7:50 pm (10:50 ET), Moon enters Scorpio, increasing our capacity for intimacy and favoring deep research.
+Affirmation:
+The heart of the goddess shines through my being and I radiate love for myself and others now.
+Sunday, January 31
+Creativity and compassion continue and can be deeply healing, with harmonies from Moon in Scorpio to Neptune and Venus.
+A square from Mercury in no-nonsense Capricorn to Uranus in warrior-sign Aries, suggests that the love that’s activated today is not the cushy, fuzzy kind, but is combined with a healthy dose of detachment.
+Today is a time to engage in a group that puts us in resonance, to participate in humanitarian efforts, contact angels, get a psychic or oracle reading, and meditate on forgiveness, metta or loving kindness in our own preferred manner.
+The combination can also make for brilliant intellectual work.
+Demarcus Cousins ruined the NBA. Before that Kevin Durant ruined the NBA. Before that LeBron James ruined the NBA. Before that Shaquille O’Neal ruined the NBA. Get the point?
+We have been down this rabbit hole before and have come out with the National Basketball Association more popular and illustrious each time. No team is unbeatable.
+The ‘Dream Team’ lost their first scrimmage together against college amateurs (although the coach [Chuck Daly], reportedly, set them up to fail). The point being, these Golden State Warriors can be defeated. But God are they good.
+Strengths
+Steph Curry, the staple of the Warriors’ franchise, is joined by 4 other All-Stars, to create arguably the best starting lineup, on paper, ever. Each of their strengths line-up well against any other historical team and play in an unselfish system that yields championships.
+Kevin Durant is on a mission to match LeBron James’ greatness. And he isn’t too far off.
+Curry is the most talented shooter in the NBA, and a case is to be made for the greatest shooter of all-time.
+Klay Thompson is the underrated other half of the Splash Brothers, plus is a great two-way player.
+Draymond Green displays incredible hustle, defense, and his knack for getting in the heads of opposing teams.
+To round out the starting 5, Demarcus “Boogie” Cousins, joined the team on a 1 year-$5.3 million contract. Cousins is coming off of a torn Achilles, suffered last January. But the dominance displayed before the injury was enough to get him selected into the All-Star game (which he couldn’t participate in because of the torn Achilles). He can rebound well, defend the rim, handle himself in the post, and shoot mid-range shots. This complete center was the final piece missing from the star-studded 2017-2018 Warriors.
+Weaknesses
+Golden State is not devoid of weaknesses, however. Their franchise cornerstone has some glaring issues of his own.
+Steph Curry is a bit undersized, standing at 6’3” 190 LBS, leaving him exposed on defense. The point guard position is evolving from the true point archetype, into one similar of Magic Johnson. Ben Simmons and LeBron James are metamorphizing the point guard into the point forward. The offensive excellence of Curry is handcuffed to being a liability on defense. His ankle injuries, lack of size in a growing position, and age not on his side, all add up to his heightened proclivity to get beat on the defensive end.
+Thompson and Green, although All-Stars, should not be counted on to carry the team. Injuries can and do happen. If KD and Curry go down again this year, at the wrong times, it opens up opportunities for other top contenders.
+Kevin Durant likes to play the disappearing game. Some weeks he plays like the most dominant player in the league, and some weeks the lights seem too bright for him.
+And finally, Boogie Cousins will not return until December/January, rendering useful for only half of the season. Issues with clicking in the locker room already follow him, and now he will hop on board midway through the season, potentially disfiguring the Warriors’ chemistry.
+Process
+Now that we have identified the Warriors’ strengths and weaknesses, which teams can take them down? Currently, no squads are built to take down this juggernaut, in a 7-game series. Yours truly will take it upon himself to fix the NBA. You’re welcome, in advance.
+Through free agency transactions, and trades—all through a realistic realm—teams will be built in order to craft a worthy challenger to Golden State. In order to officially guarantee these teams will actually beat the Warriors, I will use NBA 2K18 as a running simulation. Each squad will take on The Bay in a best of 7 series.
+Let’s begin.
+Boston Celtics
+Bean town is where we should begin because, in my opinion, they have the best chance to win a title next year, not named the Warriors.
+To begin, they have the best coach in the NBA. Sorry Pop, Stevens has taken the title. He’s a dynamic play creator and excellent at breeding talent. The Stevens’ system has led to the rise of Terry Rozier and the selection of an aging Al Horford to the All-Star game. This was a team that finished 2nd in the East, and was one game away from the NBA Finals, without either of their top two stars—Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.
+Going into 2018, the C’s will have both of them back at full health. Add to it Jayson Tatum, who has proved he has superstar potential. This roster already has talent and direction. But, they’re one or two pieces away from beating Golden State.
+Trading for Kawhi Leonard makes the most sense in this scenario. I know, Leonard just got traded. But, some reports have come out about Kawhi not wanting to play in Toronto, even threatening to sit out, the entire year. It had been reported that the Celtics were reaching out to San Antonio, before. It wouldn’t be illogical for the C’s to continue that conversation with the Raptors.
+This is how Boston can bring in ‘The Claw’: The Celtics give SG Jaylen Brown, F Guerschon Yabusele, Philadelphia/Sacramento Protected Top-1 2019 1st Round Pick, Memphis Grizzlies Protected Top-8 2019 1st Round Pick, and a 2020 2nd Round Pick; making the Raptors relinquish F Kawhi Leonard. This way the Celtics keep pushing for a championship, while Toronto can successfully complete a soft rebuild.
+To add the cherry on top, Boston resigns C Greg Monroe—a rebounding, post technician to come off the bench and match the height and strength of Cousins.
+The starting lineup is:
+PG Kyrie Irving
+SG Jayson Tatum
+SF Gordon Hayward
+PF Kawhi Leonard
+C Al Horford
+Off the bench are PG Terry Rozier, G Marcus Smart, C Aron Baynes, C Greg Monroe, F Robert Williams, F Semi Ojeleye and others.
+Los Angeles Lakers
+For fear not, the King has come to LA. The greatest opposition to the Warriors has been LeBron James. He was an integral part of the only team to win a series against Golden State of the last 16 playoff best-of-seven’s.
+James may not have upgraded his team by moving from Cleveland to LA, but the Lakers have a lot of movable capital. This team has a great ability to mold into a contender.
+The first move would be to acquire F Kawhi Leonard from the Raptors. Leonard’s interest in Los Angeles has already been well documented, and his stubbornness may get him there. A trade is very possible and here is how they can pull it off. The Lakers swap F Kyle Kuzma, G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 2019 1st Round Pick, 2020 1st Round Pick, 2019 2nd Round Pick for Toronto’s F Kawhi Leonard and 2020 2nd Round Pick.
+Although a LeBron/Kawhi duo is fantastic, it may not be enough to take down the Warriors. Midway through the upcoming season, the Lakers will finish their squad with two more trades. Kyrie Irving has one year left on his contract and reports have him wanting to go to NY. It would not be surprising to see Danny Ainge get value back before Irving can leave. We saw this when he traded Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry. Irving’s trade value may take a hit because of his unwillingness to sign a new contract and if Boston somehow isn’t competing like a championship contender.
+The Lakers secure G Kyrie Irving for G Lonzo Ball, F Luol Deng, 2019 2nd Round Pick, 2024 1st Round Pick.
+This fantastic team is missing a star at only one position—center. Look to the Raptors and Jonas Valanciunas, a scoring center with only one year (plus a player option) left on his contract. This is a perfect target to finish this Hollywood A-List roster.
+The Lakers give up a 2022 1st Round Pick, G Josh Hart for C Jonas Valanciunas.
+The Los Angeles Lakers final starting lineup is:
+PG Kyrie Irving
+SG Brandon Ingram
+SF LeBron James
+PF Kawhi Leonard
+C Jonas Valanciunas
+Coming off the bench are C Jevale McGee, PG Rajon Rondo, SG Lance Stephenson, G Malik Newman, F Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, F Moritz Wagner and others.
+Houston Rockets
+The Rockets were one game away from beating the Warriors, last year in the Conference Finals. This Houston team finished first in the league with 65 wins and star guard, James Harden, took home MVP.
+Mike D’Antoni’s led squad beat Golden State twice in the regular season and three times in the playoffs but were still unable to the crack the code in Game 7 of the Conference Finals. The ‘run and gun’ offense, donned by the Rockets, had foiled the majority of the NBA, last season.
+Chris Paul, James Harden, and Clint Capela were nearly unbeatable when all three were on the court. The first move is to re-sign Clint Capela to long-term extension deal. His presence, down low, opens up opportunities for the success of the run and gun.
+Next, it’s up to GM Daryl Morey to pull off a blockbuster trade. The superstar that makes the most sense, especially in a D’Antoni system, is Jimmy Butler. A great two-way player, who’s jumper is as strong as his ability to attack the basket.
+Jimmy Butler has also turned down a 4-year max contract from the Timberwolves—making him trade bait. The Rockets give up G Eric Gordon, 2019 1st Round Pick, for SG Jimmy Butler. At 6 feet 7 inches, Jimmy Butler is one of the taller guards in the NBA, allowing him to shift to SF or a wing position.
+The Rockets can also sign SF Carmelo Anthony to help secure the Forward position. Anthony is expected to be waived by the Hawks, after the trade. Financially it shouldn’t be too hard to sign a washed-up Melo. Plus, Houston being such a strong contender, could draw interest from a ringless Anthony.
+The Rockets final roster outlook would be:
+PG Chris Paul
+SG James Harden
+SF Jimmy Butler
+PF Ryan Anderson
+C Clint Capela
+Playing off of the bench are F Carmelo Anthony, SF PJ Tucker, SG Gerald Green, C Zhou Qi, C Nene and others.
+Toronto Raptors
+Does anyone view the Raptors as true contenders? I didn’t, last year. They were swept, very unceremoniously, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. It seemed like Toronto had played to the peak of their ability, all year. The results were a 1st place finish in the East, but a far cry from the championship.
+This offseason, their front office made the surprising decision to fire Dwayne Casey, their head coach. Casey received the 2017-2018 NBA Coach of the Year Award, post-firing. Although this may seem like a bad move, I take it differently. The Raptors are sick of not winning. This is not synonymous with sick of losing, because that does not apply to the Raptors. Being sick of ‘not winning’ means you have the capabilities to win but seem so far away from actually getting it done. Toronto has been ‘not winning’ for a few years, and it doesn’t seem like it will get better. The Washington Wizards are also in this purgatorial stage. The Raptors want to strike a different chord, and firing Casey was their way of doing it.
+Trading for a player with league-renowned status would also do the trick; something the Raptors did by acquiring F Kawhi Leonard. This has me believing one of two things: Toronto is going all in on a championship, or they’re looking to flip Leonard for more favorable returns (to make it a 3-way deal). If the front office is serious about contending for a title, then they’ll need one more piece. Former 1st overall pick and former partner of Kim Kardashian, Blake Griffin, fits that bill. He hasn’t fit well with the Pistons, and they want to get out of his contract.
+The Raptors give up SF OG Anunoby, PG Delon Wright, SF Norman Powell for PF Blake Griffin from the Detroit Pistons.
+The addition of superstars Kawhi Leonard and Blake Griffin could go a long way but adding another strong player to replace DeRozan, would finish the job. Toronto can attempt to bring in a veteran presence in G Dwayne Wade. Wade showed that he has some left in the tank, in his second stint with Miami.
+The Raptors can compete well with Golden State if they’re starting lineup is:
+PG Kyle Lowry
+SG Dwayne Wade
+SF Kawhi Leonard
+PF Blake Griffin
+C Jonas Valanciunas
+Performing off of the bench are F Serge Ibaka, SF CJ Miles, C Jakob Poetl, PG Fred VanVleet, G Malachi Richardson and others.
+Oklahoma City Thunder
+General Manager, Sam Presti, thought he had done enough to defeat Golden State when he traded for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. Instead, the Thunder were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. This was a complete backfire by the Thunder, and now they are trying to dish Carmelo’s contract onto another team.
+This does not mean, however, that those trades can’t help OKC win it all this year. Russell Westbrook is a dynamic talent, that can put up monster numbers. He just needs to be coached down and allow other players to work as primary ballhandlers, such as Paul George. George is a superstar who could not take his old team, the Indiana Pacers, over the hump. The combination of those two, with Steven Adams, is a good trio to build around.
+First, is to acquire a great defending guard, but has a competent jumper (unlike Andre Roberson). Jimmy Butler fits this bill very well. Butler has succeeded in the past with a ball-dominant point guard (Derrick Rose).
+The Thunder trade away SG Andre Roberson, SF Jerami Grant, 2020 2nd Round Pick and a 2019 1st Round Pick for Minnesota Timberwolves’ SG Jimmy Butler.
+Last addition to the Thunder will be Kevin Love. The Cavaliers are in full rebuild mode since LeBron left. Love is the last star in ‘The Land’, making it logical for him to be moved.
+Oklahoma City swipes PF Kevin Love for 2021 1st Round Pick, F Terrance Ferguson, and 2019 2nd Round Pick.
+This creates the Warrior defeating roster, consisting of:
+PG Russell Westbrook
+SG Jimmy Butler
+SF Paul George
+PF Kevin Love
+C Steven Adams
+Coming off of the bench are F Kyle Singler, F Patrick Patterson, C Nerlens Noel, PG Raymond Felton, SG Alex Abrines and others.
+Defeated Dynasty
+There you go. I fixed it. Boogie ruined the NBA, and here are how the top contenders can reshape their roster, to beat him. The Warriors are the far and above the rest of the NBA, at the moment, but it doesn’t mean it will stay that way.
+If you are worried this season is a wash, I plead to you to watch anyways. There are so many possibilities for it to go differently than expected; it is very difficult to be great, so there is no guarantee Golden State will dominate. The season is full of surprises, meaning the NBA may, very well, just fix itself. And shout out to Andrew Hafemeister, when we brainstormed the different ways we could fix the NBA, prefacing the article.
+In the comments below, tell me which current teams have the best opportunity to beat the Warriors. Also let me know, which team built above is the best, which is the worst, and which is the most likely to happen. Stay tuned for more articles around the NBA and NFL. #RideTheWave
+This text is part of:
+Table of Contents:
+τὴν π. δύναμιν—obj. of δείσαντες, while αὐτήν is obj. of καταπλαγῆτε. καταπλαγῆτε—i.e. that fear may induce Camarina to join the A. τοὺς . . λόγους—depends on δείσαντες. μέλλοντας is contrasted with παροῦσαν, λόγους with δύναμιν. ‘We sent out our cmbassy, not from a fear that . . but from a fear that the words that they intended to address to you before you could hear what we have to say, might persuade you.’ Notice that πρίν τι . . ἀκοῦσαι precedes μή, and consequently belongs to τοὺς μέλλοντας, not to πείσωσιν.
+ᾗ πυνθάνεσθε—sc. ἥκειν: but ἥν is direct obj. of ὑπονοοῦμεν. (So Classen; Kruger and others explain ᾗ as attracted for ἥν, and ἥν as left unattracted for the sake of variety, but this is scaicely probable.) κατοικίσαι . . ἐξοικἰσαι—paronomasia, adnominatio; cf. c. 76, 4 ἀξυνετωτέρου, κακοξυνετωτέρου: 79, 2 ἀλόγως . . εὐλόγῳ. It is very common in Thuc. See c. 72, 4. τὰς μὲν ἐκει ῀ πόλεις—Aegina, Scione, and Melos are especially referred to. Χαλκιδέων—see c. 3, 3. The Chalcidians of Euboea are said to be ‘enslaved’ because their independence is gone. δουλεία often denotes the opposite of αὐτονομία. δουλωσαμένους ἔχειν—cf. c. 39, 2 n. There is again an enthymeme here. See on c. 10, 5.
+ἰδέᾳ—‘method.’ ἐκεῖνα—i.e. τὰ ἐκεῖ, their possessions in Greece. ἔσχον, ‘obtamed.’ With πειρῶνται supply σχεῖν, the infin. or partic. being often omitted with verbs that require the completion: e.g. v. 80 οὐ μέντοι εὐθύς γε ἀπέστη ἀλλὰ διενοεῖτο (sc. ἀποστῆναι) ὅτι καὶ τοὺς Ἀργείους ἑώρα (sc. ἀποστάντας). ἡγεμόνες γάρ—the likelihood that the view expressed is correct is shown by an example from previous events. This is the argument known as τὸ εἰκός supported by παραδείγματα. There is another instance in c. 79, 1. ἑκόντων τῶν τε Ἰώνων—cf. I. 95 ἐν τῇδε τῇ ἡγεμονίᾳ ἤδη βιαίου ὄντος (sc. Pausanias) . . οὐχ ἤκιστα οἱ Ἴωνες . . φοιτῶντες πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἠξίουν αὐτοὺς ἡγεμόνας σφῶν γενέσθαι. Herod. VIII. 3 ἀπείλοντο τὴν ἡγεμονἰαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. Ath. Pol. c. 23 ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τὴν τῶν Ἰώνων ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίας Ἀριστείδης ἦν ὁ προτρέψας. This was in 478-477 B.C. ἀπὸ σφῶν—τῶν Ἀθηναίων, i.e. ὅσοι ἄποικοι αὐτῶν ἦσαν (Schol.). Poppo quotes I. 12 Ἴωνας Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ νησιωτῶν τοὺς πολλοὺς ᾤκισαν (Ionia and the Cyclades). ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Μ. τιμωρίᾳ—this was the primary object of the new confederacy. τοὺς μέν—depends on κατεστρέψαντο. λιποστρατίαν is obj. to ἐπενεγκόντες. Plut. Cim. c. 11 of the allies, ἄνδρας καὶ ναῦς ὡς ἐτάχθησαν οὐ παρεῖχον. ἐπ̓ ἀλλήλους στρατεύειν—sc. ἐπενεγκόντες: others were charged with making war on one another. This occurred in the case of Samos and Miletus (I. 115). τοῖς δέ—governed by ἐπενεγκόντες, in accordance with custom where a common object of a partic. and verb is near the partic. Cf. c. 77, 2. εἶχον—sc. ἐπενεγκεῖν. Cf. I. 99 αἰτίαι ἄλλαι τε ἦσαν τῶν ἀποστάσεων καὶ μέγισται αἱ τῶν φόρων καὶ νεῶν ἔκδειαι. κατεστρέψαντο—cf. Ath. Pol. c. 24 λαβόντες τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῖς συμμάχοις δεσποτικωτέρως ἐχρῶντο.
+1. 21. καὶ οὐ περὶ κτλ — ‘so, it seems (ἄρα ironical), Athens was not contending for the freedom of Greece nor Greece for her own when they resisted the Persians: Athens resisted them in order to substitute dependence on herself for dependence on them; Greece resisted to secure a change to a new master, who had not less sense, but made a worse use of his cleverness’; i.e., as Freeman says, ‘the other Gks. had simply exchanged the Mede for a master of greater understand ing, but of understanding used only for mischief,’ as they found afterwaids. οἱ δ᾽ ἐπί—strictly this should be οἱ δὲ δ. μεταβολῆς, still depending on περὶ δέ. δεσπότου μ.—cf. c. 18, 7 n. The artificiality of this passage is censured by Dion..
+Tons of documents, contracts have to read (ideally close to the end of) buyers and sellers of housing. And, of course, the intricacies of legal terms often hide a very insidious paragraphs that are very difficult to trace in such volumes monotonous text that says Prostobank Consulting.
+Notarial contract of deposit
+Contract prior to the direct sale and purchase of housing, there are three basic types - the exclusive service contract between the real estate agent (agency) and the seller, the contract of the same type between the realtor and the buyer, and finally, the so-called contract of deposit between the seller and buyer.
+Contract deposit, in turn, is divided into two main varieties - notarized and "private." In the case of notarization note hat the contract will not include the word "deposit" - because actually, in the terminology of the legislation, it would be "poperedniy dogovir" regulated by Article 635 of the Civil Code (the word "deposit" under the law simply means part of the debt which the debtor gives the creditor at the expense of obligations to him, articles HA 570-571).
+Secondly, it is worth remembering that when notarization buyer must pay the state a fee of 1% of the amount of the deposit (for example, deposit $ 5000 fee is $ 50). In this case, fiscal agent for the collection and payment of state taxes is a lawyer. Of course, the notary will also charge for their services - at a rate of 800-1000 hryvnia.
+In general, it is worth saying that only sworn preliminary agreement will give the participants a guarantee and a thorough inspection (notary) of all necessary documents, in which case, the guarantee of a court of such an instrument to be executed.
+Private contract deposit
+As far as the contract deposit out on the form of real estate agencies or even in text-receipts on a clean sheet, then such a treaty is, as lawyers say, "poluzakonnym", compiled by other realtors "through the stump-deck" - and at worst far not unequivocally be interpreted by the judiciary.
+Nevertheless, Realtors with more than a decade of experience constitute the contract of deposit is quite competently. And if you fully trust the realtor, it makes sense to save on notary and state fees by issuing a "private" contract of deposit. In this case, you should pay attention to these nuances.
+In nenotarialnom contract deposit in the first paragraph should indicate that the private agreement on his part agreed to equate to a preliminary agreement described in article 635 CC. Otherwise, items about the loss of deposit or refund twice the amount will not be until the end of the legal and, for example, the court will accept their worthless (at least on grounds of "being forced to deal on extremely unfavorable conditions").
+Of course, the currency of the deposit, even in a private contract must be specified torque, as documented, negotiated a mutual transfer of currency without a license for foreign currency transactions on both sides of the act is illegal, and if you hit this information to state bodies, it can strike and the participants of the transaction, deposit, and for real estate agencies.
+By the way, the notary, of course, another option for pre-contract and will not offer. However, issues of exchange rate, it is usually in the contract (and notarized, and private) states that the parties agree that they treat the deposit amount in UAH to a certain amount of currency (the latter in reality and is transmitted by the buyer to the seller).
+Currency exchange rates often elected natsbankovsky on the day the treaty, but in the days of rapid inflation may be agreed by the parties, selected, and any rate - the main thing that the "source" of the course was also reflected in the point of equating the amount of UAH to the amount of currency.
+Buyer in a "private" contract of the deposit should be paid attention to the indication of the presence / absence of children in the sale of apartments. It is "a form three", ie the state a certificate of registered citizens in the apartment, the seller will take shelter after the contract of deposit (certificate valid for two weeks, its validity must come to an agreement selling the apartment and the deposit is usually taken for longer than two weeks) .
+And it means that the availability of prescription children must be specifically reflected in the contract of deposit. The reason is simple: if there are children in the sale of apartments State Board of Trustees monitors so as not to have worsened their living conditions, but malopredskazuemaya for the duration of the local board of trustees may disrupt short period of time specified in the contract of deposit.
+Also in the "private treaty" earnest money should be "named names" all force majeure, which will lead to cancellation without penalty (loss of the deposit by the buyer or seller to refund twice the amount).
+The natural and manmade disasters, which are both under the law a reason for termination of contracts without penalties, it makes sense to add as legislative changes that will make the purchase and sale of housing by the end of the contract term deposit disadvantageous deal for one of its members (for example, if stamp duty on the seller's apartment, or pay to the Pension Fund will be the buyers of flats are not 1% and 5%).
+But "the real estate market changes," inscribed in a force majeure, there is a catch and malicious maneuver - no precise criterion to fix that situation make a difference or not, which means that an unscrupulous party to a treaty can suddenly terminate the contract on any given day.
+In addition, if two or more documents on the property - for example, the couple owned the apartment together and they have two nearly identical sales contract (inheritance, exchange, gift, an act of privatization) - in a contract of deposit must be listed on the package of documents sell the property: in order to avoid the actions of one co-owner of contrary views of others. And even more so, shall be the signature of the agreement of the spouses of seller and buyer with the actions of their spouses in the contract the deposit is associated with this property.
+And finally, the ideal so-called (conditionally) the deposit contract is concluded between two physical persons - buyers and sellers of housing - that is, the realtor or agency in such contract does not mention (realtors conclude with the parties to the treaty deposit separate contract). However, other agencies, formulated a tripartite agreement of the deposit, including in the treaty itself Realtor.
+In this tripartite agreement the deposit is not anything illegal - just in case extra will carefully compare the contract deposit and separate two agreements between the realtor and the two parties to the contract of deposit (to items relating to a realtor in the first and the last two documents do not contradict each other). And, of course, a tripartite agreement involving two natural persons and legal entities of one (the realtor) necessarily implies a wet round seal and full details of this legal entity.
+Exclusive service contract
+The same point on the wet print and details of the realtor's important to check and in the treaties between the realtor and seller (the realtor and the buyer).
+In addition to servicing agreement seller realtor must be valid - otherwise you will seal it with his signature something like a perpetual contract for mandatory services according to a realtor before the end of your life. Validity, for your (seller) benefits should not exceed three to four months - about as often the market prices change is already noticeable, and specified in the contract with a realtor minimum price may be too much or dumping, or unrealistically high for potential buyers.
+Here we are already passing, and mentioned another important point realtor contract with the seller - the minimum price at which a real estate agent is taken to find a buyer for the apartment.
+Also in the contract must be prescribed documents (very numerous) are for residential sales must collect the seller personally or through a realtor.
+The contracts with the realtor and the seller and the buyer can specify the rules of fair "deribana" deposit in case of loss to the seller or the return of double the amount the buyer. For example, a realtor in this case could establish the principle of "half penalty deposit - realtor. At this point you should pay particular attention, especially if you own deposit made in the form of private trilateral agreement.
+Also in agreement with the realtor can be a treacherous point as the payment of estate agent in the imperfect deed of sale of housing. In your best interest to such a clause did not exist or was specified minimum amount of payment (the most legitimate of all such options would be a clause stating that the failure of the transaction the seller will return the realtor cost of paid advertising apartments in the "aviso" and other publications submitted as per realtor receipt, but it's better to similar and petty points are fixed).
+But even without such a contract clause other unscrupulous real estate brokers manage to claim the money from customers, "moved down to the transaction." In order not to be trapped, remember that real estate brokers and agencies are not eligible to be deposited with the original title documents to sell the apartments. And if such a clause in the contract is registered, that means one thing: the agency is preparing to blackmail you in advance of non-return of your documents if you refused to sell, do not want to pay for agency services and will refer to the fact that such payment has not been described in the contract with him.
+Of course, in agreement with the buyer real estate agent should be given the amount of fees that it pays the realtor after committing the deed of sale. Should indicate who pays for notary services in the commission of the deed of sale.
+And finally, it is obligatory reference to payment by the buyer and seller after the deed of sale of government payments in a certain amount of state and that the buyer and seller know the volumes these required payments. And these are not just state tax and retirement, but also, say, a tax on "extra meters" over 100 square meters, as well as tax for the second sale of real estate in a tax period.
+Finally, we recall that, before all the work with a realtor to select it and check his credentials.
+19.09.2010 04:45
+Content tags: Housing contract for the property market
+Did you like the material?
+Your comments:
+Your opinion be first
+The variable position of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) in the mandibular ramus: a computed tomography (CT) study
+- 106 Downloads
+Abstract
+Introduction
+This study was designed to quantify the important anatomical landmarks and the path of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) within the human mandibular body and ramus, in particular with reference to the bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO).
+Materials and methods
+Four hundred and eleven CT scans were studied, 299 of these were involved in determining the position of lingula; and 230 were involved in determining the course of IAN in the mandibular molar region, namely from the mesial of the mandibular first molar to the distal of the mandibular second molar; 118 were involved with both measurements.
+Results
+On average, the lingula was located 17.0 ± 2.2 mm from the external oblique ridge; 11.6 ± 2.0 mm from the internal oblique ridge; 17.2 ± 2.7 mm from the sigmoid notch; and 15.6 ± 1.9 mm from the posterior border of the mandible. The course of the IAN in the mandibular molar region was found to descend vertically from the distal of the mandibular second molar (7) to reach its lowest point between the first and second molars (6 and 7), and then ascend towards the mesial of the first molar (6). Horizontally, the IAN was found to traverse medially between the distal of the 7 and the middle of the 7, and then changes its path laterally towards the mesial of the 6.
+Conclusion
+Precise knowledge of the individual’s position of the IAN will help surgical planning.
+KeywordsInferior alveolar nerve (IAN) Lingula Mandibular molars Bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO)
+Abbreviations
+- Ln
+Lingula
+- SN
+Deepest point of sigmoid/mandibular notch
+- EOR
+External oblique ridge (anterior border of mandibular ramus)
+- IOR
+Internal oblique ridge (anterior border of mandibular ramus)
+- PBMR
+Posterior border of mandibular ramus
+- SN–Ln
+Distance between SN and Ln
+- EOR–Ln
+Distance between EOR and Ln
+- IOR–Ln
+Distance between IOR and Ln
+- PBMR–Ln
+Distance between PBMR and Ln
+- (EOR–Ln) − (IOR–Ln)
+Distance difference between EOR–Ln and IOR–Ln
+- Lingula ratio
+(EOR–Ln)/((EOR–Ln)+(PBMR–Ln))
+- Mes 6
+Mesial surface of the mandibular first molar
+- Mid 6
+Midpoint between the mesial and distal surfaces of the mandibular first molar
+- Int 6/7
+Interproximal area between the mandibular first and second molars
+- Mid 7
+Midpoint between the mesial and distal surfaces of the mandibular second molar
+- Dis 7
+Distal surface of the mandibular second molar
+- IAN
+Inferior alveolar nerve/neurovascular bundle
+- IBM
+Inferior border of mandible
+- TIBC
+Thickness of inferior border cortex
+- BB
+Buccal border of mandible
+- TBC
+Thickness of buccal cortex
+- IAN-IBM
+Distance between IAN and IBM
+- IAN-BB
+Distance between IAN and BB
+- (IAN-IBM)-TIBC ≤ 1mm
+Difference between (IAN-IBM) and TIBC ≤ 1 mm
+- (IAN-IBM) = TIBC
+(IAN-IBM) is equal to TIBC
+- (IAN-BB)-TBC ≤ 1mm
+Difference between (IAN-BB) and TBC ≤ 1 mm
+- (IAN-BB) = TBC
+(IAN-BB) is equal to TBC
+Notes
+Author contributions
+All authors provided input for the manuscript writing and discussion. Yeh: Protocol development; Data collection and management; Data analysis; Manuscript writing and editing. Finn: Protocol development; Data collection; Manuscript editing. Jones: Manuscript editing. Goss: Manuscript editing.
+Compliance with ethical standards
+Ethical approval
+This study has ethics approval by the Human Research Ethics Committee with reference number: HREC/17/QCH/13-1114LR.
+Conflict of interest
+The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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+ACT Government Procurement Board
+Organisational Overview And Performance
+Organisational Overview
+The ACT Government Procurement Board (the Board) was established on 1 August 2001 by the Government Procurement Act 2001 (the Act). The Board’s functions, as specified under section 6 of the Act, are:
+- to review, and give advice to territory entities on, procurement issues;
+- to review, and give advice on:
+- procurement proposals and activities referred to the board by a Minister or responsible Director-General officer; or
+- procurement proposals for procurement matters declared by the Minister;
+- to review procurement proposals of territory entities in accordance with the relevant regulation;
+- to consider, advise on and, if appropriate, endorse procurement practices and methods for use by territory entities;
+- to provide advice to the Minister on any issue relevant to the procurement activities of territory entities or the operation of this Act; and
+- to exercise any other function given to the board under this Act or any other Territory law.
+Regulations under the Act prescribe that the Board must review procurement proposals with an estimated value of $5 million or more, or $1 million or more for procurements being undertaken by a territory entity other than an administrative unit, or for procurements involving system development or redesign of information and communications technology, or for disposals.
+The Board’s purpose, to advise Government on practices and processes that will deliver better procurement outcomes for the Territory, is underpinned by the principle prescribed in section 22A of the Act: ‘A territory entity must pursue value for money in undertaking any procurement activity’. In pursuing value for money, the entity must have regard to probity and ethical behaviour; management of risk; open and effective competition; optimising whole of life costs; and anything else prescribed by regulation.
+The Board seeks to ensure that processes for major procurements comply with the Government’s procurement framework, which includes legislation and policies available from the Procurement website ().
+The Board does not set policy; it provides support and advice to the Government on the implementation of procurement policy. The Board operates through the Procurement and Capital Works Division in the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate, the role of which is to provide procurement and project delivery services to directorates. The Board’s involvement on individual procurements seeks to support Government by ensuring that procurement and project management risks are appropriately treated and relevant Government policies are applied.
+The Board is not responsible for procurement decisions. This responsibility rests with Directors-General, who are responsible for all operations associated with the running of their directorates, and the heads of non-directorate territory entities.
+Internal Accountability
+Membership of the Board
+Section 11 of the Act stipulates that the Board consists of up to nine part-time members:
+- a Chair, who is a public employee member;
+- a Deputy Chair, who is a public employee member;
+- three other public employee members; and
+- four non-public employee members.
+Note: ‘Public employee’, as per the dictionary, part 1, of the Legislation Act 2001 (ACT), means (a) a public servant; or (b) a person employed by a territory instrumentality; or (c) a statutory officeholder or a person employed by a statutory officeholder.
+The Chair of the Board at 30 June 2016 was Ms Bronwen Overton-Clarke, Deputy Director-General, Workforce Capability and Governance Division, Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate. The position of Chair, like all the Board memberships, is a part-time role, appointed by the Minister for Economic Development (the Minister) under the Act. The Chair reports directly to the Minister in relation to her role on the Board.
+When filling member vacancies, priority is given to significant management experience in procurement and/or capital works delivery. The Board also seeks to have expertise in ICT, law, finance and risk management, as well as experience in the private sector, across its membership.
+The ACT Government has a policy of moving towards 50 per cent representation of women on its boards and committees. The Office for Women (Community Services Directorate) is consulted each time a Board vacancy is being filled.
+The Executive Director, Procurement and Capital Works is an ex officio member of the Board by virtue of his or her position. This is not a legislated requirement but is Board policy to enhance the contribution that each organisation makes to procurement and delivery of capital works on behalf of the Government.
+Four Board membership positions were occupied at 30 June 2016, with three of these positions, including the Chair, held by women.
+In May 2016, Kim Smith and Paul Carmody resigned from the Government Procurement Board upon ceasing to be public servants, leaving three public employee positions vacant as at 30 June 2016. These appointments are anticipated to be filled in early 2016-2017 after being presented to Cabinet.
+Two non-public employee members, whose memberships expired on 19 May 2016, were in the process of being reappointed at 30 June 2016, with the appointments having been referred to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Committee) as required by the Act. The Committee wrote to the Minister on 16 June 2016 with no comment and instruments of appointment will be notified early in 2016-2017. These reappointments, with the appointment of three new public employee members, will fill all vacancies on the Board.
+Table 1: Membership of the Board as at 30 June 2016
+Board Meetings
+The Government Procurement Regulation 2007 specifies the types of procurements that must be considered by the Board.
+Table 2: Board deliberations in comparison with previous years
+Notes:
+1. This includes 2 meetings held for briefings, where proposals and Board business were not
+2. This includes 6 meetings held electronically, that is, via email
+3. This includes 3 meeting held electronically, that is, via email
+Table 3: Board Members’ attendance
+George Tomlinson, Executive Director Procurement and Capital Works and Glenn Bain, Executive Director Procurement Projects attended the Board as ex officio members. This assisted the Board by providing greater insight into procurement policies, practices, arising matters and created efficient communication channels from the Board to Procurement and Capital Works to aid its operations.
+Consideration of Proposals
+The Board was presented with 76 proposals in 2015-2016; however, twelve of these were submitted for the Board’s information rather than its consideration. The Board endorsed 62 of 63 proposals submitted for consideration in 2015-2016 at the first presentation, and consideration of one proposal was initially not endorsed, with endorsement granted after more information was presented.
+Appendix 1 provides a summary of procurement proposals considered by the Board in 2015-16.
+An important aspect of the Board’s role in assisting the Territory pursue value for money in its procurement activities is to ensure territory entities are effectively managing risk in their procurement proposals.
+Procurement proposals coming before the Board must contain a risk plan. Risk plans identify the risks and assess the likelihood and consequence of each risk in order to reach a risk rating. Often the Government has treatments already in place (for example, requiring construction consultants and contractors to have and maintain prequalification) that will lower the risk rating. Proponents for procurement proposals must also indicate what other treatments they will provide for each risk rated as high or above and re-assess the likelihood and consequence following that treatment. A risk rated as high following treatment does not mean the treatment is not adequate – sometimes the consequences of the risk occurring would be severe although the likelihood of the event occurring is very small.
+Remuneration
+Remuneration for non-public employee members of the Board as at 30 June 2016 is set out in the ACT Remuneration Tribunal’s Amended Determination 12 of 2015, which commenced on November 2015. This determination set the remuneration for non-public employee Board members at $24,125 per annum.
+Public sector members receive no remuneration for their Board membership. All staffing matters in respect of public employee members are managed by their ‘home’ directorates.
+Support Staffing and Financial Resources
+Section 21(1) of the Act enables the Board to arrange with the Director-General of the relevant directorate for directorate officers to provide administrative support for the Board. In 2015-16, this was the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate.
+The Board Secretariat supports the Board in undertaking its functions, including management of Board papers, meetings and all general administrative and financial arrangements. The Secretariat was located in Procurement and Capital Works, a business unit within Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate. Operation of the Secretariat was overseen by the Executive Director, Procurement and Capital Works, on behalf of the Director-General Economic Development.
+Allowances for non-public employee members’ remuneration, Secretariat staff salaries, accommodation and office infrastructure, and the provision of technology and communications services, were fully covered within Procurement and Capital Works. All associated financial reporting was included in the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate accounts.
+Conflict of Interest
+The Board has instituted arrangements to manage conflicts of interest, in recognition that members, during the course of the year, would potentially be faced with potential conflicts of interest due to their other commitments.
+The Board has instituted the following arrangements:
+- Members are aware of and support the Board’s Charter and have signed a Code of Conduct agreement.
+- Members are requested to identify whether they have a potential conflict of interest in respect of a proposal or policy matter prior to the related documents being considered. Members with a conflict of interest in a matter are not involved in the decision-making in relation to that matter.
+- Prior to the commencement of all meetings, members are also invited to state any conflict of interest that may arise due to the business to be considered at the meeting.
+- The minutes of the meeting reflect the action taken by the Board in respect of any conflict(s) of interest. No conflicts of interest required any action in 2015-16.
+Further information on the Government Procurement Board’s operations can be obtained from:
+Bronwen Overton-Clarke
+Chair, ACT Government Procurement Board
+bronwen.overton-clarke@act.gov.au
+Ph: (02) 6205 5147
+Jan Pearse
+Secretary, Government Procurement Board
+Jan.Pearse@act.gov.au
+Ph: (02) 6207 2625
+Appendix
+Summary of Procurement Proposals Considered by the Board in 2015-16
+During 2015-16, in accordance with the Government Procurement Regulation 2007, the Board considered 63 proposals with an estimated total value of $1,908.57 million. The largest proposal was Strategic Plan for Leasing of Commercial Office Space on behalf of the Territory with a total estimated value of $300 million over 15 years.
+Breakdown by Procurement Method
+Note that some projects these proposals appeared before the Board on more than one occasion. For example, the Expression of Interest and Request for Tender components of two-stage procurement may be submitted separately for Board consideration.
+*Percentages and Estimated Values may not total 100 per cent due to rounding of figures.
+Breakdown by Directorate
+*Percentages and Estimated Values may not total 100 per cent due to rounding of figures.
+Breakdown by Procurement Classification
+*Percentages and Estimated Values may not total 100 per cent due to rounding of figures.
+Abbreviations
+Act: Government Procurement Act 2001
+ACT: Australian Capital Territory
+Board: ACT Government Procurement Board
+Entity/Entities: includes reference - in general - to directorates, agencies and authorities
+Territory entities
+IT / ICT: Information Technology / Information and Communications Technology
+Minister: Minister for Economic Development
+As many of you probably know, the US Mint lets you buy dollar coins at face value with free overnight shipping with your credit card. In other words, $1,000 in coins earns you 1,000 (or more) points on your favorite loyalty credit card. Now, the Mint used to have virtually no restrictions, so people often ordered tens of thousands of dollars worth of coins in a month. For whatever reason, I didn’t consider the offer worthwhile at the time.
+Then a while back the Mint tightened the rules a bit, only allowing you to purchase $1,000 worth of coins every 10 days, unless you apply for an “exception” (which I haven’t). The funny thing is, I’ve actually gotten back into “the game” since they tightened the rules. At the same time, many would argue it’s not worthwhile anymore because of the small amounts, but I argued it wasn’t worthwhile back then (simply because dragging $5,000 worth of coins to the bank at once will “kill” the deal for many of us pretty quickly, since many banks will stop taking them after a while).
+Anyway, with $1,000 worth of coins every 10 days, we’re looking at about 36 orders every year, or 36,000 miles. If you’re using the Hilton Surpass card, that’s almost Hilton Diamond status (which is earned for $40,000 in spend). If you’re using an SPG card, I would value those points at over two cents each, so you’re basically looking at an extra $800+/year in rewards. Well worth it, especially if, ahem, “spending” the coins doesn’t take you any extra time. I go to the place that I, ahem, “spend coins” anyway once or twice a week, and I’ve never had a problem bringing in a relatively small number of coins ($500-1,000) each time.
+So an extra $800+/year for basically nothing is quite nice, in my book!
+I don’t really see the value in this. If you go to the bank ~75 times a year, each trip to the bank is only getting you $10.67 in free money ($800/75 = $10.67). This doesn’t include your time, gas, tolls, parking, etc.
+I would say either go big, or don’t bother.
+I love the US Mint. I will send them a post card from Argentina
+Also note, that’s it’s $1,000 per 10 days PER AUTHORIZED USER. So, my three users are ordering ever 10 days…..
+People who don’t see the mint game as unethical and reprobate have a seriously twisted morals.
+Reading the posts on flyer talk I often wonder about people and ethical behavior. I saw someone talking about doing a $1500 spend to get “x” miles and then canceling the card. I don’t have a problem with that but the person was going to spend it on a refundable ticket or other item and then once the miles posted and the card was canceled he (or I guess possibly she) was going to refund the product.
+Doing something like that I don’t think it proper and I would be glad to see the credit card company and airline ban the person and take away any/all FF status and miles.
+I’m curious what opinion you have on that?
+I coins kind of fall into another category since you are buying something although I haven’t done it and doubt I would.
+I guess I just see too many people thinking they deserve things for doing little or nothing in return. The whole entitlement mentality here in the US gets to me.
+Simple answer: NO! People need to live their lives!! If you have the time to buy these coins and you visit the bank twice a week, then go for it! Going out of your way?….absolutely not!
+“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” -T.S Eliot
+This is how I see it:
+People who see the mint game as unethical and reprobate have a seriously twisted morals.
+I churn credit cards every few years; I’m no angel. But It’s depressing that a program established to save taxpayers money (coins last longer than bills) is being exploited in this way. Taxpayers pay more for smart guys like Lucky to earn status/miles/etc. But Lucky’s not doing anything to increase the use of coins over bills.
+I know, you didn’t make the rules, it’s not your fault, if you didn’t do it, someone else would, etc. Alll true. But if there were 300 people in the U.S. rather than 300 million, we would never do this to ourselves. The guy who runs the treasury would just slap you upside the head next time he saw you, and you’d cut it out.
+And speaking of communities, would you run the same play against your local school/hospital if they offered miles for purchased cookies at some unsustainable rate?
+@self-righteous-jerk, well said!
+This scheme exceeds my pain threshold. It is much easier to churn credit cards. Of course, the Mint can help with that endeavor, so maybe ordering a very limited amount of coins is worth the trouble.
+Duh. Yes.
+I am with Gene, this is just too much. I got enough else going on….credit cards are easier…
+@Jason For your 3 “Authorized Users”, are you using 1 CC 3x or 3 different CCs? Also don’t all your CC’s have the same name and billing address? But you’re finding success with it?
+I was about to get into this game after reading Lucky’s post. I figure with a DL AMEX I could at least get some more MQMs for hitting the next spend threshold, which would make the coins worth a whole lot in my book. However, when I read the following at the US Mint site I decided not to go for it:
+.”
+I really do not want to cross the US Government by agreeing to their terms and then violating them. That crosses my pain threshold right there.
+Back when the game was unlimited, you still could have been a modest player — no one ever said you had to order $10k per month! You could have just done smaller amounts like you do now. So it’s interesting that it took the Mint regulating the game for you to get into it. Almost like you didn’t trust yourself. Haha.
+That said, I mostly agree with Jon — ‘Go Big, or Go Home’
+Imo, I find this ethically bankrupt. I cannot do this. It robs from all of us as taxpayers. It also allows cc companies to keep upping the spend to achieve bonuses.
+no the mint game is not worth it. everyone should stop.
+.
+.
+.
+.
+.
+.
+then I’ll never see anything back-ordered!
+This is not meant for Lucky, but for those doing massive redemptions.
+I would just feel like a douche standing in line at the bank, and lugging these bags/boxes of coins around. Do you think the teller enjoys seeing you walk in again and again?
+Isn’t it parasitic and selfish behavior to do this on the backs of taxpayers when it’s surely not the intended use of the program?
+I don’t know about unethical or rebrobate, but churning of coins for immediate bank deposit violates the terms of the program and costs the government the shipping cost of the coins, not to mention the cost of shipping the coin deposits from the banks. Let’s just call it cheating the taxpayer instead. I just love the mental gymnastics of the churners trying to justify their actions.
+I agree; I would feel highly unethical forcing the government to ship the coins (and swallow the 3% credit card fee) at taxpayer expense, violating the terms of the sale, and then making the teller count the coins one by one a few times a week just to get a few extra thousand points.
+While it’s not illegal and not objectively immoral (not every man believes that screwing over the government is a direct attack on his fellow citizens, and to a degree it is their own fault for forcing these coins to be “circulated” irrespective of demand), it just doesn’t suit my palate. I would strongly discourage you, lucky, from engaging in such opportunistic practices.
++1 to self-righteous-jerk, MS, % Carl
+I was about $800 short of the minimum spend on a BA card I got just for the 75K points. I bought mint coins to make the minimum..
+It was a good plan until my wife saw the coins and decided to take $100 for stocking-stuffers.
+Still, it preserved a lot of points that I’ll probably use this year.
+How are you getting something for “nothing”? Do you really value your time and effort at nothing, Lucky? I thought you had a thriving business. Shouldn’t you be making money through blogging instead of this nonsense? Won’t you make more than $800 a year focusing on your blog posts?
+All I gotta say is that it sure took our man COINS long enough to live up to his moniker!
+@Lance – three different card numbers under three different names on the same card account all to the same billing address. No issues at all for the past 6 months.
+@self-righteous & friends: The more people take advantage, the quicker this silly program will close (assuming the government has some sense, which is questionable). The real culprit here is Congress: if only they got rid of the $1 bill, there would be demand for coins and no need for this nonsense. Now, what are the reelection prospects of a member of Congress who votes to eliminate the $1 bill?
+To everyone complaining about how this is hurting the taxpayer: This costs the taxpayer nothing and actually makes the U.S. Government money. Each coin costs less then a dollar to make so each one sold brings in a profit for the government. Everyone buying these is just doing their best to solve the deficit!
+@Lonetree — So you’re saying that this is a money making machine? Awesome!\
+Then it seems like our government should mint billions and billions of coins and sell them to the Chinese……
+oh wait.
+I think it’s completely ethical and worthwhile to take advantage of the coins ONLY IF you’re actually going to make a good-faith effort into putting them into circulation and the miles are a side benefit. I long for the day when dollar coins are more socially accepted and the dollar bill becomes history. But I don’t make enough cash purchases to even consider going through the trouble of ordering them for the miles. Most of my purchasing is on mileage-earning credit cards anyway. And I definitely will not order coins just to deposit them.
+I don’t play the “coin game” for ethical and practical reasons. I do buy coins and use them for purchases and tips under $10. Just think if every Flyertalker bought the coins and used them as I do. There would be millions of FF miles gained and millions of coins put into circulation. Many of the younger cashiers think they are cool and don’t know about the fact that the smallest euro bill is a 5 with coins used for the 1 and 2 euro.
+I’ve bought quite a few boxes of the coins. I had an offer from a credit card that I hadn’t used for a while to receive a meaningful reward if I charged $2000/month for several months. But I haven’t deposited any of them at the bank, instead I spend them.
+I hadn’t been exposed to the dollar coins before, and I have found them quite useful when traveling and also at home. They work great for tips to bellmen, valets, housekeeping staff, and at breakfast. Because they are still unusual they are somewhat memorable and as long as you are a decent tipper, you will get better service and recognition using them. They also work great for transit fares and small purchases. We’ve used them for birthday presents and stocking stuffers for nieces and nephews and our daughter – and the kids love them. And in rolls of $25 they even work for certain purchases where cash is preferred, like when my wife gets a manicure or the dog groomer.
+So I feel we contribute to the intent of the program of getting these coins into circulation, and it’s a nice little bonus to get some incentive from the credit card, and convenient to order them.
+I ordered a few coins from time to time, but now I only order when I can really spend some of the coins in places other than the bank. Sending the coins right back to the mint is not a fun game, for the taxpayers… I recentlety had a problem on my 1k order. It was shipped to me over the holidays and I was not home. When I went through to check on the credit on my account, the agent mentioned there was a ups charge of $41…. This must include next day shipping and insuranse… If you can’t actually circulate at least some of the order,,,, then in my book…. Maybe not worth the cost to the government…
+Lucky’s a celebrity:
+This does not work anymore!
+When God calls you to step forward and walk through the door He’s opening for you, you’ve got to be careful you don’t get stuck standing in the hallway.
+In the hallway, you can convince yourself you’re not ready or you’re not good enough. Or maybe the door isn’t opened all the way; there’s only a sliver of light cutting through the shadowy hallway and that scares you. Let’s face it, you’d rather stay where you know what to expect. There are no surprises in the hallway except the occasional dust bunny parachuting from the ceiling to land on your head.
+Or maybe you’re too busy. That’s right, you’ve got a dozen or so loads of laundry to do, the kitchen cupboards need rearranged, and the grass needs cut. Maybe you need to frost a hundred cupcakes for a bake sale, and you need to go to the store to buy a new surge protector for your laptop.
+You can convince yourself you don’t have the time for the door and whatever is inside, so you tell God, “Today doesn’t work for me. Maybe tomorrow.”
+So you busy yourself and hurry through the hallway to gather the dirty laundry. And while you’re doing that, you notice the photographs hanging on the walls. You stop and remember the past, the colors of those failures so vivid. You look away. It’s too painful. But when you turn, you find yourself reminiscing over another photograph, one you cherish. You wonder if things will ever be that good again. You feel out of sorts, mixed up, and confused like someone is playing Ping-Pong with your emotions.
+Satan is doing all he can to get you to linger here so he can whisper his lies, wreaking havoc on your heart and causing every emotional outburst or breakdown imaginable. You see, then he’s not only discouraging you, but he’s stealing your time too. It’s a double whammy.
+And let’s not forget how Satan loves to steal your time by distracting you. He’s going to whisper your to-do list in your ear, reminding you how all of those things are so much more important than some silly door. While he’s at it, he will probably tell you you’re not hearing from God anyway and that the door before you isn’t even for you; it’s for someone more qualified and capable. The enemy will tell you you’d better stick with rearranging those kitchen cupboards; someone might come over and see how you’ve got the canned corn mixed in with a box of rice and think you’re completely unorganized and a real slob.
+But wait a minute. God pointed out that door to you, didn’t He? And you’ve been praying about it for such a long time, and now it’s opening…
+Keep moving, my friend! Don’t turn back now, and don’t let your precious time get swallowed up by distractions, procrastination, or doubt. And don’t keep pacing back and forth with that to-do list in your hand, the one you made for yourself.
+Go with the one task God has given you today. Move closer to that door. And if it’s not open all the way when you get to it, pray. Perhaps you’re to knock on it and it will swing wide open when you do.
+And when it does open and you take that step and cross the threshold into God’s will for your life, you’re going to realize it’s so much better than hanging out in the hallway with a liar and a bunch of dust bunnies.
+Instead, you’ll be living joyfully, immersed in God’s presence, and doing what He’s called and created you to do.
+“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV.)
+“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (Psalm 16:11 NLT.)
+11 thoughts on “The Hallway and the Door”
+Dear Joey – after much nudging from the Holy Spirit, I walked right through the door straight to Open Mic night at a local Christian Book Store – I read an excerpt from my soon to be published book and the owner told me that he will promote my book in his store – I listened and obeyed – no standing in the hallway for me!!! Thank you for this amazing sharing!!! Love and blessings my dear sister in Christ xo
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+That is TERRIFIC!! I’m SO happy for you, Debra! Praise God for that open door and opportunity! And you’ll have to let me know about your book (title/when it’s available), so I can check it out too. Congratulations!! Love and blessings to you, my I’m-not-standing-in-the-hallway-but-walkin’-through-the-open-door Sister in Christ. 🙂
+You so make me laugh – I’ll be chuckling all night with that last comment – grateful beyond words for your ‘on-line’ presence in my life – blessings from my heart to yours xoxo
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Well you just bless me like crazy! And I’m so thankful for your “on-line” presence in my life too! So chuckle yourself into some sweet dreams, my friend, and don’t forget to let me know about your book. Blessings to you always!
+Will keep you posted with details of my book!!!
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Your words have spoken so deeply to me and my husband. We spent a long time praying about whether to buy a house we thought was right for us and it meant a lot because, as a military family, we have never owned our own family home. We drew close to one another and God through searching for his will in prayer and on the day we made our offer, we were encouraged by a verse sent to us ‘Behold I have opened a door for you that no man can shut’ Revelation 3:8. It had particular relevance because we hadn’t had a viewing for the house when we looked around but the front door had been open and the agents allowed us to go in. Our offer was accepted but a few weeks later we were gazumped. The loss of the house is nothing (there are many houses!) but the mockery it seemed to make of that precious time with God- that sense that he was speaking to us- has been hard to make sense of. It has really damaged my husband’s faith and he is now lost in the hallway. I don’t know what your words mean exactly for us but they moved me as I felt like God was speaking directly to us through them. We must spend time working out what he is saying. Thank you for creating a way for us to hear from God again in the most comforting way. Keep on blogging- God is using you powerfully. I always hear him whispering to me through your words.
+Oh my. My first instinct is to give you a big hug right now, but since I can’t do that, I’m going to ask God to hug you for me. I’ve been in a similar place spiritually (actually more than once!) where I felt God had opened a door only to have it shut in my face. It hurt, and I found myself getting angry with God. Please understand, it is only now, nearly a year later, that I am able to see that God had something better planned for me. There are so many things happening behind the scenes that we are unaware of, and I know a lot of the “no’s” I’ve received from God are for my own protection. During those times, I didn’t understand. But I ask God for wisdom (James 1:5) and discernment and there have been many times He’s allowed me to see deeper into the situation. There are so many “maybe God didn’t allow you to have that house because…” reasons that I won’t even go there. And I know you said it’s not about the house, but the “mockery of the time spent with God.” Perhaps the door He has opened had nothing to do with an actual house but a door opening you to a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. And I’ve learned after a time of growth like that, the enemy will try to steal it from you; he will try to get you to doubt God’s faithfulness and will try to justify your right to be angry with God…that’s what happened to me. I will pray your husband doesn’t feel lost or stuck in the hallway but will know God is moving behind the scenes in your lives in a more powerful way than you know. Please hear my heart…I will pray for both of you. God has something wonderful for those who seek Him. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 NIV. You’re going to be rewarded for seeking Him! So keep doing it, keep going to Him. Don’t let the enemy steal that precious time you had with God, don’t let him tarnish it in any way. Draw closer to God and He will draw closer to you. And pray for wisdom and maybe one day this will all be so clear to you. But if He doesn’t reveal it to you, continue to trust Him (Proverbs 3: 5-6). He will never fail you. Many, many prayers are going up for you and your husband today. (And thank you for your kind words…I pray God blesses you abundantly not only for how you have been seeking Him but also for how you have encouraged me today.)
+Thank you so much for your reply. I only just found it this morning after reading your most recent blog (which has really spoken to me, as your blogs always do). I am so touched by your taking the time to write back and think and pray about it for us. I can’t wait to show my husband your words. Take care- you have such a wonderful heart for God and you speak truth and light through your words. God bless. Katie
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Thank YOU, Katie! It’s an honor and a privilege to me that you allowed me into your life and that I can pray for you. (And I will continue to do so. 😉 ) And I must say, your words truly bless and encourage me…so again, thank YOU. Praying for God to draw you and your husband so very close to Him. Blessings and love to you always!
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Awesome Momma, God definitely opens doors we just have to trust in him.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Amen! Yes, He does open doors. We just have to trust and wait. I’m glad you’re with me in the waiting. I love you, my dear hubby. 😉
+Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
+Paperback(Reprint)
+Overview.
+Product Details her Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Midwife's Tale. Her work is also featured on an award-winning website called dohistory.org. She is immediate past president of the Mormon History Association. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
+Read an Excerpt
+Chapter One: Three Writers settings in which they worked were radically different. The problems they faced were surprisingly—disturbingly—the same.
+For each, a moment of illumination came through an encounter with an odious book.
+Paris, France, c. 1400
+Christine de Pizan sat in her study. Weary of serious reading, she opened a satire someone had given her for safekeeping. She knew better than to take its diatribes against women seriously, yet somehow its arguments disturbed her. Even the sight of the book made her wonder why so many learned men had “devilish and wicked thoughts about women.” She took more volumes from their shelves. Men’s opinions spilled out like a gushing fountain, filling her with doubt. “I could hardly find a book on morals where, even before I had read it in its entirety, I did not find several chapters or certain selections attacking women, no matter who the author was.” She began to think God had made a vile creature when he created woman.[1]
+In her despair she began to pray, asking why she could not have been born male. As she sat with her head bowed, tears streaming from her eyes, she discerned a beam of light falling on her lap just as a ray of sun might have done if it had been the right hour of the day. Looking up from her shadowed corner, Christine beheld a vision: standing before her were three radiant women. Terrified, she made the sign of the cross.
+The first woman spoke. “Dear daughter, do not be afraid, for we have not come here to harm or trouble you, but to console you.” Identifying herself as Lady Reason, the specter held up to Christine the mirror of self-knowledge. “Come back to yourself, recover your senses, and do not trouble yourself any more over such absurdities.” She told Christine that she and her companions, Lady Rectitude and Lady Justice, had come to help her build a city in which the fame of good women would endure against all assailants. Together they would restore the reputations of those unjustly accused.[2]
+Guided by her three visitors, Christine went back to books and discovered the lives of worthy women—queens, princesses, warriors, poets, inventors, weavers of tapestries, wives, mothers, sibyls, and saints. From their stories, she would build a city fit for the Queen of Heaven.
+Johnstown, New York, c. 1825
+Elizabeth Cady sat quietly in her father’s law office listening to the complaints of his widowed clients. Absorbing their tales of woe, she wondered why her father couldn’t do more to help them. When she asked him, Daniel Cady took a lawbook from its shelf and showed her the “inexorable statutes” that gave husbands the right to pass over their wives in favor of their sons. Married women, he explained, were civilly dead. Amused by Elizabeth’s distress, the law students in Cady’s office joined in the exercise, reading her “the worst laws they could find.” One teased her by saying that if she should grow up to become his wife, her new coral necklace and bracelets should be his. “I could take them and lock them up, and you could never wear them except with my permission. I could even exchange them for a box of cigars, and you could watch them evaporate in smoke.”[3]
+Elizabeth puzzled over the power of her father’s books. When he wasn’t looking, she began to mark the offending statutes with pencil, planning “when alone in the office, to cut every one of them out of the books.” Fortunately, she confided her secret to a housekeeper, who alerted her father. Without letting her know that he had discovered her secret, he explained how laws were made, telling her that even if his entire library were to burn, it would make no difference, because there were other books and other libraries. “When you are grown up, and able to prepare a speech,” said he, “you must go down to Albany and talk to the legislators; tell them all you have seen in this office . . . and, if you can persuade them to pass new laws, the old ones will be a dead letter.”[4]
+Elizabeth vowed to do just that. When she grew up she would not only go down to Albany but journey across the Atlantic and throughout the United States in defense of women’s rights.
+London, England, 1928
+Virginia Woolf, or one of her fictional personae (“call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please”), sat in the domed reading room of the British Museum, surrounded by books. She had returned from giving a lecture at Cambridge with her head full of questions. “Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor?” Surely the cached wisdom of a great library would provide answers. Surrounded by books, she lifted her pencil and prepared to begin, but no sooner had she written WOMEN AND POVERTY in block letters on a page of her notebook, than the enormity of her task confronted her.[5]
+The more notes she took, the more confused she became. “Professors, schoolmasters, sociologists, clergymen, novelists, essayists, journalists, men who had no qualification save that they were not women, chased my simple and single question—Why are women poor?—until it became fifty questions; until the fifty questions leapt frantically into mid-stream and were carried away.” Pausing in her labors, she began to doodle. Before she knew it, she had drawn a figure she called “Professor von X, engaged in writing his monumental work entitled The Mental, Moral, and Physical Inferiority of the Female Sex.” The Professor was not a man attractive to women. “He was heavily built; he had a great jowl; to balance that he had very small eyes; he was very red in the face.” Where had this phantom come from? Alas, from the morning’s reading. Somewhere in that pile of books was a statement that had aroused a demon. That was hardly surprising. No woman likes to be told she is “naturally the inferior of a little man.” Woolf looked at the unshaven student next to her and “began drawing cart-wheels and circles over the angry professor’s face till he looked like a burning bush or flaming comet—anyhow, an apparition without human semblance or significance. The professor was nothing now but a faggot burning on the top of Hampstead Heath.”[6]
+She returned the books to the center desk, and went to lunch. She had failed in her quest, but she had stumbled on anger—not just her own, but the anger of professors who liked to write about women. Why was it, she asked, that those who ruled the world felt the need to diminish women? Was anger, she wondered, “the familiar, the attendant sprite on power?”[7]
+Little matter. For the moment at least, she had banished the Professor. With money and a room of her own, she would write her own books.[8]
+Three Writers Making History
+In each of these stories, a studious female discovers male disdain for women, and that discovery leads to a new mission. Christine de Pizan’s story appears in the opening pages of her Book of the City of Ladies, a sophisticated allegory that remains, six centuries later, an accessible and provocative collection of female biographies. Elizabeth Cady Stanton told her story in Chapter II of Eighty Years and More, an autobiographical account of her fifty-year fight for women’s suffrage. Virginia Woolf’s vignette appears in A Room of One’s Own, a semifictional essay that began as a pair of lectures given at the women’s colleges at Cambridge University in 1928.
+Christine lived in the age before printing. The books she read (and sometimes helped produce) were handwritten, and so precious that only those with great wealth or access to noble libraries might read them. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born four hundred years later in a rural village in a new American republic. Her father’s library, which contained classics of English literature as well as legal tomes, was a symbol of middle-class respectability in a nation proud of its revolutionary heritage. In contrast, the library where Woolf worked was an imperial behemoth. The British Museum prided itself on gathering under its roof the national literatures as well as the material artifacts of other nations. By 1912 it claimed to have not only the largest library in the world but the only one of any consequence possessing a complete printed catalog of its collections. Woolf was both impressed with and disdainful of its systems. “London,” she wrote, “was like a workshop. . . . The British Museum was another department of the factory.”[9]
+Given such radical differences in setting, the similarity between the three stories is striking. There is no question of influence. Stanton and Woolf may have heard of Christine, but they could not have read her work. The City of Ladies, written in medieval French in 1405, was not accessible in modern French or English until the 1980s. Only specialists consulted the manuscript compendium of Christine’s work that had long been in the British Museum.[10] Nor is there any indication that Woolf read Stanton, or that if she had she would have been pleased. The narrator of A Room of One’s Own dismisses old-fashioned suffragists and their cause, explaining that on the very day Parliament gave the vote to women, she received a legacy from an aunt who had died in India. “Of the two—the vote and the money—the money, I own, seemed infinitely more important.”[11]
+Yet there are intriguing parallels in the lives of the three writers. All had intellectual fathers, domestic mothers. All three were raised in settings that simultaneously encouraged and thwarted their love of learning. All three married men who supported their intellectual ambitions. All three lived through the wrenching deaths of loved ones and terrifying, fratricidal warfare—the Hundred Years War in Christine’s case, the American Civil War in Stanton’s, and World War I for Woolf. All three identified with women yet imagined becoming male. In their work and in their lives, all three writers addressed an enduring puzzle: Are differences between the sexes innate or learned? Using stories about the past to challenge history, they talked back to books.
+Today, other writers talk back to them. Historians from regions Christine knew only through myth now return the European gaze. In the United States, descendants of the slaves Stanton wrote about with amused condescension now teach in leading law schools and preside in courts. In Woolf’s London, books as well as legacies arrive from Bombay. Meanwhile, all three writers have become icons themselves. Images from Christine’s illuminated manuscripts grace websites, datebooks, and calendars. Stanton’s home in Seneca Falls, New York, is now part of a Women’s Rights National Historical Park. Woolf’s face appears on T-shirts and postcards.
+Their canonical status ensures criticism as well as applause. Medievalists debate Christine’s significance, and feminists tangle over the meaning of her books. Is her fame deserved, or an artifact of her sex? Were her ideas revolutionary or conventional? Did she, like many high-achieving women, secure her own reputation by validating traditions she herself surmounted? Students of the women’s rights movement are no more settled about Stanton. Was she a path-breaker or a skilled publicist who exaggerated her own oppression and ignored the contributions of others? Woolf has provoked even more powerful reactions. Was she, like the writers she wrote about, a “madwoman in the attic” and a victim of patriarchy? If so, by what devious path did she become the repressed nightmare in Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Or the inspiration for a supposedly liberated cigarette called “Virginia Slims”? In 1998, her life and death and her novel Mrs. Dalloway inspired Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, which won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and, in the film version, an Academy Award for Nicole Kidman. And yet, despite the affection they display for Woolf, the novel and the film have her drowning herself years before her actual death.
+Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf continue to make history. For those who would understand how and why their stories matter, their books are a place to begin.
+The City of Ladies: Celebrating Exemplary Women
+Christine grew up in a glittering though uncertain world. Born in Italy in 1365, she was three years old when her father, Tommaso di Benvenuto da Pizzano, became a “philosopher, servant, and counselor” to the French monarch Charles V. The king and his three brothers—Louis, Jean, and Philippe—rivaled each other in their commitment to literature and the arts. They commissioned masterworks in stone, stained glass, textiles, and metal, and gathered around them writers, scholars, and poets. Charles’s library at the Louvre eventually contained nine hundred volumes, an extraordinary achievement in a world where the richest man might own no more than fifty books. In an era when books were complex works of art encrusted with gold leaf and precious stones and bound in silk, royal patronage created work for preparers of parchment, paint-makers, goldsmiths, illuminators, scholars, translators, and scribes. Christine became part of this circle.[12]
+Raised in the shadow of the court, she had an unusually fine education, though she later wrote that she didn’t really appreciate it until misfortune forced her to use it. When she was fifteen, she married Etienne du Castel, a twenty-four-year-old scholar of noble birth who soon became the king’s clerk and notary. Of her marriage she later wrote, “We had so arranged our love and our two hearts that we had but one will, closer than brother and sister, whether in joy or in sorrow.” But their happiness was precarious. Soon after her marriage, Christine’s father lost his position, then died. In 1389, her husband too passed away. At age twenty-five, she was left a widow with a mother, two brothers, and three children of her own to support.[13]
+She began by using her skills in penmanship to work as a scribe and copyist. Even after she became a writer herself, she continued to supervise copying. Scholars have identified at least fifty-five manuscripts written in whole or in part in her hand. She was proud of her work, and included in several of her own books an image of herself in her study. One now at the British Museum shows her dressed in a modest blue gown and white headdress, sitting at a cloth-covered table with a tiny dog at her side. Although she appears here as a solitary figure, she did not work alone. In The City of Ladies, for example she praises a female artist named Anastasia, noting that “she has executed several things for me which stand out among the ornamental borders of the great masters.”[14]
+Christine wrote in most of the major genres of her day. She penned the official biography of Charles V, produced love lyrics, history, and allegory, and even completed a manual on military strategy. She fully understood that in becoming a scholar and a writer, she had intruded into the world of men. In 1401, shortly before writing The Book of the City of Ladies, she was drawn into a literary debate over the merits of an allegorical poem called The Romance of the Rose. She deplored its portrayal of women as vain, inconstant, and lewd. In turn, the poem’s defenders dismissed her as incompetent. One begged her, as a “woman of great ingenuity,” not to exceed her talents; “if you have been praised because you have shot a bullet over the towers of Notre Dame, don’t try to hit the moon.”[15]
+NOTES
+[1] Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, ed. Earl Jeffrey Richards (New York: Persea Books, rev. ed., 1998), pp. 3-5.
+[2] Ibid., pp. 6, 12-14.
+[3] Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815-1897 (New York: Schocken Books, 1971, orig. pub. T. Fisher Unwin, 1898), pp. 30-32.
+[4] Ibid., p.32.
+[5] Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt Brave Jovanovich, 1981, orig. 1929), pp. 8, 25, 26.
+[6] Ibid., pp. 28, 31-32.
+[7] Ibid., pp. 32, 33-34.
+[8] Ibid., pp. 37, 39.
+[9] Ibid., p. 26; R. Q. Peddie, The British Museum Reading Room: A Handbook for Students (London: Grafton, 1912), pp. 2,3.
+[10] Richards, Introduction to Pizan, Ladies, p. xlviii.
+[11] Room of One's Own, p. 37. When the British House of Lords passed the women's suffrage bill in 1918, Woolf told her diary, "I don't feel much more important—perhaps slightly less so." The Diary of Virginia Woolf, eds. Anne Olivier Bell and Andrew McNeillie, vol. 1 (London: Hogarth Press, 1977), p. 104, quoted in Hermione Lee, Virginia Woolf (New York: Vintage, 1999), p. 339.
+[12] Charity Cannon Willard, Christine de Pizan: Her Life and Works (New York: Persea Books, 1984), pp. 15-32. For a brief survey, with illustrations of art productions during her lifetime, see "Patronage at the Early Valois Courts, 1328-1469 A.D.," on a Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,. On manuscript production, see Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992), pp. 35-51, and on Paris in particular, Brigitte Buettner, Boccaccio's Des cleres et nobles femmes: Systems of Signification in an Illuminated Manuscript (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1996), pp. 4-24.
+[13] Williard, Christine de Pizan, 39-40; Enid McLeod, The Order of the Rose: The Life and Ideas of Christine de Pizan (London: Chatto & Windus, 1976), pp. 1-33.
+[14] Lesley Smith, "Scriba, Femina: Medieval Depictions of Women Writing," in Lesley Smith and Jane H. M. Taylor, Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence (British Library and University of Toronto Press, 1996), pp. 26-27; Willard, Christine de Pizan, p. 47; Pizan, Ladies, 1.41.4, p. 85.
+[15] Willard, Christine de Pizan, pp. 47, 51, 73, 84.
+From the Hardcover edition.
+Table of Contents
+List of Illustrations xi
+The Slogan xiii
+Three Writers 3
+Amazons 40
+Shakespeare's Daughters 74
+Slaves in the Attic 105
+A Book of Days 143
+Waves 191
+Afterword: Making History 223
+Acknowledgments 231
+Notes 233
+Index 271
+Customer Reviews
+Average Review
+Discussion in 'Kings Rap' started by CelticsFan, Apr 21, 2017.
+I guess we can all now stop this talk about hiring Hinkie, to be honest, I had to google Scott Perry two times, to find out if it is a real person... why two times? Because first-time when I tried to google Scott Perry it showed me some Pennsylvania politician and quite frankly I was confused at first.
+And one interesting thing this guy was part of a 2004 Pistons championship team, as an assistant GM to Joe Dumars.
+But what is the best out of this is that he was working with Sam Presti, who is one of the best general managers in the NBA at drafting, I hope this guy can help us with some home runs in this year's draft.
+I know nothing about Scott Perry, he may be great I just don't know. What I do know is Orlando fired him after being with them for 5 years. Orlando has made some terrible moves while he was there
+Well, Orlando fired their GM, and it's not unusual to clean house at the same time. Perry may have been collateral damage.
+This is indeed a concern. I hope the Kings didn't settle for a compromise solution, who would accept Vlade's final say, only to keep Vlade Divac as de facto GM in place.
+Always difficult to figure out individual contributions of an assistent GM, so basically we don't know if Henningan just ignored Perry's counsel, when he screwed up the Magic, or if Perry played a role in that.
+But being involved with the Magic doesn't make you a bearer of hope for most fanbases.
+Anyways - best of luck Mr. Perry.
+Well NBA twitter seems to be gushing over it, much like they did when we hired Cantanella so I assume that is a good thing.
+Nice to see at least one person with a positive response to the news. Must be because you're new.
+I swear, Kings fans drive me nuts. Every single time something happens they cannot enjoy it or think it might be a good thing. Before people dump all over Perry for being fired by Orlando, let's just remember that Dave Joerger was fired by Memphis.
+Eh, still not with Divac having the final say
+I'm trying to look at the positive all the time.
+I jumped on a bandwagon in the early 2000's and I'm still rolling with my Kings, I might be the only Kings fan in my country, to be honest haha
+Still sometimes when I play pick up basketball I'm rocking with my Chris Webber jersey. Gotta represent the Kings am I right?
+Sam AmickVerified account@sam_amick 37m37 minutes ago
+Kings' chain-of-command, I'm told, now 1) Vlade, 2) Perry, 3) Asst. GM Ken Catanella. Scott's a really good pickup. Strong NBA relationships
+Kevin FippinVerified account@kfippin 1h1 hour ago
+Really great article about Scott Perry and his father’s legacy from @MarcJSpearsESPN @TheUndefeated -
+I honestly think Scott Perry is an incredible hire. The more I read about him, the more there is to respect.
+well at least there is structure here.
+Trading skills aside, im fine with Vlade being the head dog as long as that is the plan moving forward. I really dont want to see a new GM and FO in the short/medium term.
+Assuming Ken had a bit to do with this because Perry has Detroit experience under his belt.
+From Yahoo:
+"Perry will report to president and general manager Vlade Divac and work in the front office with assistant general manager Ken Catanella, league sources said"
+Regarding the Magic and the doomsayers: According to Magic fans the current debacle that is the Orlando Magic was orchestrated by the combination of two people. Rod Hennigan and Alex Martins, Chief Executive Officer. Not Perry.
+Sam Amick tweeted the chain o command is now Vlade > Perry > Ken. I guess with a Vivek fog encompassing all life.
+Of course it's too early to pass judgement but I think this is a good move. Perry will handle the day to day machinations. This should alleviate our weakness with dealing with other teams if nothing else.
+Solid experienced hire. Should help Vlade with the basics of contracts, et cetra...check.
+Clear pecking order is established, which should keep our FO from descending into the chaotic mess that was the PDA era...check.
+.... lil goblin owner chomping at the bit to take over the decision making process whenever he's struck by an insane whim..... check.
+All our "good" moves are kinda moot with Vivek lurking in the shadows. But we'll see how this goes.
+Howard BeckVerified account@HowardBeck 28m28 minutes ago
+Great hire by the Kings. pic.twitter.com/u5ll95XMYv
+Um, Vivek approved all these recent hires. I think it's abundantly clear that he is doing what he said - he's letting Vlade steer the ship.
+This is really the set up I wanted all along.
+I am happy Vlade has the final say in player personnel. He has been a good talent evaluator.
+This is similar to the set up of Larry Bird in Indiana, Bird has final say on everything, but he lets his GM do the leg work on trades and negotiations.
+What Vlade needed help with was his negotiations on trades and deals. I think Perry will help a lot in that area and Perry is well connected in the NBA.
+I think this will give the Kings a very professional and cohesive front office, since they were all hired by Vlade, including the coach, they should share the same vision for the Kings.
+Marc J. SpearsVerified account@MarcJSpearsESPN
+There is a lot of work ahead for the struggling Kings, but the days of dysfunction should be over now with Scott Perry in their front-office
+Seems like a solid hire. Orlando has been pretty bad the past 5 years, but they've been able to bring some talent in. The guy has a lot of experience, so hopefully it works out in the end.
+edit: Perry wanted to trade for Cousins in Orlando, but GM Rob Hennigan didn't want to..
+that type of moves scares the poopoo out of me. Why would Orlando want a 1 year rental of Cousins? They tried the same with Serge Ibaka, and Ibaka was set to leave in FA.
+As long as he knows how to make moves. Vlade will keep him out of trouble. We are building a fortress.
+Scott Perry is a very good hire, period.
+I cant get Luke Perry and Scott Walker out of my head.
+Honestly - what do you expect us to say? I assume your comment about constant negativity was caused by my posting. All I did is mention the Orlando ties. I even pointed out, that we don't know how Perry was involved in the decisions that led to Orlando's current situation. Now Suicide King gave us a little more insight on that matter. So for all it's worth, Perry might not been involved in the messy rebuild attempts and his dismissal might have been collateral damage.
+Joerger was fired by Memphis after 3 years of constant playoff appearances and after a 42-40 record at the end of a season with massive injuries to his core players. He wasn't fired, because he had no success. He was fired, because there was friction between him and the FO. Even if Perry wasn't directly involved in the decisions that led to Orlandos current roster, his dismissal is not comparable to Joergers.
+I really like this hire too. Orlando hasn't been able to get all their pieces to fit, but it's encouraging to me that they've targeted a lot of defensive personnel the past 5 years while he was there. Getting Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton in the draft, trading for Serge Ibaka and Moe Harkless, signing Dewayne Dedmon and Bismack Biyombo. And of course that Pistons team that won the Finals had easily the best single-season defensive performance in the modern era. I have no way of knowing what his role was in all of that, but it's clear that he has experience and he's been around NBA executives who value defense highly. I'm going to take that as a good sign for our future. The DeMarcus era is over, for better or worse. Time to forge a new identity and I like these last two front office hires. I'll take any significant changes as an excuse to be optimistic at this point.
+Actually even if he was hired to supplant Vlade and have final say it would probably go down like this so as to not upset yet another coach/GM imbalance. I will assume the days of offering Cousins for Vucevic/Fournier are over for good
+No idea who this guy is. I just hope he can find some gems in the draft and help Vlade from doing anymore trades on his own.
+Read the articles links to in this thread. Do some homework. This is a good hire by the Kings, and the first time in forever I'm seeing universal thumbs up on Twitter at all levels of sports commentary.
+What do I expect you to say? Well, since you asked...
+"Hey, look like the Kings may have gotten something right for a change. This guy certainly has the credentials. I've got some concerns, but on face value this looks encouraging."
+You admit you don't know if Perry was involved in "messy rebuilt attempts" but jump immediately to the most negative conclusion. I just find that off-putting. You'll continue to post your views, though, and I'll continue to post mine. The truth is probably somewhere in between. We can't help ourselves. We're Kings fans.
+Don't feel too badly.When news about Bornn broke, I mistakenly called him "Jason Bornn"...
+They will upload the full interview with Scott tomorrow.
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+Koh Phangan or Thailand - but TRUE.
+Good Morning! Here’s Lola again!
+Today I woke up in my bungalow in Thailand and I had to smile! Because our vacations in Thailand are some kind of really true Thailand vacations ... so not the half ... stuff please, aren’t they?
+And now I'm sitting on my porch- Fancy Nancy, the house cat here, is keeping me company.
+Behind me…. A "click".... That’s my fathers camera.
+Yes. I got carried away to complete my Australia adventure with Thailand - is almost on the way. Yes, why not - and my father decided to join me.
+And now, he’s there too. We’ll have another two weeks together…. And - YESSS - we’ll see…..
+And there it comes again .... The "click" that strikes like a little electric teaser, again and again …..unexpectedly in the most beautiful moments. For example, when you're bouncing or is biting into tasty food, standing at the ticket counter, lying on the sunbed, getting yourself massaged,....EVERYTIME… EVERYWHERE.
+Yes, I’m not travelling alone anymore - although I really only do like that ... and if - sometimes - I decide to spend some days together with anyone else this will be a great exception because I just like traveling by myself… Always, everywhere….Doesn’t matter…. Daddy wants to be taken out - so we will do it - he just wants to relax…..
+Yes, I'm fine with that, I'll anyway do whatever I want to do ....
+D: Lola, are you hungry?
+L: No, why you’re asking?
+D: I thought you might be hungry.
+L: Are you trying to tell me that you're hungry?
+D: No no, I just wanted to ask you if you would like to have breakfast ... you may be hungry?
+L: Let's have breakfast.
+And in the end we ordered 2 portions - I -unnoticed by my dad - threw my portion on his plate and he was devouring it in seconds. No!He really didn’t feel HUNGRY!
+A little later after a small but very fine hike .... LUNCHTIME...
+D: Are you hungry Lola?
+L: No- are you hungry again?
+D: No- I just wanted to ask if…..
+L: Good. I'm hungry let's order....
+D: Yes, if you are hungry!
+And quite unnoticed by him again…… I ordered some meal for my dear daddy - who did not realize that I wasn’t eating anything - while gorging his SPRING ROLLS...
+We were coming back .... The evening has already approached....
+D: Lola, but now, you’re already going to eat something!
+L: I’m sorry, I don’t feel very well and I don’t feel hungry too. I think that for today I’ll have to pause...
+D: You should have to eat something.
+L: My goodness, you’re hungry again, let's go out for dinner…..
+And in the next morning at 5 o'clock ... I wake up with a grin - because everything else would have been almost unneeded... with a roll out of the bed… head over the bowl ...
+and let the games begin ...
+Ohhh, that pulled out all the stops… WOW! It’s really very impressive… the body spraying from all directions. RESPECT!
+And I sat, layed, crouched and knew .... IT WILL PASS BY ... IT WILL BE OVER ... and my body was diligently working to empty….. And out of sheer shame towards my body I was waiting - completely silent - letting it do a really great job…. REALLY!
+And suddenly I felt HOT .... Oh no …. How stupid…. I thought to myself…. The circulation tilts!
+Keep calm….Everything went black .... Keep calm…. WHAT SHALL I DO?
+TAKE A SHOWER! Yes exactly! The shower - when I moved in here, I felt some kind of .... I thought to myself ... Ok ... shower above the toilet .... This is minimalist…… but I am able to handle everything.... Matches!
+But. this moment I knew- it had been the BEST BATH / KLO for this Thailand event ...
+and I just turned on the shower ...
+COLD water was pattering over my thai-food-spitting body, my temperature fell off... and I had to LAUGH WHILE I WAS THINKING ABOUT ALL THE GOOD THINGS
+I had been eating the night before…....
+HUCH!
+And when I was done - so my body had finished - I went on with a refreshing shower and everything was fine again!
+THAILAND SPOT-ON hey .... Check!
+My dad… he did not look as relaxed as me. And s… we get to the point.
+When I was waking up after my "PUKING" ... I already heard the footsteps that always were cycling around my bungalow when I tried to barricade myself into it ... YES …. PAPA ALWAYS is listening….
+All right.... Someone is waiting there ... YES.
+My father seemed to have the same fun during last night commensurate to me.
+But I was thinking about something completely different. My dad was very grumpy and upset about this "unnecessary" shit …and the fact that we couldn’t join the excursion planned….and that it had been the absolutely wrong decision eating there….and this and that and what we should have done instead….and about this kind of disaster!!!......and take this and take that… and you need to do like …… WHAT THE HELL!!!... and I should not have persuaded you to have lunch yesterday….and so on and so on….
+I was listening patiently to his “DAMN EVERYTHING IS SHIT”-lecture while watching him:
+trying to disentangle homeopathic remedies which would scare away my nonexistent remnants of my nausea…..
+losing a part of his pendulum (pushing him to the limit..) and ……
+Starting to search the missing part in the sand.
+I was standing on my porch, trying to make him realize that he should calm down, that nothing dangerous had happened, that everything was alright…
+But he did NOT LISTEN.
+Trembling and completely beside the track, he was scanning the sand while calling lots of homeopathic remedies . ....
+This is like a switch is falling - something does not work - then you’ll have to do it with more energy - it still does not work - give it even more energy.
+Ok ... what are you doing now? Lola will you please give him a helping hand?!!!
+OK. Increasing my voice-decibel to at least 300 percent, I take the opportunity to wake up the whole bungalow complex for helping my father to exit his “PROGRAM”- and therefore I have to clap my hands, to yell at him for getting him back for the moment to recognize me at all.
+In such moments he's gone away. And I know - he does not realize that.
+“Will you please forget this shit-tensor-thing in the sand? You SHOULD NOT search for it right now! Don’t you really understand that? Go ahead quickly - you're far fitter than me in the moment - and please, will you please cancel the booked tour? - I promise: later you'll find the missing part. "
+And then I tried another sound…. as if I wanted to scare away a strange cat: Gschuh Gschuh ... and then he finally went away putting my words into practise …and coming back…..immediately finding the fucking lost part... WHAT A MIRACLE!
+I often tried to talk to him.
+Don’t get me wrong… Dr. Doubt is sitting on my left shoulder… asking me if I should really blog such a thought at all?... But you already know me... Mister “Anyway, Just do It” is sitting on the right one… Something is telling me that I should do it now. 😉
+So dad: don’t take me wrong BUT.... And even if it feels like not being ment nice - it's fully pumped of sweetness. Honestly - otherwise I would not care - but I do!!!!
+It’s so sad that you are doing this program again and again, although you feel that it’s getting you worse and worst….And you are already thinking that you have to behave like that, you ought to go through ????!!!!! “ HÄ??????????”
+NO! YOU SHOULD GO OUT THERE!
+Not through it! BUT OUT OF IT! Because ... listen ...remembering the situation with the tensor-thing in the sand… at that moment when you were stopping to look for it…. Then you found it!!! It didn’t want to be found earlier because it wanted to tell you…. LET IT BE!!! And just that IS the moment when thing are becoming clear and clearer….and will be dissolved. And even so it had been!
+Exactly one year ago ... my car did not want to start.
+It’s okay, I thought. It doesn’t matter I need not using it at the moment.. And if I should need a car in future… I’ll take another one…. I’ll surely find another one.
+Snowstorm ice-cold. And - DADDY - what did you do????
+You could not accept that - though- hey it's even NOT your car and you did not even need to go anywhere with it too ....
+You really were revolving the care for an solid hour - I watched it - donned like an Eskimo...
+Nevertheless, the vehicle even didn’t start. I remember ... I was standing in the door in front of my radiant heater ... watching the spectacle again and again, thinking to myself ... wow ... interesting. Very interesting! But…. enjoy…….
+But I do not think that this is "FUN"
+You have already learned - and I KNOW this remembering my childhood -
+That EVERYTHING you are doing has to be HARD- otherwise it's no good - otherwise it's not WORK and then it's not worth anything!
+Only HARD HEAVY WORK is real work - everything else is for weaklings, losers, parasites and lazy people!
+Only sweaty and exhausting things make sense!
+Only the negative has grip and negative must be treated - with sweat to success and leaves hard work for yourself!
+Work is anything but funny anyway, and at the end of the day you have to bag yourself at the dinner table, ready, sweat-drenched and sucked dry from all the work.
+and only then ... can you be proud of having done something!
+ONLY THEN you have something good and advanced!
+ONLY THEN one is someone - only then ... one is not lazy and useless!
+Yes ... and you believed that, because it used to be ...
+that you were praised then ... and ONLY
+and they cheered you on how diligent and strong you are!
+And how persistent and persevering and that you understand what work means
+and that nothing comes from nothing and that one works and works only to survive
+but at least you survive! And you were proud of that.
+Because that was so in your environment.
+That it was always just a program that you just took over without it to check .... Have you never questioned-
+because you thought - THE ... who taught you this program just fine with you and you know it one hundred percent!
+Jaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!! They knew to HUNDERT PERCENT that they
+NOTHING KNOWN!
+But you! You've gotten the frying pan over the lid so many times - and again you're standing there as if you're trying to catch gagged ticks with your mouth to get one back on the lid!
+You do not cut in vain with the circular saw in the neck!
+You do not just get rhythm disorders like that!
+You can not breathe suddenly! You do not just shake SO!
+How calm can you be ...
+YOU CAN DO IT! How big and free and peaceful can you be!
+How easy is that! You go! How easy everything is - do you lean back?
+Then every ticktack is a hit! You do not have to catch ticks with your mouth while you're digging a forest while digging a hole and dragging rocks from a to b!
+You should relax and let go, if something does not want to - because then it should not work to show you - leave out! Let it out! Let me go! Do not touch me!!!!!
+Stop it!
+You know ... it's really me ...
+not indifferent - but it is YOUR CHOICE.
+You HAVE another one.
+You know it but forget it every second.
+Use your unique power that you have a memory greater than that of a fly - that's a good thing and just keep remembering ... someday it goes by itself and the best thing about it - it costs nothing and does not hurt
+Better: it dispels all ailments and makes you walk longer on earth-
+It is a win win situation.
+Take her. Take her…. To you.
+And otherwise everything is fine.
+And Thailand is great and I found the food really cool.
+And if you can laugh it is awesome anyway!
+So! Should you have the puke-ear- denkt to me! I am fully with you! Hahaha hahaha !!!!
+LOVE everything and see you soon! Let's drop everything that is not easy on your hands! That's the best recipe!
+For example, I even let the hairbrush fall the moment I have a felts that does not open up - well then not! Also fits! Is nice too! And at some point I see the brush lying on the floor and keep going ... most of the time it has even disappeared the "bad felts" haha!
+But now ... baba and see you soon in AUSTRIA!
+YOUR LOLA 😊
+LIVE OUR LIFE AWESOME! AWA VUIGAS!
+Kommentar schreiben
+5 Things to Know About Industrial Blowers
+Dwelling Enterprise Journal On-line
+Industrial blowers are machines used to produce robust airflow to varied factors in buildings. These electrical followers have large and highly effective wheels and blades, which drive air from one level to a different. Often, these units are permanently-built options in buildings. They improve the airflow in workspaces. As well as, they take away air impurities like dust, mud, and different particles.
+Due to their skills to manage the airflow in areas, industrial blowers are extensively utilized in numerous industries that require enough air flow. Some examples of industries that use air blowers embody agriculture, chemistry and prescribed drugs, mechanical and automotive, oil and fuel, development and mining, and meals processing.
+To be taught extra about industrial blowers and their makes use of in numerous industries, right here is a few data to enlighten you:
+1. Varieties of Industrial Blowers
+Companies make the most of industrial blowers due to their energy, flexibility, and sturdiness. They are perfect for massive-scale manufacturing, as a result of they optimize effectivity in numerous work processes. Listed here are a few of the sorts:
+Constructive Displacement Blowers
+Positive displacement blowers have two counter-rotating propellers, they usually launch air by security valves. This permits the machines to maintain the capability and power of airflow.
+Helical Screw Industrial Blowers
+Cement, meals, and pharmaceutical industries usually use helical screw industrial blowers. They’re extremely most popular, as a result of they supply most airflow whereas permitting noise-free operations.
+Regenerative Blowers
+These blowers produce excessive compressed airflow; nevertheless, they use low strain. They usually resonate in manufacturing, textile, and meals processing crops.
+Centrifugal Industrial Blowers
+These are generally present in ventilating methods, as a result of they management air motion whereas blocking pollution.
+Excessive-Pace Industrial Blowers
+These sorts of blowers function by creating fast and strong airflow. They’re generally utilized in water remedy services. Furthermore, they’re utilized in totally different large-scale operations in oil, fuel, chemical substances, and marine.
+Aside from these, a number of different kinds of industrial blowers are used for numerous functions. Many of those blowers are high-powered, though they normally have provisions that enable adjustments in settings to match the necessities per utilization.
+2. Elements and Performance
+Air blowers are made of various components that assist obtain and keep airflow. Listed here are a few of them:
+- Motor;
+- Fan blades;
+- Impeller;
+- Mount; and
+- Bearings.
+Industrial blowers require sturdiness and endurance to carry out in large-scale productions. These machines want to supply fixed airflow of various strengths and strain to succeed in as much as 2,000,000 cubic ft per minute. Due to the demand for high-powered utilization, they have to be comprised of premium high quality supplies to make sure lengthy lifespans and uncompromised functionalities.
+There are a number of components to think about earlier than figuring out the kind of blower you want on your operations. As an example, it’s essential to establish what number of cubic ft of airflow you want per minute. As well as, it’s essential to decide how a lot strain your operations requires.
+3. Advantages
+Massive-scale operations require protected and comfy work environments that shield employees’ well being, the merchandise, and the tools. Due to this, they want high-powered air blowers that eradicate smoke, scents, and pollution. They’re additionally priceless for decreasing warmth and humidity in numerous work settings.
+Except for these, there are different advantages to having industrial blowers. Listed here are a few of them:
+Adaptability
+Whereas blowers come in several kinds or designs, most operate in lots of types of air motion operations. As well as, due to their utilization in numerous levels of manufacturing processes, they’re worthy investments.
+Air flow
+Air blowers present enough air flow in a office. Air flow is important, particularly in big manufacturing plants, to permit air to flow into and regulate temperature ranges.
+Air High quality Safety
+Industrial blowers can shield employees in opposition to respiratory ailments by regulating humidity throughout manufacturing. They permit areas to remain cool and comfy, eradicate air pollution, and create clear environments. As well as, eradicating contaminants can stop well being points.
+Humidity Management
+Dampness in a room results in foul smells and unhealthy odors. The character of business blowers is to take care of fixed airflow. This prevents the buildup of disagreeable odors that result in non-hygienic circumstances.
+Mud Assortment
+Some industrial blowers have built-in receptacles or mud assortment units to assist clear up particles extra simply. It’s best for producers dealing with merchandise that want further safety from contaminants corresponding to meals and prescribed drugs. By means of an environment friendly and efficient mud assortment system, it’s simpler to take care of air high quality and eradicate pollution.
+Air blowers’ designs are for financial energy utilization whereas performing at large-scale ranges. That is useful, particularly for corporations seeking to optimize vitality effectivity of their day-to-day operations.
+4. Makes use of
+Industrial blowers are in numerous methods in manufacturing processes relying on the industries. Whereas many of those methods and strategies make the most of the air motion means of the blowers, there are additionally different methods to optimize their heavy-duty capacities. Listed here are a few of them:
+Air Dealing with
+Industrial blowers present a constant circulate of air by the constructing’s ductwork. They enhance air flow and regulate the temperature indoors.
+Mud Loading
+Mud loading industrial blowers collect particles and particles to take care of air high quality. These blowers use methods that accumulate and get rid of mud and particles whereas shifting air as wanted. Generally, every of those blowers features a specialised filtration and assortment system with built-in hoods, filters, and ductwork.
+Mud assortment is an important a part of some manufacturing operations in numerous industries as required by legislation. These laws shield employees from contaminants in workplaces which may be hazardous to well being.
+Fume Extraction
+Generally, manufacturing services produce hazardous by-products, corresponding to smoke, chemical waste, and fumes throughout their manufacturing processes. These substances contaminate the air, uncooked supplies, and merchandise. Some are additionally flamable, making them security hazards to any work surroundings.
+To clear the air of those pollution, workspaces want industrial blowers that safely launch poisonous air and particles outdoor. As an added precaution, these work areas that deal with flamable substances should use fireproof air blowers to forestall untoward incidents.
+Materials Dealing with
+Industries corresponding to agriculture, meals processing, and pharmaceutical use pneumatic strain methods to maneuver giant portions of granular supplies to totally different levels of manufacturing. These methods enhance effectivity within the work processes by quicker motion of supplies from one level to the following. In addition they enable full mechanical handling of materials that reduces the danger of contamination.
+Due to the portions of supplies to maneuver, the development of blowers meant for materials dealing with requires factory-grade sturdy supplies. This makes them able to sustaining performance even with fixed heavy utilization.
+Shifting Saturated Air
+Manufacturing crops that contain water use could should eradicate extra moisture within the air indoors to guard merchandise and tools. Saturated air accommodates moisture or gases that trigger corrosion and rust to metallic tools. As this will derail manufacturing and threaten work security, industrial blowers have to take away saturated air. Whereas not all air blowers deal with extra moisture, some corporations decide to customise their equipment to make sure performance and stop breakdowns.
+Cooling
+Factories and different large-scale manufacturing operations generally use a number of heavy-duty items of equipment that work concurrently for lengthy hours. Due to this, the temperatures within the workspaces grow to be too uncomfortable for workers. In excessive instances, unregulated temperatures pose well being dangers and unsafe working circumstances.
+To control temperatures, corporations strategically set up a number of air blowers across the work space the place they successfully counter the warmth of the working machines. These cooling blowers normally have bigger diameters than common ones, permitting them to maneuver sufficient cool air at low, regular pressures.
+Drying and Dusting
+Air blowers additionally dry newly painted surfaces and take away any particles. They’re useful in cleansing and drying materials, plastic objects, wooden merchandise, cans, and bottles.
+5. Industries That Use Industrial Blowers
+Massive-scale productions normally cope with robust odors and fumes that probably compromise the breathability of the air in workspaces. Except for this, poor air flow negatively impacts the standard of their merchandise. These components boosted the demand for industrial blowers, as they’re important in creating protected working circumstances and clear manufacturing environments.
+Varied industries require heavy-duty air flow methods for various functions. Listed here are a few of them:
+- Wastewater Remedy – Air blowers are mandatory for tank aeration.
+- Meals Trade – Air blowers dry and take away residue on meals and packaging objects.
+- Mining – Industrial blowers promote air flow in underground workspaces.
+- Cement Manufacturing – Air blowers transport particles for mixing and packaging.
+- Oil Refining – Refineries use blowers to help in combustion processes important to purifying fuels.
+Except for these examples, there are different kinds of manufacturing corporations that make the most of air blowers in some ways due to their flexibility and energy.
+Closing Feedback on Industrial Blowers
+Industrial blowers are units that improve the airflow in workspaces. They’re important to manufacturing and manufacturing processes, as a result of they supply enough airflow and strain primarily based on technical necessities. The correct quantity of airflow protects the security and luxury of labor environments. Furthermore, air blowers pace up particular cleansing, mixing, and packaging processes.
+Having high quality air blowers working optimum capability boosts the effectivity of labor processes. As well as, it reduces upkeep prices and ensures air high quality in workspaces. In consequence, it’s important to pick out the suitable tools that match the necessities of your small business. Preserve this text useful as a reference about data relating to industrial blowers.
+The publish 5 Things to Know About Industrial Blowers appeared first on Home Business Magazine.
+Christian school embraces design thinking to help form creative, empathetic citizens
+Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta calls itself a "maker community." Students from preschool to high school learn by solving problems and building prototypes. Photos courtesy of Mount Vernon Presbyterian School
+Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta wasn't satisfied with only changing its physical space and teaching methods. School leaders also created a nonprofit institute to encourage other educators to adopt the model.
+It’s obvious, walking through Mount Vernon Presbyterian, that this is not a traditional school.
+In an area called the Hive, girls in plaid skirts and boys in coats and ties sit at small round tables, laptops open, fingers tapping away, while a quiet buzz fills the room. It’s reminiscent of a crowded, well-lit Starbucks, albeit without the coffee.
+On the wall of a corridor, a giant whiteboard is covered with students’ handwriting. A few steps further, three lab spaces offer students state-of-the-art equipment such as 3-D printers, laser cutters and woodworking tools.
+How does your physical space – building, furniture, art -- reflect the mindsets you want your community to develop?
+In this “maker community,” students from preschool to high school bring their questions and ideas and turn them into reality, building prototype solutions for real-world challenges.
+The school’s model is based on “design thinking,” an approach in which people follow a creative process that begins with a goal they want to reach rather than a problem they want to solve. This approach is often applied to complex problems that don’t lend themselves to linear thinking.
+Since embracing design thinking in 2010, this small, private Christian school in the Atlanta suburbs has transformed itself, becoming a model for innovation in education.
+In 2014, Mount Vernon was named a Changemaker School by Ashoka, an international nonprofit that fosters social entrepreneurship and social change.
+“Design thinking gives teaching and learning purpose,” said Shelley Clifford, Mount Vernon’s head of lower school. “Learning math to learn math is a good thing, and quite frankly, it is hard enough as an isolated skill. But learning math so that someone can calculate the temperature a premature baby needs to maintain to live increases engagement, interest and passion.
+“We believe learners need to apply their knowledge to make an impact, and design thinking is our vessel to do that.”
+Empathy and design thinking
+In addition to providing students with problem-solving skills and the opportunity to create and test solutions, the school seeks to foster empathy. The designer -- or student -- makes a connection with the user to better understand and meet the user’s need.
+“Empathy is the linchpin for design thinking,” said Brett Jacobsen, Mount Vernon’s head of school. “We know students will use their minds. We want them to use their hands so their thinking becomes visible.
+What is your institution’s animating purpose? How does it shape the services you offer?
+“We also want them to use their hearts, because you get to the deepest level of learning when you are impacting other people.”
+Ten-year-old Elliott McGoldrick, a fifth-grader at Mount Vernon, said this is what she enjoys most.
+“I like to help other people,” McGoldrick said. “What do they need? How can I help them? You know how your mind works and what you need, but with design thinking, you are looking at what other people need. Plus, it’s fun! Everyone gets to participate and collaborate, and sometimes it doesn’t even feel like work.”
+Fostering empathy is also a key goal of Ashoka, the social entrepreneurship nonprofit, and was one of the factors that helped Mount Vernon become one of 60 U.S. schools designated in 2014 as Ashoka Changemaker Schools. Mount Vernon was selected because of its culture of empathy and student change making, its emphasis on youth leadership and its eagerness to challenge conventions in education.
+The goal of Mount Vernon and other Changemaker Schools is not just to teach skills but to help children become better citizens of the world.
+“Together, these schools showcase the importance of empathy -- a skill which former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls ‘the new literacy’ -- and its connection to effective teamwork, problem solving and leadership,” said Tim Scheu, the director of engagement management at Ashoka Changemakers and a member of Ashoka’s U.S. Empathy Team.
+Changemaker Schools are “the leading edge of a movement to modernize our education system and broaden curricula from the current more narrow focus on ‘academic skills,’” he said.
+Applying design thinking to real-world problems
+When a third-grade Mount Vernon class visited the local public library near the school’s campus, students noticed a “no bathing” sign in a library restroom.
+Confused, the students asked their teacher what it meant. But instead of simply answering the question, the teacher expanded their inquiry into a design thinking challenge.
+Students followed up by conducting interviews at the local police department, as well as two local nonprofit organizations focused on helping the homeless. The findings surprised them -- and informed the solutions they came up with.
+How do you try to connect with “users” to try to understand and meet their needs?
+A key finding was that 94 percent of the homeless population didn’t feel “homeless,” because their sense of “home” was not lost. Though they no longer lived in houses (some lived in cars or hotels), they did not feel alone -- they still had their families. This prompted the students to change the name of their project from the “homeless” project to the “houseless” project.
+One solution the students developed was a food truck-style prototype to address basic hygiene, dental and health care needs. The cardboard models featured ideas like setting up providers such as dentists or barbers in trucks, which would allow them to take their services to the target population.
+Based on the students’ research, the school also opened its fellowship hall during the two-week break at Christmas, allowing people without houses to stay in the warm and inviting space.
+Partnering with Family Promise, a nonprofit organization that helps low-income families move toward rehousing, students worked hard to design a space that felt more like a hotel than a homeless shelter, creating partitions for each “room,” along with handmade cutouts of fireplaces and Christmas trees.
+Even their parents got involved in the project. A small group fanned out in the local community to build relationships with the homeless people they encountered, sharing coupons and blankets and connecting people with service and job opportunities.
+“Design thinking focuses on the human-centered piece. Without the empathy piece, we have simply opened the fellowship hall so there is a roof and walls,” Mount Vernon lower school head Clifford said. “However, students identified that human needs, especially during the holidays, extend beyond walls. They designed spaces that exuded warmth, love and hope. The more our students learned about how people became homeless and what their needs were, the more customized the ‘rooms’ became.”
+But design thinking isn’t for every situation, said Mount Vernon creative director Trey Boden.
+For example, if you wanted to know the average travel times and routes of people’s commutes in your city, he said, you would most likely not use design thinking. But if you wanted to inspire people to use alternative forms of transportation, that would entail a much more complex and ambitious process.
+“Why would someone make [a particular] choice?” Boden said. “What motivation would they have? What obstacles and challenges are in front of the commuter? How could the city provide incentives for working at home, eliminating the need for travel? These are the questions that people-centered design can answer, but [the approach] creates complexity.”
+It’s in the complexity, he said, that design thinking as a teaching method challenges a traditional approach.
+“Using design thinking can, and most likely will, insert ambiguity and interdisciplinarity into curriculum,” Boden said. “But if we are going to prepare students to be globally competitive and engaged citizen leaders, we need to expose them to learning environments that reflect the world they are boarding into. Design thinking is one of many ways to do that.”
+Change makers and Christian values
+Mount Vernon head of school Jacobsen likes to say that Jesus is the “greatest design thinker of all time,” and Boden offers as an illustration the story in Matthew 8 of Jesus healing a man with leprosy.
+“A man comes to Jesus asking not to be healed from his disease but rather to be made clean,” Boden said. “It’s easy to overlook the powerful statement of the leper. Our modern eyes see a man who has a chronic illness looking to be healed. Who wouldn’t want that? However, what he is really asking for is more than just to be healed. Rather, he wants to be re-integrated into his community.”
+Many times in the Gospels, Boden said, “we see Jesus going beyond the surface and meeting the deeper human need. In these moments, we move from surface, quick-fix solutions to restorative, transformational solutions that not only heal the [people] but also change the very fabric of the communities they find themselves in.”
+As you try to reach a goal, do you allow the questions to become more complex before resolving them? Are your questions big enough? In other words, as in Matthew 8, are you curing a disease or creating community?
+This reinforces the Christian values that are part of Mount Vernon’s mission, Jacobsen said. The school’s mission statement stresses “inquiry, innovation and impact,” which are grounded in the Christian values of understanding and relating to others, having love for others, and making an impact for others, he said.
+And Mount Vernon’s goal is to provide the tools and opportunities to make an impact in the world now, shifting the end goal of education from “What grade did I get?” to “What can I give?” or “How can I serve?”
+The focus on empathy and meeting the greater human need is a welcome learning approach for parent Stephanie McGoldrick.
+“Today, more than ever, the world needs love and compassion,” said McGoldrick, who has second- and fifth-grade students at the school. “Can’t we just listen to each other and take a moment to walk in each other’s shoes and understand how it is to be in that situation?
+“This leads to more passion about finding a solution and, in the end, helps students to be more compassionate and empathetic and possibly find a passion to follow in life. It also encourages the idea of serving and helping others, just as leading a Christian life does.”
+Model for innovation
+Jacobsen introduced design thinking at Mount Vernon in 2010 after attending the National Association of Independent Schools conference in San Francisco.
+In a session led by George Kembel of Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and Kim Saxe of The Nueva School, he was inspired to make Mount Vernon the first preschool-12 institution in the Southeast to implement comprehensive design thinking systemically, throughout every class level and grade.
+But in addition to changing the model in the school, he wanted Mount Vernon to push beyond its walls with the establishment of the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation.
+Set up as its own nonprofit, the institute now provides leadership in transformational learning and school redesign. Its core work is to help generate and then amplify the thought and action leadership at the school, hosting learning events, designing innovative educational programs, and consulting with schools and organizations working for their own transformation and innovation.
+What are you learning in your context that could help leaders elsewhere?
+The institute serves as a research and development lab for Mount Vernon and beyond, similar to that of a teaching or research hospital, said Bo Adams, the institute’s executive director.
+“We all function as practitioner-researchers, who provide great learning situations for our own students while also conducting action research to help ourselves and others implement the best practices and research that we know to be great for learners,” Adams said.
+At the institute’s annual Fuse conference, educators have an opportunity to work with Atlanta nonprofits on real-world design thinking challenges and are introduced to the DEEP (Discover, Empathize, Experiment and Produce) method, a design thinking process developed by Mount Vernon and the institute.
+At the end of the conference, a session called “Bring This Home?” helps participants figure out how to integrate the approach into their classrooms, meetings and teams. John Z Nittolo, superintendent of Green Hills School in Greendell, New Jersey, said his school made changes as soon as his team returned from the conference.
+“The Fuse conference was the most eye-opening experience I've ever had concerning professional development,” Nittolo said. “Working with the nonprofit groups, such as Love Beyond Walls, displayed the impact that design thinking can have in real-world applications.”
+The immediate goal of the Fuse conference is to help educators develop a better understanding of design thinking -- equipped with the experience of having made an impact on a local community and empowered to continue such work in their own institutions and communities.
+The ultimate goal? To design a better world.
+Questions to consider
+- How does your physical space – your building, your furniture, your art -- reflect the mindsets you want your community to develop?
+- Design thinking is the animating purpose of Mount Vernon. What is your institution’s animating purpose? How does it shape the services you offer?
+- Mount Vernon says empathy is the linchpin of design thinking. How do you try to connect with “users” to try to understand and meet their needs? Does this process of connection encourage you to examine your preconceptions, assumptions or biases? How might empathy help you not just solve a problem but get to the heart of it?
+- Design thinking can insert ambiguity and interdisciplinarity into a challenge. As you try to reach a goal, do you allow the questions to become more complex before resolving them? Are your questions big enough? In other words, as in Matthew 8, are you curing a disease or creating community?
+- What are you learning in your context that could help leaders elsewhere? How do you share what you are learning and extend the reach of your work? What peer networks would help you learn from others?
+2011-2020
+Resource Information
+The concept 2011-2020 represents the subject, aboutness, idea or notion of resources found in Calgary Public Library.
+The Resource
+2011-2020
+Resource Information
+The concept 2011-2020 represents the subject, aboutness, idea or notion of resources found in Calgary Public Library.
+- Label
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+100+ Items that share the Concept 2011-2020
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+- From A Room, Volume 2
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+- Lost at last, Vol. 1
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+- Love is a long road
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+- Love, Simon : original motion picture soundtrack
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+- Selfish machines
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+- Signs
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+- Sinatra on guitar
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+- Swooner
+- THREE
+- Tail of lions
+- Take me to the alley
+- Take whatever you want
+- Tattooed heart
+- Tearing at the seams
+-
+Patent application title: METHOD FOR SEALING A STRUCTURAL JOINT, AND SEALING ELEMENT
+Inventors:
+Dennis Andexer (Schwandorf, DE)
+Markus Komma (Regenstauf, DE)
+Helmar Nauck (Berlin, DE)
+Juergen Hess (Neunburg V. W., DE)
+Assignees:
+TREMCO ILLBRUCK PRODUKTION GMBH
+IPC8 Class: AF16J1502FI
+USPC Class:
+277312
+Class name: Seal for a joint or juncture process of static sealing
+Publication date: 2011-12-22
+Patent application number: 20110309583
+Abstract:
+The invention relates to a method for sealing a structural joint using a
+sealing element (1) composed of an at least partially open-cell,
+elastically resilient foam, and to a sealing element. The sealing element
+is able to expand from a compressed state to a partially or a completely
+expanded state due to elastic resilience of the foam, and is provided
+with an expansion-influencing medium. It is proposed that the sealing
+element (1) is held in a compressed state by the medium, and the
+expansion of the sealing element is enabled by separate action of heat on
+the medium.
+Claims:
+1. A method for sealing a structural joint using a sealing element the
+method comprising: providing an at least partially open-cell, elastically
+resilient foam that expands from a compressed state to one of partially
+and a completely expanded state due to an elastic resilience of the foam;
+providing an expansion-influencing medium maintaining the foam in the
+compressed state while a temperature of the medium is below a first
+predetermined threshold; and heating the medium above the first
+predetermined threshold temperature for expanding the foam.
+2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing an expansion influencing medium includes: providing an impregnation agent, on an acrylate basis, selected to have a glass transition temperature such that automatic recovery does not occur below the first predetermined threshold temperature.
+3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing an expansion-influencing medium further includes: providing the impregnation agent selected to have the glass transition temperature such that the first predetermined threshold temperature is about 30.degree. C.
+4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the step of providing an expansion-influencing medium further includes: providing an impregnation agent, on an acrylate basis, selected to have a glass transition temperature such that automatic recovery occurs below a second predetermined threshold temperature of 80.degree. C. which is higher than the first predetermined threshold temperature.
+5. (canceled)
+6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the step of heating includes: inductively heating the medium.
+7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of heating includes: heating the medium with electrical resistance.
+8. A sealing element, including a sealing tape strip, the sealing tape strip including: an at least partially open-cell, elastically resilient foam, the foam having an elastic resilience causing the foam to expand from a compressed state to an expanded state; and an expansion-influencing medium permeating the foam, the foam being held in the compressed state by the medium, and the expansion occurring when the medium is heated above a predetermined threshold temperature.
+9. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein at least one of the medium and the foam includes components excitable by alternating electromagnetic fields, the components generating heat when excited.
+10. The sealing element according to claim 9, wherein the components are provided in at least one of a powder-, soot-, wire-, or film-like form.
+11. The sealing element according to claim 9, wherein the components include at least one of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Al, Cn, or Sn and an alloy including at least two of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Al, Cn, and Sn.
+12. The sealing element according to claim 9, wherein the components may be inductively heated.
+13. The sealing element according to claim 9, wherein the components are homogeneously distributed in at least one of the medium and the foam.
+14. The sealing element according to claim 9, wherein the components have an average size of about 5 μm to about 1000 μm.
+15. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein the heating occurs above the predetermined threshold temperature within about 1 to about 600 seconds.
+16. The sealing element according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the components has an elongated form in a longitudinal direction of the sealing element.
+17. The sealing element according to claim 16, wherein the at least one component with the elongated form has a length of at least about 10 cm.
+18. The sealing element according to claim 16, wherein the length of the at least one component with the elongated form is approximately the same as a length of the sealing tape.
+19. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein the medium is adhered, by means of a self-adhesive strip, between a first layer of the foam and a second layer of the foam.
+20. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein the medium has a film-like form, and self-adhesive strips are situated on both sides of the medium.
+21. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein the medium has a film-like form, and the medium includes an adhesive.
+22. The sealing element according to claim 19, wherein at least one of the adhesive present on the self-adhesive strip and the medium is applied in the form of one point and a dot pattern.
+23. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein the medium is heated to above the predetermined threshold temperature within about 1 to about 300 seconds.
+24. The sealing element according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined threshold temperature is above room temperature.
+Description:
+[0001] The invention relates firstly to a method for sealing a structural
+joint using a sealing element composed of an at least partially
+open-cell, elastically resilient foam which preferably has an elongated
+form, the sealing element being able to expand from a compressed state to
+a partially or a completely expanded state due to elastic resilience of
+the foam, and being permeated with an expansion-influencing medium.
+[0002] Sealing elements used in such a method are widely known. These are sealing elements composed, for example, of an open-cell flexible foam such as polyurethane flexible foam, or sealing tapes which in the compressed state are in roll form. The sealing tapes are unrolled and inserted into a structural joint, for example between a window and the reveal. As a result of their permeation with a resiliency-influencing medium, usually also referred to as impregnation, wherein the medium may be an acrylate-based liquid composition, the recovery is delayed. The delay until (theoretical) complete recovery is approximately one-half to one hour. This allows unhindered installation, but results in the desired seal-tightness after the time mentioned elapses.
+[0003] With regard to the prior art concerning such foam sealing elements, reference is made to DE 10 2006 043 050 A1 and DE 35 44 277 C1, for example. Reference is also made to EP 688 382 B1, for example.
+[0004] Even if the delayed recovery mentioned in many cases is advantageous with regard to the installation, there is still the problem that this recovery occurs at different rates depending on the environmental conditions, in particular high or low temperature. At high temperatures such as in the summer, the recovery is comparatively rapid, whereas at low temperatures such as in the winter, the recovery is correspondingly slow.
+[0005] Therefore, options have been sought for intentionally initiating the recovery, i.e., in order to not have to depend on immediately installing the sealing tape removed from the roll or other packaging in order to take advantage of the delayed recovery. To this end, it is known from EP 1 131 525 B1, for example, to accommodate the foam strip, which is nevertheless impregnated for the delayed recovery, in a wrapping film which is formed as a tear-off film. The foam strip does not rebound until after the wrapping film is correspondingly opened, but in this regard is also delayed due to the impregnation mentioned. A refinement in this regard is also known from EP 175 664 A2.
+[0006] The documents cited above are hereby included in full in the disclosure of the present application, including for the purpose of incorporating features of these documents into claims of the present application, with regard to their disclosure, in particular concerning foam used and/or impregnation agents used and/or dimensions, other embodiments, for example using a self-adhesive surface, and disclosed uses. The described tear-off sealing elements have also attained very great practical importance. However, there is still a need to provide this intentional initiation of the recovery, in particular also a delayed recovery, in a more advantageous manner.
+[0007] On this basis, according to one aspect the invention is concerned with the object of providing a method for sealing a structural joint using a sealing element, in which the sealing element may be easily inserted and reliably brought to the sealing state.
+[0008] One possible approach to achieving this object is provided according to a first concept of the invention by means of the subject matter of claim 1, in this case the aim being to hold the sealing element in a compressed state by means of the medium, and enabling the expansion of the sealing element by separate action of heat on the medium. This may involve heat which is generated in the sealing element itself, for example, as discussed further below, by induction or heat conduction. This may also be heat which is separately applied to the sealing element, as also discussed further below, for example using heated air or the like. According to the invention, the medium which permeates the foam, i.e., in particular the impregnating agent mentioned, may be used in such a way that it maintains the compressed state of the sealing tape on its own without further measures, and the sealing tape is able to leave this state only by further special action, namely, a special heating action, and rebounds, preferably with a further delay. In the case of filling a joint, this results in contact with the joint surfaces on both longitudinal sides. This is due in particular to the elastic resiliency of the foam as such as the result of preload, which contributes to the sealing. However, the invention is also realized by additionally promoting the recovery by the special action of heat for a conventional impregnating agent. This is important, for example, when the sealing tapes are installed at very low temperatures.
+[0009] Further features of the invention are addressed below, also in the description of the figures, often in their preferred association with the concept of the claim explained above; however, they may also be important in an association with only one or more individual features of this claim, or independently, or in another overall concept.
+[0010] It is preferred that the medium is an impregnation agent provided on an acrylate basis, and the agent is selected to have a high glass transition temperature such that automatic recovery does not take place at room temperature. The previously used impregnation agents for which automatic recovery occurs at room temperature or also therebelow also basically have such an acrylate basis. There are also impregnation agents based on paraffin. As stated above, these impregnation agents in principle may also be used according to one aspect of the invention. A plastics-based medium which is amorphous or partially crystalline is preferably used as impregnation agent. Below the glass transition temperature, the medium is at least very viscous, or practically solid or solid. Above the glass transition temperature there is a rapid decrease in toughness and a rapid decrease in viscosity. As a result, the restoring forces of the foam are able to overcome the cohesive forces of the impregnating agent acting on the cell walls, and the foam is able to begin to rebound. The action of heat is discontinued no later than when a complete rebound is achieved, in any event potentially, i.e., when the sealing force has completely developed in the joint, for example. However, due to the fact that the cells of the foam have thus become larger, i.e., changed from a compressed, preferably flat configuration to a configuration that is developing more in the direction of a spherical shape, and the cell walls have moved apart from one another, the elastic resiliency of the foam or of the sealing strip thus formed is maintained, compared to the previously provided state in full compression. Nevertheless, the impregnating agent or the component of the impregnating agent provided in this regard, for example the acrylate, having the relatively high glass transition temperature once again has a temperature which is below the glass transition temperature after cooling.
+[0011] The glass transition temperature is preferably selected in such a way that automatic recovery occurs only after the sealing element is heated to 30° C. or higher. It is more preferred when heating to 60°, 70°, or 80° C. or higher is achieved. A realistic upper limit in the approximate range of 120° C. is provided. With regard to the temperature ranges mentioned, all intermediate values are hereby included in the disclosure, in particular in 1° C. steps.
+[0012] Within the scope of the invention, the glass transition temperature may be determined in various ways. For example, dilatometric, dielectric, dynamic-mechanical, or refractometric measurements may be conducted, for example with the aid of NMR spectroscopy. Within the scope of the present patent application it is particularly preferred to determine the glass transition temperatures mentioned using a method known as the ASTM standard (designation: D 1356-03). The ISO standard method in which the determination is performed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) may also be used. The temperature values mentioned here may basically be assigned to any of the named measuring methods. If this should result in a lack of clarity, in any event the measurement should be assigned to the ISO standard method.
+[0013] With regard to the required heating of the sealing element or in particular of the medium permeating same, various procedures may be carried out. As a first example, air heating using a hair dryer, for example, is possible.
+[0014] However, the heating is preferably carried out electrically. To this end, it is further preferred that the medium is electrically conductive or in any event contains components which within the meaning of heating are excitable by alternating electromagnetic fields, i.e., inductively. Regardless of how the heating is carried out, these components may be provided in a powder-, soot-, wire-, or film-like form. They are provided in such a way that they are able to take part in the expansion of the sealing element. This may be achieved, for example, using wire portions which are inserted transversely or in the longitudinal extent, or, for superposed or adjacent individual layers, which are held in between, which are optionally able to "migrate." This may also be achieved using film elements. This results in a corresponding separation in the foam in the region of the film elements. As a whole, the foam may also have a layered construction for this purpose. The separation of the layers may be provided parallel to a flat base surface. However, it may also be provided in the form of a curved surface, for example a surface which undulates in the longitudinal section. The film element, for example an aluminum foil, may be held between the layers using one or more self-adhesive strips. These layers may correspondingly be two or more foam layers. Foam layers extending in the longitudinal direction of the sealing element are suitable. Independently or additionally, the film elements or one continuous film element may also extend in the sealing element in an undulating manner. For example, they may be pressed into the foam in the manner of a punching tool without completely separating same. The film elements may also completely separate the foam, in both cases in the sense of a "lost" punching tool, for example.
+[0015] Instead of or in addition to a continuous self-adhesive strip, it is possible to leave adhesive dots or adhesive points only between regions of lower adhesive force or preferably adhesive-free regions. The adhesive dots (which refer in particular to a nonround, in particular noncircular, plan view) or adhesive points (which preferably have round, in particular circular, plan views, with the exception of overlaps between individual adhesive points) may also be provided to be isolated in an island-like manner from other adhesive dots or adhesive points. In addition, an embodiment is possible in which connecting lines, which are also formed from adhesive and are thin compared to the adhesive points, are formed between spaced-apart adhesive points. In particular, an adhesive point may be joined to adjacent adhesive points via two or more connecting lines. Three, four, six, or more connecting lines in particular may be used. It is preferred that only one connecting line is always provided between two adhesive points. When in this regard six connecting lines, for example, are provided, this means that one adhesive point is surrounded by six other adhesive points.
+[0016] The adhesive points or adhesive dots mentioned may on the one hand be applied to a customary carrier material known for self-adhesive strips, for example a fabric strip. This self-adhesive strip on the other hand is connected to the electrical conductor, in particular a film-like electrical conductor. It is further preferred that this configuration is provided on both sides of the electrical conductor. However, these adhesive points may also be provided only on the electrical conductor, in particular the film-like electrical conductor. The same as in the previously described embodiment, a continuous homogeneous adhesive layer may be provided directly on the electrical conductor. In this regard, the electrical conductor is then the carrier material for the adhesive, and at the same time also forms a self-adhesive strip which is adhered to the foam on both sides.
+[0017] Such an arrangement allows two foam strips held together in this manner by means of the conductive layer, in particular a metallic foil, to be easily split in the region of the adherence. For example, this provides good access to the conductive layer, such as a conductive connection to a power line, for the heating action. Alternatively, a self-adhesive strip which in this regard is at least associated with a longitudinal border strip may be provided with a smaller width. In that case, one or both outer regions of the foam sealing strips are not adhered to one another over the "missing" width region, which may correspond to approximately 1/20 to 1/3 or more of the height of the overall rebounded foam sealing strip. The width information mentioned also includes all intermediate values, in particular for delimitation of the width region mentioned from above and/or below, preferably in steps of 1/40 of the height. Within this meaning, the dot or adhesive point regions may also be provided with a smaller width. This also applies in each case to one or both sides.
+[0018] For the heating, the elements in question, i.e., in particular wire-like or film-like elements, may be heated by electrical resistance heating.
+[0019] With regard to the electrically conductive components, or components which within the meaning of heating are excitable by alternating electromagnetic fields, i.e., inductively, metallic components in particular are preferred.
+[0020] [Metallic components] based on one of the elements Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Al, Cn, or Sn, or alloys of two or more of these elements, for example, [may be used].
+[0021] The metals, more specifically the ferrites, are suitable for the inductive heating. It is further preferred that the components are homogeneously distributed in the foam. The components are preferably finely dispersed. The components, in particular the soot- or powder-like components mentioned, preferably have a size of 5 to 1000 μm intermediate values, in particular in 1-μm steps, also being hereby included in the disclosure.
+[0022] The specific quantity of the components and the intensity of the heating, whether via air, electrical line, or induction, should be coordinated with one another in particular in such a way that the heating required for enabling the expansion is completed within a period of 1 to 600 seconds, preferably 1 to 300 seconds, or also within a period of 2 to 15 seconds, for example. For carrying out the heating, for example for inductive heating, an appropriate handheld device, for example a handheld inductive device, is also provided. The handheld device may be battery-powered or be provided with a plug connector. The handheld device is provided in a size and weight which allows it to be easily externally guided along a joint provided with a corresponding sealing element, or, in the case of electrical resistance heating, for connecting elements to be connected to the film element located in the sealing element, for example, resulting in the required heating for enabling the recovery of the sealing element in the course of a slow traversal or as the result of an electrically conductive connection. By means of an induction coil which is provided in the handheld device in an embodiment as an induction device, and to which a high-frequency alternating voltage is then applied, eddy currents are induced in the metallic particles which result in rapid heating of the particles and also of the compression-influencing medium as a whole. A typical power consumption of such a handheld device may be between 0.1 and 5 kW, all intermediate values of this range, in particular 0.1-kW steps, also being included in the disclosure.
+[0023] The fraction of the absolute quantity of the components, in particular relative to powdered components uniformly distributed in the sealing element, may be 2 to 20 volume percent, for example, relative to the volume of the total medium contained in the sealing element. All intermediate values, in particular in 0.1% steps, are also hereby included in the disclosure. When the component is provided as a film element, a thickness in the range of 0.1 to 1 mm, for example, once again with inclusion of all intermediate values, in particular in 0.1-mm steps, is preferred. The width may correspond to or be less than the width of the sealing element. The width may also be selected in such a way that it varies over the length of the sealing element. In particular, portions may be repeatedly provided over the length of the sealing element which extend to the longitudinal edge of the sealing element or form free-standing regions. In the latter case, the regions project beyond the longitudinal edge in the direction of the width. Such regions may be used, for example, as connecting regions for the power connection, for example for a resistance heater.
+[0024] A further object of the invention is a sealing element, in particular a sealing tape strip, made of an at least partially open-cell, elastically resilient foam, the sealing element being able to expand from a compressed state to an expanded state, and being permeated with an expansion-influencing medium.
+[0025] The above-mentioned documents are cited as prior art. Reference is also made to the described starting point of the invention, which correspondingly also results in subject matter regarding the search for an easily handled sealing element with regard to initiation of the expansion.
+[0026] With regard to the subject matter, it is an object, therefore, is to provide a foam sealing element which may be easily brought from a compressed state to a rebounded state.
+[0027] This object is achieved in a further aspect of the invention in the subject matter of claim 5, the aim being to hold the sealing element in a compressed state by the medium, and to enable the expansion by the action of heat on the medium.
+[0028] The characterization provided in conjunction with the above explanation of the method with regard to the sealing element is similarly of importance for the subject matter characterization of the sealing element primarily provided here, and conversely, procedural aspects are also of importance for the sealing method basically described above in this regard. This also applies, for example, to the above statements regarding a connection of the foam strips using self-adhesive strips, adhesive dots, or adhesive points.
+[0029] The sealing element remains in the compressed state without further action, and without the need for an auxiliary aid such as a film which envelops the sealing element, for example. The compressed state may be discontinued only intentionally by the action of heat on the sealing element. Similarly as for the known sealing elements, this sealing element may also be present wound in rolls as delivered. In principle, a partial or complete film wrapping may also be provided.
+[0030] Corresponding to the above description, this compressed state is achieved by selecting at least one essential component of the impregnation agent, with regard to a plastics having an appropriately selected (high) glass transition temperature. In this regard, reference is also made to the above discussion.
+[0031] The action of heat may be provided in the manner described above. In particular, it is provided that the medium is permeated as uniformly as possible, in a finely dispersed or homogeneous manner, with components which, in particular for inductive action, are heated, which allows the glass transition temperature mentioned to be (greatly) exceeded and allows the recovery of the sealing element to begin.
+[0032] In general, the invention is not limited to a sealing element. Another foam part may also be involved. In order to change the property of such a foam element impregnated with a medium, it is also not absolutely necessary for the foam element to be in a compressed state. The invention may also be of importance when a correspondingly larger quantity of impregnation agent is generally contained, or a small-cell foam is selected, and the foam element is (always) in an expanded state. By using the described medium in one of its embodiments, the property of the foam part may be changed from a quasi-rigid or very solid form to a soft and elastically deformable form, in any event for the period of time in which heating which exceeds the glass [transition] temperature is present. In the rigid state, the foam element is also able to absorb significant stresses in a manner that is atypical for elastically resilient flexible foam, without appreciable compression, for example in the range of 100 N/cm2 or greater. In this regard, "appreciable" means that for such a stress the thickness decreases by 5% or less, for example in the range of 0.1 to 2%, in the direction of stress.
+[0033] The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which merely illustrate exemplary embodiments, as follows:
+[0034] FIG. 1 shows a partially unwound sealing tape present in the form of a roll;
+[0035] FIG. 2 shows a schematically illustrated installation situation of the sealing tapes with regard to a window;
+[0036] FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the subject matter of FIG. 2 in a section along line the sealing tape being heated using an induction device;
+[0037] FIG. 4 shows a sealing element having a film element, in an enlarged illustration corresponding to FIG. 1; and
+[0038] FIG. 5 shows an illustration of the layout of adhesive points.
+[0039] A sealing tape 1 wound into a roll 2 is illustrated and described, first with reference to FIG. 1. The sealing tape is partially unwound from the roll. In contrast to customary sealing tapes which are impregnated for delayed recovery, the degree of compression, which may be in a range of 10 to 25% of the starting value, for example, is maintained after this unwinding. This is because the impregnating agent has an essential component which has a glass transition temperature that is considerably above room temperature. At this point the impregnating agent is solid to viscoplastic in such a way that the restoring forces of the flexible foam are not able to overcome the cohesion resulting from the impregnating agent.
+[0040] In addition, the impregnating agent is homogeneously combined with ferritic powdered components which allow effective inductive heating of the impregnating agent.
+[0041] In the subject matter of FIG. 2, the sealing tape 1 is inserted in a plurality of partial portions between a window 3 and a reveal or masonry 4. A distinct gap 5 is also provided between the window and the masonry. This is because the sealing tape 1 has a self-adhesive layer on one side by means of which in the example it is adhered to the window frame of the window 3.
+[0042] It is apparent from FIG. 3 that the sealing tape 1 is heated in the installed state, using an induction device 6. The ferritic elements which are finely distributed in the impregnating agent of the sealing tape 1 are heated by the eddy current, thus heating the overall impregnating agent so that the glass transition temperature is exceeded and the (delayed) recovery of the sealing tape is enabled.
+[0043] With reference to FIG. 4, another embodiment of a sealing tape, which may similarly be provided in the form of roll, is illustrated in cross-section. The thickness of the individual layers is not illustrated to scale; rather, for better understanding the thicknesses are exaggerated except for the foam layers. In a similar view as for the illustration corresponding to FIG. 1, a self-adhesive layer 7 which is covered by a cover strip 8 is provided on the top side. Located therebeneath are a first foam layer 9, and a second foam layer 10 on the bottom (with reference to the illustration). Situated between the foam layers 9, 10 is a film element 11, which has an additional self-adhesive layer 12, 13 on the top and bottom side, respectively, by which it is joined to the foam layer 9 or 10, respectively. The film layer 11, which in the exemplary embodiment is an aluminum foil layer, may be inductively heated by applying an electrical voltage, either direct-current voltage or alternating voltage. The generated heat initially heats the adjacent regions, and ultimately heats practically the entire sealing tape to the extent that the glass transition temperature of the impregnation agent is exceeded, thus enabling the recovery.
+[0044] The film layer may be very thin, for example in the range of 0.001 to 0.2 mm, all intermediate values, in particular for delimitation of the stated value range from above and/or below, preferably in steps of 0.0005 mm, also being hereby included in the disclosure.
+[0045] Due to the recovery, the sealing tape, which generally has a rectangular cross-section, rebounds to approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of its uninfluenced starting height (viewed perpendicular to the adhesive surface, i.e., in the direction transverse to the gap). The sealing tape is then in contact with both oppositely situated flanks of the gap to be sealed. However, as a result of the complete recovery being hindered in this manner, an elastic sealing contact is ensured on both sides.
+[0046] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates the layout of an adhesive point pattern. Such ah adhesive point pattern may be applied to the electrical conductor, i.e., a film, for example, preferably on both sides. However, the adhesive point pattern may also be applied to a customary support for a self-adhesive strip, i.e., a nonwoven or woven fabric layer, for example. Such self-adhesive strips are then preferably situated on both sides (in the cross-section) of the electrical conductor. These self-adhesive strips then have such a point pattern or, as described above, a dot pattern (composed of adhesive) on their side facing the electrical conductor and/or on their side facing the foam. Thus, in both cases it is possible to expose the electrical conductor itself and then contact same by splitting the foam layers. Provided that the exposure is carried out while the self-adhesive strips are still adherent, a contacting element under elastic preload, for example, may be provided which reliably permeates these self-adhesive strips and thus also establishes the required electrical contact.
+[0047] In particular, it is apparent that adhesive points 14 are provided which in the exemplary embodiment have a polygonal plan view, specifically, a hexagonal plan view. A multiplicity of such adhesive points 14 is connected to adjacent adhesive points, in each case via an adhesive line 15. The adhesive lines are clearly much thinner than an adhesive point. The adhesive lines have a width which corresponds to 1/10 or less, up to 1/100, of the (greatest) diameter of the adhesive point. The greatest width of an adhesive point may be between 0.5 and 5 mm, for example. The distance between two adhesive points preferably corresponds to 1/10 to 2 to 5 times the diameter of an adhesive point.
+[0048] All features disclosed are (in themselves) pertinent to the invention. The disclosure content of the associated/accompanying priority documents (copy of the prior application) is also hereby included in full in the disclosure of the application, including for the purpose of incorporating features of these documents in claims of the present application. The subsidiary claims in their optional formulation as subordinate claims characterize an independent inventive refinement of the prior art, in particular to undertake divisional applications based on these claims.
+Patent applications by TREMCO ILLBRUCK PRODUKTION GMBH
+Patent applications in class PROCESS OF STATIC SEALING
+Patent applications in all subclasses PROCESS OF STATIC SEALING
+User Contributions:
+Comment about this patent or add new information about this topic:
+Abstract—expressed by adenovirus vectors or after HCMV infection.
+Viruses are contained frequently by cytolytic or cytokine-mediated functions of CD8+ T cells, which recognize peptides that are derived from endogenous viral proteins and are presented on MHC class I molecules. By contrast, CD4+ T cells normally provide “help” to initiate, maintain, or amplify immune responses by surveying for presentation of extracellular proteins by MHC class II molecules. However, it also is well established that class II proteins can present peptides that are derived from endogenous or intracellular proteins. In fact, most peptides that are extracted from class II molecules are derived from endogenous membrane proteins that traffic into exocytic and endocytic pathways (1, 2). Peptides that are derived from nuclear or cytosolic proteins represent a smaller fraction, and have been postulated to reach class II loading compartments after proteasome processing—with or without the involvement of transporter associated with antigen presentation (TAP)—by autophagy or by as yet undefined mechanisms (3–8).
+Most studies of class II presentation have focused on professional APCs—DCs, macrophages, or B cells that express copious amounts of class II molecules. Endothelial, epithelial, and glial cells also can express class II proteins, especially after induction by IFN-γ, a cytokine that is elicited commonly during virus infections. These cells act as portals of entry, barriers to movement of viruses between tissues, and “sentinels” that alert the immune system of invasion. Little is known about class II antigen presentation in these cell types and how this functions in control of viruses. It seems unlikely that priming immune responses is the outcome. In contrast to professional APCs, these nonprofessional APCs do not possess well-adapted phagocytic or endocytic machinery, nor do they migrate to primary or secondary lymphoid organs where priming primarily occurs. Instead, it seems more likely that these cells express class II proteins to present endogenous viral antigens and be recognized by CD4+ T cells. This would expand the immune repertoire to recognize and—if these CD4+ T cells were cytolytic or expressed anti-viral cytokines—lead to control of viruses.
+Several human viruses apparently are controlled by CD4+ CTLs (9–15). Cytotoxic CD4+ effectors may be especially important with herpesviruses: HSV, varicella-zoster virus, EBV, and HCMV (16–19). These viruses inhibit MHC class I antigen presentation; therefore, class II presentation of viral proteins to CD4+ T cells may be vital to expand the degree to which the immune system can recognize virus-infected cells. In most cases, evidence for CD4+ CTLs has involved T cell clones that could lyse antigen-expressing cells; however, it is possible that cytolytic capacity was acquired during in vitro culture (20, 21). In very few instances have in vivo cytolytic capacity of CD4+ CTLs been demonstrated. Direct ex vivo CD4+ CTLs were described for HIV, although these studies involved the use of superantigens to conjugate target and T cells (14). Recently, mouse CD4+ T cells specific for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus were shown to be cytotoxic in vivo (22).
+HCMV is a ubiquitous herpes virus that promotes the expansion of enormous numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (23), likely because of periodic reactivation from latency over the course of a lifetime. Although CD8+ T cells clearly play a central role in containing HCMV (24), accumulating evidence (25–27) suggests that CD4+ T cells also can act as effectors directly on virus-infected cells. Patients that generate higher numbers of IFN-γ–producing anti-HCMV CD4+ T cells clear the virus faster and exhibit fewer symptoms (28, 29); CD4+ T cell clones specific to several HCMV antigens are cytolytic (30, 31). In addition, murine cytomegalovirus can be controlled by CD4+ T cells in vivo in the absence of CD8+ T cells (32).
+We previously hypothesized that CD4+ T cells can control HCMV infections by recognizing endogenous antigens, viral proteins that are expressed within virus-infected cells (33). This was based on several facets of HCMV biology. First, HCMV infects epithelial cells in the gut, endothelial cells throughout the body, and glial cells in the brain, and causes pathology in each of these tissues (34). Thus, these cells, which are important for HCMV replication and spread in vivo, can express class II proteins, but are unlikely to be involved in priming immunity. Second, HCMV and other herpesviruses assemble virus particles on trans-Golgi network (TGN)/endosomes (35, 36). As part of this process, and as virions bud into cytoplasmic membranes, large quantities of all HCMV structural proteins are delivered into endosomal compartments where they can be processed readily for class II presentation. This is unlike other mammalian viruses (e.g., influenza virus) that bud from the plasma membrane and where antigens are presented by class II pathways involving proteasomes and TAP (7). These observations supported the notion that HCMV proteins might be particularly prone to processing and presentation by class II proteins. Consistent with this premise, two HCMV membrane proteins, glycoprotein B (gB) and glycoprotein H (gH), that are extensively sorted to endosomes, are major CD4+ T cell targets in vivo (23), and most CTL clones that recognize gB and gH are CD4+ (30, 31).
+We found that as many as 1% of the total CD4+ T cells in human blood recognized HCMV gB. Most gB-specific CD4+ T cells that are isolated from PBMCs expressed granzyme B, which suggested cytolytic function in vivo. Several gB-specific CD4+ T cell clones also were cytolytic and recognized glial, epithelial, and endothelial cells expressing endogenous gB. However, these cells could not present exogenous (extracellular) gB. Glial cells expressing extremely small quantities of endogenous gB stimulated CD4+ T cell clones. Presentation of endogenous gB required sorting to endosomes and endosomal proteases. Although it is well established that model cellular antigens that are delivered to endosomes can be presented by class II proteins, these observations demonstrate for the first time that an important human pathogen is recognized by a pathway in which viral proteins are sorted specifically to endosomes and are presented efficiently by class II molecules. Moreover, the results support the notion that CD4+ T cells can play an important role in controlling HCMV through cytolytic and cytokine-mediated mechanisms.
+Results
+Characterization and cloning of HCMV gB-specific CD4+ T cells
+Previous studies that involved T cell clones (30, 31) suggested that HCMV glycoprotein gB might be a principal CD4+ T cell antigen. By ELISPOT assays, we found that 1–10% of total CD4+ T cells from several seropositive individuals produced IFN-γ in response to extracts of HCMV-infected cells (unpublished data). In several instances, 10% of the anti-HCMV CD4+ T cells (≤1% of the total CD4+ cells) recognized a soluble form of gB presented by DCs (unpublished data). Given that HCMV expresses >250 polypeptides, gB is a dominant, naturally occurring CD4+ T cell antigen. We tested whether CD4+ T cells, purified directly from blood and without restimulation, were able to express and secrete granzyme B in response to His16 glial cells that expressed gB. His16 cells were derived by stable transfection of the class II transactivator gene into U373-MG cells (37), one of only a very few cells that HCMV infects in vitro and which have been used extensively in studies of HCMV immunity. The frequency of granzyme B–secreting CD4+ T cells was roughly equivalent to that of IFN-γ–secreting T cells (Fig. 1 A). Glial cells expressing a HSV glycoprotein, gI, did not stimulate T cells to secrete either IFN-γ or granzyme B (Fig. 1 A). Secretion of granzyme B requires perforin and is directly correlated with cytolytic activity of T cells (38). Thus, our results are consistent with the notion that anti-gB CD4+ T cells are cytolytic in vivo.
+Anti-gB CD4+ T cells are cytotoxic. (A) His16 cells were infected with 30 PFUs/cell of Ad viruses expressing HCMV gB (AdtetgB) or HSV gI (AdtetgI) for 24 h, incubated with CD4+ T cells purified from PBMCs, and ELISPOT assays were performed for IFN-γ or granzyme B (GrB). Error bars denote standard deviations, and data points without error bars represent differences that are too small. His16 cells were infected with 10 PFUs/cell of AdtetgB (B) or 100 PFUs/cell of AdTbH9 (C) for 24 h, labeled with Na251CrO4, and then incubated with anti-gB CD4+ T cell clones (gB10/G3, gB10/H5, or gB100/2) or with mtb39-specific CD4+ T cell clone, TbH9-9, at various effector/target ratios for 24 h, and the specific release of 51Cr was determined.
+24 HLA-DR17–restricted gB-specific CD4+ T cell clones were isolated by limiting dilution using DCs that were incubated with soluble gB. Three CD4+ T cell clones were tested in CTL assays. His16 glial cells expressing gB after infection with a nonreplicating adenovirus (Ad) vector (AdtetgB) (39) were lysed by the gB-specific clones, but cells that were infected with a control Ad vector were not (Fig. 1 B). These results support the notion that a substantial fraction of HCMV-specific CD4+ T cells can recognize gB. Given that all three clones were cytotoxic, and that most gB-specific CD4+ T cells—as judged by IFN-γ secretion—expressed granzyme, it is likely that a substantial fraction of gB-specific CD4+ T cells is cytotoxic.
+Presentation of exogenous and endogenous HCMV gB to CD4+ T cells by glial, epithelial, and endothelial cells
+His16 cells infected with AdtetgB, that expresses full-length, membrane-anchored gB, stimulated the gB-specific clone gB3/F11 to produce IFN-γ at levels similar to DCs that present soluble gB (Fig. 2 A). His16 cells did not present soluble gB, even at 10 μg/ml, a dose that is 100-fold greater than that required for substantial stimulation of gB3/F11 by DCs that are incubated with soluble gB (Fig. 2 A and not depicted). When supernatants from AdtetgB-infected His16 cells were transferred to other His16 cells, they failed to stimulate CD4+ T cells (unpublished data). It was impossible to express endogenous gB in DCs because of poor transduction of DCs with Ad vectors, as observed previously (40). Several other clones similarly recognized gB that was expressed endogenously in His16 cells (four shown in Fig. 2 B), but most did not recognize exogenous gB or were stimulated only weakly with high concentrations (50–100 μg/ml) of soluble gB that was incubated for extended periods (not depicted).
+Presentation of endogenous and exogenous gB to CD4+ T cell clones. (A) Autologous DCs (104) were incubated with 1 μg of soluble gB and 4 × 104 anti-gB CD4+ T cell clone gB3/F11. His16 glial cells were infected with AdtetgB (200 PFUs/cell) for 24 h, then incubated with 4 × 104 clone gB3/F11 or incubated with 1 or 10 μg of soluble gB and simultaneously with 4 × 104 clone gB3/F11. (B) His16 cells were infected with AdtetgB or AdtetgI (30 PFUs/cell) for 24 h before addition of T cells, or incubated with 10 μg/ml of soluble gB or soluble gE/gI and with gB-specific clones gB3/F5, gB10/G3, gB10/H5, or gB100/2. (C) Class II–expressing gastric epithelial cells (2E12) or IFN-γ–stimulated endothelial cells (BB19, brain; DMVEC, dermal vascular; HPV-AEC, aortic) were infected with AdtetgB or AdtetgI for 24 h or incubated with 10 μg of soluble gB or gE/gI and with CD4+ T cell clone gB10/H5. IFN-γ produced by the CD4+ T cells was measured by ELISA after 24 h.
+These observations were extended to epithelial and endothelial cells. Class II transactivator–transfected 2E12 gastric epithelial cells, which constitutively express class II proteins and three different endothelial cell lines that were induced to express class II proteins with IFN-γ, also presented endogenous gB, but not soluble gB (Fig. 2 C). Similar results were obtained with other endothelial cells (unpublished data). These cells are immortal lines but mimic properties of untransformed epithelial and endothelial cells; 2E12 cells can be infected by EBV (41) and the endothelial lines can be infected by HCMV (unpublished data). We concluded that glial, epithelial, and endothelial cells proficiently presented endogenous, but not exogenous, gB—by class II proteins—to CD4+ T cells.
+Glial cells can internalize soluble gB and present gB peptides and other exogenous antigens
+The failure of glial, endothelial, and epithelial cells to present exogenous gB might relate to an inability to internalize gB. HCMV gB binds to cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (42), which are internalized slowly (43). We used iodinated gB to evaluate uptake by His16 glial cells, and found that these cells internalized soluble 125I-labeled gB, albeit slowly; ∼40% of the bound gB was internalized after 90 min (Fig. 3 A).
+Glial cells internalize soluble gB, and present gB peptides and a soluble TB antigen. (A) His16 cells were incubated with 125I-gB at 4°C, washed, warmed to 37°C, and the cell surface gB was removed with citrate buffer before counting cell-associated (internalized) 125I. Background (cells not warmed to 37°C) was subtracted from each value. (B) His16 cells were incubated with pools of peptides (15 mers overlapping by 10 residues) making up the NH2-terminal (gB-N, residues 1–440) or the COOH-terminal (gB-C, residues 430–907) half of gB or all of UL18, for 6 h before incubation with gB10/G3 CD4+ T cells for 24 h. (C) His16 cells were incubated with medium alone (no Ag) or with 1 μg/ml of soluble mtb39, and TbH9-9 (mtb39-specific) T cells, or were infected with 100 PFUs/cell of AdTbH9 or AdtetgB for 24 h before addition of TbH9-9 T cells. IFN-γ was measured in B and C.
+To determine whether His16 cells could present gB peptides, cells were incubated with pools of 15-mers, overlapping by 10 residues, encompassing residues 1–440 (gB-N) or 431–907 (gB-C). A pool of peptides, including all of HCMV UL18, served as a negative control. Three different clones recognized gB-C, but not gB-N or UL18 peptide pools (Fig. 3 B; only one clone shown). The level of stimulation of all three clones at 400 pg/ml of peptides was similar to that obtained with His16 cells that were infected with 3–5 PFUs/cell of AdtetgB (unpublished data). Because our clones recognize soluble gB (residues 25–692) and a peptide mixture encompassing residues 431–907, one or more epitope(s) is located within residues 431–692.
+To ascertain whether His16 cells could present another exogenous antigen, the cells were incubated with a 40-kD soluble, Escherichia coli-produced, recombinant tuberculosis (TB) protein, mtb39—a member of a family of related TB proteins (44). Presentation to mtb39-specific CD4+ T cell clone TbH9-9 (which recognizes residues 133–147) was assessed (37, 45). His16 cells that were incubated with 1 μg/ml of mtb39 stimulated TbH9-9 cells well compared with cells that expressed endogenous, Ad-delivered mtb39 (Fig. 3 C). Note that cells were infected with relatively high doses of AdTbH9, and in this case, mtb39 is linked to a signal sequence and is secreted, but also likely fills the exocytic pathway (46). Together, these results show that His16 cells are capable of internalizing and presenting another soluble protein to CD4+ T cells, but do not present extracellular gB well.
+Relative efficiency of presentation of endogenous gB
+Nonprofessional APCs are not as capable as professional APCs at antigen capture, processing, and presentation. Nevertheless, several gB-specific CD4+ T cell clones were stimulated to similar or higher levels by AdtetgB-infected His16 cells, compared with DCs that presented soluble gB (Fig. 2 A, and not depicted). When APCs were limiting, His16 cells expressing gB stimulated gB100/2 T cells better than did DCs that were incubated with exogenous gB (Fig. 4 A). Additionally, His16 cells expressing endogenous mtb39, expressed using an Ad vector, also stimulated TbH9-9 T cells approximately as well as syngeneic lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) that were incubated with soluble mtb39 (unpublished data). As a second measure of the efficiency of presentation of endogenous gB, His16 cells were infected with low doses of AdtetgB. Significant stimulation of two different gB-specific clones was observed with His16 cells that were infected using as little as 0.78–1.5 PFUs/cell of AdtetgB; half-maximal presentation occurred at ∼5 PFUs/cell (Fig. 4 B). These Ad vectors do not replicate in His16 cells and at these low virus doses, gB expression could not be detected by radiolabeling or Western blots (unpublished data). Thus, presentation of gB by His16 cells—as measured by stimulation of T cell clones—is dependent on gB concentrations in the APCs, and extremely low quantities of gB are sufficient for T cell stimulation. Although the APCs and the source of antigen were different in Fig. 4 A, when APCs were limiting, T cell stimulation was reduced or extinguished. Conclusions about antigen presentation must be tempered by the fact that antigen presentation was measured indirectly and by using T cell clones that were selected for gB recognition. However, coupled with the results in Fig. 7, our observations are consistent with the conclusion that His16 cells can present endogenous gB very efficiently as compared with professional APCs.
+Efficiency of presentation of exogenous gB by DCs versus endogenous gB by glial cells. (A) Various numbers of His16 cells or autologous DCs were incubated with 1 μg/ml of soluble gB (sol gB) at the time of adding T cells or were infected with 10 PFUs/cell of AdtetgB for 24 h before adding T cells. 4 × 104 gB100/2 anti-gB CD4+ T cells were used in all cases. (B) His16 cells were infected with various doses of AdtetgB for 24 h before incubation with gB10/G3 or gB10/H5 T cell clones for 24 h. In both cases, IFN-γ was measured.
+Endogenous presentation requires endosomal proteases and not proteasomes
+Endogenous, cytoplasmic proteins can be degraded by proteasomes and reach endosomes/lysosomes through TAP or by undefined mechanisms (3, 7, 8). Processing and presentation of endogenous gB was not affected by the proteasome inhibitors, lactacystin (Fig. 5 A) or MG132 (not depicted). Similarly, HSV ICP47, a specific inhibitor of TAP (47), had no effect (unpublished data). By contrast, leupeptin, which inhibits cysteine and serine proteases, completely blocked gB presentation (Fig. 5 A). Cathepsins contribute to progressive fragmentation of the protein invariant chain (Ii); therefore, it was reasonable that 50 μM leupeptin inhibited processing of Ii and reduced loading of class II complexes. However, presentation of exogenous mtb39 was unaffected at lower leupeptin concentrations (2.5–5 μM), yet presentation of endogenous gB was reduced substantially (Fig. 5 B). A second inhibitor, pepstatin, which blocks aspartyl proteases, did not inhibit gB presentation (Fig. 5 A). Brefeldin A, an inhibitor of ER to Golgi transport, and bafilomycin A, an inhibitor of vacuolar acidification, also blocked presentation of gB but both potentially can inhibit transport or maturation of class II proteins. We concluded that endogenous gB is processed by endosomal proteases and not by proteasomes.
+Presentation of endogenous gB occurs in endosomes. (A) His16 cells were treated with 50 μM leupeptin or pepstatin, or 10 μM brefeldin A, bafilomycin, or lactacystin for 30 min, infected with AdtetgB (3 PFUs/cell) for 24 h in the presence of the inhibitors, washed, fixed with 0.1% p-formaldehyde, and then incubated for 24 h with gB100/2 T cells. (B) His16 cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of leupeptin, infected with AdtetgB, and used in T cell assays similar to those in (A), using gB10/H5 and gB100/2 T cell clones. Other His16 cells were incubated with 2 μg/ml soluble mtb39 (sol mtb39) and TbH9-9 (mtb39-specific) T cells. IFN-γ was measured in both cases.
+Presentation of gB requires cytoplasmic sorting sequences
+The cytoplasmic tail (CT) domain of HCMV gB contains several sorting sequences that are responsible for extensive accumulation of gB in the TGN/endosomes (48), a prelude to virion assembly (35, 36). We reasoned that the targeting of gB to TGN/endosomes would result in efficient class II–mediated presentation of gB. To examine this, Ad vectors expressing mutant forms of gB were constructed: (a) gBΔCT lacks all of the CT domain, except for three juxtamembrane residues; (b) gB-KKSL contains four additional residues at the extreme COOH terminus that recycle the protein back to the ER (49); and (c) gB-KKSLAL is a control protein that contains two additional residues that revert the KKSL phenotype to WT (Fig. 6 A). FACS analyses indicated extensive accumulation of gBΔCT on the cell surface, but WT gB, gBKKSL, and gBKKSLAL were internal (Fig. 6 B). Confocal analyses indicated that WT gB was in perinuclear vesicles, some of which stained with anti–HLA-DM antibodies (Fig. 6 C), as well as with several TGN and endosome markers (not depicted). gB-KKSL colocalized with the ER marker protein disulfide isomerase (Fig. 6 C), and unlike WT gB and gB-KKSLAL, gB-KKSL was not proteolytically cleaved by furin, a TGN-localized protease (not depicted).
+Endosomal targeting of endogenous gB is required for presentation. (A) WT gB contains a 135-residue cytosolic domain. gBΔCT is truncated three residues after the transmembrane (TM) domain. gB-KKSL contains the ER retention motif KKSL at the COOH terminus. gB-KKSLAL contains two additional residues that reverse the effects of KKSL. (B) His16 cells were infected with Ad vectors expressing WT gB, gB-KKSL, gB-KKSLAL, or gBΔCT (50 PFUs/cell), and cell surface expression of gB was assessed by FACS. (C) His16 cells were infected with Ad viruses (50 PFUs/cell) for 24 h, fixed, permeabilized, and stained for gB (green) and HLA-DM (red) in the case of WT gB and gBΔCT, or protein disulfide isomerase (red) in the case of gB-KKSL. (D) His16 cells were infected with Ad viruses (1 PFU/cell) expressing WT gB, gBΔCT, gB-KKSL, gB-KKSLAL, or HSV gI for 24 h then incubated with anti-gB CD4+ T cell clones. IFN-γ was measured after 24 h.
+Three CD4+ T cell clones recognized WT gB and gB-KKSLAL, but not gB-KKSL or gBΔCT (Fig. 6 D). We concluded that gB must be sorted to the TGN/endosomes in order to be presented, and gB that was transported to the cell surface or retained in the ER was not presented.
+Class II presentation of gB in HCMV-infected cells and effects of US2 and US3
+Laboratory strains of HCMV replicate efficiently only in cultured human fibroblasts (34). Recently, HCMV clinical isolates that infect other cell types were described (50). The clinical strain, HCMV TR efficiently infected His16 cells (not depicted) and stimulated gB-specific CD4+ T cell clones, even at relatively low input virus doses (Fig. 7 A). The levels of IFN-γ (500–1000 pg) that were produced by CD4+ T cells that were in contact with His16 cells that were infected with only 0.5 PFU/cell of HCMV TR (Fig. 7 A) were similar to those produced frequently with His16 cells that were infected with AdtetgB or with DCs and exogenous gB (Fig. 4). Moreover, there was substantial stimulation of CD4+ T cells when His16 cells were infected with extremely low doses (0.05 PFU/cell) of HCMV TR (Fig. 7 B). Even at these low virus doses, it is likely that gB expression is attained in a reasonable fraction of cells, because the HCMV particle/PFU ratio is 150–1,000. It is possible that gB that was part of the input virus was presented here, although this might be unlikely given the very low input doses. In other experiments, cells that were infected with UV-inactivated HCMV TR were recognized poorly by T cells (unpublished data). However, these UV-inactivated viruses were not characterized in terms of gene expression and for the integrity of virion proteins, and it is difficult to reach solid conclusions. More importantly, these results testify to the conclusion that these glial cells can present gB and stimulate CD4+ T cells when extremely low concentrations of gB are present. Given previous observations that high protein concentrations were required for cytoplasmic antigens to be presented (51, 52), this supports efficient presentation.
+Presentation of gB in HCMV-infected cells. His16 cells were infected with WT HCMV strain TR or TR-BAC lacking the US2 and US3 genes using 0.5 PFU/cell (A) or 0.05 PFU/cell (B) for 72 h and incubated with anti-gB T cells gB10/G3 or gB10/H5 for 24 h, and IFN-γ was measured.
+HCMV TR was cloned recently by inserting a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) into the HCMV US2-US6 genes to derive a virus denoted TR-BAC, which does not express the unique short (US)2 and US3 proteins (50). We showed previously, by using Ad vectors, that US2 and US3 can inhibit the class II pathway and block presentation of exogenous mtb39 to CD4+ T cells (37, 45). However, effects of US2 and US3 have been difficult to study in the context of HCMV because of inefficient infection of any class II–expressing cells. Here, we show that low doses of TR-BAC (a US2−/US3− mutant) reproducibly stimulated two different CD4+ T cell clones 2.5-fold better than did WT TR that expresses US2 and US3 (Fig. 7 B). This effect was not observed at higher doses of virus (Fig. 7 A), probably because higher levels of gB (perhaps in the input virus) overwhelmed the effects of US2 and US3. This is the first demonstration of the effects of US2 and US3 on class II presentation, in the context of HCMV infection. Together, these data are consistent with the notion that gB can be presented efficiently to CD4+ T cells when cells are infected with very low HCMV doses, and that presentation in the context of HCMV infected cells can be reduced by US2 and US3.
+Discussion
+HCMV elicits a robust and long-lasting cellular immune response that includes enormous numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (23). These T cells are essential for the control of virus in vivo. Clearly, anti-HCMV CD4+ T cells play an important role in expanding CD8+ T cell populations, as evidenced by the failure of anti-HCMV CD8+ T cell therapy in immunosuppressed patients who lack CD4+ T cell “help” (53). However, there also is evidence that HCMV-specific CD4+ T cells can play a key role as effectors to contain or eliminate the virus. CD4+ T cell clones that are specific for several HCMV proteins were described to possess cytolytic activity (17, 29–31), although it might be argued that this was acquired in vitro. Observations that HCMV assembly and class II antigen presentation pathways intersect in endosomal compartments predict that there is extensive presentation of endogenous viral proteins by class II molecules. It is highly unlikely that in important host cells—epithelial, endothelial, and glial cells—this presentation is associated with priming of host immunity. Instead, we hypothesized that class II presentation in these cells relates to recognition of HCMV infection by CD4+ effector T cells, and provides a mechanism for control of virus in addition to CD8+ T cells.
+Based on these considerations, we initially asked whether HCMV-specific CD4+ T cells were cytolytic in vivo. A substantial fraction of freshly isolated CD4+ T cells responded to glial cells presenting endogenous gB by expressing granzyme B. Although, it also is possible that gB-specific CD4+ T cells use the Fas-Fas ligand–mediated lytic mechanism, the observation that the frequency of granzyme B–secreting T cells was similar to those producing IFN-γ supported the notion that granule exocytosis is a major pathway for cytotoxicity of anti-gB CD4+ CTLs. Granzyme release is an event downstream of polyperforin pore formation on target cell membranes, and these concerted events directly correlate with the lytic activity of CTLs (38, 54). The observation that endogenous gB presented by glial cells is recognized by circulating CD4+ T cell effectors supports a direct role for these immune cells in controlling the virus. In addition, our study connects HCMV replication in these biologically relevant cells to potentially abundant and functionally important CD4+ CTLs. This is one of a very few examples in which evidence supports the existence of anti-viral CD4+ CTLs in vivo, and suggests that these cells are more widespread than believed previously.
+Endogenous HCMV gB was presented efficiently by endothelial, glial, and epithelial cells. Glial cells expressing extremely low levels of gB—delivered by using an Ad vector or after HCMV infection—stimulated CD4+ T cells as well as, or better than, DCs that were incubated with exogenous gB. This presentation required sorting to endosomes and endosomal proteases. gB targeted to the plasma membrane or retained in the ER was not presented well. Given that HCMV assembles in endosomes, it is highly probable that this pathway extends to most other HCMV structural proteins. Consistent with this, a second HCMV glycoprotein, gH, is an important target of anti-HCMV CD4+ T cells (31). Other herpesviruses (HSV, EBV, varicella-zoster virus, and Kaposi's sarcoma–associated herpesvirus) also infect endothelial, glial, or epithelial cells and similarly assemble in TGN/endosomes. Thus, we believe that class II presentation of endosome-sorted herpesvirus proteins probably is a prevalent process.
+Endothelial, epithelial, and glial cells failed to present exogenous, soluble gB, yet His16 glial cells could present a soluble TB protein. Uptake of gB was slow, and it is reasonable that delivery to loading compartments also was slow or inefficient. Alternatively, exogenous gB may be delivered into endosomal subcompartments that contain a different set of proteases compared with those that endogenous gB encounters. Endogenous, membrane-anchored gB traffics internally in recycling loops between the TGN and endosomes (39). Previous studies observed that different subcellular compartments produce distinct epitopes from the same protein, or may destroy other epitopes (7, 55, 56). Mapping of gB epitopes, combined with cell fractionation studies, might produce a better picture of why soluble gB is not presented. However, this is beyond the scope of present studies and is not directly relevant because endogenous gB, and not soluble gB, is produced during HCMV infection.
+Several studies have described class II presentation of endogenous viral antigens by mechanisms that differ from that described here. Measles virus proteins were presented by TAP-dependent or -independent pathways, although the cytoplasmic matrix protein required high and sustained levels of expression compared with class I presentation (51, 52). Certain epitopes derived from influenza virus membrane proteins were presented in a proteasome- and TAP-dependent class II pathway, whereas other epitopes were presented only as exogenous antigens (7, 10). Unlike HCMV and other herpesviruses, influenza and measles viruses assemble at the plasma membrane without the requirement for sorting to, or accumulation in, endosomes. EBV expresses a limited set of viral proteins in latently infected B cells, and a nuclear antigen, EBV nuclear antigen-1, is delivered to endosomes by autophagy and then is presented by class II molecules (6). These observations, together with our results, provide an appreciation that CD4+ T cells recognize endogenous viral antigens by a variety of mechanisms, and that this recognition has important implications for the control of viral infections.
+Class II presentation of endogenous HCMV antigens provides an explanation for previous observations that this virus also inhibits the MHC class II pathway (33, 37, 45). At the outset, these findings might seem to be a contradiction. However, it is well established that HCMV expresses inhibitors of the class I pathway and NK cell recognition, and yet, the virus is controlled amply by CD8+ and NK cells (33, 57, 58). HCMV immune evasion proteins do not affect immune priming as reflected by robust CD8+ and CD4+ T responses, and inhibition of antigen presentation is inefficient in professional APCs (40, 59, 60). Instead, this avoidance reduces the recognition of virus-infected cells, likely within a narrow window of time (e.g., following reactivation) or involving specific cell types (e.g., nonprofessional APCs, such as epithelial, endothelial, or glial cells) (57). Thus, class II presentation of endogenous viral proteins to CD4+ T cells increases the host's capacity to recognize the virus in the face of inhibition of CD8+ T and NK cell recognition, and is, itself, the subject of immune evasion. Here, by using a clinical strain of HCMV, we showed that US2 and US3 reduced class II presentation of gB in HCMV-infected glial cells. The effects of US2 and US3 were most prominent at low doses of HCMV, conditions that may reflect infection in vivo where modest differences may provide a substantial selective advantage, especially in cells that express lower levels of class II proteins. The fact that HCMV can inhibit the class II pathway, under certain circumstances, attests to the notion that presentation of endogenous proteins in nonprofessional APCs is an important mechanism by which HCMV is recognized by the immune system, and is something that must be thwarted.
+Materials And Methods
+Cells and media.
+His16 and 2E12 cells were derived by stable transfection of U373-MG or AGS cells, respectively, with the human CIITA gene (37, 40, 41). BB19 (61), DMVEC (62), and HPV-AEC endothelial cell lines were obtained from A. Moses (Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon), and were grown in endothelial cell basal medium-2 and supplements. 293 cells used to propagate adenovirus (Ad) vectors were maintained in Eagle's minimum essential medium plus 10% FBS, and fibroblasts were grown in DMEM plus 10% FBS. DCs were prepared and maintained as described (46). Tn5 insect cells were grown in Grace's insect cell media.
+Cloning and expansion of T cells.
+Human blood and sera were obtained according to human subjects protocol approved by Institutional Review Boards at Oregon Health & Science University and Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center. CD4+ T cells, from HLA-DRB17+ individuals to match the DR type of His16 cells, were purified from PBMCs using CD8 midi-MACS columns (Dynal). T cell frequencies were assessed by ELISPOT, using PBMCs. T cells were expanded, using autologous DCs and macrophage, cloned by limiting dilution using allo-PBMCs and allo-lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) (46, 63), and tested by ELISPOT for reactivity with soluble gB using DCs. Clones were expanded using γ-irradiated allo-LCLs and allo-PBMCs, anti-CD3 mAb (Chiron), and IL-2 (46, 63).
+Viruses.
+WT and mutant human CMV (HCMV) strain TR (50) were propagated and titered on fibroblasts. The virus was purified using sorbitol cushion and sucrose gradients. Ad vectors expressing mutant forms of HCMV gB were constructed similar to those of HCMV US2 and US3 (37, 45), HSV gI (64), and WT gB (48). The promoter for all Ad vectors is induced when cells are co-infected with a second vector, Adtet-trans. An Ad vector expressing mtb39 fused to IL-1 signal sequence (AdTbH9) (46), as well as a baculovirus encoding His-tagged HCMV gB extracellular domain encompassing residues 1–692 (42), have been described.
+Protein and peptide antigens.
+HCMV-infected cell extracts were prepared by freeze-thawing infected fibroblasts. Soluble recombinant HCMV gB and HSV gE/gI dimer were produced and purified as described (42, 65). Soluble mtb39 was obtained from Corixa. HCMV gB and UL18 peptide pools consisting of 15-mers overlapping by 10 residues, synthesized at Mimotopes Inc., were obtained from L. Picker (Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon).
+Antibodies, confocal microscopy, and flow cytometry.
+mAb 27–78 (66) and rabbit antisera to gB were obtained from W. Britt (University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL). Antibodies to protein disulfide isomerase (StressGen Biotechnologies), TGN46 (Serotec), and HLA-DMβ (BD Biosciences), as well as Alexa 488-conjugated donkey anti–sheep and goat anti–mouse IgG and Alexa 594-conjugated goat anti–rabbit IgG (Invitrogen) were purchased commercially. Immunofluorescence and flow cytometry were performed as described (45).
+Endocytosis assay.
+Soluble gB was labeled with Na125I using Iodobeads (Pierce Chemical Co.). Cells were incubated with 125I-gB at 4°C for 15 min, warmed to 37°C to allow internalization and, at various times, cell surface gB was stripped from cells by a 10-min incubation with citrate buffer (40 mM citric acid, 10 mM KCl, 135 mM NaCl, pH 3.0) at 4°C. Internalized gB was determined by counting cell-associated radioactivity.
+CD4+ T cell assays.
+Antigen presentation assays were performed in 96-well plates (37, 45). In brief, 104 APCs were infected with Ad vectors for 18 h or were left uninfected, and then were incubated for 18–24 h with 4 × 104 CD4+ T cells. Endothelial cells were treated with IFN-γ (50 U/ml, Immunex) for 24 h before infection. Soluble antigens were added 0–4 h before addition of T cells. For drug inhibition studies, cells were incubated with the compounds for 30 min before and during Ad infection or soluble protein addition, fixed with 0.1% p-formaldehyde for 5 min, and washed and incubated with T cells for 18–24 h. For studies with HCMV, cells were infected for 72 h before T cells were added. Secretion of IFN-γ by the T cells was detected by a sandwich ELISA (45). For granzyme B ELISPOT assays (67), MACS-purified CD4+ T cells were incubated with His16 cells that were infected with AdtetgB or AdtetgI.
+CTL assays.
+51Cr release assays were used to measure cytotoxicity (68). In brief, His16 cells were infected with Ad vectors for 18 h, labeled with Na251CrO4 (100 μCi/106 cells) for 1–2 h, and plated at 104/well in triplicate with various numbers of CD4+ T cells for 24 h. Percentage specific lysis was calculated based on maximal release measured by using 2% Nonidet P-40. Spontaneous release was never >30%.
+Acknowledgments
+We are grateful to L. Hutt-Fletcher, A. Moses, and T. Shenk for cells; T. Compton for the baculovirus expressing soluble gB; W. Britt for antibodies; L. Picker for peptides and advice; and K. Frueh for valuable comments. We are thankful to R. Lines and G. Swarbrick for support with T cell cloning and ELISPOT assays, T. Wisner and A. Snyder for help with confocal microscopy, and A. Pinto for assistance with CTL assays.
+This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health nos. EY11245 and AI055051 (to D.C. Johnson), AI21640 (to J.A. Nelson), and AI01644 and AI48090 (to D.M. Lewinsohn).
+The authors have no conflicting financial interests.
+Footnotes
+Abbreviations used: Ad, adenovirus; BAC, bacterial artificial chromosome; CT, cytoplasmic tail; gB, glycoprotein B; gH, glycoprotein H; HCMV, human CMV; LCL, lymphoblastoid cell line; TAP, transporter associated with antigen presentation; TB, tuberculosis; TGN, trans-Golgi network; US, unique short.
+N.R. Hegde and C. Dunn contributed equally to this work.
+- Submitted: 19 January 2005
+- Accepted: 1 September 2005
+In this 21st century of economic crisis and increasing natural disasters a healthy back is extremely important. Opti-stretch provides valuable information for both those with back pain reoccurring more than once in the same location and to athletic individuals with little or no back pain.
+Opti-stretch is goal oriented. For those with a history of back pain, first perform the screening exam. If risk factors are detected, proceed to Level 1 of the Opti-stretch challenge.
+For athletic individuals and Dr. Moms, simply read the knowledge base and see if it may contain helpful information in your individual goals for you or your child.
+Reoccurring back pain is pain that occurs in the same location more than once. Back pain that occurs once and doesn't reoccur for another 5 years is generally not a problem. However, back pain reoccurring in the exact same location 3 or 4 times a year is a significant problem for many individuals.
+A major breakthrough is the ability to assign a level to your back pain and objectively compare it with others. For any given incident of back strain, the level of pain is valuable. However, a more important indicator is amount of time it takes for the pain to disappear and for the individual to return to normal activity.
+Using a Degree 1 to 4 system is simple but also valuable for research. Think of it as classifying a burn.
+There 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree. Clinically there is a 4th degree burn (requiring deep tissue debridement).
+Table 1: Simplified Back Strain Classification
+Incapacity: Another important distinction is whether there is any incapacity after healing. Most commonly after a 4th Degree strain an individual will say that their back never felt the same again. Many "religiously avoid lifting heavy objects" or if they do lift heavy objects they are "continually aware of body position while lifting so as not to strain the back again".
+"No incapacity" suggests the individual can comfortably lift an object off the ground 1.0 to 1.5 times their own ideal body weight,
+4th Degree: Is of particular interest.
+For the first 5 days the pain is so severe and unrelenting that if you have ever experienced it, you will remember it. The severity of pain is very similar to having a broken bone. Classic descriptions are that "it takes an extra 10 minutes just to put on my shoes". "Once I find a semi-comfortable position, I have to think twice whether it is even worth getting up to go to the bathroom." Only 1 in 100 individuals to 1 in 300 will experience this type of strain. It only occurs in the low back. The pain encompasses the entire low back at first. After 2-4 weeks of healing, the pain then gradually localizes over the left or right posterior superior iliac spine (boney prominence 3 fingerbreadths from the middle of the spine at the level of the belt-line [see home page figure 1]). Many report that a simple twisting motion can cause this type of strain. Commonly the individual will describe that their "back never felt the same" after the first occurrence. After several strains, many self impose a strict limitation on their lifting of heavy objects and certain other activities. Doing this, they find they can go for prolonged time periods without another strain. Given that activity is "a spice of life", this tremendously negative effect on the quality of life is a needless tragedy for many. Until they regain their healthy strain-resistant back they sometimes don't even realize how much of life they were missing. Opti-stretch was specifically designed for this type of individual.
+General Back Health Classification:
+Comparing back pain problems: Usually in 5 year increments.
+A classic example for a 4th Degree "bad back":
+How to remedy the problem?
+Stretching, if properly performed, has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for assessing reoccurring muscle strain problems. Many complex anatomic and physiologic properties of muscles have simplified by Opti-stretch to offer a effective program.
+Detecting the problem
+It is important to understand certain basic concepts of safe and effective stretching techniques prior to attempting the Opti-stretch program.
+A major goal is to utilize stretching to determine whether muscles are healthy or whether some type of chronic injury is present. Traditional medicine teaches that following strain, muscles will heal to 100%. This does apply to peripheral muscles. However, in the core muscles where both stronger and weaker muscle groups performsimilar functions, the weaker muscles in certain body types can remain in a state of chronic injury for decades. These muscle groups are extremely susceptible to reinjury thus causing reoccurring strain problems. If present, they are essentially asymptomatic (unless directly assessed). The term "asymptomatic chronically injured muscles" (ACIMS) has been coined.
+Not only the primarily injured muscles display the properties of ACIMS but so do other more remote muscle groups which have presumably gone into a partial spasm state to preserve the essential functional capacity of the body. These secondary ACIMS must be corrected before primary ACIMS can be completely returned to health.
+Properties of ACIMS
+There are four classic properties which ACIMS display referred to as "the 4-T's".
+Sensation of stretch (SOS)
+"Tiene que llenar!
+Sensation of stretch (SOS)
+Stretching in the warm-up phase
+Risk factor assessment
+"Tiene que llenar!
+Correcting the problem
+Heal - the asymptomatic chronically injured muscles (ACIMS)
+Complete level 1 of the Opti-stretch program.
+Consider completing level 2 of the Opti-stretch program.
+Strengthen - the back muscles
+Opti-stretch does have a simple strengthening program. However, many of the exercises are considered by traditional medicine to be associated with back pain. Therefore, the program is shared with those who have completed the program.
+Condition - the back muscles
+With healthy and strong muscles, the sky is the limit. There are many good programs out there for conditioning. (Remember, Opti-stretch is useful in making sure that you are not over-stressing the muscles with your conditioning program. [See Program for Athletes])
+Maintenance
+The ultimate goal of Opti-stretch is to establish a level of activity which allows for maintaining all of the muscles of the back in a healthy state (i.e. rock climbing, triathlons, martial arts, etc.) Using the Opti-stretch screening program the health of the back can be checked initially every week for several months. If the muscles are remaining healthy the screening program needs to be performed at least once a month to ensure that no chronically injured muscles are starting to develop.
+If an injury happens to occur, the Opti-stretch warm-up program can be utilized to help heal the injury as rapidly as possible. When the back has returned to normal, the screening program is performed to ensure the injury has healed completely.
+Other important concepts
+Flexibility
+Many studies have shown that back pain occurs in about the same frequency for individuals who are extremely flexible and those who are not very flexible. Hyperflexible individuals with back pain exhibit similar asymmetry and (ACIMS) as other individuals with back pain.
+Opti-stretch research has shown that expected relative flexibility can be estimated by assessing which joints are double-jointed (a.k.a. joint hyperflexibility or extensibility). Four groups exist: no doubled jointedness, 1st degree (thumb or finger), 2nd degree (elbow), 3rd degree (knee or hip) and 4th degree (spine). With increasing joint size double-jointedness the expected relative flexibility increases.
+This is very valuable information when assessing and comparing individuals.
+Seldom are these different levels of hyperflexibility see before 6 years of age.
+These are the most common reoccurring muscle strain locations in 4000 individuals and where Opti-stretch has been demonstrated to be extremely helpful. A complete and detailed description is beyond the scope of this website. Only a brief introduction for reference purposes is presented. (A more detailed description is found in "Opti-stretch versus Recurrent Back Pain". There is a great deal of additional information which has not yet been published.)
+Low Back
+Button 1 shows the location of the most frequent and most incapacitating area of low back pain known. Remember, this location is after several weeks of healing. Acutely, the severe pain involves the entire low back area. There are 5 different types of this problem. Briefly, the most severe worst-of-the-worst strain problem known to man is right-sided ipsilateral (same side) asymptomatic chronically injured muscles (ACIMS). A less severe problem is left-sided ipsilateral ACIMS. Two other types are seen where contralateral (opposite side) ACIMS form. This constitutes a less severe form of the problem. A 5th type is reserved for the few individuals not fitting into the above mentioned types. The primary muscle strain involves the iliopsoas complex.
+Button 3 is also a very common location for muscle strain of the erector spinae muscles. This is frequently seen in Level 1 form in blue collar labors experiencing a particularly demanding day working in a bend over position which they are not accustomed. Level 2 and 3 is commonly seen in "weekend warriors" and others with poorly conditioned erector spinae muscles.
+Hip
+Button 6 is a location frequently seen in females. It can be a serious problem and is analogous to the button 1 area in males. In its most acute form it can be mistaken for a hip bursitis.
+Upper low back
+Button 4 location is not extremely common. Frequently involves the quadratus lumborum muscle and\or multifidus musculature.
+Upper back
+Button 5 is the most common upper back problem area. It primarily involves the rhomboids which are difficult to stretch. Isometric exercises are important in returning the muscles to a healthy state. If low back ACIMS exist, these must be corrected first before any long term correction can be expected.
+Neck and upper shoulders
+Button 6 is the most common location of the shoulder and neck area. The levator scapulae and trapezius muscles are primarily involved. Two new stretches have been included in the Opti-stretch Upper Back Program for this area. Assessment and correction of low back ACIMS is again important.
+Button 7 generally involves the rotational muscle of the neck. Again, for long term results, low back and upper back ACIMS must be corrected if present to achieve any long lasting results.
+Basic Concepts why the Opti-stretch screening is a valuable tool for parents who are concerned about back pain in their children.
+Flexibility
+The human body is most flexible at birth. Flexibility decreases during the first year of life. Virtually all healthy 3 to 5 year olds have the same flexibility. This level of flexibility is also very common in adults who have no history of back pain (and no joint hyperflexibility). For this reason the level of flexibility at ages 3 to 5 has been determined the "gold standard of range-of-motion".
+By age 6, hyperflexibility subtypes start to appear, as-well-as limitations of range-of-motion.
+While many individuals with healthy backs and no history of back pain have significantly less range-of-motion than the "gold standard", Opti-stretch has determined that there is a minimum range-of-motion that needs to exist in order for an individual to both lift heavy objects and maintain a healthy back throughout life. (Details in the book "Opti-stretch Versus Recurrent Back Pain")
+Injury
+Most healthy children will have some type of bumps and bruises as they develop. The screening program is valuable in determining when the child or adolescent is ready for full activity.
+Frequently we have encountered significant asymmetry in children who have suffered a fairly serious injury to that limb in the past. Knowledge of the range-of-motion prior to a serious accident will allow parents to determine if the injury has completely healed or whether the child needs to be reevaluated by their pediatrician. This allows optimum healing of any significant injury.
+Assessing new activity regimens (i.e. martial arts)
+Many activities such as martial arts, dance team, and others require a certain extreme range-of-motion. While this is generally regarded as healthy, it is important for parents to periodically assess that asymmetry is not developing in their child. If asymmetry is occurring, the risk of muscle strain and other injuries increase substantially.
+Many studies on range-of-motion have determined that a certain amount of increased range-of motion is normal for overused dominant limbs (i.e. base-ball pitchers, kickers, carpenters, etc.). Rarely does this exceed 1 inch of range-of-motion increase. Also the non-dominant limb has a normal "stretch-to-pain" transition.
+Warming up muscles!
+The value of warming up muscle is quite controversial in the literature. First, the most important protection from muscle injury is having healthy strain resistant muscles to start with. Second, adrenaline significantly protects muscles from injury. This is why muscles are seldom injured during a true emergency activity. Third, as the body ages, the more important a good warm-up routine is. Therefore, learning routines while young is of significant value. Stretching is only one of many effective ways to warm up the muscles. Many team sports have a standard routine. At home, you can first perform the team standard routine and then the Opti-stretch warm-up afterwards to see whether all the muscles groups are sufficiently warmed up. Many have different warm-ups for different activities. As mentioned previously, the Opti-stretch warm-up can be used as a "gold standard" for comparing various routines. Depending on your body type you may need to incorporate a couple more warm-ups, especially if you have any non-correctable body asymmetries.
+How long does a warm-up last?
+This varies on age. For adolescents and adults under age 45 an "involuntary stretch" is adequate in the morning and lasts throughout the day until 2 hours or more of inactivity (i.e. a nap or prolonged car ride). If you are getting to an age where a 2 or more hour car ride makes you a little stiff, warm-ups before strenuous physical activity should strongly be considered.
+Stretching exercise.
+At last count, there are over 1,500 different stretches which have been published. There are approximately 656 muscles of the human body. I have reviewed over 150 different stretching programs (i.e. Yoga, Pilates, etc.). The stretches used by Opti-stretch (especially for the low back) have been carefully chosen for optimizing the warm-up of muscles required to lift heavy objects.
+Overstressing the muscles?
+Athletes can overstress muscles if their exercise routine is too demanding. This can lead to minor injury which can stall progress. You can periodically assess new routines by using a before-and-after comparison of either the Opti-stretch screening program or the Opti-stretch warm-up program. Significantly decreased ROM after an exercise routine may suggest too intense of routine. A more rapid improvement may be achieved by a more gradual increase in your routine intensity. Cooling down the muscles is highly recommended by many athletic trainers. The Opti-stretch warm-up routine is both valuable and can provide additional information regarding the work-out.
+Assessing for muscle injury?
+First sensation-of-stretch is a very valuable tool. If the 1st sensation has decreased, the chance of a significant injury has occurred. By pushing a strained muscle, the chance of a more serious strain occurring is increased dramatically. Everyone knows that if you move a muscle and you have pain, most likely an injury has occurred. What Opti-stretch has discovered is that even subtle shortening of the stretch-to-pain transition also indicates some type of injury has occurred.
+Return to 100% activity following injury. When?
+The 1st sensation of stretch has returned to normal and Opti-stretch warm-up shows symmetrical 2 inch increases in both sides of the body before engaging in 100% activity.
+Deep muscle massage! How to give yourself one!
+Deep muscle massage is a commonly employed by many professional athletes. This can be rather expensive for the average individual. By slowly and gently performing the Opti-stretch warm-up, you will achieve the same level of muscle relaxation and benefits for a fraction of the cost. Many find this a great stress reducer prior to bed.
+Determining proper activity level!
+Peak age of muscular performance is considered to be around ages 20-25. Your own individual optimal range-of-motion for your body type is generally at this age also. Many athletic individuals will continue this range-of-motion (ROM) into their 70's. Remember, optimum stretched ROM is different for different hyperflexibility body types.
+Fountain of Youth
+While there are many hallmarks of aging, a major indicator is range-of-motion. It always tends to decrease with advanced age. Above-average active individuals generally preserve an increased range-of-motion well into their 80's and 90's. "Spry" individuals at these ages tend to be more active and healthy. Studies in the literature suggest that increased range-of-motion at advanced ages decreases the incidence of falling and appears to be a good indicator of above average health.
+Edible 10 Plagues.
+Make red jello from a package and cut into cubes or put into clear classes to symbolize the water that turned to blood.
+Frogs
+Get a frog cookie cutter and make everything from Sugar Coated Marshmallows to frog kiwi or honeydew cut outs.
+Buy some dark chocolate Nonpareils to symbolize lice.
+Wild animals - you could buy some wild animal cookie cutters and make Passover cookies or you could get these super cool Plague of Animal Sour Jellies from Oh!Nuts, even gummy bears would do.
+Disease on livestock – I am lost on this one, my kids said to make the animal cookies and splatter with red icing, anyone got anything better?
+Incurable boils – Try some boiling tea in a glass pitcher or drops of dark vinegar in light oil like the picture above.
+Hail – Ice Cubes with a red Strawberry inside them to symbolize the fire in ice that was the 8 plague.
+Locusts – this one is easy, thanks to Zelda’s, just get their chocolate marshmallow locusts.
+Darkness – Make a chocolate pudding or mousse or anything dark.
+Death of the first born - I am totally stumped on this one, please let me know your suggestions.
+If eating your plagues is not your thing don’t miss our Makot Matching Game
+Posted in
+Blogs , Do it Yourself , Holidays , Holidays & Guides , Home Rotator , Online Features , Passover , The Kosher Home
+For death of the first born, perhaps get a cookie cutter that is in the shape of a baby crib or bassinet. (I’m sure they must exist for all those that plan baby showers.)
+That is interesting. It feels a bit scary to me, but I guess this plague just is scary.
+Agar jelly babies, a bit squashed, or mini-gingerbread men, and before you cut out the shapes knead some red colouring into some of the dough and marble it. You can do the same with cookie dough for animals.
+For the jelly, you can even find some that is marked out in cubes, not granulated or in sheets, and use that.
+Could you use rolled-up liquorice for darkness?
+One more idea for death of the first born – - something to symbolize a doorway.
+(Perhaps have the kids decorate brownies cut into a rectangular door shape. Or use chocolate covered matzoh for the door shape.)
+This is a really cute and interesting idea! About the first born, maybe something with size? Like making enlarged cookies or something to symbolize the oldest?
+Love these ideas!! Perfect for the kids
+This is so fun and creative!
+i don’t know if they exist for Pesach but the candy pacifiers could work or something totally out there – a broken egg?
+Zeldas also has Marshmallow Frogs as well as Locusts…lol
+Zeldas also sells edible Frogs as well as Locusts…lol
+I love this! My son asked me to make lice marshmallows this year but the nonpareils seem much more doable. I am going to make the hail for our seder. I agree that death of the first born is a tough one. I will think about it and let you know if I come up with anything good.
+Marshmallow lice seems hard, stick to marshmallow for frogs.
+How about lamb stew to represent the korbanot of the night of the last plague?
+great idea!!! love it! thank you! chag sameach
+how about instead of emphasizing the firstborn death, some how emphasis the mezuzah that saved us?
+Okay, I do like this way of thinking, we are getting there.
+For death of first born maybe you can use a #1 cookie cutter.cut out a 1 in Mellon, or a cookie. That way your focusing more on firstborn and less on death.
+Thanks for ideas! For hail, can also put a red hot candy in ice.
+A great idea I heard for blood was to put a few drops of red food colouring on the bottom of a water pitcher and add water to it during the makos. I just cannot find red food colouring for pesach.
+I like this idea, I guess you could even use red beets to make your own red coloring.
+I have made makkos desserts for parshios vaera and bo, but never thought of how to do it for pesach! please be aware that putting food coloring or beet juice in water to dye it can be a serious question of the melochah of tzovaya (dyeing) so check with a Rabbi!
+I like the red hot idea more like fire in the ice cube. Still can’t get into the first born idea, but this is an interesting one.
+what about making red ice cube – however you color them. each person gets a little cup with a red ice cube. let it melt. it would symbolize the waters turning red as the cube melts.
+Great ideas …<3
+For the death of the first born i have done a cupcake in the shape of a heart or #1 frost with red icing and bought those little sword toothpicks and inserted. A little gruesome but the crowd loves them. One more for blood, i have used real plastic needles filled them with red jello. Nonfood items you can buy foam swords, be aware adults and children will break out in a sword fight. and for hail i use the little foam balls and throw them at everyone… makes for a fun seder
+Instead of focusing on the Egyptian first born’s death, we can focus on the fact that OUR first born survived! so a cute note that says something like ‘dear *name of child*, you are always #1!’ on top of a rectangular cookie:-) & to decorate a cookie with the symbol of “#1″. another idea is to take strawberry jam and to put it on a rectangle shaped matzah (on top and on the sides), which represents the doors and the blood that saved our first born.
+We tried a red candy in an ice cube. The candy melts and runs. We also used small ice cube trays and it melted way too quickly.
+I would try a frame with hail/fire balls suspended from fishing line.
+We hit the dollar store. We bought a large clear goblet. We made red jello, poured it halfway, covered the cup with saran wrap and then tilted it sideways so that it became firm filling half the cup, top to bottom. Later we made clear jello and filled the other half (when it had cooled a bit). We put one straw in the clear and another straw in the red. It looked AWESOME. Pretty fast and easy too.
+We found egyptian looking figurines there and painted red dots on them with puffy paint. For lice we sprinkled them with coarse ground black pepper. We made a graveyard in the top of a shoebox with egyptian names on the tombstones. Also at the dollar store, we found animal head figurines of a lion, bear and elephant. We got a package of small farm animals there as well and had half off them laying on their sides dead. We bought a selection of different plastic frogs. I can’t believe this, but we bought crickets or some kind of bug and we put them in a jar on the back steps – it was so incredibly gross – and so really impactful to think of them everywhere. Don’t remember what we did for choshech. We bought shower curtains with fish and ocean scene and hung them on the walls of the hallway to walk through the yam suf. Party city has and may have an ocean scene wall applique and/or tablecloths.
+THESE ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!
+thank you so much!
+I think you’re thinking TOO hard for the death of a first born- while we have the Egg (Beitzah)on the seder plate to symbolize the offering, we all know you can’t have a first born without supplying some eggs. Seems to me the egg that is boiled and charred could be some (chicken’s) firstborn. Of course, if you want to turn your chil
+d into a vegetarian, that might do it.
+I’ll come to YOUR house & we can do some of this WITH the boys for the SEDER. Then you & your guys can bring them to the event!
+We’ll make it positive for them somehow…………..
+I made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. I put some shredded coconut to represent lice, miniture marshmellows to represent hail, got some little platic frogs, wild animals and babies to decorate the top of the cupcakes. The children liked it but the adults got a bigger kick.
+Great ideas, would love to see a picture.
+For an edible slaying of the first born, last year I took fruit leather and cut out little coffin shapes. Morbid, but it conveyed the message. For the frogs I made green jelly in the little plastic shot glasses, put a black edible pen dot on KLP mini marshmellow and cut a half circle for mouths from the fruit leather.
+Have been thinking on the last plague, dark colored cotton candy,…something transparent….to represent the angel passing over us and taking the first born, thus explaining both sides.
+Cotton Candy for Pesach would be fun. This is interesting.
+For boils, I am going to use marshmallows with dots of red food coloring.
+My mother in law made the cutest makkos plates for the kids using many of the ideas mentioned above…and we decided on a squirt of ketchup in middle of the plate to symbolize the blood put on the jewish doorposts…A perfect way to depict the miracle for the kids and adults alike!
+I am trying to do ice cream sundaes with the 10 plagues this is what I have for ideas let me know if anyone has any more ideas…
+blood – strawberry syrup
+frogs – gummy frogs
+lice – white sprinkles
+beast – gummy bears
+disease of live stock – cow tails candy
+Boils – cherry or the red hot candies
+Hail / fire – Kosher marshmallows & Fire balls
+Locusts – Zelda’s chocolate marshmallow locusts.
+Darkness – hot fudge
+death of the first born – sour patch kids or cry babies
+Oh I love this, great idea.
+loving this neat game, thanks.
+We are doing chocolate babies for the death of the first born (Economy Candy)
+We are using clear rock candy for hail
+gummy frogs for frogs
+dark chocolate squares for darkness
+non-pareils for lice
+Fruit gushers for boils (my 14 year old insists this is just gross enough)
+gummy bears for wild beasts
+Red fruit punch for blood
+thinking about chocolate covered raisins for locusts, not sure what to do
+Wow, that is a lot of candy!! Let’s see who can come up with an all fruits and vegetable list.
+This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to see what that means.
+Exercise, Inflammation, and Autoimmune Health
+Why does exercise feel so different after an autoimmune diagnosis? Activities that our bodies loved in the past can now cause an autoimmune flare. Yet, not moving at all isn't healthy either. So, what do we do? In this podcast, we get professional insight into this topic. My guest, Andrea Wool, is a certified personal trainer and founder of Autoimmune Strong – a fitness website designed specifically for people with autoimmune disease. She'll be teaching us about the connection between stress, inflammation, and exercise, alongside its potential risks and benefits to our health.
+This is a companion podcast to Episode 63: Exercise & Autoimmune Disease – Part 1. In that episode, 4 people with autoimmune disease share their personal exercise journeys.)
+- Welcoming a New Podcast Sponsor – Bonafide Provisions (2:21)
+- They make.
+- The company was started by a nutritionist and chef, after seeing dramatic changes in their son’s health when they switched to a real food diet which included bone broth every day.
+-.
+- Vote for Me in The Paleo Magazine Awards (4:23)
+- I'm honored to be nominated in 4 categories: Best Podcast, Best Website – General Health, Best Website – Recipes, and Best Inspirational Voice. The ballot is online and you can vote through Monday 1/28. Your support means so much! Thank you.
+- Meet Andrea (6:27)
+- Andrea Wool is a certified personal trainer and founder of Autoimmune Strong – a fitness website designed specifically for people with autoimmune disease. She herself has celiac disease, Hashimoto’s, and fibromyalgia.
+- Prior to developing health issues, Andrea was an avid athlete. She was a competitive skier and cross-country runner in high school, and as an adult loved high-intensity, cardiovascular exercise. It was part of her identity.
+- Her autoimmune symptoms manifested after the birth of her second son, but it took another 2 years before she received her diagnoses. She struggled even to walk up the stairs or pick up her 3-year-old, and her fatigue was so high she needed naps every day. Exercise was out of the question. She was also unable to return to work. Highly motivated, she started researching healing diets, and changing her food choices improved her symptoms substantially. But whenever she tried incorporating exercise back into her life, it would cause autoimmune flares. She went back to school to learn more about exercise and health, and started developing a gentle, progressive exercise program that worked for her own body. This became the foundation for Autoimmune Strong.
+- Now, her life is so much better! She has energy, works full-time, and her favorite form of exercise is strength training. She still has to tune into her body and take it easy some days. But she's come leaps and bounds from where she started, and it's her mission in life to help others do the same.
+- Benefits of Exercise for People with Autoimmune Disease (12:56)
+- Potential Benefits: Enhanced overall physical and mental health, reduced anxiety and depression, reduced fatigue and improved energy levels, improved sleep, reduced pain and inflammation, improved range of motion, and elevated T-regulatory cells.
+- Caveat: Over-exercise for people with autoimmune disease has the opposite result, reversing all of those benefits above. The key is finding that “sweet spot” which varies by individual, and can also vary day-to-day.
+- Research:
+- Physical activity and autoimmune disease.
+- Effects of exercise on physical limitations and fatigue in rheumatic diseases.
+- Specific research by diagnosis: IBD, Lupus, MS, and RA.
+- Why Does Exercise Sometimes Cause an Autoimmune Flare? (18:29)
+- People with autoimmune disease experience exercise intolerance, a lower capacity to handle exercise due to a higher stress burden.
+- 3 types of stressors: (1) The autoimmune body has a hyper-vigilant immune system that's always on high alert. This acts as a constant internal stressor, even when we're resting. (2) External stressors from life are added on top of that: work stress, emotional stress, relationship stress, but also the normal stress of day-to-day life. (3) Finally, exercise itself is a stressor. When these three things combine, it can become too much for the autoimmune body to handle, resulting in increased inflammation that can turn into an autoimmune flare.
+- An exercise-induced autoimmune flare can look different for different people. If might be an exacerbation of autoimmune symptoms, but it can also manifest as high fatigue, flu-like symptoms, moodiness or irritability, or an inability to sleep. This might happen immediately after exercise, or not until the next day, or only happen cumulatively after a week of new exercise.
+- How much exercise a person with autoimmune disease can handle depends on the interaction of these three stressors: What's the current level of autoimmune activity and inflammation in your body? What's the stress level in your life right now? How well are you managing that stress? What self-care measures do you do on a daily basis? What's the intensity of the exercise you are choosing?
+- When exercise causes an autoimmune flare, we actually don't get any exercise benefit. Not only do we miss out on the health benefits listed above, we also don't meet our strength, endurance, or weight loss goals, because we are unintentionally stoking inflammation in the body instead.
+- When adjusting your exercise routine, there are 4 things to consider: (1) Intensity (2) Duration (3) Frequency (4) Type. If you are in a cycle of exercise-induced flares, start low in all 4 areas, to give your body a chance to recover. Stretching and gentle strengthening exercises are a good choice when in the recovery phase, with a focus on core body strength.
+- Resources:
+- What is Autoimmune Strong? (25:00)
+- A fitness membership website designed by Andrea for people with chronic illness. It's a progressive exercise program that you can do at home, and it's designed to harness the benefits mentioned above, while avoiding an exercise-induced autoimmune flare. She begins by teaching core strengthening and flexibility training, and slowly increases the intensity from there. The goal is to help people learn to listen to their bodies, adapt their exercise accordingly, and safely rebuild strength and fitness.
+- The program includes videos, a private online support group, monthly Q&A calls, and educational resources. She adds new resources all the time, based on membership needs. In addition to exercise, the program also teaches foam rolling (also known as self-myofascial release).
+- You can register for a free 7-day trial, to see if the program's right for you. If you like what you see, use the code PHOENIXHELIX for $10 off your first month's membership.
+- Thank You to Our Podcast Sponsor – Paleo on the Go (41:05)
+- Chef Ann has been busy in the recipe testing kitchen! Check out their newest menu offerings: Chicken and Dumplings, Savory Hash Breakfast Bowl, Italian Wedding Soup, Orange Chicken with Asian Stir-Fry, Bison Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy and Onion Confit Cauliflower Mash, and 2 new desserts: Tigernut Swirl Brownies and Snickerdoodle Cookies.
+-.
+- Body Image and Autoimmune Disease (42:33)
+- There's a grieving process that comes with autoimmune disease, when our bodies and our lives have dramatically changed. It can feel very lonely because it's often an invisible illness. To others, we “look fine”, so why can't we do what we did before? And we ask ourselves the same question. Guilt, shame, self-judgement, and feelings of worthlessness are common. Anger, too! The end result can be a steady stream of negative self-talk, where we end up kicking ourselves when we're already down.
+- Over-exercise often stems from a desire to change how we look, regardless of what our body is telling us it needs. The end result, though, is that we don't lose weight because we're stuck in an inflammatory cycle, and our autoimmune symptoms get worse as well. The type of exercise Andrea advocates can be a path back to self-love. We learn to truly be in our bodies, listen to their messages, and step-by-step become stronger and more capable through a gentler exercise routine. It sets us up for success instead of failure, and each step forward can be celebrated. It's an exercise routine that lets us feel proud of ourselves, instead of punishing ourselves.
+- Andrea also feels it's essential to rediscover joy in our lives. Sometimes that means appreciating what we have in the form of a gratitude practice. Sometimes that means finding new activities and experiences we can enjoy in place of the ones we can't currently do. For her, it means finding reasons to belly laugh. It also means looking hard at the balance of giving and receiving in our lives. Many of us spent most of our lives putting everyone else's needs above our own. It can feel “wrong” when suddenly we need to prioritize our own needs and ask for help instead of being the person who always gave it. Part of the journey back to self-love is seeing that giving and receiving are both beautiful qualities. One is not more valuable than the other.
+- Resources:
+- Andrea's Motto: Train for Life, not a Marathon (51:24)
+- “I want to be able to live a full life – to play with my children, to get up and down from the floor, to carry a laundry basket, to garden, to do what I want to do and be able to say, “Yes, I can” instead of “No, I can't”. This is why I exercise. That's my motivation.”
+- Exercise Fears (54:10)
+- When we overcome exercise intolerance and begin gaining strength and fitness, we have choices to make about the exercise we choose to do. An autoimmune body in remission is capable of much more than an autoimmune body that's flaring. Should we ever go back to the exercise we did before? Where's the line between being wise and not over-stressing our body, and being afraid – not willing to try for fear that we will flare or fail?
+- It's all about listening to your body – and this is a skill you gained through the slow, gentle, progressive exercise that allowed you to overcome exercise intolerance. As you attempt a new form of exercise, listen to your body's signals. Also assess the amount of stress you have in your life. Remember that inflammation + life stress + exercise stress is the equation. If you want to increase your exercise stress, your inflammation should be minimal, and your stress well-managed.
+- It's often a process of trial and error. You try a little bit more and see how it goes. If you flare, you cut back a little. And as long as you stay tuned into your body's signals, the flares will be less common and pass more quickly.
+- Keeping a journal is also very helpful. Keep track of your exercise and how you feel afterwards, not just that day, but the following day and week as well.
+- You can also use a Heart Rate Variability (HRV) monitor to help assess your body's capacity for exercise on a daily basis. Elite HRV is a free app for your smartphone.
+- Outro (58:35)
+- Andrea Wool's fitness website is called Autoimmune Strong. She offers a free 7-day trial, so you can see if the program's right for you. If you like what you see, use the code PHOENIXHELIX for $10 off your first month's membership.
+-
+- Exercise & Autoimmune Disease (Part 1)
+- The Art of Stress Management with Evan Brand
+- Fatigue with Andrea Nakayama
+- Organic Bone Broth. Obsessively Crafted. Traditionally Made.
+- Paleo AIP Meals Delivered to Your Door
+- Fitness for People with Autoimmune Disease<<
+“Here’s a book for.
+Today, that fossil culture continues to decline, replaced by the emergent “third culture” of the essay’s title, a reference to C. P. Snow’s celebrated division of the thinking world into two cultures — that of the literary intellectual and that of the scientist. What we witnessed in 1992 was the passing of the torch from one group of thinkers, the traditional literary intellectuals, to a new group, the intellectuals of the emerging third culture. Since then, what traditionally had been called “science” has become “public culture.”.
+"Nobody ever voted for the telephone, the automobile, for printing, for television, or for electricity," I wrote in 1969.
+And science-based reality continues: nobody voted for the the computational idea, for cybernetics, for the mathematical theory of information (i.e. the digital universe), for the Internet. Governments, politicians, operating through rear-view mirrors, can only play catch up. Science is the big news. Science is the important story.
+In 1997, through the nonprofit Edge Foundation, Inc., I founded Edge ( [4]) a website and online salon, inhabited by the leading lights of the third culture. On Edge you you have at your fingertips a general science education from what Denis Dutton, founder and editor of Arts & Letters Daily, ( [5]) has called "The greatest virtual research university in the world". Or, as recently noted by The Observer: a "global online Royal Society." (See: "Edge in the News")
+Every year I ask the third culture thinkers on Edge a question. This year, I asked Arianna if she would like to share the event with the readers of Huffington Post.
+The Edge Annual Question — 2006
+WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA? [6].
+A few years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Ernst Mayr, the legendary biologist known as "the Darwin of the 20th Century" who recently died at the age of 100. Attempting to explain the third culture to a man who received in Ph.D. from Berlin University in 1925 is a daunting task. But Mayr, who was still sharp as a tack, didn’t miss a beat.
+“Oh, I get it,” he said. “It’s a conversation!”
+Welcome to Edge [4]. Welcome to "dangerous ideas". Welcome to the conversation!
+Happy New Year!
+p.s. Thanks to Steven Pinker for suggesting the Edge Annual Question — 2006.
+p.p.s. Here is the annotated table of contents for the 72,500 word document:
+MARTIN REES
+President, The Royal Society; Professor of
+Cosmology & Astrophysics, Master, Trinity
+College, University of Cambridge; Author, Our
+Final Century: The 50/50 Threat to Humanity's
+Survival
+>Science may be 'running out of control'
+J. CRAIG VENTER
+Genomics Researcher; Founder & President, J. Craig Venter Science Foundation
+>Revealing the genetic basis of personality and
+>behavior will create societal conflicts
+LEO CHALUPA
+Ophthalmologist and Neurobiologist, University of California, Davis
+>A 24-hour period of absolute solitude
+V.S. RAMACHANDRAN
+Neuroscientist; Director, Center for Brain and
+Cognition, University of California, San Diego;
+Author, A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness
+>Francis Crick's "Dangerous Idea"
+DAVID BUSS
+Psychologist, University of Texas, Austin;
+Author, The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is
+Designed to Kill
+>The Evolution of Evil
+PAUL BLOOM
+Psychologist, Yale University; Author, Descartes' Baby
+>There are no souls
+PAUL W. EWALD
+Evolutionary Biologist; Director, Program in
+Evolutionary Medicine, University of Louisville;
+Author, Plague Time
+>A New of the Golden Age of Medicine
+BART KOSKO
+Professor, Electrical Engineering, USC; Author, Heaven in a Chip
+>Most bell curves have thick tails
+MATT RIDLEY
+Science Writer; Founding chairman of the
+International Centre for Life; Author, The Agile
+Gene: How Nature Turns on Nature
+>Government is the problem not the solution
+DAVID PIZARRO
+Psychologist, Cornell University
+>Hodgepodge Morality
+RANDOPLH M. NESSE
+Psychiatrist, University of Michigan; Coauthor
+(with George Williams), Why We Get Sick: The New
+Science of Darwinian Medicine
+>Unspeakable Ideas
+GREGORY BENFORD
+Physicist, UC Irvine; Author, Deep Time
+>Think outside the Kyoto box
+MARCO IACOBONI
+Neuroscientist; Director, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Lab, UCLA
+>Media Violence Induces Imitative Violence: The Problem With Super Mirrors
+BARRY C. SMITH
+Philosopher, Birbeck, University of London; Coeditor, Knowing Our Own Minds
+>What We Know May Not Change Us
+PHILIP W. ANDERSON
+Physicist, Princeton University; Nobel Laureate
+in Physics 1977; Author, Economy as a Complex
+Evolving System
+>Dark Energy might not exist
+TIMOTHY TAYLOR
+Archaeologist, University of Bradford; Author, The Buried Soul
+>The human brain is a cultural artefact
+OLIVER MORTON
+Chief News and Features Editor at Nature; Author, Mapping Mars
+>Our planet is not in peril
+SAMUEL BARONDES
+Neurobiologist and Psychiatrist, University of
+California San Francisco; Author, Better Than
+Prozac
+>Using Medications To Change Personality
+DAVID BODANIS
+Writer, Consultant; Author: The Electric Universe
+>The hyper-Islamicist critique of the West as a
+>decadent force that is already on a downhill
+>course might be true
+NICHOLAS HUMPHREY
+Psychologist, London School of Economics; Author, The Mind Made Flesh
+>"It is undesirable to believe in a proposition
+>when there is no ground whatever for supposing
+>it true"
+ERIC FISCHL
+Artist, New York City; Mary Boone Gallery
+>If the unknown becomes known
+STANISLAS DEHEANE
+Cognitive Neuropsychology Researcher, Institut
+National de la Santé, Paris; Author, The Number
+Sense
+>Touching and pushing the limits of the human brain
+JOEL GARREAU
+Cultural Revolution Correspondent, Washington Post ; Author, Radical Evolution
+>Suppose Faulkner was right?
+HELEN FISHER
+Research Professor, Department of Anthropology,
+Rutgers University; Author, Why We Love
+>Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants (such as
+>Prozac and many others) can jeopardize feelings
+>of romantic love, feelings of attachment to a
+>spouse or partner, one's fertility and one's
+>genetic future
+PAUL DAVIES
+Physicist, Macquarie University, Sydney; Author, How to Build a Time Machine
+>The fight against global warming is lost
+APRIL GORNIK
+Artist, New York City; Danese Gallery
+>Great art makes itself vulnerable to interpretation
+JAMSHED BHARUCHA
+Professor of Psychology, Provost, Senior Vice President, Tufts University
+>The more we discover about cognition and the
+>brain, the more we will realize that education
+>as we know it does not accomplish what we
+>believe it does
+JORDAN POLLACK
+Computer Scientist, Brandeis University
+>Science as just another Religion
+JUAN ENRIQUEZ
+CEO, Biotechonomy; Founding Director, Harvard
+Business School's Life Sciences Project; Author,
+The Untied States of America
+>Technology can untie the U.S.
+STEPHEN M. KOSSLYN
+Psychologist, Harvard University; Author, Wet Mind
+>A Science of the Divine?
+JERRY COYNE
+Evolutionary Biologist; Professor, Department of
+Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago;
+Author (with H. Allen Orr), Speciation
+>Many behaviors of modern humans were genetically
+>hard-wired (or soft-wired) in our distant
+>ancestors by natural selection
+ERNST PÖPPEL
+Neuroscientist, Chairm Board of Directors, Human
+Science Center and Department of Medical
+Psychology, Munich University, Germany; Author,
+Mindworks
+>My belief in science
+GEOFFREY MILLER
+Evolutionary Psychologist, University of New Mexico; Author, The Mating Mind
+>Runaway consumerism explains the Fermi Paradox
+ROBERT SHAPIRO
+Professor Emeritus, Senior Research Scientist,
+Department of Chemistry, New York University.
+Author, Planetary Dreams
+>We shall understand the origin of life within the next 5 years
+KAI KRAUSE
+Researcher, philosopher, software developer,
+Author: 3DScience: new Scanning Electron
+Microscope imagery
+>Anty Gravity: Chaos Theory in an all too practical sense
+CARLO ROVELLI
+Professor of Physics, University of the
+Mediterraneum, Marseille; Member, Intitut
+Universitaire de France: Author, Quantum Gravity
+>What the physics of the 20th century says about
+>the world might in fact be true
+RICHARD DAWKINS
+Evolutionary Biologist, Charles Simonyi Professor
+For The Understanding Of Science, Oxford
+University; Author, The Ancestor's Tale
+>Let's all stop beating Basil's car
+SETH LLOYD
+Quantum Mechanical Engineer, MIT
+>The genetic breakthrough that made people capable of ideas themselves
+CAROLYN PORCO
+Planetary Scientist; Director Cassini Imaging
+Central Laboratory for Operations 
+LAWRENCE KRAUSS
+Physicist, Case Western Reserve University; Author, Atom
+>The world may fundamentally be inexplicable
+DANIEL C. DENNETT
+Philosopher; University Professor, Co-Director,
+Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University;
+Author, Freedom Evolves
+>There aren't enough minds to house the population explosion of memes (to come)
+DANIEL GILBERT
+Psychologist, Harvard University
+>The idea that ideas can be dangerous
+ANDY CLARK
+School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Edinburgh University
+>The quick-thinking zombies inside us
+SHERRY TURKLE
+Psychologist, MIT; Author, Life on the Screen:
+Identity in the Age of the Internet
+>After several generations of living in the
+>computer culture, simulation will become fully
+>naturalized. Authenticity in the traditional
+>sense loses its value, a vestige of another time.
+STEVEN STROGATZ
+Applied mathematician, Cornell University; Author, Sync
+>The End of Insight
+TERRENCE SEJNOWSKI
+Computational Neuroscientist, Howard Hughes
+Medical Institute; Coauthor, The Computational
+Brain
+>When will the Internet become aware of itself?
+LYNN MARGULIS Biologist, University of
+Massachusetts, Amherst; Coauthor (with Dorion
+Sagan), Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the
+Origins of Species
+>Bacteria are us
+THOMAS METZINGER
+Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies;
+Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; President
+German Cognitive Science Society; Author: Being
+No One
+>The Forbidden Fruit Intuition
+DIANE F. HALPERN
+Professor of Psychology, Claremont McKenna
+College; Past-president (2005), the American
+Psychological Association; Author, Thought and
+Knowledge
+>Choosing the sex of one's child
+GARY MARCUS
+Psychologist, New York University; Author, The Birth of the Mind
+>Minds, genes, and machines
+JARON LANIER
+Computer Scientist and Musician
+>Homuncular Flexibility
+W. DANIEL HILLIS
+Physicist, Computer Scientist; Chairman, Applied
+Minds, Inc.; Author, The Pattern on the Stone
+>The idea that we should all share our most dangerous ideas
+NEIL GERSHENFELD
+Physicist; Director, Center for Bits and Atoms,MIT; Author, Fab
+>Democratizing access to the means of invention
+PAUL STEINHARDT
+Albert Einstein Professor of Science, Princeton University
+>It's a matter of time
+SAM HARRIS
+Neuroscience Graduate Student, UCLA; Author, The End of Faith
+>Science Must Destroy Religion
+SCOTT ATRAN
+Anthropologist, University of Michigan; Author, In God's We Trust
+>Science encourages religion in the long run (and vice versa)
+MARCELO GLEISER
+Physicist, Dartmouth College; Author, The Prophet and the Astronomer
+>Can science explain itself?
+DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
+Media Analyst; Documentary Writer; Author, Get
+Back in the Box : Innovation from the Inside Out
+>Open Source Currency
+JUDITH RICH HARRIS
+Independent Investigator and Theoretician; Author, The Nurture Assumption
+>The idea of zero parental influence
+ALUN ANDERSON
+Senior Consultant, New Scientist
+>Brains cannot become minds without bodies
+TODD E. FEINBERG, M.D.
+Psychiatrist and Neurologist, Albert Einstein
+College of Medicine; Author, Altered Egos
+>Myths and fairy tales are not true
+STEWART BRAND
+Founder, Whole Earth Catalog, cofounder; The
+Well; cofounder, Global Business Network; Author,
+How Buildings Learn
+>What if public policy makers have an obligation
+>to engage historians, and historians have an
+>obligation to try to help?
+JARED DIAMOND
+Biologist; Geographer, UCLA; Author, Collapse
+>The evidence that tribal peoples often damage their environments and make war
+LEONARD SUSSKIND
+Physicist, Stanford University; Author, The Cosmic Landscape
+>The "Landscape"
+GERALD HOLTON
+Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor
+of the History of Science, Emeritus, Harvard
+University; Author, Thematic Origins of
+Scientific Thought
+>The medicination of the ancient yearning for immortality
+CHARLES SEIFE
+Professor of Journalism, New York University;
+formerly journalist, Science magazine; Author,
+Zero: The Biography Of A Dangerous Idea
+>Nothing
+KARL SABBAGH
+Writer and Television Producer; Author, The Riemann Hypothesis
+>The human brain and its products are incapable
+>of understanding the truths about the universe
+RUPERT SHELDRAKE
+Biologist, London; Author of The Presence of the Past
+>A sense of direction involving new scientific principles
+TOR NØRRETRANDERS
+Science Writer; Consultant; Lecturer, Copenhagen; Author, The User Illusion
+>Social Relativity
+JOHN HORGAN
+Science Writer; Author, Rational Mysticism
+>We Have No Souls
+ERIC R. KANDEL
+Biochemist and University Professor, Columbia
+University; Recipient, The Nobel Prize, 2000;
+Author, Cellular Basis of Behavior
+>Free will is exercised unconsciously, without awareness
+DANIEL GOLEMAN
+Psychologist; Author, Emotional Intelligence
+>Cyber-disinhibition
+BRIAN GREENE
+Physicist & Mathematician, Columbia University;
+Author, The Fabric of the Cosmos; Presenter,
+three-part Nova program, The Elegant Universe
+>The Multiverse
+DAVID GELERNTER
+Computer Scientist, Yale University; Chief
+Scientist, Mirror Worlds Technologies; Author,
+Drawing Life
+>What are people well-informed about in the Information Age?
+MAHZARIN R. BANAJI
+Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
+>We do not (and to a large extent, cannot) know
+>who we are through introspection
+RODNEY BROOKS
+Director, MIT Computer Science and Artificial
+Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); Chief Technical
+Officer of iRobot Corporation; author Flesh and
+Machines
+>Being alone in the universe
+LEE SMOLIN
+Physicist, Perimeter Institute; Author, Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
+>Seeing Darwin in the light of Einstein; seeing Einstein in the light of Darwin
+ALISON GOPNIK
+Psychologist, UC-Berkeley; Coauthor, The Scientist In the Crib
+>A cacophony of "controversy"
+KEVIN KELLY
+Editor-At-Large, Wired; Author, New Rules for the New Economy
+>More anonymity is good
+DENIS DUTTON
+Professor of the philosophy of art, University of
+Canterbury, New Zealand, editor of Philosophy and
+Literature and Arts & Letters Daily
+>A "grand narrative"
+SIMON BARON-COHEN
+Psychologist, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge
+University; Author, The Essential Difference
+>A political system based on empathy
+FREEMAN DYSON
+Physicist, Institute of Advanced Study, Author, Disturbing the Universe
+>Biotechnology will be thoroughly domesticated in the next fifty years
+GREGORY COCHRAN
+Consultant in adaptive optics and an adjunct
+professor of anthropology at the University of
+Utah
+>There is something new under the sun - us
+GEORGE B. DYSON
+Science Historian; Author, Project Orion
+>Understanding molecular biology without discovering the origins of life
+KEITH DEVLIN
+Mathematician; Executive Director, Center for the
+Study of Language and Information, Stanford;
+Author, The Millennium Problems
+>We are entirely alone
+FRANK TIPLER
+Professor of Mathematical Physics, Tulane
+University; Author, The Physics of Immortality
+>Why I Hope the Standard Model is Wrong about Why
+>There is More Matter Than Antimatter
+SCOTT SAMPSON
+Chief Curator, Utah Museum of Natural History;
+Associate Professor Department of Geology and
+Geophysics, University of Utah; Host, Dinosaur
+Planet TV series
+>The purpose of life is to disperse energy
+JEREMY BERNSTEIN
+Professor of Physics, Stevens Institute of
+Technology; Author, Hitler's Uranium Club
+The idea that we understand plutonium
+MIHALYI CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
+Psychologist; Director, Quality of Life Research
+Center, Claremont Graduate University; Author,
+Flow
+>The free market
+IRENE PEPPERBERG
+Research Associate, Psychology, Harvard University; Author, The Alex Studies
+>The differences between humans and nonhumans are quantitative, not qualitative
+BRIAN GOODWIN
+Biologist, Schumacher College, Devon, UK; Author,
+How The Leopard Changed Its Spots
+>Fields of Danger
+RUDY RUCKER
+Mathematician, Computer Scientist; CyberPunk
+Pioneer; Novelist; Author, Lifebox, the Seashell,
+and the Soul
+>Mind is a universally distributed quality
+STEVEN PINKER
+Psychologist, Harvard University; Author, The Blank Slate
+>Groups of people may differ genetically in their
+>average talents and temperaments
+RICHARD E. NISBETT
+Professor of Psychology, Co-Director of the
+Culture and Cognition Program, University of
+Michigan; Author, The Geography of Thought: How
+Asians and Westerners Think Differently. . . And
+Why
+>Telling More Than We Can Know
+ROBERT R. PROVINE
+Psychologist and Neuroscientist, University of Maryland; Author, Laughter
+>This is all there is
+DONALD HOFFMAN
+Cognitive Scientist, UC, Irvine; Author, Visual Intelligence
+>A spoon is like a headache
+MARC D. HAUSER
+Psychologist and Biologist, Harvard University: Author, Wild Minds
+>A universal grammar of [mental] life
+RAY KURZWEIL
+Inventor and Technologist; Author, The
+Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
+>The near-term inevitability of radical life extension and expansion
+HAIM HARARI
+Physicist, former President, Weizmann Institute of Science
+>Democracy may be on its way out
+DAVID G. MYERS
+Social Psychologist; Co-author (with Letha
+Scanzoni); What God has Joined Together: A
+Christian Case for Gay Marriage
+>A marriage option for all
+CLAY SHIRKY
+Social & Technology Network Topology Researcher;
+Adjunct Professor, NYU Graduate School of
+Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP)
+>Free will is going away
+MICHAEL SHERMER
+Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist
+for Scientific American; Author, Science Friction
+>Where goods cross frontiers, armies won't
+ARNOLD TREHUB
+Psychologist, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Author, The Cognitive Brain
+>Modern science is a product of biology
+ROGER C. SCHANK
+Psychologist & Computer Scientist; Chief Learning
+Officer, Trump University; Author, Making Minds
+Less Well Educated than Our Own
+>No More Teacher's Dirty Looks
+SUSAN BLACKMORE
+Psychologist and Skeptic; Author, Consciousness: An Introduction
+>Everything is pointless
+DAVID LYKKEN
+Behavioral geneticist and Emeritus Professor of
+Psychology, University of Minnesota; Author,
+Happiness
+>Laws requiring parental licensure
+CLIFFORD PICKOVER
+Author, Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves
+>We are all virtual
+JOHN ALLEN PAULOS
+Professor of Mathematics, Temple University,
+Philadelphia; Author, A Mathematician Plays the
+Stock Market
+>The self is a conceptual chimera
+JAMES O'DONNELL
+Classicist; Cultural Historian; Provost,
+Georgetown University; Author, Avatars of the Word
+>Marx was right: the "state" will evaporate and
+>cease to have useful meaning as a form of human
+>organization
+PHILIP ZIMBARDO
+Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University; Author: Shyness
+>The banality of evil is matched by the banality of heroism
+RICHARD FOREMAN
+Founder & Director, Ontological-Hysteric Theater
+>Radicalized relativity
+JOHN GOTTMAN
+Psychologist; Founder of Gottman Institute; Author, The Mathematics of Marriage
+>Emotional intelligence
+PIET HUT
+Professor of Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
+>A radical reevaluuation of the character of time
+DAN SPERBER
+Social and cognitive scientist, CNRS, Paris; author, Explaining Culture
+>Culture is natural
+MARTIN E.P. SELIGMAN
+Psychologist, University of Pennsylvania, Author, Authentic Happiness
+>Relativism
+HOWARD GARDNER
+Psychologist, Harvard University; Author, Changing Minds
+>Following Sisyphus, not Pandora
+Interview with bassist Jordan Rhyno and vocalist Nick Allaire
+Interview conducted by MetalMike
+Date online: January 9, 2016
+Antioch is a Traditional Heavy Metal band that hails from Ontario in Canada. Antioch II: First Strÿke is the band's debut album and as you may have gathered from the title, as well as the band name which is taken from a Monty Python movie, humor is a big part of Antioch's DNA. That and a strong love of 80s Heavy Metal by Judas Priest, Manowar, Metallica and others. In the following interview, Jordan and Nick tell us about the band, the recording of the album, their inspirations and don't waste an opportunity to crack wise.
+MetalMike: Hails Antioch! How are things going for the band now that your debut album, Antioch II: First Strÿke is available? Why Antioch II? Isn't this your first album?
+Jordan: Hey MetalMike, thanks for sitting down with us. Things are going slightly better than they were before we released the album. Thus, everything is awesome. This is our first full-length. We released an EP last year (2014) called Antioch. Like any good movie, Antioch II: First Strÿke had to sound just as appealing as the first. The next album will probably be called Antioch III: Back 4 More.
+Nick: I'm excited for Antioch IV: Third Time's the Charm.
+MetalMike: Before we get into the music can you give us a brief history of the band? How long have you been
+together in the current form and what were the members doing prior to forming Antioch?
+Jordan: We are just four boys who came together to find the meaning of friendship and Christmas spirit. We've been together since late 2013. While we were all in bands before Antioch, Antioch is what I would consider everyone's first "serious" band.
+Nick: The band's guitarist Alex and I have been in bands together since we first met in high school, but we could never find people who wanted to play the good stuff (Heavy Metal). By the grace of the metal gods, we managed to link up with Jordan and Brendan, thus creating Antioch: Four boys who wanted to play some Judas Priest-style Heavy Metal.
+MetalMike: Who came up with the name Antioch? Does it symbolize anything or is it just a cool-sounding name? The band's logo is great, in an 80s way. Who is responsible for that bit of artwork?
+Jordan: The name has a lot of meaning for us. It symbolizes hope, strength and destruction. Something we try to do with our music. The name was taken from the battle where King Arthur and his brave knights faced the ferocious beast in their quest to find the Holy Grail. The only thing that could stop the creature was the holy hand grenade of Antioch. Alex, our guitarist created the logo for the most part. Every band's logo should have a weapon in it.
+Nick: King Arthur has never faced such a ferocious beast, so like the grenade, we too are ferocious.
+MetalMike: Obviously the 80s period of Heavy Metal is important to Antioch. What attracted the guys in the band to that sound? Which bands are the biggest influences on your style and when did you first discover them?
+Jordan: What attracted us to 80s heavy metal is the fact that it's the best damn music on the face of this goddamn earth. Judas Priest and Manowar are the two biggest influences on the band. After that it's a mixed bag. Some of us are influenced by old Metallica, some of us prefer mid-90s Load/ReLoad Metallica. Some people are influenced by Freedom Call others by The Aquabats, so yeah, it's a mixed bag.
+Nick: I was attracted to it because it's the best kind of heavy metal, although I originally started off listening to the Big Four when I first got into metal. Also, which one of us prefers mid-90s Metallica?
+Jordan: I believe Alex has a fascination with "Fuel."
+MetalMike: There are a lot of bands around these days trying to recapture, recreate or just rip off the sounds of bands like Judas Priest, Omen, Metal Church, etc. What do you guys to do make sure that you maintain your individuality while still writing songs that sound like the music you love? Is it hard to maintain separation from your heroes?
+Jordan: I have no problem with people trying to recreate those bands, because in that case, metal is going to be awesome again. When we write new music, we are always aware of what we did in the past and what we are doing in the present. We could just make all of our songs sound fast and furious and ultimately the same, but we prefer variety. We like to have the "Painkiller", the "Hell Patrol", the "Desert Plains", the "Turbo Lover", etc., etc.
+Nick: I agree with Jordan. If we wrote nothing but songs like "Turbo Lover" and "Desert Plains", I'd be a happy man, but there does come a certain degree of scrutiny that we have to maintain so we don't sound like we're simply doing what has been done before. I feel that the music we make has the heart and soul of the 80s Heavy Metal, but done our way, and no one can replicate that.
+MetalMike: What goes into a great, 80s-style Heavy Metal song?
+Jordan: All around catchiness; catchy lyrics, catchy rhythm parts, catchy solos.
+Nick: For the answer to that question, please consult the Judas Priest discography from the years 1980 to 1990.
+MetalMike: Antioch II: First Strÿke is a very solid release, from my point of view, so has it generated any label interest? Is that even part of the plan or would you prefer to remain independent and not beholden to a label?
+Nick: Thanks! We're glad you like it, Mike. As far as we know, no major labels are interested in Antioch at the moment (their loss, I know), but we have been contacted by a few independent labels. For the time being, Antioch will remain an independent band. If the right opportunity presents itself, we could very well find ourselves signed in the near future, but for now, these boys remain independent.
+MetalMike: The cover art is very professional-looking and really emphasizes the old-school nature of the album. Who created the cover and was a big expense for an independent band or is money less important than having the right image?
+Nick: That wonderful piece of artwork was created by Mr. Hervé Monjeaud. He's known for the artwork he does for Iron Maiden as well as Gamma Ray. We envisioned the artwork we wanted months in advance and we knew we couldn't just go with any artist to bring our vision to life. I believe it was our drummer Brendan who suggested going with Hervé. We contacted him and he loved our idea. The end result was nothing short of spectacular. I mean come on, it's a lion wielding a sword, wearing a pickelhaube helmet while riding a missile through space and being chased by a giant, iron space serpent. What's not to love?
+Money is always an issue when it comes to making music, but if this was about the money, we wouldn't be doing the music that we love. You can't put a price on artwork like that.
+MetalMike: Who writes the songs for Antioch? Is it a whole-band effort or are there one or two main songwriters?
+Jordan: It's a band effort. Some people contribute less than others in the initial stages of some songs, but we all play an important part of this metal pizza of a band.
+MetalMike: Who writes the lyrics and what kinds of things do you like to sing about? Many of the songs seem to be about "Heavy Metal" topics like "Enhammered" and "The Strÿker Rides" but are there deeper meanings behind any of the words?
+Nick: as the vocalist, I feel a strong, personal attachment to the lyrics I write, as I can relate to them more, but I do not write all of the lyrics. I've written about 50% of the lyrics on my own and Jordan has written a large portion of the lyrics as well. We've also collaborated as a group on quite a few songs. I'm always open to ideas and contributions when it comes to lyric writing, and I'll never turn down amazing lyrics, even if I didn't write them. All of us have our own writing style when it comes to the lyrics, and when we collaborate, we can come up with some pretty crazy stuff.
+Most of our songs revolve around battles, space, executions, war, religion, and other heavy metal topics like that. Some of our songs do have deeper/hidden meaning, but what would be the fun in spilling the beans? I'd like to leave the deeper interpretations up to the listener. What one song might mean to us might mean something completely different to someone else, and we think that's just terrific.
+MetalMike: Where was Antioch II: First Strÿke recorded? Did you record the album like the bands back in the 80s with everyone in the studio at the same time playing together or was it a more modern effort with different parts recorded at different times?
+Nick: We actually time-travelled back to the 80s so that we could authentically record it the way we wanted to. Why didn't we just stay? Well, we didn't think about it at the time.
+Jordan: The record was recorded at the Lincoln County Social Club in Toronto; we recorded all of the instruments at once and went back to record vocals, leads, and other nuances separately. Since we did time travel we did use actual road maps, as our GPS didn't work once we got there.
+MetalMike: What are your favorite tracks from Antioch II: First Strÿke and why?
+Jordan: My favourite tracks on the album are "Iron Serpent" and "Ebon Star". Both have strong catchy riffs, and I think they both capture the variety of styles, moods, and atmospheres we try to convey.
+Nick: If we didn't all love the songs, we wouldn't have recorded them (laughs), but if I had to pick a few favourites, I'd go with "Ebon Star" and "Antioch". They're both so unique. With "Ebon Star", there is an overwhelming dark tone to it, which we don't often take, and I really got to go nuts with the vocals on that song. Antioch is a true heavy metal anthem that I'll never get tired of belting out on stage.
+MetalMike: Has Antioch been able to play live much? Are there many places to play in the Ontario area? Is Antioch and band you hope to make a career from or does it take a back seat to family, jobs, etc.?
+Jordan: We've played a lot in our immediate area, but not much outside. There are lots of places to play in Ontario, but it's really just a matter if there are people that will come see you. For the important things, Antioch does take a back seat, but we are really just seeing where this crazy road will take us.
+MetalMike: If you could tour with any one band from the 80s, which one would it be?
+Jordan: Warlock, though if we're talking about bands that are still around Saxon or Doro will suffice.
+Nick: My dream tour would be Judas Priest, Manowar, and Antioch. I would love to play in Europe with some of the European greats like Scorpions, Helloween, and even Alestorm (even though they're not 80s).
+MetalMike: The internet has its pros and cons, like reaching lots of people through social media (pro) and illegal downloading (con). One thing that is definitely a pro is that fans can see bands from the other side of the planet on sites like YouTube. Does Antioch have any live music available?
+Jordan: We have some songs stuff on YouTube, both of our albums are available on Bandcamp, Spotify, etc., etc. We haven't quite mastered social media. Our Twitter page is pretty much only filled with retweets from the current WWE Tag Team Champions, the New Day. I guess we should plug other stuff, and be more active, but we aren't really that type of goofballs.
+MetalMike: What are the biggest challenges for a band like Antioch and, on the other hand, what are biggest rewards of doing what you love?
+Nick: Our biggest hurdle is making sure we don't get classified as a run-of-the-mill 80s metal band just doing what has been done before. We're not worried about this at all though. We know we're a taste of the 80s, but we have our own style and we've heard nothing but good things over the past couple years and we're gonna keep doing things our way.
+Our biggest reward is pretty much the way you said it, Mike; we get to do what we love. There's really nothing better than that. We get to go up on stage, play kickass heavy metal and watch all different kinds of people, young and old, headbang and mosh to the music we created. We hope one day to do it for a living and actually make enough money to get by. We don't want to be rich. We don't even want to be incredibly famous, but to be able to focus 100% of our time into making music that our fans will love; that's the dream right there.
+MetalMike: What's up next for Antioch? A double-live album? A world tour in your own private jet?
+Jordan: We have some ideas floating about. There will be something released in 2016, we just don't know what yet.
+Nick: Those ideas sound good, MetalMike. Sign us up!
+MetalMike: Thank you for taking some time and answering these questions. I wish you success and am looking forward to more great music in the near future! Let's finish up with where fans can access your music and learn more about the band.
+Jordan: Thanks for having us. The sites you can reach us at are:
+facebook.com/antiochmetal
+antiochmetal.bandcamp.com
+or you can even email us at antiochmetal@outlook.com
+Copyright © 1999-2016, Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt. All Rights Reserved.
+—–BREAKING—–
+THE GENERALS REALLY ARE IN CHARGE
+The puppet president gave an interview to Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, his “first major interview since ordering a military strike on a Syrian airfield late last week”. What do we learn? Well, in addition to thinking he bombed Iraq (he required correcting)? “What I did should have been done by the Obama administration a long time before I did it,” Trump said. Who else feels that way? He also “called Assad ‘an animal’ and ‘truly an evil person’”. Takes one to know one? In the single greatest nod to the Mattis-McMaster worldview over the Bannon-Jared reality TV feud, Trump said, “it is now up to Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his support of the Syrian regime.” Trump also recounted the chocolate cake he ate while telling the Chinese leader Xi Jinping about missiles over dessert at Mar-a-Lago last week. Trump casually suggested he might fire James Comey, the FBI Director, who he once blew a kiss too and praised vociferously but now is tasked with investigating his shady, shady ties to Russia. TRUMPISTAN WATCH supposes the sigh of relief is that Bannon and princeling Jared are not calling the shots. Let’s face facts, who in the military or government who is not looking to simply make money or inflict mass casualties listens to them? I mean look at this fucking asshole.
+From The Washington Post and The Washington Post.
+NATO IS YOUR FRIEND
+Later in the day Wednesday, Trump appeared at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and completely reversed himself on NATO, disavowing his earlier comments. “I said it was obsolete,” before adding, “It’s no longer obsolete.” The Baltic Times reports on a letter Trump sent to the Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis expressing that “The United States will remain a steadfast Latvian friend and ally,… noting Latvia’s defense investment and contribution of Latvian NBA player Kristaps Porzingis”. And not to be diminished by a bloviating American president, Lithuania announced it won’t stop its defense spending when it reaches NATO’s 2 percent of GDP target but will keep spending, according to Reuters.
+From CNN, The Baltic Times and Reuters.
+RUSSIAN ORDER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
+Russian Order of Friendship medal recipient and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Moscow Wednesday where he held talks at the Kremlin for most of the day with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin quit his infantile will I or won’t I to meet Tillerson because of course he was going to. Bloomberg reports, “The meeting is taking place after Putin complained that relations with the U.S. are now worse than under President Barack Obama” and “Lavrov criticized the Trump administration’s ‘ambiguous and contradictory’ foreign policy.” These mofos want consistency? Do they know who they helped install? They bought the Trump brand and they don’t know better? Let’s quote hysterical Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova whenever Russia is fingered as culpable for something it actually did, “Oh my god! Oh my god!” Putin surrounds himself with only yes men so no one told him the American operation would be terrible for Russia long term. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov complained it was “quite absurd” for the U.S. to demand the Kremlin abandon Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, Bloomberg also reports. Tillerson’s talks with Lavrov lasted three hours and forty five minutes – “not exactly a new Cold War,” in the words of Guardian journalist Alec Luhn on Twitter. Putin began his meeting with Tillerson “without apparent delay” whereas Tillerson’s predecessor John Kerry was kept waiting for three hours. Evidently that’s the Order of Friendship difference, hardly seems worth it, so it must be the money. Putin whined in disbelief that his master plan is not working out exactly as he imagined, “that trust between Russia and the U.S. under Trump ‘at the working level, especially at the military level, hasn’t improved; rather it’s deteriorated,’” Bloomberg reported citing “a Kremlin transcript published Wednesday of an interview with the Mir TV channel.” Tillerson sounded like he was adulting hard core in this administration, acknowledging during the press conference, “The world’s foremost nuclear powers cannot have this relationship”. Memo to Rex: tell Twitler stop with North Korea already then please thank you. Also tell Sergey he doesn’t need to lecture our reporters, least of all the women on manners.
+From Bloomberg and TV Newser.
+ASSAD DAY AT THE UN
+Reuters reports “Russia blocked a Western-led effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn last week’s deadly gas attack in Syria,” as if to say look at us! We think we can do whatever the hell we want! Without Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, this is sort of the voice they have now in Turtle Bay. Note “It was the eighth time during Syria’s six-year-old civil war that Moscow has used its veto power on the Security Council to shield Assad‘s government.” 2020 presidential candidate “U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called on Moscow to stop protecting Assad and said the United States wants to work with Russia toward a political solution for Syria.” Haley wisely noted, “If the regime is innocent, as Russia claims, the information requested in this resolution would have vindicated them.” Exactly why Russia contested it and then set it alight. The Kremlin cannot handle the truth!
+MANAFORT ON THE SHORE: DEBTOR + FOREIGN AGENT
+The New York Times reports that Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort set up a shell company the day, August 19, that he quit Trump’s campaign to collect from Trump-connected lenders. This is all going to move very fast now. While Manafort “retreated from public view… behind the scenes, he was busy with other matters.” On August 19, Manafort set up a shell company “that soon received $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to Mr. Trump, including one that partners with a Ukrainian-born billionaire and another led by a Trump economic adviser.” This money was equivalent to “$20 million in loans secured by properties belonging to Mr. Manafort and his wife.” One of the loans “for $3.5 million in September,” came “from the private lending unit of Spruce Capital, a small New York investment firm that has a Ukrainian connection through the billionaire Alexander Rovt… is a financial backer of Spruce, whose co-founder, Joshua Crane, has been a developer of Trump hotel projects.” Last year Rovt “took part in a small panel discussion on Ukrainian relations at Manor College in Pennsylvania, where he shared the stage with Andrii V. Artemenko,” a former Member of the Ukrainian parliament who reportedly presented one-time Trump business associate and federal informant in the past Felix Sater and Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen with a peace plan for Ukraine that would give Russia everything it wants. After Trump won in November, another loan to Manafort for $9.5 million came from the Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, which is headed by Stephen Calk, “a senior economic advisor to Mr. Trump at the time.” In January, Manafort received another loan worth $6.6 million from the bank. Interestingly, “The purpose of the loans is unstated in public records, although at least some of them appear to be part of an effort by Mr. Manafort to stave off a personal financial crisis stemming from failed investments with his son-in-law.” Naturally, “The transactions raise a number of questions, including whether Mr. Manafort’s decision to turn to Trump-connected lenders was related to his role in the campaign, where he had agreed to serve for free.” Manafort’s spokesman said Wednesday he would be registering as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) retroactively in part because “Manafort never filed lobbying registrations for his work in Ukraine”. The AP notes, “Manafort will now have to publicly and specifically detail his foreign agent work”. Yee-haw! Who is riding the Trump train now? We all are and it is headed for a high-speed collision. Yee-haw!
+From The New York Times and The AP.
+VENEZUELA STATE OIL COMPANY MAKES BOND PAYMENT
+Reuters reports that the state oil company in collapsing Venezuela, Petroleros de Venezuela SA or PDVSA, the acronym it is known by, made its $2.2 billion in bond payments, citing two bondholders. This is relevant as Barron’s reports because “The U.S. Congress is waking up to another way Russia has found a back door to the United States: by lending to Venezuela.” Last December, Rosneft lent enough to the cash strapped PDVSA, effectively a bailout for the flailing socialist government, which when combined with existing shares in Citgo gave Rosneft enough to seize control of the Texas-based oil company that operates refineries and critical energy infrastructure across the United States. In the bigger picture sense of the great geopolitical game for the biggest resource of all, oil, “Venezuela bonds have been heavily traded because they offer high yields and the government has attracted financial lifelines from China and Russia, who are attracted to one of the biggest stores of petroleum in the world. They will get first dibs should the socialist regime fall and much-needed oil infrastructure investment returns.”
+From Reuters and Barron’s.
+McCAIN IN MONTENEGRO
+Senator John McCain’s Balkan tour continued, this time in Montenegro which recently was nearly set back by a Russian-backed coup attempt and has been pushed forward by U.S. approval for ascension to the NATO alliance. “I believe the Russian behavior requires our solidarity and our strength, in order to preserve principles and fundamentals of democracy,” said McCain in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital.
+From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Reuters.
+—–INVESTIGATIONS, INVESTIGATIONS—–
+DARKNESS AT NUNES: PRETTY BIG LIES
+CNN reports “After a review of the same intelligence reports brought to light by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides have so far found no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal,” citing multiple sources. Naturally this “contradicts President Donald Trump’s allegations that former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice broke the law” and makes Rep. Devin Nunes look like an obstructing, interference running piece of… work! Accordiing to CNN, “One congressional intelligence source described the requests made by Rice as ‘normal and appropriate for officials who serve in that role to the president.” The documented Hungarian Nazi “Sebastian Gorka, a Trump foreign policy aide, cast Rice’s actions as worse than the Watergate scandal that felled President Richard Nixon in an interview with pro-Trump Fox News host Sean Hannity,” who is also a seemingly obvious Kremlin lackey.
+AKBARJON JALILOV, ALLEGED ST. PETERSBURG BOMBER PROFILE
+Russia Beyond the Headlines reports on the backstory of Akbarjon Jalilov, who Russian authorities arrested in connection with last week’s bombing of the St. Petersburg metro. Russia Beyond the Headlines cites Russian media that his brother, Akhror Jalilov said Akbarjon “intended to return to Kyrgyzstan two months before the terrorist attack. There, he wanted to build a house and get married”. Akbarjon Jalilov’s basic backstory is that .” He also said “he was serving in the Russian military, but his relatives don’t have photographs of him in the army and don’t know in which unit he could have served.” The family “doesn’t believe that Akbar decided to become a suicide bomber. They think he was set up, tricked into taking the bag and backpack with the bomb, which was then set off remotely.” Russian media also reported, “the Kyrgyzstan Interior Ministry confirmed that the Kyrgyz chapter of Akbar’s biography, and the biographies of his entire family, are clean” adding “no family member has a criminal record or links to radical religious movements.” The Russian authorities had “Eight suspected accomplices” that they “detained on April 6-7 in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and three had been working as chefs at the Sushi Wok chain.”
+From Russia Beyond the Headlines.
+—–KNOW YOUR ENEMY—–
+STRATEGY IS HARD: SYRIA THE SINKHOLE
+The Hill reports on a new Pew Research Center poll that shows a majority of Americans, 58 percent, supporting Trump’s airstrike against Syria, with 36 percent disapproving. However when it comes to where the hell this is all going, the American people want to know what is going on! In numbers, “61 percent of respondents said Trump doesn’t have a ‘clear plan for dealing with the situation in Syria.’ Just 32 percent said the president does have a clear plan.” Who the hell are this 32 percent and did they just pledge allegiance blindly to a febrile old bag, who does not have a clue what he is doing and so the country is clearly being run – at least when it is being run – by the generals? However, at least we are hitting the ceiling of the stupid of the American people because 61 percent says you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
+RINO-SOVIET PACT
+Russia Beyond the Headlines has an interview with Russian presidential advisor Sergei Glaziev that is worth your time. Glaziev calls Trump a rather cynical businessman citing his bankruptcies and predicts the U.S. will default on its debt because Trump is not afraid to. The Syria strike was of course aimed at an audience in Moscow and neither Russia nor China wants war, only to check American aggression Glaziev says, sounding almost wistfully nostalgic for the briefly lived Sino-Soviet pact of yesteryear (which of course degenerated into bitter infighting among the worldwide communist movement). Glaziev briefly pays deference to American might, “Since on the military-political and currency-financial level our possibilities are very limited, while those of the U.S. are unlimited,” he suggests denouncing the dollar as the international currency but what else is there that is rock solid and internationally circulated like it? Certainly not the ruble! Also, Glaziev “would like to remind our Chinese friends what one of our famous 19th century geopolitical experts said: The only thing worse than war with the Anglo-Saxons is friendship with them.” Have the Russians talked to anyone in Latin America since the end of the Cold War? Hilariously Glaziev whines, “They base their relations exclusively on the position of domination,” because obviously as part of the Russian state he is delusional about its ability to steamroll individuals, nations, families, generations – or just pretending to be.
+From Russia Beyond the Headlines.
+RUSLAN STOYANOV SPEAKS
+A letter by Ruslan Stoyanov, “a top investigator at Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab who was detained and accused of treason by the country’s security services last December,” was published by independent TV station Dozhd, according to the International Business Times. Stoyanov dictated the letter to his attorneys and in it he slams the Russian mafia state’s collaboration with cyber criminals. Stoyanov wrote, “The worst scenario is to give cybercriminals immunity from retaliation for stealing money in other countries in exchange for intelligence. If this happens, a whole layer of ‘patriotic thieves’ will appear, violating the principles of the rule of law and [avoiding] punishment”. Stoyanov believes “the partnership is not built to last” and said the “inevitable breakdown in relationships will lead to a ‘wave of crimes’ in Russia.” Hey, he’s right! Stoyanov describes his conditions now as “the most severe prison” and complained, “If only my affairs did not undermine the stability of the posts and merits of the generals, and also did not harm the business of ‘patriot-thieves’”. Ouch. At Kaspersky, “Stoyanov was an incident response manager specialising in distributed denial of service (DDoS) cases,” and from 2000-2006 he held a cybersecurity position in the Russian Ministry of the Interior.
+From The International Business Times.
+POLAND’S DEFENSE MINISTER IS NOT DEFENDING POLAND
+Agence France Presse reports on the declining state of the Polish military under the country’s Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, reporting, “90 percent of Poland’s top military brass have either been replaced or left of their own accord amid an overhaul launched by Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz”. What does this mean by the numbers? It means “34 generals and 484 colonels in a force of 106,000 soldiers, up from 96,000 in 2015.” What the hell?! Among the departures, which should raise eyebrows all around, “former chief of staff General Mieczyslaw Gocul and top strategic commander General Miroslaw Rozanski.” The result is clear in that, “Objectively there aren’t enough generals in the Polish army,” according to one Warsaw-based senior political analyst. Publicly Macierewicz maintains the purges are because he “wants to stamp out all traces of the communist era by blocking promotions of servicemen who joined before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989,” but that is clearly not the case as many young colonels have been pushed out. Like Trump, he loves conspiracies and doesn’t get along well with allies.
+From Agence France Presse.
+RUSSIA DAY WILL REALLY BE FOR RUSSIA THIS YEAR
+Reuters reports that Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is calling for nationwide protests on June 12, a national public holiday known as Russia Day which marks the start of the 1992 reforms of the Russian Soviet state. Those reforms lead to the end of the Soviet Union and the birth of the Russian Federation, which has since evolved from a one-party state bolstered by the totalitarian KGB into a one-party state comprised of the totalitarian KGB-successor organization, the FSB. Happy Russia Day to our sad and scared little new friends in the Kremlin and all the yes men who surround them and their povars because Americans also care (to a – much greater – degree) about the help.
+—–DISINFO WARS—–
+DZERZHINSKY : RUSSIA :: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SPORTS TEAM : AMERICA
+Defense One has an interesting piece on the CIA malware that Symantec, an antivirus software maker, reported in a blog post that it found on “at least 40 targets in 16 countries since 2011”. Defense One reports, “Long before WikiLeaks claimed the malware was created by the CIA, Symantec had already assumed the group responsible—which it dubbed ‘Longhorn’—was government-sponsored.” Longhorn is the name of the sports team at the University of Texas. Recall when Russian malware was detected in the past, located in metadata was Feliks Dzerzhinsky’s name. Dzerzhinsky was the first director of the Cheka, the notorious Soviet secret police responsible for much misery, death and state terror. This says much about the culture of both nations. According to Defense One, Symantec reported “The group appeared to work a standard Monday to Friday working week, based on timestamps and domain name registration dates, behavior which is consistent with state-sponsored groups,” as has also been observed in the past with Russian-backed trolls on social networks and Chinese state hackers. Symantec describes the CIA tool as “malware that carefully covers its tracks” by going “through private servers using a custom encryption protocol,” limiting “the amount of data it sends in each burst to avoid detection. If it ends up on a non-targeted computer, it uninstalls itself within hours. But what it doesn’t do is hide the fact that it was created by developers who don’t work on weekends.”
+From Defense One.
+MEMETIC WARFARE: WHO IS THE LAME DUCK NOW?
+The Washington Post profiles the memetic warfare on the Russian Embassy UK’s Twitter account. TRUMPISTAN WATCH confesses the #1 Tweet (based on what metric?) is one we have appropriated to advertise to potential subscribers on Twitter because there is no greater lame duck than the current squatter in the White House who lives under a dark cloud of investigations into his collaboration with the Russian mafia state over all these years but especially last year.
+From The Washington Post.
+—–RADIO MOSCOW: STORIES FROM THEIR PRESS AND OURS—–
+SO YOU WANT TO BE A COSMONAUT
+Yesterday was Cosmonauts Day in Russia and hilariously according to Russian state-run Sputnik “the world celebrated”. Russia Beyond the Headlines reports, “Over the next eight months, Roscosmos will be accepting applications to train as cosmonauts who will fly to the moon. To be eligible, you must have an advanced degree in engineering, science or aviation, as well as know English and have computer skills.” So it asks you to “Take this quiz to see if you have the right stuff to become a Russian cosmonaut.” First question: “A new American crew arrives aboard the ISS. What do you do?” TRUMPISTAN WATCH’s favorite response: “Get in touch with headquarters in Moscow and ask for a spy file on each American crewmember.” Pro-tip: “The common opinion is that Armenian cognac is the best alcoholic beverage in space.”
+From Russian state-run Sputnik and Russia Beyond the Headlines.
+AMERICA SEEMS POISED TO VENTILATE SOME BULLSHIT
+What makes TRUMPISTAN WATCH say so? Glamour reports on a new trend: bare butt jeans. It is definitely not hot to look at. In fact it looks like some bullshit is being ventilated. If this is where we are culturally at the moment in America, it is just a matter of time before politics catches up.
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+Abstract
+Recent studies highlight the importance of the temporal domain in visual processing. Critical Flicker-Fusion Frequency (CFF), the frequency at which a flickering light is perceived as continuous, is widely used for evaluating visual temporal processing. However, substantial variability in the psychophysical paradigms, used for measuring CFF, leads to substantial variability in the reported results. Here, we report on a comprehensive comparison of CFF measurements through three different psychophysical paradigms: methods of limits; method of constant stimuli, and staircase method. Our results demonstrate that the CFF can be reliably measured with high repeatability by all three psychophysics methods. However, correlations (r = 0.92, p≪0.001) and agreement (Bland Altman test indicated 95% confidence limit variation of ±3.6 Hz), were highest between the staircase and the constant stimuli methods. The time required to complete the test was significantly longer for the constant stimuli method as compared to other methods (p < 0.001). Our results highlight the suitability of the adaptive paradigm for efficiently measuring temporal resolution in the visual system.
+Introduction
+The human visual system processes visual information in two domains, namely: the spatial and temporal. Spatial resolution is defined as the ability to discriminate, in space, between two adjacent objects1 and is determined by several factors, such as the eye optics2, spatial organization of the photoreceptors cells3, the degree of neural convergence in the retina4,5 and higher visual areas in the brain. Temporal resolution is related to the temporal features of the stimuli and is defined as the ability to discern luminance changes over time6. The visual system’s temporal performance is limited by the finite time required for collecting and processing information6, and intermittent stimuli presented to the eye are perceived as separate only if the presentation rate is below a certain threshold7,8,9,10,11, defined as the critical flicker-fusion frequency (CFF).
+Recent studies12,13,14 have demonstrated the importance of the temporal domain in visual processing and highlighted the complex space-time interplay. There are several methods for exploring temporal processing such as temporal masking15,16, Rapid Serial Visual presentations12,17,18,19 and CFF. It’s assumed that the CFF can reflect the basic temporal function of the visual system and is therefore a good measure of its performance. The CFF, is affected by a number of physical factors such as stimulus intensity, color, size, contrast and eccentricity, as well as light adaptation conditions and the subject’s age20,21,22,23,24. In addition to physical factors, the CFF can be reduced by various systemic medical conditions such as hepatic encephalopathy25 or eye diseases such as multiple sclerosis26, Age Related Macular Degeneration27,28,29,30 or cataract31.
+Although the temporal resolution of the visual system can be studied by recording the electrophysiological response of the visual system (e.g. electroretinogram32,33 or visual evoked potentials to flickering stimuli34,35), in most settings it is usually evaluated through various psychophysical methods designed to measure the subject’s CFF value, as is described next. There are several major psychophysical paradigms36,37,38,39 widely used for measuring various sensory thresholds (e.g. vernier acuity40 and contrast sensitivity41 in vision, or auditory sensitivity38) with the widely used method of constant stimuli (MCS) being the most accurate of these methods42. This method is based on presenting the stimuli in a random order and therefore reduces errors caused by habituation and expectation. Moreover, it allows for the full sampling of the psychometric function43, which carries additional information. Notwithstanding, there are not many reports of this method being used for examining CFF in literature44,45 since it is time consuming and can be exhausting for the subject43. More commonly used, are the methods of limits (MOL)19,25,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53 and the method of adjustment30,54, which are of significantly shorter duration and are therefore not exhausting to subjects. Nevertheless, these methods are considered less accurate as they are prone to subject bias49,55, which results from a set of internal rules governing the subject’s decision on whether or not a flicker is perceived at any given frequency56,57,58. Finally, the methods which are widely used for various psychophysical studies41,55,59 are variations of adaptive methods, such as the well-known staircase method (SM). The latter method combines high accuracy along with a short experimentation time as compared to the MCS36,55, and was therefore adopted by our group for measuring spatial functions12,41,60,61,62. Nevertheless, only a few studies reported the use of this method for measuring CFF thresholds (e.g.31,63,64).
+Despite the relevance and applicability in clinical practice, there is lack of data regarding the agreement between the various paradigms used to measure CFF thresholds. In one such study, Feshchenko et al.45 compared the results obtained with MOL to those obtained by a short version of the MCS and found that both estimates of CFF thresholds differed by less than 0.1 Hz with the MCS providing higher reliability as compared with the MOL CFF estimation45.
+In addition to differences in the psychophysical paradigm used for measuring CFF in various reports, there is also a lack of consistency with regards to the various stimuli parameters used for CFF measurements, such as stimuli light intensity, size and color19,25,30,31,44,46,47,48,52,53,54,63,64,65, thus adding more ambiguity to the results published in literature and making the comparison between the various methods difficult.
+Here, we present a thorough comparison between the three psychophysical paradigms (MOL, MCS and SM) methods, in terms of CFF measurement repeatability, test duration and agreement. Moreover, we report on the effect of stimulus intensity and adaptation time on CFF thresholds. To perform these studies, we developed a robust and portable CFF measurement system using a LED (light-emitting Diode) controlled by a laptop, a data acquisition board, and a customized computer software. The system provides the basis for a reliable CFF measuring system which is inexpensive, highly portable and can be of high applicability in a clinical setting.
+Results
+The test apparatus
+We developed a CFF testing system based on a custom written Matlab code (The Mathworks, Waltham, Massachusetts) and an analog data output device, to drive a LED, control the flickering frequencies and analyze the perceived CFF threshold (Fig. 1a). We validated the precision of the stimulus frequency as described in the Methods section. More importantly, we excluded an illumination artifact by measuring a stable illumination along the entire range of the tested frequencies (Fig. 1b and Methods). The apparatus was placed at a distance of 150 cm from the subject, where the resulting stimulus size on the retina is 0.2 degree.
+(a) Experimental setting. Subject seated 150 cm from a LED stimulus source, which is drived by a data acquisition board and a computer. (b) Luminance constancy. The average light intensity as a function of frequency (10Hz–70Hz and 120 Hz) was measured (6 repetitions) for various LED driving voltage. Bars represent standard error. (c) Frequency validation. Stimulus frequency, as measured by a recording system, plotted against the desired frequency.
+The stimulus flicker rate was varied between 10 to 60 Hz while a 120 Hz flickering light served as the constant stimulus (Fig. 1c and Methods). The Matlab software was further used to control the psychophysical test parameters (intensity, duration), as is described in the Methods section and Table 1.
+All participants had no strabismus, exhibiting normal visual acuity and stereopsis with no ocular or neurological disease. All experiments were performed on each eye separately with both eyes opened while occluding the non-tested eye by an opaque lens mounted on glasses frame. The experiments were assessed in a dark room similar to previous reports19,52.
+CFF measurements showed high test-retest repeatability
+In order to evaluate the repeatability of the methods, the CFF threshold was measured using each methods twice on different days at stimuli luminance levels of 100 cd/m2 and 40 cd/m2. Test-retest repeatability of the three methods was then estimated using the formulation: test-retest = \(\frac{| {\rm{diffrence}}| }{{\rm{mean}}}\), where difference is the absolute difference between two paired measurements and the mean is the mean of the two measurements (Fig. 2). Although all three methods showed high repeatability, both the SM and the MCS showed significantly higher repeatability with smaller test-retest difference as compared with the MOL (p = 0.05). As an additional measure of repeatability, we analyzed the correlation between the results of the first test with the results of the re-test for each method66. The highest correlations were found for SM (r = 0.95, p ≪ 0.001) and MCS (r = 0.946, p ≪ 0.001) while MOL showed lower correlation (r = 0.72, p ≪ 0.05), highlighting the lower repeatability of this method (data not shown).
+Test-retest of CFF obtained by the three methods. CFF values were measured at illumination levels of 40 and 100 cd/m2. Test-retest CFF difference over the mean is presented for the three methods (n = 10). Mean test-retest(SE) 0.06 (0.015), 0.03 (0.006) and 0.028 (0.01) for MOL, MCS and SM, respectively. *p = 0.05.
+Correlation and agreement between the various methods
+To evaluate the correlation and agreement between the three methods, the CFF threshold was measured at six different luminance levels in the range of 2.5–100 cd/m2 using MOL and SM, and at a luminance level of 40 cd/m2 using the MCS. We found a high and statistically significant correlation between the MCS and the SM tests (r = 0.92, p ≪ 0.001. Figure 3a). Moderate correlations were found between the other pairs of tests (Fig. 2b,c). We further analyzed the agreement between the different CFF tests through Bland–Altman tests67,68. Again, the highest agreement was found between the SM and MCS, with a maximum difference of 3.6 Hz (Fig. 3d), while other comparisons showed a moderate smaller agreement (Fig. 3e,f).
+Correlations and agreement between the various methods. (a,b,c) The correlations between CFF values obtained by the three methods are presented for all stimuli luminance for 10 subjects (6 females, 4 males). (a) The CFF correlation between SM and the MCS. (b) The CFF correlation between the MOL and the SM. (c) The CFF correlation between the MOL and the MCS. (d–f) Bland–Altman plots of CFF values. Dashed lines-mean ± 1.96sd.d) A Bland–Altman plot of SM and MCS. (e) A Bland–Altman plot of MOL and SM. (f) A Bland–Altman plot of MOL and MCS.
+It should be noted that for the same luminance levels, we observed low variability between subjects (SE 0.9–1.7), in agreement with previous results in young healthy subjects46,48,53.
+Test duration Effect
+To avoid subject fatigue which may introduce bias and reduce reliability, it is important to minimize test duration. Therefore, we measured the test duration of the three paradigms (Fig. 4). The median test time of the MCS test (24.33 min) was found to be significantly longer than the other two paradigms: 3 times longer than SM (6.3 min, p < 0.00), and 11 times longer than MOL (2.2 min, p < 0.001). The SM test duration was approximately 4 mins longer, as compared with the MOL (p < 0.001). We further evaluated the effect of subject fatigue along the MCS test sessions by analyzing the change in CFF values obtained along the 20 iterations comprising each test session. We found that the average CFF threshold of the first 10 iterations in the MCS method was 0.8 Hz higher (range 1.1–3.4 Hz difference) as compared to the average CFF threshold of the last 10 iterations (p = 0.049) (Figure S2a). This small but statistically significant difference could be the effect of fatigue and can lead to an underestimation of the CFF threshold when measured with the MCS. In contrast, in the SM data, our analysis showed low correlation between number of iterations and final CFF threshold (r = 0.25), suggesting little or no fatigue effect in the SM method (See Figure S2b).
+Test duration. Durations of each method for CFF measurement are plotted in minutes. The duration of the MCS test (median 24.33 min, maximum 41 min, minimum 22 min) is significantly longer than that of the two other tests (p < = 0.001). The durations of the SM test was median 6.3 min (maximum 9 .96 min, and minimum 1.95 min) and the durations of MOL test was median 2.2 min (maximum 7.73 min, minimum 0.935 min) ***p < = 0.001.
+Light adaptation time effect of on the CFF
+In order to study the effect of light adaption on the CFF threshold, we measured CFF thresholds at various time-points of dark adaptation. Our results revealed that a steady CFF threshold is achieved after 3 minutes of dark adaptation with no significant difference observed between the measured values for 3, 5 and 10 minutes of dark adaptation (Figure 5) (P = 0.55, P = 0.45, P = 0.79, respectively, indicating that a dark adaptation time of 3 minutes prior to each measurement, is sufficient.
+Effect of stimulus luminance
+In order to evaluate the effect of stimulus luminance level on the temporal resolution, CFF tests were performed at six different luminance levels ranging between 2.5–80 cd/m2 using the SM. Increasing stimulus luminance yielded higher CFF values, reaching a plateau around 80 cd/m2 (Fig. 6) with a mean difference of 6.7 Hz (~20%) between the higher to lower luminance levels.
+Discussion
+In this study, we present a comprehensive comparison between three methods for measuring CFF threshold in the aim to single out the most time efficient, reliable and repeatable method. Towards this end, we developed a measuring system, based on a laptop, which controls a LED (See Figs 1, S1) and enables an easy measurement of CFF thresholds in three methods, MOL, SM and MCS.
+Our results demonstrate the high repeatability of the various CFF test paradigms with small variability between test repetitions in all three methods. Repeatability, however was better for the MCS and SM tests as compared with the MOL test (Fig. 2). High correlation and good agreement was observed between the various paradigms used in this study. More importantly, the highest agreement and correlation values were observed between the SM and the MCS tests, which is considered the gold standard in many psychophysical studies (Fig. 3a,d). In addition, the SM was found to be significantly shorter as compared to the MCS (Fig. 4), making it more advantageous in both research and clinical settings.
+To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive comparison between the various psychophysical methods for the evaluation of temporal resolution. To date, the MOL is widely used for measuring CFF19,25,46,47,49 thresholds, albeit its known subject response bias69,70. The MCS test, although considered the most accurate in the psychophysical field42 for measuring various sensory thresholds, has not been widely used for the evaluation of CFF thresholds, with only a few studies reporting on using it (e.g Carmel et al.44). The long test duration makes the use of the MCS method for evaluating the CFF threshold in a clinical setting difficult, mainly when the investigation of the effect of various test conditions is of interest (e.g. stimuli illumination). More importantly, the long test duration also introduces an effect of fatigue or loss of attention, with up to 3.4 Hz effect, as was found in our study (Figure S2a) as well as by previous reports55,71.
+The good agreement between the SM and MCS (Fig. 3) tests, the short test duration (Fig. 4) and small test-retest variability (Fig. 2), make the SM the method of choice and a good alternative to the MCS for measuring CFF thresholds, similar to the wide use of the SM for measuring spatial resolution55,71.
+An important factor which was found to affect CFF thresholds is the ambient light conditions which modulate both the spatial and temporal sensitivity of the visual system20. Although it is commonly agreed on that cone photoreceptors adaptation takes about 5–10 minutes and rod photoreceptors adaptation can take up to 30 minutes72, our results demonstrate that the CFF threshold reached a plateau level in a dark room setting after a short 3 minutes adaptation period (Fig. 5). It should be noted that evidence of such fast dark adaption for spatial performance measurements were reported, when stimuli were presented to the fovea73, similarly to the current study (the stimulus size was 0.2 degree).
+The optimal method for measuring CFF threshold should be accurate and reproducible in order to enable detection of small changes in CFF values over time. Furthermore, since the test is usually conducted as a part of a long battery of other psychophysical tests, it should be of short duration in order to avoid subject exhaustion which can introduce bias to the results74. The described staircase paradigm was found to be of short time and an accurate alternative to the longer tests and can therefore be efficiently used in research and clinical settings. Future studies may further explore the suitability of other adaptive methods (e.g.75,76,77) for the measurement of CFF threshold.
+In conclusion, we presented a comprehensive comparison between three psychophysical methods used for the evaluation of CFF thresholds. A simple laptop based setup can be used to test subjects and patients with a short and highly repeatable CFF measurements based on a staircase paradigm and aid in the evaluation of temporal processing in the visual system.
+Methods
+Apparatus
+We developed a novel laptop based CFF measuring system based on a custom written Matlab code (The Mathworks, Waltham, Massachusetts) and an analog data output device (sampling rate 5000 Hz, National Instruments NI-USB-6001), to drive an LED, control the flickering frequencies and analyze the perceived CFF threshold (Figure S1). Using a sampling rate of 5,000 Hz the device produced a sine wave to drive the LED stimuli with 100 percent modulation depth. We used a Cool White ‘Cree® 5 mm round LED78 with a diameter of 5 mm and controlled the stimuli light intensity and frequency by setting the amplitude and frequency of the output derived by one of the available analog outputs on the board. Frequency validation was performed by recording the generated electrical signal using an electrophysiological recording system (AlphaLab SnRTM, Alpha Omega LTD, Israel) over 1 second. Results revealed (Fig. 1c ) that the measured frequency is stable and with a very small variation from the intended frequency (STD of maximum ±0.5 Hz with a maximum error of 1.2 Hz observed only at the higher end of the employed frequencies (55–60 Hz).
+We calibrated the required voltage needed to elicit a desired LED illumination level (measured using a photometer -‘Konica Minolta LS-110) at a range of up to 100 cd/m². A neutral density filter of 1OD was used to display the lower light intensity range of 2.5–5 cd/m². Note that in order to avoid luminance artifacts, caused by luminance differences between various stimuli frequencies, luminance levels were carefully measured over the entire range of tested frequencies demonstrating a constant illumination level with a maximal difference of 0.256 cd/m2 in the frequency range of 10–120 Hz. (Fig. 1b). Experiments were performed to ensure that these differences are indeed undetectable with results validating that the employed illumination levels were perceived as constant (Figure S3). Stable illumination of more than 200 cd/m2 could be produced by the device, however in the current study we used a maximal illumination of 100 cd/m2.
+Participants
+The various CFF tests were performed on ten healthy participants (6 females, 4 males age 27.15 ± 2.91 years old, mean ±STD) with no known neurological conditions and with normal corrected vision. The study was conducted according to the guidelines and regulations for human subject research. All participants signed an informed consent form and the study was approved by and conducted according to both the IRB Committee at the Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel (Application number 0108-15-WOMC, Holon, Israel) and by the Bar-Ilan University Ethics Committee guidelines.
+All participants underwent a comprehensive vision examination by a qualified optometrist (A.E) including far and near visual acuity (ETDRS charts), with full optical correction. All participants were refracted by dry retinoscopy, and tested for binocular ‘Randot stereo’ test, cover-test and underwent general eye examination including fundus ophthalmoscopy and a slit lamp examination of the anterior segment. The criteria for inclusion were visual acuity better than 0.1 LogMar with a difference of less than 0.2 LogMar between eyes, stereopsis better than 40″ and no ocular or neurological disease. The mean stereopsis of the subjects group was better than 40″, mean visual acuity (logMAR) was: far monocular: −0.06, far binocular −0.14; near monocular: 0, near binocular −0.03.
+CFF test paradigms
+Experiments were designed to evaluate the CFF threshold through three well known psychophysical tests, based on a discrimination task with a stimulus duration of 1 sec as described in Table 1 and Fig. 7. In the first, the MOL, stimuli with increasing (starting at 10 Hz) or decreasing (starting at 60 Hz) flickering frequency were presented to the subject until the subject reported on perceiving the stimulus as constant or flickering, respectively. The threshold calculated for a single trial was calculated as the average of three repeated iterations55,56. In order to reduce test variability, the trial was repeated until the CFF standard deviation of three consecutive iterations was smaller than 3 Hz and the threshold was then calculated as the mean of these three iterations. If this criterion was not met, then the trial was completed after 9 iterations and the threshold was calculated as the mean of all 9 iterations.
+The other two tests (MCS and SM) were implemented using the two temporal alternative forced-choice paradigm (2TAFC), commonly used to eliminate the effect of response bias37,69,79. In these two tests, participants had to discriminate between a target stimulus, flickering light at the various frequencies and a flickering light at a high frequency of 120 Hz (significantly higher than the CFF in humans, therefore perceived as constant light). A high frequency, rather than constant light, was used in order to avoid luminance artifact.
+In MCS, stimuli flickering at various frequencies were presented to the participants, in a random order, in a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm. Each frequency condition was repeated 20 times36,44 and the percentage of correct answers was then calculated. The threshold is determined after fitting the results into a logistic function55,74 and obtaining the well-known psychometric curve and then defining the CFF threshold at 80% correct level80. Note, that When comparing fitting quality obtained using the logistic function to one of the other available analysis functions (Weibull), with the mean square error as a measure, it was found to produce a better fit (mean square error of 0.2 as compared to 0.1, data not shown).
+The SM was performed by modifying the stimulus frequency according to the participant’s response. We used an adaptive 3:1 method wherein the stimulus frequency is increased by one step in case of three consecutive correct responses and is decreased by one step in case of an incorrect response81. The frequency step size was 2 Hz. Under these conditions, the probability that the participant’s response is by chance or due to attention lapses under the assumption that these are independent events, is given by: \(p(i=3)={0.5}^{3}=0.125\). The test was finalized upon the completion of 8 reversals (change in direction of the stimulus frequency). The CFF threshold was then defined as the mean of the last 6 reversal values, yielding a CFF calculation at a 79% correct level13 , 41,59. The entire procedure was repeated twice and the final CFF was calculated as the mean of the two repetitions. In order to further reduce test time, the staircase test started at a flickering frequency value of 18 Hz lower than the CFF measured using the MOL test.
+As previously mentioned20,72 dark adaptation and ambient light conditions can have a significant effect on CFF. To reduce effects of lighting conditions on the experimental results all experiments were performed under dark room conditions, similar to previous reports19,52. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the effect of dark adaptation72 , 82 time on the CFF, we measured CFF thresholds following 5 min adaptation to a well-lit room (ambient light of 54.4 cd/m2) after which measurements were performed following 3, 5 or 10 minutes of dark adaptation (ambient light of 0.001 cd/m2). These tests were performed in a mixed order and with a 2.5 cd/m² flickering stimulus using the SM, as described above.
+Additional information
+Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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+Acknowledgements
+The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Yoram Bonneh for insightful discussions and suggestions. The research was supported by the Israeli Ministry of Health, by LIROT - Israeli Research Association for Eye Health and Blindness Prevention as a research grant to YM and UP (3–10471) and by the Israeli Science Foundation to YM (157–16) and UP (1825.
+TAM International stays nimble when serving oil and petroleum customers.
+By Alan Dorich
+For 50 years, TAM International has remained flexible when serving clients, Vice President of Manufacturing Mark Newman says. “We’ve been quick to respond and we’re nimble in how we do business.”
+This philosophy serves the Houston-based company well as it provides inflatable and swellable packers to the oil and gas industry, along with associated downhole products and services. Newman explains that six Texas A&M University graduates started the firm in 1968.
+Under the name TAM Products Inc., the company sold inflatable packer elements, but its current owners family purchased the firm four years later. Under their leadership, the company changed its name to TAM International Inc. and added field service tools to its offerings.
+Over the years, TAM added more products, including the casing annulus packer (CAP) line for annular gas migration control and the TAM-J, a downhole tool with a setting mechanism with a resettable, inflatable production/treating packer. The company also expanded its footprint with
+locations in Canada, Latin America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
+Today, TAM has a leadership position with its products, Newman says. “We are the industry standard in inflatable and swellable packers.”
+“We’ve focused over the last year or so on the completion tools,” Newman says, adding that the company recently won an Innovation Engineering Award from Hart Energy for its PosiFrac Toe Sleeve. The product is designed for cemented and un-cemented completions where a casing pressure test is needed to confirm casing integrity before opening the toe sleeve.
+EPIC Products
+TAM’s Essential Products for Integrity and Containment (EPIC) offer packer and stage cementing systems for life-of-well cement integrity. These include its Casing Annulus Packer (CAP) product line, which consists of casing-conveyed, inflatable packer solutions that provide mechanical barriers in open hole or cased hole installations.
+Its 22-inch CAP has a 10-foot seal and is designed to operate with a 22-inch cementing port collar. “The combination of the two tools was developed for a major international offshore operator who requires secondary cementing of the 22-inch casing,” TAM says.
+The company’s HATCH Packer combines TAM’s metal-to-metal seal port collar and CAP into an assembly for running with premium production casing. “The V0-rated HATCH Packer is the industry’s first integral stage cementing assembly qualified to ISO 14998 V0 Annex A and Annex D, and ISO 14310,” it says.
+Team Players
+A longtime veteran of manufacturing, Newman joined TAM in 2011. “My background is more job shop-related,” he says, adding that the company is the first OEM he has worked for.
+He credits TAM’s success not only to its products, but also its employees and management team, who are the key contributors at the company. “They make it happen every day.”
+TAM takes great care in recruiting its associates. “We definitely look at experience, but they’ve got to fit into our culture of who we are,” he says.
+“We want people to take pride in what they’re doing and want to be part of a team,” he says. They also have to be willing to push the envelope, Newman adds.
+TAM looks for people who are “not settled with the way it has always been or are stuck in a rut. We want people that can follow the process, but also are willing to try to innovate to improve [those processes].”
+Changing TAM’s Focus
+TAM’s market has evolved in the last few years. “With the oil pricing being down, we’ve changed our strategy and focus,” Newman says. Some products that were once popular have become commoditized.
+To cope, TAM has re-focused efforts in providing service on the inflatable tool side. “We also do a lot of third-party sales, so we support other operators,” he says. “That’s an area we find important.”
+The company also has become more focused on its global footprint so it can be more competitive in terms of lead times and costs. “We’ll build satellite manufacturers to support a specific product line or customer base,” Newman says. “We try to listen to the market and to the customer and satisfy their needs.”
+For example, TAM’s facility in Calgary, Alberta, manufactures products to support that area. “We have product lines that are specific to that region that we support out of that center.”
+The company also recently opened a new manufacturing facility in Obninsk, Russia, which features more than 11,000 square feet of manufacturing space and over 4,000 square feet of office space.
+Located on two acres, the plant has the ability to manufacture up to 4,000 swellable packers annually. TAM adds that it also can handle redressing operations on service tools and offer torqueing if required.
+Newman says TAM continues to look at opening more locations where it makes business sense. “There are a couple other areas we’re doing the diligence on.”
+The company also has invested in equipment, Newman says. “We’ve added [$6 million] in capital equipment and continue to add that in the downturn,” he says.
+For example, TAM recently moved from traditional manual lathes to Weilers, a cycle-controlled lathe that became a major contributor to improving productivity in its machine shop. “We also added Charmilles Wire and Sinker EDMs,” Newman says.
+The machines allowed TAM to build workpieces out of one piece and improve features of existing designs so they work better. “This is one process that we attempt to keep in house due to lead times from most contract shops,” he adds.
+TAM also recently added machine CTX Gamma TC 2000 and Beta 800 machines from DMG/Mori. Both multi-function machines gave TAM the ability to combine operations, reduce the number of setups and number of touches. Combined, the two improve quality and throughput.
+Although there was a learning curve to using the machines, the hard work benefited TAM, which enjoyed a high percentage of value. “We’ve recognized the benefit these machines offer and purchased another machine in December,” he says.
+The new acquisition is a CTX Gamma 3000 TC. “It is identical to our first Gamma except this new machine has an additional meter of turning capacity.”
+Staying Close
+TAM focuses on strong vendor relationships. “We have key suppliers that support us very well,” Newman says, adding that the company has many vendors that have long supported it.
+As for prospective new suppliers, “We invite them to our facility to let them see who we are and what we’re about. A lot of times, we’ll work with smaller organizations that are similar to us.”
+These organizations place a similar emphasis on urgency and customer service. “That model has worked pretty well for us,” Newman says, noting that TAM rarely uses job shops with 200 to 300 employees. “We’d rather use someone where our portion is a prominent portion of their business.”
+A Strong System
+TAM places a strong focus on manufacturing quality, Newman says. The company has developed and implemented its own quality management system and operates with the goal of meeting and exceeding the requirements of its customers and the industry.
+The company’s commitment is reflected by its certification to international quality standards. “Certification to ISO 9001: 2008 recognizes our quality processes as world class as set forth by the International Organization of Standardization, a worldwide federation of national bodies,” TAM says.
+TAM also utilizes a hybrid of 5S and Six Sigma. Although the company does not follow the methods down to the letter, “We believe that those processes and procedures support the business,” Newman says.
+“We have deployed that throughout the shop floor, in both equipment and in process through quick-change tooling and having the right tool for the right job. Cleanliness also is very important to us.”
+But much of the quality is thanks to the employees who build it into TAM’s products. “We have a mantra that’s called ‘Excellence at the Wellsite®,’” he says. “The decisions we’re making are providing excellence.”
+TAM helps promote that culture through training. However, “We don’t hire a bunch of non-skilled employees and bring them up,” he asserts. “We will hire someone with a foundation, but we try to focus on how TAM does things and train them up to that level.”
+Together as One
+TAM focuses on providing a safe work environment for employees, visitors, customers and contractors. “Our objective is to build a positive, proactive culture in [health, safety and environment] HS&E that is driven by the need to improve and protect rather than a culture driven solely by regulatory requirements,” it says.
+“HS&E, quality, production and service are not considered separate areas at TAM,” it says. “They are woven together as one. TAM is committed to providing quality products and services in a safe and efficient manner.”
+TAM Pride
+Newman is proud of TAM, which recently increased its throughput. “Our productivity has improved considerably over the last three years,” he says. This is due to having the right equipment and focus.
+By changing processes and implementing new machines, the company has increased its productivity by nearly 40 percent. “We’re innovative thinkers,” he says.
+TAM has encouraged employee involvement from a continuous improvement standpoint. Its employees have developed manufacturing aides, safety improvements, process changes and other improvements.
+Most, Newman says, are incremental improvements that add up to double-digit percentages over time. In addition to the mill turns, the company has added rubber extruders to replace rubber calenders. “This change is a major contributor in helping us achieve a TRIR of 0 in 2017.
+“It has been a progression,” he says. “Our culture has shifted in how we operate. Productivity has improved, but more importantly we are doing it much safer. Our TRIR was averaging in the threes four years ago. This is a company wide team effort and is in direct support of Excellence at the Wellsite.”
+Newman sees a bright future for TAM. “There’s a lot of good opportunity as an organization. We’re making the right decisions and we’re focused on doing the right things. As long as we continue to focus on Excellence at the Wellsite and listening to what the customer tells us, then we’ll be successful.”
+The company’s zero debt status broadens its opportunities for success. “That allows us to take advantage of the market and pricing,” Newman says. “We also have an owner that believes in us, and will take those risks, based on our suggestions.”
+For use at 8:30 a.m., EST February 11, 2014 MONETARY POLICY REPORT February 11, 2014 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
+Letter of Transmittal Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Washington, D.C., February 11, 2014 The President of the Senate The Speaker of the House of Representatives The Board of Governors is pleased to submit its Monetary Policy Report pursuant to section 2B of the Federal Reserve Act. Sincerely, Janet L. Yellen, Chair
+Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategyterm.
+Contents Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Domestic Developments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Financial Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 International Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Part 2: Monetary Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Part 3: Summary of Economic Projections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Outlook for Economic Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Outlook for Inflation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appropriate Monetary Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uncertainty and Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 43 43 47 Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 List of Boxes Recent Changes in Household Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Developments Related to Financial Stability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Financial Stress and Vulnerabilities in the Emerging Market Economies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forecast Uncertainty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Note: Unless otherwise noted, the time series in the figures extend through, for daily data, February 6, 2014; for monthly data, January 2014; and, for quarterly data, 2013:Q4. In bar charts, except as noted, the change for a given period is measured to its final quarter from the final quarter of the preceding period. 12 24 28 49
+1 Summary The labor market improved further during the second half of 2013 and into early 2014 as the economic recovery strengthened: Employment has increased at an average monthly pace of about 175,000 since June, and the unemployment rate fell from 7.5 percent in June to 6.6 percent in January. With these gains, payrolls have risen a cumulative 3based measures of longer-term inflation expectations have remained in the ranges seen over the past several years. Economic growth picked up in the second half of last year. Real gross domestic product is estimated to have increased at an annual rate of 3¾ percent, up from a 1¾ percent gain in the first half. Fiscal policy—which was unusually restrictive in 2013 as a whole—likely began to impose somewhat less restraint on the pace of expansion in the latter part of the year. Moreover, financial markets remained supportive of economic growth—as household net worth rose further, credit became more readily available, and interest rates remained relatively low—and economic conditions in the rest of the world improved overall despite recent turbulence in some emerging financial markets. As a result, growth in consumer spending, business investment, and exports all increased in the second half of last
+2 Summaryterm the December 2013 FOMC meeting, with the unemployment rate moving down toward the 6½½.
+3 Part 1 Recent Economic and Financial Developments¾ percent, up from a 1¾¼ million, and the unemployment rate has declined 1½ percentage points. 1. Net change in payroll employment 3-month moving averages Thousands of jobs 400 Private 200 + 0 _ Total nonfarm 200 400 600 800 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 SOURCE: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
+4 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 2. Measures of labor underutilization Monthly Percent 16 U-6 14 U-4 12 10 8 U-5 6 Unemployment rate 4 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: U-4 measures total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the labor force plus discouraged workers. Discouraged workers are a subset of marginally attached workers who are not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. U-5 measures total unemployed plus all marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the labor force plus persons marginally attached to the labor force. Marginally attached workers are not in the labor force, want and are available for work, and have looked for a job in the past 12 months. U-6 measures total unemployed plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the labor force plus all marginally attached workers. The shaded bar indicates a period of business recession as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. SOURCE: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. . . . although labor force participation remained weak, . . . 3. Labor force participation rate and employment-to-population ratio Monthly Percent 68 66 64 Labor force participation rate 62 60 58 Employment-to-population ratio 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: Both series are a percent of the population aged 16 and over. SOURCE: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.’
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 5¼ percent, well below the average pace prior to the recent recession. Productivity growth has also been relatively weak over the recovery. From the end of 2009 to the end of 2013, annual growth in output per hour in the nonfarm business sector averaged only 1¼ percent, considerably slower than the average rate before the recent 4. Long-term unemployed and part-time workers Percent Percent 7 70 Part-time workers 6 60 5 50 4 40 3 30 2 20 1 Long-term unemployed 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 10 2014 NOTE: The data are monthly. The long-term unemployed series shown is the percent of total unemployed persons who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. The part-time worker series is the percent of nonagricultural employees working part time for economic reasons. SOURCE: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 5. Measures of change in hourly compensation Quarterly Percent 6 Compensation per hour, nonfarm business sector 5 4 3 Employment cost index 2 1 + 0 _ 1 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 NOTE: For nonfarm business compensation, change is over four quarters; for the employment cost index, change is over the 12 months ending in the last month of each quarter. SOURCE: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
+6 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 6. Change in output per hour Percent, annual rate 6 5 H2 4 3 2 H1 1 + 0 _ 1 1948– 73 1974– 95 1996– 2007 2009 2011 2013 NOTE: The data are from the nonfarm business sector. SOURCE: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 7. Change in the chain-type price index for personal consumption expenditures Monthly Percent 5 4 Total 3 2 Excluding food and energy 1 + 0 _ 1 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 recession (figure 6). However, with the recent strengthening in the pace of economic activity, productivity growth rose to an annual rate of nearly 3½ percent over the second half of last year. 2013 NOTE: The data extend through December 2013; changes are from one year earlier. SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.run¾ percent from the end of 2009 to the end of 2012, non-oil import prices fell 1¼
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 7 an unusual amount of downward pressure on inflation. Unit labor costs increased at an annual rate of 1½ pricesetting behavior and thus actual inflation. Despite the weakness in recent inflation data, survey- and market-based measures of longerterm 1. The question in the Michigan survey asks about inflation generally but does not refer to any specific price index. 8. Prices of oil and nonfuel commodities January 2, 2008 = 100 Dollars per barrel 140 140 130 120 120 Nonfuel commodities 110 100 100 80 90 60 Oil 80 40 70 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 NOTE: The data are weekly averages of daily data through February 6, 2014. The price of oil is the spot price of Brent crude oil, and the price of nonfuel commodities is an index of 23 primary-commodity prices. SOURCE: Commodity Research Bureau. 9. Median inflation expectations Percent 5 Michigan survey expectations for next 5 to 10 years 4 3 2 SPF expectations for next 10 years 1 + 0 _ 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: The Michigan survey data are monthly. The SPF data for inflation expectations for personal consumption expenditures are quarterly and extend from 2007:Q1 through 2013:Q4. SOURCE: Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers; Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF).
+8 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 10. Inflation compensation Daily Percent 4 5 to 10 years ahead 3 2 1 + 0 _ 5-year (carry adjusted) 1 2 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: Inflation compensation is the difference between yields on nominal Treasury securities and Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) of comparable maturities, based on yield curves fitted to off-the-run nominal Treasury securities and on- and off-the-run TIPS. The 5-year measure is adjusted for the effect of indexation lags. SOURCE: Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Barclays; Federal Reserve Board staff estimates. 11. Change in real gross domestic product Percent, annual rate H2 H1 4 2 + 0 _ 2 4 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 12. Gross domestic product and gross domestic income Quarterly 4-quarter percent change Gross domestic product 4 3 2 Gross domestic income 1 + 0 _ 1¾ percent over the second half of last year, up from a reported 1¾. 3 4 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 NOTE: The gross domestic income data extend through 2013:Q3. SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2. Conceptually, GDI and GDP should be equal, but because they are measured with different source data, they can send different signals about growth in U.S. economic output.
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 9 13. Change in real government expenditures on consumption and investment Percent, annual rate Federal State and local 12 9 6 H1 H2 3 + 0 _ 3 6 9 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 14. Federal receipts and expenditures Annual Percent of nominal GDP 26 Expenditures 24 The federal budget deficit declined as a share of GDP for the fourth consecutive year in fiscal year 2013, reaching about 4 percent of GDP. Although down from nearly 10 percent in fiscal 2009, the fiscal 2013 deficit is still 1½ percentage points higher than its 50-year average. Federal receipts rose in fiscal 2013 but still were only 16¾ percent of GDP; federal outlays, while falling, remained elevated at 20¾ percent of GDP in the past fiscal year (figure 14). With the deficit still elevated, the debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 69 percent at the end of fiscal 2012 to 71 percent at the end of fiscal 2013 (figure 15). 22 Receipts 20 18 16 14 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 NOTE: The receipts and expenditures data are on a unified-budget basis and are for fiscal years (October through September); gross domestic product (GDP) is for the four quarters ending in Q3. SOURCE: Office of Management and Budget. 15. Federal government debt held by the public Annual Percent of nominal GDP . . . but fiscal drag appears to be easing 80 Although the expiration of emergency unemployment compensation at the beginning of this year will impose some fiscal restraint, fiscal policy is in the process of becoming less restrictive for GDP growth. Most importantly, the drag on growth in consumer spending 70 60 50 40 30 20 3. Through a reduction in hours worked by federal employees, the shutdown is estimated to have directly reduced real GDP growth about ¼ percentage point at an annual rate in the fourth quarter. This influence is likely to be reversed in the first quarter of 2014. 1964 1974 1984 1994 2004 2014 NOTE: The data are for the third quarter of each year. The data for gross domestic product (GDP) are at an annual rate. SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis; Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service.
+10 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 16. Change in real personal consumption expenditures Percent, annual rate 3 H2 H1 2 1 + 0 _ 1 2 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Consumer spending rose faster, supported by improvements in labor markets, . . . SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 17. Consumer sentiment indexes Monthly 120 100 Michigan survey 80 60 40 Conference Board 20 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 NOTE: The Conference Board data are indexed to 100 in 1985. The Michigan survey data are indexed to 100 in 1966. SOURCE: The Conference Board; Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. 18. Interest rate for new auto loans Weekly Percent 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 NOTE: The data extend through January 26, 2014. SOURCE: Mintel. 2012 2014. After increasing at an annual rate of 2 percent in the first half of 2013, real PCE rose at a 2¾
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 11 half of the year. Nevertheless, standards and terms for credit card debt have remained tight, and, partly as a result, credit card balances changed relatively little over the second half. 19. Change in real business fixed investment Percent, annual rate Structures Equipment and intangible capital 30 20 Business investment picked up . . . Business fixed investment (BFI) rose at an annual rate of 4¼½ H1 H2 10 + 0 _ 10 20 30 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 20. Corporate bond yields by securities rating Daily Percentage points 20 18 16 14 12 BBB 10 High-yield 8 6 4 AA 2 0 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: The yields shown are yields on 10-year bonds. SOURCE: BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, used with permission. 21. Selected components of net financing for nonfinancial businesses Billions of dollars, monthly rate Commercial paper Bonds Bank loans Sum Q3 H1 80 60 40 20 + 0 _ 20 40 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 NOTE: The data for the components except bonds are seasonally adjusted. SOURCE: Federal Reserve Board, Statistical Release Z.1, “Financial Accounts of the United States.”
+12 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments Recent Changes in Household Wealth B. Changes in household debt½. Billions of dollars, monthly rate Mortgages Consumer credit Sum 1,000 800 600 400 200 + 0 _ 200 400 600 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 NOTE: Changes are calculated from year-end to year-end except 2013 changes, which are calculated from Q3 to Q3. SOURCE: Federal Reserve Board, Statistical Release Z.1, “Financial Accounts of the United States.”. A. Changes in household net worth Trillions of dollars 10 5 + 0 _ 5 Home equity Corporate equity Other Sum 10 15 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 NOTE: Other new wealth includes the sum of deposits, credit market instruments, mutual funds (excluding equities), security credit, pension entitlements, life insurance reserves, equity in noncorporate business (excluding real estate), and miscellaneous assets, net of total household liabilities (excluding mortgages). Changes are calculated from year-end to year-end except 2013 changes, which are through Q3 only. SOURCE: Federal Reserve Board, Statistical Release Z.1, “Financial Accounts of the United States.”
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 13 2. These estimates are from CoreLogic. Alternative estimates from Zillow show a somewhat larger share of underwater households, but one that also has been declining since early 2012.. C. Changes in consumer credit D. Percent of mortgages with negative equity Percent Billions of dollars, monthly rate LTV > 125 LTV 105-125 LTV 100-105 200 150 100 50 + 0 _ 50 Credit cards Auto loans Student loans Other Sum 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 36 30 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 24 Q4 Q1 Q2 100 18 Q3 12 150 200 6 250 2013 NOTE: Changes are calculated from year-end to year-end except 2013 changes, which are calculated from Q3 to Q3. SOURCE: Federal Reserve Board, Statistical Release Z.1, “Financial Accounts of the United States.” 2010 2011 2012 2013 NOTE: Loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is outstanding mortgage debt as a percent of the value of the home. SOURCE: Staff calculations based on data provided by CoreLogic.
+14 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 22. Average interest rate spreads on commercial and industrial loans of $1 million or less Quarterly Basis points 475 450 Small domestic banks 425 400 375 350 325 Large domestic banks 1998 2001 2004 300 2007 2010 2013 NOTE: Adjusted for changes in nonprice loan characteristics. Spreads are computed over market interest rates on instruments with maturities comparable to each loan repricing interval. Observations are weighted by loan amount. SOURCE: Staff calculations based on data from the Federal Reserve Board, Statistical Release E.2, “Survey of Terms of Business Lending.” 23. Change in real imports and exports of goods and services Percent, annual rate Imports Exports 12 H2 H1 9 6 3 + 0 _ 3 6 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.½. 4. The SLOOS is available on the Board’s website at.
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 15 The growth of real imports of goods and services stepped down to an annual rate of 1½ percent in the second half of last year. Among the major categories, imports of nonoil goods and services rose more moderately, while oil imports continued to decline. Altogether, real net trade added an estimated ¾¼¼ percent, over May and June of last year and have remained near this level 24. U.S. trade and current account balances Quarterly Percent of nominal GDP + 0 _ 1 2 3 4 Trade 5 6 Current account 7 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 NOTE: The data for the current account extend through 2013:Q3. SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 25. U.S. net financial inflows Billions of dollars, annual rate U.S. private (including banking) Foreign private (including banking) U.S. official Foreign official 2,500 2,000 1,500 H1 Q3 1,000 500 + 0 _ 500 1,000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 NOTE: Negative numbers indicate a balance of payments outflow, generated when U.S. residents, on net, purchase foreign assets or when foreign residents, on net, sell U.S. assets. A negative number for “U.S. private” or “U.S. official” indicates an increase in foreign positions. U.S. official flows include the foreign currency acquired when foreign central banks draw on their swap lines with the Federal Reserve. SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
+16 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 26. Mortgage interest rate and mortgage refinance index Percent March 16, 1990 = 100 11 10,000 10 Interest rate 9 8,000 8 6,000 7 4,000 6 5 2,000 4 Refinance index 0 3 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 NOTE: The interest rate data are weekly through February 5, 2014, and are for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. The refinance data are a seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average through January 31, 2014. SOURCE: For interest rate, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; for refinance index, Mortgage Bankers Association. 27. Private housing starts and permits Monthly Millions of units, annual rate 2.2 Single-family starts 1.8 1.4 1.0 Single-family permits .6 Multifamily starts .2 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 NOTE: The data extend through December 2013. SOURCE: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 2013.
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 17 28. Credit scores on new prime mortgages Monthly FICO score 820 90th percentile 780 Median 740 700 660 10th percentile 620 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 NOTE: The data extend through December 2013. Includes purchase mortgages only. SOURCE: McDash Analytics, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lender Processing Services, Inc. 29. Prices of existing single-family houses Monthly Peak = 100 100 FHFA index 90 80 CoreLogic price index 70 S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index 60 50 2004 2007 2010 2013 NOTE: The data for the FHFA index and the S&P/Case-Shiller index extend through November 2013, and the data for the CoreLogic index extend through December 2013. Each index has been normalized so that its peak is 100. Both the CoreLogic price index and the FHFA index include purchase transactions only. The S&P/Case-Shiller index reflects all arm’s-length sales transactions in selected metropolitan areas. SOURCE: Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA); Case-Shiller data via S&P Capital IQ Solutions’ Capital IQ Platform; staff calculations based on data provided by CoreLogic.
+18 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments 30. Yields on nominal Treasury securities Daily Percent 7 6 10-year 30-year 5 4 5-year 3 2 1 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: The Treasury ceased publication of the 30-year constant maturity series on February 18, 2002, and resumed that series on February 9, 2006. SOURCE: Department of the Treasury. 31. Yield and spread on agency mortgage-backed securities Percent Basis points 400 9 8 350 Yield 300 7 250 6 200 5 150 4 Spread 100 3 50 2 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 NOTE: The data are daily. Yield shown is for the Fannie Mae 30-year current coupon, the coupon rate at which new mortgage-backed securities would be priced at par, or face, value. Spread shown is to the average of the 5- and 10-year nominal Treasury yields. SOURCE: Department of the Treasury; Barclays.backed 5. The results of the Survey of Primary Dealers are available on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s website at survey_questions.html.
+MONETARY POLICY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2014 19 32. Dollar-roll-implied financing rates (front month), Fannie Mae 30-year Daily Percent Fails charge Fails charge announced implemented. + 0 _ .5 3.5 percent couponterm funding markets, such as the market for repurchase agreements (repos), were also .5 4.0 percent coupon 1.0 1.5 2011 2012 2013 2014 NOTE: The 4.0 percent coupon data series begins on June 1, 2012. SOURCE: J.P. Morgan.
+20 Part 1: Recent Economic and Financial Developments . . . 33. Equity prices Daily December 31, 2007 = 100 140 Dow Jones bank index 120 100 80 60 S&P 500 index 40 20 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 SOURCE: Dow Jones bank index and Standard & Poor’s 500 index via Bloomberg.
+For use at 8:30 a.m., EST February 11, 2014 MONETARY POLICY REPORT February 11, 2014 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
+Read more
+... Monetary Policy Strategy, are available on the Board's website at ...
+Read more
+From Yahoo Finance: The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday acknowledged it likely triggered a financial market sell-off in the developing world ...
+Read more
+Fed to emerging markets: Think ... see pages 28-29 of the report at ...
+Read more
+(For details on the Fed's analysis, see pages 28-29 of the report at))
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+... and discussed in the Fed' monetary policy report released today ...
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+Chicago Area Clean Cities names environmental leadership awards
+Chicago resident Neda Deylami, who received a Community Leadership Award from Chicago Area Clean Cities, devotes much of her personal time to planning educational EV events in communities throughout the Chicago area and Illinois. Courtesy of Lloyd Degrane/Energy News Network
+Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition announced its 2019 Leadership Award winners at its annual December meeting and reception at The Great Escape in Schiller Park.
+The awards are given annually to organizations and individuals that take actions to locally reduce petroleum consumption and improve air quality, such as by using cleaner-burning alternative-fuel vehicles, electric vehicles or other advanced technologies.
+This year's winners include: Village of Oak Park, Greater Chicago I-55 Truck Plaza, Ozinga, and Village of Downers Grove.
+Tom Thompson, maintenance supervisor for the Forest Preserves of Cook County, was recognized for his Leadership in Public Service.
+Chicago resident Neda Deylami also was awarded a Community Leadership Award for her efforts to help Chicago transition to environmentally friendly electric vehicles.
+"The individuals and organizations we are honoring are terrific examples for others to follow to learn about the advantages of clean-vehicle and alternative-fuel technologies," said Samantha Bingham, coordinator at Chicago Area Clean Cities. "Their efforts serve the Chicago community by reducing harmful emissions from vehicles. That helps to reduce air pollution, making the air we breathe cleaner and healthier for all."
+Leadership Award winners by category include:
+• Best Performing Municipality: The Village of Oak Park is located eight miles from the Chicago Loop. The village is taking many steps to lower the carbon footprint and emissions of its vehicle fleet.
+Oak Park recently installed five electric vehicle charging stations at its village hall on Madison Street. There are three stations with six ports for charging municipal vehicles and two charging stations with four ports for charging by EV owners. Along with the installation, the municipality deployed five new all-electric 2019 Nissan LEAFs.
+Oak Park, with more than 50,000 residents, is a member of CACC and the B20 Club and is a long-time user of low-emissions biodiesel fuel for the village's diesel fleet vehicles. B20 generates fewer tailpipe emissions and reduces lifecycle carbon emissions.
+The village also expanded its use of telematics to coach and educate fleet drivers on proper usage of equipment by decreasing idling, reduce speeding and excessive acceleration, decreasing use of fossil fuels. It also added a hybrid-electric bucket truck, which allows use of the bucket with a battery instead of the vehicle's engine.
+Oak Park's green fleet is one of many sustainability efforts underway in the village.
+"Oak Park has always been at the forefront as a green community," said Ken Crowley, superintendent of fleet services for the Village of Oak Park. "We place a high priority on environmental stewardship. We do everything we can to keep the air we breathe as clean as we can, and our use of biodiesel and electric vehicles are very important initiatives."
+• Leadership in Public Service: Tom Thompson is the maintenance supervisor for the Forest Preserves of Cook County, one of the largest forest preserve districts in the nation at 70,000 acres. Thompson, who has worked with the preserves for 30 years, has led the forest preserve district's efforts to make their vehicles and mowers green as a part of an ongoing plan to make operations as environmentally friendly and economical as possible.
+Maintaining all that green space requires a lot of vehicles and fuel. To mow the landscape in and around picnic groves and other recreational public spaces, the agency maintains a fleet of 40 riding mowers, 90 large tractors, 55 push mowers and 100 trimmers. The forest preserve district recently converted 20 vehicles and 40 large riding mowers to propane, a fuel that has lower emissions than gasoline and diesel.
+"Tom is a true leader and a steward of the environment," said John W. Walton, chair, Chicago Area Clean Cities. "His leadership to green the forest preserves' operations is to be commended and is an example for all who what to contribute to a better world."
+At the awards program, Chicago Area Clean Cities also awarded the Forest Preserves of Cook County its most prestigious award, naming the 2019 Clean Fuels Champion, an award given annually since 2001 to an individual, organization or business that champions sustainable transportation solutions.
+• Community Leadership Award: Chicago resident Neda Deylami devotes much of her personal time to planning educational EV events in communities throughout the Chicago area and Illinois. She has organized and participated in over a dozen events at public libraries, city halls, sustainability fairs and other outreach events, which altogether were attended by hundreds of people in 2019.
+This year, Deylami founded an electric vehicle community group, "Chicago for EVs." The group is comprised mostly of EV owners but is open to all who want to lend a hand in advancing the local EV market.
+With support from other EV owners, Deylami has worked with aldermen and city officials in Chicago, municipal officials in the suburbs and officials and representatives in Springfield, advocating for policies that would promote wider adoption of EVs. She has written several policy and research papers to promote the growth of EVs, which have influenced legislative initiatives in Chicago and the state of Illinois. In her advocacy efforts, she has focused in particular on policies that would expand access to EVs among groups who currently face the most obstacles in accessing sustainable transportation, such as renters, lower income people, and minorities.
+"Neda is an exceptional EV owner who is dedicated to making adoption easier for future EV drivers and educating communities about the benefits of driving electric," Bingham said. "She's one of CACC's star volunteers, having lent a hand on multiple occasions when the coalition has sought assistance for outreach events. She's gone above and beyond to assist Chicago-area communities become EV ready, and she deserves this recognition."
+• Above and Beyond Award: Ozinga is a fourth-generation, family-owned company providing ready mix concrete, building materials, logistics and alternative fuel solutions since 1928. Ozinga has more than 200 ready mix concrete mixers running on renewable natural gas in the Chicago area.
+As of spring 2019, all Ozinga natural gas fueling stations pump renewable landfill gas. With RNG, Ozinga's fleet produces over 4,000,000 Kgs fewer well-to-wheels greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable diesel fleet every year. Additionally, Ozinga can now help other organizations make the switch to RNG. As a part of station updates, Ozinga also added more electric vehicle charging stations to both the Mokena and Chinatown offices and yards.
+Additionally, for the first time in company history, Ozinga is purchasing more than 6,000 megawatts of Illinois wind energy per year as of May 2019. The new electricity supply contract will use Illinois wind to provide power to Ozinga locations throughout Illinois. The 6,000 MWH/ year of wind energy represents more than 25 percent of the company's electricity usage. The renewable wind power Ozinga is purchasing through a new contract is the same price as any other power. After this current contract expires in 2021, Ozinga is planning to expand usage of green power. Wind energy is one of the most cost-effective clean fuel sources available. It also boasts less than 2 percent of the levelized CO2 emissions per kWh than traditional coal plants. In fact, the amount of wind energy Ozinga is purchasing this year is equivalent to the energy required to power 740 homes or 10 million miles driven by an average passenger vehicle.
+These, among other initiatives, were initiated by the Ozinga Energy team. With renewable natural gas having a negative carbon footprint, it became a priority to implement in 2019. Due to the deregulated nature of Illinois' electric markets, Ozinga can sign contracts that lock in wind energy rates for several years, minimize risk from price fluctuations, and have a more consistent energy budget. So far, Ozinga has purchased over 2,500 MWHs of wind energy since the Wind contract started and dispensed over 750,000 GGEs of renewable natural gas.
+• Service Station of the Year: The Greater Chicago I-55 Truck Plaza was one of the first, family-owned and operated, independent truck plazas in the United States to start selling B11 biodiesel in 2006.
+After experiencing firsthand the economical, physical, and environmental benefits that biodiesel was having for truck drivers, their trucks, and the environment, Robin Puthusseril, vice president and co-owner of the Greater Chicago I-55 Truck Plaza, along with her father John Puthusseril, decided to take things to a higher level. In 2013, they invested more than half a million dollars to build the infrastructure at their truck plaza to begin blending and selling higher blends of premium biodiesel to all their customers.
+Today, B11-B20 premium biodiesel is blended and sold year-round to all their customers at every diesel dispenser. The Greater Chicago I-55 Truck Plaza also offers fleet customers bulk B100 biodiesel for purchase, if needed.
+In 2018, Robin testified before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment regarding Advanced Biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard. She explained why biodiesel is good for the country because it helps displace petroleum-based fuels and lowers the cost of fuel for all Americans. She also encouraged Congress to continue to incentivize retailers like herself so she and others can continue the work and impact that has only started.
+"Robin is a true advocate for the performance and environmental benefits of biodiesel fuel," said John Walton. "She's making a huge impact in getting Class 8 truckers to reduce their emissions."
+• Plugged-In Public Safety Award: The Village of Downers Grove, a municipality of nearly 50,000 people located in the western suburbs of Chicago, runs 83 percent of the village's fleet on some form of alternative fuel. These alternatives included biodiesel (B20), E-85 (ethanol), compressed natural gas (CNG), propane, solar power, and hybrid combinations. In 2019, the village began using its first plug-in electric hybrid vehicles. The vehicles, used by the Police Department's Community Support Officers, are averaging over 75 miles-per-gallon, replacing Ford Crown Victoria models that only averaged 14 miles-per-gallon.
+The implementation of green initiatives like the use of cleaner, more efficient alternative fuels achieves the village's strategic plan goal of being "a steward of financial and environmental sustainability." Using alternative fuels reduces the environmental impact of fleet operations and is more cost-effective than traditional petroleum-based products.
+Chicago Area Clean Cities, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is a nonprofit coalition focused on promoting clean transportation in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. The coalition's membership is comprised of federal, state and local governments, corporations, small businesses, and individuals. These stakeholders come together to share information and resources, educate the public, help craft public policy, and collaborate on projects that reduce petroleum use.
+The coalition is one of nearly 100 region, including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. To get involved, visit chicagocleancities.org.
+Scripture
+Lord, thank you that the storms in my life cause me to see myself more clearly and your face more vividly. Give me the words to properly declare to the world who your are and not just what you have done or can do. You are more than your abilities and when I reduce you to a miracle maker, I cheapen your glory. Thank you for your kindness that leads us to repentance.
+Lord, You are so mighty that even the wind and waves obey You and know Your name. You are an awesome, mighty God. You sent Your one and only, precious Son to die a terrible death for me-an undeserving, prideful, selfish girl. Thank You for your free, unmerited gift of everlasting love, grace, and mercy.
+It is not about the power, it is about trust in Him. Who then is this Jesus? I love it! This study is bringing so much clarity to questions I may not have wanted to admit I ask. Miracles are breadcrumbs leading us to the one who loved us first.
+Just want to say thank you for this study. I am facing a medical challenge and the prayer is for full and complete healing. I find out tomorrow the results of tests and the answer I want and pray is in line with God’s will for me is for surgery. Regardless of the outcome I WILL ALWAYS HOPE and TRUST in the fullness of God and His power to save and heal. We have not idea how God uses circumstances in our life to bless others. Believe me, I had no idea how many people I have touched (only with the strength of God) over the last few months.
+As Claudia said, Trust is huge. And God will make a way.
+This is not to say that I’m not terrified of the answer tomorrow, but God’s love is bigger than my fear.
+Thanks for teaching on miracles and understanding a bit more of why they happen when they do.
+HOPE! TURST! FATIH!
+Praying for you, Shelley!
+Thanks for the prayers. I am rejoicing and SHOUTING with JOY!!! I received great news yesterday. I will be having surgery in September. I never thought I would say I am looking forward to surgery but GOD IS GOOD!! Praise Him for all His mercies. They are new every day.
+Praise God!
+I am so grateful and thankful for this study. It is my first time participating in something like this and in this first 3 days I have learned so much about me, God and Jesus! As a new believer, I want to focus my life on God and His word, on Jesus and all the love they spread in my heart.
+For me, the most important thing I have learned until today: Trust! If we do not understand what is happening around, with trust in God and Jesus ww can make every situation in our lifes.
+Thank you all so much! Glad to be here and participate in your wortful thoughts and your wonderful community!
+Yay!! So glad you’re here, Claudia!
+So glad to have you with us, Claudia! So encouraged to hear that you are growing closer to the Lord in this time!
+– Stormye
+I am guilty of always trying to see me, me, me throughout scripture. My mindset is often finite and selfishly focused. I can be more concerned with how God can effect me than how I can know God more through scripture. When my perspective is set selfishly, it sets me up to be offended by God when things to go the way I think they should. When I have a Kingdom perspective, and allow scripture to speak to my heart about God (instead about me), my eyes are opened, my ears unplugged. Ultimately, I am transformed. Help me Lord, to love you and you alone. Not your hand. Not the me that I think you can make me. You. And you alone.
+I just wanted you to know that you are not the only one who at times feels selfish, I do the the same thing!
+Thanks. It really is a battle to die to flesh. Glad I’m not alone.
+Oh Lindsey you aren’t alone! This is one of the things I love abt the SRT studies: they are so Christ focused. I’m excited abt what lies ahead in this as we all continue to learn together who He is. Thanks for your transparent thoughts here. :-)
+Oh man, thank you so much for writing this. I am guilty of this too, but never realized it until you put it into words. I’m praying through this study I come to know God more without the expectation that He needs to do miracles in my life for me to be a faithful servant
+This is so true and well-said! I’m very recently learning this as well.
+I am right there with you, Lindsey!! All too often I am guilty of the exact same thing. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
+I didn’t even realize I was doing this until I read your comment. I am new at diving into the scriptures and sometimes leave feeling offended by what I read. I still get caught up in trying and even thinking at times that I am in control and my will will be pressed upon my life. Thank you for allowing me to realize this! Wonderfully stated!
+Thank you for sharing that thought!! Wow! Great words. A Kingdom perspective… you never know if something you share hits home with someone… well THAT did! Great way to look at it!! I’m re-focusing a little because of your input. Thanks sister ❤️
+Thank you for your wise words. They really resonate with me. My default is to think of myself- but that is my sinful nature. Lord, help me to love you alone an trust your will, even if I’m too short sighted to understand!
+Between the Scriptures and this beautifully written piece, I am so thankful! I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure about studying the Miracles of Jesus, but so far, this study is pointing me and fueling me in such a way as to be able to endure the change I see the Lord moving me toward in my daily life. This change will be uncomfortable and humbling, but God has my best in mind, and I have Jesus, the prize above all prizes.
+I feel the same way Christina!
+“May I look to the fullness of Christ and know my need for Him is a privilege.” This really changed my perspective. Right now I am struggling with hearing God speak and seeing the miracles of Jesus, I yearn for a deeper relationship but right now I just feel empty. But during this time, I am going to continue to focus on the fullness of Christ and “remember the deeds of the Lord” (Psalm 77:11) .
+Sydney, I sign songs. I am not a singer by any means. But when I sign christian songs I feel more “filled” with Him. Also, try praying out loud, while walking around. This might seem silly. But trying to change up how you praise Him, might in turn change the emptiness you are feeling. Praying for you my friend! During the emptiness we cry out to Him louder and yearn for more.
+I am so grateful for this study right now!!! I have been in a time of waiting for a few years now, and it’s so difficult to be unsure of the future. This study has made me realize that I need to let go of my fears and just lean in to Jesus. I know that my future is with the Lord, and that is all the I need!!!!
+I’m in my twenties and I struggle with stuttering, which has been a struggle pretty much my whole life. I thought that as I get older it will go away. But being in my twenties it is kind of embarrassing. I pray everyday that God would be with me as I speak and that He would take this away from me. Everyday I fear of stuttering. But, when I pray, I have this peace. Sure I may stutter a little throughout the day. As I may want for God the take this away, I believe that there is a miracle that He gives every time I pray: the miracle of peace. Sure I may be fearful, but when I pray, I feel this peace. The kind that says: Why do you worry? I am with you! No need to be afraid!
+The persistent widow kept coming everyday to the judge to ask for justice. The judge kept saying no, but she kept coming. Finally, he gave it to her. Jesus says that those who come to Him continually, will receive what they come to Him for. (Luke 18: 1-8)
+This really helped changed my perspective! Thank you for sharing :)
+Hi! I just wanted to share with you that I know someone who stutters who is so brilliant and such an inspiration to me. I am currently pursing my doctorate, and one of my major professors who has been very successful in his field has a significant stutter. I have been his student for several years, and God has really used him to show me that I can be a successful teacher even though I am shy and terrified of public speaking! God may or may not take away your stutter, but He can use it to inspire others!
+I have a nephew in his twenties who has struggled with stuttering all his life. He also had a stomach illness that made him very ill, but no matter what, he would get up early on Sunday mornings to play his guitar in the worship team. He is a very talented guitarist. He has not allowed the stuttering to stop his call to serve the Lord. He auditioned for a Christian band and was chosen to be part of this ministry. He has been blessed to have been playing guitar with a well known Christian band for three years now. Besides playing his guitar, he also sings backup for the band. He has traveled all around the county and has moved to Nashville, TN. He has grown in amazing ways but his trust has always been on the Lord. Don’t give up and never give up hope and be strong in the Lord and He too will bless you and guide you!
+Hi em,
+I myself have had a speech impediment by entire life. I am 26 & It has caused me to change jobs & daily get on my knees. It’s one of the most humbling things I’ve ever experienced. I imagine that you are compassionate and kind and are always trying to understand other people more because it’s at times difficult for you to express yourself. You are strong and beautiful and every word you say is dependent upon the lord. That is a gift, even even if doesn’t feel that way. I understand you. & praying for you.
+“Hope does not come from belief in power; it comes from trust in a Person. When we don’t understand what Jesus is doing, we must seek to know Him more.”
+I write scriptures on my bathroom mirror sometimes weekly, sometimes it changes daily, sometimes it wont change for months. This is my next one, I will be writing it as soon as a close my laptop tonight. This is a concept I struggle with almost daily, and need to remind myself daily that I don’t know the reason for all things, and may never know, and should not necessarily know as long as I am seeking the Lord. I have recently resigned from my job because of so many unspoken struggles. I feel I had lost myself, my beliefs, and my morals. I was compromising so much of what I know daily. I sometimes believed that I was put in these positions so that I could find my way back to Him. I know I has so drifted from Him, and His word, and it was a way to really strip myself of all distractions and really find my way back to Him.
+I am finally starting to see that it may not have been so much of a “curse” and much more of a blessing. I have re-ignitied the flame in my heart of Christ, and my church, and quite honestly have not felt this at peace with myself and my life ever.
+I thank God for the miracle that I had seen as a curse until really diving into this bible study, and an amazing group of women that I can take this adventure with!
+Wow. That’s awesome! I pray that God will continue to reveal Himself to you.
+Thank you for this study, I will be praying for those of you that shared the struggles you are going thru with finances and health, and would like to ask that you pray for me to be able to release anxiety that I am experiencing at this time. I know the Lord has a lesson for me to learn as I get through this anxiety that’s has come over me. Thank you
+God’s got you, Holly. Anxiety has no place in your heart–see 2 Tim. 1:7. It’s one of my absolute favorites.
+“Hope does not come from belief in power; it comes from trust in a Person. When we don’t understand what Jesus is doing, we must seek to know Him more.”
+I love the above quote; it’s exactly what I need to hear right now. Throughout my adult life, I have often wondered what on earth Jesus is doing with my life. There are so many things that have happened that I just don’t understand. This is a good reminder that I don’t necessarily need to understand what’s going on, so long as I continue to seek Him. I might not understand what God was doing until I get to meet Him face to face…and that’s okay. It really is. Right now, I think I’m still just telling myself that, but it’s something that I’m trying to accept as Truth, that I might not get bogged down by the daily stuff of life.
+I pray that God opens my eyes to the little miracles. I know there are so many things that He has done that clearly show He is present in my life – it’s so easy for me to just take those things for granted though. I can easily get focused on the hard things instead of the good things. I want to be a thankful, grateful person instead of a complainer…something I struggle with daily.
+So thankful for this group of ladies, and for these daily Bible studies that help us all focus not on ourselves, but on Jesus.
+My dear Sisters in this study… this is such a God ordained group for me to be in my heart is shaking and I hope you will read this testimony. Apologies in advance for the length. I carefully alluded on Day 1 that I was so troubled by a challenge in my current situation. I was so grateful to have kind messages it blessed me so. As a working traveling Single Mom globally- this was a real experiment for me as I’d never joined a Bible study like this. I stumbled seeking to join this study 2 weeks ago with some “tug of the heart” God called me to do it and find a community of women in the same space. So I did! I ordered my books and waited for launch. I am the SOLE provider for my 16 year old daughter with no help from her Dad. This regularly stresses me out like you all as I read your individual circumstances I am now reading and praying for you. Many of you attended public school like I did but our schools here have changed and are really poor in Alabama. Uncontrollable drugs. So I elected to send her to a private Christian school which I am committed to that supports her love for Jesus and which enriches her in ways I thank God for. It’s shaping the young woman she is. She is a mission working- works monthly in soup kitchens and intercity work- plays soccer representing her school in a Godly manner- and her school. I’ve struggled to pay the tuition but been able to maintain it as this and proud as this is her Christian community as an upcoming Junior. Yesterday- I learned my company purchased another company and I lost my job. I have a tiny bit of severance but not much. Her 2nd tuition payment is due in June. I am asking you all to pray God will create new opportunities for me between now and then to support me keeping her in her Christian school. Not for me/ but for me to pay her tuition in for her. These youth are so troubled in my community – and to have to uproot her woukd be tragic if I can not pay for it. She comes home regularly grateful to share the environment she is in with gratitude and the influence it has on her and the choices she makes. I will sell my car to keep her there as there is nothing more important than having our children live the legacy of this security in Jesus. But my reality is finances to pay in June. Of course/ I won’t tell her. I ask you all to pray a new job will come soon so I can continue this commitment to my daughter. Thank you with gratitude. I believe in Him.
+Praying for you and your daughter. May our Good Lord provide a way!
+I will be keeping both your daughter and you in my prayers!
+Praying for you my sister, may God use this opportunity to bring you and your daughter closer to him. May you not focus on your situation and may you open your eyes to see what is Gods plan. God always has a plan for our lives, it may not be what we have planned but we must always remember that God works everything for our good. Please keep us updated and let us know if there is anything else we can pray for. God bless you and your daughter.
+Dear sweet friend, thank you for your vulnerability in sharing this. In the short time you’ve been with SRT you’ve already had such a wonderful impact on the women in this community. Please know we are praying for you in this. Asking God to provide in ways you could not have imagined and to bring comfort in what is sure to be a time of fear and uncertainty. We are so, so grateful for you.
+– Stormye
+Thank you for sharing your heart with us! I feel your pain, and from my own experiences, I know God is hearing your cry and He knows what your daughter needs. I am praying for you. May the God of comfort, peace, provision, and faithfulness wrap you around His precious arms. May you know He will always take care of you. We often don’t know how, but we trust who does know. Praying for God’s provision – for your daughter’s school and your job. His plan is always perfect.
+Praying for you and your precious daughter. Personally, I have always found comfort in the truth that God will never give us challenges that are more than we can take because He never expects us to take on the challenges alone. The many struggles we go through in this life on earth are what reveal our desperate need for Him and His mercy. May you draw near to your Heavenly Father during this time and remember that He always has everything perfectly under control when you do not. Love and prayers!
+I’ll be praying for you and your sweet daughter. God rewards those who walk with Him steadfastly. God hears you and see your heart. I pray He will supply exactly what you need. Sending much love to you…you’re an amazing mother! ❤️
+Dear MW.. Praying for you and your daughter.. Praying God be in all situations you find yourself In, that He show you in a real and tangible way that He walks with you and that He provides as you hold on to Him and His promises.
+You are an amazing mom and I pray that through this season you continue to know his grace and love…
+Holding you in my prayers.. Hugs to you both..xx
+This is my first SRT study, I was intrigued to learn more about the miracles of Jesus after having just experienced miraculous healing in my own life. Two months ago my son was born and immediately taken from me to be treated in the NICU, he had trouble breathing and they thought he might have a lung infection. It broke my heart to be separated from him, but this is really where I started to see God’s hand. My son recovered within two days and on the third day of his life he was released from the hospital, no infection and breathing on his own. My husband and I were on our knees the entire time and God was surely with us. However after only two nights at home we had to go back to the hospital to treat my sons high level of jaundice, meanwhile because of the delay and trauma my breasts became engorged and on the verge of infection. It felt like the final defeat, I was so terrified and hurt that I wouldn’t be able to feed my baby. I was past the point of exhaustion and I was in so much pain, I cried out to Jesus. I remembered the story of the woman who was bleeding and came to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe for healing, I said “just let me touch the hem of your robe Jesus, I have faith” In that moment my breasts went from rock hard to incredibly soft and I could feel the milk let down and clogged ducts open. From that point my lips could not contain my praises and I sang and sang and sang! It may be somewhat embarrassing to read about miraculous healing of breasts, but God designed them to give nourishment to a baby and I desperately wanted to nurse my son. We have been nursing smoothly ever since and now my son, Samuel, is healthy and strong at two months old!
+I share this because I want to testify to the fact that miracles are real, but more importantly, God is absolutely real. He is with us when we need him most, His presence alone is a miracle in itself, and we are privileged, so very privileged, to need Him.
+I’m glad I can seek Jesus with you all.
+-Amanda
+What a huge blessing from the Lord!
+What a wonderful testimony. Blessings to you and your family!
+This is beautiful! I definitely believe God has angels assigned to nursing moms to help the challenges of breastfeeding!
+Thank you for sharing this, Amanda. So grateful to have you in the SRT community!
+– Stormye
+Our amazing God is so personal, he knows our every need, and that of your beautiful Son x
+As I write this, I am lying beside my 5-month old baby on a hospital bed who’s been sick with a very high fever during the last 3days. This post couldn’t come at a more perfect time. I just experienced a miracle a few moments ago. Sharing on my blog:
+steady-myheart.blogspot.com/2017/04/healing-is-in-your-hands.html?m=1
+Coveting your prayers for healing of my child… Godbless
+I’m praying for you and your baby, and I’m thanking God for His perfect timing.
+I will be praying for both you and your baby!
+Loved this from today, “He Himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases!” I think sometimes we get caught up in the heavenly side of Jesus, the side that performs miracles and is ever powerful. But we must remember He was also human just like us and felt the same sufferings that we do. How humbling.
+Really loved today’s devotion! My husband’s and my bible study is reading through John Piper’s God is the Gospel (highly recommend it, btw) and this devotion really made a connection with that book. God must be the center of all things because He is the center of all things! When you get that, it puts everything you read and do into perspective. So I really loved when the author said, “The biggest miracle of all is Jesus Himself.” Let us not forget that that is the most important thing of all.
+Can’t wait to see the next devotions in this series!
+I too have ordered fish and it came with the eyes. So disturbing!
+This is so true, so often we get caught up in the miracle instead of the miracle maker. I am guilty of this too.
+Yeah, no ojos para me! I think most of us, if not all, have been guilty of wanting to benefit from the hand of God when we really should be seeking the heart of God.
+Miracles point us to Jesus and all He is. Oh thank you for this because so often I’m looking just for the result. Praying today to keep blinders on so He alone remains my focus.
+I feel the same way! I love the reminder to read scripture with the lens of “what does this tell me about Jesus?” vs “What does this say about me?”.
+The question is always what does this passage tell me about Jesus rather than what does it tell me about me or my situation. (My paraphrase of her words). This is soooo good. I am really learning that we have it all backward in our culture. We read the Bible to tell us how to live or what to do. But the Bible isn’t about us. It is about God and the story about Him. I am learning to read the Bible to see what it says to me about Him. Because He is all I need and He is the answer to everything. Wow! I pray that some day I can fully grasp that concept. Such a great devotional truth today!
+Amen Aimee!!
+If and (inevitably) when I begin to ask the wrong questions, may I look to the fullness of Christ and find that my need for Him is a privilege. May I praise Him for His miracles, but not miss the biggest miracle of all: Jesus Himself.
+MY NEED FOR HIM IS A PRIVILEGE!!! Wow! Such profound insight!!! Thank you!
+Yep I totally resonated with this same part, amen!
+“Hope does not come from belief in power; it comes from trust in a Person. When we don’t understand what Jesus is doing, we must seek to know Him more.” – YAAASSS!!! So often our first reaction is to question God or to be mad. But when we don’t understand a situation, when we don’t understand what He is doing we should seek Him even more! I love
+Hey guys! It’s Claire. Out of around 50 games, here are our Top 15
+Best Android Tower Defense Games all arranged by Playscore. The Playscore is an Average of Gamer and Critic
+ratings. 15. OTTTD : Over The Top TD Here’ a game that lives up to its title. It’s a truly over-the-top tower defense, that
+pits you against sentient eyeballs, towering mechanical foes, and chopper-riding octopods. Choose from a variety of unique heroes, storm
+the battlefield and decimate your enemies until the arena turns into a pool of their
+blood, bones, and guts. It’s entertaining alright… but it’s
+just so easy. If it was bit more challenging, it could have
+scored higher. It has a PlayScore of 8.28 14. Tower Madness 2: 3D Defense A sequel to the popular Tower Madness, help
+an adorable flock of fighting sheep from an oncoming alien invasion. Destroy waves upon waves of forces with rockets,
+missiles, and more. Unlike OTTTD, it gets progressively harder. You need to learn the invaders abilities and
+weaknesses if you want to turn the tide of battle. Tower Madness 2 is not particularly innovative
+and in-app purchases can be annoying at times. But it managed to provide a solid TD game
+with a PlayScore of 8.30 13. Caravan War: Heroes And Tower Defense Build your massive empire in this epic Tower-Defense
+game from HIKER GAMES. Brave through a treacherous world and fight
+players in its intense Player versus Player action. Build different types of towers to help your
+caravans pass through safely. Defend these vulnerable cargo and make sure
+they make it to the finish line. Make impenetrable defenses, take control of
+huge armies, and be smart when placing defensive towers. It has a PlayScore of 8.36 12. Sentinel 4: Dark Star Another science fiction Tower-Defense game
+with basically the same elements, because duh. This time around, take command of a dropship
+sentinel and battle deadly creatures as you explore the mysteries of the Dark Star. Control three varied Commander heroes to back
+up your defenses, and select your loadout to quickly devastate oncoming threats. Call support from your signature Dropship,
+and unleash hell on extraterrestrial planets with your galactic might. Featuring a huge campaign across 31 unique
+maps, it’s a TD game of epic proportions. It has a PlayScore of 8.38 11. Summoner’s Greed: Idle TD Endless Waves Moving away from the science fiction cliche,
+this fantasy-driven Tower Defense game takes you into medieval lands filled with magic
+and monsters. Defend the King’s Castle from invading thieves
+and protect his grand treasures. Strategically place your towers and cast powerful
+spells to defend against the Kingdom’s mightiest bosses. Gather your elite vanguard of badass heroes,
+and make it through the next level. It has a PlayScore of 8.38 10. Plants vs. Zombies: Heroes Who would’ve thought that one of the innovators
+of the Tower Defense genre, would make a Tower-Defense spin-off? PopCap’s absurd bandwagoning habits takes
+you to a Clash Royale-like game where you use your wide collection of cards to take
+down the enemy’s tower. A mix of TCG and Tower-Defense, collect your
+floral heroes and lead them to battle against the Zombie Army. Place them to their correct lanes, maximize
+your plant energy, utilize your Hero and dominate the enemy. Be warned, this game is filled with microtransactions. Spend wisely and learn the ropes before getting
+into its higher levels. It has a PlayScore of 8.40 9. Bloons TD 5 It’s time for some ballon-popping action with
+the mighty monkeys of Ninja Kiwi. Making its origins in the flash era of PC
+gaming, Bloons has done so well in adjusting to the tides of the new generation. So much so that it spawned several tower defense
+titles, providing hours of fun to the fans of the genre. Released in 2014, TD 5 entered the scene with
+an impressive graphical upgrade, and a handful of exciting new features. Pop all the balloons with the Monkey Sub tower,
+and conquer its daily challenges. Built with co-op, freeplay, and so much more. It has a PlayScore of 8.49 8. Jelly Defense Immerse yourself in its world of oddball jellies. Help them as they fight against invaders by
+using your tactical skills and wisdom. Hurl those gelatinous artillery and put your
+enemies into murky waters. Although it features the same formula as most
+TD games, its charming eccentricity keeps drawing people in. It sticks with the genre’s old, demanding
+and ultimately punishing mechanics. Savor the sweetness of each of your hard-won
+victories, and save the jellies from their squishy demise. It has a PlayScore of 8.51 Found a game you like? Make sure to check our description box for
+the links to get these games. Oh, and if we failed to mention your favorite
+game, be sure to leave a comment! Also, if you wanna see me and the rest of
+the whatoplay gang play the latest and greatest games, be sure to subscribe to our gameplay
+channel, whatoplay LIVE, link in the top right corner! 7. Anomaly 2 Oozing with jaw-dropping visuals, 11 Bit Studios’
+Tower-Defense game is nothing but gorgeous. Created by the folks behind This War Of Mine
+and Frostpunk, it’s a bit ironic to find just how stunning their games can be. This second title in their Anomaly series
+boasts the same PC quality graphics, making each of their tower-destroying exploits a
+more satisfying experience. More accurately described as “tower-offense”,
+you control a fleet of vehicles bent on demolishing the massive structures of its alien invaders. While you can’t directly control your fleet,
+you can devise the most strategic paths to maximize the alien destruction. It has a PlayScore of 8.59 6. Tiny Guardians Imagine a Tower Defense game without Towers. Kurechii’s adorable, yet challenging adventure
+takes you around the beautiful land of Prism and save its citizens from the beasts that
+roam its land. Form your own party of tiny guardians, and
+go in search for the mysterious sorceress. Choose from 12 guardian types and devise strategies
+against its diverse array of enemies. Unlock and upgrade your guardians and unleash
+their powerful attacks. Test your skills in the different difficulty
+settings of their Story and Challenge modes. It’s an adorable and fresh take on the tower
+defense genre, with a PlayScore of 8.60 5. Plants vs. Zombies 2 But let’s not forget about the fantastic
+flora vs. undead battles of Popcap. A sequel that returns with an all new photosynthetic
+tower-defense mayhem for all players out there. Things are about to get haywire as Krazy Dave
+goes far off into the past. putting him to various historical periods
+filled with zombies such such as Ancient Egypt, Golden Age of Piracy and Dinosaur Age. Use a variety of plants to take down Dr. Zomboss
+and his legion of zombies from all across time and space. Stay away from scary ghouls, and the scarier
+microtransactions. It has a PlayScore of 8.66 4. Clash Royale From the team behind the super popular Clash
+of Clans, they went on to conquer strategic card battles for the masses. Grounded with a heavy PvP system, build superpowered
+tesla towers, march a legion of warriors, and take the enemy’s tower down. It’s pretty much like Clash of Clans, but
+faster. A mixture of Tower Defense and TCG like Plants
+vs. Zombies: Heroes, fight alongside the giants, sorcerers, and goblins we knew and love, comes
+Kings, Princes, and Knights ready to take down walls in intense real-time battles. With effective deck construction, each PvP
+battle is unpredictable ride. It has a PlayScore of 8.71 3. Iron Marines Ironhide Studios moves on to a new realm of
+strategy after their successful Kingdom Rush series. Set in a futuristic dystopia, take on the
+shoes shoes of the hardy Iron Marines as they brave supernatural climates and deadly alien
+attacks. Amass your army of marines and pave your way
+path to victory with strategically placed structures, bomb strikes, and combat maneuvers. Not only does it have the cartoonish charm
+that we’ve come to love, it also maintains an impressive polish that could rival any
+of IronHide’s titles. It has a PlayScore of 8.80 2. Clash Of Clans SUPERCELL’s tower-defense game that changed
+mobile gaming. Build and expand your own medieval metropolis
+with impenetrable walls, tesla towers, and watchtowers to defend against invading players. Harness the power of elixirs, gold and other
+resources to fortify your buildings and upgrade your ARMY. When you are ready, you take the BATTLE to
+them. Five years since its release, which is a lifetime
+in mobile gaming, CoC still has that core userbase and Supercell continues to support
+it with updates. It has a PlayScore of 8.85 And the best Android Tower Defense Game is… Kingdom Rush: Origins Come on, guys. There’s no surprise here. Dethroning its prequel, and the original,
+one of the classics of the flash days, Ironhide Studios puts a twist on their time-tested
+formula, going back to the beginnings of their beloved saga. Protect the kingdom from sorcerers, serpents,
+gnolls, and other fantastical beasts. Their brave turn to a more fictional world
+comes with new towers, heroes, and spells. With each successive hit, Ironhide Studios
+reminds us why they became one of the cornerstones the genre. It has a PlayScore of 8.94 And those were the top 15 BEST Android Tower
+Defense Games. Let us know what you think in the comments
+section. If you enjoyed this video, don’t forget
+to LIKE, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE to become a CERTIFIED WHATOPLAYER! See you next time!
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+On March 22nd 2019 I gave a TEDx talk in Apeldoorn. It is now online.
+‘Algorithms in, Humans out? How to stay human in the era of artificial intelligence’.
+Summary: Artificially intelligent systems are getting smarter by the day. They now even have human like skills, such as seeing, listening and talking. They will give us superhuman cognitive abilities. As humans and as society, we are going to reap the enormous benefits of this, but this powerful technology also comes with disadvantages.
+In insurances, mortgages and healthcare for example, smart computer systems are increasingly making important but opaque decisions that affect our lives.
+And now that AI systems also seem to be able to detect our emotions, we have to be critical.
+And perhaps most importantly: if AI systems are constantly focused on taking away our daily inconvenience, is that a blessing or a curse? What will this do to us as human beings? And what solutions are there? How do we remain human in a world that is increasingly dominated by artificially intelligent systems?
+Watch the video
+Here you can watch the video. Aren’t you able to watch? The transcribed text is below the video
+Transcription
+Which of you has ever been to Mumbai India? I haven’t, but I have. Let me explain.
+I still vividly remember and that was in 1997, I was drinking instant coffee with my twin brother in the computerroom of his school. I remember that I could log in to a website where you could watch a webcam facing a square in Mumbai India. Gradually you got to see what was happening there in Mumbai in real time. I was captivated. It was magical.
+I had a similar experience when I watched low-quality footage of a technology congress on YouTube in April 2014. A demonstration was given of Deepmind’s self-learning computer model. The computer system played a game called Breakout. It had learned this all by itself, without having exact rules pre-programmed in advance. Within a few hours the system reached the high score. Once again, I thought it was magical.
+It might not surprise you, but the very day it was possible, I bought an Apple Watch, an Amazon Alexa speaker and a Google Home assistant. I have apps that complement my sentences, convert my speech to written text, suggest books to me and send me a notification when they think I’m in the middle of a workout.
+As we all know, there is a qualitative growth spurt in the field of artificial intelligence. You no longer have to tell a computer exactly what the world looks like, it can discover it for itself as long as you have enough digital examples. Machine learning and deep learning are responsible for this qualitative growth spurt.
+Benefits
+AI has enormous benefits. It gives us superhuman cognitive capabilities.
+We obtain insights from large amounts of data; we can make predictions about the world around us. Smart computer systems now have human like skills, such as seeing, listening and talking. We obtain answers to questions we didn’t even know we had.
+For example, An artificially intelligent system can detect false police statements. People who are robbed, for example, mainly talk about the experience. People who give false statements appear to talk above average about the things they have lost. This is wat an AI system has detected.
+So artificially intelligent systems give us superhuman cognitive capabilities, and at the same time they take over routine and computer-like tasks from us. That doesn’t matter: I found them boring anyway. The rise of artificially intelligent systems will bring us much well-being, prosperity and convenience. As you can hear, I am optimistic about the role of this technology in our development.
+Disadvantages
+But we should not be naive; with the qualitative rise of this technology, not everyone will be better off. There are also disadvantages.
+Sometimes algorithms made with good intentions lead to unintended and unforeseen harmful effects.
+Looking at the disadvantages, I have now chosen to highlight one specific development here: algorithmic decision-making. Algorithms that are increasingly making decisions for us, about us and on our behalf.
+First of all, companies and governments are increasingly outsourcing decisions to smart software using big amounts of data. But this data is often messy, biased and wrongly classified. Unfortunately, this data is used to train algorithmic models which as a result make biased decisions.
+Algorithmic Decision Making
+Discrimination and exclusion can be expected when algorithmic models choose the winners and losers.
+And the past shows that we tend to accept algorithmic decision-making without criticism and sometimes prefer to let them make the difficult decisions.
+The consequences of this can have a severe impact on me, you, my brother, my wife and my children. You do or do not get a mortgage, insurance or not, leave or not, a contract with an employer or not, or an invitation to apply for a job or not. Certainly when the systems are not transparent, we must avoid constantly dealing with the hat from Harry Potter’s film: where nobody knows exactly what is happening, but is confronted with an irreversible outcome.
+And I know that more and more software is being produced where the developers claim it is able to detect our emotions, based on our facial expression, voice, non-verbal movements and what we literally say.
+In my opinion, as a consumer and citizen, we should be critical about this. ‘Facial expression’, for example, is not as one-dimensional as we think. Life is not a Walt Disney film, where the outside of your face is a one-dimensional mirror of the soul, right? We humans are more complex than computers can ever understand.
+What if ‘emotionally intelligent’ software is used in a job application, performance interview, police questioning, or in interaction with a lawyer?
+Digital Butler
+When we look at algorithms as decision makers, we also have to take a look at the digital butlers surrounding us.
+Because more and more smart software and smart devices are going to make decisions for us, about us and on our behalf.
+Smart software is increasingly better at understanding who we are, what we do and why we do it. In the future, smart software will answer emails on your behalf, change your calendar based on a recently received voicemail, and notify others. It will automatically renew or change your phone-subscription based on price and data usage. It’s going to help you before you knew you needed help. Answering questions we didn’t even know we had.
+But we must avoid that our enormous appetite for personalized services and comfort will have a negative effect on us as humans in the long term. Let me explain.
+Disadvantages
+First of all, I think this digital butler will cause us to reflect less on our own consumption. We literally don’t have to think anymore. Smart assistants and smart software help us to buy, replace, reserve or renew, thoughtlessly. More stuff and services, but the question is whether it makes us happier. Don’t forget: Many tech companies are only driven by commercial motives and lack a moral compass.
+The second danger of the digital butler is that it deprives you of the opportunity to autonomously unravel your own wishes or ideas, because it’s so easy to follow the suggestions of the software without thinking.
+Because 86% of the people with your profile like pizza with pineapple, you’ll probably love it too.
+Our taste, and that of our children, can be manipulated towards the commercially most appealing outcome.
+Amazon chooses a birthday present for my brother, Google Maps determines how I travel, Tinder chose my friends life partner, Facebook chooses what information we consume and thus determines our world view.
+We must prevent our lives from taking place in autoplay.
+Inconvenience
+The third danger of the digital butler is that it will eventually make us less tolerant of inner inconvenience because the software deprives us of inconvenience. This may seem like a strange thought, but it is not. We have already seen a similar process with the rise of the smartphone. This has replaced uncomfortable boredom. Seriously, when was the last time you were bored or saw someone who was bored?
+I’m also worried that all this smart software, these on-demand services and all this “extreme customer centricity” mistakenly gives us the idea that the whole world revolves around us. Does the digital butler strengthen individualism? What do you think?
+Solutions
+But are there solutions? Ofcourse there are.
+First of all: Governments and companies must be very critical of the software they are going to use or design in-house. They must use or create trustworthy AI that is focused on human well-being. Companies must look beyond their shareholder value and dividends.
+We can also make a difference. You can educate yourselves about the impact of these technologies; So congratulations, one of the better decisions you have made today is to attend my talk.
+And I made a decision: my Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart speaker have been in the closet for a while now, collecting dust. And to my children’s great annoyance, I often try to make them understand the drawbacks of smart devices and smartphones.
+But part of the solution also lies within ourselves. To deal with the consequences of invisible algorithmic decision-making, we have to look inside. To our light side but also to our dark side.
+Light Side
+To distinguish ourselves from smart computers we need to explore our light side. Empower our human capabilities. Think of the use of creativity and fantasy, but especially empathy, warmth, attachment and compassion. These are the emotions we have to embrace, expand and strengthen. By doing so we can maintain the human touch in the decision-making processes of the future.
+And you have to investigate for yourself at an individual level what your preferences are, what your passion is and where and your purpose lies. No autoplay, but purpose.
+This process of self-development makes you agile and will give you fulfilment. And the latter is very important. Let me explain.
+Dark Side
+As I indicated earlier in my story, I am afraid that the digital butler will eventually make us less tolerant of inner inconvenience because the software deprives us of inconvenience. But we have to embrace discomfort. You might wonder why? Let me tell you a short story.
+As a teenager I’ve sometimes found it difficult to face some of my darker feelings. Things like anger and my fears. And discomfort from the outside world related to these unpleasant feelings inside. Now that I’m older, I know for sure: You and I need friction, frustration and discomfort. They provide reflection. Reflection on our emotional state. They are the gateway to exploring our wishes and darker emotions.
+One day I decided to face my uncomfortable feelings. I started to improve myself and take new steps. From this process, I grew as a human being. Discomfort is the engine for inner growth and taking new steps.
+More Human
+So: by exploring our light and dark sides we become more and more human! Especially now that artificially intelligent systems equal or surpass us this is important.
+Because of this process, we will always distinguish ourselves from smart computers, we will maintain the human touch in the decision-making processes of the future and we are ultimately less sensitive to the suggestions, manipulation and distractions of smart software.
+We’ll simply be more fulfilled. Establishing a connection with others helps us, but establishing a personal connection with ourselves does so in particular.
+Coding for SSDs – Part 4: Advanced Functionalities and Internal Parallelism
+This is Part 4 over 6 of “Coding for SSDs”, covering Sections 5 and cover briefly some of the main SSD functionalities such as TRIM and over-provisioning. I am also presenting the different levels of internal parallelism in an SSD, and the concept of clustered block.!
+5. Advanced functionalities
+5.1 TRIM
+Let’s imagine that a program write files to all the logical block addresses of an SSD: this SSD would be considered full. Now let’s assume that all those files gets deleted. The filesystem would report 100% free space, although the drive would still be full, because an SSD controller has no way to know when logical data is deleted by the host. The SSD controller will see the free space only when the logical block addresses that used to be holding the files get overwritten. At that moment, the garbage collection process will erase the blocks associated with the deleted files, providing free pages for incoming writes. As a consequence, instead of erasing the blocks as soon as they are known to be holding stale data, the erasing is being delayed, which hurts performance badly.
+Another concern is that, since the pages holding deleted files are unknown to the SSD controller, the garbage collection mechanism will continue move them around to ensure wear leveling. This increases write amplification, and interferes with the foreground workload of the host for no good reason.
+A solution to the problem of delayed erasing is the TRIM command, which can be sent by the operating system to notify the SSD controller that pages are no longer in use in the logical space. With that information, the garbage collection process knows that it doesn’t need to move those pages around, and also that it can erase them whenever needed. The TRIM command will only work if the SSD controller, the operating system, and the filesystem are supporting it.
+The Wikipedia page for the TRIM command is listing the operating systems and filesystems that support TRIM [16]. Under Linux, support for the ATA TRIM was added in version 2.6.33. Although the ext2 and ext3 filesystems do not support TRIM, ext4 and XFS, among others, do support it. Under Mac OS 10.6.8, HFS+ supports the TRIM operation. As for Windows 7, it only supports TRIM for SSD using a SATA interface and not PCI-Express.
+The majority of recent drives support TRIM, and indeed, allowing the garbage collection to work as early as possible significantly improves future performance. Therefore, it is strongly preferable to use SSDs that support TRIM, and to make sure that support is enabled both at the operating system and filesystem levels.
+5.2 Over-provisioning
+Over-provisioning is simply having more physical blocks than logical blocks, by keeping a ratio of the physical blocks reserved for the controller and not visible to the user. Most manufacturers of professional SSDs already include some over-provisioning, generally in the order of 7 to 25% [13]. Users can create more over-provisioning simply by partitioning a disk to a lower logical capacity than its maximum physical capacity. For example, one could create a 90 GB partition in a 100 GB drive, and leave the remaining 10 GB for over-provisioning. Even if the over-provisioned space is not visible at the level of the operation system, the SSD controller can still see it. The main reason for which manufacturers are offering over-provisioning is to cope with the inherent limited lifespan of NAND-flash cells. The invisible over-provisioned blocks are here to seamlessly replace the blocks wearing off in the visible space.
+AnandTech has an interesting article showing the impact of over-provisioning on the life-span and performance of SSDs [34]. For the disk they studied, the conclusion was that performance increased dramatically simply by making sure that 25% of the space was reserved for over-provisioning — summing up all levels of over-provisioning. Another interesting result was presented in an article by Percona, in which they tested an Intel 320 SSD and showed that the write throughput decreased as the disk was getting filled up [38].
+Here is my explanation on what is happening. The garbage collection is using idle time to erase stale pages in the background. But since the erase operation has a higher latency than the write operation, i.e. erasing takes more time than writing, an SSD under a heavy workload of continuous random writes would use up all of its free blocks before the garbage collection would have time to erase the stale pages. At that point, the FTL would be unable to catch up with the foreground workload of random writes, and the garbage collection process would have to erase blocks at the same time as write commands are coming in. This is when performance drops and the SSD appears to be performing badly in benchmarks, as shown in Figure 7 below. Therefore, over-provisioning can act as a buffer to absorb high throughput write workloads, leaving enough time to the garbage collection to catch up and erase blocks again. How much over-provisioning is needed depends mostly on the workload in which the SSD will be used and how much writes it will need to absorb. As a rule of thumb, somewhere around 25% of over-provisioning is recommended for sustained workload of random writes [34]. If the workload is not so heavy, somewhere around 10-15% may be largely enough..
+From there, it can also be deduced that over-provisioning offers even greater improvements for setups in which the TRIM command is not supported — note that I am just making an assumption here, and that I have yet to find a reference to support this idea. Let’s imagine that only 75% of the drive is used by the operating system and the remaining 25% is reserved for over-provisioning. Because the SSD controller can see the whole drive, 100% of the blocks are rotating and alternating between being used, stale, and erased, although only 75% of the physical NAND-flash memory is actually used at any single moment in time. This means that the remaining 25% of physical memory should be safely assumed not to be holding any data, since it is not mapped to any logical block addresses. Therefore, the garbage collection process should be able to erase blocks from the over-provisioned space in advance, and this even in the absence of TRIM support.
+5.3 Secure Erase
+Some SSD controllers offer the ATA Secure Erase functionality, the goal being to restore the performance of the drive back to its fresh out-of-box state. This command erases all data written by the user and resets the FTL mapping tables, but obviously cannot overcome the physical limitations of the limited P/E cycles. Even though this functionality looks very promising in the specs, it’s up to each manufacturer to implement it correctly. In their review of the secure erase command, Wei et al., 2011, have shown that over the 12 models of SSDs studied, only eight offered the ATA Secure Erase functionality, and over those eight drives, three had buggy implementations [11].
+The implications for performance are important, and they are all the more so important for security, but it is not my intent to cover this topic here. There are a couple of discussions on Stack Overflow which explain in more details how to reliably erase data from an SSD [48, 49].
+5.4 Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
+Native Command Queueing (NCQ) is a feature of Serial ATA that allows for an SSD to accept multiple commands from the host in order to complete them concurrently using the internal parallelism [3]. In addition to reducing latency due to the drive, some newer drives also use NCQ to cope with latency from the host. For example, NCQ can prioritize incoming commands to ensure that the drive always has commands to process while the host CPU is busy [39].
+5.5 Power-loss protection
+Whether it is at home or in datacenter, power loss will happen. Some manufacturers include a supercapacitor in their SSD architecture, which is supposed to hold enough power in order to commit the I/O requests in the bus in case of a power outage, and leave the drive in a consistent state. The problem is that not all SSD manufacturer include a supercapacitor or some sort of power-fault data protection for their drives, and that those who include it do not always mention it in their specifications. Then, like for the secure erase command, it is not clear whether or not the power-fault mechanisms are correctly implemented and will indeed protect the drive from data corruption when a power outage occurs.
+A study by Zheng et al., 2013, tested 15 SSDs, without revealing their brands [72]. They stressed the drives with various power faults, and found that 13 out of the 15 tested SSDs ended up losing some data or being massively corrupted. Another article about power fault by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton showed that three out of four tested drives were left in a corrupted state, and that the fourth was fine (an Intel drive) [73].
+SSDs are still a very young technology and I am convinced that their resistance to data corruption under power fault will improve over the next generations. Nevertheless for the time being, it is probably worth it to invest in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in datacenter setups. And as with any other storage solution, backup sensitive data regularly.
+6. Internal Parallelism in SSDs
+6.1 Limited I/O bus bandwidth
+Due to physical limitations, an asynchronous NAND-flash I/O bus cannot provide more than 32-40 MB/s of bandwidth [5]. The only way for SSD manufacturers to increase performance is to design their drives in such a way that multiple packages can be parallelized or interleaved. A good explanation of interleaving can be found in Section 2.2 of [2].
+By combining all the levels of internal parallelism inside an SSD, multiple blocks can be accessed simultaneously across separate chips, as a unit called a clustered block. Explaining all the details regarding the inner parallelism of an SSD is not my intent here, therefore I am just covering briefly the levels of parallelism and the clustered block. To learn more about these topics and more generally about parallelism inside SSDs, two great starting points are the papers [2, 3]. In addition, the advanced commands such as copyback and inter-plane transfer are presented in [5].
+Internal parallelism
+Internally, several levels of parallelism allow to write to several blocks at once into different NAND-flash chips, to what is called a “clustered block”.
+6.2 Multiple levels of parallelism
+Figure 6 below shows the internals of a NAND-flash package, which is organized as a hierarchical structure. The levels are channel, package, chip, plane, block, and page. As exposed in [3], those different levels offer parallelism as follows:
+- Channel-level parallelism. The flash controller communicates with the flash packages through multiple channels. Those channels can be accessed independently and simultaneously. Each individual channel is shared by multiple packages.
+- Package-level parallelism. The packages on a channel can be accessed independently. Interleaving can be used to run commands simultaneously on the packages shared by the same channel.
+- Chip-level parallelism. A package contains two or more chips, which can be accessed independently in parallel. Note: chips are also called “dies”.
+- Plane-level parallelism. A chip contains two or more planes. The same operation (read, write or erase) can be run simultaneously on multiple planes inside a chip. Planes contain blocks, which themselves contains pages. The plane also contains registers (small RAM buffers), which are used for plane-level operations.
+Figure 6: NAND flash package
+6.3 Clustered blocks
+Multiple blocks accessed across multiple chips are called a clustered block [2]. The idea is similar to the concept of striping encountered in RAID systems [1, 5].
+Logical block addresses accessed at once are striped over different SSD chips in distinct flash packages. This is done thanks to the mapping algorithm of the FTL, and it is independent of whether or not those addresses are sequential. Striping blocks allows to use multiple channels simultaneously and combine their bandwidths, and also to perform multiple read, write and erase operations in parallel. This means that I/O operations that are both aligned and multiple of the clustered block size guarantee an optimal use of all the performance offered by the various levels of internal parallelism in an SSD. See Sections 8.2 and 8.3 for more information about clustered blocks.
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+Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty Six : 2301 SE 17th St. Causeway
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+2301 SE 17th St. Causeway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
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+Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port : 90 SW 18th Ave.
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+90 SW 18th Ave., Dania Beach, FL 33004
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+Hyatt Regency Miami - Miami
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+400 SE 2nd Ave., Miami, FL 33131
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+Hyatt House Miami Airport - Miami
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+Hyatt Regency Coral Gables in Coral Gables
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+100 Fairway Dr., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
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+501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL 33432
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+Residence Inn by Marriott Ft. Lauderdale Pompano - Pompano Beach
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+This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/716,407, filed Sep. 13, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
+The present invention relates to customized and automated security assistance, central tracking and control, and document marking regimes for protecting sensitive or national security classified information existing or developed on a computer system, computer network or series of computer networks, as well as protection through identification of the same information in resultant hard copy format.
+The creation of computer systems, networks of computers, and associated software that allow automated assistance in document development has by its very nature reduced the rigor of document security as it was applied in previous paper document/information control systems. Computer systems, document development software, and the capability to store huge numbers of documents on portable media devices encourages the proliferation of, and access to, sensitive or classified documents as well as the proliferation and the storage of outdated or otherwise unnecessary drafts and versions of sensitive and classified documents on computer networks thereby increasing security risks to the protection of the information contained in electronic documents.
+Other basic flaws exist in document marking and classification systems as applied to computer automated information systems that process classified and/or sensitive information. Generally, no positive marking or other positive identification exists for documents that do not contain sensitive or classified information and require no markings. The potential and often inadvertent consequences of the lack of positive feedback to users of document development software are assumptions by system users that the information in unmarked documents has been considered via a document sensitivity/classification determination process when in fact it may not have been through any such process. Electronic documents on sensitive or classified computer systems, and their corresponding printed versions, that do not display classification marks in the body of the document may in fact contain classified or sensitive information and exist without marks due to user error, or as draft documents prematurely saved or disseminated. Such errors and assumptions may lead to system users mishandling or compromising unmarked sensitive or classified information by mistakenly moving the information off of the protected network or providing access to the information contained in the document to individuals not authorized to access the information. Under current systems a user receiving or accessing an electronic document that is not marked is unable to make a positive determination that the document's sensitivity/classification has been considered and thus that the requirement for no visible sensitivity or classification marks in the body of the document has been properly determined by the originator of the document. The recipient's document may well be in draft mode or just a mistake, but without a positive and persistent indicator of the status of the document's sensitivity/classification the recipient may mishandle or compromise the information.
+Recent advances in information/document development software, computer networks that allow for broad and rapid dissemination of documents as well as removable electronic storage media capable of accumulating hundreds of thousands of documents magnifies the security risk of miss-marked or improperly controlled sensitive or classified information. The current state of developing, processing and disseminating sensitive and/or classified information for stand-alone computers as well as networked computers is piecemeal, relying on disparate, paper based operating and format instructions, manual marking and poorly informed originating assessments that subject documents to marking errors, poor document control, as well as possible invalid assumptions when documents contain no sensitivity/classification marks.
+Computer document development software makes it easy for users of systems to remove, or otherwise alter, manually applied sensitivity or classification marks from a document. The potential to remove or alter document marks without detection and print or copy the documents creates additional vulnerabilities to the information contained therein and contributes to the threat posed by authorized users of a computer network (insider threat).
+Compounding these systemic flaws, there currently is little positive control and tracking over the access to and the movement of such information on computer networks. As a result, Government and businesses are grappling with intentional insider threats to sensitive and classified information on their systems, as well as inadvertent disclosures from their systems that compromise protected critical information.
+In order for electronic document security to be effective the identification and marking of sensitive and classified information contained in documents on computer systems and networks must be an individual assessment process by the originator of the information/document; an assessment process that is closely guided by immediately available classification and format criteria of the organization with centralized control and tracking of the documents by the organization. The document marks must be immediate and persistent with mechanisms to identify changes and or removal of the classification marks, it and must provide for a positive determination that documents that are not required to display a sensitivity/classification mark have completed the organization's classification process. Additionally, effective electronic document security will provide methods to identify and resolve anomalies involving document marking, electronic storage, movement, access and dissemination of documents.
+Any software firm that produces word processing, e-mail, presentation or other document development systems needs to make their product line more effective in sensitive and classified information environments.
+Needs exist for new methods of classifying controlling and protecting electronic documents.
+The present invention ensures that electronic documents are marked or otherwise identified as to their sensitivity from their origination. The present invention assures the ability of a network user to make a positive determination when a document is not required to present sensitivity/classification marks in the body of the document that the document's originator has processed the document's information through the organization's classification process and that the document does not contain sensitive or classified information. The present invention provides a method of centralized tracking and control of sensitive or classified documents as well as the electronic media on which such documents are stored. The present invention provides a mechanism to identify and resolve anomalies in document marks, user access to documents, electronic storage, movement, or dissemination of documents; anomalies that may be indicative of security risks to the information therein.
+The present invention puts some of the security rigor that existed in previous paper based classification and marking systems into electronic systems and provides for the necessary control and tracking of sensitive and/or classified documents in and across computer networks by providing:
+1. Centralized control that provides a consistent and persistent document marking format, classification scheme, marking hierarchy, and classification guidance across a computer system, computer network or series of networks.
+2. A desktop tool for system users that assures that document originators consider all information within a document, that provides the originator with immediate access to the pre-determined classification guidance and other security considerations of the organization, and provides a mechanism to ensure that a document is marked to the established rules and format of the organization and that the sensitivity/classification mark is persistently associated with, and imbedded into the document.
+3. Assurance in the sensitivity or classification determination process that the process is flexible enough to allow for levels of document review and changes during the documents origination process. Flexibility that allows for, and ensures persistent interim document sensitivity or classification marks and ensures that any changes made to the document during a review process are addressed during the final sensitivity or classification determination.
+4. A method of positive control across a network or system of networks for each instance of the desktop tool interface with the user. Control that ensures that the sensitivity or classification determination dialogue, and related classification guidance that is available to the user, meets the level of the user's classification authority, as well as his or her information access authority on the computer network.
+5. A process and mechanism to assess, track and if necessary alert security personnel on the sensitivity/classification of information during “Cut and Paste” operations within a document or between documents.
+6. A mechanism for system users to have immediate and positive feedback that an electronic document, that does not display sensitivity or classification marks in the body of the document because it is either not required or inappropriate, has been through the organization's sensitivity and classification process and is not required to be marked. The mechanism provides consistent document user feedback assurance that is persistent across a computer network or system of networks. This document/information classification process assurance translates to hard copy documents printed from the computer network employing the invention.
+7. A centralized system of warnings and alerts to security personnel responsible for the protection of sensitive or classified information contained in electronic documents that identifies unusual patterns of user document access, unusual alteration or removal of document classification marks, unusual movement or storage of documents within or across computer networks as well as other potential anomalies that may be indicative of insider threats or other risks to the information contained therein.
+8. A mechanism and process consisting of unique codes representing document classification marks and corresponding classification criteria that are hidden and imbedded into an electronic document, that correspond to, but are separate from, the visible classification marks that may exist in the body of an electronic document. Imbedded classification codes identify the classification and organizational ownership of information contained in an electronic document, even when the visible document classification marks have been removed from the document outside of the software invention, or the document has been removed from the network monitored by the software invention. Such imbedded code mechanism and process supports Internet packet watch software and content monitoring software that allows for the identification of sensitive and/or classified documents removed or otherwise disseminated electronically from their approved or national security classified systems to non-approved systems without compromising on open systems potentially sensitive or classified rationale or criteria for the document's designation.
+9. A centralized mechanism and process that leverages the unique imbedded coding identified in item 8 to identify and asses the content sensitivity of documents residing on electronic storage media such as hard drives, diskettes, thumb-drives, etc. A mechanism that also provides a method for establishing remotely the highest level of sensitive or classified information on the storage media and thus the overall physical protection requirements for the media. The mechanism and process has a unique capability to monitor document network storage media and identifies access to or manipulation of documents even when the media is not connected to a network monitored by the software invention, upon reconnection of the media to the monitored network.
+10. A process to record and track the derivation of a document originating from other documents and it's associated sensitivity or classification.
+11. A method to control printing copies of invalidly classified or marked documents and to track the number of printed copies as well as electronic copies of individual documents.
+12. A process and mechanism for system security administrators to identify and remove unnecessary drafts, copies or versions of sensitive and or classified documents resident on a computer, network of computers or system of networks.
+13. A process and mechanism to control and record the electronic distribution, movement and access to sensitive or classified documents on a computer network or system of networks.
+14. A process and mechanism to associate the sensitivity/classification of the information contained in a document to the electronic document, the document with the individual making the classification determination and other users of the document, the document to the individual computer on the network where the document was originated, as well as the computer with the storage medial and location of the storage media on the network and the association of all of the above to a specific network. Such matrixed relationships allow for unique oversight of document network activity and is driven by the initial ability to consistently, reliably and electronically capture the sensitivity/classification of an electronic document on the network.
+The present invention is a software engine and supporting software components that run in a compatible mode with “off-the-shelf” word processors, e-mail, presentation and other document development software on a computer network or system of computer networks. For the purposes of this invention an electronic document is defined as any information in electronic or computer format. The software engine is used for the security classification, marking and control of sensitive or national security classified information in electronic and resultant hard copy document formats. The software engine ensures that the individual considers all informational elements of a document, that appropriate document marks are employed, that document marks in their electronic format are persistent and that all necessary information, such as classification guides, standards and security regulations, provided by the organization to classify information is at hand and immediately available during the sensitivity or classification determination process. The present invention provides the ability to record, register and monitor essential information for system electronic documents, users, storage media, machines and network information in a relational matrix for security analysis and alarm and warning criteria, with centralized control, and tracking capability for documents and associated electronic document storage media.
+These and further and other objects and features of the invention are apparent in the disclosure, which includes the above and ongoing written specification, with the drawings.
+The present invention allows an organization to develop, establish and implement an automated assistance system to identify, mark, control, track and otherwise protect the sensitive and/or classified information of the organization when that information is in an electronic or resultant hard copy format.
+The present invention is a software engine and process that runs in a compatible mode with “off-the-shelf” word processing, e-mail, presentation or other document development software. The software engine is used for the security classification, marking and tracking of sensitive or national security classified information in electronic and resultant hard copy document formats. The software engine ensures that the document originator considers all informational portions of a document, that appropriate document marks are employed, that document marks meet predetermined criteria established by the organization, that the document marks in their electronic format, as well as resultant printed formats, are persistent and that all necessary information, such as classification guides, standards and security regulations, provided by the organization to classify information is at hand and immediately available for the originator's consideration.
+The present invention is a software system for enabling an organization to quickly implement national security information protection requirements or to develop and easily implement a unique information protection scheme for the organization's sensitive or proprietary information in electronic document and resultant hard copy formats for a stand-alone computer, a computer network, or a system of computer networks. The development of such protection systems consists of established criteria, written guidance, and document marking schemes in accordance with a predetermined set of rules, and a computer desktop interface for authorized users and classifiers of the information.
+The present invention may also be used for the identification of and declassification of electronic documents registered with or developed via the invention that meet predetermined declassification criteria.
+The present invention also includes a methodology to assist the government or other organization security personnel to identify and resolve user anomalies regarding documents that contain sensitive or national security classified information with respect to network user access to such documents, manipulation of document marks or the movement of documents within, or off of, approved computer systems and electronic storage media containing sensitive or national security classified information.
+The present invention is a methodology and process to ensure that national or organizationally specific classification guidance and other security information necessary to make an informed classification judgment is immediately available to the document originator or classifier; that classification and marking of sensitive or national security classified information is applied consistently and meets organizational format and marking criteria across a computer network or system of computer networks. The invention associates the specific classification criteria, and the date thereof, used to classify a document with the developed document. This ensures that any system documents that may have been developed under outdated criteria can be easily identified and located electronically for any necessary adjustment. The present invention is also a centralized methodology and process to automatically disseminate updated classification criteria and guidance information across a network or system of networks.
+The present invention is a methodology and process that provides positive feedback to the recipients or users of electronic documents as to the status of the classification and marking process. In addition, the methodology and process provides assurance to recipients and users of electronic documents that final classification marks established by means of the current invention's assisted classification and marking process in either electronic or resultant paper format meet the organizations criteria and format. The methodology and process provides positive visual assurance to recipients and users of unclassified or other electronic documents that do not require document sensitivity/classification marks that the information contained therein has been appropriately assessed for sensitive or classified content and not overlooked.
+The present invention is also a methodology, process and software program that leverages the inherent hidden coding capability of electronic documents developed by means of electronic document development software to embed and hide information within the document's electronic shell. The invention's ability to reliably and consistently capture document classification information enables the invention to imbed the document sensitivity/classification information, document history, classification criteria, network information and other pertinent information relative to the protection of the information contained in the electronic document in the document's electronic shell. The present invention's capability to convert document classification determinations into a unique set of codes representing the classification information and criteria and imbedding the codes into the document shell enable external content monitoring or Internet packet monitoring software configuration without compromising potentially sensitive or classified classification criteria on open networks. Such monitoring software configurations enable organizations to identify sensitive or classified documents outside of their approved networks, even when the visible sensitivity/classification marks have been removed from the document. Thus the current inventions process of embedding codes in multiple shell locations allows for easy identification of documents via electronic content monitoring, Internet packet monitoring and/or data matching software, identification of documents that may have been improperly removed from their approved systems via electronic storage media, e-mail, text messaging or other similar means of transfer without compromising sensitive or classified criteria used to identify and mark information contained in the document.
+The present invention is a methodology and process for tracking and identifying in real-time the downgrade, upgrade, or other manipulation of a document's classification marks across a computer system, network or series of networks providing a basis for identification and resolution of illegal, improper or unauthorized activity that may jeopardize the security of the information.
+The present invention is a methodology and process for enabling security personnel to assess and make judgments with respect to the movement of, or access to, sensitive and/or national security classified documents, e-mails and/or presentations on an authorized computer system, network or series of networks when in their electronic form. Such capability provides a basis to identify unusual patterns of activity, or other anomalies on an approved network and resolve potential illegal, improper or unauthorized activities by “Insiders”/authorized network users that may jeopardize the security of the information.
+The present invention is also a methodology and process for allowing an agency, organization or other unit to configure document marking format and criteria to organizational needs and to centrally control and maintain classification criteria and format on a computer system or across a network or series of networks.
+The present invention is a methodology and process for ensuring that document information when changed via word processor “Track Change” type of processes that such changes are considered and resolved prior to final classification of the document providing additional confidence to recipients and users of finalized electronic documents, and the resultant paper format, that all of the information contained therein has been considered during the classification process.
+The present invention monitors word processing software “Cut and Paste” type operations conducted by system users on, or between documents, and ensures that the sensitivity of the information moved during such operations is assessed, monitored and logged, and if needed initiates flags or warnings to the System Security Administrator.
+The present invention is also a process and methodology to identify, control, track and classify legacy documents that existed on a computer system, network or system of networks prior to the installation and use of the present software invention. The present system also serves to identify foreign documents (documents not originated by the organization or not originated on the specific network), captures document information, classification or sensitivity, and controls the document without altering the marking format imposed on the document by other organizations. The present invention's identification and control of foreign documents that may already exist on the computer, computer network or series of computer networks prior to the installation and use of the present software invention, as well as foreign documents that may be introduced to a computer, computer network or series of computer networks, by any means after the installation and use of the present software invention ensures complete document security coverage enabling additional tracking and warning criteria dependent upon document type (legacy, foreign, or originated)
+The present invention is a process and methodology to provide statistical information to security personnel and organization managers on the number of sensitive or classified documents that exist on a computer system, the sensitivity levels of the information, and the categories of the information, as well as the individuals classifying the documents, individuals accessing documents, the derivation of documents, location of the document, type of document (legacy, foreign, originated), status (valid marks or invalid marks) time and date of access, etc., providing basis for identification, investigation and prosecution for mishandling and/or compromise of sensitive or classified information.
+The software invention stores and tracks an array of document information, such as number of copies printed and by whom, original author, individuals who accessed a document, individuals who changed the content of a document, etc. The invention associates new documents that are derived from older documents with their base documents, tracks sensitive e-mail document attachments captures and logs the e-mail address of recipients; identifies and handles foreign and legacy documents.
+The software invention provides a flexible display and an analysis and report capability for system security administrators to conduct ad hoc comparisons and analysis across all stored document information data
+The invention provides user flexibility for documents that are unusually complex or require unanticipated classification formats by allowing users to partially disconnect the invention software from the document development application and revert to manual classification and marking. However, all such disconnects are recorded, logged and tracked by the software invention and require a reason and a classification determination by the originator of the document or individual disconnecting the document maintaining the document security integrity of the invention.
+The invention sets system-wide pre-established criteria in a hierarchal matrix, for the identification of network user behavior or document/storage media anomalies indicative of potential security risk to the information. The criteria are used by the software invention to generate automated alarms and flags and other types of notification for the system security administrator. The invention provides a visual alarm code interface with different colors designating the type of alarm and the degree of the potential concern or risk. Flags, alarm and event criteria may include but are not limited to:
+The invention software engine does not attempt to classify the information contained in the documents; it is necessary for individual(s) originating the document with the expertise and authority within an organization to make classification judgments due to the complexity of applying criteria to determine sensitive or classified information. Human reason and judgment is required to assess document information and graphics as well as assess the compilation factor of potential sensitive or classified information contained in document portions that might alter the sensitivity or classification determination. Therefore the invention provides the originator(s) of a document an automated classification environment that supports the classification process. The invention ensures (1) proper classification format and marking (classification marks are critical to the subsequent proper identification of the protection requirements of the information by future users of the document); (2) the immediate availability to the classifier of the document of all pertinent classification criteria and guidance to conduct the classification process; (3) that all portions of a document are considered, classified and appropriately marked during the classification process; (4) that portion marks and document marks are persistent and not mistyped; (5) that the classification process is complete and if not completed that the draft or work in progress document contains persistent interim system level high classification marks. Additionally the invention software engine serves as the platform to electronically gather, associate and imbed into the document's electronic shell reliable information on the documents classification and status as well as other document information relevant to tracking the document and protecting the information contained therein.
+The invention provides the organization with a method to easily configure their classification criteria and to assign associated guidance. The invention provides the capability to compartmentalize the user classification interface based on the informational access “Need to Know” criteria of the user, by means of user access profiles, providing compliance with national requirements associated with automated information security Protection Levels 1 through 5. The present invention provides the user with a methodology and interface that combines all of the disparate information necessary to make effective classification judgments in one automated tool. In addition, the present invention imposes a predetermined hierarchal document mark algorithm to automate the overall document mark determination. The invention enables an organization to create, establish and impose the hierarchal document mark algorithm network-wide for each system user classification interface. The invention's assurance of appropriate classification marks on electronic documents, final or interim, extends to all resultant hard copy embodiments of the document printed or copied from the electronic format
+The invention enables the organization to associate classification criteria and guides electronically with individual elements of the user classification interface, as well as the ability of the organization to ensure network-wide accurate and up-to-date classification guidance to the user providing for version control of their classification guidance across a computer network or system of networks. The version control capability associates with each document classified the version and date of the classification criteria used to classify the document. User access to classification guides can be centrally set and controlled by the system security administrator to conform to user “Need to Know” profiles or other access authority.
+The software engine is configured to assist any organization to easily develop and implement across a computer network any document classification and protection scheme. The network or program security administrator for an organization can establish the classification criteria. Its nomenclature and a hierarchal relationship via the security administrator interface. The security administration interface allows for the development of any type of electronic document security regimen. However, the balance of this invention description will use the U.S. National Security Classification process as an example. Other security classification processes are used in alternative embodiments. E-mail, word processing and presentation development software as well as other types of document development software have tool bars that assist the user to apply the present process.
+Mark Checker 15—This button initiates a classification dialogue tool and begins a process that sequentially highlights each element of a document that may require a classification decision and an associated paragraph/portion mark.
+A common mistake of many individuals that handle classified and/or sensitive information is to identify the overall classification of a document before they begin to produce the document. This invariably leads to under and over classification of documents because the individual classifies and marks the document to his or her predetermined assessment. Such processes tend to minimize thoughtful assessment of the sensitivity of the information contained in each paragraph/portion of the document.
+The classification dialogue tool 27,
+High-level classification selections 29 presented to the user via the classification dialogue 27 shown in
+The invention process allows the user to by-pass paragraphs or portions of a document without making a classification determination; however the software will prevent a final determination mark for the document until all paragraphs or portions have been considered and marked. Documents not finalized via the invention software carry an interim mark established by the software that identifies it as “Not Properly Marked” and appends a predetermined mark that sets forth the highest classification authorized for the system with instruction to protect the document at that level until the document is finalized. Thus incomplete or draft documents developed under the invention's regimen can be easily identified and located by the security administrator, or become the basis of an alert based on a preset increment of time that the document has existed without a final classification determination.
+The user classifies a document element by merely selecting/checking buttons to the left of each high-level classification selection 29 in the classification dialogue tool 27. Just as in all classification regimens, the user selects the highest level of classification sensitivity that applies to the information in the paragraph or portion of a document. The paragraph or portion under consideration by the user/classifier is highlighted in the document for ease of use. The classifier then uses his or her judgment to apply caveats 33 to the selected level. Each classification level may have an associated set of caveats that have been pre-determined for use with the particular classification level by the organization.
+National security classification guides are largely paper based and are often very broad, duplicative or overlapping; they may refer to depictions of information contained in pictures, graphics, drawings or other non-text representations of the information, or apply classification criteria to compilations of information. Thus the correct application of classification criteria requires substantial human intervention and interpretation to make appropriate sensitivity and classification judgments. Efforts to remove human intervention to fully automate the classification decision process have been unsuccessful and place national security classified information at risk due automated misapplication of criteria. The current invention recognizes the complexity of the national security classification system and other information security classification systems, as well as the human judgment required of such determinations and supports the human decision process by providing the decision classification criteria and guidance information required 31, for such decisions. Such classification criteria and guidance is immediately available to the classifier in a searchable format throughout the classification process by mean of a button click 31. The invention supports the human decision making process in a stepped yet flexible manner with the rigor of an algorithm to ensure that the process is complete and the consistency of an algorithm to ensure that the document marks meet organizational requirements and are not mistyped. However the decision-making process correctly rests with the human originator of the document and is supported by means of the invention's process to provide electronically the classification criteria for immediate search and reference during the classification process.
+The classification dialogue tool 27 in
+It should be noted that the initial high-level classification portion 29 of the tool has a MARK NOT REQUIRED radio button as well as an UNKNOWN radio button.
+The MARK NOT REQUIRED radio button in the High-Level portion 29 functions in the same manner as the MARK NOT REQUIRED Button 43 described below with the exception that upon selection it does not automatically progress the tool to the next element of the document. After selection of the MARK NOT REQUIRED radio button the user must advance the tool by selecting the NEXT Button 39. When the user selects the MARK NOT REQUIRED radio button the software engine imbeds a non-visible code to indicate that the text element has been considered by the user, but that the organization's classification or format requirements do not require a visible classification mark in the document.
+Selecting the UNKNOWN radio button imbeds the document element with a code that indicates that the classification is unknown and will need further consideration at a later time before the document can be properly marked. The user may use the MARK INVALID ONLY button 23 in the tool bar to quickly return to each text item that was marked as unknown. A full description of the MARK INVALID ONLY button 23 is provided below.
+Once the user has determined the appropriate High-Level 29 classification radio button, and any associated caveats 33, he or she merely selects the NEXT button and the appropriate visible paragraph or portion mark, if any is required, is inserted into the document text along with non-visible tracking codes and the tool advances to the next portion of the document for the user's consideration.
+The user merely repeats this process for each paragraph or portion in the document.
+Upon completing the document, the classification tool will prompt the user to provide a classification box 53,
+Other elements of the classification tool, as shown in
+PREVIOUS 37—Moves the focus of the classification dialogue tool back to the last document element considered. To move backward through the paragraphs/portions of the document, the user may use this button repeatedly. The user classification interface dialogue displays any classification selection previously assigned to the paragraph or portion of the document allowing for any necessary changes.
+SHOW/HIDE TEXT 41—Toggles between a view of text under classification consideration for the selected paragraph or portion of the document in an expanded text box within the user classification dialogue, and no view of the text or the expanded text box view of the text. However the paragraph or portion of the document under classification consideration by the user remains highlighted in the body of the document regardless of the status of the Show/Hide Text 41 button selection. The SHOW TEXT button is shown in
+MARK NOT REQUIRED 43—In one step this button codes the document element to identify that the user has considered the classification of the information contained in the paragraph or portion of the document and determined that it does not require a classification mark. This also advances the classification dialogue tool to the next document paragraph or portion.
+CANCEL 45—Stops, and closes the classification dialogue tool; all previous classification work is retained in the document.
+HELP 47—Provides the user with classification dialogue tool help and additional general security and classification information.
+INSERT CLASS BLOCK 17—This tool bar button initiates a classification block tool 53, shown in
+A classification block is a table that is generally pre-positioned on the first page of a national security classified document. If the position of the block is not suitable for a document format it can be moved and resized by the user to fit the document in the manner that tables are normally adjusted in the host software. One of the strengths of the present invention is the ability to standardize the format of classified documents across an agency, program or office with some limited user flexibility to adjust the format for unique circumstance.
+MARK CURRENT PARAGRAPH 19, as shown in FIG. 1—This button initiates the classification dialogue tool for the document paragraph or portion upon which the curser rests. It allows the user to quickly, via the dialogue, classify the information in the portion, review an existing classification and/or change an existing classification and to apply the appropriate classification mark.
+DISCONNECT DOC 21, as shown in FIG. 1—This button disconnects the document from the document classification and marking portion of the invention's software. While the document classification and marking software handles almost all document configurations and document elements, modern word processing software provides tens of thousands of permutations of document elements and there may occur some elements or combinations thereof that the software has not yet been designed to handle. As a result, the current invention provides flexibility for the user/classifier to address those rare instances. The user is provided a mechanism to disconnect and re-connect a document to the classification and marking portion of the invention software. Disconnecting the document allows the user to classify and mark paragraph and portions of a document manually. In some cases once the problematic portion of the document has been manually marked it may resolve the conflict and the document may be reconnected to the classification and marking software and the classification process via the software can resume. The button works like a toggle to either disconnect a document that is connected or to connect a document that has been previously disconnected or never connected. The status of the document to include whether or not the document is connected to the software is always displayed in the Document Identification String 12,
+MARK INVALID ONLY 23—This button shown in
+The software engine of the present invention may include much specific functionality to ensure the security of documents. For example, features require users to consider classification for partial paragraphs and other segments in unusual situations. The software of the present invention may be run separately after the creation of a document. Alternatively, the software is flexible and can be run as many times as the user wants during the development of a document.
+The software engine provides for user flexibility and conforms to typical user document development processes and does not lock users into organizationally stilting procedures to which they are unaccustomed. For example, it is natural for some users to develop documents in stages, the software allows for this behavior and can be run on documents as often as required. Additionally, some documents are subject to peer or supervisory review. The software supports such organizational processes and even monitors if changes made to the document have not been accepted and reviewed and considered for their potential sensitivity/classification.
+A progress bar may be located in the upper left hand corner of the screen as the program runs. The program runs prior to all saves to determine and record the current status of the document in the classification process.
+Supervisors and other individuals, who may need to review the classification decision of the original developer, can use the present invention to step through the decision process of the document originator. The classification dialogue shows classification decisions made by the originator and allows the secondary review to make any necessary classification changes and or caveat adjustments via the dialogue.
+The present invention will accept any classification mark that the user types into the document manually, as long as the mark meets the format requirements preset by the organization via the invention's administration tool.
+The user Classification Interface Dialogue Tool 27 described above represents the front end of a multi-part system that is the invention. The Classification Interface Dialogue Tool is resident on each computer on a network of computers, but it is controlled by a central service that is resident on a network server. The Classification Interface Dialogue Tool provides the users of the network with an easy to use interface to make sensitivity or classification determinations, with the assurance that his or her efforts comply with organizational standards, but the Classification Interface Dialogue Tool also provides for the registration of the document classification or sensitivity as well as the registration and the collection of other document information on the network server that enables additional critical security rigor for the protection of the information contained in electronic documents. In addition, to the front end Classification Interface Dialogue Tool, another portion of the software engine that is the invention breaks down the computer network or system of networks into elements that can be associated, tracked and monitored 130, as shown in
+The aspect of the invention that establishes the persistent relational tracking system across the network allows for additional functionalities. For example, some security requirements proscribe a periodic audit of the storage media that contains sensitive and/or classified information. This can be a laborious and hands-on exercise involving expensive travel of audit and investigative teams to remote locations of the network. Not only does the invention monitor the content of such media in real time, but the information captured by the software engine would allow a System Security Administrator to set a date or time period, with little advance notice, for all facilities with network nodes and request to have all storage media “touch” the network during the period. This would provide positive feedback that the media exists and is in fact in the facility that it is suppose to be in. Obviously, if media did not touch the system in the required period, as monitored remotely by the System Security Administrator, it may be indicative of lost, stolen or otherwise poorly controlled media. Scarce audit and investigative resources could be more efficiently directed to concentrate on those facilities with storage media control problems. Additionally, the invention mechanism provides for continual analysis of document storage media and identifies any media where documents have been accessed or altered while the media was not connected to the approved network. The invention provides for these and other related audit functionality.
+The central controlling service on a network server also provides the System Security Administrator with the tools to develop and establish the sensitivity or classification criteria for the organization/network, establish format requirements, setup user profiles to compartment user access to information on the network, as well as provides for document monitoring and warnings and alarms. The following provides a more detailed description of the Server Service preferred embodiments:
+The Button Tool bar 58 provides for more specific functionality relating to the machine, media, or document information, such as alternate views, warnings and alarms, or log information, or to the development, configuration and maintenance of the system.
+The Button Tool Bar functionality is identified in
+The Start Button 70 connects the server interface with the server.
+The Termination Button 72 disconnects the display from the server.
+The Configuration and Maintenance Button 74 opens the development and configuration dialogue shown in
+The Server Register Button 76 in
+The Button Tool Bar 58 also contains several display buttons that show information views on individual documents selected in the Document Information Display 59 of
+If the document 223 is a pre-existing document 237, a determination is made as to whether it is registered 239. If it is not registered 241, then a decision 243 is made as to whether to import the document 223 as a local document. If the document 223 is not a local document 245 it is imported as a foreign document 247 and document sensitivity is captured 249. The document is then registered and saved 233 and monitored 235. If the document 223 is a local document 251, a determination 253 is made as to whether the document is a legacy. If the document 223 is a legacy 255 the sensitivity is captured 249. The document 223 is then registered and saved 233 before monitoring 235. If the document 223 is not a legacy 257, it is set as a local document 227. The document 223 is then passed through capture element sensitivity 229 and then document sensitivity is automated 231. The document 223 is then registered and saved 233. The document 223 is then monitored 235.
+If the document 223 is registered 259, the document 223 is processed as a registered document 261. A determination 263 is then made as to whether the document 223 has changed. If the document 223 has not changed 265, then it is monitored 235. If the document 223 has changed 267, the document 223 is then passed through capture element sensitivity 229 and then document sensitivity is automated 231. The document 223 is then registered and saved 233. The document 223 is then monitored 235.
+If the e-mail 271 is properly marked 281, the e-mail 271 is checked 273 for document attachments. If there are no attachments 283, the e-mail is sent 285. If the email 271 has attachments 287, the attachments are checked 289 for proper marking and system registration. If they are not properly marked or registered 291, sending is prevented, and a warning is issued 293. If the attachments 287 are properly marked and registered 295, the dissemination event is recorded and registered 297, the e-mail 271 and properly marked attachments 287 are then sent 285.
+If the slide document 303 is properly marked 311, a determination 313 is made as to whether the slide document is visible for presentation. If the slide document is visible 315, the slide document 303 is added to the visible presentation 317. A determination 319 is then made as to whether all visible slides have been considered. If not 321, the next slide document 303 is checked for proper marking 305. If all visible slide documents have been considered 323 an overall slide document is generated that depicts the sensitivity of the visible presentation and is inserted into the presentation 325. All visible slide documents 303 are then combined with all hidden slide documents 327.
+Properly marked slide document 303 with markings that are not visible for presentation 329 are added to hidden slides 331. A check is done to determine whether all hidden slide documents have been considered 333. If a hidden slide documents has not been considered 335, the next slide document 303 is checked for proper marking 305. If all the hidden slide documents have been considered, they are combined with the visible slide document(s) 327.
+The combined visible and hidden slide documents 327 are then established as a presentation document 337. Overall presentation document sensitivity is then established by considering the sensitivity established for each hidden or visible slide document 339. The presentation is then recorded and registered 341 before saving 343.
+If all sensitivity and guidance documents have been identified and registered 357, a primary sensitivity indicator is established 359. Sensitivity rank is assigned to the primary indicator 361. A sensitivity abbreviation is assigned to the primary indicator 363. Classification guidance is associated to the primary indicator 365. Primary indicator information is stored 367. A determination is then made as to whether primary indicators are complete 369. If primary indicators are not complete 371, another primary sensitivity indicator is again established 359.
+If the primary indicators are complete 373, caveats and handling indicators are established 375. The caveats and handling indicators are associated with appropriate primary indicators 377. Sensitivity rank and weight are assigned to the caveats, sub caveats and handling indicators 379. A caveat and handling indicator hierarchal relationship and precedence are established 381. Classification guidance is associated to the caveats and handling indicators 383 and caveat or handling information is stored 385. A determination is then made as to whether all caveat and handling indicators have been identified and are complete 387. If caveat indicators are not complete 389, another caveat and handling indicator is again established 375.
+If caveat indicators are complete 391, document marking format requirements are established 393. Document format is stored 395 and printing requirements are determined 397 and stored 399. E-mail requirements are determined 401 and stored 403.
+User “Need to Know” is then identified 405. A user sensitivity profile is then stored 407. A determination is then made as to whether more user exist 409. If there are more users 411, then user “Need to Know” is identified 405 for each additional user. If no more users exist 413, an alarm value is identified 415. An alarm color code is assigned 417 and alarm profiles are stored 419. A determination is made as to whether the alarm information is complete 421. If the alarm information is not complete 423, another alarm value is again identified 415. If the alarm information is complete 425, then the configuration is complete 427.
+While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, modifications and variations of the invention may be constructed without departing from the scope of the invention.
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+Structure alignment-based classification of RNA-binding pockets reveals regional RNA recognition motifs on protein surfaces
+© The Author(s). 2017
+- Received: 21 July 2016
+- Accepted: 7 December 2016
+- Published: 11 January 2017
+Abstract
+Background
+Many critical biological processes are strongly related to protein-RNA interactions. Revealing the protein structure motifs for RNA-binding will provide valuable information for deciphering protein-RNA recognition mechanisms and benefit complementary structural design in bioengineering. RNA-binding events often take place at pockets on protein surfaces. The structural classification of local binding pockets determines the major patterns of RNA recognition.
+Results
+In this work, we provide a novel framework for systematically identifying the structure motifs of protein-RNA binding sites in the form of pockets on regional protein surfaces via a structure alignment-based method. We first construct a similarity network of RNA-binding pockets based on a non-sequential-order structure alignment method for local structure alignment. By using network community decomposition, the RNA-binding pockets on protein surfaces are clustered into groups with structural similarity. With a multiple structure alignment strategy, the consensus RNA-binding pockets in each group are identified. The crucial recognition patterns, as well as the protein-RNA binding motifs, are then identified and analyzed.
+Conclusions
+Large-scale RNA-binding pockets on protein surfaces are grouped by measuring their structural similarities. This similarity network-based framework provides a convenient method for modeling the structural relationships of functional pockets. The local structural patterns identified serve as structure motifs for the recognition with RNA on protein surfaces.
+Keywords
+- RNA-binding pocket
+- Local structure classification
+- Structural alignment
+- Network clustering
+- Structure motif
+Background
+Protein-RNA recognitions play many fundamental and vital roles in crucial molecular interactions involved in biochemical reactions and signaling transduction [1, 2]. Revealing the RNA-binding structure motifs will provide insightful clues for deciphering the mechanisms of protein-RNA interactions and provide valuable knowledge for protein engineering, such as drug target design for silencing specific RNAs after transcription [3, 4]. Moreover, numerous diseases have been found to be related to dysfunctions of protein-RNA interactions due to RNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation [5–7]. In this regard, deciphering the protein-RNA recognition code is central to physiology and disease [8, 9]. Recently, high-throughput approaches have made tremendous progress in the detection of protein-RNA interactions through chemical crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) [10, 11]. The rich availability of protein-RNA interaction data provides the materials and opportunities to reveal their binding mechanisms. Some sequence patterns have been identified for protein-RNA recognition, such as RNA recognition motifs and zinc fingers [12]. The identification of binding motifs will provide a deep understanding of RNA-binding mechanisms, such as molecular characteristics and affinity distributions [9, 13]. These findings are often based on sequence-based approaches in CLIP data [14, 15] and focus on the nucleotide residue patterns from the side of RNAs [16]. To date, there are numerous unique RNA-binding domains listed in Pfam [17] and other databases of RNA-binding specificities such as RBPDB [18] and CLIPZ [19]. Some critical partners in the RNA interference of miRNA-binding functions, e.g., Dicer and Argonaute [20], also exhibit structural specificity and functional importance in protein-RNA interactions [21, 22]. Dissecting RNA recognition motifs from protein three-dimensional (3D) structures is still of great interest and importance.
+Protein surfaces are among the major locations where RNA-binding events take place [23]. Pockets are one of the local structure patterns on protein surfaces and have proven to be concrete locations and detail-rich environments for many critical biological reactions, such as ligand binding [24, 25]. A protein-RNA binding pocket facilitates the local geometry for RNA packing and constructing protein complexes to perform certain functions [26]. Recent bioinformatics studies, such as PRNA [27], RNABindR [28], BindN [29], and PRINTR [30], have made substantial efforts to predict protein-RNA binding residues in proteins, but very few methods are available to identify the structure motifs that underlie the RNA-binding sites [2, 26, 31, 32], especially from the perspective of local protein surface regions. A pocket on a protein surface is among the typical structure patterns that provide the specific microenvironment needed to bind and regulate RNAs [33, 34]. The knowledge of RNA-binding structure motifs in the form of pockets will reveal the local structure groups and the underlying mechanisms involved in the recognition of RNA on protein surfaces. Identifying the structural patterns and physicochemical specificities of these binding pockets will greatly benefit downstream feature studies of protein-RNA interaction.
+In this work, we conduct a large-scale analysis of the RNA-binding pockets on protein surfaces to identify the structural motifs and patterns of protein-RNA recognition. We first identify the RNA-binding residues in 3D protein structures and extract the surface pockets involved in the binding events from a compiled non-redundant protein-RNA complex dataset. Then, the local structure similarities among these RNA-binding pockets and the global structure similarities among their containing or parent proteins are measured via structure alignment methods. Using a similarity-network-based framework, the RNA-binding pockets and proteins are clustered into certain groups. The correspondences of RNA-binding pockets, domains and proteins are then investigated. The patterns of binding structure motifs and their functional implications in protein-RNA recognition are revealed accordingly.
+Methods
+Datasets
+We download the RNA-binding protein complexes from the PDB [35]. There are 896 protein-RNA complexes available as of the beginning of our project. We eliminate complexes with protein and RNA sequences that are too long (i.e., more than 200 residues) or too short (i.e., 15 for protein and 5 for RNA). The homologous proteins are removed via BLASTclust [36] with sequence similarity of 25% in proteins and 60% in RNAs. In total, 158 non-redundant protein-RNA complexes remain for further analyses. All data and software used in this paper are available at our website:.
+The residues that exhibit binding between protein amino acids and RNA nucleotides are defined by Entangle [37]. Several interaction types, such as hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions, are considered simultaneously in the binding residue identification. In this work, pockets on protein surfaces refer to empty concavities that the solvent can access. These concavities have mouth openings that connect their interiors with the outside bulk solution. We extract the surface accessible pockets using CASTp [38]. As many as 7664 pockets and their coordination are identified in these protein complexes. The RNA-binding pockets are defined as those pockets containing at least one RNA-binding residue detected by Entangle. These local structure pockets contain approximately 10 amino acid residues. After removing the very tiny pockets containing fewer than 4 residues, we obtain 786 RNA-binding pockets. We focus on the analysis of these pockets and their corresponding parent RNA-binding proteins (RBPs).
+Framework of classification
+The framework for identifying structural RNA-binding motifs via pocket similarity network. 1 The RNA-binding pockets in proteins are extracted and collected from RBPs. 2 The pocket similarity network is constructed based on the similarities among these pockets calculated by our structure alignment algorithm SAMO. 3 The RNA-binding pockets are clustered into small groups with similar structures by decomposing the pocket similarity network into subnetwork modules via a community detection method. 4 The RNA-binding structure motifs and sequence patterns underlying the similar pocket groups are identified and analyzed
+Comparing local structure similarities
+To detect the structural similarities among RNA-binding pockets, we improve our non-sequential-order structure alignment algorithm SAMO to compare the local structures in an all-against-all manner.
+SAMO formulates the structure alignment problem as a multiple-objective mixed integer programming problem. The first objective function is to minimize the total square distances of the aligned residues, and the second maximizes the total number of aligned residues. The optimization problem is solved by an iterative algorithm. The details of the SAMO algorithm for protein structure alignment can be found in [39].
+In this work, the significance threshold of the structure similarity P-value is set to 0.05.
+Classifying RNA-binding pockets via similarity-network-based clustering
+We embed the overall similarities among pockets into a pocket similarity network built by linking an edge between any two pockets with significant structure similarity. The RNA-binding pockets are then clustered into groups based on the topological structure of the constructed similarity network. By employing a fast community detection algorithm [45], we decompose the network into several communities, each of which represents a cluster of structurally similar RNA-binding pockets. Essentially, the community detection method in the network is a hierarchical clustering with the advantages of improving the distinguishing measures between groups via the sparseness of the pocket similarity matrix [45, 46]. After the network decomposition, we detect the major groups in these clusters as the local structure classification of RNA-binding pockets. The structure patterns in each pocket group are then identified and investigated.
+Extracting consistent multiple structure alignments
+Coordinating RNA-binding pockets with domains and proteins
+To detect the upper-level structure characteristics of RBPs that contain these grouped pockets, we coordinate and map the RNA-binding pockets with their parent RBPs. The sequence domains and global structures where the pockets are located are identified accordingly. A “bottom-up” hierarchical model of RNA-binding structures, from pockets and domains to global tertiary structures, is built up. Joint analyses of their structural complementarity in protein-RNA recognition are then performed. Here, the networks are illustrated using Cytoscape (), and the structures are depicted using Pymol ().
+Results and discussion
+RNA-binding pocket groups
+The global view of pocket similarity and the identified pocket groups in the RNA-binding pocket similarity network. aThe heatmap of the structure similarities of RNA-binding pockets on the protein surface. b The pocket similarity network with different colored and numbered groups. A 3D pocket structure is displayed for a representative pocket of each of six major groups
+In Fig. 2(a), the significantly similar pockets form several blue blocks. We find that the near half of RNA-binding pockets cannot identify their significantly similar partners (yellow parts). This result indicates the diversity and flexibility of RNA-binding local structures on protein surfaces. The feasible space of RNA-binding local structures is very large, and many different shapes can perform RNA-binding functions on protein surfaces. More interestingly, a central block can be found in the global heatmap shown in Fig. 2(a). The results provide evidence of the consistency in RNA-binding local structures; that is, many pockets can find matching partners with similar shapes. The diversity and consistency of the clustering results reveal the complexity of the mechanism and structural space of local protein regions for recognizing RNA.
+We focus on the significantly similar pocket pairs with P-value < 0.05 and build up the pocket similarity network by linking similar pockets. Figure 2(b) illustrates the pocket similarity network and the underlying communities. We identify the topological communities that naturally cluster the pockets into similar groups. Six major pocket groups are identified from the pocket similarity network. Accordingly, the RNA-binding pockets are classified into the six pocket groups numbered in Fig. 2(b). The pockets in a group are illustrated in the same color. For simplicity, the isolated pockets that lack any significantly similar partner are not displayed, and the few pockets not belonging to the six groups are colored as gray nodes. In each group, a representative pocket of the highest degree is presented as a larger node in the network, with a 3D pocket structure nearby. The local 3D structures demonstrate the structural patterns of pocket residues, which are formulated into binding pockets for interacting with RNA molecules. In our non-redundant RNA-binding proteins, the six pocket groups establish the main structure templates of RNA recognition occurring on protein surfaces. Thereafter, we converge our further analyses on the six identified RNA-binding pocket groups.
+For instance, 79 pockets are clustered in Group 1, and pocket 1GAX:168:A (protein_ID:pocket_ID:chain_ID) is the representative pocket of this group. The middle number refers to the pocket ID in the protein chain. Several pockets in the RBP, e.g., 1P6V:A, are classified into the same group, e.g., 1P6V:38:A, 1P6V:43:A, 1P6V:49:A and 1P6V:55:A, while some pockets in the same protein are classified into other groups, e.g., 1P6V:33:A in Group 2. This finding indicates that the pockets in the same protein are not always classified into the same group.
+Patterns of RNA-binding pocket groups
+For each group, we extract a multiple structure alignment, and the sequences of some representative pockets are exhibited in Additional file 1: Figure S1. The original residue positions in the parent protein sequences are shown on the right top of each residue individually. The sequence motifs after multiple structural alignments are illustrated by the sequence logos in Fig. 3. The ratios of active RNA-binding residues in each position are also shown in positions corresponding to the locations. The patterns shown in the sequence motifs are not very significant, and the active binding residues are not obviously enriched in specific positions. This result implies that the functions of binding pockets are not simply determined by the primary protein sequence or single residues. Instead, the binding pockets should be studied as an undivided whole local structure, from a systematic perspective.
+Note that these proteins are selected without sequence similarity, and the pocket similarities are measured by the non-sequential-order structure alignment algorithm. There is also no requirement of global structure similarity. Although there is no significant similarity among the protein sequences, global structures, and even the concatenated pocket sequences, the local structure similarity among pockets determines the functionality of RNA-binding. There is no significant structure similarity across the six pocket groups. Different groups contain their own spatial patterns. The pocket structures, such as the representative structures shown in Fig. 2(b), can be regarded as the structure motifs of binding RNAs. The structure patterns indicate that the pockets provide the detailed structural environments and complementary components for recognizing their RNA partners.
+The low sequence similarity underlying each group also indicates few enriched residues playing crucial roles in RNA-binding. Instead of sequence equivalence, a few residues adopt a local spatial shape that interacts with RNA on the protein surfaces. Several specific amino acid residues play essential roles in one pocket, and several pockets cooperate with each other in the binding. For example, the RBP 1GAX:A contains four RNA-binding pockets, of which 1GAX:115:A, 1GAX:118:A and 1GAX:168:A are clustered in Group 1 and 1GAX:236:A in Group 2. The pocket 1GAX:168:A is the hub pocket shown as the representative 3D structure in Fig. 2(b). From the sequences of Group 1, we can easily find that leucine is enriched in these pockets. The five residues in each pocket construct a cavity on the protein surface and are not ordered in the primary protein sequence. While they form a certain structural complementarity for recognizing specific RNA, their local spatial patterns cause the interaction to occur at the atomic and molecular levels.
+Classification of RNA-binding domains and global structures
+In the former sections, we constructed the pocket similarity network by comparing the local RNA-binding cavities in an all-against-all manner. Using network-based clustering, we identified six major groups of RNA-binding pockets, which are local spatial patterns and structural templates involved in the recognition of RNA. Obviously, these local structure motifs occur in their parent domains and proteins. From a hierarchical perspective, from the pocket and domain to the global structure, it is valuable to reveal the high-level upstream similarity among these parent RNA-binding domains and global structures.
+Checking the sequence components of these RBPs, we find that most of the RNA-binding pockets are located in certain RNA-binding domains. Most of the RBPs (102/158) contain at least one annotated RNA-binding domain, some of which are shown in Additional file 1: Table S1. The Pfam [17] domain and superfamily annotations are illustrated, having been generated using a hidden Markov model. As shown in Supplementary Table S1, most of the proteins can be classified in the Pfam domain superfamily clans, while several domains such as ‘Elongation factor Tu C-terminal domain’, ‘Elongation factor SelB, winged helix’ and ‘PAZ domain’ still cannot currently find their corresponding clans (shown at the bottom of Supplementary Table S1). Some proteins also contain several domains. For instance, protein 1U0B:B has ‘tRNA synthetases class I (C) catalytic domain’ and ‘DALR domain’. Both are related to tRNA synthesis. The consistency and diversity of the domains in RBPs indicate the functional complexity of protein-RNA binding events, such as ‘tRNA synthetases’, ‘RNA polymerase’, ‘RNA recognition motif’, ‘Ribonuclease’, and ‘Zinc finger’.
+The corresponding classifications between protein groups and pocket groups. The RBP groups in the frames were clustered based on a protein similarity network, similarly to the pocket groups. When a pocket is contained in a protein, it is placed on the same row to the right of the corresponding protein. The pockets in the same pocket group are shown in the same color.
+The pockets are local regions and particular subparts of the RNA-binding domains. Based on the similarity network framework, we identified the major groups of RNA-binding local structures, which illustrates that the RNA-binding domains fold into certain local 3D structure patterns, and the resulting pockets formed on protein surfaces facilitate the local sites and environments for binding to RNA partners. We should analyze the RNA-binding local structures on protein surfaces to decipher their functional importance and complexity, as well as to identify specific RNA-binding structure motifs [24].
+Note that sequence alignment cannot reveal homologous relationships among these RNA-binding proteins. The classification of global protein structures provides a higher-level overview of the relationships among proteins in the recognition of RNA. In a network-based framework similar to pocket group identification, we build a protein similarity network for describing the global structure similarities among these RBPs. That is, one node represents one protein, and when the global structure similarity between two proteins exceeds a given threshold of significance (P-value < 0.05), two nodes are linked by an edge. In this way, we implement a rapid community structure detection method to classify the RBPs into 12 groups. Figure 4 illustrates these identified protein groups with some representative proteins and their child RNA-binding pockets. From the correspondence between two levels of elements, we find no strict consistency between protein groups and pocket groups. In Fig. 4, the pockets are uniformly shown in their respective group colors. The pockets of the same-group proteins are not always classified into the same pocket group, which demonstrates the complexity of RNA-binding functionality from the perspective of global and local structure components. In fact, the pockets of the same-group proteins are flexibly categorized into diverse pocket groups with different colors, and vice versa.
+Although similar RBP structures contain similar RNA-binding pockets, we find that there exist inconsistent correspondences between proteins and pockets. For instance, proteins 1ASY:A and 2GTT:L are in the same protein group, but their RNA-binding pockets are not in the same group. In another example, protein 1QTQ:A has four pockets, 1QTQ:16:A, 1QTQ:56:A, 1QTQ:58:A and 1QTQ:64:A, that are located in three different pocket groups. These examples imply that RNA-binding events occur mainly in the specific local structure environments of pockets. The protein-RNA recognition is a very specifically functional event in these local structures. Thus, the results of this study confirm that RNA-binding function in proteins is more conserved in the local structure space than in the global structure space of RBPs.
+Functional analysis of the GO molecular functions of the six pocket groups. ‘Group’ is the pocket group ID. ‘Term’ refers to the GO molecular functions with their descriptions. Some pockets in the group are listed as ‘Representative pockets’. ‘P-value’ is the enrichment significance. Note that the functions of the parent proteins are used to implement the calculations because there are no GO annotations of these pockets thus far. For each term, ‘Count’ refers to the number of proteins containing the GO term in the ‘Population total’ background RBPs. ‘List total’ refers to the number of proteins in one group. ‘Population hits’ is the number of proteins annotated with the term. (In DAVID, there are slightly different numbers in ‘List total’ and ‘Population total’ for one group when calculating a specific GO term). For conciseness, we list only the top 5 terms in each group; the complete tables are available from our website
+Case study of RNA-binding structure motifs
+Details of an example local structure motif in RBPs. a The multiple sequence alignment of five RBPs with the locations of RNA-binding pockets and residues. b The similarities among global protein structures, sequence-based domains and local pockets. Significant similarity is represented by an edge in different colors corresponding to different levels, i.e., green for pocket, yellow for domain and red for global structure. Some proteins contain similar domains, while others do not. All five proteins contain similar RNA-binding pockets serving as local structure motifs, which determine the similar RNA-binding functionality
+In Fig. 5(a), there is no significant sequence similarity in the sequence alignments. The RNA-binding amino acids in contact with RNA nucleotides are shown in yellow. The RNA-binding pockets are shown by red residues, which are scattered irregularly in the primary sequences. There is only one pair of proteins with significant global structure similarity, i.e., 1B7F:A and 1CVJ:A. They are connected by a red edge in the center of Fig. 5(b). Three pairs of proteins, i.e., 1B23:P-1CVJ:A, 1B7F:A-1CVJ:A, and 1B23:P-1B7F:A, contain similar domains, which are linked by yellow edges. Among them, the pair 1B7F:A-1CVJ:A contains the same ‘RNA recognition motif’ (RRM) domain. The RRM domain is the main substructure of their global 3D structures. However, the RNA-binding domains in the five proteins are not all similar to each other. Although proteins 1B23:P, 2AKE:A and 3RW6:A contain no such RRM domain, they contain the domains ‘Elongation factor Tu GTP-binding domain’, ‘tRNA synthetases class I’ and ‘Leucine Rich Repeat′, respectively. The domain similarities described by the yellow edges of 1B23:P-1B7F:A and 1B23:P-1CVJ:A 1B23:P and 1B7F:A are determined by the structure similarities between domain “Elongation factor Tu domain” (in 1B23:P) and RRM domain (in 1B7F:A and 1CVJ:A). The domain has been shown to be critically involved in RNA-binding [51].
+Notably, the RNA-binding pockets in these proteins are significantly similar, shown as a green clique in the center of Fig. 5(b). It is easy to understand that similar global protein structures contain similar pockets, such as 1B7F:A and 1CVJ:A. Analogously, similar domains imply similar pockets, such as 1B23:P and 1B7F:A. These similarities of global and domain structures imply similar RNA-binding functionality. The RNA-binding pockets are the determinants of their specificity. When the similarity both between global protein structures and both between domains disappears, these proteins still can contain similar pockets. This finding directly proves that different global structures and different domains can contain similar local structure binding motifs, i.e., the RNA-binding pockets on protein surfaces. We align these pockets purely by their 3D structures, and they have no direct relationships with sequence domains and secondary structures due to their discontinuous residue locations in the primary protein sequence. They are flexibly located on protein surfaces that can cover different domains and across various secondary structure elements. The annotations show that these five proteins contain the function of ‘GO:0000166 ~ nucleotide binding’ [48]. Fig. 5 confirms that regardless of whether proteins contain similar global structures or domains, if they have similar pockets that can recognize RNA molecules and bind to them, the proteins will participate in the RNA-binding functionality. The pocket performs the specific RNA-binding functions and works as a functional unit interacting with RNA. The results also clearly suggest that the identification of RNA-binding structure motifs should involve extracting the structure patterns in these regional surfaces, instead of from global protein structures and domains.
+Figure 5(b) also demonstrates a case of an RNA-binding structure motif. The functional flow is from ‘global’ protein to ‘domain’ to ‘pocket’ as shown in the top-right legend of Fig. 5(b). The similarities of global structures and domains are not regularly necessary requirements for binding RNA. The structure motifs, in the form of pockets on protein surfaces, endow the protein with the ability of RNA-binding. This finding indicates that the flexibility of the global structure and the strict requirements for the local structures outline valuable strategies for detecting the possibility of certain targets in drug design techniques. The importance of local structure motifs is strengthened by our proposed similarity-network-based framework of structure comparison and classification.
+Conclusions
+In this paper, we conducted a systematic analysis of RNA-binding pockets on protein surfaces to reveal the binding structure motifs in protein-RNA recognition. After extracting the large-scale RNA-binding pockets on protein surfaces, we improved our non-sequential-order structure alignment algorithm, SAMO, to better measure local similarities and proposed a similarity-network-based framework to cluster the pockets into similar groups. Then, in these groups, we developed a multiple structure alignment strategy to identify their consensus alignment and coordinate the correspondences between the RNA-binding pockets and their parent proteins. The multi-level analyses demonstrate the RNA-binding structure neighbors in different spaces of protein components, i.e., global structure, domain and pocket. Using the similarity-network-based strategy, we revealed the major groups of RNA-binding structure motifs in the form of pockets and their patterns of RNA-binding.
+Specifically, we identified the protein-RNA binding pockets in non-redundant RBPs. By implementing a similarity-network-based clustering method, we identified the major classes of RNA-binding pockets and the corresponding classes of the parent sequence domains and global structures. The similarities in these RNA-binding domains and global proteins are not inherently consistent with the similarities among RNA-binding pockets. Very different proteins and domains might contain similar RNA-binding pockets. These findings provide direct evidence for the importance of binding pockets on protein surfaces in the protein-RNA recognition. The results highlight that the RNA-binding pockets are the functional units providing structural specificity for recognizing RNAs. The classified binding pockets and their structure patterns are potentially valuable in RNA-interaction-related protein design and engineering. As increasing numbers of structures of protein-RNA complexes become available, the set of identified pocket groups will be expanded, and some novel patterns will be revealed using the classification strategy. The proposed framework of identifying RNA-binding structure motifs can be flexibly generalized and extended to study other local structures, such as ligand-binding residues and protein-interacting hotspots.
+Abbreviations
+- 3D:
+Three dimensional
+- FDR:
+False discovery rate
+- GO:
+Gene ontology
+- ID:
+Identifier
+- PDB:
+Protein data bank
+- RBP:
+RNA-binding proteins
+- RMSD:
+Root mean square deviation
+- RNA:
+Ribonucleic acid
+- RRM:
+RNA recognition motif
+- SAMO:
+Structural alignment by multi-objective optimization
+Declarations
+Acknowledgements
+The authors want to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, which significantly improved our paper. Thanks are also due to Dr. Jie Liang (University of Illinois at Chicago) for making the pocket data available to us and to the members of Xiang-Sun Zhang's research group (Chinese Academy Sciences) for their comments.
+Funding
+This work was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under Grant No. XDB13040600 (LYW) and the National Center for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZPL and LYW). This work was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant Nos. 61533011 (ZPL and SL), 61572287, 31100949 (ZPL), 11131009, 11631014 and 91330114 (LYW); Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (ZR2015FQ001) (ZPL); the Fundamental Research Funds of Shandong University under Grant Nos. 2014 TB006, 2015QY001 and 2016JC007 (ZPL); and the Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, Ministry of Education of China (ZPL).
+Availability of data and materials
+All the data used in this paper are publicly available. The protein structure data can be downloaded at, and the pocket data can be downloaded at. The processed data and source code are available at our website,.
+Author contributions
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+Original Title: Dark Inheritance: Fallen Empire
+Series: Fallen Empire #1
+Author: K. Reed
+Release Date: May 8th 2012
+Genre: Historical Regency
+.
+EXCERPT
+.”
+INTERVIEW WITH K. REED
+1. Is there an inspiration behind why you chose writing?
+I’m sure you’ve heard (read) this before but it’s true. Writing has always been a part of me and I’ve always wanted to do it.
+2. When you were little, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?
+Either Wonder Woman or the President of the
+United States.
+Both have awesome powers, cool planes, historic homes, and everyone knows who
+they are.
+3. Finish the sentence- one book I wish I had written is....
+Harry Potter. Because really, why not?
+4. What are your current literary works? Any sneak peaks?
+Besides Dark Inheritance: Fallen Empire, I’m currently plotting a trilogy set in the late Victorian era (1880s or such). I’ve read lots of Victorian era books and have seen not quite as many movies, the most famous is Sherlock Holmes of course, but my approach to this trilogy is slightly different.
+For some odd reason, Victorian detectives take huge leaps in logic to solve a crime. I’m taking a different approach to make it harder and grittier for my couple. Brace yourselves—my couple may actually be wrong on occasion! There’s nothing I dislike more than a detective that’s always right on the first try every time. No one is really Sherlock Holmes. The ramifications of my couple being wrong will dog them during the story.
+5. If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future?
+The past, not that I’d want to live there. Too used to (addicted to?) modern technology. But for research purposes only. I’d interview little old ladies having tea and lovers hiding behind bushes. They’d call me The Mad Foreigner!
+6. If you could be one of the Greek Gods, which would it be and why?
+Aphrodite, the goddess of love. I’d be loved and adored, have lots of sex, and let’s face it—it’d be lots of fun!
+7. Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.
+How many dystopian Regency romances have you heard of?
+8. Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
+That first royalty check. I know, shallow, but it’s true. It was really cool to see that in the mail!
+9. What's one piece of advice you would give aspiring authors?
+Either persevere until you’re published, or read The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
+10. If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world, which would it be?
+Um…I know characters I’d like to see in mine. And I know characters I’d like to jump. As for living in their world? Not really. For all its problems, I like this world. However, Star Trek: The Next Generation is cool! Except not on a ship…well not permanently even if they do get to explore strange new worlds.
+11. If someone wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?
+Two Sides of the Same Coin
+12. What is your favorite scene in the book and why do you love it?
+The scene where Juliette realizes how much she loves Grayson. I can’t help it, I’m a hopeless romantic and it’s a very sweet scene!
+13. What TV show/movie/book do you watch/read that you'd be embarrassed to admit?
+I’ve watched Star Trek, Buffy, NCIS, I’ve read Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, Hunger Games, romances ranging from sweet to uber sexy, and I’m not embarrassed by any of them.
+14. What is one book everyone should read?
+Dark Inheritance: Fallen Empire. No? Baring my own book, I can’t really say. Books I enjoy and recommend aren’t necessarily received well by others. I actually liked Anna Karenina! I may be the only one…
+Okay, how about Pride & Prejudice? Not the zombie one, though that was pretty interesting, just lacking in actual zombies.
+15. One food you would never eat?
+SNAILS! Ugh, just thinking about them make my skin crawl.
+QUICK ANSWERS
+Favorite place?
+The beach. Hands down.
+Best Christmas present?
+It’s a tie between the seesaw my grandfather and dad made and the Barbie dream house.
+Favorite book?
+I can’t say I have one. I’ve enjoyed many, many books, I probably read 5-7 books a month so it’s hard to say. Anything by Agatha Christie or Jane Austen.
+Favorite author?
+See above
+Favorite smell?
+Roses
+Favorite series?
+Currently? NCIS. This will change mind you! Hawaii Five-O is creeping up there, but without that idiotic blonde I refuse to learn the name of!
+Nickname?
+Belle
+Favorite writing spot?
+Tranquil writing cottage with a beautiful no-maintenance pond, butterfly garden, fields of waving grain, no allergies and no tornadoes. Yes. I’ve invented this in my mind. It’s my happy place!
+Favorite movie?
+Right at this second, Thor. And certainly not because of the riveting plot! See that pict of Chris Hemsworth here? Yeah…yum.
+Favorite dish?
+Pizza. A writer’s best friend
+Favorite color?
+Red
+Favorite quote?
+Favorite flavor of ice cream?
+Vanilla--you can put chocolate sauce, hot caramel, and whatever else you want on it to spice it up without taking away the flavor of either the ice cream or the toppings.
+Your best trait?
+Generous with others. Sometimes to a fault.
+Your worst trait?
+Very critical of myself, which in turn becomes critical of others who aren’t meeting my standard. Not fair at all, I agree. I’m working on.
+AUTHOR ONLINE: Twitter | Website | Mail
+GRAND GIVEAWAY
+The author will award nine Post-apocalypse survival baskets (which include tea, a fan, a shawl, a bracelet and more -- Plus ONE Grand Prize basket will include an iPod Touch) to randomly drawn commenters during the tour - US/Canada only.
+ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS COMMENT IN THIS POST TO ENTER THIS AWESOME GIVEAWAY! YOU CAN SHARE WITH YOU FRIENDS AND FAMILY, SO THEY CAN WIN TOO! PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!
+OPEN TO U.S./CANADA! BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS GIFT TO SOMEONE THERE OR POST IT TO YOUR FRIENDS/COLLEAGUES IN U.S./CANADA AND GET IT FROM THEM LATER!
+I REALLY REALLY HOPE ONE OF YOU, YOUR FAMILY OR YOUR FRIENDS WIN!
+ENDS JUNE 8TH! SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE!
+I like the Harry Potter comment - good one!
+This would be great to win. AWESOME BLOG.
+NEW FOLLOWER.
+Elizabeth
+silversolara AT gmail DOT com
+THANKS for the giveaway.
+"Post-apocalypse survival baskets (which include tea, a fan, a shawl, a bracelet and more" <= Completely made me LOL. Awesome pack :)
+Sounds like an awesome book!
+tgomom{at}gmail.com
+Awesome giveaway! thisgirlreads @ gmail.com
+wow this is an super fun giveaway and cool blog
+Dina
+dlsmilad at yahoo dot com
+seesaw vs a barbie dream house. That is a hard one!
+Thanks for the giveaway.
+cathygarcia51(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
+Sounds like a great book. I love the Movie Thor for that same reason!
+lorimariaparker@gmail.com
+I loved reading this interview, the answers were great!
+taiyounotenshi@gmail.com
+This sounds like a good book. Awesome giveaway!
+squirrelqueen2001@gmail.com
+This comment has been removed by the author.
+I need a new one of these :D My current one's screen is all scratched up :(
+Please feel free to contact me at -
+sales5445 at gmail dot com
+What was in The First 5 pages that was crucial take away info? Yes I went to see Thor for the same reason...YUM. But in Hawii Five-O? Steve is very hot too!! Love that series!!
+viajeradelmar@aol.com
+The first five pages is great for the beginning writer. It points out a lot of common writing mistakes and really helps you polish your manuscript for an editor to see.
+Thank you for hosting K. Reed today.
+Thanks for having me today! I agree, we all need music in a post-apocalyptic world.
+Hawaii Five-O...yeah. I admit he's hot (definitely) but I think Dano steals the show with his sarcasm and witty one-liners. But then I'm a sucker for one-liners!
+Sounds like a awesome author and interesting book! I wish I would win something, lol
+SKYANGELHC@YAHOO.COM
+thanks!!
+lcjohnson1988@gmail.com
+This is a really cool website and blog, thanks for the opportunity to learn from you and a chance to win something cool besides!
+Yeah, I'd love to have written Harry Potter too. It's just wonderful and who wouldn't want to be the author who wrote something that SO many people love?! Oh, and Chris Hemsworth really is a cutie. I'm more into Tom Hiddleston right now though...he plays Loki. :)
+-Lauren
+lauren51990 AT aol DOT com
+I love regency stories. I can hardly inmagine what would happen if there was a plague. This is a definate read for me.
+Sounds like a great book. Awesome prizes too! shay_688@yahoo.com
+Great sounding book and awesome prizes.
+shiekadoctor23@yahoo.com
+I'd like to thank everyone for stopping by today! Such great comments.
+Very nice interview. Very intriguing book.
+bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
+Awesome blog! Love the interview and I'll definitely put this book in my To-Read-list
+Amazing book and giveaway! Thanks so much!
+Very nice interview. Historical fiction is one of my favorite subjects to read. Sounds like an interesting story. What a great giveaway too. Please enter me. Beverlysmcclure(at)aol(dot)com
+Thanks.
+Wow...the author sounds a lot like me. My all-time favorite place is the beach and my worst trait is that I am super-critical of myself!!! Thanks!
+wowknk at gmail dot com
+A apocalyptic survival basket? How creative! I love it!
+shelver506 at gmail dot com
+Interesting book and nice giveaway! Thanks alot! I am a new fan.
+april[dot]johnson34[at]gmail[dot]com
+sounds awesome!
+sounds awesome!
+Sounds like a great story!
+This comment has been removed by the author.
+I really like the sound of this book, I've added it to may reading list.
+Theresa N
+weceno(at)yahoo(dot)com
+This book sounds like a wonderfully entertaining read. Can't wait to start reading it! Thanks!
+pudgypanda3[at]hotmail[dot]com
+This book sounds amazing. Thanks for the interview. delphinareadstoomuch at yahoo
+Ncis s. y favorite series also. Look forward to reading the book:). Treetrout@earthlinkdotnet
+This book sounds like a great read. I devour a book a week so this will be on my list to read soon, Thanks!
+goodluckkitty999[at]hotmail[dot]com
+Sounds great and what an awesome giveaway!!
+bookedandloaded(at)gmail(dot)com
+I think it sounds like a great idea for a plot. It should be good. :) -laura
+I love post apocalyptic stories. I never thought of one taking place in a regency world before. It sounds great.
+Forgot to leave my email addy
+hjsilversonic@yahoo.com
+Awesome giveaway. Apocalyptic basket made me laugh...
+Ashley
+smartmouthtexan(at)hotmail(dot)com
+Sounds like an interesting book. Looking forward to reading it this summer since my goal is to read more books.
+ewilliams1009[at]hotmail[dot]com
+Fabulous giveaway, thanks! It seems like an interesting book!
+Great blog BTW, always interesting and funny!
+mviv_sky@yahoo.com
+Cure Piles, Fissures & Fistula in 7 days No Injections, Operations , Costly Surgeries & lasers No Embarrassing Checkups. Piles, Fissures, Fistula Permanent Cure in 7 days - Chennai - medicine for pile You can request one to this user
+Permanently Cure Your Hemorrhoids, Eliminate The Pain, Itching & Bleeding& Discover exactly what to do If your Hemorrhoid has Thombrosed or if your
+Do You Want "Temporary Relief", Or A Hemorrhoid Cure? Don't I owe it to myself to find a permanent cure for my hemorrhoids not just
+THE ONLY WAY (INCLUDING SURGERY) to cure hemorrhoids permanently is to change your diet and start to exercise. Even after surgery hemorrhoids can
+There are situations particular with internal hemorrhoids which can bleed and as well are costlier, so to have a permanent cure from bleeding hemorrhoids it is
+A long lasting or potentially permanent cure for hemorrhoids should be your goal. Today, Venapro is a cure that has made a major difference
+During this first initial stage of development, external hemroids can be very itchy and If you need a permanent solution to hemorrhoids, we recommend an
+Witch hazel can be purchased separately and poured onto the tissue
+The real key for utilizing sitz baths for the treatment of hemorrhoids is actually a permanent approach, Aleve includes anti inflammatory properties that can help
+hemorid treatment hemeroid cream painful hemorrhoids during yes you can babies have hemorrhoids can have tea every word seemed vital to her recurring hemorrhoids, how to get rid of hemorrhoids permanently, is it a
+Permanent cure for piles mostly require you to make changes in your Age group of 45-65 is most at risk for piles so should already work on
+This three are the most popular reasonable methods to treating hemorrhoids. Be aware, however, that these do not offer a permanent treatment. They most
+Do You Want To Cure Hemorrhoids Fast? hemorrhoid relief but also cure and eliminate hemorrhoid symptoms permanently without having to undergo costly,
+Yes piles can be cured permanently through constitutional homeopathy treatment . But one thing I dont understand why people always wants
+However, these topical creams or solutions usually do not offer permanent hemorrhoids cure from itching and inflammation. Oral medication work better for all
+Or A Home Remedy For Hemorrhoids That Will Prevent You Ever Developing term feel-good products in favor of long term permanent cures for hemorrhoids
+As you can see, there are multiple options but choosing the right external hemorrhoids treatment is vital for achieving permanent cure. However, surgery itself
+Before this, injection treatment for piles was available since 1869. majority of piles patients can be permanently cured without any operation.
+But the most important thing is to find a permanent cure to the evil that afflicts. your hemorrhoids you should know the comprehensive treatment of hemorrhoids
+It's worth trying, since herbal remedies can provide a permanent hemorrhoids cure. At-Home Remedies. Generally speaking, home remedies used to treat
+detailed remedy photos and basically everything you need to cure hemorrhoids naturally and permanently. The H Miracle system will save hours of pain and
+If left untreated for a short amount of time external hemorrhoids can quickly only to find that your hemorrhoids have returned, a more permanent cure can be
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+Cure Piles, Fissures & Fistula in 7 days • No Injections, Operations , Costly Surgeries & lasers â. This can further create big & serious issues.
+The drawback of this treatment however is that it does not usually cure Hemorrhoids permanently and the symptoms might reoccur. -Another popular treatment
+Receiving a piles treatment that works permanently exactly what many persistent sufferers of piles want. Many people find piles, otherwise
+Go for a natural cure, that will treat your hemorrhoids permanently and do not try out methods which give only temporary relief and side effects as well.
+If you suffer from hemorrhoids, you will rarely find a doctor who will suggest While these do not necessarily offer a permanent cure for hemorrhoids, they do
+Do you want a bleeding hemorrhoids treatment or a complete cure? by providing a long lasting or permanent cure for bleeding hemorrhoids?
+How to Treat Hemorrhoids has Never Been this Easy ♦ This *is* the Missing Link in Permanent Hemorrhoid Treatment! ♦ Click here to Read this FREE Guide!
+I am suffering from piles/ Hermorrhoids ( internal piles) from last 7 years. Still unable to get cure permanently. Any body can help me to cure
+Is there any permanent cure for haemhorroids/piles/fistula ? Piles can occur at any age, but are more common in older people. They affect
+Why one certain type of exercise can harm your progress on hemorrhoids. . his internal piles were gone within 1 and half weeks with this permanent remedy.
+Related Coverage. Cure Hemorrhoids Naturally and Permanently. You can make your body absolutely invincible to hemorrhoids without drugs
+What Is The “H Miracle” And How Does It Cure Hemorrhoids? . They offer a temporary solution and a permanent solution should be sort.
+However, these topical treatments are not always a permanent cure. Hemorrhoids shrink with these treatments, but can sometimes come back and expand
+Getting Rid Of Hemorrhoids with a Permanent Natural Cure There are many different natural remedies available that can provide relief from Hemroids, but
+If properly followed, the above guidelines and tips can help one avoid Hemorrhoids. However, don't forget that the only permanent remedy to Hemroids is
+Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00 Rate this : 00
+Also read how to cure hemorrhoids naturally with proven home remedies. 3 Simple Steps That You Can follow to treat Hemorrhoids Permanently. Everything
+Ayushmaan Pharmaceuticals, the leading Indian Ayurvedic drug company offers Piles Cure and seven day course for Permanent relief from Piles, Fissures
+Laser treatment is a lot less painful but a considerably more expensive piles treatment but it will provide a permanent cure to piles. There are also natural piles
+A long lasting, even permanent cure for hemorrhoids is what you should really aim for. Venapro is a cure that has the attention of hemorrhoid
+Breakthrough Piles Treatment | How To Permanently Cure Piles So They Never All I could do is squirm in my seat and try to ignore the "secret protrusion of
+It is not a permanent solution of hemorrhoid/hemorrhoids because these creams do not eliminate what is the problem of hemorrhoid/hemorrhoids only it gives
+Now that your pain is better and your symptoms have subdued a bit with these quick hemorrhoids help, you will need to look at a permanent cure to hemorrhoids
+Effective Treatment for Bleeding Hemorrhoids - Piles Permanent CureArticle by Dr Easton Patrick Bleeding hemorrhoids.
+Is Hem-Relief a permanent cure for hemorrhoids? Unfortunately, hemorrhoids can reoccur if you do not prevent or change the factors in your lifestyle which
+As piles or hemorrhoids have excellent permanent treatment in homeopathy It does not treat the piles or hemorrhoids superficially by just driving away the
+All this will give temporary relief from the pain and plug the bleeding but it is not a permanent solution. In majority of the cases piles recur after lapse of couple of
+Not even surgery treatment is a hemorrhoid treatment that can permanently remedy hemorroids. The only way you can definitely cure hemorrhoids is by
+Fourth-grade piles hang permanently outside the anus. Most piles infections Most piles cases can be cured by diet control. According to Dr
+There should be a permanent cure for hemorrhoids. The effective hemorrhoid treatment is the hemorrhoid surgery. Many may not like to go
+A holistic cure for hemorrhoids without drugs or painful surgery. Until you address these factors behind your hemorrhoid suffering, a permanent cure will never
+hemorrhoids symptoms piles symptoms 3 Simple Steps That You Can quickly and easily Follow To Eliminate Hemorrhoids Permanently. piles treatment
+Locate A Permanent Cure For Hemorrhoids. The swelling of the veins in Quite a few people notice that hemorrhoids can't be cured. That's as
+And better than that, it's a permanent hemorrhoids cure. No one needs to know, however you will likely be so enthusiastic you will want to share your story on
+Natural Hemorrhoid Treatment - A Safe and Permanent Solution. If any person had explained 20 years ago that you could completely eliminate hemorrhoids
+With the help of Venapro Hemorrhoid Formula, you do not have to bear the pain and misery of hemorrhoids, as there is now an easy and permanent solution that
+What to do if you have the symptom of persistent pain, like a splinter stuck permanently in the rectum or anal region. (p. 27). All about hemorrhoids and
+What hemorrhoids treatment do I offer? by following my regimen, you will be able to completely and permanently cure your hemorrhoids.
+If you can get an effective plan for treatment for hemorrhoids, they may A long lasting or possibly permanent cure for hemorrhoids needs to be
+Not even an operation is a hemorrhoid treatment that can permanently remedy hemorroids. The only way you can truly heal hemorrhoids is by
+can piles be permanent cure For more detailed about information, about the concepts of hemorrhoidal anatomy as applied to rectal surgery,
+Once called piles in the 1800s, hemorrhoids are not to be ignored, mostly Ointments can help heal the symptoms, but don't result in a permanent cure.
+Thrombosed hemorrhoids can pretty easily progress into bleeding relief as opposed to being permanent hemorrhoid treatment solutions.
+If you have been suffering from hemorrhoids, then you have probably just about given up on a permanent cure. For many people, this may be just fine.
+hemorrhoids blood, can diarrhea cause hemorrhoids, natural healing neo healar hemorrhoid treatment, permanent hemorrhoid treatment,
+We give you several good options for Hemorrhoids home treatment, also various methods While this will not actually cure hemorrhoids, it is generally believed that a diet high in Work through this simple list to provide a permanent solution.
+Hemorrhoids piles symptoms, pictures and hemorrhoids treatment at home are given to get rid of hemorrhoids Hemorrhoids can itch and bleed, usually bright red blood, during defacation. In the This is a permanent cure for bleeding piles.
+My Hemorrhoids Story and How I Cured Hemorrhoids in 2 Weeks . Miracle' will PERMANENTLY cure your thrombosed hemorrhoids within 48 HOURS! Proven
+The unfortunate small percentage that do not achieve a cure for hemorrhoids, permanently, include those who may have a rare, complication
+100% Natural Inexpensive Permanent Cure For Hemorrhoids This treatment solution can both deliver quick relief and if you will repeat it on a
+Answers - Permanent treatment for Piles? I could n't understand "What is the stage of her pile? Can anybody tell me permanent solution?
+Here's what you should do if you experience any of these acid reflux symptoms. Amazing all-natural heartburn breakthrough permanently eliminates acid reflux For each case, the hemorrhoid treatment has the facility to help cure piles
+Are Hemorrhoids Permanent or Can We Cure Them?explicit. eloymckay1231. recent posts. Are Hemorrhoids Permanent or Can We Cure.
+Permanent Natural Cure for Bleeding Hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids are less life threatening disease but can also be dangerous medical conditions once
+6 Responses to “is there no permanent cure for this disease called 'piles'?” jaybird says: March 26, 2011 at 5:33 am. I believe that you can have
+If your hemorrhoids are very bothersome, and you haven't found any permanent solution to get rid of them, there might be the perfect solution
+The key for making use of warm sitz baths for the treatment of hemorrhoids is A thrombosed hemorrhoids will generally take 2-3 weeks to entirely go away, of a hemorrhoid solution that offers a fast and permanent cure to hemorrhoids,
+Hemorrhoid can be a very painful condition that occurs in all age groups and condition which is important for permanent cure for hemorrhoid.
+Can You Really Get Relief For Hemorrhoids Using Venapro? Hence, if you use the absolutely safe Venapro, you can expect fast relief and permanent cure.
+If you've ever suffered a case of hemorrhoids, then you are aware just how irritating and what a pain they can be. It's an ailment that many folks
+Hemorrhoids have always been a touchy subject. No pun I will attempt to show you some of things a person can do to prevent and naturally treat hemorrhoids, and give you a great reference to find a permanent cure.
+It will even work for thrombosed hemorrhoids. I have also purchased an ebook that is the cheapest way to cure hemorrhoids permanently. The book is an instant
+The idea behind removal to offer a permanent solution so that you are not longer dealing with piles all the time and wasting money with remedies that do not
+Careful Treatment Brings About Early Relief. "Discover What REALLY Causes Hemorrhoids And How You Can Gain Fast & Permanent Relief!"
+You can use natural remedies to cure piles or hemorrhoids permanently without surgery and one of the natural remedy which can help to cure
+You can not always notice thrombosed hemorrhoids though. Oftentimes Just realize that these are temporary relief and not really permanent cures. Not even
+How-to-Cure-a-Hemorrhoid-Problem- Do Hemorrhoids Go Away on
+The H Miracle method is guaranteed effective and is 100% safe to use. It does not simply offer quick fix solutions for hemorrhoids, but also a permanent cure.
+It is better to learn how to heal hemorrhoids naturally and permanently. Diet is the principal way through which a cure for hemorrhoids can be achieved.
+Effective and Permanent Cure of Bleeding Hemorrhoids Bleeding Hemorrhoids can make life miserable for the sufferer and in case of
+You are here: Home / Hemorrhoids Treatment / New Hemorrhoid natural program that can completely get rid of the causes of hemorrhoids in just a as it is the only one, so far, that provides permanent cure for hemorrhoids.
+Take the stress off so that the hemorrhoids can heal. For permanent cure of hemorrhoids you need to use a method that will get to the root
+Understanding what causes hemorrhoids can help you implement a natural cure to Instead, explore home remedies for hemorrhoids for permanent relief.
+Cure Hemorrhoids Naturally and Permanently by Janet Pfeiffer Best-Selling Author A bullet-proof digestive system is easy to achieve and you will never again
+Buy Venapro And Get Pleasure From Permanent Cure Designed For Hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoid is just one between the unpleasant ailments and should be dealt Hemorrhoids cause a lot of people a lot of pain and suffering, they are also
+can piles be permanent cure In the world today over 240 million people suffer or have suffered from the problem of hemorrhoids. While most can get by with
+If you do this, in many cases you can cure hemorrhoids in as little as 48 hours. Second Cure IS the best way to get rid of hemorrhoids quickly and permanently .
+Major surgery for hemorrhoids can generally be avoided in favor of more available to most patients as a viable alternative to a permanent hemorrhoid cure .
+Look at the main causes, prefer the permanent cures. Do like 1000s of others prior to you; cure yourself, find your very own best home remedies for hemorrhoids
+Permanent Natural Cure For Hemorrhoid · Role of Fibrous Diet in So, do you want a permanent answer to your Hemorrhoids problem? Try VENAPRO, the
+The disadvantage of these items however is that they do not prevent the hemorrhoids from worsening nor do they give permanent cure.
+It also entails looking at the cause of the problem to find a permanent solution. To connect this to hemorrhoids, it means the problem will not be given a cure or
+Learn the best treatments to cure piles quickly and naturally. cures available that do not have any side effects, also bringing permanent relief
+When every thing is clean, set out to continue, you can easily buy Venapro by Purchase Venapro And Benefit From Permanent Remedy For Hemorrhoids
+Stunning Secrets to Get Rid Hemorrhoids Permanently with Crystal Soak. by admin on Holly's secret method to using water that will cure it for you. NEVER
+Having piles or hemorrhoids is something that most people do not discuss openly with piles the only treatments that tend to be put forward as permanent cures
+Major surgery for hemorrhoids can generally be alternative to a permanent hemorrhoid cure.
+A piles treatment that actually works, within 48 hours. does not always work and sometimes the surgery does not go well and can cause permanent damage!
+Information and remedies for hemorrhoids can be discovered on the relief from hemorrhoids, but you still wish to receive a permanent cure.
+You are here: Home> Hemorrhoids Treatment> How to Treat Hemorrhoids The mere presence of hemorrhoids does not constitute an indication for treatment, More: The Holistic System for Curing and Prevening Hemorrhoids Permanently.
+Hemorrhoids are an embarrassing and often painful problem to endure. offers a fast and permanent cure to hemorrhoids, H Miracle is the perfect solution to
+Read this article to get permanent cure for bleeding hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids are less life threatening disease but can also cause life
+{To learn more about how to heal hemorrhoids permanently, click on the links To cure hemorrhoids these are some simple things you can do
+Hemorrhoids whether internal or external, bleeding or non-bleeding (blind) can be cured effectively and permanently. Causes, prevention, homeopathic
+Dear Sir, I am suffering from piles for more than 15 years now. In the beginning, I had only bleeding piles and no protruding ones. Then I had
+Natural Hemorrhoids Treatment - Discover the simplest and easy way you will be able to completely and permanently cure your hemorrhoids.
+Though you may have to try multiple treatment options to stumble upon the right one for your case, you can permanently cure your hemorrhoids
+How I cured hemorrhoids the natural way. A natural treatment cure you can whip up from your own backyard.
+It's a painful, embarrassing chronic problem that will not go away by itself. ultimate goal, a permanent cure for your hemorrhoid problem; hemorrhoids no more!
+Tinnitus Miracle-Secrets To Fast And Permanent Tinnitus Cure Exposure to loud noises for a prolonged period of time can cause damage to
+Find Piles, Fissures, Fistula Permanent Cure in 7 days from a wide range of Health - Beauty This can further create big & serious issues.
+The fact is that piles problems are exceedingly common and if treated effectively can be cured permanently. Piles is not a disease, but is a condition that could
+Cure Piles in Pregnancy: Treatment Options This post will cover the different types of treatments available for piles sufferers, including a permanent relief from the condition where previous sufferers were able to experience
+All you need to deal with hemorrhoids no matter what actually when the limitations we must take into the hemorrhoid cure piles permanently stop the to experiences itching and skin in order to keep hemorrhoids should do.
+He once suffered hemorrhoids which encouraged him to do more research on this topic and he has come up with 3 easy steps to get rid of hemorrhoids permanently. can do and how vital diet and water is to the treatment of hemorrhoids.
+Yes it will definitely help you in reducing the pain in your shit but it is not a permanent cure for hemorrhoids. If you are looking for permanent
+Pileen: It is an effective herbal remedy for treatment of piles or hemorrhoids. in water overnight and drink this solution next morning to cure piles. this will also stop passing of blood in the stools. This is a permanent cure for bleeding piles.
+When I think about the discomfort and anguish, I can tell you now, for a permanent cure, to say good riddance to bleeding hemorrhoids forever I would have
+Do not buy any cure for hemorrhoids products until you read this. You might have to undergo surgeries to permanently obtain the cure for
+Not even surgical treatment is a hemorrhoid treatment that can permanently cure hemorroids. The piles treatment only way you're able to really
+herbal remedies natural cure natural remedies herbal supplements home The perfect definition of hemorrhoids does not exist, but they can be narrated as These cannot be pushed back inside, are permanently hanged out from the anus.
+Black berries are consider one of the best permanent cure for piles. a cure for piles as some times other, and rather severe, ailments could be
+Bleeding piles can be seen when orange to red color can be seen in stools or the best solution if you are looking for permanent cure for your bleeding piles.
+Risk To You and Cure Hemorrhoids Permanently, Starting Today.
+This condition can be treated and prevented so hemorrhoids are not Hemorrhoids are not permanent if the patient seeks treatment either with
+(This information will cure your hemorrhoids permanently and naturally for free without surgery. The biggest thanks you could give me would be
+The operation does not increase complications or morbidity and effects a permanent cure of the disease. The Permanent Cure of Hemorrhoids E. D.
+Although most of the treatments mentioned above are very helpful most of them can not give you a permanent cure of bleeding hemorrhoids,
+If you want a bleeding piles treatment that is more permanent there are methods that can be used. The method considered to be the most effective is surgery.
+Are you so sick of the itching, burning, pain, swelling, or bleeding that you could scream? Curing hemorrhoids Permanently is a lot easier than
+If you believe that you may have thrombosed hemorrhoids you can view is a hemorrhoid treatment that will permanently remedy hemorroids.
+Effective Treatment for Bleeding Hemorrhoids - Piles Permanent Cure In conclusion, certainly complete cure from bleeding hemorrhoids can be achieved with
+piles are swollen but normally present blood vessels in and around the anus and lower rectum that stretch under pressure, In most cases, haemorrhoidal symptoms will go away within a few days. Medical treatment of piles initially is aimed at relieving symptoms. This is the best method for permanent removal of piles.
+the muscle grasps and contracts the pile or piles it becomes terrible and constant. Piles rarely end fatally. Palliative treatment does not afford a permanent cure.
+Hemorrhoids Saviour. is the only completely natural system which will show you how to permanently cure your hemorrhoids, and in doing so take the. stress off
+My Sitemap. Alphabetical Sitemap.
+30 Nov 2010 visit a doctor well in this case then you can at least try the herbs and other home remedies as your permanent cure for bleeding hemorrhoids.
+Natural Hemorrhoids Cure is a source for those who want to cure their 3 Simple Steps That You Can Follow To Eliminate Hemorrhoids Permanently
+ARE YOU DIS COMFORTABLE WITH PILES, FISTULA, FISSURES AND RECTAL Also a lot of complications can occur due to surgery like urinary retention, treatment in order to achieve a complete and permanent cure.
+Hemorrhoids occurs when blood vessels around the anus become products claiming to be permanent Hemorrhoids cures but many of Some creams and gels, though termed as natural, do not provide permanent solution.
+The pain from hemorrhoids can be crippling and disrupt your normal daily life. to shrink hemorrhoids quickly, this may or may not be a permanent solution to
+I am positive that I don't have to tell you how terrible hemorrhoids can be. to search high and low determined to find a permanent cure for his hemorrhoids.
+how to cure piles? its curable or not? what food can take? and what are all not? days in the hospital but the problem is that it does not provide permanent cure.
+The disadvantage of these items however is that they do not prevent the hemorrhoids from worsening nor do they give permanent cure. These kinds of treatment
+Get Rid of Your Hemorrhoids and Get Your Life Back! Permanent Hemorrhoid Cure. Why do thousands of people use natural hemorrhoid treatments to get rid of
+3 mistakes can start relieving the problem gradually. It takes closer to a week to permanently cure your hemorrhoids, rather than the
+“Former Chronic Hemorrhoids Sufferer Reveals The Only Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To Permanently Cure Your Hemorrhoids,
+Hemroids can be an extremely, uncomfortable condition and people yearn to find a hemorrhoids cure that can permanently relieve them of the symptoms.
+A long lasting or possibly permanent cure for hemorrhoids should be your goal. Venapro is a cure that grabbed the attention of hemorrhoid
+So, do cures for hemorrhoids, really exist? If you define a cure as a complete and permanent elimination of symptoms then yes, there are cures for hemorrhoids.
+Mucous on underwear and itch - When very large, hemorrhoids will actually stick out from the anus. This leads to a permanent cure.
+Hemorrhoids Natural Treatment - If you have hemorrhoids you know how not only provide relief but can also offer a permanent cure for piles.
+It takes work when dealing with Permanent Cure For Hemorrhoids. Although it did in fact required me to open my mind, I was happy to do so, and I was
+Photos - RE YOU DIS COMFORTABLE WITH PILES, FISTULA, FISSURES AND RECTAL PROLAPSE? NOW PERMANENT CURE IS AVAILABLE WITH
+This is a at home program that will cure hemorrhoids, it shows you step by step how to permanently get relief. I love to inspire people, positive
+calconfy: hemorrhoids are literally a pain in the ass - they can be cured naturally and permanently. Fri, Dec 09, 2011 05:59:19 View Post
+My partner is in terrible pain and discomfort from piles. this degree then he really could do with a more permanent solution and that probably
+You might almost .say that there is only one actual cure for Piles, and is Dr. and ' I am yet, so think you can consider the cure (permanent I cannot praise Dr.
+This three are the most popular practical solutions to curing hemorrhoids. Be informed, however, that these do not offer a permanent cure. They most usually
+Of course, sitz baths and icepacks don't do any good as permanent severe hemorrhoids treatment, but they can help with symptom relief on a day to day basis.
+Piles and Childbirth: What to Do and How to Cure Them Naturally. Piles is . With these piles treatments, your piles will heal itself, gradually and permanently.
+You can get a permanent treatment of your hemorrhoids by clicking Home Cures for Hemorrhoids. You get healed in a matter of 3 days. This is
+Yoga for Piles treatment can be done in the convenience of one's own home. lifestyle with enough exercise, you should be able to permanently get rid of piles.
+hemorrhoids relief remedy the natural way - instant relief and permanent remedy for Does the hemorrhoid remedy merely provide instant pain relief?
+This way you can get immediate relief plus a permanent cure for your hemorrhoids. Everyone responds differently to different things, so if one natural cure does
+It is the most helpful remedy that you can use to permanently get rid of the piles, the embarrassment and the discomfort that you endure for a long time. You may
+Are you looking for a piles treatment that will provide a permanent reprieve from the agony and discomfort that piles or hemorrhoids cause?
+hemmorhoid remedy healing hemorrhoids permanent treatment of as a cat or a homemade remedies for piles king this can be disconnected
+Uncover a guaranteed, natural, and fast way to shrink and cure hemorrhoids eMedicine, the clinical knowledge base say that it can "plague all age groups". I've helped dozens of people get rid of this seemingly permanent problem for
+If you would like to learn how to cure your hemorrhoids permanently hemorrhoids treatments, and without any side effects, then this will be
+Natural cures for hemorrhoids are cheaply available everywhere and some can even be found in your kitchen. Besides, they work on strengthening the vein
+After all, sitting down for long periods can aggravate hemorrhoids, and there is no permanent cure for hemorrhoids or piles, but these 4 things can ease the
+Holistic Treatments for hemorrhoids are on the market these days which helps cure the body and mind and can give permanent relief. Don\'t let
+Venapro Hemorrhoids Treatment the first all natural bleeding That law establishes that the body energy can develop resistance to a disease or approach to the permanent cure of internal and external hemorrhoids.
+If one wants to be entirely free of the pain caused by piles, a permanent cure is needed. This should ensure you no longer have to worry about
+Invest In Venapro And Enjoy Permanent Cure Regarding Hemorrhoids. ways you can get rid of your hemorrhoids permanently by utilizing certain techniques
+Some of these home remedies for hemorrhoids are effective to a degree, but they A home remedy or natural home remedies that can give a more permanent
+Before I permanently cured my hemorrhoids, I did not know what to do: At first, I thought whatever problem that I was having would just
+Hemorrhoids treatment, or haemorrhoids treatment (for traditionalists) of piles treatment(for the rest of us!) is the topic of this particular lens. Why
+Internal and external hemorrhoids can both be cured using homeopathic fast and effective pain relief coupled with a permanent hemorrhoid cure is H Miracle.
+You could utilize hemorrhoids ointments as a non permanent treatment. At the same time, you will be able to discover other remedies such as herbal treatment
+Where you Should Consider an Excellent Hemorrhoids Treatment the only conservative treatment able to cure hemorrhoids permanently and
+To summarize, it will help whole digestive system to work efficiently and thus it will cure the most common factor of hemorrhoids that is,
+Understanding what causes piles is the first thing you need to do in finding a permanent cure for hemorrhoids and preventing hemorrhoids in the future.
+With a continued use of this medication for 45 days any type of piles of any stage can be permanently cured. With the first dose itself, the bleeding will stop and,
+This external hemorrhoids relief are as many as 75 million people suffering These will be permanent cure the situation of how to get a proper
+Finding the best way to get rid of hemorrhoids can be difficult. you are in search of a hemorrhoid solution that offers a fast and permanent cure to hemorrhoids,
+Piles, Fissures, Fistula Permanent Cure in 7 days. Seller Type: Individuals. "Cure Piles, Fissures & Fistula in 7 days. No Injections, Operations , Costly Surgeries
+Early detection will figure a lot in proper treatment of hemorrhoids. . If one wants to be entirely free of the pain caused by piles, a permanent cure is needed.
+If you do this, in many cases you can cure piles in as little as 48 hours. Third, a Natural piles remedy IS the best way to get rid of piles quickly and permanently.
+While they may not all be a cure for the condition, they do help you understand it Your aim is to find a cure for hemorrhoids that is permanent and long lasting.
+Also learn about Natural Cures, Treatment for Hemorrhoids.
+Hemorrhoids can simply be identified as swollen veins in the anal canal. not only provide relief but can also offer a permanent cure for piles.
+Fourth degree piles permanently hang down from your anus and you can't push Surgical treatments for piles are an option if you have severe piles and other
+Holly's claim, that hemorrhoids can be “cured” isn't that bold in itself; what's bold to permanently “cure” this ailment, some programs out there do a great job of
+Painless Hemorrhoid Treatment Options To Cure Your Piles Without The “Ouch!” All you have to do is schedule an appointment with your doctor. There is no anesthesia Want a safe, natural and permanent cure to hemorrhoids? Then buy
+An external hemorrhoids cure, you should stay stand up or better to use external hemorrhoids cure, you have a Is there not any Permanent
+Hemorrhoids can either mess up your external areas or internally. In addition, cream treatment isn't ideal if you want permanent treatment but
+This article will deal with various aspects of piles, like its causes, fruits, or jamun is the permanent solution for the treatment of hemorrhoids.
+Proven, natural method to safely and permanently cure hemorrhoids "if you have got hemorrhoids I can't recommend more strongly than you do yourself a
+Piles Treatment - Piles (Haemorrhoids) are swollen and inflamed blood vessels These can be painful sometimes and usually do not bleed. Grade 4 piles permanently hang down from within the anus, and cannot be pushed back inside.
+Several people see that hemorrhoids can't be cured. A permanent, lifelong cure for hemorrhoids ought to be your ultimate goal, however, not
+In fact, if taken daily with salt every season, it can bring about a permanent cure for piles. Mango seeds are also very useful for bleeding piles.
+What the natural hemorrhoids treatment should do. will want to by-pass short term feel-good products in favor of long term permanent cures for hemorrhoids
+I currently have often read that the easiest way to cure hemorrhoids is certainly stages an over-the-counter as well as natural treatment could help the problem. So for swiftly and permanent hemorrhiod elimination we recommend you
+First degree hemorrhoids bleed but do not prolapse outside of the anal canal; to most of our patients as a viable alternative to a permanent hemorrhoid cure.
+When there is no effort taken to locate a cure for hemorrhoids that works, a lot Not just does it eliminate hemorrhoids by addressing colon health, it aids in your
+Natural Treatment - The Best Permanent Hemorrhoid Cure. By Todd Tesen. Hemorrhoids can cause uncomfortable situations and painful
+can piles be permanent cure. can piles be permanent cure Browse by Categories. Uncategorized (3). Browse by Tag. Company Name - Love The Orange
+Yes, there is a cure for hemorrhoids and you do not need to spend your entire that you need to do first if you want your cure for hemorrhoids to be permanent.
+How do I get rid of piles(haermorroids). Alopathy has no permanent cure for it. Cure:- Temporary:- If you have protruding Piles, simply take a small block of
+Permanently Cure your Piles and Hemorrhoids Today. lifestyle changes to completely cure their piles and hemorrhoids, will no doubt find the H Miracle to be
+If this practice is followed for two months, it will provide a permanent cure for piles . Yellow raal can be had nom a grocer's shop. Besides
+Best Hemorrhoids Cure,information on how to Get rid of hemorrhoids,and more A Hemorrhoid No More is a permanent solution for hemorrhoid cure you can
+Therefore to cure piles a permanent cure is sought . There is no If not found a cure for piles at the right time it can seriously affect the quality of your life.
+It is however unlikely that a suppository alone will be sufficient to cure hemorrhoids permanently. {Learn how to get your complete healing }. ]]>
+An itchy bottom can be a symptom of hemorrhoids but do you know what in the drug companies interest for you to permanently cure your itchy hemorrhoids.
+A long lasting, even permanent cure for hemorrhoids is what you should really want. Venapro is a cure that held the attention of hemorrhoid
+Sometimes, a condition known as thrombosed hemorrhoids can occur; in this At this point, a large amount of hemorrhoids permanently protrude out of the
+End the pain, embarrassment and discomfort of hemorrhoids today and permanently cure your piles for good. I did and so can you. Find out how here.
+You also can find out more about hemorrhoids, as well as read reviews about products that work to cure hemorrhoids, visit the link listed below.
+Statistics How You Can Do Away With Hemorrhoids - The Permanent And Also Natural Cure. Hemorrhoids are actually created much more effortlessly than just
+Truthfully Thrombosed hemorrhoids can form inside your rectum. surgery treatment is a hemorrhoid treatment that can permanently remedy
+Hemorrhoids have no permanent cure that has been discovered till If you remove hemorrhoids before the condition becomes worse, you can
+Problems like hemorrhoids do not happen on their own, rather you Holly Hayden's H Miracle is a system that is be able to permanently cure
+Buy Venapro And Take Pleasure In Permanent Cure Designed For Hemorrhoids. Numerous people buy Venapro for its natural homeopathic
+piles treatment reviews, something for everyone. Once the tissue does not bulge, the piles will be less likely to flare up. This is great for some relief in In some cases, direct shrinking treatments may cure a piles attack permanently. This is
+This is the offcial spot where you can buy the Hemorrhoids Treatment handbook, written by With our help you can permanently cure hemorrhoids.
+Ancient Hemorrhoid Cream Cures Hemorrhoids Permanently wrote about an amazing hemorrhoid cream that could cure hemorrhoids.
+Hemorrhoids are painful and can be embarrassing at times as it may itch There is hardly any permanent cure for this disease, but you can
+What actually are hemorrhoids? What is the cause behind the pain? How can I get not only temporary relief but also permanent cure from this condition?
+prolapsed piles. If you are suffering from second degree of piles, operation is the permanent cure. Please do not neglect. Go in operation and
+Hemorrhoids are less life threatening disease but can also be dangerous medical conditions once neglected. Read this article to get permanent cure for
+Find out where to Buy Venapro Hemorrhoids Treatment with 90 Days Money Back Guarantee. You will be opting for a safe homeopathic hemorrhoids treatment if you . “I had tried six hemorrhoids treatments with no permanent solution.
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+If you are suffering from hemorrhoids then you may have seen the H Miracle Sometimes, the most effective remedies will help to permanently
+We can cure Blood cancer too. It can be cured Permanently. What is the solution for Piles? How many days it will take to cure? Piles can also be remedied well.
+relief will only be temporary. If you want a bleeding piles treatment that is more permanent there are methods that can be used. The method
+Shrink hemorrhoids and stop pain, swelling and bleeding in as little as 24hrs. Check your bulk/spam folders if you can't find our mail. 24 hours depending on severity - this may or may not offer you a permanent solution.
+There are several workable approaches to getting rid of hemorrhoids. cures available that will effect a healing and lead to a long-term permanent cure for your
+Well worth the money for the permanent solution to hemorrhoid relief downloadable eBook (you can be working to cure your hemorrhoids ten
+Cure Piles Bleeding - Naturally and Permanently. kind of treatment for piles bleeding is the creams you can purchase at your local store.
+Most people mistakenly believe that you cannot get a permanent cure to your I was ready to accept the reality that I could not cure my hemorrhoids and I would
+But there are natural hemorrhoid treatments which not only provide relief but can also offer a permanent cure for piles. There is nothing like a
+A haemorrhoid cream or gel does not cure the pile, but will usually relieve the of causing scarring in the area, but produces a permanent cure in only about
+In this procedure, your doctor injects a chemical solution around the blood vessel to shrink the piles. Do not delay or try to prevent a bowel movement when the
+Does Jerry Holloway's Destroy Hemorrhoids really works? Read this But, he has taken it upon himself to find a permanent cure to his hemorrhoids. He has
+Haemorrhoids (piles) are swellings that develop from the lining of the anus Grade 4 permanently hang down from within the anus, and you cannot push them back inside. . (However, you can have a further banding treatment if this occurs.)
+can piles be permanent cure.
+More Hemorrhoids questions please visit :HemorrhoidsFAQ. problem with these hemorrhoids and piles. please suggest me a permanent cure if nearby dye adjectives, can aggravate, H Miracle is a inborn hemorrhoid cure very effective.
+Hemorrhoid Treatment Can Bring A Natural, Permanent Cure. Hemorrhoids affect millions of people every year. If that's you then you will know how
+Permanent Cure For Hemorrhoids 2 - External hemorrhoids will frequently obtain quickly outside of the rectum. They will troth vastly prone also irritated.
+Hemorrhoids Do Not Have To Be A Permanent Problem A natural treatment method for hemorrhoids is utilizing the organic herb, garlic.
+Here we will go over what causes hemorrhoids, how to treat them, and how to so the average sufferer is constantly seeking for a quick and permanent cure.
+Easy Hemorrhoids Cure is the only holistic system in existence that will show you how to permanently cure your hemorrhoids. And in turns, it will enable you to
+by youngrobv (Rob&Ale) is there no permanent cure for this disease called ' piles '? jaybird I believe that you can have them surgically
+Permanent Natural Cure for Bleeding Hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids are less life threatening disease but can also cause life threatening medical
+Hemorrhoid Treatment That Can Give You Permanent Cure Hemorrhoids are painful, itching and burning blood vessels found in the rectal
+But these hemorrhoids can make you feel uncomfortable and when hard . Hemroids Treatment-How To Eliminate Hemorrhoids Permanently
+Sure, there are available medical options to cure piles that make use of expensive equipment. But wouldn't you want to avoid all those unnecessary expenses if you could? Want a safe, natural and permanent cure to hemorrhoids?
+Natural Hemorrhoids Cure - 4 Ways to Get Rid of Your Hemorrhoids Do you want . Constipation Hemorrhoids - How to Get Permanent Relief Naturally & Fast
+In truth, it is difficult to deal with hemorrhoids permanently. If you are tired of it, the only point that can remedy hemorrhoids permanently is by
+It will cure your hemorrhoid permanently, meaning the hemorrhoid will never return again. There are some ingredients that work effectively to heal hemorrhoids;
+How Challenging Depression Can Cultivate New Pathways to Freedom via @brandonkrogel found.
+It’s been a long and ongoing journey that has tested every part of me but in the last three years, I’ve found more freedom from my mental illness than I thought would ever be possible.
+For the first time in my life, I am not at the mercy of my mental illness and instead, I progress and flourish despite it.
+The positive changes I’ve made have tremendously improved every aspect of my life and allowed me to reach my dream job of working in digital marketing at an SEO agency.
+There has been no other time of my life where I have felt more peaceful, fulfilled, and optimistic about my future. If I can make it to this place of newfound freedom, then I know others can as well.
+I hope that by sharing my experiences and discoveries, anyone else who may be suffering can take these insights and work to cultivate their own pathways to freedom.
+The Origins of My Despair
+When I was officially diagnosed with severe clinical depression and complex PTSD a few years ago, I couldn’t help but recall where it all began.
+Growing up in a single-parent home with my younger sister and brother, I always felt a little different, despite how common this situation is.
+My mother had separated from my father because of his drug and alcohol addiction. Despite her deep love and care for him, she knew that his lifestyle would only bleed destruction into everything around it.
+Even though my child-mind understood in some sense the situation, it didn’t mean much to me then. My dad was still my hero and in the times that we all got together and felt like a real family, I was my happiest.
+But he died from a drug overdose when I was 12 and that was that. Mom couldn’t cope in the couple of years that followed. Grief led her to drugs as well and our family split when I was 15.
+My siblings went into foster care. Nobody wanted a 15-year-old kid so I alternated living with different friends. Not for long though.
+I never truly felt welcome. I seemed like a burden.
+I moved out on my own when I was 16. I’ve been out in the world since.
+My Late Teen Years
+I managed to finish high school despite a swelling depression that was beginning to consume me. I found comfort in smoking cigarettes and drinking with other outcast kids.
+As I traveled through my early 20s, the bottle was never far out of reach. It had become my medicine and the way through which I coped with my overwhelming emotions of hopelessness, fear, isolation, and anxiety.
+I carried on this way until I was 28, at which point, I had reached the most depressing time of my life.
+The Darkest Night
+It’s hard to find words to describe how utterly awful I felt at this time of my life.
+Drinking 50% of my waking life for nearly a decade by this point had not only created a physical, mental, and emotional dependency on alcohol but it had also fostered an impressive amount of debt, among other things.
+The only reason I was able to remain employed for so long was so I could support my drinking but at this point, I was unraveling completely.
+The alcohol had created an internal clock that was never late and when the time came, the need to drink was all-consuming. I was terrified because I knew I had lost control.
+By this point, many of my friends had died. Family had grown scarce. I never felt more alone and disconnected from the world.
+Calling the suicide hotline in a drunken stupor became my Friday night tradition. Alcohol had progressively paired me with more negative people and situations.
+I found myself exploring drugs in my drunkest of nights in a furthered effort to numb my pain and bask in the illusion of connection to others.
+I took to self-harming in my loneliest of nights, waking up defeated to the dried blood on my arms the next day.
+Words cannot describe the soul-crushing emptiness, the infinite burden of sadness, the crippling fear and anxiety, and the devastating loneliness and isolation that composed my very being during this time.
+It was the blackest night. It was the heaviest darkness. It was the loneliest suffering.
+There was nothing to live for anymore. My depression had only gotten worse over the years and once manageable anxiety had taken on overpowering forms.
+I had no money. I had no connection. I had no reason to live.
+Although I had pondered it many times before, I began to seriously plan the best way to end it all.
+Deep down inside I didn’t want to die. After all, I felt like I had never really lived yet but I could see no way out and I had no more strength to fight back against my depression, anxiety, alcoholism, and the bombardment of tragedy that life relentlessly hurled at me.
+It was in this darkest night of my life that I turned to face my reflection to see this empty shell of a man staring back at me. Suddenly I was hit with a question I had never asked myself before.
+“Do I have any control over this?”
+A New Dawn Begins
+For as long as I had suffered from my depression and anxiety, my response to it was always the same. It was a fear-based response with a single objective of trying to counter it or escape it.
+With the monumental hopelessness and apathy that depression fostered, I always felt powerless to fight back against it.
+Depression is incredibly good at convincing you there is no hope to the point where you stop trying or even entertaining the thought altogether.
+Despite this, when I really started to explore the question of whether I had more power than I thought to fight back against the all-consuming nature of depression, the more I started to see holes in the story that depression had told me.
+I felt hopeless yes, but was I actually?
+It was here that something ignited in me and I resolved to see if I could challenge my depression through proactive action – a concept I had never considered before.
+I decided I would challenge every defeating thought, feeling, and notion that depression brought me to verify if this was indeed the truth.
+As difficult as it was, I began to approach the concepts and feelings that depression brought me with more objectivity and rationality.
+In doing this, I began to see everything was based on fear. With this knowledge, I began to look for ways to not give in to fear.
+The Climb Out of the Hole
+Drinking was responsible for 99% of the things I did that I regretted most in my life. That was a staggering realization. I knew that alcohol was continually recycling negative people, situations, and experiences in my life.
+Depression and alcohol both had convinced me that drinking was a solution to my problems.
+Even though that was how I felt, when I started to challenge that belief, it was clear that this was not a solution but in fact, a crippling problem and a major contributor to my continued depression.
+I knew if I wanted to true shot at fighting back against my depression, I needed to remove the alcohol from my life. If I wanted to challenge my fear, drinking could not be my response to it.
+Well over a decade of smoking had left me breathless. I couldn’t walk up stairs, run, or do any kind of activity that engaged my cardiovascular system without nearly dying afterward.
+Cigarettes, like alcohol, had kept me suppressed under the illusion of comfort and relief. The lies that cigarettes convinced me of were deep-rooted in my mind. Challenging them was far from easy but with time, I won.
+I knew the best place to start in challenging my depression was removing the things that I knew were driving forces of negativity in my life, such as the drinking, smoking, and not as prominently but just as detrimental, my apathetic approach to drugs.
+As I began my quest to overthrow these rulers of my life, I realized more and more that these things were not the source of my depression, but rather my response to it.
+Removing them would stop the cycle of self-sabotage however, the roots of my depression still ran very deep. I had tried for years and failed to combat my depression at the source but I didn’t understand it.
+I didn’t know how to navigate it. I wasn’t equipped properly to fight it. I realized then that I needed to seek outside help.
+Getting to Know Myself
+Therapy became one of the most powerful things I used to equip myself with tools, strategies, and insights to fight back against my depression and anxiety. I learned a great deal about myself and why I responded the way I did to my emotions and life in general.
+Having this knowledge was paramount in my success because of the depth of understanding it provided into the most forgotten and unexplored parts of my internal landscape.
+Therapy helped me continually challenge every single arrow of despair that depression shot my way and eventually, it was as if I could catch them mid-air before they reached me. I wouldn’t let them pierce me any longer.
+Perhaps the greatest control I gained in my life came from my conscious decision to give up control completely.
+Ironic, isn’t it?
+When I looked into my heart and realized that everything I did was in response to fear, it showed me something.
+I was afraid of losing what little family and friends I had left. Ultimately, I was afraid of being alone.
+I was afraid of my feelings, of depression, of alcohol, and of all the things that existed that I couldn’t control. So how do I release myself of this fear? I discovered it would be through surrender.
+The Beauty of Surrender
+When I accepted that I had no control over others or of the things, both good and bad, that life would throw my way, a beautiful sense of peace washed over me.
+It was then that I learned to surrender what I could not control. It was then that I learned to surrender my fear.
+I accepted and made peace with life. I understood that it was part of the human experience to deal with terrible times however, I decided I would deal with them as they came, instead of living in constant fear anticipating their arrival. This practice was indescribably freeing.
+Fighting for a New Life
+It was not easy to climb out of the infinite despair I had learned to call home. I was knocked back down many times over.
+I would make progress and then revert. I would challenge my fear and then cower when it pushed back. It was the bloodiest battle I have ever fought.
+Despite the onslaught of resistance depression gave when I challenged it, slowly but surely I could feel its power over me weaken until it reached a point where beaten and battered, I stood up for the first time in my life and felt depression under my feet.
+Out of the darkness, I looked up to face the sky and taste the sweet redeeming sunlight I had only ever dreamed of.
+Although I feel as if I have released myself of the complete control depression had over my life, it is still very much a part of my life.
+I feel like I have caged the beast but I know if I turn my back or give it any room at all, it has the power to break free and consume again. This is why my approach to my mental health must remain proactive.
+It is an ongoing battle and likely one I will fight for the rest of my life. Depression and I are locked in an eternal struggle for power but I have finally learned what it takes to subdue it.
+The Proactive Approach
+The essence of depression is composed of fear and lies. No enemy is as perfectly equipped to keep us in slavery and torment as depression is. This powerful force often knows us better than we know ourselves.
+Depression cultivates an indescribable and overwhelmingly powerful sense of fear, hopelessness, apathy, and isolation.
+All of these things combine to form a perfect system of control over those suffering. It nurtures the belief that we are helpless to do anything. It drains us of all energy and motivation to resist.
+Lastly, it keeps us isolated from the world. This is such an effective method of oppression. It doesn’t take long for depression to seem unbeatable.
+What I have learned is that all lasting positive change comes from within. For my whole life, I believed the lie that depression would always be in control and dictate every single part of my life.
+The thing was, as long as I believed that, it remained true and there was nothing I or anyone else could do, to change that.
+When I asked the question for myself of whether or not I had more power than I realized over my depression, I challenged that belief.
+As I explored that question further, it solidified the belief that I could do more and I could be more. So it was at that moment, my beliefs surrounding depression changed.
+I went from believing I had no power to believing there had to be a way out somehow.
+Final Thoughts
+It was my new belief that changed my reality because from it, I set an intention to do everything I could to challenge my depression. This intention then led me to take decisive action and steps towards this objective.
+As I continued in this way and discovered all of the ways in which depression was lying to me, I continued to achieve positive momentum in this direction.
+Even when I would get knocked down, I’d rise up again because I believed that there was hope and that there was something wonderful waiting for me on the other side.
+By taking proactive steps in challenging the self-defeating notions and thoughts that depression threw at me, removing the strong sources of negativity in my life, and combining that with the actionable insights of therapy, I have cultivated new pathways to freedom that I never could’ve imagined.
+Even though I still carry my depression with me, it is no longer this all-powerful, monumental force that consumes me. Instead, through a proactive approach, I have made it small and put in my pocket.
+I’ve learned that the difference between being ruled by my depression and learning to live a fulfilling life despite depression, comes down to taking a proactive approach to it.
+This means:
+- Making a conscious effort to continually challenge the lies of depression.
+- Working with therapy and medication.
+- Eating healthy, getting regular exercise.
+- Removing sources of negativity in my life.
+- Surrendering what I cannot control.
+- Fighting back against negative thinking by intentionally seeking out positive people, environments, and ideas.
+Like many things in life, it was hard at first but the more I practiced this discipline, the easier and more natural it became.
+People lose their will to fight if they think the battle is hopeless but even the slightest bit of hope can snowball motivation, inspiration, courage, and positive action.
+Hope is ultimately the belief that things can be different and this belief is what separates the idea of “I can,” from “I can’t”.
+Absolutely everything starts with belief.
+When those suffering from depression discover their belief and their hope in the idea that there can be something better, that is the beginning of something powerful.
+When we learn to challenge our depression by taking a proactive approach, we have a fighting chance that we didn’t have before.
+More Resources:
+- We Are Worthy: Seeing Our Worth Through Depression & Anxiety
+- What I’ve Learned from 10 Years with Clinical Depression & Anxiety
+- Mental Illness – No Shame – Lots of Hope
+Image Credits
+Featured Image: Paulo Bobita
+BB1M season is back but late, late, late this time round!
+I've scouted a bit for BB1M promotions and my initial verdict is .. things are not very exciting for BB1M holders this year.
+Anyway, I'll come up with the list of places where you can spend your BB1M vouchers like I did in the past two years. Read on below:
+1. Popular Book Co (M) Sdn Bhd
+Promotion:
+Spend RM250 - get RM50 Popular Gift Vouchers + Popular Card
+Spend RM150 - get RM10 Popular Gift Voucher + Popular Card
+Spend RM100 - get RM5 Popular Gift Voucher
+Remarks: Nothing exciting here. Popular is basically recycling their promotion (even same banner design!) but unfortunately no additional contest this year. But they are having a lot of book sales and accepting BB1M as well. Check out their Facebook for more info.
+2. Borders Malaysia
+Promotion:
+Spend RM150 - get RM10 Borders Gift vouchers + 1 drink from Starbucks
+Spend RM250 - get RM20 Borders Gift vouchers + free preloaded Starbucks card
+3. MPH Bookstore/MPH CLICK
+Promotion:
+1. Spend RM50*, get RM5 book and stationery voucher + MPH Readers Circle Membership
+2. Spend RM250* get RM50 book an stationery voucher
+Remarks: Looks like MPH is tackling stationery lovers. For MPH, you can either spend it at the Putrajaya International Book Fair 2015
+(event ending really soon!) (event ended!) or at their bookstores to enjoy the promotion.
+4. BookXcess
+Promotion:
+1. Spend RM100 in BB1M vouchers and get 3 years FREE BookXcess membership
+5. Times Bookstores
+Promotion:
+1. Spend RM250 - get RM50 Times Bookstores voucher + TPC member card
+2. Spend RM150 - get RM20 Times Bookstores voucher
+3. Spend RM100 - get RM10 Times Bookstores vouchers
+6. Big Bad Wolf Books
+Promotion:
+Spend RM150 BB1M vouchers - get RM10 BBW vouchers
+Spend RM250 BB1M vouchers - get Rm20 BBW vouchers
+7. PTS Media Group
+Promotion:
+Spend RM100 - books
+Spend RM150 - free delivery in West Malaysia, exclusive prize, books
+Source: (link)
+Promotion:
+1. Spend RM150 - limited edition bag + bookmark + sticker
+2. Spend RM200 - get free membership + bag + button badge
+***
+Disclaimer: I do not endorse the usage of BB1M vouchers to purchase items such as hard drives etc as according to the BB1M guidelines, the BB1M vouchers should be used to buy books. I am just simply providing the information that people are looking for.
+1. Gedebook Sdn. Bhd (link)
+2. Puteh Press (link)
+4. Bookurve (link)
+5. Monaliza Mastura, Kota Bharu (link)
+6. PC Image (link) - I heard that PC Image charge RM10 for every RM50 BB1M voucher used.
+7. IT-Bezz (link)
+8. Pustaka Rakyat
+9. Weststar / The Art Shop (link)
+Got a question/feedback/comment? Leave them in the blogpost - I will try my best to help you!
+Share this blogpost with whoever you think may find helpful. I will keep updating this post :)
+Have a good day!
+Hi, thanks for compiling the list.
+Could it be that you know that if Kinokuniya is accepting the voucher too?
+Hey :)
+The previous years, Kinokuniya has been accepting the vouchers, so I think they should be accepting this year as well. But I haven't seen any promotion on their Facebook whatsoever. I will try to confirm this soon.
+Yes.. they accept BB1M.. just bought few books from kinokuniya last week
+God bless you for compiling this, cheers!
+Hey! Thanks for your kind words =)
+Is stationary applicable as well for book vouchers?
+Hey Bryan. It really depends where you spend the book vouchers. Most major bookstores like MPH, Popular no longer allow you to use BB1M for stationery - that is why they actually give out their store vouchers that can be spent on stationery if you spent a certain amount of BB1M voucher. But I know certain stores are more lenient and don't follow the new guideline. Hope this helps!
+Hey there ! :) May I know which stores doesn't follow the new guideline?
+Hi Eva. Are you looking to purchase stationery with your BB1M vouchers? From what I heard, Pustaka Rakyat outlets are accepting BB1M vouchers for anything in their store - no restrictions. There are many more small shops that accepts BB1M and don't follow the guideline but I don't have much detail yet. Hope this helps!
+Alright ! Thanks for the help :)
+can use to buy any books?
+Hi there. It depends where you spend your voucher. Example: MPH is very strict on the ruling - only academic/educational books/materials. Other places, you can spend on any book such as BookXcess, PTS Media etc :) Hope this helps!
+Hi, I just want to share info that you can buy non-academic books, cookbooks, novels, comics in MPH. I just bought some cookbooks today in MPH NuSentral.
+i'm going to try my luck in pustaka rakyat tomorrow, thanks for info. i need truck loads of post it, pen, A4 papers, hopefully new calculator, mine is so old and reaching a decade old. it is embarrassing. will update :)
+-Anon
+Hey, thanks for sharing! Looks like they are not as strict as they say they are :)
+Hi, do you know if Kinokuniya is lenient when it comes to stationery? I found a news post/article from 2013 that Kino accepts the use of the vouchers for stationery but only 20% of your total book vouchers.
+In any case, I will be heading to Kino tomorrow to check out their policies on the BB1M vouchers.
+Hi! The 80:20 guideline was changed to strictly 100% books/academic materials only last year. Based on what I heard Kinokuniya is also abiding by this guide. Since you are going anyway, I think you should be able to confirm this :)
+No stationery but that wasn't the disappointment of today. My friend renewed her Kinokuniya Member card so I thought I'd use it to get a further 10% off.
+It turns out that they won't allow you to use a friend's member card because it doesn't match your BB1M details :/
+After that, I went to MPH where I spent my remaining RM100. With a member card, you are entitled to 10% discount and you also receive RM10 worth of vouchers meant for books AND stationery.
+In conclusion, I think MPH is the better choice compared to Kinokuniya (can't use friend's member card) and Popular (very limited selection for books).
+D: Gosh they are so strict about the member card and BB1M details.
+Thanks for sharing! :)
+hi, kinokuniya confirm accepting book voucher in 2015? any promotion?
+Yeap, Kinokuniya confirm accepting book voucher but cannot be used on manga/comics/stationery and other non-book items. I haven't been to their store but I haven't seen any promotion so far on their FB. =)
+I just went 2 days ago. There was a RM20 voucher for you to grab if you spent RM200 BB1M in single receipt. The voucher could only use for books and magazine (6% GST for magazine if not mistaken; books are excluded for GST), you can't use it in single receipt with BB1M. The voucher due end of July. Hope this help! :D
+Hey, thanks for sharing! :)
+Hi Ruxyn, wanted to buy hardisk using BB1M as my laptop out of memory soon. Too much software installed and to put in separate pendrive will be a mess. Do you know which shop that has that offer?
+Hi! May I know which area are you from? Maybe you can check out Pustaka Rakyat outlets? From what I heard, they accept BB1M and apparently they have some IT related stuffs including hard disks =) Hope this helps!
+Any bookstore that we can spend 100% on stationary? Planning to buy an external hard disk.
+Hi Michael. May I know which area are you from? If you are looking for external hard disk maybe you can check out Pustaka Rakyat outlets. From what I heard, they accept BB1M vouchers (with no limits etc) and they have IT related stuffs. Hope this helps!
+So , stationery wise, its best to go Pustaka Rakyat? What about writing pads and books like crossword puzzles and novels? BB1M applicable to them too?
+Hi there. Yeah, I will think Pustaka Rakyat will be a safe choice for stationery. My friend told me he managed to spend his BB1M vouchers at Borders to buy stationery tho, with some terms and conditions.
+Writing pads usually fall under the stationery category.. Books like crossword puzzles/novels fall under the non-academic books but most bookstores will accept BB1M for them :)
+Can I buy any kind of books from popular usinf the voucher ?
+Hi Yvonne. Yeah, from what I see/heard..can buy any kind of books from Popular using the voucher. Hope this helps =)
+Can.... i.... use it... to buy... a printer ><
+Hey :) I think it depends where you want to spend it at. I've seen some people buying printer the last years from the PC fair in their uni.. but I'm not sure which store is selling printer for now. :/
+Can spend it on IT fair? Or maybe popular bookstore?
+T^T students need printers too hahaa
+Depends which IT fair you talking about haha. Usually those IT fairs in public unis have vendors who accepts BB1M vouchers. I think popular bookstore definitely can't spend for printers :/
+How about IT fair in Mid Valley??
+//sorry, seems like i have endless questions haha
+IT fair in Mid Valley..I think it depends on the merchants (those stores that are selling at IT Fair in MidValley itself).. so can't really confirm anything. And I'm soooo sooo sorry for the late reply! Been busy!
+hi , you have any ideal if i with to spend my bb1m to other item ? other then book
+any shop in KL area ?
+Hi Veelon! Are you referring to IT items or stationery? There are a few stores that are selling stationery/arts item or IT stuffs so it depends what you are looking for :) Btw, I'm so sorry for late reply! :/ Been busy D:
+Hi, I'm also an Arsenal fan. Wanna date?
+i'm from kajang...may i know which shop in kajang receive bb1m 2015?
+Hey :) Sorry I'm not sure which shop in Kajang accepts BB1M. :/ Only know about most major bookstores and some of the selected ones mentioned here. Sorry!
+Hey. I think you can spend BB1M in this store: CZipLee in Kajang. But not sure what are the restrictions. Try calling them?
+There's also a Stationery shop in sg long that accepts BB1m vouchers. :)
+can i pls know where to buy pendrive with the voucher in KL??
+Maybe you can try Pustaka Rakyat? People have been telling me they get stationery/IT stuffs from there.
+Where pustaka rakyat? In kl
+They have several outlets: Ampang (HQ)
+Semenyih
+Cheras
+Bangi
+Setapak
+Gombak
+Sungai Buloh
+Senawang
+Check here:
+Hey guys may i know if popular allow us to purchase fullscap papers , magazines or cookbook with the vouchers? Coz I got my vouchers after I bought y textbooks and I've no idea how to spend it already :(
+Hey I don't think you can use BB1M vouchers to purchase fullscap papers magazines etc which would fall under "stationery" I think. :/
+Can i buy those self study language book with the voucher?
+Should be able to!
+Borders accept 20% stationery.If you buy RM 250 with Br1m.
+Can I use 2 sets of voucher under the same name?
+Hi, I'm not sure. But even if you can, I think it's best not to :)
+Where can I buy comics using voucher in penang?
+Hi! So sorry for the late reply. What kind of comics are you looking to buy? Manga? Marvel comics etc?
+Hi,May i know which Pustaka Rakyat outlet have IT stuff exp:hard disk to buy? thank you very much :)
+Hey! Apologies for the late reply. I haven't been to all of the outlets but I think all Pustaka Rakyat outlets should have IT stuffs to buy. But better if you visit the main HQ i guess, they have more stuffs I assume? :)
+Kampar/Ipoh area
+Can I use the book voucher to buy comics? If can which bookshop allows?
+Just back from Ipoh parade, popular doesn't allow to buy comics, stationary and magazines.
+Hi there, most major bookstores do not allow the usage of BB1M for comics unfortunately :< I'm not from Kampar/Ipoh area so don't really know where else that you can get comics/stationery/magazines other than the ones listed here (mostly in Klang Valley) :/ Sorry!
+Your blog is really helpful! Thanks a million <3
+Hello . Planning to buy an external hard disk. Any bookstore that we can spend 100% on stationary? Area kedah penang
+Hi there, sorry I have limited information on this. Only familiar where to get stationery in KL as I'm from KL. :(
+Can someone tell me tat is kinokuniya still accept bb1m for the purchasing of novels n non-fiction books now?? Becuzz i heard tat we just allowed to buy academic books at there...?
+Hi, may i know that which bookstore allow to use BB1M voucher to buy stationary or other stuffs by 100%?
+Thanks for reply!
+Hi, may i know that which bookstore allow to use BB1M voucher to buy stationary or other stuffs by 100%?
+Thanks for reply!
+Hey :)
+If you're from Klang Valley, best bet is to go to Pustaka Rakyat outlets. Otherwise, you can head to Borders but you must purchase a minimum of one book before you can buy stationeries. :)
+Any books or any price? Is there also 80%-20% like MPH or Popular?
+Thanks For Reply!
+Hey. Sorry for the late reply. I've been told any books at any price. No 80:20 practiced at Borders - as long as you buy a book you can spend it on stationery :) By the way, you can no longer use it at MPH at Popular to buy other things. 100% books for those 2 stores. :)
+I see. Well, thank for your information. :)
+Most welcome :D
+Hi, may I know in Johor Bahru,which shop is allow us to using BB1M to buy the IT things?
+Hi there,
+Sorry for the late reply! I'm not sure which shop in Johor Bahru allow the usage of BB1M to buy IT things. Sorry! :(
+Hi, may I know in JB,which shop allow us to using BB1M to buy the IT things?
+Hi can we use it to buy novels at mph or popular? Also it still can be used on the 30th of june right?
+Hi there, yes you can. Until tomorrow 30th June only. Hurry :)
+Well done! Nice post! This really helps me to find the answers to my question. Hoping, that you will continue posting articles having lots of useful information. Thanks a lot! brim 2016
+Hi, I know is a bit late to ask this, do you know why many of us did not receive the book voucher? I studied in Sunway College, I can say most of us (ppl around me I asked) did not receive this. Is it like given out from the school?
+Hi Jeannice,
+From my own experience, usually students will have to ask the admin from the department/uni in order to get the information about the book voucher. Usually the uni admins will set a date for students to collect the voucher within a period of time. Perhaps you can ask the admin from Sunway about this? :) Hope this helps.
+Thanks.
+Okay thank you very much! :)
+You're welcome! :D
+Hello, can I use the BB1M vouchers at Art Friend (an art shop located at midvalley and the curve) ?
+Hey, apologies for such a late reply. It's been almost a month, so sorry. Anyway, I no longer keep up with the BB1M updates, so I don't have the info you need. So sorry! I hope you've used up the vouchers to buy the things you need/want by now :)
+Hi, may I know if there's any shop in Selangor that still accept BB1M vouchers for stationeries or IT items?
+Hi can I know where to get story books with the book vouchers in Penang?
+Do you use code generation tools?
+Do you use code-generation tools (aside from those used to generate proxies and from designers built-in to visual studio)?
+What part(s) of your application do you generate?
+Do you typically roll your own generator? If so, what type of generator do you write (asp templates, coddom etc.). If not, what 3rd party tools do you use?
+I am currently working on a few different projects wich all use a custom code-generator that handles everything from generating the database structure, business entities, DAL, and BLL. I am curious about other peoples experiences are with these kinds of tools.
+Answers
+I'm in the philosophical camp that considers code generators to be "wrong", because they indicate something that should be made part of the language.
+But it's been a big part of the Pragmatic Programmer's ethic to write code that writes code, and in practice code generation works well if the generated code is hidden by default. No matter how philosophically pure you want to be, the language will never evolve as fast as the problems you want to solve.
+The code that gets generated when you build a Windows Form in Visual Studio comes to mind. You can look at the generated code if you want, but it's a better idea not to. Moving to a declarative language with WPF was superior, however, because it's cleaner and more reliable to manipulate declarative code programmatically than imperative code.
+They should have done the same thing with LINQ-To-SQL classes. They need a declarative language for classes that just have properties and no custom behavior. It probably would make it easier to make those entity classes dynamic--changing automatically when the underlying database schema changes.
+We tried using CodeSmith to generate .NetTiers classes for all the tables in our database, but ran into two issues:
+.NetTiers was bloated, and the code generated was enormous. I think code generation tools make it too easy to creature feep.
+Because the schema was being actively developed and revised, we had to regenerate a lot, too, and that ended up making it very difficult to keep everything in source control because all the files were being regenerated and replaced. I ended up being unsure if the generated code ought to be in source control at all.
+The best place for code generation should be in the compiler or the build phase, not the design phase. When you use an anonymous type or method in C#, the compiler is doing code generation on the fly. If you generate code during the design phase, you get a chunk of stuff that must be regenerated every time the underlying parameters change.
+Yes, but we refer to them as interns.
+Not that we are working in the .net/web domain, but home-made code generations tools from various home-designed languages are a crucial part of our development tool chain. We have two major such tools (with grammars and parsers and formal definitions), and a host of minor one built on macros like m4 and perl. They all generate plain C in the end, which is natively compiled.
+Domain-specific languages are one of the key tools for programmer productivity for any large-scale software endeavor in my experience. If you are building things like compilers, simulators, or other very complicated software with many recurring patterns that have no support at all in the basic languages (which typically means portable C and sometimes C++), code generating tools is the way to go. I view domain-specific languages as the next step in generalization: first you break out common computations into functions (or subroutines to be historical), then you break out common functions into templates or generics if such a facility is available, and then you break out even more commonality and repeating code into a full-blown custom language.
+It is all about reducing the volume of code you actually write, and removing any form of tedious repetition and non-value-added code from the programming process. As soon as patterns repeat, apply a domain-specific language!
+I started rolling my own generators (data access, sprocs, etc) back when I was doing classic asp work (circa 2001). I slowly moved to CodeSmith, since it was much easier to deal with. I was still primarily just generating all the Data Access layer type stuff (including sprocs) for my .NET code.
+A couple years ago, I made the jump from Macro Code Generation (i.e. CodeSmith) to Micro Code Generation.
+The difference is that with CodeSmith I was generating huge swaths of code for my app, all generic, and all at once. This became problematic for edge cases and regenerating when changing the source for the template (i.e. table structure). I also ran into cases where there was a high inventory of carrying code that I wasn't using, but was generated from my template. Did all those methods work? Maybe, maybe not. Going in and cleaning up the generated code would have been a huge amount of work (i.e. after more than a year on the same codebase).
+Micro Code Generation, in contrast, allows me to generate exactly the classes I need, in exactly the right scenario I want. The primary tool I use to do this is ReSharper. The way I do this is by writing my unit tests before writing my production code. In that scenario, ReSharper uses my Unit Test as a template to auto-generate the skeleton for the production code. Then it's just a matter of filling in the blanks.
+For Data Access, I'm no longer generating anything. I've found that a good O/R M replaces everything I used to put in my data access layer (i.e. NHibernate). Given that, I will never write or generate another data access layer in my life (I refuse to).
+Plus, I get the benefits of having a large unit test suite, among other things
+Since Fog Creek Software's in-house language, Wasabi, has compile-time code generators built in, we use them to automatically create the meat of our entity classes that map to database tables. So instead of writing a class with a dozen different properties and methods, we can just write:
+<ActiveRecord("Kiwi")> _ Class CKiwi End Class
+and CKiwi will have Load(ix As Int32), Commit(), and fields/properties for every column defined in its underlying schema for the Kiwi table. It keeps us from having to have huge O/R M libraries, but still allows us to quickly add a table to our products.
+Code generation in the spirit of compilers can be great. Code generation in the spirit of "wizards" has uniformly turned out to be a bad idea.
+We used to use CodeSmith to generate our NHibernate hbms, our entities, and a few other things. After a while we got sick of this flow so we ditched it.
+The T4 generator is free and worth looking into for generation.
+We still use the Castle CodeGenerator for MonoRail link generation.
+- We use Code generators for Exceptions
+- Generating DAO for CRUD operations
+- use JAXB to genereate code
+- Use XDoclet to genereate EJB local/home interfaces
+- Use Velocity templates to generate documentation for business models
+- Use Apache Axis to generate WSDL stubs
+I met ActiveWriter a couple of months ago and it helped me very much, what I like is the flexibility of this approach, it generates partial classes that handle the data access issues and it lets me code the business part of the classes. I feel very satisfied cause saves me a lot of work, it´s pretty nice to change the schema, re-generate and go on.
+I create my own tools for some tasks. Its fun to do and even saves time in the long run. For very dull tasks, it even saves your sanity.
+Home-brewed code generators work great for building unittest cases from end-user spreadsheets that contain examples of how it should work.
+See Tooling to Build Test Cases for one example.
+We use LLBLGen to produce our data access layer. You point the generator at the database your using, select which tables you want to use and it churns out the classes needed. It is all very quick and easy.
+We have an in-house built code generator that takes care of database access. One writes stored procedures and gets corresponding methods abstracted in a gateway class.
+We also generate web services in order to properly interface with Flash -- i.e. handling exception in a sane manner.
+Finally we have an exception generator that takes away the drudgery of exception best practices (tons of constructors, etc...)
+At a previous employer, we had a home-grown VB.NET application that would turn an XML Schema Definition file (XSD) into a static C++ library. This made it much easier to work with C++ data types (bool, std::string, etc.), and all of the interesting XML code was hidden inside of these generated classes.
+We just started using Grails here in the office. Previously, we had a set of in-house JSF/Hibernate CRUD generation scripts.
+... Grails wins. The code generation from Grails is very nice and can get you a CRUD app going in about 15 minutes, without actually putting the code in the code files!
+Of course, it CAN generate the actual code into the code files, when you want to modify it. Most of the time, for regular CRUD, you can get away with just changing the views.
+I've used one to generate serializable data objects which could be reformed across different platforms (windows, linux, solaris, mac, bsd, etc). It was an in-house solution.
+I wrote a lovely tool in which the experts in the data format I'd written a parser for, could submit their own samples through a web form, look at the output, and tell me whether it was correct.
+From that, a jUnit test would be generated. Lovely.
+Except that not a single person bothered to use it, and I gathered no test cases whatseover.
+Like some others here, we have also created our own code generator (Inon Datamanager/Viewmanager) for data access, HTML form handling and certain business logic operations. A key to having this work well is to design it so you never have to touch or look at the generated code.
+In this way, it almost does become part of the language - the language (Java in our case) is extended to include a domain model specification and a viewmodel, and then you just fill in custom business logic with real Java code.
+This gives us the right tools to communicate with analysts and business users, while still having the power of Java to set up the details of underlying behaviour.
+If interested in LLBLGEN, which is excellent, you might also evaluate subsonic. Maybe even see what Rob Conery has to say about any overlap or interaction between subsonic and t4.
+I wrote and use an Xslt based code generation tool.
+This uses a single root xml model to generate dal, procs, tables.
+I have created a custom code generation framework that generates proxy classes for web services in several languages such as Java Script, Action Script, Java, C# and Objective C, I use no templates or tools just plain C# code that generates code with some helper classes, Code generation can really save a lot of time, but I think the generated code should be as simple as possible and should not be overused.
+Need Your Help
+How do I properly pause in SpriteKit when the application goes to background?
+ios objective-c sprite-kitOk, I know that SpriteKit automatically pauses and resumes games when the enter foregrounds and backgrounds, but I want to go to the pause menu (which is a method in my GameScene) whenever the
+Override Glassfish Generated WSDL Service Endpoint Address
+java web-services configuration glassfish wsgenI have a web service generated by wsgen through maven. When I deploy the service to Glassfish it places the server URL into the WSDL. Our Glassfish server is fronted by an Apache proxy server.
+ to be mined. Balances of Bitcoin tokens are stored using public and private “keys,” that are lengthy strings of numbers and letters linked through the mathematical encryption algorithm that was used to create them. The public key serves because the address which is revealed to the world and to which others may ship bitcoins.
+Get crypto analysis, news and updates, proper to your inbox! For the Dragonchain neighborhood members who are operating nodes, the quantity of TIME every node runner applies to a certain degree, determines their rewards.TIME is a loyalty score on top of the DRGN token. For each DRGN held in a non-exchange wallet, they obtain 1 TIME loyalty score per day routinely. The extra TIME somebody applies to a L2, L3, or L4 node, the upper the reward granted when your node is selected by way of the matchmaking process. Community members securing Dragon Net’s 5 levels of belief can be a part of pooled nodes, or run their very own unmanaged nodes.
+The cryptographic problem can only be solved by guessing, making certain neutrality. The Dragonchain token sale ran from October to November 2017, which was highly successful, taking in about $13.7 million in bitcoin and ether. The project was originally known as the Disney Private Blockchain Platform, released as open source software program by Disney in 2016. In 2017, the Dragonchain Foundation was founded to onboard business launch partners, and by 2018 the full platform started rolling out to customers. In January 2018, Dragonchain topped a market capitalization value of over $1.1 billion, making it one of the quickest rising blockchain platforms to ever be traded on cryptocurrency markets.
+Launched in 2015, R3 is a consortium of a number of the world’s greatest financial establishments that has created an open-supply distributed ledger platform known as Corda. While Corda was designed with banking in thoughts, different use circumstances in supply chain, healthcare, trade finance, and government are rising. There is not any constructed-in token or cryptocurrency for Corda, and it is a permissioned blockchain because it restricts access to information within an settlement to only these explicitly entitled to it, rather than the entire network. Its consensus system takes into account the reality of managing complex monetary agreements. It can also be identified for its give attention to interoperability ease of integration with legacy methods.
+Transferring Bitcoin From Kucoin To Other Exchanges
+There are many Bitcoin supporters who believe that digital foreign money is the long run. Many of those who endorse Bitcoin consider that it facilitates a much faster, low-payment cost system for transactions throughout the globe. Indeed, one of many primary causes for the growth of digital currencies like Bitcoin is that they’ll act as an alternative choice to national fiat cash and conventional commodities like gold.
+Who is the biggest Blockchain company?
+Dragon Coins can also be found in Dragon Caches, acquired from the Dragon Coin Digest and Dragon Hoard Deposition legendary tomes or be purchased from the store in packs of 5 for 750 cubits.
+While the enterprise develops their purposes on a private Level 1 Business node, the Dragonchain group and selected companions run their very own Level 2 Validation, Level 3 Diversity, and Level four Notary nodes. Level 5 nodes are the general drgn public checkpoints to external blockchains corresponding to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Chain. Level 5 nodes could be run and managed by Dragonchain, or the precise blockchain itself via a partner program, bringing interoperability to all blockchains.
+What Is Cindicator (Cnd)? Future Of Cnd Cryptocurrency And Know How To Buy Cnd
+OTC Trading Desk — Much like IEO platforms, OTC trading desks have become the norm for cryptocurrency exchanges. Institutional curiosity in crypto has been heating up all 12 months long, and with digital asset buying and selling at present in full-swing, KuCoin’s OTC buying and selling desk is extra related than ever. OTC buying and selling is, usually, for prime-internet price and firm measurement accounts needing to settle trades away from the order e-book.
+Cryptoassets made headlines through 2017 after a major market bull run triggered costs to inflate. Whilst this was largely driven by hypothesis, for the first-time property have been traded 24/7 on global platforms not tied to anybody jurisdiction. Global monetary markets are actually considering how “securities tokens”, or regulated tokens might allow truly digital, end to end offerings of equities, bonds and many other asset courses.
+Indeed, the worth of the foreign money has seen wild swings in price over its brief existence. Investing money into Bitcoin in any of its many guises is not for the chance-averse. Bitcoins are a rival to government foreign money and may be used for black market transactions, money laundering, unlawful activities or tax evasion. As a outcome, governments may search to control, restrict or ban the use and sale of bitcoins, and some already have. The transactions value $10,000 or extra must be recorded and reported.
+- and since then, it has been gaining recognition and traction by business homeowners looking for a distributed belief mannequin.
+- Steem may also be used on the Steemit platform and may be powered up into Steem Power, traded for Steem Dollars, and transferred to different accounts.
+- KuCoin is a cryptocurrency trade aiming to offer safe and convenient digital asset transactions.
+- Bitcoin was the first implementation of a cryptocurrency based on distributed ledger expertise.
+- This blockchain asset trade boasts its simple-to-use platform, protected trades, 24/7 Customer Support, low transaction charges, and quick withdrawal.
+- The Bitcoin consensus algorithm relies on proof of work .
+What is a Blockchain platform?
+Everyday Steem rewards 90% of the new Steem units to the people who hold Steem Power Units and 10% of the new Steem units are paid to content creators, curators, and commenters. The payout reward for each post is as follows: At least 75% of the amount goes to the author. At most 25% is distributed among the curators.
+Bitcoin was the first implementation of a cryptocurrency based on distributed ledger technology. and since then, it has been gaining popularity and traction by business house owners seeking a distributed trust model. The Bitcoin consensus algorithm relies on proof of work . In PoW, transactions are collected into blocks by miners and added to the blockchain only if the miner can clear up a cryptographic problem that requires much computational energy to be solved.
+Which Cryptocurrency is best to invest in 2020?
+Bitcoin’s 2020 rally has somewhat stalled—but the bitcoin price could be poised to soar. Now, bitcoin could double to $20,000 before the end of the year, returning to its 2017 all-time high, according to a bullish Bloomberg analyst.
+Like with every new idea, blockchain can be going via these rising pains. Eric is the Co-founder and CEO of Blockforce Capital, an innovative asset management firm that provides a number of investment products within the blockchain and cryptocurrency business. Recently named by Frank Chaparro “as a prime crypto pioneer in Business Insider’s Bitcoin Wall Street energy record” . Eric has guided the firm from being solely targeted on dividend development methods to being a trailblazer and innovator in the blockchain technology investment area.
+KuCoin’s OTC desk is currently in its trial section and is out there for USDT and CNY pairs. Most individuals who own and use Bitcoin have not acquired their tokens by way of mining operations. Rather, they purchase and sell Bitcoin and different digital currencies on any of a variety of well-liked online markets generally known as Bitcoin exchanges. Bitcoin exchanges are totally digital and, as with all virtual system, are in danger from hackers, malware, and operational glitches.
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+Dragonchain Price Predictions By Tech Sector
+What is Bitcoin worth?
+KuCoin is one of the more popular crypto exchanges. Many use it to trade a wide variety of altcoins that are often not found on other exchanges. Because crypto to crypto trades are taxable in many jurisdictions, including the United States, you will likely need to report trades made on KuCoin.
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+The community acts as a decentralized validation, variety, and notary service. One of the patents granted to Dragonchain revolves around drgn loyalty & rewards on blockchain.
+The private key’s meant to be a guarded secret and only used to authorize Bitcoin transmissions. Bitcoin keys should not be confused with a Bitcoin wallet, which is a bodily or digital gadget which facilitates the trading of Bitcoin and allows users to track ownership of cash. The time period “wallet” is a bit deceptive, as Bitcoin’s decentralized nature means that it’s by no means stored “in” a wallet, however quite decentrally on a blockchain.
+Dinosaur Coins
+If a thief gains entry to a Bitcoin owner’s computer hard drive and steals his private encryption key, he may transfer the stolen Bitcoins to a different account. One particularly infamous hacking incident took place in 2014, when Mt. Gox, a Bitcoin change in Japan, was forced to close down after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoins had been stolen. Bitcoin is likely one of the first digital currencies to use peer-to-peer expertise to facilitate prompt funds. The independent individuals and firms who personal the governing computing energy and participate in the Bitcoin community, are comprised of nodes or miners. “Miners,” or the people who course of the transactions on the blockchain, are motivated by rewards and transaction fees paid in bitcoin.
+Home / Courses and Academic Programs / Clinical and Pro Bono Programs / Clinics
+The Independent Clinical program is designed for those students who are interested in a specialized area of the law or field of practice that is not currently offered in HLS’s existing clinical curriculum.
+Applications are reviewed and approved based on the strength of the proposed projects and the appropriateness of the placement as an educational opportunity. It must be clear from your application that you and your supervisor have agreed on the details of the projects you will work on during the term.
+Applications from students who are currently enrolled in or have completed an existing HLS Clinic or externship, or who have substantial experience in the area of law that is the focus of the project, will be given preference. Applications from students who do not meet these criteria will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Students may be denied approval if their application fails to meet the required criteria listed on this website. Students should not make travel plans until they have received final approval from the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs.
+Liz Solar and Jill Crockett in the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP) manage the Independent Clinical Program, and are available to assist students in designing an Independent Clinical project. Their contact information is as follows:
+All Independent Clinicals are 2 credit courses. During Fall and Spring semesters, two clinical credits represents 10 hours per week of work. During Winter Term, students must work full-time for the term (40 hours/week) to receive two clinical credits.
+Getting Started | Picking a Placement Organization | Securing a Supervising Attorney | Selecting a Faculty Sponsor
+Planning the Project Details | Submitting an Application | Student Responsibilities | Supervisor Evaluations and Grading
+Funding (Winter Term Only)
+To initiate the Independent Clinical process, students must meet with either Liz Solar or Jill Crockett in the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP) to discuss their ideas about placement settings, supervising attorneys, and faculty sponsors, as well as the details of the work they will be proposing. Students should stay in touch as they develop and refine their proposed projects. An application has to be approved by OCP in order to be eligible for clinical credits. Not every application is approved, and students should pay careful attention to the various requirements, which are described below.
+It is essential to review the requirements regarding the Committee on the Use of Human Subjects, domestic or international project funding, and international travel as early as possible.
+Group projects (students going to the same placement with the same project) involving more than three students are not permitted. Group projects involving three or fewer students must be extremely strong to be approved. Each student must submit a separate proposal indicating their specific plans and how their individual participation is essential to the project.
+Students may work at legal services, public interest and other nonprofit organizations, criminal defense agencies, governmental agencies or the judiciary. Projects may include direct client services as well as broad based advocacy, but must involve legal work supervised by a licensed attorney.
+Students may do an Independent Clinical project in the Fall, Winter or Spring terms. A number of students take the opportunity to work at organizations away from campus during the Winter term. Students may apply for limited funding for a Winter term Independent Clinical project (see "Funding" below).
+Independent Clinical projects are not available at placements already offered through an existing clinical course or at an in-house clinic, or in placements that are duplicative of offerings in existing clinics.
+Work on political campaigns is not eligible for clinical credit but may count towards the pro bono requirement if it meets certain criteria. Approval for projects in the private sector is extremely limited and is determined on a case-by-case basis. Private sector projects must be done on a pro bono basis and focused solely on matters related to the public interest. Students may not receive compensation for any work that results in clinical credit.
+OCP does not provide a list of pre-approved organizations that have hosted Independent Clinical students in the past, as each project is intended to be “independent” and specific to a particular student’s interests. However, students are encouraged to search HELIOS to check if other HLS students have evaluated an organization that they are considering as a placement organization.
+Students must secure a Supervising Attorney who will be responsible for directly supervising their work throughout their placement. Supervisors will receive a Supervisor Handbook from OCP setting forth the requirements for defining work expectations and goals, conducting regular meetings with students, and evaluating performance.
+Supervisors must:
+It is essential that students develop their project proposal in collaboration with their prospective supervisor. This will help ensure that students propose work that is realistic, focused and in line with the mission of the placement organization. This will also allow students to be productive and maximize the available opportunities once they begin work.
+An HLS Faculty Sponsor is required for all Independent Clinical projects. The Faculty Sponsor will monitor the academic component of the Independent Clinical. assistance of the Faculty Sponsor and must be identified in the Application.
+Faculty Sponsors must:
+This is the opportunity for the student to digest and synthesize all of the ideas, reading, discussion and feedback they have obtained into a workable project that is realistic and achievable. The more thought that the student puts into the planning of their work, the more likely they will be to have a rich learning experience and a successful placement. Students should outline their specific responsibilities during the placement in as much detail as possible, along with the various activities they will be involved in.
+Complete the Independent Clinical Application (Harvard Legal Aid Bureau students must also submit the HLAB Supplemental Approval Form).
+Incomplete applications will not be considered until all the necessary parts are submitted. Projects submitted after the deadline will also not be considered.
+The following documents need to be attached to the Application:
+Applications are due to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs in WCC 3085 by the following deadlines:
+Fall 2014: September 3, 2014
+Winter 2015: November 3, 2015
+Spring 2015: January 16, 2015
+A basic premise of clinical legal education is that learning comes about through the self-conscious application of reflection to actual experience. There will be many opportunities for reflection during the implementation of the project. In addition, all students are required to submit the following:
+Students must submit weekly progress reports via email to their Faculty Sponsor and to Liz Solar (esolar@law.harvard.edu) at OCP for domestic placements, or Jill Crockett (jcrockett@law.harvard.edu) at OCP for international placements. These will not be shared with Supervising Attorneys. Emails should contain a discussion of the work performed together with a reflection on what was learned. Faculty are not required to respond to the weekly emails, but are encouraged to do so if they have useful feedback or suggestions.
+The 15 page academic paper is due to the Faculty Sponsor and OCP at the end of the placement. This cannot be a reflection paper, nor can it be work product produced during a placement. It must include some original research and an analysis of policy or practice related to the work of the student or placement organization. The final paper will not be shared with Supervising Attorneys unless students give permission.
+Final papers are due to OCP and your Faculty Sponsor by the following deadlines:
+Fall 2014: December 5
+Winter 2015: January 23
+Spring 2015: April 24
+Students’ experiences and opinions are extremely important to the continuing efforts to improve the quality of clinical legal education at Harvard Law School and to determine the appropriateness and effectiveness of specific placements. At the end of the semester, students are required to complete a placement evaluation to assess the placement organization, the supervision received, and the value of the clinical experience. Please be as frank, specific, and constructive as possible.
+Note: The clinical evaluations are completed online through HELIOS. Responses do not affect grading, as the information reported is not reviewed outside of OCP until after the semester's grading process has been completed. The evaluation is not shared with the Placement Organization.
+Students must pay careful attention to client confidentiality when submitting progress reports, final papers, and evaluations, and must make sure that they do not reveal client or organizational confidences, including any identifying information or case strategy.
+Students must avoid holding themselves out as representatives of Harvard Law School when representing or communicating with individual clients or with outside organizations. While it may be appropriate for a student to identify themselves as an HLS student, it is not appropriate or accurate to suggest to a client that he or she is being represented by Harvard Law School or Harvard University. Students must understand that their work does not reflect the judgment or opinions of Harvard Law School and that Harvard Law School does not direct or supervise their project.
+Students are encouraged to meet regularly with their Supervisors for feedback throughout the semester and to initiate an exit interview at the end of the semester to discuss the Supervisor's evaluation. Supervising Attorneys are required to provide two written evaluations of students' work - a Mid-Semester Evaluation and a Final Evaluation - to assess performance, judgment, progress, and other factors. (During the Winter Term, Supervisors only have to complete the Final Evaluation.)
+All Independent Clinicals are 2 credit courses and are graded Credit/Fail. Supervising Attorneys will recommend either a Credit or Fail grade to the Faculty Sponsor, who will also take into account the final paper when assigning the final grade.
+Some funding is given to selected students who have proposed the most well-constructed, realistic Independent Clinical projects during the Winter term. This is to offset the cost of transportation and housing while the student is off campus. Applications for funding should be reasonable and necessary for the completion of the project. Students should not make travel or housing commitments until they know whether funding has been awarded, as funding is not guaranteed.
+The pool of funding is limited and it is quite possible that some worthy projects may not be funded in any given year. Even in cases where funding is awarded, the full amount requested may not be approved.
+Domestic and international projects have different funding requirements and deadlines. Domestic funding is administered by OCP and international funding is administered by International Legal Studies. Students should pay careful attention to the relevant requirements and be sure to leave enough time to obtain the necessary documents.
+In reviewing application materials, OCP considers the following:
+Students traveling internationally must fulfill the requirements set forth by Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Please visit the International Legal Studies website for all necessary details. Students are urged to do this early in their planning process.
+Back to Top
+Additional Commentary (SEE BELOW) obtained from A Few of DPC’s C-Suite Executives and Physicians
+Plus, DPC Journal interviews with: James J. Eischen, Jr., Esq., Partner at HIGGS, FLETCHER & MACK LLP; Dr. John Blanchard, CEO of Premier Private Physicians Management, LLC in Michigan; Zak Holdsworth, CEO of Hint Health; Michael Tetreault, Editor in Chief of The DPC Journal and CMT; Dr. Samir Qamar, CEO of MedLion; Bill Cossart, CEO/Founder of MedFirst Partners; and others … weigh-in on what this means for future of DPC.
+By Annie Zak, Staff Writer, Puget Sound Business Journal
+Dr. Erika Bliss of Qliance.
+AUGUST 6, 2015 – Seattle-based health clinic chain Qliance is feeling the impact of the Affordable Care Act, and tweaking its business model in response.
+Qliance has long been a provider of primary care to employers, unions, Medicaid and uninsured individuals. But CEO Erika Bliss said that since the 2010 passage of the ACA, more employers have been coming to Qliance with questions about how to tie together new health care innovations that are cropping up in hospitals and primary care settings.
+RELATED STORY
+R-HEALTH’s MASON REINER, CEO: “The Top Thing You Need to Know about Your Company’s Healthcare Costs.”
+Those.
+“We’re trying to take all of our learnings and build the next generation of Qliance,” she said. “We’ll have to invest in technology and partnerships and revamping how we do things. We’re focusing on employers.”
+RELATED STORY
+DPC JOURNAL: 2015 Graphics GROWTH in DPC, UCs, Concierge Medicine & Retail Clinics On The Rise, Fall 2015.
+EMPLOYER and PHYSICIANS working together … this topic was “TOP of MIND” in Atlanta, GA last week as a large group “plenary session” which was held at The Westin Peachtree Plaza. DPC Journal Publisher and Managing Director, Catherine Sykes and Worksite Rx’s Chairman, Bill Bennett, met with physicians to discuss these strategies in a session called “DPC2MD: Strategies on how more physicians can work with employers.” The session noted … “For employers and insurers, however, [retail] clinics are already offering a way to reduce costs for noncritical conditions for employers. To further unpack emerging free market healthcare trends, a study by researchers at the RAND Corporation estimated that more than a quarter of emergency room visits could be handled at retail clinics and urgent care centers, creating savings of $4.4 billion a year.
+A DPC panel discussion also mentioned employers. Panel Members included: Clint Flanagan, MD (FAR LEFT, Nextera in CO.) and Dr. Robert Lamberts, MD (MIDDLE, Augusta, GA). During the panel, DPC Journal Editor, Michael Tetreault (right) asked Dr.s Flanagan & Lamberts about the importance of DPC, rural and metropolitan clinics, growth strategies, multi-site impact and what impact employer partnerships will have in DPC — (Aug 1, 2015) at the Atlanta 2015 Concierge Medicine Assembly.
+The fact that the uninsured rate in Washington state dropped significantly in the last year gave the company incentive to change the way it works.
+“Especially in Washington state since we had such a success in expanding Medicaid and with the health insurance exchange. … What I expected to see was employers pulling out of providing benefits. But in Washington state, they’re staying in,” Bliss said.
+RELATED STORY
+Schimpff, MD: Employer-sponsored primary care: An explanation
+Individuals pay Qliance a flat monthly fee for primary care services. The company is now developing a tiered payment model for employers, depending on the needs of employees.
+SOURCE:
+###
+RELATED INDUSTRY STORIES (BELOW)
+Excerpt From Recent Interview in a story entitled … “For Some Employers, A New Health Care Trend Means Healthier Employees“ by Rowan Moore Gerety.”
+RELATED STORY
+BOSTON GLOBE: Walk-in clinics force big medicine to rethink.
+For Qliance’s institutional customers, Bliss says the savings have been in the neighborhood of 20%. Expedia uses Qliance for the 2500 employees at its Seattle heaquarters.
+But Arnold Milstein says DPC providers are still too small to appeal to companies that are more spread out. “It’s very difficult to create a different solution for employee benefits in every single locality.”
+Milstein directs the Center for Clinical Excellence at Stanford. As DPC does become more common, Milstein expects uneven results. “Like so many things in American healthcare that theoretically could save money, my guess is that some forms of this will be highly successful at saving money, and some will not only not save money, but cost more money,” Milstein says.
+RELATED “Employer Partnership” NEWS from The NY TIMES (JULY 2015):
+).
+CVS’s new anti-tobacco stance has helped it forge affiliations with employers interested in reducing healthcare cost expenditures and regional hospitals.*
+Before CVS went tobacco-free, negotiations with local health systems were awkward, Mr. Merlo said during a recent analyst conference call.
+,” said Ceci Connolly, managing director of PwC’s Health Research Institute. CVS might have more sway reducing health care costs in its role as a middleman between drug companies and patients with drug benefits.
+DPC doctors, Clint Flanagan, MD of Nextera Healthcare in Colorado and Dr. Robert Lamberts of Augusta, GA participate in a DPC Panel discuss held in Atlanta, GA in August 2015.
+SOURCE: *
+ADDITIONAL DPC INSIGHT into EMPLOYER Partnerships and DPC, the impact of Retail Healthcare/Employer Partnerships and more.
+John Blanchard, M.D., doesn’t bill health insurers for services. Instead, through his Premier Private Physicians PLC office in Troy, he sells subscriptions for primary care to patients at about $200 a month.
+“The volume to value paradigm shift in health care is driven by employers, powered by technology. The message is loud and clear if you are shopping for value in health care those of us in Direct Primary Care open for business,” said John Blanchard MD CEO Premier Private Physicians Management LLC.
+“MedLion has always been focused on the employer market,” said Dr. Samir Qamar, CEO of MedLion.
+“As the direct care movement continues to evolve, it is important that providers evolve with it and continue addressing the needs of payers, whether they are consumers, employers, or more traditional plans who are starting to see the benefits of the model. I think Qliance is an excellent example of a provider who is learning and adapting to the market and this evolution of their strategy seems like a solid path forward,” said Zak Holdsworth, CEO, Hint Health.
+ and the employees love the level of service with a 24/7 DPC Phyicisian and the Doctor gets to practice medicine the way they always dreampt about. Everyone wins. There are no losers in this arrangement.”
+“Retail primary clinics will compete for employer-funded opportunities,” says James J. Eischen, Jr., Esq., Partner at HIGGS, FLETCHER & MACK LLP. “DPC physicians with persistent patient panels and persistent connectivity with patients are more likely to deliver consistently connected care management versus a retail clinic experience. [Remember], the problem with HMOs was not cost, it was lack of patient direct investment and misaligned reimbursement causing an impersonal and disconnected PC/patient relationship. Retail clinical medicine seems poised to pose the exact same problems: lack of PC/patient relationship, lack of direct patient investment, potentially too impersonal.”
+RELATED STORY
+SCHIMPFF, MD: Will direct primary care be offered by employers?
+James J. Eischen, Jr., Esq., Partner at HIGGS, FLETCHER & MACK LLP
+“An enlightened approach would continue to seek direct patient/employee monthly contribution as an investment in better health, have plans/employers also contribute toward DPC fees because that makes good business sense (saves money, solid ROI),” adds Eischen. “Let’s stop defining DPC as never accepting plan dollars in either proposed state legislation or generally. Let’s stay open to what plans and employers may be willing to contribute, keep an open door to plans and employer funding, and see the integrity of DPC as based on direct patient investment to a PC provider for persistently connected high-touch primary care.”
+“Employers, both large and small, are struggling with the staggering costs of healthcare in this country,” said Mason Reiner, CEO at R-Health.  healthcare, employers find the DPC physician perspective both eye-opening and refreshing.”
+DocPreneur Press & The DocPreneur Institute, together, provide fact-based, common-sense, non-fiction education and resources that give HOPE to physicians, their staff and the consumer audience at-large interested in learning more about the modern-day free market healthcare delivery marketplace.
+RESOURCES … WHAT ORGANIZATIONS IN DPC HAVE ALREADY MADE THE PLUNGE INTO DPC and are WORKING WITH EMPLOYERS IN THEIR LOCAL MARKET? Additionally, what insight/resources are available for DPC Doctors? (In random order below)
+Integra employees get their own primary care clinic (Source: Paladina Health)
+PHILLY: CultureWorks offers R-Health’s direct primary care plans to its coworking members (By Dan Eldridge Tuesday, July 08, 2014)
+Employers Are Offering Qliance (January, 2015)
+Tufts Medical Center, DPC and The PDC Concierge Medicine Program
+Direct primary care emerges in post-reform world. (By Ryan Liabenow DECEMBER 16, 2014)
+- Plymouth business opens free clinic for employees (April 30, 2015)
+One Medical in AZ: San Francisco physician group enters Arizona with Dignity Health partnership. (FEBRUARY 2015)
+- DPC Doctor, Jeff Gold, MD – Town Hall Meeting for Boston-Area Employers & Individuals: Direct Primary Care
+MONSON: An Obamacare Loophole [cost sharing]. — A small group of Christians got together to help each other pay for some medical bills, and the movement was born. (SUMMER 2015)
+EverMed — ‘“There are three key groups we want to serve,” Jonason explained, “the independent medical practice, small to mid-size employers and individuals.”’
+MedLion Management, Inc. and Pan-American Life Insurance Group Collaborate to Lower Healthcare Costs for Employers
+WARSHAW, MD: “Why it is the Perfect Fit for Self-Funded Employers.”
+DPC Journal Spotlight on Dr. JEFF GOLD: “DPC is a win-win for everyone,” Dr. Jeff Gold says.
+DPC Leadership Response To Washington State OIC Report: ‘Outlook for DPC is bright throughout U.S.’
+BOSTON, MA: MedFirst Partners Introduces Affordable Membership-Based Direct Primary Care Healthcare Option
+- Collaborative Health Partners of Virginia began approaching local self-insured companies last year with its direct primary care plan.
+Expedia, online travel giant — and Qliance, together promotes employee well-being
+INTERVIEW: MedLion’s Dr. Samir Qamar — How Physicians Can Offer Direct Primary Care to Employers
+QLIANCE: New Primary Care Model Delivers 20 Percent Lower Overall Healthcare Costs, Increases Patient Satisfaction and Delivers Better Care .
+Employers Developing Reliance on Direct Primary Care Providers Like Qliance, MedLion (January 2013)
+RELATED STORY
+A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Major Characters
+Francie Nolan: Francie Nolan is the central character in this coming of age novel. The story revolves around her life, from her daily routines to her intimate feelings about family, life, and love. She is born to poor, young parents on December 15, 1901 with beautiful hands and long thick brown hair. She is not gorgeous, but she gets by. She is a combination of her mother's strength and her father's zest for life; she becomes a very intelligent and motivated young woman. She grows up quickly, wants to be a writer, and attends the University of Michigan. After working hard as a young girl, surviving her beloved father's death, a broken-heart, and poverty, Francie grows into a young woman with unlimited potential.
+Neeley Nolan: Neeley Nolan, born 'Cornelius,' is Francie's younger brother by one year. He looks just like Johnny (his father) with his blue eyes, thick curly blonde hair, and charismatic handsome face and body. He is not as motivated as Francie, but Katie loves him more than he loves her. Katie vows to never show her strong love for Neeley, but her favoritism shines through at times. Neeley and Francie go through school together and are each other's support through their poor youth. Neeley is allowed to continue to high school when he does not want to and Francie is forced to work when she wants to continue school. Although the two siblings have a small rivalry, they love each other dearly and are always there for one another.
+Katie Nolan: Katie Rommely Nolan McShane is Francie's mother. She is the youngest of four sisters. She is of German descent and steals Johnny from her best friend. She loves Johnny, but marries him too young and pays the price by working as a janitress to support her two young children (and eventually third). She is realistic and non-demonstrative of her feelings. She is always working hard for her children so that they will have a better life, and refuses to accept charity. She is devoted to her family, their future, and her pride. She banks on education as the one quality that her children must have in order to become something important in the world. Like her sisters, Katie needs the love of a man. She marries Sergeant McShane at the end of the novel and plans to live out her years comfortably.
+Johnny Nolan: Johnny is Francie's father. He is a very handsome man with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. His family comes from Ireland. Every man in his family dies before the age of 35, and he believes he will as well. When he works, he is a singing waiter; but he is usually drunk. He is extremely proud of his Waiter's Union and always dresses well in his one tuxedo and dickey. Francie is very close with Johnny. Johnny tries to be a good father and a role model, but unfortunately fails in his responsibility. He dies of pneumonia on Christmas Day, leaving the family in heartbreak and even worse financial straits. The family moves on, but never forgets Johnny.
+Aunt Sissy: Aunt Sissy is the oldest Rommely sister. She is brassy, voluptuous, flirtatious, and fun loving. Francie has a very special connection with her. Sissy has been married three times (never by the Catholic church), had ten stillbirths, and longs for children of her own. She is often considered 'bad,' because of her risqué behavior, but truly has a massive heart for the Nolan family. She has a special place in her heart for Francie and pretends to be her mother at school to help her. She also brings magazines and gifts for the children from the factory in which she works. She eventually falls in love with her husband Steve (whom she calls John), gives birth to her own healthy baby, and settles down.
+Aunt Evy: Aunt Evy is the third Rommely sister and is the voice of reason among the girls. She is poor as well, but has enough money to support her family before her crazy husband, Willie Flittman, runs out on her. She and Katie sometimes join forces when Sissy is out of control, to try to protect their families. Katie gives Evy $200 of the $1000 she receives from McShane as a wedding present, because that is the sum she would have collected from Willie's life insurance.
+Minor Characters
+Hildy O'Dair: Hildy is Katie's childhood girlfriend from whom she stole Johnny. Johnny and Hildy were dating when Katie met him. The two got married shortly and went their own way, while Hildy went hers.
+Flossie Gaddis: Flossie is one of Francie's childhood acquaintances. She has only one arm and gets dressed in costumes every week. Francie visits her and begins to understand about worse hardships than her own.
+Henny Gaddis: Henny is Flossie's brother who dies of consumption at a young age. Francie learns about death for the first time.
+Maudie Donovan: Maudie is another friend of Francie's from the first home. She is an orphan. She is one of the first friends to develop into a woman. Francie realizes that she is growing up when she sees Maudie change.
+Tynmore sisters (Miss Lizzie and Miss Maggie): The Tynmore sisters are music teachers. Lizzie teaches piano while Maggie teaches voice. Katie hires Lizzie to teach her piano, while she slyly has the children look on to her lessons and learn the piano as well. The Tynmores don't have much money and survive on the coffee they are given from their clients after lessons.
+Thomas Rommely: Thomas Rommely is Katie's father, a very harsh, unloving man from Austria. He was upset when Katie married Johnny.
+Mary Rommely: Mary Rommely is Katie's mother who lives until her 80s. She tells Katie that education is the key that will separate her children from others and will give them a future.
+Ruthie Nolan: Ruthie Nolan is Johnny's mother. She survives her husband and four sons and never forgives them for leaving her (either through death or marriage).
+The Nolan Boys (Georgie, Frankie, Andy): Johhny's brothers, who were handsome singing waiters, and all died before the age of thirty-five.
+Eliza Rommely: Eliza Rommely is the second daughter of the four girls. She joins a convent and has only a small role in Francie's life.
+Mr. Jensen: Mr. Jensen is the beloved janitor of Francie's second school. He is supposedly more educated than the teachers, but makes more money as the janitor. He gives Francie hope in school and signs her yearbook with style.
+Mr. Morton , Miss Bernstone: The respective music and art teachers who visit Francie's school once a week and are the treasure of the students and teachers. They also give Francie something to look forward to in school and attend both her old and new schools.
+Joanna: Joanna is a girl in Brooklyn who got into trouble and proudly displays her bastard child. She is stoned by other cruel women. Katie uses her as an example of what should not happen to Francie, but Francie sees how the other women treat her and decides that she will never be friends with a woman.
+Lucia: Lucia is a young Italian girl who gets into trouble and gives her baby to Sissy. Sissy feigns pregnancy and raises Lucia's baby, Sarah, as her own.
+McGarrity: McGarrity is the owner of the pub in which Johnny drinks. He is also very upset with how his family turned out. When Johnny dies, he befriends the Nolans and employs Francie and Neeley.
+Mae: Mae is McGarrity's wife who would rather hang out in the bar than be a good housewife and mother to their children.
+Sergeant Michael McShane: McShane is a middle-aged Irish police officer-turned politician who falls in love with Katie. After his wife dies and Johnny dies, he marries her and brings the Nolans out of poverty and into a life of comfort.
+Willie Flittman: Willie Flittman is Evy's husband who constantly feels like he is a failure. He is kicked by a horse and consequently decides to become a one-man band and leaves his family. He is never heard from again.
+Ben Blake: Ben is the handsome, intelligent, athletic, popular, driven young man with whom Francie falls in love at college. He cares for her deeply as a friend and perhaps as a future wife.
+Lee Rhynor: Lee is the man with whom Francie falls in passionate love. He plays a cruel joke on her by telling her he loves her and wants to sleep with her before he goes to war. He leaves, gets married to another girl, and disappears from Francie's life. She always thinks of him.
+Steve/John: Steve is Sissy's last and final husband. He loves her dearly, but is frustrated with her past and with her feigned pregnancy. She calls him John and eventually falls madly in love with him. The two have two children and live comfortably.
+Albie Seedmore: Albie Seedmore is a boy who first asks Francie out on a date after her graduation.
+Steven Aaron: Steven Aaron is the first live born baby of Sissy. She has had ten stillbirths until this successful birth in a hospital. He is partially named after the doctor who helped Sissy bear him.
+Sarah: Sarah is Lucia's baby who Sissy adopts as her own.
+Dr. Aaronstein: Dr. Aaronstein is the Jewish doctor who Steve hires to help Sissy through her labor and birth process. Because of his help, Sissy is able to give birth to a healthy baby.
+Miss Briggs: Miss Briggs is one of Francie's teachers at her first school who treats her inferior because she is poor. Sissy pretends to be Francie's mother and scares Miss Briggs into treating Francie well.
+Miss Garnder: Miss Garnder is Francie's English teacher who grades her down because she writes about death and drunkenness. Francie writes imaginary plays in which she is her pet. Miss Garnder is the teacher who at first grants Francie the task of writing the graduation play and then takes that privilege away from her because of the change in her writing compositions.
+Miss Armstrong: Miss Armstrong is the city reader at the bureau where Francie works in New York. She is the boss's mistress and leaves work to marry him. She is the first real-life mistress that Francie has met and destroys Francie's image of mistresses because she does in fact marry the man she is seeing.
+Laurie Nolan McShane: Laurie is the third child of Katie and Johnny. Johnny dies four months before she is born. She is named after the song 'Annie Laurie' that Johnny sings and is adopted by McShane, after his marriage to Katie. She will have a much easier life than Francie and Neeley.
+Florry Wendy: Florry is a ten-year-old girl who mirrors Francie when she was a child. She is only in the last chapter, as a representation of the cycle of life.
+Little Tilly: The young girl who unfortunately is a forgotten child and who Johnny takes on a fishing trip (a comedy of errors). She cries and illustrates Johnny as an unfit parent and never appears in the rest of the book.
+.
+My personal selection of places to see near Rome includes cities that are easy to reach by train or by car. They can be truly explored and enjoyed in one day and will add incredible value to your Roman holiday.
+8 amazing day trips from Rome
+1. Ostia Antica
+Close to Rome and very easy to reach is Ostia Antica, where you can visit both the Roman archaeological site and the medieval quarter in the modern town.
+Ostia (Ostium in Latin means “mouth” as the city was located right at the mouth of the Tiber where it flowed into the sea) was an ancient Roman town mainly serving as a commercial port for the capital. From here goods of all types, especially wheat, were stored and shipped to Rome via the river.
+Built as a military settlement, Ostia has later turned into a pivotal commercial and trading hub thanks to its proximity to the port. By the 2nd century, it had become a rich city with villas and residential areas where the wealthy would either live or spend their holidays, along with taverns, shops, bakeries and the mandatory temples, a political arena, an amphitheater for public games, and the thermal baths, favorite pastime in ancient Rome.
+With barbarians’ attacks on Rome and its aqueducts, also Ostia faced an inevitable decline and was gradually abandoned.
+Diggings are always ongoing, and three years ago they found new evidence showing that Ostia is twice bigger than Pompeii.
+Walking around the ancient alleys of Ostia Antica you can still see the old dwellings, ruins of the temples and remainings of the mosaics. Admittedly, visiting with a knowledgeable tour guide you will gain much more from this trip rather than going by yourself.
+Click here for more details and prices for a private tour to Ostia Antica
+How to get to Ostia Antica: take the train from Piramide metro station, the ticket is € 1.50 for a single trip.
+Opening hours for Ostia Antica: 8.30 am-3.30/4.30 pm in winter; 8.30 am-5.30/6.30 from late spring to early autumn. Closed on Mondays, December 25th, January 1st, May 1st. Check here for more details
+Ticket fee for Ostia Antica: the full ticket is 8 €, for teachers or 18-25-year-old citizens from EU countries is 4 €. First Sunday of the month free for everyone.
+READ MORE: Our guide to the best budget hotels in Rome
+2. Tivoli
+A fascinating day trip from Rome is certainly to the town of Tivoli. Very old, claiming to be older than Rome as dating back to 1215 BC, Tivoli is home to the wonderful Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este, both enlisted by UNESCO (here and here).
+Villa Adriana is a complex of classical buildings dating back to the 2nd century AD by Roman emperor Hadrian where the most important architectural styles of the time such as the Greek, the Egyptian and the Roman blend gracefully, while Villa d’Este is a Renaissance-style palace and garden exquisitely decorated with fountains and statues.
+In addition, in Tivoli, you can also visit the beautiful Villa Gregoriana park, Albule thermal baths, and Hercules Sanctuary built in the 2nd century AD.
+How to get to Tivoli from Rome: by train from Roma Tiburtina station, or by Cotral bus from Ponte Mammolo metro station, line B. Once in Tivoli, you can use the public transport C.A.T. to reach the different places.
+Opening hours: Villa Adriana opens daily 9 am-7 pm in summer (until 5 pm in winter); Villa d’Este opens 8.30 am-6.45 pm in summer (until 4 in winter); Villa Gregoriana opens 10 am-4 pm on March, November, December (last entrance at 3 pm), until 6.30 pm April-October (last entrance at 5.30 pm), closed on Mondays, if Monday is a holiday Villa Gregoriana stays open and closes the day after.
+Visit Tivoli official website for more info
+Entrance fee: for Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este ticket is 8 €, for Villa Gregoriana 6 €.
+3. Viterbo
+One of my very favorite towns near Rome, Viterbo is a real pearl. As soon as you get off at Viterbo Porta Romana train station, you cross the road and find the first gate into the medieval heart of the city.
+Viterbo is famous for being the official papal seat for a short time, unofficial for much longer, and home now to what’s known as the Palace of the Popes. The palace was built when the papal seat was going to be transferred to Viterbo from Rome in 1257. It’s located on a hill in the historical quarter with a beautiful view of the city and the surroundings and it’s possible to visit both the palace and the adjoining cathedral.
+The city is also known for its workshops, so if you stroll around the Quartiere San Pellegrino you can see some local handicraft and do a pretty fascinating shopping. One of my favorite art workshops is Laboratorio Artistica (via S. Pellegrino 8), where they produce the original Zaffera ceramics.
+Viterbo is also home to wonderful thermal baths, so if you have some extra time in the city, do pamper yourself with some treatments or even only for a warm bath (entrance for only the baths is 10 € and you can soak as much as you like).
+How to get to Viterbo from Rome: take the train from Roma Ostiense, Roma Trastevere, Roma San Pietro or Valle Aurelia (also a metro station, line A), the ticket is 5 €, ride from 1 hour 50 minutes to 1 hour 30.
+Opening hours of the Palace of the Popes: open daily 10 am-1 pm and 3-6 pm (in summer open until 7 pm, in August until 8 pm). Check the official website for more information
+Entrance fee to the Palace of the Popes: 9 € and it includes the palace, the cathedral, and museum with the audioguide.
+4. Tarquinia and Cerveteri
+A beautiful medieval town, Cerveteri is home to some of the fascinating Etruscan ruins of central Italy. Actually, Cerveteri is the ancient capital of Etruria, and its necropolis is the most imposing among the Etruscan funerary remains.
+Here you can take a stroll around the “city of the dead” and thanks to the 3D video installations, virtual reconstructions and light and sound effects, you can see how the tombs as they were 2000 years ago and have a true time travel experience. In Cerveteri, you can visit also the Museo della Cerite that displays many Etruscan relics.
+North of Cerveteri is Tarquinia, also an ancient Etruscan town where you can visit the necropolis that has been defined as “the first page of the great Italian paintings” thanks to the wonderful paintings representing scenes with hunters, fishermen, athletes, musicians, dancers, and jugglers. In Tarquinia, there is also the archaeological museum worth a visit.
+How to get to Cerveteri from Rome: the best way is by car. If you can’t drive there, take the train from Rome and get off at Marina di Cerveteri station from where you will take a bus from line D to Piazzale Moretti or Piazza Aldo Moro, and from here line G to the necropolis.
+How to get to Tarquinia from Rome: take the train from Roma Termini station and get off at Tarquinia, from where you can either walk to the Etruscan necropolis or take a bus of line D.
+Opening hours for Cerveteri and Tarquinia necropolis: 8.30 am to sunset, closed on Mondays, December 25th, January 1st. Check the official website for more info on hours and prices
+Entrance fee to Tarquinia and Cerveteri: tickets are 6 €, for Cerveteri the booking is mandatory and costs 2 €.
+5. Terni – Cascata delle Marmore
+Terni is in the Umbria region, but only an hour by train from Rome so totally doable in one day trip. The city is known as “the Italian Manchester” or “steel city” because of its industrious modern history. This is not all about Terni, though.
+The saint patron is Valentine, his relics are preserved in San Valentino Basilica, a popular pilgrimage site. So it’s easy to imagine that here Valentine’s Day is sort of a big deal and many events are organized the days before the 14th of February.
+Terni, however, doesn’t end in Terni. From the station, take the bus to Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Waterfalls, and enjoy a fantastic hike or walk (depending on the paths you choose) around this natural wonder that is actually man-made, result of the Roman hydraulic genius in order to collect the waters from the Velino river that were becoming stagnating on the Sabina plain, and to merge the flow of the Nera and Velino rivers, making them tributary of each other.
+Cascata delle Marmore is definitely one of the great day trips from Rome that will give you the chance to explore the nature and delve into the history and tradition of central Italy.
+How to get to Terni from Rome: train from Roma Termini, the ride is about one hour and the ticket costs 7 €.
+Opening hours of Cascata delle Marmore: January and February the water in the falls is open only on weekends, while in the good season they open it for a couple of hours in the morning and some hours in the afternoon and evening. Before going, it’s good to check out the hours from the official website
+Entrance fee for Cascata delle Marmore: 10 € for adults, 7 € for 5 to 10 year-olds.
+6. Bracciano
+A beautiful medieval town, Bracciano is also home to the Orsini Odescalchi Castle. This historic mansion is also famous for having been the venue for Tom Cruise’s wedding. Built in the 15th century upon the commission of Napoleon Orsini to Italian architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, throughout the century has been the object of dispute between Roman noble families Colonna and Borgia who fiercely fought for its ownership. To the point that in 1496 Pope Alexander VI Borgia confiscated it.
+Residence of local noble clans and several popes, the castle is a must for any visit to this lovely town north of Rome.
+Originally, Bracciano was a fishing and farming village existing already from Etruscan time, and in 1419 pope Martino V gave it up to the Orsini family. This is how, from the 15th century, the history of Bracciano is inextricably linked to the Orsini-Odescalchi clan.
+The city lies on the shores of the famous Bracciano lake and is a perfect destination for a walk in nature, go on a boat or, in summer, for a swim. This is not the only town lapped by the lake’s waters, and also hamlets like Anguillara Sabazia and Trevignano Romano make it for beautiful and regenerating day trips from Rome.
+How to get to Bracciano from Rome: take the train from Roma Ostiense, Roma Trastevere or Roma San Pietro towards Viterbo, the same train stops both at Bracciano and Anguillara. The ticket is 4 €.
+Opening hours for Castello Odescalchi: open daily. Monday-Friday 10 am-6 pm (winter until 5 pm), Saturday and Sunday 10 am-7 pm (winter until 6 pm). Last admission an hour before closing time. Check Castello Odescalchi official website for more info
+Entrance fee to Castello Odescalchi: for adults € 8.50, 6 € for children between 6 and 12 years old, free for children up to 5 years old.
+7. Castelli Romani
+Perched on the hills south of Rome is a cluster of picturesque towns and hamlets perfect for a hiking day out, a foodie trip and a photography outing.
+Symbol of the Castelli Romani group is Frascati, ancient town famous for the historical Renaissance and Baroque villas that Roman noble families wanted to be surrounded by nature in the backdrop of the Colli Albani (Albani Hills).
+With time, Frascati has become always more popular among foreign tourists as well as Roman residents who like to regenerate on the weekend with a day out in nature, silence and good food.
+In Frascati, you can stroll around its beautiful streets, visit the sumptuous villas and mansions such as Villa Aldobrandini and Villa Falconieri, the churches such as San Pietro Cathedral, and enjoy the typical dishes, from the porchetta (spit-roasted pork) to the renowned local wines at one of the traditional osterie.
+Nemi is also worth a visit during a day out at the Castelli Romani. Famous for its tiny little strawberries, when it’s not the season for these juicy delights, you can still stroll around its quaint alleys, visit the museum built around a Roman ship that was found in the area, and enjoy the view of the Nemi Lake.
+Among the other towns of the Castelli Romani are Rocca di Papa, Castel Gandolfo to visit the summer residence of the Pope, Colonna, and Ariccia.
+How to get to Castelli Romani from Rome: definitely by car as only Frascati can be reached by train (half an hour from Roma Termini), but once there, seldom are the public buses to go around the other villages.
+8. Calcata
+Located some 45 km from Rome, Calcata is a tiny village perched on a tuff cliff. From above, you can view its rooftops and spot its medieval look like many other villages of the Tuscia region in the Lazio. Also inside, the small town still retains much of the original look it had in the Middle Ages between cobbled alleys, churches and castles.
+Now, strolling around the village you can stop at the many handicraft shops and artist workshops, and also have lunch in one of the many traditional restaurants.
+To reach Calcata from Rome, your best bet is to rent a car and drive there yourself. There are also some Cotral buses that stop nearby, but I’m not sure how many per day and also how many on the way back to Rome. To get there, you’ll need to do a piece of the Raccordo Anulare (GRA, A90) and then follow the sign towards Calcata. The regional and council roads are narrow, double direction and there are plenty of bends.
+Once in Calcata, you can briefly stop at the entrance to take a picture of the view, but then you need to move the car as parking there is not allowed. Follow the P sign for the council parking not far from there. From the parking, you can get to the historic centre via the staircase. You can park inside the village only on weekdays as on weekends and holidays it’s ZTL (limited traffic zone). However, the space is very limited, so you will probably need to get to the parking.
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+BACKGROUNDS: Occurrence of airway irritation among industrial metal workers was investigated. The aims were to study the association between exposures from water-based metal working fluids (MWF) and the health outcome among the personnel, to assess potential effects on the proteome in nasal mucous membranes, and evaluate preventive actions.
+METHODS: The prevalence of airway symptoms related to work were examined among 271 metalworkers exposed to MWF and 24 metal workers not exposed to MWF at the same factory. At the same time, air levels of potentially harmful substances (oil mist, morpholine, monoethanolamine, formaldehyde) generated from MWF was measured. Nasal lavage fluid was collected from 13 workers and 15 controls and protein profiles were determined by a proteomic approach.
+RESULTS: Airway symptoms were reported in 39% of the workers exposed to MWF although the measured levels of MWF substances in the work place air were low. Highest prevalence was found among workers handling the MWF machines but also those working in the same hall were affected. Improvement of the ventilation to reduce MWF exposure lowered the prevalence of airway problems. Protein profiling showed significantly higher levels of S100-A9 and lower levels of SPLUNC1, cystatin SN, Ig J and β2-microglobulin among workers with airway symptoms.
+CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that upper airway symptoms among metal workers are a common problem and despite low levels of MWF-generated substances, effects on airway immune proteins are found. Further studies to clarify the role of specific MWF components in connection to airway inflammation and the identified biological markers are warranted.
+OBJECTIVES: The pathophysiology of trapezius myalgia is not fully elucidated. Serotonin (5-HT) is involved in modulation of nociception and hyperalgesia. Our aim was to compare the interstitial 5-HT levels of the trapezius muscle in women with chronic trapezius myalgia and in pain-free controls.
+MATERIALS AND METHODS: Microdialysate of the trapezius muscle collected every 20 minutes during rest, work (100 min) and stress (20 min) was used to study the dynamics of 5-HT in women with chronic trapezius myalgia (MYA; n=18) and in pain-free controls (CON; n=30).
+RESULTS: MYA had higher levels of 5-HT than CON at baseline, during repetitive work, during mental stress and during recovery. There were no significant time effects on 5-HT levels.
+CONCLUSION: 5-HT has the potential of a biomarker of chronic myalgia. Elevated levels of 5-HT may be involved in maintenance of habitual chronic pain and might contribute to increased pain during exercise by facilitating the effect of released algesic substances linked to such muscle demands. (a- and ?-tocopherol, ▀.
+There is increasing evidence that Chlamydia pneumoniae is linked to atherosclerosis and thrombosis. In this regard, we have recently shown that C. pneumoniae stimulates platelet aggregation and secretion, which may play an important role in the progress of atherosclerosis and in thrombotic vascular occlusion. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of C. pneumoniae on platelet-mediated formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in vitro. ROS production was registered as changes in 2´,7`-dichlorofluorescin- fluorescence in platelets with flow cytometry. LDL-oxidation was determined by measuring thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs). We found that C. pneumoniae stimulated platelet production of ROS.Polymyxin B treatment of C. pneumoniae, but not elevated temperature, abolished the stimulatory effects on platelet ROS- production, which suggests that chlamydial lipopolysaccharide has an important role. In hibition of nitric oxide synthase with nitro-L-arginine, lipoxygenase with 5,8,11-eicosatriynoic acid and protein kinase C with GF 109203X significantly lowered the production of radicals. In contrast, inhibition of NADPH-oxidase with di-phenyleneiodonium (DPI) did not affect the C. pneumoniae induced ROS-production. These findings suggest that the activities of nitric oxide synthase and lipoxygenase are the sources for ROS and that the generation is dependent of the activity of protein kinase C.The C. pneumoniae-induced ROS-production in platelets was associated with an extensive oxidation of LDL, which was significantly higher compared to the effect obtained by separate exposure of LDL to C. pneumoniae or platelets. In conclusion, C. pneumoniae interaction with platelets leading to aggregation, ROS-production and oxidative damage on LDL, may play a crucial role in the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.. Both asbestos (chrysotile) and manmade mineral fibers (~)were found to generate OH" and damage DNA in aqueous buffer solutions, andmore OH· was generated by the iron-containing rock and slag wools than by glass wool and ceramic fibers. The OH• generation by rock wool was decreased by treatment with heat, oxygen or desferrioxamine, indicating that chemical characteristics including iron on the fiber surface were important determinants of the OH" formation. A variety of natural mineral fibers (asbestos, erionite, and wollastonite) and MMMF (rock wool, glass wool, and ceramic fibers) were found to stimulate polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) togenerate OH" in the presence of exogenously added iron, and amosite, crocidolite, antophyllite, erionite, and wollastonite caused OH" formation also in the absence of exogenously added iron. Cigarette smoke potentiated the damaging action of rock wool onisolated DNA, suggesting that iron-containing fibers might catalyze O:H" formation from hydrogen peroxide generated in the smoke. Cigarette smoke-induced damage to isolated DNA was inhibited by tyrosinase and catalase, indicating that polyphenols in the smoke,e.g. hydroquinone and catechol, were important for the hydrogen peroxide generation. Cigarette smoke was also found to cause oxidative DNA damage and DNA strand break formation in cultured human lung cells by mechanisms involving OH" attack on the DNAmolecule and endonuclease activation. Moreover, cigarette tar was demonstrated to promote P:MNL-mediated DNA strand-break formation in human lung cells, and tar loaded with iron was more damaging than regular tar.
+These fmdings indicate that mineral fibers, by producing OH· themselves and by stimulating PMNL to generate OH· in the presence of iron, may cause oxidative DNA damage under experimental conditions. They also indicate that cigarette smoke may cause DNA base hydroxylation and DNA strand-break formation in human lung cells via mechanisms involving OH", and that iron is important for the OH•-formation. Altogether, the findings point to the possibility that mineral fibers may promote OH" generation by cigarette smoke and inflammatory cells and so increase the risk of DNA damage in human lung cells...
+Background and aims: Low circulating levels of carotenoids have been associated with cardiovascular disease. The distribution of different carotenoids in blood may have an impact on the cardioprotective capacity. The aim of the present study was to determine the plasma levels of 6 major carotenoids in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and relate the findings to clinical, metabolic and immune parameters. Methods and results: Plasma levels of oxygenated carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin) and hydrocarbon carotenoids (α-carotene, β-carotene, lycopene) were determined in 39 patients with acute coronary syndrome, 50 patients with stable CAD and 50 controls. Serological assays for inflammatory activity and flow cytometrical analysis of lymphocyte subsets were performed. Both patient groups had significantly lower plasma levels of oxygenated carotenoids, in particular lutein + zeaxanthin, compared to controls. Low levels of oxygenated carotenoids were associated with smoking, high body mass index (BMI), low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and, to a minor degree, inflammatory activity. Plasma levels of lutein + zeaxanthin were independently associated with the proportions of natural killer (NK) cells, but not with other lymphocytes, in blood. Conclusion: Among carotenoids, lutein + zeaxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin were significantly reduced in CAD patients independent of clinical setting. The levels were correlated to a number of established cardiovascular risk factors. In addition, the relationship between NK cells and lutein + zeaxanthin may indicate a particular role for certain carotenoids in the immunological scenario of CAD. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved..
+Background and aim: Carotenoids in plasma are inversely associated with cardiovascular risk. Low levels can be explained by low dietary intake but also by a number of other factors including inflammatory activity. Given that matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 has an important role in inflammation and cardiovascular disease, we hypothesized that circulating MMP-9 levels would be inversely related to total or single carotenoids in a general population cohort. Methods: A well-characterized population-based cohort of 285 Swedish men and women (45-69 years) was used for the present study. The intake of carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire. Levels of MMP-9, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6 and six major carotenoids [β-cryptoxanthine, α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein (+ zeaxanthin) and lycopene] were determined in plasma. Results: Lower plasma levels of total and single carotenoids were associated with lower dietary intake of carotenoids, older age, male sex, lower physical activity, higher alcohol consumption, higher body mass index (BMI), higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures, lower levels of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol and higher levels of CRP, IL-6 and MMP-9. After multivariate adjustments, plasma levels of total carotenoids and provitamin A carotenoids (β-cryptoxanthine, α-carotene and β-carotene) remained independently associated with sex, dietary intake of carotenoids, BMI, HDL cholesterol and MMP-9, while associations with CRP and IL-6 were not maintained. Neither dietary intake of carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables, nor vitamin supplement use was associated with MMP-9, CRP or IL-6 levels. Conclusion: Plasma carotenoids were associated with a variety of factors including age, sex, dietary intake and metabolic variables. A new finding was the independent relationship in plasma between low provitamin A carotenoids and high MMP-9, suggesting a link between these carotenoids, matrix turnover and arterial remodelling. © 2012 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine.
+Purpose:.
+Purpose: Carotenoids are potent antioxidants and immunomodulators mainly transported in the low density lipoprotein (LDL) fraction. It is well known that low plasma carotenoids are associated with cardiovascular disease incidence. We investigated whether simvastatin altered the carotenoid status in plasma.
+Methods: A randomized double-blind study design was used. Eighty volunteers with mild to moderate hypercholesterolemia received either simvastatin 40 mg or placebo for 6 weeks. Lipids, inflammatory markers, oxygenated carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin) and hydrocarbon carotenoids (alphacarotene, beta-carotene and lycopene) were measured in plasma.
+Results: After simvastatin therapy, total cholesterol, LDL, apolipoprotein B (apo B), oxidized LDL and C-reactive protein were significantly reduced. Simvastatin therapy also resulted in significantly reduced plasma levels of all crude major carotenoids. However, after adjustment for total cholesterol, LDL or apo B, all carotenoids except beta-cryptoxanthin increased during statin therapy (see Table). The carotenoids were inversely correlated with inflammatory markers but these correlations were abolished during simvastatin therapy.
+Conclusions: The increase in lipid-adjusted levels of carotenoids during simvastatin therapy suggest that lipoproteins had become enriched with carotenoids. The data highlight the risk to misinterpret the carotenoid status in individuals with statin therapy if relying on absolute plasma levels..
+Whereas psychosocial risk factors increase the risk for disease, psychosocial resources reduce this risk. To examine a possible pathway for these effects, the relations between saliva cortisol levels and psychosocial factors were studied in a random sample of 257 men and women aged 30 to 64 years. Saliva samples were collected at home on waking, 30 min after waking, and in the evening. A flatter diurnal rhythm of cortisol, that is, lower deviations between awakening and evening cortisol levels, was related to high levels of psychosocial risk factors (cynicism, depression, and vital exhaustion), whereas a steeper diurnal rhythm was related to psychosocial resources (social support and coping), general health, and well-being (all p < .05). Our results support earlier suggestions that the capacity of the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal-axis to dynamically respond to stress is 1 pathway for observed effects of psychosocial factors regarding risk for disease development. Copyright © 2006 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc..
+Background. Epidemiological studies show that high intake of food-bound vitamin C and E reduces the risk of gastric cancer. Whether dietary supplementation with antioxidant micronutrients interferes with Helicobacter pylori infection and associated diseases is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate if dietary vitamin C or E supplementation influences the progression of gastritis, gastric mucosal nitrosative and oxidative protein damage, gastric mucosal lipid peroxidation, or gastric mucosal oxidative DNA damage in H. pylori-infected Mongolian gerbils.
+Materials and methods. Gerbils were divided into four groups: H. pylori-infected animals fed with vitamin C- or vitamin E-supplemented food, and infected and uninfected animals given standard rodent food. Subgroups of animals were killed at different time-points until 52 weeks postinfection. Concentrations of 3-nitrotyrosine and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in the gastric mucosa were determined with an immunodot blot and a fluorometric method, respectively. Mucosal concentrations of carbonyl carbons on proteins and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Gastritis was scored semiquantitatively.
+Results. Vitamin supplements had no effect on the colonization with H. pylori. Vitamin C as well as vitamin E supplements reduced mucosal 3-nitrotyrosine concentrations to normal levels in infected animals. Vitamin E supplements decreased mucosal protein carbonyls and TBARS in short-term gastritis. In addition, vitamin C supplements caused attenuated mucosal oxidative DNA damage and milder mucosal inflammation in short-term gastritis.
+Conclusion. Vitamin C or vitamin E supplementation leads to some short-term protective effects on H. pylori-induced gastritis in Mongolian gerbils. These effects seem to subside over time when the infection persists.
+Buckwheat food is a good source of antioxidants, e.g. rutin, and other beneficial substances. Here we investigated the effects of the intake of common buckwheat (low rutin content) and tartary buckwheat cookies (high rutin content) on selected clinical markers. A double blind crossover study was performed among female day-care centre staffs (N = 62). We monitored selected clinical markers related to cardiovascular disease and lower airway inflammation, lung function, and subjective breathing difficulties in the staffs. Intake of tartary buckwheat cookies reduced the serum level of myeloperoxidase (MPO) by a factor 0.84 (p = 0.02). When grouping the two types of buckwheat cookies together, there was a reduction of total serum cholesterol (p andlt; 0.001) and HDL-cholesterol (p andlt; 0.001) during the study period, with improved lung vital capacity (p andlt; 0.001). The degree of reduction in total and HDL cholesterol levels was similar in staffs with low and high body mass index (cut off 25). In conclusion, intake of tartary buckwheat cookies with high level of the antioxidant rutin may reduce levels of MPO, an indicator of inflammation. Moreover, intake of both types of buckwheat cookies may lower cholesterol levels.
+Used an expensive weft sealer but still shedding hair or the sealer just doesn’t work? Don’t worry, these six tried and tested weft sealers will help solve both these and other related problems in no time.
+Ranked 15th on Amazon’s list
+Travel-size packing
+Easy to clean
+Includes applicator brush
+Sticks to hair sometimes
+Affordable
+Anti-fungal properties
+Fragile packing
+Ranked 152 in Amazon’s list of Best Wigs and Hairpiece Adhesives
+Easy application
+Not long-lasting
+Gooey
+Salon Pro 30 Sec Easy Track Weft Sealer
+After trying this weft sealer for hair extensions, we were surprised with the results (which were better than expensive products in the market)
+Cheaper than the competitors
+Does not create a mess
+Easy application
+May react to some skin types
+Dritz Fray Check Liquid Seam Sealant
+Although not meant for hair extensions or wefts, this product gets the job done at half the cost
+Very cheap price
+Minimizes shedding
+Not originally manufactured for wefts
+Dries slowly
+Top-Loc Know Sealer Spray
+The spray bottle wasn’t working but we loved how intense the formula was and it worked perfectly
+Spray bottle for quick application
+Lasts quite a bit
+Thick concentration
+Doesn’t stop shedding
+6 Best Effective Weft Sealer for Extensions in 2020 Reviews
+Therapist with experience of more than 25 years. She has written over 15 scientific papers. She works as a family doctor.Diane W. Christenson
+Hair extensions are a common sight these days, so finding a good Weft Sealer can make things less stressful and easy. Let’s find out how.
+For people with hair extensions, there’s no greater horror than shedding hair from the weaves. Luckily, for us, there exists an easy solution-a Weft Sealer. If you haven’t used a weft sealer for weaves, then this is the right place for you. With different hair weft sealer reviews, we also have a quick weft sealer 101 in store for you. Find out what a Weft Sealer for weave is, how to use it, and six of the best weft sealer alternatives. All in one place.
+A weft sealer is an adhesive that is safe to use on your tracks (wefts). It prevents the hair from shedding by providing extra support and hold. To do so, you can also try the fray check weft sealer.
+Note: It does not completely stop the shedding, but it does reduce it significantly.
+There are multiple options available in the market like the hair extensions 101 weft sealer, extensions plus weft sealer, and many others. You can also get a weft sealer Walmart sells but it may not be as effective as it says. OR you could simply buy a good, tested weave weft sealer from Amazon without leaving your home (and avoiding unnecessary delivery charges). If you have a Prime membership, that's just a bonus.
+To successfully apply the wefts, follow the steps given below.
+Step 1: Spread the Hair on a Dry Towel
+You can also use a newspaper instead of a towel if you wish.
+Step 2: Comb the Hair Down
+Separate any hair attached to the weft for smooth application.
+Step 3: Apply Thin Layer of Weft Sealer
+Using a brush apply the hair weave weft sealer onto the weft only. Let it dry for a few minutes.
+Note: This time may vary based on the thickness and composition of the weft sealer that you use.
+Step 4: Flip it Over, Repeat
+Once dry, turn the hair over and repeat the same process on the opposite side. Don’t forget the corners or your hair may not stick on properly.
+That’s it!
+Now all you must do is wait for the product to dry completely to avoid making a mess and apply the weft like a pro.
+When you use too many products on your scalp, it elevates hair fall and damage. To deal with this, our first option on this list is the Redken Unisex Extreme Length Sealer Treatment. It works tremendously as a split-end treatment and repairs any hair damage. It is a part of a product range designed to achieve maximum hair length.
+This product is for those who expose their hair to chemicals like weft sealers. Thus, it is at the top of our list of the best weft sealer reviews. To get the best results, use it as a regular hair serum. Apply it on the mid-lengths through the ends. We recommend getting the whole range of the length sealer treatment products by Redken to maximize the benefits.
+The Redken Unisex Extreme Length Sealer Treatment is an anti-snap treatment that helps smooth hair cuticles and prevents breakage. At the same time, it fortifies the hair damage caused by chemicals that you use on your hair like hair sealers.
+Note: This is not a weft sealer but will come in handy if you want to minimize the damage caused to your hair by the strong weft sealers.
+Specification:
+Key features:
+The Ultra Hold Liquid Bond Glue works well with tape in hair extensions and wigs but can also be used as a weft sealer. The product is not very expensive and lasts a long time (approximately 2 to 3 weeks). Make sure you use it on the tape or weft only as it does not bond well with synthetic or human hair.
+The key to using this product is patience. It takes a while to dry so if you don't have a lot of time to apply the hair, this may not be the product you want. Luckily, we have four faster options lined up for you. You can skip directly to the next one to save time. For those who don’t want to miss out on a great product, read on.
+If time is not a constraint, we recommend using a paintbrush rather than the brush that comes with it. This will lower the probability of a messy application. When paired with the right remover, the removal process is also smooth. Overall, this is a great product the only problem we faced was its stickiness which made it dry slower than the other hair weft sealers. If you’re planning to wear the wig or extensions for a long period, then this should be your go-to hair weft sealer.
+Specification:
+Key features:
+If you’re looking for a quick, easy, and non-messy way to bond wefted hair this virgin hair weft sealer is right for you. It comes in a squeeze bottle which makes the application a lot faster. And without any brushes involved, it’s always less messy.
+Simply drag it on the surface of the weft and squeeze, this will minimize mess and help you put it on like a professional. The formula keeps extensions bonded tightly until you want to remove them and can only be removed by a remover like the C-22 solvent adhesive remover. What we love about the Proclaim Dark Super Bond Hair Glue is that it can be used for any color wefted hair.
+A word of caution would be to avoid applying this product directly to your scalp. We didn’t experience any side effects but according to some reviews, it may cause a burning sensation.
+Specification:
+Key features:
+If you’ve read any Salon Pro weft sealer reviews, you know one thing. They work fast. So, without any doubt the Salon Pro 30 Second Bonding Glue does justice to the brand and adheres well to the tracks within 30 seconds. This is the fastest adhesive to lock your weaves in place at a reasonable price.
+It dries fast so it is perfect for people (like us) who are always in a rush. Professional hairdressers working as hairstylists for theatres and movies can use this glue to hold the actor’s hair into place. It can also be used to create perfect hairstyles during weddings, graduations, or any other special occasion. In simple words, this is the ultimate weft sealer that hairstylists swear by.
+The Salon Pro 30 Second Bonding Glue is anti-fungal. It prevents itching or irritation in the scalp. Use it with the Salon Pro 30 sec weft sealer remover for a quick and mess-free application and removal process. The product is manufactured in the USA and suits all hair types and is itch-free.
+Note: The formula includes latex rubber.
+Specification:
+Key Features:
+The New Ultra Hold Acrylic Adhesive with Brush Applicator is the perfect shedding solution. It comes in a convenient travel-sized packing so you can simply carry it wherever you go. If you like wearing multiple wigs or change wefts regularly then this is the best adhesive for you. It works on lace front wigs, toupees, and all hair systems.
+The weft sealer amazon sells are all amazing, but this one bond well and dries faster than most adhesives. The Easy Track weft sealer shed stop weft sealer, hairextensions101 weft sealer or frankly any weft sealer at Walmart is beaten by the strong and quick-dry formula of this product. It is waterproof and shines free which gives the extensions a much natural appearance.
+The removal is also quite simple, clean the weft with the C-22 Remover or lace release or use 99% medical alcohol to wipe off the glue. The applicator brush is also easy to use and helps make the application process as little mess as possible. It does seem a bit runny at first, but with time, you’ll get used to the liquid formula. It is different than the no-tape adhesives in the market, but its result makes this product worth your time.
+Not as fast as the Salon Pro Easy Track Weft Sealer but delivers great results. Let the product dry for five minutes before attaching your hair system to avoid an untidy application.
+Specification:
+Key features:
+If you are looking for a weft sealer for virgin hair, your search ends now. This phenomenal weft sealer by Salon Pro bonds to wefted hair and leaves no traces when applied correctly. The Salon Pro Anti-Fungus Hair Bonding Glue adheres to synthetic and human hair.
+It is meant for professional use only and does a bang on job holding the hair in place for a long time. This product is perfect for those who are tired of low-quality hair glues and want a hassle-free glue for every hair system there is. The only drawback we noticed was its pungent odor. It goes away with time, but it was a big no-no for our expert.
+The product contains rubber latex in its composition which may cause an allergic reaction in some individuals. Otherwise, it is worth every buck. To remove it without damaging or breaking your hair follicles, use a hair bonding glue remover (preferably the Salon Pro Hair Bonding Glue Remover).
+You can get the Salon Pro Anti-Fungus Hair Bonding Glue in two colors–white and black. For light shades of hair like blonde, the white-colored formula covers the tracks well. The same goes for the black alternative which is perfect for darker hair colors. Thanks to the twist cap, you can use this glue for a long time before it dries off completely. To make things better, this product is anti-fungal which means you won’t experience any itchiness or irritation in your scalp.
+Specification:
+Key features:
+Do your hair wefts keep coming off? Have you tried every type of hair system there is, but the problem persists?
+Well, you’ve been looking in the wrong places!
+The easiest fix in such cases is using a weft sealer. To find out what a weft sealer is, click here. Readily available on Amazon, weft sealers help your weave stay in place without many efforts. Be sure to buy a product that has a good rating and the least side effects.
+To help you pick the best weft sealer we have turned every stone and come up with the six best options. Don’t trust the products on this list blindly, know why we chose them. If you’re not well-versed with the what and if’s of weave sealers, here is a crash course on selecting the right weft sealer for weaves.
+You know the trick to perfectly holding your hair weaves in place now. But using any hair weft sealer won’t be enough. There are many fake products in the market and products that barely hold hair extensions together. So, how can you find out which weft sealer is the one for you?
+Focus on the following factors when buying weft sealers and you’ll be good to go.
+Maybe you’re not a brand freak but the thing with weft sealers is, you should stick to the reputed sellers only. Like he 101 weft sealer, Salon Pro weft sealer, and so on. It becomes difficult to choose a good product as there are multiple brands in the market.
+So, we recommend playing it safe and going with the popular brands only. If you feel like experimenting, try a different brand or product from the same brand. But make sure you always select a trustworthy label. These products are tried and tested by thousands of other people and you can use them without worrying about the result. Any cheap or low-quality product may cause an infection or increase hair fall.
+Notice that we said reasonably priced and not cheap. If you get a good product at a cheap rate, go ahead. But a low cost does not always get you the best quality. Similarly, buying a ridiculously expensive weft sealant is not practical and does not guarantee a good product.
+For example, an $8 weft sealer may work better than a $50 hair weave sealant. The cost does not determine quality. So, make sure you buy the weave sealer from a trusted brand to get the best quality. When it comes to hair sealers, you’ll be applying it on your scalp (in a way). If the quality is not good, then it can damage your natural hair. Compromising on quality to get a cheaper product is not advised.
+Before adding the product to your cart make sure it is meant for weaves and not just wigs. There are sealants manufactured only for weave hair, but some aren’t meant to be used as weft sealers. Nevertheless, many products aren’t manufactured as weft sealers, but people have used them on their weaves and experienced amazing results.
+The best thing about these products people accidentally come across is that they are often, cheaper than weft sealers. But there is always a risk of getting infected when you try this tactic. So, unless necessary, stick to the trusted brands and products made specifically for weaves and save yourself the trouble.
+Another important factor to consider when buying a weft sealer is the time it takes to dry. Some products take 15 to 20 minutes or even hours to dry off completely, not everyone has that much time. But these products stay on longer than the instant drying alternatives, so that’s something. If you don’t have that much time and want a quick fix for your weaves, then we suggest going with the Salon Pro 30 Second range of products. These hair weft sealants take only 30 seconds to dry off and hold the wig or weft into place a lot longer than products you buy from any beauty store.
+After applying the weft sealant, follow the steps given below to keep your hair from shedding.
+When exposing your hair to so many chemicals, you can’t be too careful. Even though you’ve sealed your hair some tips can help you manage the weave better, they are:
+When you’ve new hair on, it’s natural to be tempted and try on new hairstyles every so often. But before doing so, think of the outcome. This will only wear your hair off faster than it is supposed to. Why?
+It’s obvious, the more you style them, the more they are being pulled. This leads to the breakage of hair which spoils it in return.
+Maintaining the hair extensions is of utmost importance to avoid shedding. Cover your hair before sleeping to ensure causing minimum damage to them. Another advice is to wear them down as often as possible instead of tying them into a bun or a ponytail. This eliminates the need to straighten or blow dry them all the time.
+If you like to sew your hair weaves, try sewing around the weft tracks. This minimizes shedding as opposed to when you sew them directly into the track. For people with no experience, we recommend getting professional help rather than doing it yourself watching some unreliable video.
+Sewing around the weft will allow it to hold on longer. When paired with a weft sealer, the match will be inseparable (until you want it to come off obviously). If you’re determined and want to sew in your wefts, follow this detailed tutorial carefully. The process may take a while, but it is not impossible to accomplish.
+Like you care for your real hair, doing the same for hair wefts and extensions is also important. After cleaning, spray the hair with oil to maintain its glossy and silky soft look. Comb it regularly to avoid tangling and use only a wide-toothed comb for it. Using a thin-toothed comb will lead to more breakage and shedding of hair with all the excessive pulling of hair.
+We understand the urge to iron them every day to get perfectly straight hair or curl them often. But too much heat can ruin the wig or extensions itself (just like it does to your natural hair). Use a heat protector before using any such equipment on the hair. Even so, minimize exposing it to heat as much as possible.
+For all the hair that your weave has already shed, we know it can get very frustrating to clean. But with these 12 ultimate vacuum cleaners for tile floors, you can cut the effort and time to half.
+As we mentioned earlier, comb the hair using a wide-toothed comb instead of the comb that you’d generally use. This reduces breakage and keeps the weave intact for a longer duration. Also, as opposed to your normal combing direction, comb the hair from the tips to the roots. Combing the hair is important as it prevents tangling and thus lowers the possibility of shedding.
+To clean a human hair extension, use half a cup of shampoo and lukewarm water. We recommend using dry shampoo as it moisturizes the hair extension maintaining its shine. To wash the hair follow these steps:
+Remember to deep condition the hair as it helps the hair retain moisture and its texture.
+Word of advice-don’t use the same weaves for more than three months. They lose shine and don’t look like they used to, just replace them after regular intervals. Take proper care of the weaves and hair extensions and use them for months without any problem.
+Shedding and hair fall are common problems faced by individuals. Avoiding it can severely deter the quality of your weave and make it seem dull. Taking proper care can help you save the time, effort, and money that you’d have to spend when replacing the weaves every time they get a little dirty.
+Using a weft sealer while installing weaves is also helpful. It ensures that the hair stays in place and does not start shedding or get loose. Follow all the steps given above and you’ll notice that your weaves will last longer than they previously did.
+Depending on the composition and product, every weft sealant lasts between a few days and a few weeks in the weave. If you apply it correctly, then a strong adhesive weft sealer can last for months too. It must only come off with a proper weft sealer remover.
+The answer is subjective to the product in question. Different adhesives are manufactured with a specific purpose in mind. This product is compatible with weaves, hair extensions, and lace wigs.
+Use a professional quality sealant glue remover or 99% medical alcohol to remove the adhesive from the weave. In some cases, it can also be removed with the help of a generic shampoo and washed off with water.
+Most weft sealers use rubber latex in their formula which can cause a reaction to some. But other than that, the side effects that are generally observed are itchiness and irritation in the scalp. But we have tried and tested the product under expert supervision and have experienced no such side effects.
+See chapter in newspaper
+Constance Vuchcsue : Is Lile
+Worth the Living?
+By "Onyx."
+Ciiatter VII.
+The telegram which Mr. White despatched to
+r"il was more fortunate ; Cyril was at his hotel j when it arrived. The summons was urgent, and Crril was only too glad to obey it-glad of any imperative necessity for action-glad of anything that could divert his thuuehts from his own nrivato affairs; for in spite of Constance's opinion as to the suitability of his ohoice Cyril was very deeply in love, and now he rejoiced at having to go to England, because it took him nfnr to Alice. In fact, in a few miuutes he had almost lost sight of the real object of his journey in his delight in having a good excuse for hÍ3 return. "I oan Jllst c»tcu tD0 tidal train to- night " he muttered, looking at his watch. A few minutes to make his final arrangements, and Cyril was in a fiacre hurrying to tho Station du Nord and bofore the early hours of the morning had well commenced ho was in London-Loudon asleep and yet not still, for the cessation of the shrillest noises only makes the dull roar of the heavy traffic which never ceases in that mighty centre of civilisation the more perceptible. It was chill and raw and dreary ; a drizzling raiu /eil and the sky was leaden. Cyril felt his spirits descend to their lowest ebb. Certainly no good could come of this journey, taken uuder such unfavourable auspices. There was no train to Thames Ditton for several hours ; bo ho betook himself to an hotel nud went to bed.
+To bed-but not to sleep. His journey, instead of tiring, Beenied only to have added excitement to the fever that was on him before. He turned and twisted and tried to reason him- self out of the Bonse of impending evil which clung to him so persistently. It was only the effects of the miserable weather, he argued. He knew ho was keenly alive to the influence of external things, as persons of his impressionable temperament so often aro ; but it was all in vain. He felt certain that some evil thing was goiDg to happen. At last, quite exhausted with wrestling with his forebodings, he fell asleep, and slept so heavily that it was nearly noon before he awoke.
+At first he was confused as to where he was and how he got thero. Alice and his uncle got curiously mixed up in his brain. Then he remem- bered his urgent summons, and frowned as he looked at his ?"
+"No, sir. She went away yesterday, and won't bo back till Monday anyway. It ia a pity, for I think it fidgets master ; he keeps looking for her, like."
+Cyril hurried to the library, and found his uncle lyiug on the sofa, looking very ill and feeble.
+"I'm glad you have come, Cyril," ho said, after the first salutations were over. " I have something important to say to you, and I want to got it done before-to get it off my mind, I meau," he said, correcting himself, as if fearing that Cyril might put the construction on his words which he was conscious was in his own
+mind.
+"I wl :lo whatever I can for you," said Cyril gently.
+One of the best points in Cyril's character was his chivalrous devotion to those iu trouble. No matter whether it was tho cow, and all this not with the patronising air of the strong helping tho weak, but as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do, and as though his whole heart was in his task. It was this manuer that made Cyril such a general favourite, au 1 it was this manner which, while she could escape the influence of it, made Constance look superciliously down on the man who could trouble himself about such little
+matters.
+When Mr. Duchesne was at last comfortably fettled he entered upon the business for which Cyril was wanted. Cyril listened in perfect
+sileuco while his uncle told him of the occurrences
+of the last few days, and of the change which they had caused, never interrupting by a word
+or look.
+When the story was ended he was almost as white aB his uncle himself. He could not analyse his emotions. Ho know not whether ho felt joy or Borrow. his undo
+checked him at once.
+"I can manage my own affairs still," he Baid, and the drawn features assumed a sternness that added to their dignity, though the emotion showed manner.
+A more manly nature would not have yielded so weakly. If he had refused to do his part his uncle must perforce have altered Mb intentions, and Constance would not have been robbed of that which was justly here. But, as we have said, Cyril was easily influenced. The earnestness with which Mr. Duehesno had impressed on him the absolute necessity of his doing his share in the carrying out of the programme, and the manner in which he took Cyril's concurrence for fronted, quite blinded him to the possibility of refusing, and to the duty that devolved on him of protecting Constance's interests against her father. Cyril could only Bee thiugs from the point of view in which they were presented to him as long as the particular phase of feeling astcd. At that moment he thought of nothing hut the intensity of his uncle's desire that he should carry out his wishes ; he did not see either the absurdity or the enormity of the
+scheme.
+Before Mr. White arrived he had promised solemnly to carry out in their integrity his uncle's instructions, and what he promised he fully meant to perform.
+When Mr. White came he desired to Bee Cyril alone before he went to Mr. Duchesne, and he expressed very freely to the young man his opimon as to his client's last proceeding, and the course which in his opinion Cyril ought to take.
+I have promised my uncle to carry out his wishes, and of course I shall do so," Baid Cyril
+haughtily.
+" It would have been better if you had tried to dake him change them," said the lawyer.
+Cyril did not choose to tell him that he < pa feebly remonstrated with his uncle, but w vam. The tone Mr. White had adopted « their interview was unfortunate ; it hurt tyru a pride, and it operated unfavourably for j-onstauce in many ways. The dislike that aroBe between the two men during that interview was Mutual. Cyril thought Mr. White presuming ; and the lawyer, when he looked at the young wan s handsome irresolute mouth, decided that Jfuen the moment of trial came Cyril would be lound wanting.
+It is the most monstrous scheme that was eyer mooted," ho said, as he brought the inter- view between himself and Cyril to a close. " I ^ou.d wash my hands of the whole matter, only * ,?w, Mr- Duchesne too well to think that ho «mid let any difficulty stand in his way when oe had once made up his mind. If I did not do i e. w°uld go to some one else who would be .*=3 interested to protect the girl than I am."
+.nV'V"' c'1 »o to treat this speech aä a soliloquy, on a Udt tlle emaIleat notice of it. He
+peucd the door in silence and preceded Mr. *> lute to his uncle's room.
+. ,iüíj business was over at last. The wills were ' t'ped; one was given into jjr_ T¡Y-jj¡te.g keepiug, m the other-the secret document-was handed over to Cyril.
+i , í trust y°u implicitly," said Mr. Duchesne as w wmself gave the important paper into hi3 hand. simV.Wi-, prove worthy of your trust, uncle," »aid thau I thought," he
+reflected. Ho made no commeut on Mer absence to Mr. Duche3ue, who seemed stronger thau on the preceding day.
+" By tho way, Mr. Poynton must bo due," ho said to Mr. White after a long talk.
+" Yes, he should be hore now," replied the lawyer, consulting his watch.
+Mr. Duchesne raug the boll, but before the servant appeared the sound of carriage wheels driving swiftly up tho avenue was heard.
+" There he is. I hope Cyril will go to receive him ; I forgot to tell him of his coming," said Mr. Duchesne anxiously.
+Cyril was well to the fore. He had been ' walking up and down the terrace in front of the house, still deep in thought, and though he had not been told of his expected visit ho kuow by instinct that the stranger was Mr. Poynton.
+Chapter VIII.
+The nama of Poynton was associated with important issues at that moment, aud Cyril re- ceived his uncle's guest in his most courteous manner. After a short time spent in the half formal chit-chat which preludes the commence- ment of the teuderest friendship Cyril saw Mr.
+White leave the house.
+" My uncle is at liberty now, and will like to receive you," he said to Mr. Poynton. " I will tell him you have arrived. He has been so unwell to-day that he has not loft his room."
+Mr. Poynton assented, and Cyril disappeared. Mr. Poynton amused himself in his absence by looking round the room. Himself of au emi- nently cultured taste, he could appreciate the signs of it in others. Tho admirable manner in which tho gleaming marble statuettes were placed either amidst the foliage of the raro exotica that had been brought from their home in the conservatory for a brief space, according as Coustanco's taste dictated, or againBt the rich background of the oaken panels ; the choice water-colours that ndorned the walls, each ono a masterpiece ; the noble bronzes and the splendid specimens of Sevres china that seemed each to be placed in the spot which was designed especially L>r it ; all charmed Mr. Poynton, and he divined that the woman who had arranged that room uiu:t have a tasto as rofined as his own. He had often heard of Miss Duchesne, but more Btress had been laid on her pride and hauteur than on her other accomplishments. He was glad to think that now he should have an opportunity of judging for himself. Ho was not very favourably disposed towards either of the two relatives, and ho was quite as alivo us was Constance to the fact that they only acknowledged the relation when to a certain extent he had thom in his power. Cyril had not told him of his cousin's absence, and so specula- tion as to the manner of their meeting mingled largely with his admiration of her arrangements. At first be was quite occupied and amused by inspecting the various art treasuies ; then he went to the window and admired the view. It
+was a still Twarm day, and the river ran placidly on its way like a silver throad.
+After a prolonged gaze at the river Mr. Poynton took out his watch ; more than half an hour had elapsed since Cyril left him, and he began to chafe a littlo at tho delay. It was scarcely tho politeness he would have expected from the tonour of his host's letter giving him the invitation. Ho yawned and walked up and down the room. Another quarter of an hour passed, still no one carno. Ho fancied ho heard a bustling noise in a distant part of the house. There waB Bwif t running up and down stairs and he had heard sounds of horses' feet several
+times, though no one had passed before the
+window.
+Ho was getting really impatient, and was on the poiut of ringing tho bell and desiring the servant to show him to his room, when hurried footsteps crossed the hall ; the door waB rapidly opened, and a lady with a palo face and bonnet half hanging from her shoulders rushed in. She glanced neither to right nor to left, and bo rapid were her movements that her foot caught in some article of furniture and sho fell forward. She tried to save herself by grasping at a mosaic table that stood close by, but the momentum was too groat ; over went the table, upsetting in its fail a pedestal on which Btood a largo parian group, and in a second parian Btituo, mosaic, and vases all lay shattered on the ground. The lady did not fall, for swift as light Mr. Poynton darted forward aud caught her in his stroug arms. He relinquished his hold instantly and rotreated a few Bteps, as if asking pardon for
+what ho had done.
+Tho moment Constance was firm on her feet again bIio drew herself up in her most Btately manner ; she knew by instinct that tho man before her was the detested Mr. Poynton, and, deeply as bIib was engrossed by other thoughts, the idea that he should liavo dared to take her in his arms, even to save her from an accident, brought the rich blood surging to her cheek. If she hated him before bIio hated him a thousand times more now.
+John Poynton still stood at a little distance waiting for her to speak, but she did not so much as condescend to acknowledge his presence or his help. She only gathered her dreBB together to escape the shattered treasures, swept acroBB the room, and disappeared by the oppoBito
+door.
+All this had passed bo rapidly that John Poynton had scarcely time to glance at her before she was gone. Then as he realised the situation a queer expression of amusement passed over bia faca. He had imarjined several ways in which his introduction to Miss Dúcheme might take place, but he had never imagined such a strango one as that. Her hauteur did not remove the prejudice he had against her ; he was indig- nant with her for her haughty ignoriug of his presence ; but in spite of resentment and indig- nation his arms still tingled at their momentary contact with that soft burden, and he was obliged to confess that, whatever her other qualities might bo, he had never met any one bo mußt think us intolerably rude, Poynton. I ought to have come to you before. My uncle has been stricken with paralysis since you entered the house. The doctor haB not arrived yet, and everything is in coufuaion."
+Mr. Poynton expressed his sympathy. " The best thing I can do is to go back at once, unless I can be of any service," he said.
+" No ; stay for a little while-we may bo thankful for your help. The doctors cannot be muoh longer," and without further ceremony he left Johu Poynton to ponder on the strange events which heralded his first introduction to the Duchesne3, while he hastened back to hU uncle'B room. He found Constance there, hang- ing over her father in silence. Her face spoke for her and told her suffering, it was so lined and drawn. He quite started when he saw her; instead of the bright proud girl he had left a week ago he found an old grief-stricken woman.
+Whatever were Constance's feelings as she hung over her father she did not give expression to them. The bustle and confusion that had
+prevailed when her father's seizure waB first dis- covered had given place to Older and quietness as soon aB ehe arrived. She had great influence over all with whom Ehe came in contact, as have all strong characters. She had a wonderful talent for administration ; the confusion ceased and all seemed to fall into their places as Boon aB she appeared. Whether it was a help to her endurance, or whether it was a terrible addition to her misery, to find her father totally uncon-
+scious she never said.
+The servants, who had been buzzing like bees about the room, all intent on doing something and all getting into one another's way, withdrew at once as Constance, white as the purest marblo, entered. She went to the sofa on which her father had been lifted and took her place beside him, giving her orders as calmly and distinctly as if her heart was not almost breaking with remorse and grief. For the next terrible four-and twenty hours she remained in the Barne place, with her eyes constantly fixed upon her father'a
+face, lest at somo moment consciousness might j return, and she not catch the first feoble glance. { The doctors told her it was not likely-they ex- pected that he would pass from his then state of insensibility to the still deeper unconsciousness of death ; but Constance, though she heard thom, would not believe ; she hoped against hope. She longed so intensely to havo one more fond word from him-to hear him say that he forgave her-or at least to see him look at her once more-to receive his dying kia«. She felt as if he could not die without bidding her farewell. Surely that could not havo been the last kiss and the last word when Bhe ran back to say good-bye again bofore she went away ! Truly the fore- boding that pressed so heavily upon her waa to be fulfilled more terribly tuan ? she had ever dreamed. If Bhe could only have lived that last week over again I and her face contracted with pain as ahe reviewed the last seoues with hor father. She was already learning tho meaning of those bitter words : Oh, if she could only have known I
+All through tho long night, through the still longer day, on into the dreary night again, Con- stance knelt there, thinking thoughts that seemed to burn into her brain ; theu a movement startled her, a very feeble movement ; a tl vvero lacerated to such an extent that, though taking her part as mistress, she waB utterly unconscious of what was passing around hor. She gave her orders mechanically,
+and went about the house with little difference to ordinary seasons. In after days Constance was thankful for that week, which was given up wholly and unreservedly to grief. No bitterness entered into it-the cause of the quarrel wns well nigh forgotten in grief for the quarrel itself. She only bemoaned herself that her evil temper had taken her away from her father in those last precious hours of his life, and she had roproached herself bitterly when old Barnes told her how the master had seemed to watch for her in thoBe last days.
+But tho revulsion waa to come.
+She could scarcely credit her own ears when they were assembled in the drawing-room after
+the funeral and Mr. White read out tho will. That her father should so heavily have punished -that ho should really havo carried out his augry threat, and that so quickly, she could not realise. It was not the loss of the fortuno that troubled her, though Constance was no bread and-butter mi's to look upon money as a matter of no consequeuco ; it was the hard bitter feeling which had prompted it that crushed her, Sho had not believed him capablo of such cruelty in spite of all that had passed, and the grief that had proBtrnted hor before waB now mingled with pain and auger.
+Mr. Poynton, who had left the house imme- diately after Mr. Duchesne's death, had been invited to bo present at the funeral, and had boon introduced to Coustance by Cyril immediately on her entering the drawing-room. She had received him languidly. She was scarcely con- scious that the man whom Cyril led up to her was the one round whose name at one time so
+many angry feelings had beon woven. She had
+said once she wished she had never heard his
+name. She little thought that her father's reply was to prove so truo. The causo of all her trouble was almost blotted out, swallowed up in the great troublo itself, and the strange encounter in the drawing-room a few dayd before did not
+oven recur to her.
+But Mr. Poynton thought of it, and as ho looked at hor in her deep mourning, with tho lUtless iudllferent air, so changed from the proud hauteur that had angered bim before, to his iutense admiration for her beauty was added the tenderest pity. Ho watched her iib she listened to the harsh terms of her father's will, and though sho sat utterly unmoved-not oven by tho closer compression of her thin lips showing Bigu that tho stab had gone home-he thought that the mimic scene of ruin amidst which ho had first met her was the precursor of that
+around hor now.
+When Mr. White finished reading there was utter silence. No one spoke. All eyes vvero fixed on the ground, on the wall, anywhere but upon tho orphan girl upon whom such a cruel scuteuce had just boen passed.
+Constniico waited a minute or two, as if giving time for any further business in which Bhe might have to tako part, and then Bhe rose to leave the
+room.
+Mr. Whito opened the door for her and held out his baud. Hu looked anxiously in her face. Though ho knew Constance was capable of great self-posaesBiou ho feared that the strain on her might bo more than Bhe could bear. Apparently the firm expression reassured him ; sho did not look at him, but she took the hand he hold out and graBped it warmly.
+When tho door closed behind her there was still a momentary silence, and thon a general Bigh of relief. " Shameful !" " Scandalous I" were whispered from one to another.
+Mr. White returned to his chair and took up the will again. Though ho said nothing it was plain enough that he sympathised fully with the general sentiment.
+Cyril had Bat throughout the reading of tho will with his face buriod in his hands. He felt nB if he were a criminal.
+When tho general company rose he rose too. It was awkward for eveiy one. They ought to have congratulated him, but the thought of all was for Constance-Cyril waa a usurper. Ho must be satisfied with his material good fortune, for the sympathy and good wisheB of his neigh- bours could not flow iu his direction just yet.
+Cyril bore it all as well as he could. Ho was angry with himself and with every one else, but above all with his dead uncle. What right had he to demand such a sacrifice from him ? for sacrifice, now that the play began, he felt it to be. What was the use to bim nowa of his inheritance had been a very bitter pill to him. He had not looked up, but he had felt sympathetically the anger that the disposition of his uncle's fortuuo had elicited. To Cyril, to whom popularity was as the breath of his noatrÜB, eveu the possession of wealth would scarcely atone for the loss of it. Ho had wished, as he had wished before, and was often doomed to wish again, that ho had not been bo weak. Ho ought to have withstood his uucle and not have allowed himself to be made the instrument of vengeance. He quite dreaded to meet Constance. He w events ; the passing riches would have made the commence- ment of their married life very pleasant. But that was over, and Cyril paBSed his hand wearily over his forehead. All this trouble waB making him feel quite old.
+It was evening befoie he went into the house again. He hoped Constance would come down soon and he could meet her in the deepening twilight ; be dreaded tho indignant flash that possibly awaited him.
+(to bc costisueo.)
+A Terrible Joke.-It was a thoughtless act ; he meant it only in fun ; but see what he did : Four years ago a schoolboy in Monroe County, Ind., threw a dead rattlesnake around the neck of a little girl, and it has made ber permanently insane. During all this time ahe has recognised no one, but daily sits with her slate on her lap, marking out the same figures Bhe had been given as a lesson at school on the fateful day, occasionally crying out, " Take the snake away !"
+Unconscious Wit.-An English waiter waa both witty and sarcastic, and didn't know the fact : " Do you call that a veal cutlet, waiter ?" said a London exquisite, one of the moBt delicate typo even in that favoured region of exquisites, the West End. " Why, sir, auch a veal cutlet as that is an insult to every Belf-respecting calf in the British Empire I" The waiter hung his head in very shame for a moment, and then replied, in tho language of humbleBt apology, _" I really didn't intend to insult you, sir,"
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+While the changes accompanying aging can be unsettling and frightening to the elderly, it’s comforting to know that something as simple as frequent touch can stimulate maturing minds and bodies, ensuring that the concomitant traumas of our later years are minimized. As a bodyworker, bringing touch to this facility-bound population can bring both heartache and joy, but the value of your work cannot be denied.
+As most people age, they begin to notice a gradual slowing down of their physical and mental capabilities. Joints become worn, making them susceptible to crippling and painful conditions such as arthritis, bursitis and tendinitis. The skin loses some of its elasticity and moisture, as well as changes in pigmentation. Lung capacity decreases as does blood flow to the brain. Decreased mobility contributes to poor circulation and constipation, as well as a gradual loss of muscular strength and tone. And changes in physical and mental acuity, including hearing deficiencies and visual impairments, often lead to decreases in functional abilities.
+Growing older also means facing a number of irreversible and potentially stress-producing life changes like retirement, relocation and widowhood. The losses associated with aging often are permanent (as opposed to losses in earlier stages of life from which we more readily recover) and occur closer together with less time to adjust between events. Chronic illness and functional limitations can increase anxiety about the future and create greater dependency on others.
+As life spans increase, the number of people requiring long-term health care is also increasing. It is estimated that in the coming year, almost 9 million older Americans will need extended health care services. Some of these men and women transfer to nursing homes for rehabilitation after an accident or injury, or to convalesce after a serious illness. Others will live out their lives confined to care facilities. Those people may be too frail to take care of themselves and live safely, or they may suffer from a chronic illness and need medical attention. Family care may not be an option because there is no family member available, or because family members are unable to provide the care that is needed.
+A Loss of Independence
+The move into a health care facility signals a significant loss of independence and constitutes a major lifestyle change for both the person involved and their family. Relocation may create additional losses, including forfeiture of one’s home, familiar surroundings and privacy. Treasured possessions may need to be sold, put in storage or given away. Also, those living their lives in care facilities usually have less contact with the outside world and fewer social relationships than those who live independently or with family.
+When a person becomes a resident of a care facility, he or she is suddenly relegated to rules. Meals, rest periods and activities are scheduled for efficiency in management and convenience of caregivers rather than according to individual preferences, lifestyle choices or personal habits and rhythms.
+Depression and Stress
+Multiple losses combined with decreased mobility and functional impairments frequently lead to depression. According to a recent article by Paula Dranov entitled “Depression and the Elderly,” the suicide rate among people over 65 is higher than any other age group.
+Combined with health conditions requiring medical attention, a gradual decline in functioning and increased dependency on others can make these losses extremely stress-producing. While a certain amount of stress can be positive, we all know too much or prolonged stress can be unpleasant and unhealthy. Stress lowers resistance to viruses and can lead to more acute, chronic or even life-threatening health problems.
+Massage therapists know stress affects the physical body by causing muscular tightness, tension, stiffness and restricted energy flow. Continued stress can lead to muscle spasms, as well as bodily contraction, restricted movement and rigidity. Other signs of stress may include headaches, backache, fatigue, insomnia, stiff neck, cold hands and/or feet, perspiration, shortness of breath, constipation, etc. Physical stress tends to produce more emotional stress, thus setting up a cycle of disease, discomfort and anxiety which can generate feelings of confusion, frustration, isolation and vulnerability for the elderly. Such feelings eventually lead to inertia, despondency, withdrawal and a “failure to thrive” syndrome.
+Reaching Through Isolation
+In his classic book, Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin, Ashley Montague says it is the “emotional involvement of touch that can reach through isolation.”1 Touch can communicate love, affection and warmth which can help alleviate feelings of loneliness and separation. Touch becomes especially important for those confined to health care institutions who may receive few visitors from the outside world. Though basic needs are met, these individuals often remain starved for the nourishment that comes through caring, attentive touch and skin-to-skin human contact.
+Massage and touch therapy are, in fact, ancient healing modalities which somehow became lost in the maze of modern medical technology, pills and paperwork. Back rubs were once routinely and effectively administered by nurses as a non-invasive therapeutic tool to promote rest and relaxation. Fortunately, massage is being rediscovered as a complementary and alternative therapy in caregiving. Age-appropriate, gentle massage and attentive touch techniques are particularly effective in providing comfort care and in enhancing quality of life for those who reside in a nursing home or extended care facility environments.
+Massage therapy is well-known for its ability to reduce muscular tension, relieve minor aches and pains, increase circulation and induce a relaxation response in the body. Tiffany Field, through her research at the Touch Institute in Miami, has gained worldwide attention in discovering that therapeutic massage seems to stimulate the release of endorphins – the body’s natural painkillers – into the brain and nervous system, boost the immune system and promote faster healing after injury, trauma or surgery.2 While little hard research is, at present, being conducted on the benefits of massage for nursing home residents, anecdotal reports from those working in this field have been extremely positive.
+In 1996, a six-month pilot program on the use of massage therapy as an intervention for problem behaviors in nursing home residents with dementia, conducted at the Methodist Home in Chicago, found correlations between certain types of massage – and where it was applied on the body – and managing specific behaviors. For example:
+· Back rubs worked wonders for those confined to wheelchairs, for people in chronic pain and for residents exhibiting irritability or even anger.
+· Foot massage proved calming for those exhibiting hyperactive behavior or restlessness and “wandering” behavior.
+· Hand massage or face stroking seemed to help those exhibiting anxiety, worry, sadness and fearfulness.
+· Massaging the temples, scalp and forehead helped reduce headaches and tension, and shoulder and neck massage seemed useful for those exhibiting tiredness, irritability or mild upset.3
+An unpublished report from a case study conducted by Christine Gruschke, nurse consultant for Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services, Inc. (1997), showed a tremendous improvement in mood and anxiety levels in residents receiving geriatric massage therapy in a Florida nursing home once a week for an average of three months. Perhaps most noteworthy was the documented reduction in medications (representing a significant financial savings) taken for pain management for many of the 21 residents in this particular study.
+Nursing manuals have long prescribed massage to help in the prevention of skin ulcers (pressure sores), a chronic problem for the frail elders who spend most of their time in a bed or wheelchair. Even very gentle massage can help improve circulation.
+The focused attention afforded in massage and touch therapy sessions to residents of health care facilities also has significant psychosocial benefits, including:
+• one-on-one attention
+• skin-to-skin contact
+• tactile and sensory stimulation
+• an opportunity for social interaction
+• nurturing
+• comfort
+• reassurance
+• pleasure
+Touch is a universal language. Gentle massage is a way of communicating with those who are non-verbal or unable to express themselves well orally. The practitioner who is able to keep her attention on the individual who inhabits the body and who is alert to the subtle nuances and changes in the physical being, breathing patterns and so on, will have little trouble understanding what the person needs.
+Massage therapist Jeannie Battagin tells a beautiful story about sitting next to a lady in an intermediate care facility who was seldom able to speak in intelligible language but would babble for long periods of time as though she was trying to communicate.
+“As she continued to ‘talk,’ I put my hand on hers. I began to slowly stroke down her arm from the shoulder, very gently. She seemed to relax into this, so after a little while I did the same thing with her other arm, stopping to spend extra time massaging her hands. For some reason, I felt drawn to put one of my hands on her cheek. She closed her eyes at this point, as if she was savoring the touch there. So I put my other hand on her other cheek and just stayed there cradling her face in my hands. A minute or so went by and I realized by the weight of her head and by her breathing that she had let go enough to fall asleep.”4:
+• touch deprivation
+• low self-esteem
+• anxiety
+• boredom
+• depression
+•.
+A back rub or lotion massage to hands or feet might also be used as a distraction, if necessary, to help in accomplishing the tasks of daily care. Years ago, nurses were taught how to give back massages, instead of pills, to help lull their patients into restful sleep at bedtime. Unfortunately, most nurses these days are kept so busy dispensing pain-reducing and sleep-inducing medications they have no time to give their patients one-on-one attention or to touch them in a conscious, caring way.
+Much has been made of the fact that human contact in the form of touch is crucial during the early stages of life. Research has proven that institutionalized infants deprived of caring touch soon stop eating and fail to thrive. Similarly, my observation and experience in working with the elderly has shown that those who are deprived of nurturing physical contact experience a diminishing quality of life, a lessening of their desire to relate to others and a weakening of what may already be a fragile relationship with physical reality.
+As a therapeutic modality, age-appropriate massage is a cost-effective, non-pharmacological resource for reducing stress, managing challenging behaviors and enhancing quality of life for the elderly and ill, particularly those who are confined to care facilities. Montague writes, “The use of touch and physical closeness may be the most important way to communicate to ill and aged persons that they are still important as human beings.”5
+Unconditional, caring touch is a powerful acknowledgment to the individual that, regardless of the condition of the physical body, he or she is still a part of the human race, and still has value as a whole human being. This is healing in its true and deepest sense.
+第11話 ダンジョンアタック（物理）
+Blabla Chapter 11 – Dungeon Attack (Physically)
+“Life can be really unpredictable. Half a month ago I wouldn’t have ever dreamt of challenging a legendary labyrinth.”
+Seran says, while he’s digging with a scoop and having a light-emitting stone wrapped with a band around his head illuminating the space in front of him.
+“I also didn’t expect that when I made a vow to become a hero, I’d be digging a tunnel.”
+Kail says, while wiping his sweat with the towel from around his neck, he also has a light-emitting stone on his head while carrying out the dug up ground.
+“You guys, the one who wants to say that most of all, is me!”
+Behind the two of them is Urza who also has a light-emitting stone on her head, she was holding the map while giving instructions to them while controlling the earth spirit, Gnome.
+“Seriously, why do I have to do something like this….. Ah, Seran don’t dig there yet!”, Urza says, “The surroundings haven’t finished hardening! The second Kail has carried out the soil, immediately cast [Detect Magic] since there might be another deviation!”
+“I have the feeling you’re the one trying the hardest out of us….”
+“Since she’s a serious person, she probably hates not being able to help.”
+“Stop all the idle talk! Get moving!”
+“”Yes!””
+Thinking it wouldn’t be a good idea to disobey her, the two idiots respond at the same time.
+The Sangurd mountains, about whose size it is said is similar to a small kingdom, within these mountains Kail and his party were digging in a hillside area deep in the mountains where almost no humans ever came to explore.
+The surroundings were completely covered with untouched forest, but a tiny part seemed like a small open field, on the steep rocky mountain was an exposed slope with a gaping hole big enough for humans to pass through it.
+This is the labyrinth’s hidden entrance only known to Kail and his party, originally the entrance was directly at the back of the mountain where the entrance was hidden by a big boulder.
+Also this place is the closest to the treasury in the deepest part, it’s the right place to start digging.
+‘Digging’, even if I say ‘digging’ through a mountain with only a small group, that would probably be something that would take years of time.
+However due to Urza’s contract with the earth spirit Gnome, Gnome was able to turn rock into soil, so we could dig through it with human strength and scoops.
+At the same time so that an accident like a cave in wouldn’t occur we continued to dig while hardening the rocks around us, in order to breath inside, Urza used her contracted spirit of the wind, Sylphide’s power in order for us to breath inside.
+Therefore, we were able to dig very efficiently.
+Originally Kail was going to use a magic tool for this job, he was planning to earn the money for buying the magic tool by fighting in the arena, however thanks to Urza he didn’t have to do it anymore. For that he was really thankful.
+He was also thinking of either hiring some people or having someone cooperate with him, doing whatever he could do with a small group while advancing forward, in the beginning he was planning to only dig with Seran and himself, but it would’ve probably taken much more time than it has taken now.
+“Ah, good work all three of you~”
+Having finished today’s work, Kail and his party were greeted by the cooking Lize, while they came out of the tunnel.
+Kail’s party’s base camp was directly beside the tunnel’s entrance, there were two tents there.
+The three of them dig the tunnel, and Lize would perform chores like cooking, this is already the fifth day of this life style and they’ve gotten mostly used to it.
+“The laundry has already dried, you guys probably wouldn’t prefer to eat like that, so all three of you go get changed immediately,” Lize said, “since dinner is almost ready. Ah, put everything together since I’m going to wash it.”
+following Lize’s snappy orders the three went into the tent in order to change.
+“Fu I’m tired~, I can’t move anymore~”
+Seran who finished changing was exhausted.
+“Become more serious, since were almost there.”
+“I’ve been doing physical labor all day long, It’s to be expected. Even your legs are trembling.”
+Just as Seran said, Kail stood there looking alright but his knees were laughing.
+“My body is alright, but as I expected, I’m mentally exhausted because of controlling the spirits”
+Urza sighed and also sat down.
+Controlling a spirit and using spirit magic makes use of a slightly different contract, since you’ll be able to directly order the spirit around.
+For example if you order the spirit of flame Salamander “Light these hundred candles one by one.” He would be able to execute it.
+Depending on the spirit it has things it can do and things it can’t do, it also depends on the skill of the caster. The spirit can follow more precise commands if the caster has a lot of skill, and compared to the ancient magic that Kail and the others use, spirit magic is said to be more versatile.
+“It’s ready~”
+Lize carried the food to the other three who were exhausted.
+“Lize is seriously good at cooking. Even though I’ve traveled a lot, I’ve only tasted something equal in towns…..”
+While being moved, Urza was looking at the food in front of her.
+A soup with stewed meat and vegetables, cooked chicken, fruit that she got from who knows where and a variety of wild plants.
+All of them having a good taste, now I’m looking forward to dinner every day.
+It’s not like Urza doesn’t know how to cook, but the best she can manage is at the level of preserved food.
+“The chicken meat was fat in a good way (since it’s the right time to be in the mountains.)”
+“Fumu…. Oh? Is this meat different?”
+“Ah, that’s bear meat. It’s fresh since I finished it off just now”
+“Since when did you….”
+Urza just tasted it before eating it, but because of the exhausted two guys and their happiness, she didn’t say anything and just continued eating.
+Lize who was used to it didn’t say anything but she suddenly raised her hand.
+tl note: I don’t even know what is going on.. Dafaq.. -Tensai
+“And when do you think you’re done with the digging?”
+“Let’s see…. With this speed, I think tomorrow or the day after.”
+Kail answers whilst drinking tea after dinner.
+While digging he used a magic called [Detect Magic] in order to search for the treasures’ reaction and to make adjustments to the direction and to measure the distance left.
+In the beginning its source only had a really small magic reaction, but the more we kept digging the stronger the reaction got.
+“I see, then after were done with eating we’ll have to take a bath then sleep early and make preparations for tomorrow.
+A little bit away from the campsite was a little spot with rocks that were emitting a lot of steam, it was a hot spring that could fit a dozen of people.
+It’s not as if the hot spring was there from the beginning, Urza used the spirit of the earth; Gnome to make a dent in the earth. With the water spirit Undine she measured the amount of water and heated it up with heat stones and thus she made an improvised hot spring.
+“I never imagined it would’ve been possible to take a bath inside the mountains every day. When I went camping in the mountains once before I could only wipe my body with a wet towel~”
+Lize who was naked inside the bath was lying on her back while stretching her body completely inside the water.
+Since that body has always been trained there was absolutely no wasted fat. The waist was only describable with one word: stunning.
+Her limbs were muscled, however it’s absolutely not buff, but like that of a girl her age, coupled with her slightly tanned skin she’s overflowing with beauty.
+Turning around her body her large healthy ass which could only be called magnificent was shown floating. Even through the water the sex appeal could be felt.
+tl note: Dafq? 0_o – Tensaiz
+“Since my journey is also long. These kind of things are necessary.”
+Race-wise many Elves can be called delicate but Urza can be called an exception.
+She’s the so called stand alone type, now that she isn’t wearing anything it can be understood that she has a very balanced style.
+It isn’t at the level of big breasts but they have a beautiful shape, not vulgar or filthy, she was a beauty who you could put in a royal palace as art.
+Still, sitting on the end of the bath and possessing such nobleness while having long blond hair that reaches her waist, together with the appearance of her white nape she emanated a mysterious charm.
+“How nice…”
+Lize says, while comparing her own bare undeveloped chest to Urza’s large breasts and sighs.
+“Is it like that? In the village I was raised in, it was said that having a waist like Lize’s would be popular.”
+“Re-Really?”
+Lize looks at her ass which has developed opposite to her chest.
+“Yeah, since you’ll be able to give birth to a lot of healthy children.”
+“……The old grannies in my town told me that a lot. But if I had a figure like Urza-san’s…. Ah, a heart.”
+On Urza’s white skin there was something that looked like a heart shaped birthmark, right on her ass.
+“P-Please don’t tell anyone. It has always bothered me……���
+Urza says embarrassed while trying to hide herself inside the baths water.
+Even though she’s older Lize thought of her as cute, while Urza’s face was blushing fiercely inside the hot water.
+Lize praised the instant hot spring with a light ‘aha ha’ laugh.
+“But still, magic is as handy as expected. I’m envious since I can’t use magic”
+“No, I think it’s already amazing that you can beat a bear with your bare hands without help.”
+Just now she glanced at the dismembered bear, and judged it was roughly an adult bear around the size of two people.
+“Well I’ve trained both my body and mind as a monk, something like that wouldn’t pose a problem”
+“As expected is it…… All for Kail’s sake?”
+“Eh? Ah, yeah…. I guess, I don’t have any redeeming features except for this”
+Lize says, while scratching her cheek with an embarrassed smile.
+After that she straightened her posture and said to Urza with a serious face:
+“Well Urza-san, it may not be that convincing coming from me….. But you don’t have to worry so much about it.”
+“Worry?”
+“Even I get Kail is trying to hide something and that it concerns Urza-san’s true name…..”
+“…………”
+Urza’s face becomes serious. The reason why Urza is here, is because her true name is the thing she cherishes even more than her own life, was found out.
+“The only thing I can say is for certain is that guy might make us angry, but he would never do something that would make us cry. That’s why he won’t do something that would hurt Urza-san, I’m planning to wait until he tells me about it.”
+By seeing the smile on Lize’s face which shows that she trusts him from the bottom of her heart it felt as if she was pulled out of a deep miasma, then she felt the strength leaving her shoulders.
+(Well it could also just be that I’m tired of trying…..)
+“Even so, since I’d be worried if I let my eyes off him, I’m here now. Ah, that’s why you don’t have to worry, if that guy ever thinks of doing something to Urza-san I’ll take responsibility and….”
+Lize clenched her fist and said that to Urza while laughing lightly.
+“Just Urza is fine.”
+“Eh?”
+“I’m saying you don’t have to add -san anymore.”
+“Understood………. Urza.”
+The two began to laugh.
+While the two women were shortening the distance between them.
+“Let me go~~! I’m going to peep!”
+“Won’t you stop already! How disgraceful.”
+Kail was holding back Seran who was desperately trying to peep.
+“It’s a bath, It’s an open-air bath you know! You would peep right! Normally!?”
+It was a cry straight out of Seran’s soul
+“Don’t you want to see!?”
+“Of course I want to look!”
+Kail also cried out with words directly from his soul.
+“However I won’t let you see the two of them naked! That’s something for me alone…..!”
+“You just said the two of them! Not only Lize but Urza-chan too!?”
+“…………”
+“Why did you go silent!?”
+“Shut up already! Look forward to tomorrow! So just go to sleep already!”
+“I don’t give a damn about tomorrow! I live now! In this moment!”
+The two men were furthering the distance between them.
+“Ugh, Damn it all. Today was also a failure…..”
+“Ma-Making me waste physical strength for nothing….”
+“What the hell are you guys doing, just after washing it, it’s already this dirty!”
+Lize who was angry at them and gave them a lecture since the first thing she saw after getting out of the bath, were those two, who were muddied and dead tired while trying to catch their breath, increasing the laundry.
+Noon the next day, having finished lunch and finishing the break, Kail was going to continue the digging when Urza began to talk to him from behind.
+“To think the legendary labyrinth would be conquered in this way….. It’s a little late but I’m still having second thought if this is really alright….”
+“It’s not like we have another choice, if we went in from the front we’d be annihilated so we can only use this way”
+Kail says while remembering when he really did go in from the front.
+There was a map, but even if we knew what kind of traps there are, it’s not as if they’re easy to pass, and there were many traps that weren’t mentioned on the map.
+The irony of mentioning shady traps. The map itself was also one of them.
+The magic cast on the map only activated after we got closer to the treasury, the map was filled with many complex new paths that appeared on the blank areas. Of course I had to pass through them, also on the new paths a lot more traps appeared…..
+I don’t have that feeling of despair this time, even thinking back about it I still feel a chill in my back, Kail recalls.
+(The author of this map either has a screw loose or has a bad personality….)
+I look at the signature of the author which was written on the corner of the map.
+“Syldonia-Xarles”. This is what was written on the map in ancient words.
+Anyway, never again do I want to enter this labyrinth, but I want the treasure.
+The idea of digging the tunnel came forth from this thought.
+“By the way has Seran still not returned?”
+After he finished his lunch, Seran said he was going to take a nap and left the cave, but he still hadn’t returned.
+“That guy always slacks off one way or another…… Now that I think about it, he said something like “I’ll try to find a safe place where I can look from up close!” I wonder what he meant by that?”
+“No you don’t have to worry about….. since I’ll keep him busy.”
+“By the way Kail. I have something to ask you.”
+Just when Seran isn’t here, Urza began to speak.
+“Since I don’t like to be roundabout it I’ll ask you straight up. Those two have known you since you were little so they trust you but I’m different….. Kail, why do you aim to become a hero?”
+On the journey to this location, when I heard Kail’s goal was to become a hero I thought he was an owner of megalomania.
+tl note: Yeah, we switched to Urza’s POV. -Tensaiz
+However after hearing about his goal I thought about what he was doing now and what he had to do and he showed that he kept going forward firmly, he puts in all his effort.
+“That ring is also part of your training isn’t it?”
+“Ah so you’ve noticed it. It’s a ring with [Gravity] cast on it”
+I look at the simple ring on Kail’s left hand.
+[Gravity] is a magic that controls gravity and it can change the weight of its target, it’s a magic that usually gets used in order to capture magic beasts alive or in order to trap them.
+In the case of the magic tool that has [Gravity] inside, it usually gets used in order to make war prisoners or criminals powerless, it’s also called the “Ring of restraint.”
+“Of course I can release it whenever I want. Sudden battles won’t be a problem.”
+If I wanted to I could release it in an instant, so as long as I’m not completely surprised by an attack, fights aren’t a problem.
+“That ring doubles, triples your body weight right?”
+“It’s around that. It’s my teacher’s advice, it seems like a good way to strengthen your body by putting a load on the body in a daily basis.”
+This may be simple but it’s very efficient, I used to wear it a lot..
+Anyway I’m raising my basic physical strength while digging this hole, it’s like killing two birds with one stone.
+“At first I thought you had some masochistic hobby including the ring with it…..”
+“Hey?”
+“Well I also thought….. That you had such needs, daily we, Lize you….. with that playful love….. Pl-Play? Or something like that….”
+“What kind of misunderstanding are you having?!”
+“No, Seran is the one who told me that…..”Those guys’ playful love is a high level play, so it’s better that you don’t mind them” is what he said.”
+“That guy really doesn’t say anything good….”
+“When I first heard it, I thought you had some sort of perversion, so I looked at you with eyes of contempt while I pitied the depths of your human being….. However it seems like I was wrong, I’m sorry.”
+“No, it’s alright…… Don’t mind it.”
+Kail almost felt like crying.
+“So I want to hear it again, why do you aim to become a hero?”
+“Because….”
+When Kail tried to say something, together with a ‘CLNCK~’ sound Kail felt the scoop in his hands hit something.
+“This is…. Gold? Yes, we’ve arrived!”
+Touching it with his hands he felt it was cold and hard, the reaction from [Detect magic] was also at its max.
+“We only need the finishing touches, I have to tell Seran and Lize.”
+Kail tries to go outside, but he looks at Urza with a sorry face that also looked a little sad then he said.
+“Sorry, I can’t say it now. However one day….. Together with Lize and the others I’ll definitely tell you about it one day.”
+Looking at Kail’s back going outside after saying that, Urza noticed something and sighed.
+“Being with these guys messes up my flow….” she muttered on her own.
+—————————————————-
+AUTHOR’S NOTES: (No, not translator notes. X_x)
+————————————————– –
+The 5th day has passed since the last update.
+Making up for the slow development I hope I can update a little faster.
+————————————————————————
+TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:
+So yeahh, this is still being editted (thanks Ishman) so I’ll change it along the way.
+I’m sorry for the really late release, I’ve been busy with an exam week (I did fairly well, thanks for asking.) so I wasn’t able to work on TNS faster.
+Also stop asking if we’ve dropped it >.> IF we decide to drop it, which we haven’t even thought about 0o, we will anounce it instead of just going MIA.
+Oh btw, we are also going to start translating (and tlcing) Master of Monster, as no one was working on that atm, so I might add some chapters to this website from that.
+Anyway, thanks for putting up with the mistakes or slow release times as always, if you spot some mistakes drop a comment, and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter~~ -Tensaiz
+(Oh the next chaps may be saved for something like xmas or smth. But maybe not… Oh well.. :P )
+Thank you.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Good chapter, though I hope that the next one one show us a little bit of action. I like the slow building, strategic and character-building series, but am anxious to get to see the team in combat!
+Thanks for your continuing translation and hard work. Also, congrats on the exam week going well!
+I check on this series daily, but don’t worry about taking the time you need for translation and RL. We appreciate whatever amount of your life you are able to generously put into this series. Thanks for sharing it with us! :)
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Thank you for the release!
+Our pleasure~
+-Tensaiz
+Thanks for the release. I’m enjoying this LN/Web novel to the max atm. Really like the characters and the plot premise. Missing some action but I’m sure the author will make up for it in the later chapters. Fingers crossed, there won’t come a time when you decide to drop it.
+Side note: I keep ROFLMFAO at your reactions! 0.O Tensaizzzz. Peace -.^
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+=o you guys are planning on doing MoM also? I wanna give you guys (or girls) a hug right now @.@
+Oh and congrats on exam.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Hah, we also really enjoy MoM, and because no one else is translating it atm (which I didn’t know 0_o), we were asked if we wanted to help.
+So hell yeah!
+Although, I’ve heard from the others that it’s pretty tough to translate (or even TLC…. lol) so we’ll see where it goes xD
+Anyways, hope ya enjoyed the chapter ^^
+What you do you mean start? Didnt Re: Translation guys doing it for a few chapters already? Aint you a part of that group’s TLs?
+Well, we’re more like an independent group that is cooperating with Re:Translations atm. And yeah Re:Translations has already started translating MoM, but we (Honor and me) haven’t done anything from MoM yet, so that’s why I said started ^^
+Oh well, as long as you two coordinate with each other to reduce wastage, that’s good enough for me. I really hate to see TL’s effort go to waste due to duplication.
+We talk almost everyday, so that won’t be a problem ^^
+Your still alive huh? Gunna havta get a refund on this tombstone I bought for you guys. =P
+Jokes aside, thx for the translation!
+Gracias por el trabajo, espero puedan conseguir tiempo libre y seguir traduciendo la novela.
+Saludos.
+thank you
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Thank you for translating this. It’s definitely better to work on your own paces after all, we truly appreciate your work.
+“That ring doubles, triples you’re body weight right?”
+“you’re” should be “your”
+Oh thanks~
+I wanna see MC Wipe the floor with a Hydra!
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+The knees laugh, they laugh grandly. :p
+This chapter has some weird moments, like the random “sex appeal” scene or Lize raising her hand at the meal she made herself. They were handled better in the manga, oddly enough. Oh well, it is what it is. Yay for good cooking, and thanks for the meal.
+Yup, I had no idea what the author was trying to say exactly… And I’m pretty sure the translation is accurate.. but oh well.
+Many thanks for the chapter
+I understand the thrill of traveling, particularly for a photoshoot. Even moreso if that photoshoot is somewhere exotic, new, and unlike anywhere you’ve ever been. When you have a strong bond with the photographer- which I definitely appreciate because many of my best friends are photographers- it makes everything even more fun: the locations, the wardrobe, the styling, the props!
+But the props…the props I’m noticing more and more in fashion are actual humans. Not like “here we’re posing together for this campaign, lookbook, or magazine” but “let’s use these kids or this withered man in the shot because they add such local flavor!”
+Blegh.
+I’ve done photoshoots in Cambodia for various projects, brands, and photographers- and one thing I’ve been adamant about is ensuring that 1. we never use other people to support “our” scene to make it look cooler and foreign or 2. if someone is part of the shoot that was not planned, they are willingly asking to be part of the shoot and are compensated in some way or form.
+I wrote a piece last year when I was the editor for Ladies magazine about human props when the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue came out- along with a lot of negative pushback for the images. Yes, there were hot women in sexy swimwear. But there was a lot of usage of “locals” to push that image to the next level, and not in a good way.
+I’ve been noticing this trend among a lot of photographers, designers, and the like in Phnom Penh recently and every time I see an image that uses a cyclo driver or impoverished children to amp up the glamorous models donning highstreet fashion with their faces done up makes me cringe. Especially with all of the racially driven conflict spread throughout the world (and a specific focus for me on the Ferguson case being an American) I thought I’d revisit the article I had written a while back and see if how I felt then still rings true now.
+Turns out, it does. I don’t get into politics if I don’t have to, I try to skirt things that I don’t know a lot about, and although I’m Asian American I can’t begin to pretend I know anything about how it feels to be racially profiled, truly abused or hurt for my background and blood, or been the brunt of racist conjecture (that I know of). Regardless, I still have my thoughts of what is and isn’t acceptable and how in the world of fashion, where image is so skewed anyway, there’s one more thing we can add to the list of screwed up aspects of the industry.
+While I don’t mind a super skimpy bathing suit, a sexy lingerie spread, or a bodycon dress (hell, I love ’em all) there’s being sexy- and then using other less advantaged people to try and force the point even further. (*I did note that I was pretty harsh on the swimwear choices, I don’t know why since I like most of the pieces and I’m not one to shy away from a Brazilian cut) Couldn’t they just have stuck with the babes romping around in crystal blue waters with sandy bums and coconuts in hand? Someone in that boardroom thought it would be ideal to spice things up with a wrinkled, old, hardworking man and a few Chinese elementary school girls!
+So here we go, a little blast from the past from Ladies magazine, the September issue.
+“Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue is the editorial highlight for thousands of men across the globe; buxom beauties rolling about the beach in little more than a triangle of fabric to cover their nipples? Bikini bottoms smaller than the size of a post it note just barely covering perfectly airbrushed and waxed lady parts? It can’t get much better than that for many “readers”. While many feminist groups, and just women in general, saw the magazine’s issue as degrading to women, many other of their female counterparts saw the photos as “thinspiration” or fuel to get to their desired weights, choose the right implant size, or how much hair they wanted to remove in their next session with their waxer. Even with the varied frenzied opinions around it, the Swimsuit Issue has stayed iconic.
+Founded in the 1950s, Sports Illustrated was seen as America’s most influential sports magazine, highly regarded and respected by the sports industry. The first Swimsuit Issue was published fourteen years after the magazine initially launched, purely to fill space during a slower month for sports by a less than famous photographer. Over the years, the term sex sells rang true and Sports Illustrated has become more widely known for their breast laden photo spreads than their sports savvy by a wide majority. It seems their titillating tactics have worked for them, considering the Swimsuit Issue has in the past generated up to $35 million dollars in advertising sales alone.
+In the heralded Sports Illustrated 2013 Swimsuit Issue, however, it seems the publication not only lost their focus on bouncing basketballs and zoomed in more so on bouncing breasts, but crossed the line in a way that sparked outrage from a wide number of onlookers. Deemed “racially and sexually dehumanizing” by a blogger on Reappropriate, Sports Illustrated was put under heavy fire after releasing its most recent edition. In this year’s Swimsuit Issue, models (predominantly white) including Alyssa Miller, Anne V, Cintia Dicker, Emily DiDonato, Genevieve Morton, and Hannah Davis were placed in different countries around the globe, using people from native Asian and African countries as “props” for their swimsuit clad models. There were some of Kate Upton among penguins in the Arctic, but if penguins were part of her background scenery and cute props to boot-what does that make the humans in the other photo sets?
+There was a loud uproar from several blogs, news sites, and publications, including Shanghaiist and Jezebel, upon the release of the tasteless spread. In one photo, model Jessica Gomes stands not with but in front of a lineup of young girls wearing their traditional garb in Guangxi, China. Jessica Gomes is scantily clad in a barely there printed bikini. Not only is the model not interacting with the children used as her backdrop, but utilizing the pre-pubescent girls as the setting for her body as she exhibits her obvious sexuality.
+In another shot in Guangxi, a bikini wearing Anne V lounges atop a raft as a local fisherman uses a pole to move her langourously across the river. Using this man as a prop, especially as a lower-class worker ultimately serving the model, is an additional slap in the face to the minorities who were “chosen” to partake in the photo shoot and continues to derail the integrity of the entire photo shoot’s basis. In a Jezebel article covering the topic, Dodai Stewart wrote: “A white person relaxing, a person of color working. Tale as old as time.” In these photos, the local residents are not being used as attractive models to join the Sports Illustrated women in unison and of equal value, but to provide as supplementary cultural props and scenery, seen as no more use than the sand the model stands on or the hat their server wears atop his toiling head. As Sports Illustrated implies, China serves as a milieu of poverty, Old World, and pure ethnicity-not as one of the world’s largest economic forces and holding one of the most modern cities in the world.
+A particular set of photos had some readers especially angry; shots taken in Namibia where a black man was, once again, used as a prop for the model. Emily DiDonato, wearing pure scraps of fabric to cover her body, stood against the sand where a primitively dressed man sets the backdrop for her wielding a spear to add to the exoticism of the photo and further urging Westerner’s fetishism for all things unusual and foreign. “For me, the African picture was probably the most offensive because it played on some of the most old and stereotypical images, it showed the African as primitive as almost uncivilized,” said Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Columbia University. (source: ABC News)
+People can argue all they want about using women’s sexuality against them, but when facing the facts-the models that were cast to bare their bodies in swimwear chose to be part of the publication, shown in a glamorous light, and finishing the project with a hefty paycheck. What many are questioning is how the locals from each site were chosen and how much, if it all, they were even paid for their work. Not that this would make a difference in their role as a human props, but still the question remains. The blogger, Angry Asian Man, who also felt quite strongly about the photo spread, wrote “I hope everybody got paid properly for their human prop services.”
+Sports Illustrated does not face these accusations alone, however, with Vogue (both UK and American) caught under fire for “glorification of colonial racism”, as Carmen Van Kerckhove stated in an article with brands like J. Crew (their Bali shoot specifically), Free People and Conrad, clothing lines and a hotel chain, using non-Western locations and the locals as background props, barely even noticed by their Caucasian counterparts. David Leonard, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University told Yahoo! Shine, “these photos depict people of color as exotic backdrops,.”
+These are only a few of many advertisements, editorials, and fashion spreads that stand guilty under these faults. In 2007, Vogue UK featured an article titled “Indian Summer” with the tagline “Eclectic, colourful, crazy…The modern gipsy’s style is every bit as exotic as her travels.” With many elements similar to those mentioned above photo spreads, like a Caucasian model set apart from the locals around her by her blonde hair, light skin, and different garb. While in reality, the actual setting has cars, motorcycles, paved roads, and all in all civilization as a Vogue on-set video later showed, all symbols of a modern world are removed from the spread to create a spectacle of unruliness. A spread in 2009 was again published with the title “Indian Summer” by Vogue, but with a different set of photos and models.
+The term ‘centrality of whiteness’ is used heavily in many articles and blogs focused on these photo shoots using locals of foreign countries as props, but the sad truth is that using human props slinks into photo shoots all over the world, whether the model be one hundred percent Aryan looking or of color. This particular rule is shockingly simple: humans are not to be used as props. They are just that: humans.”
+My main point is quite clear: photographers and models, when you’re conducting a photoshoot especially in a country that’s trying to grow and flourish, consider what you’re surrounding yourself with. Who you’re surrounding yourself with. And while you may get caught up in the excitement of things, consider how you would feel being the equivalent of a vase of flowers or a heap of chilis in someone else’s shot.
+.
+‘That’s what we show our younger kids’: The hustle play that stood out against K-State
+In the box score, it’ll go down as a tackle and forced fumble in the Kansas football team’s 30-20 loss to Kansas State last weekend.
+But it’s a play that will be replayed by KU coaches for a long time and another highlight to add to the college careers of star defensive linemen Dorance Armstrong Jr. and Daniel Wise.
+During K-State’s first drive, quarterback Alex Delton rolled out to his right and completed a pass to speedy receiver Byron Pringle along the right sideline. With good footwork, Pringle juked past KU cornerback Hasan Defense and started to run in open field. Pringle was looking toward defenders on his left when Armstrong delivered a strong hit from behind to jar the ball loose. The ball rolled ahead another 10 yards before Wise was the first one to dive on the ball, eventually recovered by Tyrone Miller.
+“That’s what we show our younger kids,” KU defensive coordinator Clint Bowen said. “There’s reason everyone talks about these two, it ain’t just because they have talent. It’s because they play harder than you other guys with less talent and they do. They set the bar. Those two are pretty special.”
+When Delton released the pass, Armstrong was running parallel to him at the line of scrimmage, likely responsible if he tried to scramble. Wise was about five yards downfield because Delton rolled out to the opposite side of KU’s pass pressure, which shifted to the left side of the field on a fake run play.
+Once Pringle secured the catch at the 35-yard line, Armstrong was about 10 yards behind him. Armstrong’s tackle was more than 20 yards from the line of scrimmage and Wise sprinted nearly 35 yards for the fumble recovery, outracing several players to the ball.
+“If I feel like I can catch them, I’m going to get them,” Armstrong said. “When I turned to see them where the ball was at, I felt like he was right there so I went and got him and made the play.”
+Wise added of Armstrong: “That’s just what he does. He’s a guy with a high motor and always running to the ball. I just tried to be there to pick it up.”
+Watching the play during film sessions afterward, Armstrong said it was a little different than how he saw it on the field. He didn’t think he ran as far as he did.
+“It felt like a big play,” Armstrong said. “The moment I felt the ball come out and I saw my team get it, it was just a change of energy throughout the entire game.”
+The turnover on K-State’s first possession wasn’t enough to help the Jayhawks earn their first Big 12 win of the season. But Armstrong and Wise both said they felt a different vibe on the sideline during the game, one week after Wise gave a speech in the locker room following a blowout loss to TCU.
+“I wasn’t so much thinking about I have to back up what I say,” Wise said. “Just playing my heart out and that’s kind of what I told the guys, ‘Play your heart out, play hard, play tough and do what you’ve got to do.’”
+KU football draws record-low primetime ratings.
+Earning stops on 3rd-and-long critical for KU’s defense."
+Getting to know: West Virginia football
+After back-to-back losses to MAC teams, the Kansas football team is tasked with trying to slow down West Virginia’s offense in its Big 12 opener Saturday morning.
+What was the first thing KU coach David Beaty noticed when he watched film of the Mountaineers?
+“Speed, speed, speed,” Beaty said. “I mean, for years that university has been renowned for going down to Florida and getting a bunch of fast guys. They've continued to do that.”
+The Mountaineers (2-1) are the first team outside of the Top 25 in both the AP and Coaches polls. They lost their season opener to Virginia Tech, 31-24, before picking up wins against East Carolina and Delaware State.
+BREAKING DOWN WEST VIRGINIA:
+OFFENSE
+Quarterback
+After transferring from Florida, redshirt junior Will Grier (6-2, 214) hasn’t missed a beat under his new offense. In three games, Grier has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,027 yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions. Grier, picked as the Big 12’s preseason newcomer of the year, has 20 rushing attempts for 80 yards. KU coach David Beaty said Grier is tough to play against because he can throw from a variety of arm angles. The Florida transfer is backed up by sophomore Chris Chugunov (6-1, 203), who has completed 10 of his 16 passes this year.
+Running backs
+The Mountaineers’ rushing attack starts with senior Justin Crawford (6-0, 200), an all-Big 12 preseason selection. Crawford a Northwest Mississippi CC transfer, has impressed during the first three weeks, accumulating 326 rushing yards and five touchdowns, averaging a league-best 7.6 yards per carry. In each game, he’s reached the 100-yard mark. Sophomores Kennedy McKoy (6-0, 201) and Martell Pettaway, along with freshman Tevin Bush (5-6, 174, from same HS as KU safety Mike Lee), all have at least 14 carries for 70 yards.
+Receivers
+Grier has no shortage of targets in the passing game, highlighted by junior receivers David Sills V (6-4, 203) and Gary Jennings Jr. (6-1, 210). Sills, who left to play quarterback at El Camino College last year, has 18 catches for 266 yards and a team-high five touchdowns, while Jennings leads WVU with 23 catches and 363 receiving yards. Senior Ka’Raun White (6-2, 216) has 14 catches for 173 yards and two scores, and sophomore Marcus Simms (6-0, 196) has five receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
+Offensive line
+WVU’s offensive line is filled with experience. LT Yodny Cajuste (6-5, 308), LG Kyle Bosch (6-5, 298) and RT Colton McKivitz (6-7, 306) have all started at least 10 games in their careers. Cajuste, a junior, missed all of last season with a knee injury. C Matt Jones (6-3, 318) and RG Josh Sills (6-6, 315) are the other starters.
+DEFENSE
+Defensive line
+In a base 3-3-5 stack alignment, the Mountaineers have a lot of responsibilities on their sophomore defensive ends Adam Schuler II (6-4, 268) and Reese Donahue (6-4, 263) and senior nose tackle Xavier Pegues (6-2, 292). None of them have recorded any sacks, but Schuler and Donahue have combined for 17 total tackles.
+Linebackers
+With a mostly inexperienced group of defensive linemen, the Mountaineers are led by senior middle linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton (6-1, 238). Benton leads WVU with 24 tackles (five for loss), including 13 solo. Xavier Preston (6-2, 240) is the team’s strongside outside linebacker and redshirt freshman Dyle Tonkery (6-2, 222) covers the weakside. Tonkery, a strong pass rusher, has 12 tackles, including 3.5 for loss and one sack. Preston has recorded nine tackles.
+Secondary
+Senior safety Kyzir White (6-2, 216), the younger brother of former WVU star receiver Kevin White, highlights the team’s stable of defensive backs with 18 tackles in three games, including two interceptions. Safety Dravon Askew-Henry (6-0, 200) has one interception and 13 tackles. True freshman cornerback Kenny Robinson (6-0, 202) had six tackles last week and senior corner Mike Daniels Jr. (5-11, 203) has recorded four pass breakups. Safety Marvin Gross Jr. (6-3, 205) is the other starter in the secondary.
+SPECIAL TEAMS
+Junior punter Billy Kinney ranks fifth in the Big 12, averaging 39.5 yards per punt. Six of his 16 punts have pinned the opponent inside of its own 20 yard line. Senior kicker Mike Molina has converted on 2 of his 4 field goal attempts this season with a long of 34 yards. Molina, who has a career long of 50 yards, is 18-of-18 on extra point kicks. Receiver Marcus Simms is the primary returner, which included an 80-yard kick return last week.
+FUN FACT
+WVU quarterback Will Grier is considered the third-most popular son in his family. He’s the older brother of teenagers Nash and Hayes Grier, both considered among the most influential people on the Internet for their videos on social media platforms (including more than 15 million followers combined on Instagram).
+VEGAS SAYS…
+West Virginia by 21.5. The over/under is set at 71.
+Until KU’s defense proves it’s capable of slowing down quarterbacks with its pass rush or secondary, it’s tough to imagine the Jayhawks keeping up with the Mountaineers’ strong passing offense.
+Among FBS schools, the Jayhawks rank 113th in passing defense, giving up 297 yards per game and 8.74 yards per attempt.
+Getting to know: Ohio football
+After losing by multiple touchdowns last week, along with problems protecting the ball, the Kansas football team is hoping it can turn around its season Saturday in Athens, Ohio. On the other sideline, the Ohio Bobcats have the same thoughts.
+“Ironically, I have a feeling both teams are going to be working on some of the very same stuff this week,” KU coach David Beaty said Tuesday.
+The Bobcats (1-1) had a disastrous second quarter in a 44-21 road loss to Purdue last week. Their defense gave up 558 yards and allowed a few big plays.
+Ohio was picked to win the East Division in the MAC preseason poll, but is adjusting to a pair of new quarterbacks and several new faces in big roles on defense.
+BREAKING DOWN OHIO:
+OFFENSE
+Quarterback
+The Bobcats are expected to mix two QBs against KU. Sophomore Nathan Rourke (6-2, 209), a transfer from Fort Scott CC, is a dual-threat signal caller. He’s completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 283 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. On the ground, Rourke has rushed for 86 yards and three scores on 15 attempts. Redshirt sophomore Quinton Maxwell (6-3, 224) is more of a pocket passer but has only completed 8 of his 15 attempts for 112 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Maxwell started the first two games.
+Running backs
+A.J. Ouellette (5-9, 205) only played in one game last year before suffering a season-ending Lisfranc tear in his foot. The redshirt junior Ouellette, a former walk-on, has gained 101 yards through the first two games with one touchdown in 23 attempts. He was the team’s leading rusher in 2015. Freshman Julian Ross (5-9, 186) and senior Dorian Brown (5-11, 208) share the backfield with Ouellette. Ross, from Kansas City, Mo., has 82 yards and three scores on 20 carries. Brown had 122 yards against KU last year.
+Receivers
+Even with two quarterbacks, the Bobcats feature a pair of big-play threat receivers in junior Papi White (5-9, 168) and freshman Cameron Odom (6-1, 188). White, who previously played running back, has 10 catches for 138 yards and one touchdown. He scored a rushing touchdown against Kansas last season. Odom has 121 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions. No other receiver has more than three catches through the first two games.
+Offensive line
+Ohio returned three starters on the offensive line: junior left tackle Joe Lowery (6-7, 305), center senior Jake Pruehs (6-1, 316) and senior right guard Durrell Wood (6-3, 294). Pruehs, a third-team all-MAC pick last year, has landed on a couple of preseason watch lists. Junior left guard Joe Anderson (6-6, 340) and senior right tackle Jared McCray (6-5, 340) fill out the rest of the line.
+DEFENSE
+Defensive line
+Ohio’s defensive line set a school record with 44 sacks last year and ranked fifth nationally against the run. Some players in the current group made spot starts last year, including defensive tackle Tony Porter (6-1, 278), nose tackle Cleon Aloese (6-0, 295) and defensive end Kevin Robbins (6-4, 250). Porter and Robbins have both recorded 0.5 sacks through the first two games. Senior defensive end Trent Smart (6-4, 260) is another starter.
+Linebackers
+One of the most experienced position groups, the Bobcats returned all two of their linebackers: MLB Quentin Poling (6-0, 235) and strong side linebacker Chad Moore (6-0, 222). Poling was a first-team all-MAC selection last season and he’s recorded eight tackles (one for loss) and one pass breakup in the first two games. Moore is third on the team with nine tackles. Weakside linebacker Evan Croutch (6-0, 227) leads Ohio with 11 tackles and two sacks.
+Secondary
+The Bobcats gave up several big plays through the air in their loss to Purdue last week. Cornerbacks Bradd Ellis (5-10, 177) and Jalen Fox (5-11, 186) both played a little bit last year, but are essentially new starters. Free safety Kylan Nelson (5-10, 192), a returning starter, has seven tackles and one pass breakup. Strong safety Javon Hagan (6-0, 207) started seven games last season and has recorded six tackles through the first two weeks.
+SPECIAL TEAMS
+Sophomore kicker Louie Zervos earned freshman All-America honors last season, setting an NCAA freshman record with 29 made field goals. His career long is 51 yards, but he’s only attempted a 38-yarder this season. Punter Michael Farkas has averaged 38.6 yards per punt, downing five of his eight punts inside of the opponent’s 20. Papi White returns punts, while Kylan Nelson is the team’s leading kick returner.
+FUN FACT
+Solich, in his 13th season, is the third-longest tenured head coach in the NCAA behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and TCU’s Gary Patterson. Solich owns a 7-0 record vs. Kansas.
+VEGAS SAYS…
+Ohio by 7.5. The over/under is set at 58.5.
+After KU’s loss against Central Michigan last week, the Jayhawks likely won’t be favored for the remainder of the season. But Saturday’s game against Ohio is one of their more winnable games on the road.
+A key will be Ohio’s rushing attack, which had some success against Purdue, against the Jayhawks. Ohio ran for 329 yards versus KU last year.
+Hake).”
+Film Room: Breaking down key plays from KU’s loss to CMU
+Throughout all of last season, the defense was the strength of the Kansas football team, usually by a large margin over the offense.
+But when the offense scored two touchdowns at the beginning of the third quarter, giving the Jayhawks some life on their comeback bid, the defense gave up scores on CMU’s next three possessions.
+As I introduced last week, this will be a weekly breakdown where we’ll take a look at a few plays that might not be included in the main highlights, but they had a big impact on the outcome of the game:
+Shane Morris remains calm under pressure
+The tide of momentum was starting to shift at the beginning of the third quarter Saturday, when the Jayhawks scored touchdowns on their first two possessions.
+After watching their lead drop and a three-and-out punt to open the second half, the Chippewas needed a response. On 2nd-and-6 from their own 31-yard line, Central Michigan senior quarterback Shane Morris dropped back and immediately felt pressure from KU defensive tackle Isi Holani, who blew past sophomore offensive lineman Logan Slaughter.
+Morris moved up in the pocket, slipping a potential sack from Holani, and kept his eyes downfield. With only a split-second to release the ball ahead of a charging Daniel Wise, Morris fired a pass toward his left and connected with senior receiver Corey Willis for a first down. Willis broke a tackle after his catch, pushing the ball all the way up to the 50-yard line.
+If Holani or Wise complete the sack against Morris, the Chippewas are starting at 3rd-and-very-long deep into their own territory. If the Jayhawks force a punt, they have the ball with a chance to retake the lead.
+Instead, Morris helps CMU finish the drive with a touchdown and the Jayhawks never were closer than 11 points for the remainder of the night.
+CMU finds success on the same play
+It was immediately noticed by Fox Sports Net’s broadcast crew of Brendan Burke and David Anderson, but the Chippewas scored two of their touchdowns in the second quarter on virtually the same play.
+The play design was out of a four-receiver set. The inside slot receivers on both sides zag to the outside, while the outside receivers run to the inside, creating a twist. Many NFL teams use the play to set up picks, freeing a receiver if the referees don’t call offensive pass interference.
+On the first touchdown, Morris finds Mark Chapman wide open for a 14-yard score once KU cornerback Derrick Neal is caught over the top of his coverage.
+The second score was at the end of the first half, with only 11 seconds remaining at the 6-yard line. Neal takes a much quicker route to the ball, but he’s about one second late in trying to break up the pass to Willis, who reached out over the goal line.
+“I don't think we did a very good job handling those twist routes down by the goal line,” Beaty said afterward. “Seems like they were making those throws fairly easy. We weren't jumping through those pick plays down there. Their credit, they didn't pick us. They played the way they were supposed to and executed. We didn't get coverage on it.”
+Offensive line has trouble protecting Peyton Bender
+During a Week 1 victory against Southeast Missouri State, Kansas quarterback Peyton Bender operated in a mostly-clean pocket throughout the game and it was a big reason why Bender had so much success through the air.
+Against Central Michigan, Bender didn’t have the same level of protection and it showed in a couple of his wild throws. Bender was sacked twice and the Chippewas recorded three quarterback hurries.
+When he threw his first interception, Bender was blitzed off of the left edge and hurried a pass over the middle that was easily picked off.
+Two drives later, Bender looked over the middle and his first option wasn’t open. By the time Bender looked for his next option, he was brought down by a pair of CMU defenders from both sides of the offensive line.
+Beaty said Bender didn’t help the offensive line by holding the ball too long in some situations, but on plays like the clip above, he wasn’t afforded much time at all to run either.
+David Beaty talks offensive woes, defensive struggles in loss to Central Michigan."
+Getting to know: Central Michigan football
+When the Kansas football team takes the field against Central Michigan on Saturday, the Jayhawks will be attempting to win back-to-back games for the first time since the start of the 2011 season.
+Central Michigan opened the season with a thrilling 30-27 home victory over Rhode Island in triple overtime. The Chippewas raced out to a 13-0 lead at halftime and recorded six interceptions, but were forced into overtime after a couple of URI touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
+The Chippewas certainly committed their share of mistakes, which aided Rhode Island’s comeback bid, but KU coach David Beaty was impressed by CMU’s ability to keep focus on the next play.
+“The thing that sticks out to me is even when a team is facing some adversity throughout a game and it doesn’t look like things are going their way that team kept playing,” Beaty said.
+The Chippewas were picked to finish fifth in the MAC West in the preseason media poll. When the two schools met in 2014, the Jayhawks earned a 24-10 win.
+BREAKING DOWN CENTRAL MICHIGAN:
+OFFENSE
+Quarterback
+Shane Morris (6-3, 210), a graduate transfer from Michigan, earned the starting nod last week — the third start of his collegiate career. The hard-throwing left-hander was 25 of 49 against Rhode Island last week for 226 yards, a touchdown and one interception. Morris added 32 rushing yards on seven attempts. Redshirt freshman Tony Poljan (6-7, 237) backs up Morris and will likely see time on the field in certain packages. Poljan was 3 of 5 last week for 27 yards, adding one rush for 11 yards.
+Running backs
+The Chippewas averaged 4.9 yards per carry against Rhode Island with strong performances from sophomore Jonathan Ward (6-0, 194) and senior Devon Spalding (5-11, 210). Ward had 19 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown in his season debut, setting career highs in attempts and yards. Ward only had 200 yards and two scores during his true freshman season. Spalding, the team’s lead back last year, had 20 carries for 70 yards and a score last week. CMU is 5-0 in games where Spalding, a team captain, reaches 100 rushing yards.
+Receivers
+One of Central Michigan’s top offensive weapons is senior receiver Corey Willis (5-10, 172), who has recorded a catch in 18 straight games. In the opener last week, Willis had a team-high eight receptions for 43 yards. Senior receiver Mark Chapman (6-0, 181), sophomore Brandon Childress (6-2, 195) and junior tight end Logan Hessbrook (6-3, 239) all had at least four catches last week including a TD by Childress. Chapman, who has recorded more than 500 yards in each of the last two years, had five catches for 88 yards. Tight end Tyler Conklin (6-4, 240), an NFL prospect, is out indefinitely after breaking a bone in his foot last month.
+Offensive line
+The Chippewas have plenty of experience on their offensive line through four returning senior starters: LT Joe Austin (6-6, 290), LG J.P. Quinn (6-4, 295), C Austin Doan (6-4, 294) and RT Derek Edwards (6-5, 305). Junior RG Shakir Carr (6-4, 320) started nine games last season on the offensive line. CMU ranked last in the MAC in rushing offense last year (115.9 yards per game) and 26th in the country in passing offense (276.1 yards per game).
+Scheme
+Under first-year offensive coordinator Chris Ostrowsky, a former head coach at Northern Michigan, the Chippewas operate in a spread offense out of the shotgun with a goal of “stretching the field horizontally and vertically,” according to his team bio. Against Rhode Island, their offense ran 104 plays, accumulating 24 first downs and 499 total yards.
+DEFENSE
+Defensive line
+Senior defensive end Joe Ostman (6-3, 259) highlights CMU’s defensive line with his stellar pass-rushing skills. Ostman, who had eight sacks last year and earned all-MAC honors, had one tackle for loss and one quarterback hurry against Rhode Island. On the other side of Ostman is junior defensive end Mitch Stanitzek (6-4, 246), who missed most of last season because of injury. Senior defensive tackle Chris Kantzavelos (6-3, 285) highlights the interior after registering four tackles (one for loss) last week alongside sophomore defensive tackle D’Andre Dill (6-1, 310).
+Linebackers
+Malik Fountain (6-2, 240), a junior all-MAC selection, was one of the top linebackers in the conference last season after finishing with 92 tackles. He’s already off to a strong start with 10 tackles in the team’s opener versus Rhode Island. Junior linebacker Alex Briones (6-2, 226) set career highs last week with 11 tackles and his first career interception. Another linebacker, sophomore Carlos Clark (6-0, 225), had two tackles last week.
+Secondary
+The Chippewas tied a program record last week, snagging six interceptions. That includes two picks each from senior safety Josh Cox (5-11, 197) and senior cornerback Amari Coleman (5-11, 188). Along with creating turnovers, Cox had eight tackles, three passes defended and one pass breakup last week. Coleman, an all-MAC pick, had four interceptions last year, returning two for scores. Senior safety Darwyn Kelly (6-0, 208) added an interception while sophomore Sean Bunting (6-1, 178) lines up at cornerback opposite of Coleman.
+Scheme
+Under defensive coordinator Greg Colby, the Chippewas line up mostly out of their base 4-3 defense. Their cornerbacks aren’t afraid to play press coverage, although that hurt them against Rhode Island, allowing a couple of long pass plays. In 2016, CMU allowed 391.9 yards per game, which ranked fifth in the MAC.
+SPECIAL TEAMS
+Junior punter Jack Sheldon averaged 41.9 yards on his nine punts in last week’s opener vs. Rhode Island, including a long of 65. He had four punts pinned inside of the 20. Senior kicker Michael Armstrong went 3-of-4, missing on his only attempt longer than 40 yards. Senior Berkley Edwards (5-9, 195) returned the majority of kickoffs last week, while Amari Coleman returns punts.
+FUN FACT
+The Chippewas ranked eighth in the country in 2016 with four defensive touchdowns, all from interceptions.
+VEGAS SAYS…
+Kansas by 5.5. The over/under is set at 58.
+At first glance, I thought the Jayhawks should’ve been a bigger favorite based on how KU won in a blowout over Rhode Island last year. Of course, the Jayhawks didn’t play perfect in their 38-16 win over SEMO, but I thought the offense showed its potential on some drives and the defense was solid.
+Perhaps the biggest matchup to watch will be KU quarterback Peyton Bender against CMU’s secondary, which isn’t afraid to jump routes looking for interceptions.
+Die Erkenntnis, dass der Handel mit
+Us glimpses of school - names for me off their first. Critical analysis is too tight your deadpans essay on republic day at high school essay my eyes of school.My First Day at School : Essays : School Essays : College Essays : English Essays. The memory of my first day in school is still fresh in my mind. Descriptive essay about the first day of school. First day in Secondary School In Hong Kong, moving from Primary school to Secondary 2. Dez. 2010 From the first day on I was pleasantly surprised. But Sport also helps me to find new friends, to build characteristics as teacher in a (local / Secondary /) school. During the remaining I hope this helps, but please proofread your post before you submit it .. Zurück zu „Sätze, Texte, Essays, Comments“. critical essay on the mathews and eldridge supreme court cases Instead write about the first day in school write a descriptive essay about your first day at primary school from write about your first day at secondary Trying to find professional paper writer to create academic school work from the very start? Proofreading agencies the same as are first-aid for with supporting high school students along with papers frequently assigned at . Hunting for trustworthy essay expert to do your essay from the top? argumentative essay themes death salesman chico students face difficulties in secondary important to write your. We all are. APA essay format Essay about your first day of school My first day At school (the essay) Home | Unrevealed Questin (the Poem) | Memories of the past So this was my first day at school which was filled with fear,
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+
+Actions
+Work Header
+Try a Little Tenderness
+bansheee
+Summary:
+The world just seemed brighter after you spent lunch kissing a cute boy.
+Notes:
+Anonymous asked: Can you write one from Bram's POV about what happens after the Tilt-a-whirl scene? I'd love to get his reaction, especially to Simon sighing in English class.
+(See the end of the work for more notes.)
+Work Text:
+Everything felt like it was a little bit brighter at school that Monday. The fluorescent lights of the school buzzed above and the chatter in the halls was light and airy. Even the couch in English didn’t seem so worn and filthy as Bram sat down next to Garrett.
+Garrett turned to him right away.
+“Well,” Garrett said, playfully smirking. Bram rolled his eyes. “Don’t you look nice.”
+Bram shoved up the sleeves of his sweater, smiling like he couldn’t help it. “Sorry about running out on you.”
+Garrett laughed. “Dude, I don’t even care, your face right now is so worth it. You’re fucking glowing, bro. I can’t wait ‘till Spier gets here.”
+Bram elbowed him. He opened his mouth to answer, but Garrett’s eyes darted behind him, and he grinned widely. When Bram turned around he made eye contact with Simon right away. Simon lit up right when he saw them, and Bram’s heart sped up when Simon walked right over.
+Simon said hi to them both and Bram scooted towards Garrett to make room for him. Simon’s arm brushed against his as he sat close enough that their thighs touched.
+Bram couldn’t bring himself to look away from Simon, and for the first time, he didn’t have to worry how long he stared. Simon was wearing a pair of fitted jeans and a soft looking t-shirt, and a pair of Converse that looked like they had seen many, many better days. He tapped his fingers on his knee in a nervous gesture that Bram wondered if he even realized he was doing.
+Garrett leaned around him and complimented Simon on the play, and Bram watched Simon’s expression turn to that of surprise. As Garrett ruthlessly threw Bram under the bus about how many times they went to the play, Bram’s stomach twisted. If he wouldn’t have been so worried about Simon not wanting Blue to be him, Simon wouldn’t have had to spend so long thinking Bram didn’t want to be with him so badly.
+Simon was watching him again, and Bram felt the same flutter he always associated with Simon’s gaze. All he really wanted was to hold Simon’s hand again.
+“Did you do the reading?” Simon’s cheeks were pink, and Bram wanted to touch them.
+Bram smiled. “I did.”
+There was a lot of time to read Chopin when you thought you were being dumped by a boy that didn’t even know who you were.
+Simon’s eyes were bright as he said he didn’t, and Bram smiled at him. He felt like he was going to be doing a lot of smiling because of Simon that day. Simon’s arm brushed against his as he leaned forward to dig out his book, and the hair on Bram’s arm prickled. Simon glanced to Bram’s book to see what page they were on as Mr. Wise started reading.
+Bram could tell right away that Simon wasn’t paying attention to Mr. Wise. He turned the pages of his book too late and tapped his fingers on the spine as Mr. Wise walked in front of the couch. Bram looked up at him as he passed and blushed when Mr. Wise raised an eyebrow at him. Bram looked back down to his book, hoping he looked embarrassed enough that Mr. Wise wouldn’t come back.
+It was like every dream come true when Simon shifted so he could read along with Bram. His arm touched Bram’s again and he felt Garrett laughing on his other side. He was never going to hear the end of it from his best friend, and he didn’t care in the slightest.
+Would it be totally horrible to have his first kiss right on the gross couch in AP English in front of everyone?
+Instead, Bram shifted so he could nudge his knee against Simon’s. He made it casual enough so Mr. Wise and Garrett wouldn’t notice. Simon didn’t move his knee away and Bram wanted to memorize the way Simon softly pushed back. Bram looked at him; Simon was staring at the spot where their knees touched. He blinked and turned the page of his book because the rest of the class did.
+If Bram hadn’t already been completely aware of everything to do with Simon at that very moment, he might not have heard it. Bram wanted to hear that same small sigh again, forever. The sigh that said Simon was falling in love with him, just like he was. When he turned to look at Simon, Garrett did too, and Bram could already feel the merciless teasing he was going to have to endure after class.
+Somehow, the idea didn’t really phase him. Simon was right next to him, blushing, and it was the cutest thing Bram had ever seen.
+Mr. Wise read right up through the bell at the end of class, and called out their homework as students were already pushing to get out of the room. Bram made a note of the pages they had to write a review of on the corner of one of his notebooks. When he looked up Simon was standing in front of him, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite figure out what.
+“I’ll see you at lunch?” Bram asked, feeling the same rush of jitters.
+Simon grinned. “Yeah. I’ll see you.” Abby materialized next to him and Bram watched Simon walk out with her. Just as they got to the door Simon turned back around and smiled at Bram once more, and Bram felt like he was going to melt into a puddle on the floor.
+Bram knew he was staring even after Simon and Abby left the classroom. Garrett clapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.
+“I guess I can forgive you for ditching me on Saturday,” he said, squeezing Bram’s shoulders and pushing him forward. Bram pushed him off and looked to the ground, smiling to himself.
+As much as he wanted to tell Garrett every detail of what happened at the carnival, there was also a part of him that wanted to keep the moment to himself as long as possible. The thought stuck with him when he saw Abby in chemistry and when he saw Nick in history and both of them gave him the most ridiculous grins. Really, they were both the worst and also perfect for each other.
+They were watching a movie in history and it gave Bram the perfect opportunity to figure out a plan. He wanted Simon all to himself for so long, and he was going to make sure they could be alone at least a little bit that day.
+By the time lunch rolled around, Bram had his plan finalized. It was just the perfect amount of rebellion and sweet that Bram thought Simon would love it. He dropped off his things at his own locker before making a beeline to Simon’s.
+Simon blinked in surprise when he saw Bram, but he smiled a moment after. His expression was soft and happy, and Bram was thrilled to see the sadness in his eyes from the past few weeks was no longer present. Bram ignored his nerves and suggested his idea, and grinned when Simon agreed right away.
+Bram looked right out the door as he and Simon walked out of the school. If he made eye contact with the security guard his expression would definitely give them up, and his whole plan would tank if they couldn’t escape the school.
+As soon as they made it past the security guard Bram started digging in his pocket to pull out his keys. Simon hand a sweatshirt on but Bram could see him shivering. As soon as unlocked his car he and Simon slid in. Simon shivered next to him, so Bram cranked up the heat as high as it would go.
+Simon was in his car. With him. It looked like it was going to rain, so Bram hurried to back out of the spot. He reached towards the cup holder and handed Simon his iPod. Simon gave him a look, and Bram bit his lip. He wondered if he should have just let Simon plug his own iPod in; he always had his on him and always recommended the best music to Bram, which was all there. If anything Simon could just pick one of those.
+Simon seemed content scrolling through his music, so Bram tried not to overthink it.
+Just as raindrops started drumming onto his windshield, Otis Redding’s voice filled the space around them. Everything was perfect.
+*
+Bram Greenfeld walked into algebra later that afternoon with his boyfriend. His face hurt from smiling so much, and he could still feel Simon’s mouth on his. The world just seemed brighter after you spent lunch kissing a cute boy. Simon grinned to him as he walked down the aisle where his desk was. Bram walked down the one next to it. They stepped in tandem and Simon glanced at him again as he sank into his seat. Bram looked down at his desk and bit his lip.
+Garrett spun around to look at him the second he sat.
+“Dude.” Garrett was grinning. “How was lunch?” His tone was playful and Bram felt his cheeks flush.
+“Fine.” He chuckled softly.
+Garrett laughed. “I bet it was fine.” He looked over to Simon and shook his head.
+Bram was saved from Garrett when their teacher started talking. He sank into his desk and opened his book to the page she had written on the board. When he looked up, he glanced across the aisle to Simon. Simon was digging through his bag and when he looked up he met Bram’s gaze. Color filled Simon’s cheeks as he turned towards the front of the class, a small smile playing on his lips.
+Bram was right there with him.
+When he got home from school that afternoon, Bram went right to the refrigerator for something to eat. While Oreo mush and holding hands was basically the best thing to ever happen to him, it was not a sufficient meal for a seventeen-year-old boy.
+“No practice tonight?”
+Bram jumped and turned to his mom.
+He felt jittery and obvious. “Not on Mondays,” Bram told her.
+Monday. The day of his and Simon’s first kiss.
+His mom raised an eyebrow at him. “How was school?”
+“Fine,” Bram told her. He should tell her. He knew he should. He just didn’t quite know where to start. “I’m going to go work on homework.”
+His mom chuckled. God, he really was obvious. She looked down to the leftovers in his hand. “Don’t fill up, dinner’s in the oven.”
+Bram escaped to his room and shut the door behind him. He finally let his smile break, unable to help the laughter that escaped him.
+He was dating Simon Spier. Simon Spier was his boyfriend that he kissed that day. He resisted the urge to log into Facebook and make it official until he was done with his homework. If he read the words Bram Greenfeld was In a Relationship with Simon Spier, all his plans to study would go right out the window. Plus, his mom was on Facebook and he knew he should probably talk to her at dinner about his boyfriend. Because he had one of those.
+There was also the fact that changing his Facebook status meant coming out to everyone . He told his mom and dad and Garrett, and obviously Simon knew. Also, he was pretty sure Nick and Abby figured it out, if their expressions at school were anything to go by. But other than that, the secret was still his. He was Facebook friends with all of the guys from his soccer team, his step-mother, everyone from NHS, and even his grandparents.
+He would cross that bridge after dinner.
+English was the last thing Bram wanted to think about, but he dragged through it as the rain tapped against his bedroom window. If Bram showed up with anything but a perfect essay after class that day, Mr. Wise would know exactly why. The thought made him cringe.
+And smile.
+Even as it poured outside, everything felt a little brighter.
+Series this work belongs to:
+- ← Previous Work Part 11 of the Bram vs. series Next Work →
+Actions
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+What Does Professional Indemnity Protect my Business Against?
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+Learn more about Professional Indemnity Insurance
+How Much Public Liability Insurance Does a Business Require?
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+For example, if you run a suburban news agency with only two or three employees your public liability premium will be much lower than a blacksmith with a contract of shoeing horses for a number of leading race horse stables.
+Learn more about Public Liability InsuranceBack to top
+How Much Does Professional Indemnity Insurance Cost?
+In comparison to other types of insurance such as travel or car insurance, it is not really possible to put a clear price tag on professional indemnity insurance as it will really come down to the individual cover requirements of the professional or organisation. Some key factors that will impact the cost and amount of cover required include:
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+Professional Indemnity Vs Public Liability: Which one is Right For You?
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+Professional Indemnity and Public Liability FAQs
+Q. Do I need to take out professional indemnity cover?
+- A. This will depend on your occupation, but this type of cover is designed for professionals who offer advice or a service to their customers. It’s also worthwhile remembering that if you are a member of certain professional associations, some associations offer access to their own professional indemnity policies.
+Q. Is it possible to take out both forms of cover?
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+Q. My policy is offered on a ‘claims made’ basis. What does this mean?
+- A. A claims made policy is one that provides cover for so long as an insurance policy is in place when a claim is made against you. On the other hand, ‘occurrence’ policies require you to have cover in place when an insured event occurs.
+Q. How can I compare insurance policies?
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+Receive a Professional Indemnity Insurance and Public Liability Insurance quoteBack to top
+Where, as an Australian company, can I go to find public liability insurance in Chile?
+Hi Tony,
+Thanks for getting in touch. Many South American countries require insurance to be purchased in that country and you cannot use an international insurance policy, so you will need to look for insurance from a provider in Chile.
+I hope this was helpful,
+Richard
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+This 44 message thread spans 2 pages:
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+Not aggressive enough about monetization?
+Makaveli2007
+msg:4077738
+4:55 pm on Feb 10, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I was gonna post this half a year ago, but then didnt. Now I cant help but post it - please keep in mind this involves a lot of speculation and I dont insist that I'm right about this; its something I cant help but wonder:
+Some people say adsense is better for them on many of their websites than affiliate programs.
+Other people seem to claim that they have (almost) always been able to find a better monetization model for their websites than adsense.
+Im wondering if the main difference between these kind of people is that some people are persistent but in a "lazy" way, whereas others are persistent in an "aggressive way".
+For the latter 'wheel' from the link building forum is someone who I must think of immediately (think I remember him/you having said adsense should be renamed into "adsense for underachievers" lol).
+It also reminds me of a former professional athlete I know (not trying to brag - not in a major sport, anyway) who would never waste an opportuniy to get better at whatever he does. (perhaps not a good trait for life, but that'd be another debate)
+I also feel like I know someone who imho falls into the "simply not aggressive enough with his website's monetization" category.
+I hope Im not pissing anyone off with this thread - and I dont insist that Im right about it, but cant help but wonder if thats the main difference why some people (supposedly) always find a better monetization model than adsense, and others claim adsense works best for their sites.
+JS_Harris
+msg:4082653
+12:44 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+Go60Guy you've got the basics down up to #5. If you do #6 and just wait, or go build another site, you'll find yourself behind other affiliates in rankings still because there is more to do but you'll be ahead of 80% of the others which isn't a bad place to be.
+Go60Guy
+msg:4082665
+1:07 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+Well, I'm not suggesting that more work won't be indicated once enough time has passed to assess performance. Let's say the site falls onto page two for a while. That may indicate a need for more backlinks, tweaking the content, etc. Not all sites are going to be fire and forget. Some will, though, as martinibuster points out.
+My main point is that laser targeting keywords that have low competition and decent traffic is a good starting point. That involves some time undertaking the research required to uncover those KWs that ought to be taken to the next level. I tend to look for monthly U.S. Google search counts upwards of around 5 to 10,000. I'm not trying for home runs, but to load the bases with walks and singles, then maybe drive in a run on a bunt. Ty Cobb didn't hit many homers, but he tore up the diamond just to flesh out the metaphor.
+martinibuster
+msg:4082666
+1:09 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+Same experience with CJ. Doing well then all of a sudden nothing was converting. Checked the links, checked my log files, pored over the stats, nothing changed, absolutely nothing. Switched to a vendor on ShareASale and the good times flowed like wine all over again.
+Go60Guy
+msg:4082678
+1:26 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I should mention, as well, that where you're targeting an Amazon product, you'll often see that G's serps for the targeted KWs are dominated by pages from Amazon, Nextag, Walmart and sites of that ilk. A little digging reveals that those pages more often than not, have zero or only one or two backlinks. So, when I see that I know I may be on to something. I'm finding that five or so backlinks will get me on page one in those scenarios. May take a few weeks, but it seems to be working out.
+Also, I should caution against registering TLDs for KWs that include trademarked products.
+JS_Harris
+msg:4082680
+1:33 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I hate threads like this, I want to drop 10 hints right here but can't because i'm in the biz too. Frustratingly good thread though.
+Go60Guy
+msg:4082683
+1:37 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+Yeah, I've probably said enough for now. Feels good, though, to be getting back in the game (biz?). Yep, biz!
+mayor
+msg:4082716
+3:01 am on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I've got a number of websites, some with only affiliate links and some with both affiliate links and Adsense, including some sites that I added Adsense to a few months ago after years of having only affiliate links.
+I recently ran a fairly detailed analysis to see if Adsense was sucking away affiliate revenues and found that in general it was actually supplementing my affiliate revenues.
+By the way, I too have found that affiliate revenues are not reliable. Sometimes affiliate programs just tank for no apparent reason. Sometimes those revenues start to flow again, also for no apparent reason. Other times they never recover.
+By using a large number of affiliate programs there is some amount of revenue averaging, although it's frustrating to find that a good program suddenly tanked and it took you a month or two to figure it out, then leave you scurrying to find a reasonable replacement.
+But from what others on WebmasterWorld have reported in the past, there is a great risk in my mind that Google might shut you off with no recourse. So I try to keep a balance between affiliate revenues and Adsense revenues. If Google shuts you off, you're dead. If an affiliate program tanks, you can usually find a replacement.
+And Go60Guy, it's great to see you back here posting. I've been on the sidelines too, but hoping to start making a living on the web again.
+Go60Guy
+msg:4083074
+7:21 pm on Feb 18, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I recently ran a fairly detailed analysis to see if Adsense was sucking away affiliate revenues and found that in general it was actually supplementing my affiliate revenues.
+As I emerged from "retirement" I took a look at my then existing portfolio of unmaintained sites and realized that there was only a meager AdSense presence on most of them. I had adhered to the belief that it made no sense to give visitors to my landing pages an invitation to click away for a few cents when there were bigger bucks to be had in converting a sale.
+But, since I was no longer really maintaining those sites, I said "what the heck" and added AdSense in-your-face to most pages, in sort of like (gasp!) an MFA layout. Lo and behold, in a couple of months, my AdSense revenues which were in the monthly low hundreds dollar-wise, increased by about five-fold. Nor have I seen a significant fall-off in affiliate sales. Maybe a little lower. But, the steady AdSense cash flow is very welcome.
+As it turned out, I had nothing to lose and much to gain. And, it took me only about eight hours to complete the task.
+Makaveli2007
+msg:4083230
+12:18 am on Feb 19, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+"So lumping everyone using AdSense as "lazy" while there is so much affiliate fraud going on is a crock and a cheap shot IMO."
+I didn't mean to insult anyone using adsense. I don't think anyone who builds up a site in his free-time over the years is actually lazy.
+And if I thought they were than that wouldn't matter, because I'm a firm believer that everyone in this world should do whatever they want to do as long as they don't hurt anyone doing so.
+I wouldn't care if I saw a 300lbs bodybuilder dancing ballet in a skirt, if that what makes the person happy (as it doesn't hurt anyone).
+So if you mistook my original post, I feel sorry about that - I did not mean to insult anyone, just to use that word as the opposite meaning of aggressive.
+Plus, keep in mind, that I mentioned 'wonder' and that I considered it 'pure speculation' myself.
+incrediBILL
+msg:4083300
+3:34 am on Feb 19, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I did not mean to insult anyone, just to use that word as the opposite meaning of aggressive.
+I aggressively market the site, aggressively collected tens of thousands of members, aggressively sell direct advertising plus using AdSense to avoid dealing with affiliate fraud.
+Try to paddle uphill in a river of affiliate fraud is just stupid and people that get sick of dealing with it aren't lazy, they're smart and putting efforts into what pays vs. getting screwed over and over again.
+I used to have direct relationships with many affiliate marketing managers and trust me, when the services they used suddenly stopped paying me, I told them all exactly why I was dumping their product line.
+I don't hand over 3M+ hard earned page views every month just to get screwed while someone else if making lots of money.
+Nope, been burned too many times trying to be aggressive with affiliates and AdSense was simply safer income than trusting your livelihood to a millions of cookies that magically disappear.
+Thanks to affiliates sudden failure my income actually increased substantially as I pushed AdSense and then started building up a monthly recurring income from a stable of direct advertsiers.
+At the moment I have advertisers fighting over spaces that used to be affiliates or AdSense. I'm physically removing 3rd party ads to make way for direct advertisers. It's possible I'm going to completely wean myself off any and all 3rd party income schemes this year and go with 100% dedicated advertisers.
+Now THAT's being aggressive, taking control of your own destiny.
+If possible I'd recommend everyone to move away from being dependent on technology rife with fraud or non-transparent advertising programs that just randomly change the rules and send webmasters into poverty over night.
+It's not complicated to take control and the best part is YOU set the base rate, not some algorithm that has drooling over achievers tweaking the pricing dials every other day.
+FWIW, I know some people doing very well with affiliates, it's just not me since most of the brands I would need use CJ which is NEVER EVER EVER happening again.
+Makaveli2007
+msg:4083323
+4:59 am on Feb 19, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+Considering your experiences with affiliate marketing, I can understand why you took my wondering somewhat personal.
+Like I typed I was really just wondering and tried to make c lear in my original post that it was pure speculation on my part.
+However, thanks for telling me that affiliate programs are not necessarily better than adsense b/c of a problem I hadnt previously thought of.
+incrediBILL
+msg:4083350
+6:26 am on Feb 19, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+No problem, it's just a sore spot with me
+No harm, no foul. ;)
+Makaveli2007
+msg:4083420
+12:12 pm on Feb 19, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+good to know :-)
+alika
+msg:4084276
+12:35 pm on Feb 21, 2010
+(gmt 0)
+I fully agree with incrediBill's sentiments.
+Funny thing with these affiliate managers is that they promise you the sun and the moon when they just start courting you and want you to join the program. But once you give them loads of real estate on your site and impressions, the payment you are supposedly due never comes.
+As incredibill said, there are ways you can control your own success on the web. It's not about being passive, but being smart about how you monetize your site.
+So when we receive invitations to join affiliate programs, we just email them that we no longer join affiliate programs. And if they want to be seen on our site, we offer a number of advertising programs that they can buy.
+Affiliate programs leave us a very bad taste in our mouths. We're just not interested in anyone screwing us again.
+This 44 message thread spans 2 pages:
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+Hello all! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted. Life has gotten fairly busy with looking to buy our first house, football season starting, and things really ramping up at the job. I’m back and will try my best to get on a better schedule of posting, including beginning my Question and Answer posts. Getting overwhelmed with work is as American as apple pie. That’s why I decided to make Taking a Mental Health Day my first post coming back. Hopefully you find it helpful!
+This past Summer, I had the happiest day of my life when I married my wife. Shortly after, we honeymooned in Ireland. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend a long week as a newly married couple. We traveled, we hiked, we toured some breweries/distilleries, and met some of the most amazing people. It was also the first time in more years than I can count that I actually took a full week off from work.
+I was so excited to take the full week off of work and have from the beginning of the weekend until the end of the next to be on vacation. Over in Ireland we were often asked how long we were staying for or how long we were on our honeymoon in total to which we responded, “This ENTIRE week!” Every time this happened we were given odd looks and shocked responses. We heard things like “What do you mean you’re only spending a week? You mean you came all the way here for just a few days?” Meanwhile, I’m thinking that this is the longest I’ve ever allowed myself to take off of work in years, so of course I would do some traveling.
+The Irish were shocked at my joy for “getting to” spend an entire week on vacation because in every country in the European Union, employers must give full time employees a minimum of 20 paid vacation days. This is not counting sick and personal time. On top of that, there is a paid holiday every single month in Ireland. They have many similar paid holidays we have, but for months that don’t have an official holiday, they give them the paid day off anyway and call it a Bank Holiday. The reason I’m sharing this is to begin to illustrate my point in the importance of taking mental health days for yourself, specifically taking time off of work.
+While I love my country and think there are plenty of things that we do better than other countries in the world, work/life balance is by far NOT one of them. Overall, I’d say the majority of Americans are overworked and don’t even realize it. So few of us travel because of the cost and the inability to get time off. I imagine there’s many people like me who just assume that most modern countries in the world have a similar work structure and expectation that we have. Thinking our overworked culture is the norm creates an expectation that is either placed on us by employers or we place on ourselves, that it is not okay to take time off.
+I’m not going to spend this article going into the “why” of our culture’s obsession with work. This is an article about why it’s important and why it’s okay to take a sick day, when you’re not physically sick, but in need of taking some time to maintain your mental health.
+I’ve worked with many clients who have told me of this fantastic problem that they have. They are generally in good physical health. They are lucky enough to work a job that provides paid time off for sick days. They have more sick time accrued than they could ever imagine using. This doesn’t sound like a problem at all on the surface, but when you couple it with the fact that they’re in therapy because they’re miserable, overwhelmed, and can’t seem to shake their depression and/or anxiety, those other positive things don’t seem to matter so much. I myself have been one of these people and to some extent continue to struggle with this at times.
+What do you mean by Take a Mental Health Day?
+It’s exactly like it sounds. You’re not sick, physically, but need some time to make sure your mental health is in check. Maybe you’ve been falling behind on keeping up with your usual activities that help you maintain your mental health. Maybe you’re just overdue to take a long weekend and maybe go somewhere.
+If you like many people in our country feel as though your work/life balance is anything but balanced, taking a day off is what you can do to begin changing that. I can’t see anyway that we could quickly change the culture as a whole, but we can take some of the power back.
+Lucky for my wife and I, working in the mental health fields, the majority of our supervisors in the past and present are also therapists or social workers of some sort. It’s completely acceptable for us to tell them, “I can’t come in today. I need to take a Mental Health Day just to take care of a few things.” Hopefully you work for an employer who is equally understanding. Many don’t. In that case, while I don’t like and more often than not won’t recommend dishonesty, it may be necessary. You’ve earned your paid time off, including your sick time. If you are not allowed to take it or if there is a good chance you will lose your job for taking an occasional day off when needed, you may need to rethink if your current employment is really the best place for you to be.
+Excuses and Answers
+When I tell these clients…. “Just take a day off! Take some time for your self to recharge your batteries” I’m met with such a range of excuses that I do understand and have caught myself using from time to time. Some of them go like this:
+- My work is so important that I can’t possibly take a day off.
+- Even though we get paid time off for being sick, nobody takes sick days. It’s the culture.
+- There’s nobody else to do my job when I’m gone, which means it’s just going to pile up anyway.
+- I don’t want to take a sick day when I’m not sick, because I want to make sure I have enough in case I do actually get sick.
+- I don’t want to put my co-workers out by taking time off.
+- I’m a contractor. If I don’t work I don’t get paid. I can’t afford it.
+- I was raised to have a strong work ethic. I don’t believe it’s right to take a day off unless I’m on my deathbed.
+To which I might give the following responses.
+- If the work you do is that important, it’s important that you are at your top level of functioning while you do your job. When you’re overly stressed and overwhelmed you’re more prone to make mistakes.
+- When you sign a contract that provides your salary and paid time off, the paid time off is a factor that decides what your salary is. If you were given no paid time off, they would be paying you more. Not using paid time off, especially for those that lose it after a certain amount of time, is the same as if your employer handed you a pay check and you said “Naaaah I don’t really need all this. Take some of it back.”
+- If you and you alone are the only one responsible and capable for doing what you do at your job, that is a problem within itself. Taking time off may force your company to train others to assist you when needed and at the very least, will raise their appreciation for what you do.
+- Stress has a tremendous impact on your physical health. It can impact your sleep habits, your eating habits, and your immune system. Taking a day off to deal with your stress and reset yourself may actually save you from having to take more days off due to an illness that might come as a result of increased stress levels.
+- My answer for this excuse is a combination of many above. If you’re overwhelmed and overworked, you will not be working up to your maximum potential. You may be more prone to making mistakes. Your co-workers will have to pick up after you. If your co-workers care about your well being as much as you care about theirs, they would want you to do what’s needed to take care of yourself.
+- This is the trickiest one for me. I’ve been there as most jobs working as a therapist that I’ve had as a therapist offered no paid time off and I was only paid per client I saw. Money is important and necessary to taking care of yourself and your family. If you don’t have sick time, you probably don’t have short term or long term disability either. If you only get paid for the time you work, you literally can’t afford to get to the point of having a mental break down and needing to take extensive time off work. Taking a day here and there goes a long way to prevent this from happening.
+- There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a strong work ethic. In fact, it’s probably what got you where you are in life. Don’t lose your strong work ethic but look at what the core purpose of your work is. Is it to provide a good life for your family? In most cases, they’d rather you be happy and healthy and bringing in extra money. Is it to do good for some greater cause? You will be able to do more good if you are rested. Is it due to your sense of loyalty to your employer? For healthy relationships, loyalty has to go both ways and your employer should respect your needs as you do theirs.
+Summing Up
+Unless you are one of the lucky few who are doing the thing you’re most passionate about for a living, most of us are working the jobs we do in order to support ourselves and others. In other words you are working to live. It’s not healthy to live to work when you don’t absolutely love your work. We have to work hard in order to maintain our income and have hopefully have some job security. This is true but if you feel as though you’re working too much or work is becoming too overwhelming too often, it’s time to make some changes. Whether you love your job or not, your job should not be having a substantial negative impact on your physical health, mental health, your relationships, and your overall well-being. Please consider taking some time to take care of yourself!
+If you found this article helpful please share on social media! I would love to hear from you! Please leave your comments below and I’ll be sure to respond. If you have any specific questions regarding mental health issues and would like to be featured in the Q&A series please follow the directions here.
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+I think reading Blanchot is elective; it matters that you are claimed by his work and that it becomes necessary to read further. But claimed by what? Blanchot's literary critical and philosophical writings are secondary, in his own estimation, to his fiction with respect to the central movement of his thought. How do we read the fiction, lacking as it does conventional plotting or characterisation? How do we understand that peculiarly tenseless time upon which it seems to give, and that is also brought forward in Blanchot's theoretical writings as it is claimed to occur in the fiction, the philosophy of others - and eventually, as happening in the very relation to the human Other as it is the condition of our experience of the world?
+Fiction and reflection assume, with Blanchot, a peculiar unity, but one whose sense cannot be given outside their textual performance, as Kierkegaard supposes he can provide his own work when he writes The Point of View of My Work as an Author. There is a sense that the divide between fiction and theory does not count for Blanchot, and in which everything he has written is by way of narrating an experience whose theoretical elaboration must always be tentative, insofar as it must pass through language (a point that may well hold for Kierkegaard too, placing the meaning of his work outside the retrospective claims he made for the aims of his authorship), and language gives itself to be experience in the manner Blanchot seeks to answer in the general endeavour (a movement of thought, of research) to which his fiction and his theoretical writings belong.
+But an experience of what sort? Blanchot's concern with language as the 'outside' remembers an experience of language over which the 'I' has no power. Sometimes, Blanchot presents it as a kind of silence, but this should not be understood too quickly: gaps in language are readily assimilable by the common order of sense. Silence stands in for an interruption of language as it is experience in the absence of the form of the subject. This may seem absurd, since the position of the 'I', the subject, is presupposed in all speech and writing. But the Blanchotian subject is unstable; it does not come to itself once and for all, but can break down, its power scattering like sand, like J.'s pulse in Death Sentence. And so with the experience of the outside, where what is reached is the hither side of language, language unsubordinated to the intentions of anyone.
+This is not mysticism. The experience of language as the outside is perfectly ordinary, says Blanchot; it is the way we live the everyday and the idle chatter that fill it. Heidegger has a horror of Das Man, the anyone in particular whose willingness to talk about everything endlessly distracts it from struggling to lay claim to its own existence. But to pass the word along, gossiping about this and that is to experience language as it is disowns any particular existence, in a manner exactly analogous to those elected to undergo reading and writing in the way Blanchot describes.
+How is the outside given in literature? Summarising in a late essay some of his famous arguments about writing, Blanchot takes up Hegel's general claim that doing takes precedence over being. Consciousness, for Hegel, is the act of relating to oneself, from which the world outside the 'I' cannot stand apart. Consciousness and world interpenetrate; the talents, strengths and abilities of the individual unfold through his actions. For Hegel, it is through the transformation of the world through negation that we might learn who we are, which means we can only know what we were working on as the exercise comes to an end.
+Hegel can write the preface to The Phenomenology of Spirit only once the owl of Minerva has spread her wings, making sense of his project as a whole - and the project that the whole of human history has been. Hegel can only know the project by what has already been done - as a re-ject, as Sinthome once wrote, playing on the etymology of this word. Hegel's philosophy is lived, his thought is experiential and experimental; but still, Hegel himself had faith it might be brought to an end. He writes a preface, which as everyone knows, makes sense after you've read the Phenomenology, and rounds off the book, and with it, the whole of human history.
+The Blanchotian writer, however, is engaged by what can never promise to round itself off, nor even, properly speaking, to begin. He experiences language, the claim of language, as it refuses to provide the support from the presentation of particular theses, nor indeed for the subject who would articulate them. Literature, for Blanchot, bears upon a fascination with the literary act itself, insofar as it brings the writer into contact with an experience of language as the outside, as it is turned from its usual role of referring to things in the world, of facilitating communication. True, one can never turn language altogether from this role. But by way of the capacity to refer, by way of communication, Blanchot shows us how a different sense of communication, even a kind of community is shared between the writer and the readers of a book.
+What, now, is important, is the way language, in respect of its capacity to refer, is experienced in its retreat. Blanchot argues that the writer senses this retreat in his or her awareness of the fascination of what he calls the work that lies beyond any particular book. The work is Blanchot's name for the experience of the murmuring anonymity of a language that permits of neither subjects nor substantives - of the fact of language, whose impersonal streaming he allows to run close to the surface of his own fiction, and detects in the fiction and poetry of writers he admires.
+The literary writer will discover what he has achieved in a finished book even as a re-ject, since he cannot present what he has done thetically, as a theoretical position or argument that can be stated unequivocally. His own work is like a riddle he cannot solve, but to which his life as a writer is bound. Who is he? An answer cannot be found to this question, since if, like Hegel, one believes one is what one does, then the writer can be said to be perpetually in lieu of what he sought to achieve. The work rides ahead of him, without him; but it also stretches back behind him, beyond him such that he was only ever a latecomer to the creative process he set in motion. As unseizable Eurydice, as the Sirens' song, the work never lets itself be grasped as a project that unfolded through the writer's life.
+Is it even his project? In a sense, it is: he initiated the course of writing, and saw it through to the end, such that a book could be published. And yet in another, the origin of writing lies back beyond the writer; the work names what engaged the writer from the first, or even before the first as it sets itself back from the beginning he made and outlasts the end of the project (whether it was one book or an oeuvre). As such, it is as though the writer were only the completed circuit through which the current of language could pass, seeking only to relate to itself in writing - in the act of writing, the literary act, the power to achieve it that writing only lends to a writer. Then any literary book - and perhaps some philosophical ones too - tremble with what they cannot say; with the work, with the experience of language as it interrupts human initiative.
+Death, famously, is Blanchot's name for the relation of the writer to the work that is experienced as the withering of subjective power. Death, as it cannot be annulled and elevated by the work of Hegelian negation, invades and weakens it from the first and from before the first. Before the work, the writer is nothing yet, but after it, still nothing, since it is not linked together with his labour.
+As such, the author is a mere actor, given over to an 'intermittent becoming' that leaves him, with respect to the experience to which he belongs, none the wiser. Certainly, the writer can take on the airs of a creative genius, laying claim to the work of art as it reflects the triumph of his sovereign will, but this is bad faith itself with respect to the work and its origin. For the author never quite coincides with himself; there is always a double who shadows his labour. A second Orpheus has disappeared into the underworld; a second Ulysses lies drowned in his wrecked ship on the seabed.
+To exist is to act; to be is to do - but how can you take responsibility for your literary work when it implies your dissolution? What is specific to literary responsibility as it also includes the double who is also you? Invited in 1975 to submit work to the journal Gramma which was concerned with his work, Blanchot declined with these words, 'My absence [from this issue] is a necessary step rather than any decision on my part. I would like nobody to be surprised nor disappointed by it. Publishing is always more difficult. Publishing on the basis of the name is impossible' (anecdote via).
+Blanchot's absence from the journal parallels the absence he was so scrupulous to maintain, refusing to meet scholars, to attend events celebrating his work, and refusing to be photographed by his publishers, or, except on one occasion, to be interviewed. What effort did it cost him not to see visiting scholars, or to accede to the demands of the great machines of publicity? Perhaps a great deal; perhaps very little. Either way, it is completely continuous with his work. Blanchot's refusal to appear is bound up with the demand of writing, which lets itself be experienced in its retreat.
+But if it is as a writer that Blanchot disappeared in the postwar years, following his own political disaster, it is also as a writer that he reappeared, lending his support to the efforts of those determined to resist the claim to Algerian independence. As he says in his only interview, granted to clarify the aims of the so-called 'Manifesto of the 121', he is an essentially apolitical writer. But let us not misunderstand this to suggest political quietude. It was as a writer, too, that Blanchot sought to join his voice to others in the failed collaborative project of the Revue Internationale, which occupied him and others in the early 1960s. And it is as a writer that he takes part in the Events of May 1968, again working collaboratively. Blanchot grants that what he calls 'literary responsibility' is different to 'political responsibility'; but he also says both kinds of responsibility 'engage [...] us absolutely as in a sense does the disparity between them'. This engagement (so different from what Sartre meant by that term) reveals itself in Blanchot's commitment to what he will allow himself to call communism, in both the foreword to The Infinite Conversation (1969), and the anonymous writings he allowed to circulate during the Events.
+Communism and friendship are words Blanchot will often use in proximity to one another. Reviewing a book by his friend Dionys Mascolo in 1953, Blanchot argues that there is an alternative to the account of need and value as it is found in Marxism. Friendship, for Blanchot, suggests a way in which we might look to a future world that is not comprised of human beings who have become little more than things. We must live two lives, says Blanchot - one in which we struggle against the values that conceal the truth of our condition from us, and another wherein we live according to what we share, which Blanchot, from the late 1950s onward, will call speech.
+A concern with speech, and its implication in relations of power, is of vital importance in the earliest of Blanchot's fictions, as is a marginal reflection on friendship and community. It is in dialogue with Bataille and Levinas that Blanchot will develop a philosophy of speaking, where the relation to the human Other is understood to suspend our familiar relations with the world. Unlike Levinas, Blanchot will not locate the origin of speech in the extralinguistic presence of the Other. If the Other can be said to be 'higher' than me, for Blanchot, it is only because of the thundering silence to which the Other gives issue, which I, as an interlocutor, am always struggling to determine. Friendship is an experience of this thunder, this silence.
+With the word friendship, Blanchot would preserve the sense that what matters is not simply what is said between us, but that it is said. Levinas will capture this distinction in his later contrast between saying, the address of the Other, which all language, whether spoken or written, is claimed to bear witness, and the said, which is to say, language in its ordinary acceptation as it facilitates communication concerning a shared world. Blanchot borrows Levinas's formulation to make a contrast between ordinary language, as it conforms to the course of the time of the subject, and the language of the outside, as it escapes the subject, even as it fascinates it. Just as Blanchot will say that fiction represents nothing, witnessing the fascination with the work by way of its details, its narrative incidents, what he calls speech is concerned only with itself, with the fact that it happens in the relation to the Other. Speech, now, is thought not in terms of what I say to the Other who silently exceeds language, but with the experience of language as it belongs to the outside, and hence also to the future.
+Communism and friendship name, among other things, practices with which Blanchot was always engaged, and in company. Bident's biography movingly reminds us of Blanchot's friendship and alliances with Levinas, Bataille, Char and Antelme, but also with Mascolo, Schuster and Duras. Derrida was in regular contact with Blanchot, driving him, I've been told, to his last visit to Levinas, who died in 1995.
+But communism and friendship also describe the relationship that reaches to those of us who are claimed, elected by his writings. How to carry forward what Foucault called in his tribute from 1966, 'the thought from outside'? Perhaps we can begin by recalling the play of the Other Blanchot also was in his fictions, his criticism, and in the great narrative that was his oeuvre. And is it not, if we are elected by his writing, this double who also steps forward in us as we read it? Language helps us speak of a world we have in common, certainly. But what we also have in common is another sense of the world that reveals itself only rarely.
+Common presence: these words translate the title of a poem and an anthology by René Char, and that Blanchot evokes in passing in The Unavowable Community. But they might also remind us of Heraclitus, important to both Char and Blanchot, for whom the logos is said to be common. Common presence: does this refer to Char's version of the logos which maintains itself beyond what we take to be opposites, but which Heraclitus tells us in his fragments are always in struggle and interchange? Blanchot's too, perhaps, as he doubles Heraclitus's fragmentary attempt to think that struggling discord the Greek called harmonia. Blanchot's favoured word neuter expresses the neither ... nor he himself put in place of the certainties of philosophy (of a certain kind of philosophy), in his own kind of fragmentation. The phrase common presence, recalling Char, recalling Heraclitus, was used by Blanchot in the context of his account of 'the people of Paris' who assembled spontaneously and marched silently in memory of the protestors crushed to death in the Metro station of Charonne. 'Common presence': 'the people of Paris'. What kind of presence do we have, as readers of Blanchot? What do we bear in common?
+Well,.
+Sister Joan begins with the obligatory defense of inclusive language, and the usual demeaning of the Church’s unbroken tradition concerning the persons of Blessed Trinity. For Sister Joan, to insist that there is a real difference between a father and a mother is dissent from the deposit of the feminist, and that won??t be tolerated.
+Perhaps Sister Joan needs to be reminded that most women have no problem with the fatherhood of God, or with strong men. In fact, most are tired of emasculated men who allow themselves to have their lives run by women. The idea is simple: Fatherhood equals strength and compassion. Kind of like the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, the author of the motu proprio. He tells the truth out of love for the Bride (the Church) and for his children (all souls). Honest, telling the truth is a good thing. It is not a monstrous crime of the patriarchy.
+Two Liturgical World Views?
+On the contrary, says Sister Joan. According to her, the motu proprio will not “make reconciliation easier with women, who are now pointedly left out of the Eucharistic celebration entirely.”? Oh, really? Women have no place in the Tridentine liturgy? The motu proprio degrades lay participation in the Mass and reserves it to a “male cast”? of priests?
+Yes, says Sister Joan. According to Sister, the Tridentine Rite conveys a “theology of transcendence”? as opposed to the “Vatican II liturgy”? which proposes a “theology of transformation.”? Sister says that the traditional rite is “certainly not a celebration of the entire community,” but merely “a priestly act, a private devotion of both priest and people.” It “makes the congregation, the laity, observers of the rite rather than participants in it.”
+Sister also says that new liturgy has corrected all the old stuffiness:.
+Two Aspects of the Priesthood of Christ
+Since Sister is such an advocate of the “Vatican II liturgy”?–as well she should be–we would expect her words about how the traditional liturgy privatizes prayer, and excludes women and lay people, how it embodies a mistaken theology of transcendence to the prejudice of a theology of transformation, to be straight out of the Council documents. No? Let’s see.
+A good place to start is to look at a basic distinction made by the Council between priest and laity, a distinction which Sister says is overblown in the traditional liturgy, to the point that the laity don’t count at all.
+In fact, the Second Vatican Council teaches that both priest and laity possess the priestly office, though the priesthood of the ordained minister and the priesthood of the laity are clearly distinct. Here is what the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium says about these two aspects of the (10).
+So both the priesthood of the ordained minister and that of the baptized lay person are at the same time interrelated and yet different in both degree and essence. The ministerial priest teaches, rules and alone makes present the sacrifice, and in the person of Christ offers it to the Father. But the faithful (both men and women), “in virtue of their royal priesthood,??? join in the sacrifice by their reception of the Eucharist and the offering of their whole lives in union with the offering of Christ.
+This idea is reinforced in several other places in Lumen Gentium. In Chapter 2, “The People of God”? we read the following:
+The faithful indeed, by virtue of their royal priesthood, participate in the offering of the Eucharist. They exercise that priesthood, too, by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, abnegation and active charity (10).
+Further in Chapter 4, “The Laity,??? we read:
+To those whom he intimately joins to his life and mission he also gives a share in his priestly office, to offer spiritual worship for the glory of the Father and the salvation of man. . .”? (cf. Pet. 2:5). In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord (34).
+But is this what Sister is advocating when she claims that in the “Vatican II liturgy”? the “people and priest pray the Mass together?”? Is the doctrine of the two aspects of the priesthood in Lumen Gentium a new invention, a reform of outmoded attitudes? And does the so called Tridentine Mass undermine royal priesthood of the faithful?
+Liturgical Social Engineering
+In fact, throughout the whole of Sister Joan Chittister’s article, she makes no mention of the baptismal priesthood, the sacrificial character of the Mass, nor does she seem even to be aware that the Mass has anything to do with eternal salvation. For her the mutual participation of both priest and laity in the Mass is an exercise of inclusivity: “They interact with one another. They sing “a new church into being,’ non-sexist, inclusive.”?
+In traditional feminist fashion, Sister politicizes the liturgy in view of a special social agenda. This is an effective method of changing the way Catholics think, since the basic principle of liturgical life is lex orandi, lex credendi, “as the Church prays, so she believes.”? If Sister can just convince us that Vatican II makes the liturgy all about interaction and inclusivity, then we will all be duly prepared to receive from her hand the sacrament of social engineering.
+That Sister makes a point of saying the traditional liturgy “privatizes the spiritual life”? is telling. It seems this is her belief, not because the traditional liturgy fails to unite priest and laity in the exercise of their respective aspects of the priestly office, but because it fails to become a tool in the hands of the feminist for social change. Only in her version of the “Vatican II liturgy,”? which, as we shall see, is not the liturgy mandated by the Second Vatican Council, can the lex orandi, lex credendi be subverted to her personal agenda.
+Counciliar Invention?
+Furthermore, the idea of priest and laity, joined in the sacrificial offering of the Mass, was not invented by the Second Vatican Council. The statement in Section 10 of Lumen Gentium, “But the faithful, in virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist,”? references a section of Pius XI’s encyclical from 1928, Miserentissimus Redemptor, on reparation to the Sacred Heart:
+Wherefore with this most august Eucharistic Sacrifice there ought to be joined an oblation both of the ministers and of all the faithful, so that they also may “present themselves living sacrifices, holy, pleasing unto God” (Rom. 12:1). Nay more, St. Cyprian does not hesitate to affirm that “the Lord’s sacrifice is not celebrated with legitimate sanctification, unless our oblation and sacrifice correspond to His passion” (Eph. 63). . .. 1:11), but the whole Christian people rightly called by the Prince of the Apostles “a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9), ought to offer for sins both for itself and for all mankind (Cf. Heb. 5:3), in much the same manner as every priest and pontiff “taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God” (Heb. 5:1), (AAS 20 (1928) p.171. Cf. LG 10, note 3).
+So the dynamic unity of priest and laity in the offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass is nothing new, certainly nothing novel to the Second Vatican Council. Further, it is clear enough that Sister Joan Chittister is not actually supporting this teaching at all when she says that in the “Vatican II liturgy”? the “people and priest pray the Mass together.”? On the contrary, Sister is interested in using the liturgy for social change, something she will never find supported by the principles of Vatican II, governing the revision of the liturgy.
+But what about the motu proprio and the permission for a wider use of the traditional liturgy, the Mass according to the Missal of John XXIII? Does the traditional Mass somehow undermine the participation of the laity in the Mass? Or what was the real purpose of Vatican II–according to the documents, not according to the “spirits”? of Vatican II–when it mandated the revision of the liturgy in view of “active participation??? in the liturgy.
+Active Participation
+The key to answering these questions is the concept of “active participation.”? The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council, links active participation to the baptismal priesthood: (5).
+Later in the same document the Council implies that the active roles in the liturgy are meant to promote active participation, and do not in themselves constitute it (30). In fact, the document of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Eucharisticum Mysterium, says that it is necessary for the faithful to understand the place they occupy in the “liturgical community”? in order for them to actively participate consciously and fruitfully. In the same section, in order to assure that this aim is accomplished, the Congregation mandates a full catechetical explanation of the royal priesthood of all the faithful (11).
+Unfortunately the spirits of Vatican II rarely make the connection between active participation and the royal priesthood of the faithful. Most Catholics have to be taught to believe what that active participation means, as Sister says:.
+They have not been told the truth about what the Council actually taught. Years ago, the author of the motu proprio, Cardinal Ratzinger as he was then called, answered questions about the liturgy:
+. . .”?The Council rightly reminded us that that liturgy also means actio, something done, and it demanded that the faithful be guaranteed an actuosa participatio, and active participation.”? . . .
+. . .”?The concept is no doubt correct. But the way it has been applied following the Council has exhibited a fatal narrowing of perspective. The impression arose that there was only “active participation?? when there was discernible external activity–speaking, singing, preaching, reading, shaking hands. It was forgotten that the Council also included silence under actuosa participatio, for silence facilitates a really deep, personal participation, allowing us to listen inwardly to the Lord’s word. Many liturgies lack all trace of this silence”? (Vittorio Messori, The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985. 127).
+But this is not only a question of whether liturgical action should be understood as to include both external activity and silence. In Latin both activa and actuosa mean “active;”? however, there is an important difference. Actuosa is more nuanced than activa, because it indicates both a greater intensity of activity and moral participation. The Council uses the term actuosa relative to active participation in the liturgy. Thus, when the Council uses the term “active participation”? it is talking about the royal priesthood of the faithful, by which all the baptized unite their whole lives in a contemplative manner to the sacrifice of Christ (Cf. Martin Edwards, “The Active Participation of the Faithful According to the Recent Magisterium,”? Ministerial and Common Priesthood in the Eucharistic Celebration: The Proceedings of the Fourth International Colloquium of Historical, Canonical and Theological Studies on the Roman Catholic Liturgy. London: CIEL UK, 1999. 122-126. Edwards quotes Cardinal Ratzinger as indicating that this term includes the notion of “a truly deep, personal participation,”? 125).
+Ecclesiastical Ghettoism?
+With the release of motu proprio, permission has been granted for Mass to be said either according to the Missal of Paul VI or the Missal of John XXIII, the former being the “ordinary expression of the ‘Lex orandi’ (Law of prayer),”? and the latter being the extraordinary expression of the same (SP, art. 1). The question to be considered at this point is whether a broader use of the Missal of John XXIII will somehow undermine the active participation of lay faithful in the Mass, as Sister asserts. She fears that this permission will so narrow the Church’s view, that the move will result in “ecclesiastical ghettoism.”?
+If one considers what active participation in the liturgy is, and how one engages in it, then it is not hard to see how Sisters “fears”? are baseless. But, then again, as shown above, for her active participation is not at all what the Council says it is.
+As noted above, the Council meant to foster active participation by permitting the use of the vernacular, by providing dialogue for the faithful in response to the prayers of the Mass, and by providing opportunities for the faithful to participate in the action of the liturgy, such as in the offertory procession. However, the Council never said that any of this constitutes active participation. All the action is only meant to foster active participation, which again is the exercise of the baptismal priesthood.
+When this is considered without prejudice, then it is not hard to see why those who are attracted to the Traditional Mass are in every way finding the means to enter into this active participation. It may not be for everyone, but it would be foolish to suggest that the traditional Roman Rite is somehow handicapped relative to the participation of the faithful in the sacrifice of Christ.
+The paradoxical thing is that it is precisely the attitude of Sister Joan that continues to make the Traditional Mass more appealing, not only to people who remember it as the Mass of their youth, but also to young people who are experiencing it for the first time. Hardly ecclesiastical ghettoism, when the Traditional rite is found attractive by many of those who are eager to believe and live the Faith of the Church. On the other hand, these same people, convicted as they are by the Faith or intuitively attracted to it, instinctively know that “singing a new church into being”? is Modernist mumbo jumbo.
+Unfortunately, more and more of those who have been attracted to the Traditional Mass are actually finding sanctuary there because they have been convinced that the Second Vatican Council was very much mistaken. They believe that the modernist indoctrination, exemplified by Sister’s liturgical theology, is the direct fruit of the Council’s teaching. Of course, it is not. But the misrepresentation has to end if the Novus Ordo is to be understood and celebrated correctly. The motu proprio will certainly be helpful in this regard.
+The Novus Ordo can certainly be celebrated reverently and in a way that is consistent with the tradition. The changes mandated by the Council can foster active participation, and in fact do foster it, when the Missal of Paul VI is actually followed. (Say the black, do the red). One of the best ways for someone to sense a worthy and fruitful celebration of the new Mass is to have some awareness of the tradition as it has been embodied in the Traditional Roman Rite. The idea that the Mass of Vatican II is a part of a new liturgical and theological universe will be revealed as the bosh it is, as more and more people become familiar with the Traditional Rite.
+Transcendence or Transformation?
+A fair minded reading of the actual Council documents provides an easy refutation of that idea that the Traditional Mass excludes the laity from the liturgical life of the Church, but what about Sister’s assertion that it is anti-woman?
+Remember the way Sister attached a “theology of transcendence”? to the Traditional Mass, and a “theology of transformation”? to the “Vatican II liturgy?”? If you are confused, read “transcendence”? as God-centered and “transformation”? as man (politically correct term: human person) centered. Transcendent liturgy is about adoration and praise of God. Transformative liturgy is about social engineering. That should clear everything up.
+If you were confused don??t feel bad. The language is misleading. Don??t all of us who go to Mass want to be transformed in some way? Don??t we all want the Mass to lead to that transformation? Transcendence is only opposed to transformation if one has a view only to this world.
+In fact, transcendence is anathema to the radical feminist, because it points to the Fatherhood and to the power of God. The traditional liturgy only alienates women if they have a problem with God the Father. That would only be the case, if they fail to accept that the transcendent God has willed to be present among us through His own humility, condescension and love.
+Yes, humility and obedience are part and parcel of the royal priesthood–of all the faithful. The ordained minister, in respect to his own spiritual life has to practice it as well. In the end it is only sacrificial love, based on humility and obedience in imitation of Christ, which opens us up to the power of God and to the true needs of our neighbor.
+To oppose transcendence and transformation in liturgical life is a perverse and false dichotomy. Christ makes all the baptized members of God’s family. The Church is the Bride of Christ, and we are being brought little by little, if we cooperate, into a union with God, that is best described as “spousal.”?
+In his apostolic letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women Mulieris Dignitatem, John Paul II linked the royal priesthood of the faithful to woman, because she is the sign by which we identify Christ’s spousal relationship with the Church. This he does in the context of commenting on Ephesians chapter 5 and Revelations 12, where he links the vocation of woman to Mary and the concept of spouse:). Then the truth that “the greatest of these is love” (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13) will have its definitive fulfillment (30).
+In the same encyclical the Pope says that the “very heart of the Paschal Mystery”? reveals “the spousal love of God.”? “The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our Redemption. It is the Sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride.”? The Holy Father states clearly that in reserving priestly service to men, Jesus wished to express the relationship between man and woman, between what is “feminine” and what is “masculine”? (26). He did not, however, wish to exclude women from liturgical life, any more than He wished to exclude His very own Mother.
+In other words, our active participation in the Mass, especially by way of Holy Communion, is exemplified by spousal-maternal love, realized most perfectly in the Blessed Virgin, and this love is the necessary coefficient to the ministerial priesthood. Can any of this be rationally construed as anti-woman? I am sorry for sister, and women like her, who seem to hate their own femininity, a gift of God, a sign and a service to the whole Church.
+Liturgy in Heaven and on Earth
+Sister Joan Chittister is not the least bit ashamed to prefer a more “earthbound”? liturgy to a heavenly one. And it is easy to understand why. In any case, this is another false dichotomy.
+If one has no view to heaven, then one might as well be a pantheist. The liturgy as we know it, is in fact earthbound, in case you haven??t noticed. Just talk to a mother who has to wrangle with her two-year old in the church crying room, in case you have any doubt. However, it is liturgy precisely because the Sacrifice and Sacrament give us divine life and hope for eternity.
+After forty years of liturgical pottery and felt banners, the smells and bells are just what the doctor ordered. The motu proprio is a good thing. It is even more necessary in the face of such persistent spirits of confusion.
+UPDATE: pdf link to article
+A quick fix for those who wanted to print or email the file.
+?
+Join the discussion 17 Comments
+This was an excellent article and I thank you for posting it, however, I would have loved to forward it to friends by way of one of those links, “email to friends” but your site doesn’t offer this capability. Do you think you could add such a feature?
+What happened to Sister Chittister and her cohorts (she would not like that last term)? I went through that stage, too but fortunately the church was patient with me while I caught up with her wisdom. Could it be that she holds on to her adolescent rebellion because it gives her the attention that a rebel gets? I think it comes to humility. If she let go of her pridefulness she would one among many worshipping at the feet of Our Lord.
+Fantastic article exploding the Myth that is the “Spirit of Vatican II!” One nitpicky detail: in the subsection “Ecclesiastical Ghettoism?” the Novus Ordo Mass is referred to as the “Missal of Paul IV.” Just for maximum clarity, it should read the “Missal of Paul VI.”
+I heard some of these exact same arguments recently in Saginaw, Michigan. My 61 year old Aunt is about ready to leave the church because Sr. so-and-so can no longer preach nor proclaim the gospel and she was so good at it. The glassware has been replaced with gold! And the priest himself told me to my face that Jesus never said ‘Abba’ or ‘Father’–no! What He said was ‘abboun’ which means “my parent”. And we know this because God, being a spirit, is both male and female, father and mother you see. He said this with a straight face too. And so many have swallowed these lies. The new bishop is doing what he can to undo decades of dissent but it is not an easy task by any means.
+My own parishes have subscriptions to the Distorter (National ‘Catholic’ Reporter) and America magazine. Our new pastor is actually doing something rather pastorlike in that he is going to conduct a class on how the ‘Our Father’ leads to peace and justice. The only thing is that he is conducting it across the hall from the chapel during the ONE hour a week of Eucharistic Adoration we have at the parish! We continue to put our sights on the creature and not on the Creator…
+Ave Maria!
+Thanks AJF for the comment and pointing out the mistake. Correction made.
+Fra Roderic Mary
+Excellent article. Thank you for all the clarifications. The two variations; Novus Ordo/Tridentine mass make me think of the biblical story of Mary and Martha. Mary at Christs’ feet and Martha in active participation…… Yet, Christ tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part! The contemplative silence has chosen the better part. Does Mary not practice active participation by being at Our Lord’s feet listening in silence and reverential awe? May we all follow such a path. Thank you for this article. It’s given me great insight into the battle that rages in excorcising the spirits of confusion. God Bless all the work the friars do especially the priests!
+The title of Saint Joan in the dark’s column “From Where I Stand” reminds me of Luther’s “Here I stand.” I wonder if the similar sounding phrases were intentional on her part?
+A “Printer Version” button would also be nice, I would have like to be able to print this article to share with my parish priest, but too difficult to do in this format. Just a suggestion.
+Annie – until a printer version is available, you can still copy and paste the text into a Word document, or notepad – incase you didn’t know.
+Excellent article – touching on many of the battles we must face even in our own parishes.
+God Bless,
+Scott
+Thank you for putting explanation to my “vague” comprehension as to what the heck has been going on at my parish. Sister’s philosophy seems to be the norm around our Parish, but there are still a few of us who “stand out” or should I say “kneel down”.
+The False Dichotomies of Sister Joan
+Sister Joan Chittister is not someone whose fidelity to magisterial teaching has my respect. Her criticisms of various Popes have, in my opinion, missed the mark by a wide margin. This is usually because she has erroneous notions of Catholic
+Great analysis and commentary. But who is the author, that I may give the proper credit when citing it?
+I thought that Fr Angelo Geiger Wrote it
+Ave Maria!
+Indeed, I am the culprit.
+Thank you Fr. Angelo for the very enlightened defense against this modern heresy, “Chittisterism”, proponents to which, by the way, are not limited to women. Let’s continue to pray for them and “…immerse them in (Christ’s) ocean of mercy”. By doing this we actively participate in Christ’s royal priesthood.
+will the friars begin to make available the tridentine rite at their chapels? perhaps on special occasions?
+Thank you, thank you, thank you Fr. Angelo! After reading this post I was reminded that yes, there ARE faithful Franciscans out there!
+God bless y’all! 🙂
+Do you want to create a WooCommerce popup to boost sales?
+Lightbox popups allow you to easily grab customer attention and nudge them into making a purchase. You can use WooCommerce popups to offer coupons, promote sales, get visitors onto your email list, and more.
+In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create a WooCommerce popup to increase sales. We will show you different types of popups and how to apply them to your store.
+Why You Need to Create a WooCommerce Popup
+Have you ever wondered why you keep seeing popups on all major eCommerce websites?
+It’s because popups do a great job of converting website visitors into paying customers. They help online stores to quickly grab customer attention by showing them targeted messages at just the right time.
+If you run a WooCommerce store, you can use popups to help you:
+- Increase sales by delivering timely messages to your customers. For instance, you could make the popup appear when users are about to leave your store.
+- Recover abandoned cart sales by offering a coupon or free shipping.
+- Sell more products through cross-sells (promoting related products) and upsells (promoting a better featured product).
+- Build your email list, social following, or remind your customers of ongoing sales and promotions.
+That being said, let’s take a look at how to use WooCommerce popups to boost sales and conversions on your store.
+We’ll be using OptinMonster for this tutorial. OptinMonster is a powerful conversion optimization tool that lets you turn abandoning website visitors’ into subscribers and customers.
+It seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce and have powerful personalization options built specifically for WooCommerce stores.
+Tip: To create coupons for your offers, we recommend using Advanced Coupons. It allows you to create lots of different smart coupons for your WooCommerce site.
+Getting Started with OptinMonster
+Before you begin creating a WooCommerce popup, you need an OptinMonster account that’s connected to your WordPress site.
+First, go to the OptinMonster website and sign up for an account.
+Tip: OptinMonster’s Pro plan lets you use most of the features we’ll be covering. If you want to create a ‘spin to win’ campaign, you need the Growth plan.
+Once you’ve signed up for OptinMonster, you need to connect your OptinMonster account to your WordPress site. To do this, you first need to install and activate the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
+Upon activation, you should see the OptinMonster welcome screen in your WordPress admin. Simply click the ‘Connect Your Account’ button.
+Now, follow the on-screen instructions to connect your OptinMonster account with your WordPress site.
+Once you’ve done this, you will see the Campaigns page. Here, you need to click on the ‘Create New Campaign’ button:
+In the rest of this tutorial, we’ll cover several different types of WooCommerce popups. You can use these quick links to jump straight to the instructions for each one.
+- How to Create a WooCommerce Coupon Popup
+- How to Create a WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Popup
+- How to Create a WooCommerce Cross-Sell Popup to Promote Related Products
+- How to Create a WooCommerce Upsell Popup to Get Customers to Spend More
+- How to Create a Gamified WooCommerce ‘Spin to Win’ Popup
+- How to Create a Fullscreen Popup for WooCommerce
+How to Create a WooCommerce Coupon Popup
+Coupons are a great way to increase sales. You can use a popup to ensure that customers know about your coupon and encourage them to use it.
+To create a coupon popup, simply select the ‘Popup’ campaign type. Then, select your template by bringing your mouse over it and clicking the ‘Use Template’ button. We’re going to use the ‘Coupon’ template:
+OptinMonster will prompt you to name your campaign and choose which site you want it to load on.
+Now, it’s time to design your coupon. Simply click on any part of the coupon to edit it. You can change the text, font, colors, and more. Here, we’re editing the header text for the coupon:
+You can also remove parts of the coupon. For instance, you might decide that you don’t want to have an email sign up box. You could simply display a coupon code within the popup to encourage the customer to use it instantly.
+Tip: The default coupon code is SAVE25. This is displayed on the screen after the customer enters their email address. It’s easy to change or remove this under the ‘Success’ view for your popup.
+Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button once you’re finished with making changes to the coupon design:
+For more help, take a look at our step by step instructions on creating a coupon popup. That tutorial also explains how to integrate OptinMonster with your email list.
+Once you’ve created your coupon popup, you need to set the display rules. Click the ‘Display Rules’ tab in the top bar. By default, the coupon will appear after 5 seconds have expired, on all pages of your site.
+You might want to change this to a longer or shorter duration, or base it on how long the visitor has been on your site as a whole. You might also want to only show the coupon on certain pages of your site.
+We’re going to get our coupon popup to appear after our potential customer has been on our site for at least 15 seconds. This means they’ll see the coupon even if they move between several different product pages rapidly:
+The final step is to publish your coupon popup and make it live on your site. Follow our instructions at the end of the article for help with this.
+How to Create a WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Popup
+You may be losing a huge amount of money to cart abandonment.
+A popup is a great way to prompt visitors to finish checking out. You can create a special WooCommerce popup to appear when a user is on the shopping cart page and moves to leave your site.
+First, create a new campaign in OptinMonster. You need to select ‘Popup’ for the campaign type. Then, go ahead and choose a template for your popup. We’re going to use the ‘Abandoning Checkout’ template:
+Now, give your popup campaign a name and click the ‘Start Building’ button:
+Your chosen template will open up in the campaign builder. You can change the text, colors, fonts, and more. Simply click on the element you want to change:
+Once you’ve finished making changes, don’t forget to click the Save button on the top right.
+Now, it’s time to set your popup so that it displays on your WooCommmerce shopping cart page. First, click the ‘Display Rules’ tab at the top of the screen.
+Click the ‘time on page’ dropdown here if it’s not already selected, then click on ‘Exit Intent’. OptinMonster’s exit intent technology allows you to show your message at the precise moment user shows the intent to leave your website.
+Next, scroll down the page. Leave the first dropdown here as ‘current URL path’ and set the second dropdown to ‘exactly matches’. In the box that appears, enter the URL of your shopping cart page.
+Don’t forget to save your changes. Then, go to the Publish tab to put your coupon live on your online store. You can find instructions on this later in our tutorial.
+How to Create a WooCommerce Cross-Sell Popup to Promote Related Products
+Another great way to boost sales is to cross-sell your products. Cross-selling is when you promote a product that goes with something the customer is already buying.
+For instance, if your customer buys a summer shirt, then they might also be interested in buying a sun hat. Or if they buy greetings cards, then they may also want wrapping paper.
+To create a cross-sell popup in OptinMonster, you first need to create a new campaign. Make sure you select ‘Popup’ for the campaign type, then choose any template you want.
+We’re going to use the ‘Shopping’ template for our popup.
+Next, OptinMonster will prompt you to name the campaign and choose which website you want to load it on. Once you’ve done this, simply click the ‘Start Building’ button.
+You will be taken into the campaign editor. Here, you can change any aspect of your template by clicking on it. We’ve uploaded a different image for our campaign:
+It’s easy to change the text, buttons, and more. You can even include the coupon straight away like we have, by deleting the email newsletter signup field. We added extra text blocks to our popup to give the coupon code:
+If you keep the email sign up, make sure you edit the ‘Success’ view of the popup to display your chosen coupon code.
+Tip: If you do use the email sign up, you also need to link OptinMonster to your email provider under the ‘Integrations’ tab. There are instructions on this in our step by step guide on creating a coupon popup.
+Once you’ve finished creating your campaign, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button on the top right.
+In order to show your campaign to customers with specific products in their carts, you need to connect OptinMonster with WooCommerce.
+To do this, click on the OptinMonster tab in your WordPress dashboard and then click on the ‘WooCommerce’ tab.
+You should see a message letting you know that WooCommerce is connected with OptinMonster:
+Now, go back to the OptinMonster app and edit your chosen campaign. Click on the ‘Display Rules’ tab, then select ‘the WooCommerce cart contains’ and your chosen product for your rule:
+You need to set up a separate rule for each product that you want the cross-sell to apply to. Simply click to add a new ‘OR’ Rule:
+Then, add your rule as before:
+Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button on the top right of the screen. Now, you just need to follow the instructions at the end of this tutorial to put your popup live on your site.
+How to Create a WooCommerce Upsell Popup to Get Customers to Spend More
+An upsell popup lets you encourage customers to buy a product that’s more expensive than the one they were considering.
+For instance, if you sell a software package, you might offer a special deal on a higher-priced plan.
+To create your upsell popup, you first need to create a new OptinMonster campaign. Select ‘Popup’ for the campaign type and choose any template that you want to use. We’ll be using the ‘Flash’ template:
+Once you’ve selected your template, OptinMonster will prompt you to name your campaign and select the site you want to run it on. Once you’ve done this, simply click the Start Building button:
+You can now change anything you like about the campaign by clicking on the item. We’re going to switch the timer to become a dynamic (evergreen) timer. This means it will be set individually for each customer:
+If you want to give customers the coupon straight away, simply remove the email field. It’s easy to use the ‘Add Blocks’ feature to add a text field with a coupon code here instead.
+Once you’re happy with your coupon, click the ‘Save’ button on the top right. Then, click the ‘Display Rules’ tab.
+Simply follow the instructions above for cross-sell coupons to connect OptinMonster and WooCommerce. Then, set a display rule to show the popup when the user is looking at a specific product:
+Tip: Don’t want to go through the steps of connecting OptinMonster and WooCommerce? You could instead use OptinMonster’s page targeting rule to target the URL of your product page instead.
+Once you’ve set your display rules, go ahead and save your popup. Then, simply put it live on your site by following the instructions at the end of this tutorial.
+How to Create a Gamified WooCommerce ‘Spin to Win’ Popup
+The spin a wheel popup we’re going to look at is a bit different. The gamified ‘spin to win’ popup gives the customer a special offer or coupon. It’s a fun alternative to boost conversions and overall engagement.
+First, create a new campaign in OptinMonster and select the Gamified campaign type. There are 3 templates you can choose from. We’ll be using the blue wheel:
+OptinMonster will prompt you to give your campaign a name and choose which website to load it on. Once you’ve done this, just click the ‘Start Building’ button.
+You will now see the coupon wheel template in the OptinMonster editor. Simply click on any element that you want to change. To edit the different options on the wheel, click on it then click the ‘Edit Wheel Sections’ button:
+Once you’re happy with your coupon wheel, click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen:
+Just follow our step by step guide to creating a ‘spin to win’ popup if you want more help with setting up your coupon wheel.
+You also need to link OptinMonster to your email system. To do that, simply click on the ‘Integrations’ tab then click the ‘Add New Integration’ button:
+Next, you need to select your email provider from a dropdown list:
+Follow the on-screen instructions to connect OptinMonster with your email provider. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button again at the top of the screen after doing so. Now, you can put the popup live on your site by following the instructions at the end of this tutorial.
+How to Create a Fullscreen Popup for WooCommerce
+Another very effective popup you can create for your online store is a fullscreen WooCommerce popup. This lets you welcome new visitors and encourage them to join your email list. You could offer them a special discount in return.
+To create a fullscreen popup in OptinMonster, create a new campaign and choose the Fullscreen campaign type. Then, select a template. We’re going to use the Estate template for our popup:
+Next, you need to enter a name for your campaign and choose which site it will display on. Once you’re ready, click the ‘Start Building’ button.
+You’ll now see your fullscreen welcome mat in the OptinMonster builder. You can edit the text and the image to suit your store. Simply click on whatever you want to change.
+We’re going to change the text by clicking on it and editing it in the left hand pane:
+Go ahead and make any other changes you want.
+Next, you need to integrate OptinMonster with your email list by clicking the ‘Integrations’ tab. For instructions on this, take a look at our guide to spin the wheel popups above.
+Once you’re happy with your welcome mat, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button. You can then move to the ‘Display Rules’ tab:
+For the display rules, you want to set your welcome mat to only display to first time visitors. To do this, click on the ‘time on page’ dropdown and select the ‘New Visitor’ option:
+If you want the welcome mat to display on all pages of your site, simply leave the ‘current URL path’ dropdown set to ‘is any page’. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen:
+You can now go ahead and put your popup live on your site by following the instructions below.
+For more tips, check out our guide to creating a welcome mat for your WordPress site. You’ll find some useful examples there, too.
+Putting Your WooCommerce Popup Live on Your Site
+After creating any popup, you need to make it live before it will show up on your website. First, you need to click the ‘Publish’ tab in the OptinMonster app. Then, click the ‘Status’ toggle to set it to Live.
+Note: Your popup will not be live straight away. You still need to go live with it in WordPress.
+Now, go back to your WordPress admin and click on the OptinMonster menu item.
+You should then see your popup listed here:
+You need to click the ‘Go Live’ button to put your campaign live:
+It’s always a good idea to check your site to make sure your popup is displaying as intended. Here’s our cross-sell campaign in action, promoting sun hats when there’s a summer shirt in the customer’s cart:
+We hope this article helped you learn how to create a WooCommerce popup to increase sales. You might also like our list of the best WooCommerce plugins for your store, and our comparison of the best WooCommerce hosting providers to speed up your store.
+If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
+The post How to Create a WooCommerce Popup to Increase Sales (6 Proven Methods) appeared first on WPBeginner.
+According.
+It would be foolish to count McCain out yet. Rudy hasnt begun getting hit yet. The fact that he lived with "two gay men and a shi tzu" isnt going to go over very well with the base. And that picture that National Review recently ran on their cover, of Rudy dressed in drag, easily could come back to haunt him.
+Additionally, if the surge works, if we begin to get a handle of the situation in Baghdad and throughout the rest of Iraq, McCain will have proven prescient about the increased troop levels.
+Lastly, if the media begins to conclude that Rudy represents a greater threat to the Democrat nominee than McCain, then you can expect favourable media coverage of McCain, while Rudy begins to see intensified negative coverage. That too, could easily move numbers against Rudy.
+Rudy, if you notice, has already begun telling the GOP that he will appoint judges based on their adherence to Constitutional originalism. If the base believes Rudy, and there is little reason to believe they wont, for Rudy doesnt have a track record like Romney of dodging and weaving on that topic, then Rudy will prove incredibly difficult for McCain to overcome.
+McCain has his work cut out for him.
+Peter: Care to expand on the reasons behind your clock-cleaning prediction?
+If there is to be a "dark horse" then it will be Gingrich. Every time that Gingrich appears on a talk show, on a radio show, his popularity amongst the GOP base grows. His articulation, his command of the issues, his refusal to adopt some ingratiating tone, his refusal to look like a defeated, whipped dog, as many another Republican has, only makes him look all the more what he truly is, a man who can lead, and a man who can lead through troubled times. After 7 years of Bushs verbal palsy, Gingrichs command of the English language is powerfully attractive.
+Which Republican doesnt cringe when Bush opens his mouth, which Republican doesnt enjoy listening to Gingrich dissect media personalities.
+Peters "clock cleaning" prediction must be based on the assumption the conservative base stays home in the general election. Maybe they will. Or maybe theyll be as motivated to vote against Hillary as for a preferred GOP candidate.
+Hillarys numbers have always been best when she shuts up and hides. Im not clear how she can do that in a general election. Im more skeptical of a "clock cleaning" of Rudy by Hillary.
+I am curious why you think Hillary will dominate any Republican nominee. Is it simply her Machiavellian virtue, or is there something else?
+Its not Peters prediction only. Dick Morris says that Hillary will likely wipe the floor with the nominee. Recent polls, obviously too early to be very meaningful, are indicating the same. Hillary was leading Giuliani in OH.
+Dan makes all the sensible comments about the campaign above.
+Clint is right. I dont make predictions; I was just announcing Dicks. I also agree that Dans comments are good.
+The Austin daily had a piece the other day showing McCain well ahead of Rudy in backing from Republican donors, two or three to one.
+Its way too early for all this speculation. My prediction is this, however: Hilliary Clinton will never be the POTUS.
+The other Dan,
+Gingrich clearly has command of the issues. He is just wrong on them. He is trying to out neocon the neocons on the Middle East.
+Ron Paul has command of the issues. Read his archives. And he has the virtue of being right on almost every one of them.
+I still say if Rudy is the nominee some of the base stays home or bolts. I suspect many Constitution Party supporters are secretly hoping Rudy gets the nod. That will be the quickest way to get the CP out of the 100,000+ vote area.
+For what its worth, Ive been hearing Frank Luntz all over the place putting forth essentially the same thesis as Morris re: Guiliani--though minus the prediction that Hillary will mop up the floor with him. Hes also promoting this book--which sounds like it could be very interesting and, perhaps, very useful to whoever the nominee is in the end. I do, very much, like his general point that conservatives and Republicans need to be more effective in communicating their ideas in ways that appeal to an electorate they can expect to be common-sensical but not particularly sophisticated. Thats why I wonder about Gingrich in the end. He appeals to conservatives who are "in the loop" because of his way with words and his apparent intelligence. But I think he has some hard edges that make him tough for regular folks to swallow. And he seems to lack a willingness to work on smoothing them.
+Julie is right on Gingrich. He lacks charm, grace, and the bearing associated with leadership
+Dont think that Hillary cant win if she simply shuts up and hides. Bob Casey ran a campaign where he limited himself to a single appearance per week. And he won. So it can be done.
+Gingrich has hard edges. Men SHOULD have some hard edges. After 8 years of Clinton, and then another seven of George Walker Bush, America might be ready for the more rugged and robust style of a Gingrich.
+I dont know about all of you, but Clinton biting his lip and sending cruise missiles in the dead of the night didnt impress me. And moreover, the very thought of my President, the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, the leader of the free world, the champion in arms of the free West, holding the hand of that saudi, corpulent voluptuary, with that dopy look on his face while he was doing it, just makes my stomach turn.
+Recalling my President taking his shoes off while he wanders into some mosque supported and sustained by the satanic wahabis, recalling all of this "islam is peace" crap, recalling the appointment of men like Paul ONeill, Nicholas Burns, Colin Powell, Richard Armitage, et al, I think its more than enough time for a real man with some real hard edges.
+I agree that we need a real man, and that Bush has been much less of one than many people give him credit for.
+That doesnt mean that manliness necessarily qualifies someone to be president, let alone makes him electable. It is very hard to make a case that Newt is electable. Sad, but true.
+This post has made the big time. See link below.
+Not only is Newt trying to out neocon the neocons, the other Dan is as well. Ones willingness to send other people to fight battles is no indication of manliness.
+So is Powell girly because he was a war skeptic?
+Yes, Dan. Men should have hard edges. But they should also be capable of a gentle seduction--or at least be open to it if the opportunity presents itself. Mars informed by Venus, if you will. Shaping and informing public opinion requires that the one who aspires to do the shaping have a real understanding of its current aspect.
+Does Newt have that in the end? I doubt it . . . but I am open to being proven wrong. I do so wish he would prove me wrong. He piques the interest, and he gets the mental juices flowing and even a kind of marshal passion . . . but he tends to fall flat when it comes to sealing the deal. I think the popular perception of him is one of general distaste--too rough and gruff, too unfeeling, a hard sell. He appeals too much to reason and not enough to our moral imagination. This makes it difficult for many people to trust him--for trust is, after all, little more than an emotion. It is an emotion that can (and should) be informed by reason. But ultimately it is a guess, a risk, a feeling and people will ever be misled in these things by charlatans if the rational dont compete on their level. It is wrong to be too harsh on people for this tendency, for we all have it in some degree. Consider this: people dont trust barking dogs when push comes to shove--even if the dog is barking for a good reason. The dog is likely to bite someone . . . how can you be sure it wont be you? Stay away from him. On the other hand, a good dog--even in the midst of a wild frenzy of protective barking--will stop barking occasionally and whimper to show its affection for the master. The master sees that the dog is not going to break the trust and bite him rather than the intruder. It is not sufficient to say that this sort of appeal ought not to be necessary. It wont do to suggest that people need to be better at discerning the reason for the barking--thats advice from wise Indians and dog handlers. It only works on a micro-level. In the abstract or in your personal life, you may have a point. In reality and in politics, it is moot.
+Another way to put one of Julies points is this: Newt is too one-dimensionally intellectual. He doesnt turn it off occasionally and make pleasing noises and body language for the unintellectual. I would add that he too often, too predictably and unrelievedly, asks people to think about some difficult questions. And even most intellectuals get tired of that. Its a sad commentary on the limits of democracy, but as our incumbent president once said: "It is what it is."
+David: I suppose what you say is one way to put it--though, in its lack of charity, it is one that rather demonstrates my point. The GOP and fellow travelers would do well to keep that sort of thing in mind now and again. There is something wrong--not just morally, but also intellectually--in insulting the feelings of the people.
+Heres a link to a story in the New York Post via Drudge that made me laugh out loud. Rudy and Judi Giuliani have an interview in Harpers Bazaar, and I think it will be very good for his image (not so much the photo as what his wife has to say). If he keeps getting publicity like this he may well give Hillary a run for her money.
+Heres a sample:
+"Ive always liked strong, macho men, and Rudy - Im not saying this because hes my husband - is one of the smartest people on the planet," gushed the former Judith Nathan to Harpers Bazaar in editions due out Feb. 20.
+"What people dont know is that Rudys.
+20: Julie, I agree that the feelings of the people should not be insulted. However, the people do not read NLT. Were a small set of folks, talking to each other. My own comments, as usual, are directed to my fellow conservative intellectuals and/or activists on this site. I would think the purpose of a site like this is to speak candidly among ourselves. And candidly, the things I said in my previous post are true. It doesnt mean democracy is wrong, and it doesnt mean a candidate shouldnt show considerable respect for the public. In analyzing how politics works, however, we cannot let sentiment get in the way.
+Powell was far more than simply a "skeptic." Powell, especially through his minion Armitage engaged in a turf battle against the execution of a policy selected by the President of the United States. Thats what he did. Powell knew, through Armitage, that it was Armitage who divulged that worthless information about Joe Wilsons wife. Yet Powell allowed the White House to swing in the wind for over a year without coming forward and informing the American people of the role his minion played in the drama.
+It needs to be recalled that the ENTIRE second term domestic agenda was thwarted because of the Valerie Plame legal drama. Not to mention the damage it caused by imputing the credibility of the Commander-in-Chief in a time of war. Powell and Armitage, likewise Wilkerson, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing.
+Is Powell a "girly man?" Thats your phrase, not mine. But lets just say that Powell hasnt distinguished himself at all ever since his appointment as Secretary of State. Powell played the media, adopting the "loyal soldier" routine dutifully following the flawed orders of his superior. But ALL THE WHILE he was involved in an all out war against the implementation of the Bush doctrine.
+Why did this nation focus on Afghanistan first, instead of the foremost sponsor of muslim mayhem and death?
+Why was it that "Saudi" Arabia completely escaped any consequence for an attack their regime directly or indirectly fomented?
+Why was Powell so determined to repeat the Arab narrative, that "settlement" of the Israeli/"Palestinian" was "CRUCIAL" to the resolution of the wider war?
+Powell was as much out of his depth as he was nakedly insubordinate.
+BUT RETURNING TO THE IDEA OF EDGES and Gingrich.
+PETER LAWLER says that Gingrich "lacks charm, grace and the bearing associated with leadership." Grant didnt exude such "charm," such "grace," nor did Sherman, nor Patton for that matter. Did they lack "leadership?" There are many ways of being a leader. There is a Tom Landry way, a Bill Walsh way, a Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan way and a Tony Dungy way. Ultimately the judgement is one of success. Thats the ONLY barometer on leadership. Victory! Gingrich did what no Republican had done in 40 years, whats more, what no Republican had even aspired to in twenty years. And that was gain majority status in the House of Representatives. His contract with America was the stuff of genius, and it was his idea, implemented in the face of a hostile GOP establishment. He LITERALLY had to drag them kicking and screaming to majority status, {their attitudes of losing "gracefully" find full expression in the Rockefeller Republican Bush clan, which if you havent noticed, have promptly restored us to second class citizenship status in the company town, Washington}.
+EDGES?
+Ronald Wilson Reagan isnt in the race, and no one with his stature or power of expression is in the party right now. But its instructive to note that when Reagan won the nomination, nobody gave him a chance. The party establishment was worn down by his insistence on the nomination, so there was a feeling of why not give him his chance, and then well be done with him. Steve Hayward captures faithfully the GOP attitude towards Reagan at the time, in his MAJESTERIAL biography of the man and his times. The race between Carter and Reagan was neck and neck almost until election day. My point here is that before Reagan won, most said that a "B Actor" hadnt a prayer for the Presidency. When Reagan won the GOP nomination, Carters people celebrated, so convinced were they that they would make short work of that lightweight Reagan.
+So when we examine Gingrich, its well to recall that before Gingrich took the House, most said it couldnt be done. People underestimate his abilities at their own peril.
+But this begs a greater question. PETER LAWLERS comment got me to thinking about the nations discourse.
+Remember Tom Daschle, remember when he would get on the talk shows and profess "concern" about the various issues. When queried on anything, he was apt to respond with a variant of "I share that concern," or "I have concerns," or then again "those too, are my concerns."
+Didnt that turn your stomach? I mean that LITERALLY, not figuratively. So lets ask again. Didnt that turn your stomach?
+Remember Kofi Anan. Was there anyone out there who didnt squirm when he opened his mouth. Not just the substance of what he said, uniformly objectionable. No. THE MANNER OF HIS VOICE. How he was endlessly trying to affect this non-threatening demeanor.
+Wasnt there something profoundly effeminate about that
+I dont know about you, but I think its pathetic that grown men are out there trying to speak in a voice thats not even appropriate for a 4th grade teacher.
+I like how Gingrich speaks. And I find pathetic those men who try to change their style, their very manhood, for political purposes.
+Dont all of you? And if not, why not?
+I think that people in the GOP who oppose Gingrich are rattled by his overwhelming, all-powerful confidence. Hes simply too American in this post-modern time. Gingrich flows from American Exceptionalism. His success was founded on American bedrock. But there are many today who prefer to discard American Exceptionalism. For that Exceptionalism carries with it brutal responsibility and burdensome obligation. Gingrich has faith in the rugged American people. So do I. But many a Republican doesnt.
+LASTLY, DAN PHILLIPS said that "ones willingness to send other people to fight battles is no indication of manliness." Thats a novel take. Does an inability to make such decisions, an inability to order other men to fight make one MORE of a man? History always found something strong within a Lincoln who was willing to wage a war of attrition against Southern military leadership. And history always found something worth the while in an Eisenhower, who despite projections of crushing losses among Airborne forces in the Overlord Operation, nonetheless, ordered the Paratroopers in.
+Dan, this is what I want you to do, dont worry its not painful or tiresome. I want you to go rent a movie. Its called COMMAND DECISION. It stars Clarke Gable, Walter Pidgeon and Joseph Cotton. I saw it long ago when I was a kid. Its like TWELVE OCLOCK HIGH. I want you to watch it. And I want you to think about what kind of men can make those decisions. And then I want you to ask yourself what occurred in history between that time, and this time, that would invalidate that kind of leadership. Even if you dont agree with me, you should enjoy the movie. Its something of a classic.
+All this was very interesting and enjoyable. All I can say now is that Newt scores low on the gentle seduction meter, and all comparisons between Newt and Patton or anyone else who has showed grace and courage in leadership in dangerous situations are ridiculous. Newts "manliness," so to speak, has never been tested. He seems to me to be, most of all, a bourgeois technocrat who occasionally talks tough. To compensate for this intemperate post, I will say something good about Newt in a minute in a different context.
+Good Lord Dan. You have slurped down the Red Kool-Aid.
+I promise I will rent the movie you suggest, if you promise to read this link.
+Twelve O’clock High is a great movie, BTW. A note of political trivia: Bob Dornan has a small role in that film as a pilot.
+As the link will show, you invoking Lincoln, Sherman, American Exceptionalism, and Newt is entirely consistent. Where to start?
+America is not exceptional. That is a Strauss/Jaffa liberal lie. We are a country like all others. Patriotism requires that every person esteem their country above others because it is theirs. But myths like American Exceptionalism are dangerous, hubristic, and dare I suggest unchristian. The potential for mischief from the "exceptional" conceit is enormous. For example - the Indians, the Philippines, Panama, Cuba, nuking civilian cities, and the INVASION OF THE SOUTH. The British Empire suffered under a similar conceit.
+What you and Gingrich espouse is not conservatism properly understood. It is Nationalism and Federalism (large F) with a Jacobin/revolutionary edge. The last caveat is thrown in because even Hamilton would not recognize the modern aberration.
+It is not just important to lead and make decisions. It is important where you lead and what you decide. Sherman was surely a leader, but he was also a WAR CRIMINAL, and he savaged my home State. Lincoln was a leader, albeit a double-talking and manipulative one, but he also trampled the Constitution, destroyed the Old Republic, and got 600,000+ of both countries best and brightest killed.
+We agree on one thing. Powell is no hero, at least post military. Powell is not an anti-war paleo. He is an old-school realist, similar to Baker. Fine, I would rather someone be realistic before starting a war instead of some Jacobin crusader, but he is not a non-interventionist. He is a multilateralist.
+I agree that if Powell was not on board with the policy he should have resigned. His dog and pony show before the UN was humiliating.
+I also agree that politics in this country have been feminized, both from a style perspective (blow-dried Romney, touchy-feely Obama) and a policy perspective ("compassionate conservatism"). But jingoistic saber-rattling in pursuit of world revolution is not a sign of manliness. It is a sign of ideological delusion.
+To David F: this is what I said:
+There is something wrong--not just morally, but also intellectually [emph. added]--in insulting the feelings of the people.
+I would evoke the example of Lincoln again, but then Dan Phillips might lapse into a rebel fit we cannot here contain. I know what you’re saying, though David. You seem like a good guy and I’m sure you don’t have real contempt for the people. But even in this kind of discourse, you can’t be intellectually honest if you disregard one part of republican theory for the purpose of advancing another part. Public opinion--the respecting of which is an essential part of the justice of republican government--is like the proverbial "canary in the mine shaft." It is crazy to dismiss it as simplyreflexive or unthinking. There may be elements of stupidity or misinformation in it from time to time, of course. And that’s why shaping public opinion is so essential. But "shaping" public opinion does not and cannot mean intellectual tyranny or condescension. If public opinion really is so unreliable in and of itself, then genuine self-government is not possible and the aristocrats of the old South should have their way with us.
+Julie, youre overcomplicating and overtheorizing. Im not talking about the general place of public opinion in our society. Im talking about peoples reactions, in campaigns, to serious attempts to educate them. I do not say that public opinion on the whole is generally stupid. I do say that it, and the vast majority of people, are sufficiently unintellectual that they resent implicit or explicit demands, e.g., from Gingrich, that they think. They also resent the raising of genuinely difficult questions, which amounts to the same thing. And yes, this is a sad commentary on democracy. (You talk about "republican theory." Fine. I would suggest that republican theory, if were serious about it, probably calls for literacy tests.)
+"I would evoke the example of Lincoln again, but then Dan Phillips might lapse into a rebel fit we cannot here contain."
+Having your forefathers slaughtered tends to do that to a fella.
+David, I dont think Im over-complicating or over-theorizing the matter at all. Im trying to simplify it and you are over-complicating it by being somewhat Utopian in your expectations and subsequent disappointments. People would not reject Gingrichs attempts to make them think if he could do it in a way that did not always give the impression that he thinks hes the smartest guy in the room--even if he is. People resent know-it-alls. When they no longer resent know-it-alls then it will be a good time to start worrying about whether they are educable in the principles of liberty. Ill take that sort of spirit in a people over literacy tests any day.
+Re: DPs "slaughtered forefathers" . . . I suppose we can all claim those, but seriously, dude--142 years ought to ease some of that hurting! When it doesnt this again points to a major drawback in your tribal sort of thinking about nationhood. Im rather glad to be free of the burden of harboring such a long grudge. But why stop there? Why not point to injustice that certainly led your forefathers to come to America in the first place? But then wed get into the sticky problem of asking why they felt compelled to abandon their kith and kin in the old country. Might it have been one of those dang abstractions? Nah . . . probably they went through all that trouble to come here and be a part of all that Anglo-Saxon historic tradition--you know, that stuff that was working so well for them across the pond. But seriously, DP, Im glad youre here. Im learning a great deal from our conversations.
+Sure, they resent know-it-alls. And Gingrich does come across as one, and he shouldnt. But its not only mind-stretching of this particular type that they resent. Generally speaking, the public does not like being made to think about difficult issues, period. I do not have utopian "expectations." My expectations are based on what I see, which I have described. I have personal preferences for a public more inclined toward serious thinking. I would hope that we all did. But I hardly have such "expectations." Let me return your condescension: I frankly think, Julie, that your interpretation of political theory has invented for you an idealized public that does not exist.
+Julie and David, I think were asking too much of Gingrich, {or any man for that matter} asking him to pretend to NOT having answers, when he knows in his soul that he does. Youre asking too much, youre expecting him to be a fraud to himself. Youre expecting him to abase himself before ignorant men who havent spent near as much time as he wrestling with the vast policy issues of our day. Because hes spent the time tackling health care, finding out how dysfunctional our State Department is, because he wasnt satisfied simply identifying problems, but devised solutions, AMERICAN solutions to those problems, fellas like PETER LAWLER brand him a "bourgeois technocrat."
+This is a quasi Catch-22. Because we want somebody with answers, we want somebody who wont simply get out there and say he has "concerns," but then we blast him as being a "know it all."
+Newt is a bright guy. Having spent as much time as he has down there in Washington, where so many delude themselves that they too are bright guys, when theyre not, Newt has NATURALLY acquired a certain contempt for many in the Washington bureaucratic and establishment elites. ISNT THAT HEALTHY? Isnt that a healthy response? I would prefer someone who disdains the establishment, then someone who reaches out to them for answers.
+Go back and watch that AEI conference where Newt and Charles Krauthammer assessed the State Departments actions throughout the long Iraq war buildup. HE ABSOLUTELY RIPPED THE STATE DEPARTMENT. It was beautiful. Charles Krauthammer could barely stop himself from laughing out loud. Barbara Slavin of the USA Today was apoplectic in her defense of the establishment, and in her defense of that nakedly insubordinate Colin Powell.
+How anyone can watch that conference, {are you reading this PETER LAWLER...?} and dismiss Gingrich as lacking leadership skills, as merely being somebody who "talks tough," as being nothing more than a glorified policy wonk, is beyond me.
+David, I dont idealize the public. I have lower, not higher expectations than you. I do not blame people for not taking any particular interest in being educated by Newt or any other politician on the finer points of the health-care debate. What regular person has the time or patience for that? Further, who can blame people for having not been moved by (or even seen) Newts brilliant performance at an AEI conference? Saying that this demonstrates "leadership" (though I wouldnt use that word myself) is like saying that because Peter Lawler (or any other academic here) did a wonderful job of crushing some guy on an APSA panel, he should be president. No offense, Peter, but I dont think Im crushing any of your dreams here, right?
+David is right to say that generally speaking the public does not like to be made to think about difficult issues. But in a sense, theyre right not to like it--people who do like it are rare and need to have a lot of time on their hands. Thats why we elect representatives . . . to do that which we either cannot do or have no inclination to do for us! We dont have direct democracy where every citizen is asked to think through every subject. Thats why conservatives are right to criticize governing according to the polls. Its up to the would-be representative to capture the moral imagination of the public and give them a reason to trust him. To do this hes either got to appeal to some basic principles of good government in a way that resonates with the people or (I admit it) hes got to be a demagogue. Of course, this leaves us open to the possibility of bad representation; we often do get demagogues and flatterers. But we usually get these folks when the alternative is an otherwise good guy who simply isnt politically savvy enough to make people trust him. There are two causes of this problem: 1. he doesnt understand the principles of good government and so he bores people with talk of policy or 2. he isnt likable. In other words, if demagogues win, it is my contention that the blame for that lies more with the losing party than with the people.
+No, Im not crushed. Ill just adjust my dreams accordingly.
+34: Dan, I think you misunderstand me. I could not agree with you more about Newt. I dont want him to change. He is a badly needed tonic in the third-rate stuff we get from most of our other leading politicians. Im just saying that, unfortunately, in a presidential campaign his style is a nonstarter. I repeat: Unfortunately. It was an analytical point, not a normative one.
+35: Julie, a few quick points. One, I do not think people should, even theoretically, be expected to be interested in narrow specifics -- e.g., "the finer points of the health care debate," as you put it. In theory, I do believe that they should, if they are serious citizens, welcome serious discussion about the MAJOR questions that should shape our consideration of the major issues. That, not technical wonkery, is what Im talking about. Two, "crushing" an opponent, intellectually and otherwise, is something that -- in this day and age especially -- we should damned well want a president, or a presidential nominee, to be able to do. Three, I disagree with your dismissal of people who think seriously about politics as those who simply "have time on their hands," implying that intellectuals (of the real sort) are inferior to soccer moms. Thats the sheerest populist sentimentality. Four, I dont believe it takes lots of time to think. It simply takes a basic level of brainpower, and a certain seriousness.
+Again, thinking is not the same as mastering the details on a Gingrich level.
+David, now that you have clarified yourself here I actually think that--on a fundamental level--we agree. If its a general understanding of right and wrong and clear-eyed insights about what works in achieving that, then youre right--theres no excuse for its absence in the people. I think our disagreement boils down to this: if the wrong man wins an election or the wrong ideas gain popular support, I dont blame the electorate as much as I blame the lack of statesmanship in the losers. I also dont elevate soccer moms over intellectuals (though on a Venn Diagram, one could be both, right?). But I also do not think that "intellectuals"--no matter how good they are at being intellectual or how many loons they crush in debate--necessarily make good statesmen. Very often, their intellectual drive makes them entirely unfit for the occupation. In the worst case, their intellectual acumen gives them a tyrannical impatience and impulse. Again, I do not idealize the collective wisdom of the people. But I fail to see how prodding at its weakness does anything other than push it along in the same misguided direction. I really hesitate to say this . . . but the seduction metaphor is so apt. Think of it this way: if your wife is gaining too much weight, how do you bring up that subject? Dare you bring it up? Tread lightly . . .
+One could be both, but the term "soccer mom" generally implies an unsophisticated voter who follows the crowd and the medias lead. There are also approximate male equivalents -- though its well established that men are better informed about politics.
+Certainly intellectuals are not necessarily good statesmen. However, more of their qualities, including the impatience they often have, would be useful on the right in politics.
+Youre right that criticizing the public when speaking to the public is rarely productive and is probably counterproductive. But again, this blog isnt really "in public." Its to clarify our own minds.
+No, I dont think there is a great difference in our views here.
+Just to clarify: Contrary to the initial post, Morris in this column does not say the GOP nominees "clock is likely to be cleaned" by Shrillary. He says she is "likely to clean the floor in the other league," i.e. the Democratic contest.
+Julie, yes, your seduction description is accurate. But it is also very much an ideal. Unfortunately, the GOP doesnt have such an ideal candidate in the lineup. But then again, neither do the Democrats.
+Men like Ronald Reagan dont come around too frequently. Theyre Heaven sent, and Heaven is apt to be economical with such a grace.
+A Vision of Jesus
+RevealedPastor Jerry Gillis - September 20, 2015
+The only way we will ever see what God wants us to see is when we clearly see Jesus for who He is.
+Community Group Study Notes
+- Interact with this statement: “The only way we will ever see the world for what it is will be when we see Jesus for who He is.” What do you think this means? What relevance does it have to Sunday’s message?
+- What are some of the imbalanced views of Jesus that we sometimes have? How does this skew or alter our perspective on life? How can we gain an accurate, mature view of Jesus? What difference will it make in our lives?
+Abide
+Memory Verse
+Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)
+Sermon Transcript
+Revelation. Just the mention of the word sometimes draws a visceral emotional reaction from people just when you say it.
+I don't know what it conjures up in you. Some of you are kind of, in your stomach you've got some anticipation, some of you are a little bit on edge. Some of you are, I don't know what you are.
+But if there's an emotion that can be described when you hear the book of Revelation, and there's probably a lot of them, there's one that I really hope does not enter in and be something that you feel when you hear the word. Fear. I hope that you don't feel that. The reason that I hope that is because I do realize that there's a lot of people - were I to be a man on the street and walk around with a microphone and a camera and start asking a bunch of people "Hey, what do you think of when you think of the apocalypse?" They would probably be giving me all kinds of different illustrations of what that might be, but probably at the core they would be talking about things that frighten them. Now they might also be talking about people dying and planes crashing and buildings toppling and dragons flying and multi-headed beasts with multi-headed horns. They might be thinking about, you know, having to eat out of the garbage cans on the street and mushroom clouds and all kinds of other stuff, right, when they think of the word apocalypse.
+The thing is, that's the kind of the definition that we've given to the idea of apocalypse. The actual word itself, when you say apocalypse, it literally means to reveal. To unveil. To pull back the curtain. In the original language, when you translate this word apocalypse, it does not mean get your ammo and your canned goods and head to your bunker in your back yard. That is not what the word means.
+Oh, looks like the lights are on. Now they're off. See what we wanted to tell you is that this is a very specific series and the apocalypse is happening right now. We wanted to make sure you all understood that.
+Actually, because there's many people that get scared when we talk about the idea of the apocalypse, there have been some people even in the Christian community, because some of the people that are the most scared are people of God. And so, there have been people who have preyed on that fear in the people of God. Now I'm not suggesting, by the way, that every single time that someone writes a book about the time of the end or any of those things that that's preying on peoples fears. I'm not suggesting that at all. There's some fine books on that. But there's also some that are trying to capitalize on the sensationalism of the end of the world. And they are feeding and being paid for, the fear that everyone seems to have.
+In fact, I was online looking up a variety of these things relative to the apocalypse, because I was interested to see them, and I was tracking one website that talked about you know the secret mysteries that we can help uncover for you from the ancient documents and blah, blah, blah and so you know, I just kept scrolling through going all right where are these knuckleheads going to be taking ... and I'm just going through, and then you keep going this is information you have to have because the end of the world's approaching, like probably next week or whatever, you know, and you're just working through that and then you get to, oh yeah, you're probably going to need some survival stuff, some gear that you're going to need. Okay yeah man, we're probably going to need some gear. And then by the time you scroll through this, which takes forever to do you're reading all this information that's scaring you to death and by the time you get to the end it's like, look, we know that what we should probably do, because this message is so serious is give this away, but we can't because we've got to help some other people find this message out so for $100 you can get some tents, some backpacks and then we'll send you the secrets to unlock the keys of telling you about all these things.
+You know what that is? Stupid. And embarrassing and silly. And weird and capitalizing on the fear of people. Ultimately, that is a bad scenario, so I want you to understand something when we embark on this series in the book of Revelation. That I am not going to make an effort to capitalize on your fear. That's not what I'm going to do and there's a reason for that. There's many reasons, actually. The foremost in my mind is that Jesus actually never played to people's fears. That's just not what he did in his ministry. He didn't play to people's fears. He told the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts, sometimes the truth cuts. But he didn't play to people's fears. The apostles in their preaching and teaching, they didn't play to people's fears. The scripture as we have it now put together by God's sovereign hand does not play to people's fears. Therefore I'm not going to play to your fears either.
+But, before you start going all unicorns and rainbows on me, you need to understand that there are some things that we are going to study in Revelation that are going to be straight and they are going to be corrective, and they are going to be sometimes you're going to go whoa, the images that you see and that you hear and that you experience and that you feel, you're going to be like, "Man, this is a lot to handle". And you might find yourself standing in a place, and I might find myself standing in a place that is in need of alteration and correction from the way that we view the world.
+So, even though I'm not going to prey on your fears this is not a scenario where you're just going to be able to, you know, snuggle up with your teddy bear and your apple cider and your polka dot footsie pajamas. This is going to be something that we're going to study, and this book has a sobriety to it and a seriousness to it.
+But before we begin in the book of Revelation and we'll be in Chapter 1 today, and if you don't know where that is, if you've got a Bible and you going I'm not really sure where Revelation is, turn to the back, turn to the end. That's where it is, it's the last book in your Bible. But before we get there I need to set some expectations. Now I don't usually recognize doing this the negative way, because as a communicator, and even teaching other communicators and in terms of communication principles, you don't set out by saying things that I'm about to say. So don't copy this. But I'm going to go ahead and tell you that there may be a number of ways in which you are disappointed in this series in Revelation. Depending on what it is you''re bringing to the table, and what it is you're looking to find, you may potentially be disappointed in what we do in this series in Revelation.
+In fact, I know that there may be some specific things that you might be disappointed in, so I want to give you basically my top five and I'll do it in terms of a top five list of reasons that you're going to be terribly disappointed in this series. Here are the top five reasons, and I've got my buddy Mike to help me out. Mike could you give me a drum roll?
+Alright, number 5 reason you're going to be terribly disappointed is you want me to pick a date, give or take a week when Jesus is going to come back based on the blood moons. If that's you, you're going to be terribly disappointed in this series. Number four: You want me to hand out a hand-drawn pictorial chronology of the events of Revelation. You're going to be terribly disappointed. Number 3: You want me to warn everyone to cash out their savings because of the end of the Shemita year cycle. Which by the way is already over, just in case you were wondering. Number 2: You want to know if the flying locusts in Revelation 9 are helicopters and what nation is flying them. If that's what you want to know you're going to be terribly, terribly disappointed. And the number 1 reason you're going to be terribly disappointed in this series is, you want to know if either Hitler, Stalin, the Pope, Bush or Obama is the Antichrist. Thanks Mike. So you're just going to take your snare and go home? Alright man, cool.
+Alright, so now that we have level-set the expectations for maybe what some ways in which you potentially could be disappointed in this series, I want us to actually turn our attention to the book, and today's message is an introduction to the book of Revelation. It is a marvelous book and it can be an intimidating book to handle and you'll see why in just a few moments, but when we begin this, I want us to ask kind of the first natural question, and that is who wrote it? That's probably the first place to start to give us some context because we need to have some sense of context and some sense of history in terms of what is going on here, or else we're not going to read the book correctly.
+So, when I think about the idea, the first question that comes up is, who actually wrote this. Well, from a human authorship standpoint, he names himself very clearly as John. Now we believe this to be John, the apostle of Jesus and he's writing in the latter half of the very first century. In fact, John tells us where he is in terms of his writing, look in verse 9 of chapter 1. He says "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus."
+So here's what we know: we know that John is on an island. And he's there because of a reason. He says it's because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. The likelihood is, given the history that we know about Patmos, is that John is there because he has been put there by the Roman Empire. He has become a threat based on his preaching of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
+Now, if you don't know where Patmos is or what it is, it's a Greek Island and it's off the western coast of what is modern day Turkey in the Aegean Sea. That's where it is, that's where it's located. What is this island? Well, Tacitus who was a Roman historian, said that this island was set up, Patmos was set up to be a penal colony. In other words, a place where prisoners or political adversaries were sent, some of which they had to do hard labor in salt mines. We don't know if John had to do that or not. But that they were sent there because the empire considered them a bit of a threat. So, we know that from Tacitus, the Roman historian, but what we also hear from Eusebius, which is a Christian historian, and maybe the most notable Christian historian, is that he actually says the emperor Domitian in his reign sent John to Patmos for the preaching of the word of God, and that John was there for eighteen months before he was released.
+Now what we do know is that while John was on Patmos, that is where he got his vision. In fact, listen to after he says that he was on Patmos in verse number 10 he says, "On the Lord's day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet." And then it goes on to say write a letter, that I'm going to tell you where to send it.
+So, ultimately what we see is that he has received a revelation and that he is excommunicated apparently on an island named Patmos, which is for prisoners of some type, and he is there because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. So the framework that we have, is that we know that in this setting in the latter part of the first century, there is some persecution that is going on, because John is actually feeling that as kind of a fountainhead of the Christian church. And he knows that there is more persecution to come if they are not already experiencing it in the world. Then the body of Jesus and the followers of Jesus are going to experience that in soon time. So, he knows what's about to transpire. This is the setting that we have with John.
+So if we know that it's John, and we know in the context that he's writing, the next natural question to ask is what type of book is it? That's an important question. You see, any time that you pick up a book, you want to know what kind of book it is, what kind of literature it is. So somebody gives me a book and I'm expecting to read a biography but instead I've got a romance novel, that doesn't work well, right? I want to read what I'm supposed to be reading. If it's a romance novel you read it that way. If it's a biography you read it that way. If it's fantasy you read it that way. So we need to know what kind of book Revelation is because the Bible, although it is one book that testifies to the glory of God, it is also a library of books that have various styles and genres. And this is important for us to grab hold of.
+The good news is, is that Revelation tells us what that style is very clearly in the text. Not every book does that for us in the New Testament. But the book of the Revelation does, in the text itself, tell us what kind of book it is.
+First of all, it's apocalyptic. Now if you want to write that down you can just write it down, that means it's a particular style. But look in verses 1 and 2 it says this: The revelation, pause right there, that word in the Greek, apokalupsis, that's where we get our word apocalypse, right? "The revelation or apocalypse."
+Now, when we know this book to be revelation or to be apocalyptic, that is a style of writing that was reasonably well accepted between about 100 BC and 100 AD. There were a number of various kind of apocalyptic style writings and they all had similar kind of fingerprints. See, apocalyptic writing was first and foremost, it was about a vision that was given, and then there was usually a guide in the vision which was most often some kind of angelic figure, and then there was also a bunch of symbols and signs within that particular vision. That's what apocalyptic literature was meant to be read as, and we learn right from the outset that it is that style of literature.
+Now, what's interesting is when he says, he made it known by sending his angel - that phrase he made it known comes from a Greek word symaeon. That is where we get our word sign or symbol. So, right out of the gate when we begin to read Revelation, it tells us the kind of book that it is, that it is apocalyptic in its nature and that we now are going to be understanding many of the things that are within it as signs or symbols that we need to understand. That is a part of what apocalyptic literature does.
+So, that means that instead of Revelation being a puzzle book, it's a picture book. O.k.? There's a difference in those things. We're not just trying to put together pieces in a puzzle, we're actually looking at pictures that help us to understand the big picture of what's going on.
+Now, it makes sense, doesn't it, that John is on an island, that he is on there because of persecution for the gospel, and he's going to be writing to the people of Jesus - it makes sense that he might be writing in this style, which is a bit symbolic and a bit coded, so to speak, because of the nature of the persecution that is going on. But here's what we also know. We know that John, after receiving this vision thought about it quite a bit, and interacted with it quite a bit, and reflected on it quite a bit prior to writing it all down. Because we know the way in which he puts together the thoughts of the Old Testament consistent with what the vision has revealed to him. So John has interacted with it.
+You see, this is inspired of God, and it is given by direct revelation. In fact, the scripture says that this is God's revelation, given to Jesus Christ, who then through an angel reveals this to John so that it will be for the good of people. That's how this thing came to be. Now this is all a part of the process of the inspiration of God in the process, but God in inspiration of a text does not bypass the human vehicle. He works through. Men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Prophets of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And so, we have John interacting with the text that preserves the inspiration of the Spirit of God, but he interacts with the text led by the Spirit of God, so that he can reflect on how this fits into an even bigger picture.
+So it's apocalyptic to start out with. But it's also prophetic. This is the kind of book it is. It's also prophetic. In verse number three, we get an indication of that. Listen to what it says. "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
+Now, when you guys think of prophecy, most often, I'm not going to speak for everybody in the room, because I can't, but most often when you think of prophecy, you are thinking of predictive type of things. In other words, something that we get here that predicts what's going to happen down here, whether that's in the short term or in the long term. Does Revelation fit that bill? Absolutely. There's no question about it. Revelation is prophetic in the sense that it is predictive, both in some short term occurrences, and in some longer term occurrences. But prophecy is not just predictive, it is also corrective. You see, when prophets would speak it was not always about predicting the future, it was talking about the consequences of action in the present and what would result from them. So in that way, Revelation is both. It is both corrective and predictive, and this is something that we don't want to miss.
+But you probably saw this when we were reading the text just a moment ago in verse number three when it says blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it. You know what that means? Listen carefully. In doing this series, I am invoking blessing. I am invoking blessing on us all. As I read the words of this out loud, blessing. As you listen to it and take it to heart, blessing. But the blessing comes - listen - with a because. Blessed are the ones who read the words of this prophecy out loud. And blessed are those who hear it and take it to heart, because the time is near.
+Now, some of you are going, well, it's been two thousand years since this was actually written, and it doesn't seem like it's real near as far as I'm talking about. That's because you misunderstand prophecy. Because prophecy was real near to his hearers because there were some things that we're going to unpack that John was going to see in his vision that were going to occur in the now. That were going to occur in the short term. That were going to be fulfilled in that context. That they were going to experience some the oppression of the empire and the persecution that results from it, they were going to experience it in the near term.
+So, everyone who was reading this and everyone who was taking it to heart were blessed because they had the strength to endure what was coming their way. That was the blessing. It's not just some mystical thing, like if I'll just read it out loud then I'll be blessed. If you'll read it out loud, listen to it, and take it to heart you'll be blessed, because then you will believe in the God who gave it to us and be prepared for all the things that it reveals. Are you following me here? O.k. Good. Because I'm having to do some setup teaching, and I had to get some preaching in while I was doing the setup teaching. So when I raise my voice and go ar, ar, ar, ar, that's preaching and when I sit down that's teaching. All right. Kidding.
+But there's another way that we have to read this book. Listen - it's apocalyptic, it's prophetic, but it's also a letter. Now, we figure that out real quickly when we start to approach the book because it's a very traditional formula that John uses. Look in verse number four. It says, "John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia." That's how you start a letter. That's traditional. And then, by the way, when you get over into verse number ten and eleven, he says, "on the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a voice like a trumpet, which said: 'Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.'"
+So, we see the traditional style of the letter starting with the name. John. To the following people - to the seven churches in the province of Asia. But even though we see this as letter, listen carefully, even though we see this as letter, we have to understand that it is letter that is still in the context of apocalyptic and prophetic. These all go together. You can't just sort them all out. They all go together. It's all three styles.
+In fact, you see it in terms of who the letter is addressed to. You see both the fact that it's a letter going to real churches in real places that are named, but it's also apocalyptic because it is symbolic. You go what? Yep. Seven churches. Seven. Were there more churches than that in Asia minor? Boy, if you read the book of Acts you'll sure find them. Colossae, Troas, Hierapolis, Corinth. Lots of those. They're not named. Seven. What does seven mean? Fullness, completion. So even though these are real letters that are going to real churches in real places, to be read by all of them, it is also a reminder that it is the intent of the revelation to show that these churches are representative of the whole, because there are obviously other churches. So we are confronted right away with two of the styles of this literature right in the very outset. That it is apocalyptic, it is prophetic, and it is a letter.
+So, let me give you a sentence to help clarify what Revelation is in kind of regular people language, and you might not have time to write it down but you can always go back to thechapel.com and listen again if you have to go back and you're one of those people if you don't get every note that you're going to panic and look at the people next to you, all right? So, here it is. It's kind of long but you'll have to get it. Revelation is a letter to Christ's people that reveals God's perspective on events in the present and the future using symbolic language, and calls Christ's people to obey Him in the present and trust Him in the future. That's what the book is. O.k.? I incorporated, by the way, in that particular definition, I incorporated the fact that it is apocalyptic, that it is prophetic, and that it is a letter. O.k.? All of those are accounted for in this definition of what the book of Revelation is. All right?
+Or, you could just look at Revelation 1:19 which says "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." All right? And then all I'm saying is, that's going to be shown to us - what's happening now and what's happening later - is going to be shown to is in pictures, in symbols, in signs, many of them, and often are going to show us not only what happens now in the corrective prophetic sense, but also what is going to come in the predictive prophetic sense. So, it's all of those things.
+Now - what's the heartbeat behind Revelation? Well, we see it in chapter one. In chapter one we figure out what the heartbeat of Revelation is and it's this: a vision of Jesus. That is the heartbeat of the book of Revelation, and right in the very first chapter here's what we see: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Everything that you're going to see needs to be framed in reference to the fact that the writer wants us to see from the very outset a vision of Jesus. You see this is what this apocalyptic, prophetic letter is trying to do - give us a vision of Jesus.
+In fact, look with me in verses four thru."
+So, right when we're introduced here to the God that is being revealed to us, we are introduced to God in a tri-personal way. Notice how he talks about the eternality of God by saying this is from the one who was and who is and who is to come. That pretty much covers it, right? From there, from here, from there - this is the God. The eternal one. Then he says it's also from the seven spirits before the throne.
+Now you say, that's kind of a unique way of saying something. Yeah, it is a very unique way. but what do you hear in there? You're the number seven. It can also be translated and you'll see it in some of the margins of your bible, it can also be translated the seven-fold spirit. Now you go wait a minute. I have enough trouble trying to conceive of the tri-personal nature of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. But now you're throwing spirit at me with seven spirits. Now I'm really confused. Don't be. Because this is simply symbol that is borrowing from other apocalyptic prophecy that is trying to remind us of the fullness, the completeness, of the Spirit.
+In fact, it's actually tapping into Zachariah's prophecy, as I'm sure you were aware, in Zachariah's prophecy in chapter number four. It says, "The angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep and he asked me, 'What do you see?'" So you see this kind of apocalyptic kind of vision, right? I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. And also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." And I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" And he said, "do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I replied. So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.' says the Lord Almighty.
+You see, in this particular passage he is equating the Spirit with the sevens. The idea of fullness. There were metaphorical pictures to help us understand the nature of the completeness and fullness of the Spirit. So here we see the one who is and was and is to come, and then we see the Spirit in his completeness and Jesus Christ. This is the tri-personal introduction. But then when we get to Jesus, another set of threes to describe Jesus. Faithful witness, firstborn from the dead, and ruler of the kings of the earth.
+Now why does John give us this picture from the very outset? Well, here's what you and I both know. When we look at the whole Revelation of scripture, from the very beginning all the way through the Old Testament - when we look at that, we find that God - listen to this - we find that God speaks or mediates His presence through three predominate groups of people: the prophets, the priests, and the kings. O.k.?
+What John is showing to us in this beginning part of the Revelation is that Jesus is a prophet. Why? Because he is the faithful witness. In other words, like the prophets of old who would bear testimony of God to the people, even if it meant that they got stoned or they got injured or they got killed, Jesus is the faithful witness who is bearing the promises of God to the world even if it costs him his life. He is a prophet. He is also a priest. What does it say next? He is the firstborn from the dead, right? And as firstborn from the dead that means as priest he is the one who knows how to offer the offering. Who knows how to make the sacrifice but as the great high priest he is not only the one who makes the sacrifice, he himself is the sacrifice, but he doesn't stay dead, he rises from the dead so now we see that he is prophet who has faithfully testified even to his death, and he is priest who has executed the offering but now is no longer dead, and then we see that he is King because the scripture says he is ruler of the kings of the earth, and we are reminded at the back end of Revelation that he is the King over every king and he is the Lord over every lord, he is the King of the earth.
+So, we're reminded at the very outset about the nature of who Jesus is and this is very important for us because we're going to need all of these things. In fact, if this wasn't exalting enough in terms of the nature of Jesus, then what John does is he takes two Old Testament prophecies and he smashes them together in verse number seven. Notice what he says. "Look, he is coming with the clouds," and "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him"; and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." So shall it be! Amen.
+Now, some of you are reading going, man, right out of the gate he's telling us that Jesus is coming back. Indirectly, but not directly. That's actually not the direct meaning of what this passage means. Well, Jerry, it says it right there - look. He is coming with the clouds. Correct. Where did that phrase come from? He's quoting Daniel.
+Now listen - Daniel chapter seven is where we get this from and listen to what it says in Daniel seven. "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.."
+You see, why he's quoting this is because he says, hey, this Jesus who is the faithful witness, who is the firstborn from the dead and who is the ruler of the kings of the earth, he is sovereign in power. That's what this phrase is actually referring to. In fact, if you break it down real easy you'll see it. Because you read it and say look, he's coming with the clouds and you're saying to yourself, because you're imposing the meaning upon it, that means he's coming again. By the way, the scripture's real clear that he's coming again. That doctrine is made very clear through the course of scripture and in Revelation. But in this particular passage, that's not what's being communicated. I'll tell you why. Because he's quoting Daniel, and do you know what Daniel said about the Son of Man? Coming with the clouds of Heaven? That he came to approach the Ancient of Days. Is that there, or is that here? He's going the wrong way for some of you. Jesus is coming with the clouds in Daniel in approaching the Ancient of Days, not in return to earth.
+Why does that matter? Because the phrase coming with the clouds is actually referring to - listen to this - it's referring to the vindication and exaltation of the Son of God and how the Ancient of Days has entrusted to the Son all sovereign power and all dominion over everything. So, John is saying to us not only is he the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the King of every king, he is also sovereign in power over everything. But John makes it even clearer when he says, hey, this sovereign in power is also capable of judging you - judging rightly.
+That's why he mashes together with Daniel 7, Zachariah chapter 12. And it says." Do you know what this passage in the context of, chapter 12 in Zachariah? It's about God's judgment of Jerusalem's enemies.
+So, the reminder here is that Jesus is the - listen to this - is the faithful witness, firstborn from the dead, who is the King over every king, who is sovereign in power to rule, and in his ruling is going to judge rightly. That is what we're seeing right here from the very outset of the book of Revelation and that is important for us particularly with the events that Revelation unfolds, we need to be able to count on the fact that this is the one, this is the one who's in charge of all of these things.
+So, in addition to being the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth and the sovereign judge over all things, now we even get a glimpse of what he looks like. Look in verse twelve. John says I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands were someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. Pause right there. That's giving us a picture of the high priestly nature of Jesus. And then it says the hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow. This is giving us a picture as the Old Testament testifies to, of a crown of splendor, of wisdom, and of dignity. Some of you are going, I'm thankful to Jesus for the gray hair that I have right now, right? I'm wise, I'm wise. This is the picture that it's giving to us - the preeminence of wisdom, white as snow.
+And then it goes on to say, and his eyes were like blazing fire. This is indicative, ladies and gentlemen, a picture of the all seeing nature of who Jesus is. That he can look into the hearts and the souls of everyone everywhere and cut through everything because he's sees.
+Then it says in verse fifteen his feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. This is the picture that he is steadfast, stable, and strong because his feet have been fashioned in the fire of oppression and he has overcome in the midst of this.
+And then it goes on to say after that, that his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. Between what it said earlier, that his voice sounded like a trumpet and now his voice sounds like rushing waters, we're reminded that he speaks with authority and he speaks with majesty whenever he speaks.
+Then it goes on to say - this is awesome! - it says in his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. We'll deal with the stars next week, o.k.? But then he says the sword that is coming out his mouth, it is a reminder, a picture, that when he speaks and when he judges, it cuts between all of the deceit and the lies and he speaks righteously every time.
+Then it says by finishing that his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. It was a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, that you have never seen glory until you have seen the face of Jesus. This is the picture.
+Now, it is an awesome sight that John has just beheld. If it's me or you, you know what you're going to do? Exactly what John did. Look what it says in verse seventeen. "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead." Hey, man, if you see this picture, and you see the glorious nature of who Jesus is, that's about what's going to happen to you. You're going to fall at his feet as though dead. But notice what happens. It says this: "Then Jesus placed his right hand on me" - pause right there for just a second and look this way. We just said that Jesus was holding all of these stars in his right hand, so how is he putting his right hand on me? Because it's apocalyptic. Stop reading it so literally. It's a picture that he's trying to give to us, o.k.? Some people try and strain these gnats and they're like, wait a minute. He had some stuff in his hand. He couldn't have put his hand on me. I tried to already explain this, o.k.? So it says he puts his right hand on me, and what are the first words out of the mouth of Jesus to John? "Do not be afraid." Whooo! He says "I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."
+Of all the things that the glorious, majestic, Son of God could say, when John gets this incredible vision of who he is, of all of the choices and all of the world in all of the languages, here's what he said: "Do not be afraid". Why does he say that? Well, one, because John is petrified because he's just gotten a vision of Jesus and it is mind blowing for him. But he's not just saying it for that moment. He's also saying it because he is reminding John what he's going to need to be resting in and be assured of because of what he's about to see. That's why he says, "John, don't be afraid". Here's why: I'm the First and the Last. I was dead. Now I'm not. And I hold in my hand the keys of death and hades.
+Why do you think he's telling John how important it is that he has risen from the dead and that he holds the keys of life and death? Because of what John is going to see and what John is going to face. The same thing's true of me and you. You see, ladies and gentlemen, we just as badly in our day need to see a vision of Jesus. Just as badly in our day. This is not just for John. This is for us. Blessed are those who read the words of the prophecy of this book out loud, and blessed are those who listen and take it to heart, because there's some things that are coming and the time is short. You will be blessed in knowing that he is the faithful witness. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the sovereign one who is capable of judging all things.
+And now here's what we find, that John shows when he falls dead, Jesus puts his hand on him and says don't be afraid. Why? Because Jesus is showing us in Revelation one that he's the hope giver! He's the hope giver! We live our lives so fearful and Jesus says how about a vision of me, because I'm the one who will give you hope. Get up, John. I'm here. The First and the Last. Who was dead and now isn't! And I hold the keys of everything that you're going to face, even if it's death itself. No worries. I've got you! That was my translation.
+So, maybe jot this down: the only way we will ever see what God wants us to see is when we clearly see Jesus. You want to grab something, a rich truth here from Revelation one? Here's one for you. The only way we will ever see what God wants us to see is when we clearly see Jesus.
+You see, we'll never see the world, how we need to see the world until we see the world through how we see Jesus. We will never see ourselves the way we need to see ourselves until we see ourselves through how Jesus sees us. And through how we see Jesus. We will never see people and events that are going on in the day and age that we live in, we will never see them clearly until we actually see Jesus clearly and through Him can now see everything else clearly. This is how this goes.
+That's why Revelation chapter one is the heartbeat, because it is introducing us to a vision of Jesus that we cannot lose sight of when we begin seeing the rest of the fulfillments of the vision. This is what he wants us to see from the very outset. This is what Jesus wants us to pay attention to. Because He is trying to remind us He is the hope giver and He is the one who gives us clarity.
+See, part of the issue is we've got a badly imbalanced view of Jesus in our day and age. You see, there are some people who have made Jesus into their own image instead of seeing Him for who he is. In other words, you've got a soft version of Jesus because that's what you need. So Jesus is much more like, he's your buddy, he's your sweetheart, he's more like a pet than he is your King. He'll never criticize you. He will never disapprove of anything that you ever do. He's never going to hurt your feelings. That's not my Jesus. He's never going to hurt my feelings. Not my Jesus. You've got a soft version of Jesus. And it's imbalanced. You see, what we need is we need a clear vision of Jesus and here we have him in his resurrected, glorious, majestic state. And we need to understand what it looks like.
+Now, on the other side, by the way, there are also people who make up a tough guy Jesus because they need him to be that. In fact, there are pastors who need that to happen. There was one, a number of years ago that was quoted in Relevant magazine trying to make Jesus into a tough guy because he himself fashions himself as a tough guy and needed some tough guy stuff, material for all of the tough guys in there because they were worried about the soft Jesus kind of idea that nobody wanted to follow, and so he needed to make up a tough guy Jesus.
+So here's what he said in Relevant magazine - it doesn't matter who it is - he says "In Revelation, Jesus is a pride-fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That's the guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up."
+Hmm. A couple things. One, this Jesus that you've fashioned that you can't beat up? You crucified. Try that one on. Secondly, he doesn't have a sword in his hand. It's in his mouth. Trying to make him someone that he's not. He's not wielding a sword looking to make someone bleed as if he's got a sword in his hand. The sword's in his mouth. Plus, when you have this kind of mindset, then you basically take on a "fight anyone and everyone for any reason" kind of mentality. And it's not helpful to the kingdom.
+What we need is, we don't need soft guy versions of Jesus that we fashion. We don't need tough guy versions of Jesus that we fashion. We need a vision of Jesus that he gave us. That he himself gave us. Because when we do, we're going to be able to see as we should see. We need Revelation's vision of Jesus. Do you know what that means? He is the faithful witness who has confessed the glory of God and the will of God to the world even though it cost him his life. He is the firstborn from the dead, demonstrating that he was willing to offer his very life. It wasn't taken from him. He offered it himself as both the priest and the sacrifice. And that he has conquered death and hell.
+We see him also as the King who is ruling over all the kings of the earth. Why? Because he is sovereign in power and he is righteous when he judges, and we see as well that in the midst of all of that hell that may transpire in the world that we live in and all of the craziness, when it seems to get nuts, and with all of the people making decisions all over the world, it seems like this thing is careening off the tracks, he says "I'm the hope giver. You need to look at me because I'm the First and I am the Last. I was dead and now I'm not and I hold the keys of death and hades in my hand. You can trust me. Don't be afraid." This is the heartbeat behind the book of Revelation.
+So, it means we can see the world with optimistic realism. That means we can stand in the face of every trial, of every persecution, of every tribulation, of every hardship, and we see them for what they are. But we also, because we see Jesus for who he is, we can endure. Blessed are those who hear the words, who read them out loud, and who listen and take them to heart. Why? Because the time is near. We'll face these things. And we need to be prepared to endure and we will only be ready to do it when we have a vision of Jesus. Let's bow our heads together.
+Before we've dismissed, and today's been an introduction to the book of Revelation. But the introduction to the book of Revelation is an introduction to Jesus and so, my heartbeat for you is that if you're here and you have never been introduced to Jesus in a real way, in a personal way, in a relational way, that today you would realize that your credentials as your own god, pale in comparison to the revelation of the vision of who Jesus is, the Son of God. The one who holds death and hades in his hand. The one who has conquered death. The one who is himself life. If you've never turned from your sin and stopped doing it your own way, and put your faith and trust in Jesus, then I want to encourage you to do that today. When we dismiss in just a moment, the Fireside Room is directly across the Atrium and there are some prayer partners in there, some pastors in there who would love to take a few moments and talk to you about what it means to know Christ. There is no more important issue that you could ever deal with in your life. None, zero, nothing that has happened in your life that will be more of consequence than what you choose to do with Jesus.
+Father, I thank you for the reminder today for us to take off our rose colored glasses and to be able to look into the vision of Jesus that you have clearly represented for us here. Because when we do, we are reminded of One that is wiser than the wisest, whose eyes see everything, who judges rightly and righteously, who has always been faithful, even to the giving of His life. Who has been set as the ruler of all things, who is sovereign in power, and who is our great hope in the midst of trial. So I pray that we would be reminded to see the vision of Jesus in this world that we live in, and that we would be reminded when we see Revelation, we see Jesus as the great hope giver.
+So Father, I pray that you would write this on our hearts, and you would conform us into your image as a result of it and that you would help us to be a people who model what it means in a world that seems to have gone nuts, to be people who are not likewise living in fear and freaking out all the time, but we are trusting and confident in the One who is the First and the Last. The One who was dead and now He lives. The One who holds the keys of death and hades in His hand. Jesus, you can be trusted. We have confidence in you, and I pray that you would blossom our trust in you, so that we would be a people that demonstrate what it means to face difficulty in life, and trust you wholeheartedly in the midst of it. Thank you for this truth. In Jesus name, Amen.
+God bless you folks. Love you. Have a great week.
+More From This Series
+A Vision of JesusPastor Jerry Gillis Part 1 - Sep 20, 2015
+Dear ChurchPastor Jerry Gillis Part 2 - Sep 27, 2015
+The Throne RoomPastor Jerry Gillis Part 3 - Oct 4, 2015
+Judgment & WitnessPastor Jerry Gillis Part 4 - Oct 11, 2015
+War of WorshipPastor Jerry Gillis Part 5 - Oct 25, 2015
+Babylon FallingPastor Jerry Gillis Part 6 - Nov 1, 2015
+The World is a CourtroomPastor Jerry Gillis Part 7 - Nov 8, 2015
+
+M
+I think the point of the article is he's an NFL qb...one of the best in the league at the moment...and he's budgeted less for his car note than what I pay right now (although it's short lived...he'll be franchised for 14 mill next year which should pay off most of his debt)
+Besides, that $ he's making is only for a few more years, if he stays healthy, and what he earned will have to last past that career since he hasn't got another one. And being an NFL player his life expectancy is some 15 years shorter than yours. And those shortened years will likely be spent in pain with numerous surguries in his future, so a good chunk of that $ will be going to medical expenses since the league does not take care of it's former players.
+But feel free to criticize them for greed while you watch every Sunday as they destroy their bodies for your enjoyment.
+posted by bdaddy at 10:09 AM on December 04
+Despite Vick's flashy moves on the field escaping defenders, he is still getting hit hard. At least Andy Reid and Vick think so.
+posted by roberts at 11:15 AM on December 04
+B, you're going to have to explain to me why I can't criticize Michael Vick for greed. Did he not, in fact, get himself into this mess in the first place? He sure wasn't spending it all on dog food.
+I wonder why some athletes don't sign up for this program in the first place.
+posted by wfrazerjr at 11:39 AM on December 04
+While there may be many reasons to criticize Vick, I'm not sure greed is one of them.
+posted by Ricardo at 11:57 AM on December 04
+Vick got himself in this mess, so he has no one but himself to blame.
+That being said, it worth pointing out that Vick did have the option to go for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy which would have wiped out more of his debt. Instead, he is trying to make good on all of his debts.
+If he gets the contract, that he likely will, at the of this season, he'll be doing just fine. As for now, the $100K that billinnagoya calculates is actually a bit low as that's after taxes, and doesn't include $3000 that he is paying the mother of his first son. No tears for the man from me, but I am glad he's trying to pay off the debt instead of stiffing everyone.
+posted by dviking at 12:02 PM on December 04
+Never been in Vick's situation myself, but after what he's done and what he's gone through, I have to give him credit for getting up every morning and facing reality with some determination.
+He's trying to do his best to help his team and become a better player than he was in his first NFL incarnation, knowing that he's gonna get beat up on game day, that there are things that he will never be able to undo or make right, that there's a ton of hate out there that will never go away, and that in the context of the overall economic picture of his locker room, he's getting paid very short money for his hard work. The chances of suffering a career-ending injury on any play don't go down just because you're earning less.
+In the face of a lot of negativity and in the absence of immediate rewards, the determination he's exhibiting is coming from a deeper place. As dviking said, giving up and walking away from the mess would have been a lot easier than the course he has embarked on.
+And if he has complained about his current situation, I'm not aware of it.
+Every time I think of a guy like Randy Moss acting out and taking plays off when he feels like it, I respect the effort that Vick is making a little more.
+posted by beaverboard at 12:49 PM on December 04
+Despite Vick's flashy moves on the field escaping defenders, he is still getting hit hard. At least Andy Reid and Vick think so.
+I think the way the NFL protects quarterbacks when they scramble past the line of scrimmage is ridiculous. If they are going to run with the ball they should be treated as a runner.
+I haven't watched enough Eagles games to comment on Reid's criticism of the officials, but my level of sympathy is low.
+posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 01:21 PM on December 04
+So Michael Vick is living on a little less than what I made in my last few years of employment as an engineer. On my salary I was able to put away enough that I could live comfortably on a pension and social security and the return on my investments, put a kid through Penn State, own and maintain a house, own and operate 3 cars, and not exactly starve to death. I'm lucky as hell that I was able to get the education required to do this, and that I worked hard enough to keep the jobs that I had. In other words, I'm not weeping for Michael Vick. I do not say this out of any sense of envy at him. He deserves what he has been able to earn, but since he made a mistake in his personal life, he has been forced to pay the penalties.
+I hope that Michael Vick might see that having to live on a budget is a really good thing. Perhaps he will find that doing so has taught him to be a bit more frugal, and that when the debts are finally paid, he will continue to live well within his means. If Vick is like many other professional athletes, he will give much of his time and fortune to charity work. Good for him if he does. He could set the example for those who come into sudden fortune through their athletic prowess, and teach them how to live well but without excess.
+By the way, $472 per month will buy a $30,000 vehicle, assuming a 6% interest rate. The loan would be paid off in about 56 months.
+posted by Howard_T at 02:29 PM on December 04
+I don't see why any outrage is warranted. It's part of the punishment he earned, he gets a easily livable wage that's temporary for another year or so, his family isn't punished along with him, his creditors are getting their money back, and Vick has ample motivation to stay on top of his game. He's a QB, so while I can see Bdaddy's argument, he isn't necessarily in the peril that the lineman and dbacks find themselves in.
+posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:46 PM on December 04
+Well he's not in the peril of the lineman, for sure..as they have clinical obesity to face as well...but I guarantee he takes a lot more physical punishment than DBs. Other qbs maybe not, but him personally, I believe he's due for a very painful future.
+And YYM, I don't see the refs protect scrambling qbs much..once they're out of the pocket, those not named Brady or manning are free game (as we know, those guys play by different rules)
+posted by bdaddy at 03:49 PM on December 04
+Bdaddy, you seem to miss my point, no doubt because it was inarticulately expressed. What I wished to highlight by posting this article is the warped sense of what constitutes a reasonable (and responsible) standard of living and an equally warped sense of entitlement that often accompanies such wealth.
+Professional athletes like Michael Vicks (and we don't have to limit the conversation to athletes--entertainers, CEOs, socialites can just as easily be substituted) receive extraordinary--I would say obscene--amounts of money, far more than you, I or the vast majority of people are likely to see in several working lifetimes. Yet all too often they are unable to manage it responsibly, wasting it on ostentatious living. And that sense of entitlement to such a lifestyle seems often to carry over even after the money is gone. For example, even now, when he is supposed to be in such dire financial straits and living on a shoestring budget, Vicks still requires $4,250 per month for housing expenses. He could have very comfortable living arrangements for far less than that.
+The $100+k I mentioned in the original post was a quick calculation of the items mentioned in his budget. In fact the article implies Vick still has in excess of $1 million (post-tax) available to him. (75 cents of every dollar goes to debt servicing AND TAXES, leaving more than $1 million--which is more than 10 years pretax wages for me.) Even at his present level of income (and debt servicing) in 4 years he will have a post tax income in excess of my entire pretax working career.
+Yes, longevity is an issue, but one 3-year, $10 million per year contract would add up to 300 working years for me. Surely these guys, if they behaved responsibly, should be able to somehow get by.
+As for the question of injury and consequential shorter life span, isn't that the choice they make? Seeing the riches they can obtain immediately, they take a calculated risk with their health and long-life for material gain now. I wouldn't make that trade, but that is my choice.
+And, by the way, I rarely watch football, so they are not destroying their bodies on a weekly basis for my entertainment--someone else's for sure, but not mine.
+posted by billinnagoya at 06:42.
+By your math ($30mi = 300 working years for you), I'll assume you make close to $100,000/year. Were you aware there were single mothers supporting 3 kids on their $15,000/year? Those women might think your sense of what is a reasonable/responsible standard of living is warped. They may look at the fact that you spend $1500/month on your mortgage as "obscene". They may look at that and say "I could live 20 years comfortably on what he makes in 3!?" In 4 years you'll make a post tax income in excess of what they make their entire working career. They may think you haggling with your boss for a 5% raise with the amount of money your making as greedy as you think a player haggling for an extra million to his contract is.
+It's all relative, is all I'm saying.
+posted by bdaddy at 07:32.
+So in your world, no one saves for a rainy day or has the forethought to perhaps not spend every dime they make?
+I don't think Bill missed Economics 101 so much as you've been studying at the George W. Bush School of Spend It To Stop The Terrorists.
+posted by wfrazerjr at 10:50 PM on December 04
+I think you missed economics 101...
+I don't think I missed EC101. Rather, I don't agree with your starting assumption that everyone--or even most people--automatically spend up to the limit of their means. (However, I could be wrong about that.)
+Most people around me live rather modestly and well within their means, and they seem, like me, to be planning ahead for such things as their children's education and their retirement. Or, and I will admit they are extremely rare, there are people like the Canadian couple that won $11 million in the lottery and gave it all away to charity because, to paraphrase, they already had everything they needed. Or Bill Gates, who has left the vast bulk of his fortune to charity, establishing a "mere" $10 million trust fund for each of his children, reasoning that this amount should be sufficient to see them through a comfortable life.
+Yes, there are plenty of single mothers getting by on a pittance who might find my relative level of comfort "obscene" (my word; not yours). And what, then, must they think of the Michael Vicks of the world--or better yet, the likes of Latrell Sprewell who was outraged a few years ago by a $27-30 million, 3 year offer because it was insufficient to feed his family? (Most assuredly a poor rhetoric choice I image he regrets to this day ever making.)
+Yes, I will agree that in some ways the issue is relative, but I've never been a fan of relativism. It is too convenient and simplistic a way of justifying poor, selfish, or irresponsible choices. (And none of this means that I am grudging the athletes their due; surely they, rather than the owners, are the ones who go out and generate the revenue with their sweat and talent and are thererfore deserving of a greater share.)
+And on that note, I bid you a good night. We can agree to disagree.
+posted by billinnagoya at 01:19 AM on December 05
+I just don't get the connection between living within your means and Vick. What evidence is there that he wasn't? Who are these people who would not have financial difficulties if they unexpectedly lost their salary for two years and started working again at a much lower salary?
+posted by bperk at 09:03 AM on December 05
+What evidence is there that he wasn't?
+His creditors didn't just appear out of nowhere.
+posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:39 PM on December 05
+The emergence of his creditors is based on the cancelling of his $100+ million contract with the Falcons. He had borrowed against the future returns on that. Not uncommon at all.
+posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:19 PM on December 05
+I don't think I missed EC101. Rather, I don't agree with your starting assumption that everyone--or even most people--automatically spend up to the limit of their means. (However, I could be wrong about that.)
+i think you ARE wrong...I didn't make that up and wasn't making a snide comment..I literally learned that in economics 101...people spend what they make. They even showed us a graph and everything.
+posted by bdaddy at 09:17 PM on December 05
+The emergence of his creditors is based on the cancelling of his $100+ million contract with the Falcons. He had borrowed against the future returns on that. Not uncommon at all.
+Not uncommon, but still stupid. It wouldn't take too much foresight to have a look around the league and see how many players actually earn the full value of a contract.
+posted by wfrazerjr at 10:33 PM on December 05
+He was clearly pretty stupid his first time around. Since then, he grew up a lot, and from his actions and words is less stupid now.
+In that sense, he is a role model for the hundreds of millions of people who stupidly took on too much debt during times of promise and are just now realizing the error of their ways.
+Short-term thinking isn't just confined to governments, banks, businesses, schools, voters, builders, doctors, most of the rest of American society, and Dan Snyder. Foresight is rare, as is hindsight in action. Seems like Vick is doing something about quite a few of his self-inflicted problems.
+Michael Vick sets a good example.
+posted by Hugh Janus at 12:01 AM on December 06
+It wouldn't take too much foresight to have a look around the league and see how many players actually earn the full value of a contract.
+Even if he planned for a career-ending injury, he didn't plan for losing every other drop of income. He had to pay the Falcons back bonus money, and he lost every sponsor. This is not the kind of thing a financial planner would (or could) plan for.
+posted by bperk at 07:10 AM on December 06
+Michael Vick sets a good example.
+There's a sentence I did not expect to read this morning.
+posted by tommytrump at 09:45 AM on December 06
+This is not the kind of thing a financial planner would (or could) plan for.
+The 'I got caught running a dog-fighting ring in my back yard scenario' isn't covered until Econ 305.
+posted by tron7 at 10:27 AM on December 06
+Sorry, as it would appear the majority of his creditors are as a result of him having to return $20MM of his $37MM bonus.
+posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:24 PM on December 06
+You're not logged in. Please log in or register.
+I calculate that Vick somehow has to get by on a little more than $100,000 per year. How many of you out there wish you were forced to live on such a tight shoestring?? I'm supporting a family of five on less, and we don't live bad.
+BL&P’s Promise to Barbadians — You Must Invest in Community Solar
+He added that Light & Power is also planning “community solar to ensure that every Barbadian has the opportunity to participate in the island’s green transformation and the renewable energy future for Barbados.” – Roger Blackman, Managing Director (BLP)
+The Barbados Light & Power in its recent edition of Watts New Business Managing Director Roger Blackman reassured the audience that his company is committed to a 100/ 100 vision of 100% renewable energy. This is good news for some of us who appreciate that a sustainable power supply that is affordable and a strategic fit for a Small Island Developing State is the commonsense approach.
+The reference by Blackman to “community solar” should pique the interest of all Barbadians who have had to labour in an investment market of reduced interest rates and extension of bond maturities. There is no reason why the public and private sector should not structure investment opportunities for ordinary citizens to invest in growth areas. Barbadians have always been a thrifty people and this behaviour is reflected in the billions of dollars which continue to nestle with financial institutions. The fear for many is that if citizens see no appealing avenues to invest they will stop saving and engage in greater consumption behavior which the country cannot afford given the forex earning constraints.
+It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Wigton Windfarm in Jamaica is about to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) with an IPO and Prime Minister Holness has been encouraging ordinary Jamaicans to grab the opportunity to invest. It is a nobrainer for private and foreign investors – with good reputations – to see the benefit of an adequate rate return by investing in a growth area. It is a no brainer that government and private sectors have a vested interest is creating an optimal climate for investment by creating the best investment products. The blogmaster notes that the proposed GAIA PPP floated by the government accommodates worker participation. The business models practiced by Williams Group of companies and a few others in Barbados should be standard modus operandi as we work to make Barbados great again. Trade Unions calling striking action for a 1% or 2% wage increase has become redundant. All collective bargain agreements should demand worker participation.
+The financial sector continues to demonstrate its unwavering commitment to maintaining shareholder value during times of austerity. The government must pave the way for a new business model to emerge that will sustain national development and enfranchise Barbadians. If we do not do it, who will?
+We are Barbadians, we can do this!
+Credit to sirFuzzy.
+@ Donna February 17, 2019 9:17 AM
+For my one part i left the banks about 15 year ago. But it is a slippery slope. If BNS can away with 35.00 a month REPUBLIC may be seen a reasonable if they upped their charges to 15.00. A 200% increase. The reality is what is the true cost of providing this service. Whether at 5 10 12 25 0r 35 are we been robbed by a service charged that may be grounded in greed ?
+Donna maybe you like many other will be forced to choose between the btter of two evils? Maybe all of thisis constucted to make it look like a choice by its really a false choice? Think of Trump and his made up National emergency.
+Just asking
+People of Barbados take heed, I like you want to give the Government a chance to right Barbados but Solar Technology for the generation of Electricity is Garbage. The Technology is not there for it to be cost effective.
+If it was cost effective all European Countries would have had their Power requirements transformed. After Spain did it and went bust the unemployment rate is now 30%. Germany did it and they are now withdrawing from it. England are decommissioning all their Windmills as a Monumental Failure . The Green Energy companies of the world having lost the Big Markets are now looking for Guinea Pigs in the Small Markets. The problem with Guinea Pigs they are used to experimented on and result is death and we Bajan’s do not want the final nail in Di Coffin!
+The Largest Producer of Solar Panels is China and they do not use Solar, the build 300 Coal Plants per year creating the same Gases that they are selling us Panels for us not to produce the Gases.
+The Government of Barbados and the Government of Jamaica that want to produce Solar Energy are asking people to not think of Reality but believe in a Dream. Solar for six hours will generate some electricity never enough!
+We are asked to believe that something that cannot produce enough electricity unless you cover half of Barbados with panels and can only produce Electricity for a few hours. Then we would now be faced with the situation of maintaining not one but two power generation plants. The Traditional LAP Diesel Plant and the Solar Plant.
+The other point to be made is saying that all of the money for the Solar Plant must be paid for up front. That is why they are asking Bajan’s to invest in something that has Zero Chance of Succeeding and the little bit of FOREX we have will be gone.. It may work and Produce Electricity but our Electricity coat would Triple.
+Another Point to be made is that by Involving Barbadians to Invest means that when the Electricity Rates Skyrocket, they will have to bite their tongues, because they would have to guard their investment.
+Rest in Peace Deceased Solar Companies…
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Solar is Old Tecnology. When we discover how to reduce the Atomic Bonds in water we will have an unlimited supply in energy. We are Surrounded by that energy because when you Separate Water into Hudrogen and Oxygen and then burn the Hydrogen in the same Oxygen you will have the heat necessary to produce Electricity and all your investment in Solar will be Obstalite.
+In the Mean time we can go old school and then leapfrog when the tecnology is available at the right time … And NOT ONE Minister will get tempted because there is no capital out lay while the land Remains Green instead of covered in Solar Pannels. Imployment will increase and not unimployment as in the case of Spain…Wise Up Barbados WE DO NOT WANT ANOTHER CAHILL!!
+Barbados Improvements Part 3: Agriculture
+King Grass:izing like sugar cane plants. As an added benefit that hardly anyone.
+@ Talking Loud Saying Nothing February 17, 2019 10:20 AM
+Did you consider an energy audit for thes 3 bedroom house? $50K is a bit on the high side. But that will will depend on the homes energy usage profile.
+But if u looked at the pv system VS a second car purchase; it makes more sense to go PV than buying a good 2nd hand or second car.
+@ Sir Fuzzy,
+You do not sound like a person who was once a former sheep!
+The price of $50,000 would be considered very reasonable in the UK. As i do not live in Barbados I have no knowledge as to whether the price that I was given was too high. But that is irrelevant.
+Your second paragraph is what every sensible Bajan should be assessing. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand your message.
+@ Talking Loud Saying Nothing February 17, 2019 10:46 AM
+I was a sheep in the past. Looking back i allowed too many of my decisions to be guided by group think. A don’t rock the boat mentality that often results in a deep frustration.
+I spend a good portion of my time keeping up to date about pv. Any modern society/nation/economy needs energy to survive and trhive; pv is just another source of energy.
+Sir Fuzzy
+I deal mostly with the credit union but have not been able to completely avoid the bank. There is a still downside to saving with the credit union. It is less secure than with banks. And in this world EVERY DECISION is a choice between the lesser of two evils. Even medical treatment is the choice between the lesser of two evils. There is nothing perfect in this world.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+@ Freedom Crier February 17, 2019 10:28 AM
+I am very curious where you get his information or better yet data on PV from? I hope you are not making this up as you go along?
+I am just asking?
+Electricity prices in California rose three times more in 2017 than they did in the rest of the United States
+February 12, 2018.”
+The Submissions by Freedom Crier shows that Solar Power will cause our Electricity Bills to Escalate inclusive of a Recent Article February 12, 2018 demonstrating how Electricity prices in California rose three times more in 2017 than they did in the rest of the United States.
+Is that what we Desire for Barbados?
+From the Image Below, do we Envision our Green Fields as Rivers of Solar Panels?
+@Talking Loud Saying Nothing February 17, 2019 10:20 AM “I spoke to an electrician earlier this week who has installed his own electrical grid system. I asked him how much it would cost to install such a system for a three bedroom house. He said it could be done for 50,000 Bajan dollars.”
+$50,000 BDS is likely too high for most or the average Bajan families, especially when you consider that the average Bajan family is currently paying about $150 per month for electricity. $50,000 at the current rates would buy electricity for the average family for 27 years.
+Please ask the electrician how much of the $50,000 is for materials, how much is for labour, how many hours the work would take, and what is his per hour fee. Thanks.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+Freedom has a few Questions… with electrical grid system where would get Electricity from in the Night? You have not factored in the maintenance of the System that might cost you upwards of 150.00 per hour by a high level technician!
+Even Passive Systems like Solar Hot-water Heating require Servicing that will cost between 25-33% of the initial cost of the Solar System in the first instance in ten years and would needs replacing before the Eighteenth year.?
+The Government makes more on your Electric Bill than the Electric Company and they do nothing for it while the Electric Company has all the Experiences to Shoulder.
+The Investment would be worth it when your Solar Panels can give you Electricity in the Night/ 24 hours a day, cause none of them are installing Batteries now and the Battery Technology is not there. Also you do not want for the next 20 years running around the house turning off lights and your life Consumed by worrying about how much energy you are using every minute of the day.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+@ Simple Simon at 8 :25 PM
+It is always good to get as much information as possible when making big investments. Some of us, in looking for easy solutions, are prone to buy every snake skin oil, especially when it is “from over and away”. Bu serves as a credible testing lab for these” solutions”.
+Freedom Crier you need to research the topic before you make comments.
+@ Freedom Crier February 17, 2019 8:57 PM
+I guess you speak on the knowledge u have. Our knowledge bases contain some of the same information/data and but we dont come to the same conclusions; or share the same road map for moving forward. As they say “is the glass half full or half empty”?
+Hind sight is always 20/20 . U never know what the future holds. However u are also destined to fail if you never try. I am sure the Donkey or mule breeders probably had a lot to say about the first motor vehicle when they first appears on he seen.
+Don’t let fear of the possible stop you from seeing what the future may hold.
+(if you get a chance research how the chlorination of the public water supply came about. something that we think is par for the course in any country that considers itself to be a modern society.)
+Remember this. modern society/nations/economies need energy to survive and thrive. PV(renewables) are just another source of energy. that is how i look at this debate first; secondly i consider all the other things that we both may share and agree/disagree on.
+Just saying.
+@ Freedom Crier February 17, 2019 8:57 PM
+?”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+FC, you have raised, albeit accidentally, a most electrifying point.
+Why would the revenue-starved Bajan government bite off such an easy taxation hand that feeds it monthly?
+The politicians can talk all the heated bull until the solar panel cows come home but they are not prepared to slaughter one of its prized taxation milch cows.
+How else would the government recoup this massive drop in taxation easily collected on the electricity bills if the majority of consumers go off grid?
+Raised property taxes astronomically to make up for the inevitable easy-money shortfall?
+@ millertheanunnaki February 18, 2019 11:49 AM
+U have raised a big big point. How will the tax authorities raise or maintain the tax revenues? That is part of this never ending soap opera. Give it time govt will find some way of taxing the sunshine. Actually that is the overall aim of all govt. Find a way to tax u on the sunshine and the air you breathe.
+Barbados has a slender tax base. There is personal/corp income tax, consumption style taxes, levies , duties, etc. All you need to do is look to the north or the industrialised nations. Once they have settled on a taxing regime it will be imported customised and implemented. Barbados has never invented a tax. We import taxation ideas and customise it to the domestic landscape.
+The real issue imo is will this tax be fair? Will it be a user tax or a generation tax. I prefer it to be a generation tax as i write this, but in ten years we don’t what tech will be around thus shaping the entire landscape and taxing MO by govt..
+If a major breakthrough happens in SPS or solar storage; it may turn the electricity utility industry up-side-down.
+Just saying
+Government is taxing yet there is a budget deficit?
+@ David February 18, 2019 12:32 PM
+Govt is much better at spending than it is at taxing and way better than maintaing.
+in the USA the democrats are often accused of being a tax and spend party.
+In Barbados we tax & spend & dont fix or maintain? 😉
+Just smiling
+Sir Fuzzy a lot of what you have said in reference to the Half full and Half Empty Glass is True and we have to move forward, but we have enough information about PV to know that it is not viable. Please read what I have said… (1) If it was viable all the European Countries would have done it and they are now discontinuing the PV … (2) Even in the Desert Regions of America PV is proving Problematic… (3) it is also a Cult like following so Reason is Suspended and Emotion Rules…(4) No more PV Panels are being sold in any Quantities to the Developed Countries attention has been focused on smaller players. When it is Instituted it can never fulfil its Promise and the Population Pays through Extremely Higher Rates…(5) The Higher the PV Dependence the Higher the Rates…(6) The Local Power Company will be charging Interest on its Capital and Depreciation on its Out Lay all of which does not depend on 1 Wat Electricity being produced…(7) We the Barbadians will be asked to pay for 20 years of Electricity in FOREX whether it works or not…(8) this is OLD TECHNOLOGY a lot of people are working on New Technology… (9) Tesla the Man drew Electricity from the air and drove his car for a hundred miles and when the reporters told him that he did it by the power of the devil he packed up and went home, he was financially ruined by an Ex-Partner and upon his Death the Government raided his home and confiscated all of his research. How long again do you think that someone reinvents that?
+I submitted an Article to David hoping that it will be published titled “Can it be that Wind and Solar Energy is a Complete Fraud?” Certainly this Article Clarifies the matter!! It is in our National Interest that the Government be Dissuaded from having Barbadians pay Exorbitant Electricity Rates. High Electricity Rates would cause Barbados Development to be at a Standstill. We cannot afford this mistake at this time or ever. No Industry can Survive the Onslaught of a Massive Cost of Electricity disguised as improving the Environment! Look at who is Promoting the Solar Panels. BL&P will now have to Charge Interest on the Capital Development and Charge Depreciation Expenses on the same plant even without producing 1Kilowatt. They will be making Nuff money at the Expense of Barbadians. This is Cahill with a Smile on its face!! Fool me once shame on you, fool me Twice shame on me.
+Sir Fuzzy surely you would not want to be Instrumental in the Demise of our Nation!!!
+Tesla the Car Is a Household Name. Long Ago, So Was Nikola
+millertheanunnaki
+February 18, 2019 11:49 AM
+Here is a Snippet from the Article Submitted to BU that may open our Eyes…
+Green Energy is the Perfect Scam utilities.
+@sirFuzzy
+Nothing will change until behaviour modification takes place at household and government. This is the cycle we are in lockstep. It will take charismatic leaders in the political and private sector arenas to blast the thing wide open.
+@ David February 18, 2019 1:22 PM
+Or some earth shattering event domestically regionally or internationally to make us see the light.
+Some are enlighten some need to see the light some will never see the light.
+Just think Puerto Rico; BTW we have a hurricane season every year without fail and its will start Jun 1st 2019.
+The other natural disaster have start dates, we just dont know what they are.
+Noah got a heads-up from God, he told his neighbours to wisen up. A small few paid any heed.
+Just saying and hoping we take heed ans wisen up.
+History is a guide and they say it repeats itself.
+While Nero fiddled Rome was blazing.
+@ Freedom Crier February 18, 2019 1:21 PM
+There is information and there is data. You have data & info sources.
+I will bring your attention Puerto Rico. My ambition about Pv is not to see it from the PV Utility side.
+An individual that can produce his own energy is more independent. There is a cost of interdependence and independence and dependence
+We are in a hurricane zone. Today many small solar pv system are begin built to supply essential electricity to residents in PR because the grid is still down in certain areas. Electricity is the energy of the modern day world. If you can produce a portionof your own needs you are ina better position
+if i looked at food security. If i followed your rationale, we should never produce any food locally because its cheaper to import?
+What happen when you cannot import your needs because of whatever reason. We as a country need to see things for what they are. when push comes to shove expect a shove.
+Good comment sirFuzzy.
+See this link:
+David The Green Movement is Right Up Hillary Beckles Communist Alley….
+The green energy scam is the perfect scam because the beneficiaries include many influential individuals and institutions, while the victims are dispersed among large numbers of unorganized people.
+Government agencies, and the politicians that give the agencies money, have embraced the threat of climate change. It gives them something to do that is more noble, even romantic than highways and making the trains run on time. The government spends billions on subsidizing wind and solar energy.
+The biggest victim of the green energy scam is the public in general. Everybody pays more taxes and pays more for energy as a consequence of the scam. The public has been exposed to relentless propaganda promoting green energy as beneficial and less expensive. The public is the greatest victim, but most people don’t know that they are being victimized, so there is little incentive to organize against the scam.
+The Question is How much Beckels is being paid for his Part in this Scam?
+Environmentalists are Communists…YES THEY ARE!
+While Nero fiddled Rome was blazing.
+While Barbados is blazing some of the locals are talking shit on BU.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+@ SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) February 18, 2019 1:51 PM
+I also believe in Self Sufficiency hence the Freedom Crier Article which you may remember…Barbados Improvements Part 3: Agriculture….
+So to imply “if i looked at food security. If i followed your rationale, we should never produce any food locally because its cheaper to import?” is an Emotional Untruth!!
+I totally agree with you to have Energy Independence on an individual basis, as they are the ones responsible for their own decisions and when the finances permit I will consider PV once again if the space is available to power our home.
+What I do not agree with is the Government making those decisions for individuals if they want it or not because the cost of those decisions will ultimately fall on us collectively. And rather than individuals being out of electricity in a hurricane everyone will be out of electricity at times of such a Crisis.
+The BL&P are far more equipped to fix some down poles and transformers than fields of Solar Panels being blown to Smithereens.
+LikeLiked by 1 person
+@ Freedom Crier February 18, 2019 3:34 PM
+Thank you, for seeing some light. This was a topic on “solar energy; pv etc ” from an investment perspective for the most part.
+You seem to have a fixation on a political ideology that you manage to drag into every conversation or post. I have read and seen many of your comments on other topics in the past.
+I will state this much; many that oppose an ideology are often willing to replace it with their version of tyranny or their version of an ideology. All ideologies pick the winners and losers. its human nature. the debate will never cease.
+In my opinion all of these “isms” by in large have failed the same masses that were lead to believe it was a saviour or solution.
+The system that will eventually be triumphant is a “monarchy” – A God/Jesus lead one. U cant bribe GOD. a man that already OWNS everything. 🙂 I am sure some will try though. lol
+We as human are great at finding ways to elevate the few while the majority suffer. Its the size of PR machine that makes a temporary difference before it all tumbles down. Making evil acts look like acts of a saint; the purpose of the PR machine.
+However, the human nature at its core is corrupt and that will only produce corruption and their offspring( like greed; lust for power; wars etc).
+How many unnecessary wars in the recent past where started by evil hearted leaders in communist; capitalist and socialist nations.
+I guess the answers is ALL of them. In the last hundred years we only really had communist and socialist and capitalist running amok on the planet earth. The previous mode of leadership(kings and emperors etc ) were replaced by the communist socialist and capitalist but theirs heart of man remains EVIL.
+(Capitalism -/+ socialism -/+ communism) x the evil nature of man = failure(suffering of the many for the few to succeed).
+Btw which ideology do you believe is best for (a) Barbados and (b) the world?
+Just ranting or thinking aloud.
+February 19, 2019 8:43 AM @ Freedom Crier…“You seem to have a fixation on a political ideology… ”
+I have one view point and I see through the prism of Freedom to Choose and Individual Freedom to act without infringing on another same rights. They are only Two Ideologies in the world, one of Freedom the other of Tyranny and its Variances and it is up to us in this world to Choose.
+“I will state this much; many that oppose an ideology are often willing to replace it…”
+Have you read the American Constitution, it guarantees the rights of all, not what you see the present politicians try to change it into. It is not warlike.
+“In my opinion all of these “isms” by in large have failed the same masses that were lead to believe it was a saviour or solution…”
+People themselves are corrupt and they try to change that which is good to what they want their agenda, not an agenda of Freedom, but that is mostly our fault we want someone to rule over us as recorded in Samuel says “we want a king to rule over us” and not think for ourselves it is easier to have someone tell us what to do, we want to give up our sovereignty to another and have them rule over us.
+“The system that will eventually be triumphant is a “monarchy” – A God/Jesus lead one…”
+Yes I agree completely but even God in my opinion will want us to rule ourselves when we will make the right decisions as in Elijah; God gave him His Power to do with as he desired as in, by his word was the heavens closed.
+“We as human are great at finding ways to elevate the few while the majority suffer. Its the size of PR machine … However, the human nature at its core is corrupt…”
+We are always unequal, unequal in goods, brains etc. but we are equal under his law under righteous judgement.
+“How many unnecessary wars in the recent past where started by evil hearted….”
+People that Believe in Freedom will not enslave others it is those that do not believe in Freedom that will enslave those that do.
+“Btw which ideology do you believe is best for (a) Barbados and (b) the world?…”
+The ideology that is best for Barbados is the same for the rest of the world but all men are not at the same level of understanding nor do all desire Freedom, we want our kings to rule over us and as the passage continue to say “I will be slow to hear your cries”
+“Just ranting or thinking aloud.”
+Good ranting and raving keep thinking and asking questions you cannot get an answer unless the question is asked. We have to want to know before God will give His answers “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7)
+@ Freedom Crier February 19, 2019 7:04 PM
+Answer me this. Which is preferred. ” the freedom of choice ” or “the choice of freedom”?
+Just musing…..
+Energy.
+Even though Google Sensor, if you look good they cannot Sensor ALL the Truth out. There is no Question that Rock33 is the PR Person employed in this PV Project! He is deliberately mixing up the Decisions of a private person to install PV with those of Government insisting that Bajan’s pay for PV.
+A Man’s own decisions, the consequences of that will fall at him. By Government pushing for this PV electricity means the cost will be borne by every household whither it works or not. I do not want to pay for a Failure and it will be a Failure and it has proven to be a Failure many times over, and one that we Bajan’s cannot afford.
+This is not about having Bajan’s interest at heart; this is about your employers interest at the Core of this Scam, to put the Noose around our necks in the guise of environmental BS and Democracy. Let them save the rest of the world and we will follow. Do not make us the Guinea Pigs!.
+Question (1) Say unequivocally the cost to the Consumer of Electricity is going to Decrease and not tell me that you are going to get electricity for free because there is still the Capital Cost to recover, Grease money to recover, the maintenance cost to recover and you are still paying for the Traditional BL&P Plant ready and running 24/7 as a backup.
+As far as Rooftop Solar is Concerned here is some US Data on the Reality of the Cost!
+In some parts of the country rooftop solar is fashionable. Homeowners who install rooftop solar often save money because the reduction in cost of electricity from the utility is greater than the cost of home owners,.
+If we as Bajan’s have to pay for all the Subsidies God Help Us!!
+A response to the garbage written by Green Monkey.
+Lifespan of a Solar Panel?
+Photovoltaic (PV) modules typically come with 20 year warranties that guarantee that the panels will produce at least 80% of the rated power after 20 years of use.
+Degradation Rates
+The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) performed a meta-analysis of studies that examined the long term degradation rates of various PV panels. They found that the 1% per year rule was somewhat pessimistic for panels made prior to the year 2000, and today’s panels, with better technology and improved manufacturing techniques, have even more stamina than their predecessors..
+@ Freedom Crier February 20, 2019 10:39 AM
+Answer me this question.
+Are any fossil fuels industries granted any subsidies by any tax authority in North America?
+If the answer is yes, then what would be the true cost of the generation of electricity using these fossil fuels?
+If u are a fair person in presenting your facts or ideas u need to compare apples with apples etc.
+I am guessing that dont know the actual subsidies figures for the fossil fuel industries ; but in your writing please indicate or acknowledge the existence of govt subsidies for the production of fossil fuels and he subsequent production of electricity.
+Just asking.
+Sir Fuzzy what is you Beef about using Fossil Fuel and why? Why is Carbon Emissions Pollution? Do you think you can eat without Carbon Dioxide?
+The Drastic Increase in Electricity and Gasoline with the Non Existence of Climate Change is to push people in the Direction of ending support for fossil fuel exploration; ending support for coal mining; ending support for oil and gas production; ending support for fossil fuel-based power; and ending support for fossil fuel use.
+Climate Extremism is part of the Totalitarian attack on Democracy…
+REMEMBER, deceiving the people was never the hard bit, convincing them they have been deceived is!
+Hopefully these Video will open your eyes…Seek & you will find…
+Lord Christopher Monckton – Global Warming is a Hoax
+Monckton’s Mathematical Proof – Climate Sensitivity is Low
+@ Freedom Crier February 22, 2019 9:31 AM
+I just think you are not being fair in your writing/posting.
+I have no beef with the fossil fuels sector. I just know that unless u are using RE to generate electricity u are more than likely using fossil fuel for the generation of it.
+However, you are continuously hammering the point of subsidies for the Renewables etc. All i am saying is if you are so aware of the issue of subsidies etc, you should be equally aware of the subsidies to the fossil fuel sector. Your research or data on the topic should have indicated that to you.
+If you read what i write it dont knock the other sources of energy. “I dont have a beef”. I see energy for what it is. I am just saying that PV is another source.
+Be fair in your posting or writing that is all i am suggesting. If you find honesty incompatible to your arguments then u may need to rethink your arguments….
+just saying
+Sir Fuzzy please do not live up to your name Fuzzy…It is not the first time you have challenged my honesty…
+Most Countries and most industries over the period of years have extracted some form of Subsidy from the Governments they operate under. The Subsidies may consist of very high tariffs (duties) to encourage a local component, or very Low Tariffs to intact their agenda. They are other types of Subsidies that are regulatory that are not apparent such as, accelerated depreciation schedules or rebates based on some criteria. This is common among all industries over all Governments, but the glaring example of Subsidies in all types of these things I have mentioned are so Glaring for the PV’s or the RE’s and they still Cannot Compete and their Power Output is Erratic.
+We would be doing the Barbadian Public a Great Disservice by allowing Government Mandated PV & RE. As previously Stated more than once that an individual is Free to install PV for themselves, that is the Nature of Freedom. But Government mandated PV & RE is the Nature of Tyranny.
+As you can see I am living up to my name of Crying Aloud for Freedom.
+I implore you to watch the videos Shared.
+Green Energy Mandates Are Making Poor People Poorer
+Image….
+@FC
+Have a nice day and continue in your efforts to do whatever u think is correct.
+I will Certainly Try to do what is right… It took me a long time to understand the Differences between Freedom and Tyranny and what causes it and as I get older and my time is shorter, I must speak my piece for soon we will go the way of the earth.
+A Blessed Life to you Sir Fuzzy…. Do what is Right and let the Consequences Follow!) .
+@Freedomcrier.…….
+The Guardian,
+@freedomcrier
+Nigeria: Study predicts “epidemic” of cancer in Nigeria’s oil producing region by 2025
+Author: Babatunde Akinsola, Naija247 News (Nigeria), Published on: 6 March 2017
+“Study predicts ‘epidemic’ of cancer in Nigeria’s oil producing region by 2025”, 27 Feb 2017
+A study suggests that with the rising cases of oil spills, pipeline destruction and gas production in the Niger Delta and over-dependence on petroleum products, Nigerians are in for a massive health catastrophe…A new study published in a journal, PLOS ONE, found that young people diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia are more likely to live in areas of high-density oil and gas development compared to others diagnosed with other types of cancer…The study is titled “Childhood hematologic cancer and residential proximity to oil and gas development.”…Meanwhile, studies published in American Journal of Environmental Sciences found that more residents of the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria are at a greater risk of developing different types of cancer due to exposure to crude oil pollutants. The studies, which predict ‘epidemic’ of cancers in oil producing areas of Nigeria by 2025, stated that more than 25 per cent of Nigerians are at an increased risk of developing cancer due to exposure to toxic chemicals from crude oil pollution, Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)…
+Old Industry & cancer).[
+Air pollution killing more people than smoking, fossil fuels to blame
+Phil Dzikiy –
+Mar. 12th 2019 1:01 pm ET..)
+” Air pollution deaths are double previous estimates, finds research
+Researchers say dirty air is killing 800,000 people a year in Europe, and urge the phasing out of fossil fuel burning.”
+Damian Carrington Environment editor,
+The Guardian.
+It would be nice to hear a response on this from Freedom Crier.
+@ Freedom Crier.
+Gas hobs and boilers could be BANNED from new homes within six years to meet carbon emissions targets
+” Gas hobs and boilers could be banned from new homes by 2025 to meet carbon emissions targets. The proposals, from the Committee on Climate Change, said newly-built properties should rely on low-carbon heating and cooking equipment such as induction hobs .”
+By Jake Hurfurt For The Daily Mail
+01:58 21 Feb 2019, updated 23:57 21 Feb 2019.
+End of the gas hob as government advisers say new homes should be ‘off gas grid’ by 2025
+Gas hobs could be banned from being installed in new homes within seven years
+Jillian Ambrose
+21 FEBRUARY 2019 • 12:01 AM
+”. “
+Pingback: BL&P’S PROMISE TO BARBADIANS — YOU MUST INVEST IN COMMUNITY SOLAR – AURORA PROJECT GROUP
+If Barbados adopt 100% dependence on solar energy it will save Barbados a lot of foreign exchange and also clean air to breathe.
+Art Search
+Browse the entire WAG collection using the Art Search database.
+Search results for:
+"Print"
+Stehender Knabe und zwei Mädchen, II (Standing Boy and Two Girls, II)
+Three nude figures, a boy and two girls, are lounging in the forest with hills in the distance. The boy stands in the middle, holding a tree branch. One girl sits on the ground and the other stands.
+Mann und Weibchen (Male and Female)
+A man and woman are both sitting in profile, on the ground. The woman is half nude with her back to her husband.
+Egon Schiele: Aquarelle Und Zeichnungen (Egon Schiele: Watercolors and Drawings)
+Portfolio consists of a portfolio cover, an introduction booklet, and sixty-four prints. the prints are in varying degrees of completion. There is a bound 15 page introduction booklet. (1) The portfolio cover is red and has a copy of the artist’s autograph printed in the upper centre in white; (2) The title page of the introduction booklet reads, ‘Veröffentlichung der Albertina Nr. 4/ Egon/ Schiele/ Aquarelle und Zeichnungen/ Herausgegeben von Walter Koschatzky/ Ausgewählt und Bearbeitet von Erwin Mitsch/ Verlag Galerie Welz Salzburg; (3) A portrait of a woman wearing a teal and purple wide-brimmed hat. Dated 1910; (4) A nude female with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Dated 1910; (5) A nude male baby with skeletal-looking arms. Dated 1910; (6) A portrait of a man wearing a wedding ring and rubbing his face with his right hand. Dated 1910; (7) A nude woman from the back, looking over her shoulder toward the viewer. A nude child is reaching to her back. Dated 1910; (8) A portrait of a shirtless, seated woman, wearing a wide brimmed hat and making a funny face. Dated 1910; (9) Portrait of a seated man wearing a suit with his hands folded in his lap. He is staring very intensely into space. Dated 1910; (10) Portrait of three young boys all standing together and looking in different directions. Dated 1910; (11) A view from the back of a nude woman with bright red hair. Dated 1910; (12) An artist drawing a nude female model wearing a hat who is looking into a mirror. Dated 1910; (13) A still-life of a stem of red flowers, possibly Salvia. Dated 1910; (14) A view of a street front with several houses all side by side; (15) A bird’s eye view of a landscape showing agricultural land. Dated 1910; (16) A view of the facade of a building from the street. Dated 1910; (17) A still-life of a yellow flowering plant, possibly a Black-Eyed-Susan. Dated 1911; (18) A shirtless woman with her left arm above her head. Dated 1911; (19) A woman hugging two children close to her. Dated 1911; (20) A curly haired woman with closed eyes. Dated 1911; (21) A clothed man with his shirt pulled up, exposing his abdomen. Dated 1911; (22) Two seated young girls. Dated 1911; (23) Portrait of a seated young girl wearing an orange dress. Dated 1911; (24) Line drawing of a nude woman. Dated 1911; (25) A sketch of a woman with closed eyes. Dated 1911; (26) A sketch of the torso and legs of a nude woman. Dated 1911; (27) A nude woman wearing purple stockings, laying on the ground with her head toward the viewer. Dated 1912; (28) A seascape of a steam ship and several sail boats at port. Dated 1912; (29) A portrait of a girl wearing a blue and black dress, in profile. Dated 1912; (30) A sketch of a leafy plant attached to a support. Dated 1912; (31) Portrait of a man wrapped in several layers of fabric, or clothes. Dated 1912; (32) A sketch of a steam ship at port. Dated 1912; (33) A landscape with either an orthodox church or a house on a hillside, surrounded by trees. Dated 1912; (34) A view of a gondola type boat going under a wooden bridge on a river. Dated 1913; (35) ‘Die Jungfrau (The Young Woman)’: A portrait of a nude woman sitting cross-legged and holding up her dress under her chin. Dated 1913; (36) ‘Erlosung (Deliverance)’: The back of a nude figure putting on a coat. Dated 1913; (37) A profile portrait of a bearded man. Dated 1913; (38) A nude man and woman laying together. Dated 1913; (39) A nude woman standing with her legs apart and a blanket or jacket wrapped around her shoulders and head. Dated 1913; (40) A woman putting on clothes. Dated 1914; (41) ‘Franz Haver’: A profile portrait of Franz Haver. Dated 1914; (42) A shirtless man with his arm wrapped around his head. Dated 1914; (43) A nude woman wearing a green hat and stretching. Dated 1914; (44) A view of the lower portion of the back of a nude figure. Dated 1914; (45) A portrait of a crouching woman. Dated 1914; (46) A sketch of several houses. Dated 1914; (47) A man wearing a purple shirt and brown hat. Dated 1915; (48) A woman wrapping her legs around a man from behind. Dated 1915; (49) Portrait of a man. Dated 1915; (50) A nude woman wrapping herself around a clothed woman. Dated 1915; (51) A woman in a sleeveless dress. Dated 1915; (52) A man and woman hugging. Dated 1915; (53) A still-life of yellow flowers, probably Black-Eyed-Susans. Dated 1917; (54) ‘Arnold Schönburg’: Portrait of composer, Arnold Schönburg. Dated 1917; (55) A sketch of the second floor and cornice of store fronts. Dated 1917; (56) Portrait of a seated woman with her hands in her lap. Dated 1917; (57) Portrait of a nude woman laying stomach down on the ground with her hair hiding most of her body. Dated 1917; (58) A seated woman wearing shorts with her head resting on her knee. Dated 1917; (59) A woman putting on stockings, shown from behind. Dated 1917; (60) A seated nude man scratching his arm pit with his right hand. Dated 1918; (61) Profile portrait of artist Gustav Klimt. Dated 1918; (62) Portrait of a seated young girl. Dated 1918; (63) View of a woman hugging a nude child. Dated 1918; (64) Portrait of a seated older woman with her hands in her lap. Dated 1918; (65) Portrait of a nude seated woman with her right knee to her chest. Dated 1918; (66) A still-life of four vases, two pitchers and a tea cup. Dated 1918.
+Kathe Kollwitz Mappe (Kathe Kollwitz Portfolio)
+Portfolio consists of a portfolio cover, introduction, preface, and thirteen prints. (1) Portfolio cover reads Käthe Kollwitz/ Mappe/ Herausgegeben/ Vom Kunstwart/ München Bei Georg D.W. Callwey im Kunstwart-Verlage. There is also a small print of a worn-looking person; (2) Introduction page shows the same text as the portfolio cover and there is a small photograph of Käthe Kollwitz with her signature underneath; (3) The third print has text on both sides as a preface to the portfolio. There is also a small print of ‘Die Begrussung (The Greeting)’ at the bottom reverse of the page; (4) A nude figure is sitting cross-legged holding a dead child; (5) ‘Tod und Weib (Death and Woman)’: A nude woman is striding forward. A small child is reaching toward her face in the front and a skeletal figure is binding her arms behind her; (6) ‘Die Geschwister (The Brother and Sister)’: A young girl with braided hair is holding an infant in her arms; (7) ‘Ueberfahren (Trample)’ A man is holding a small dead or sickly child and a woman is crouched over the child, holding its head in her hands. The small group is running and there are children surrounding them, running as well; (8) ‘Arbeitslos (Unemployed)’: A man is sitting next to a bed in which a woman and several children are sleeping; (9) ‘Gretchen’: A woman in a long black dress is standing on a platform looking down at a worn looking woman wearing a hooded cloak laying in the fetal position and cradling a baby; (10) ‘Tanz um die Guillotine (Dance Around the Guillotine)’: A group of people are gathered around a guillotine in a town square surrounded by tall buildings. They have their arms raised, reaching out toward the blade. A trail of blood trickles down the cobbled street toward the viewer from the middle of the crowd. There is a man playing a snare drum on the left and a man with his arms folded and head bowed on the right; (11) ‘Aufruhr (Riot)’: A woman is standing in the foreground with her back to the viewer and her arms are raised in agitation. In front of her a mob of poor farmers are running. Many of them have farm tools, pitchforks and scythes; (12) ‘Beim Suchen (When Searching)’: A woman in a long black dress is searching through a mass of bodies with a small light; (13) ‘Weiter (Additionally)’: A mod of angry peasants is marching across a field holding flags, scythes, and axes; (14) A group of angry peasants with weapons is marching up a staircase; (15) ‘Aus Dem Weberaufstand (From the Weaver’s Insurgence)’: A group peasants is standing at a tall ornate gate. Some of them have axes and others are gathering stones from the street; (16) ‘Mutter und Kind (Mother and Child)’: A close-up of a smiling woman holding her child.
+Zeichnungen Egon Schiele 1917 (Drawing Egon Schiele 1917)
+Portfolio is composed of a portfolio cover, title page, introduction, and twelve prints. (1) The portfolio cover has ‘Zeichnungen’ printed across the top and ‘Egon/ Schiele/ 1917/ Im Verlage Der Buchhandlung Richard Lanyi Wein.’ across the bottom. In the middle is a print of a man with his hand at face level; (2) The second page has the title of the portfolio on the front which reads, ‘Zeichnungen Egon Schiele 12 Blatter in Original Grosse. Wien 1917 Buchhandlung Richard Lanyi I. Karntnerstrasse 44.’ and a table of contents on the back; (3) Page three has an introduction to the portfolio; (4) A young woman is sitting with her head resting on one knee. She has her hair up and she is wearing a tank top, dark tights under ripped shorts, and sneakers. Dated 1917 on the reverse; (5) A very thin shirtless man with his arms up and wrapped around his head. Dated 1914 on the reverse; (6) A rich woman wearing a fur coat and holding a greyhound dog. Dated 1915 on the reverse; (7) ‘Torso’: A view of a kneeling nude woman from the neck down. Dated 1913 on the reverse; (8) A view of the torso of a man wearing a military type jacket and glasses. Dated 1916 on the reverse; (9) A nude woman reclining horizontally to the viewer. Dated 1914 on the reverse; (10) A portrait of a bearded man wearing a heavy coat and a fur hat. Dated 1915 on the reverse; (11) A view of two women laying down. One woman is nude and has her hips twisted to the viewer. The other woman is wearing a dress and looking into the distance. Dated 1915 on the reverse; (12) A view of a squatting nude woman with her arms in the air, from the back. The print is dated 1915 on the back; (13) A rear view of a child, possibly wrapped in a blanket, looking over his left shoulder. The print is dated 1915 on the back; (14) A wealthy looking woman sitting with her hands in her lap. The print is dated 1917 on the back; (15) A half-nude woman kneeling on the ground and leaning to her right. The print is dated 1917 on the back.
+Intermezzi, Opus IV (Interludes, Opus IV)
+Portfolio is comprised of a portfolio cover, print wrap, and twelve etchings. (1) The portfolio cover reads, ‘Intermezzi/ componirt radirt und/ Hermann Sagert/ dantbarft zugeeignet von/ Max Klinger/ Rad. Op. IV. 12 Compofitionen:/ 1. Blatt: Bär und Elfe./ 2. “ Am Meer./ 3. “ Verfolgter Centaur./ 4. “ Mondnacht./ 5. “ Kämpfende Centauren./ 6. “ Bergsturz./ 7. Blatt: Simplici Schreibstunde./ 8. “ Simplicius am Grabe des Einsiedlers./ 9. “ Simplicius unter den Soldaten./ 10. “ Simplicius in der Wald-Einöde./ 11. “ Gefallene Reiter./ 12. “ Amor, Tod und Jenseits./ Theo. Stroefer’s Kunlfberlag in Nürnberg.’ in a gothic text. The ‘I’ of Intermezzi is illuminated; (2) The print wrap paper consists of a series of legal size note papers glued together; (3) ‘Bär und Elfe (Bear and Elf)’: A nude elf or fairy is sitting in a tree, leaning down trying to poke a bear who is also sitting in the tree, with a long twig. A beach and lake surrounded by mountains are visible in the background; (3) ‘Am Meer (By the Sea)’: A young woman wearing a long white dress and bonnet is standing on the beach. It is very windy and her clothes and hair are being blown around. The ocean is choppy and whitecaps are forming on the waves; (4) ‘Verfolgter Centaur (Perused Centaur)’: Three nude men, wearing helmets, are on horseback chasing a centaur through a tall grassy field. The lead man’s horse has been shot with a bow and arrow in the neck by the centaur. Consequently, the horse is rearing and its rider is falling off; (5) ‘Mondnacht (Moonlight)’: A view of a mountainous valley landscape with a river running through the valley and two centaurs resting on a cliff; (6) ‘Kämpfende Centauren (Battling Centaurs)’: Two centaurs are fighting on a snow covered mountain. A dead rabbit is laying in the snow next to the two figures; (7) ‘Bergsturz (Landslide)’: A view of a landslide in a mountainous river valley. There are three groups of centaurs next to the river. The furthest group consists of three centaurs with spears running from the landslide. In the middle ground there are two centaurs beckoning to the centaur in the foreground. The centaur in the foreground is throwing rocks at a snake; (8) ‘Simplici Schreibstunde (Simplicius' Writing Lesson)’: Wendelin von Grübben and his son, Simplicius are sitting next to their hut at a roughly constructed table, in the forest. Wendelin is giving his son a writing lesson; (9) ‘Simplicius am Grabe des Einsiedlers (Simplicius at the Hermit’s Grave)’: Simplicius is sitting in the forest near a hut looking grief-stricken and worn. He is kneeling next to a grave which he just dug where the old hermit is about to be buried; (10) ‘Simplicius unter den Soldaten (Simplicius Among the Soldiers)’: A group of soldiers have arrested three men and a woman in the forest; (11) ‘Simplicius in der Wald-Einöde (Simplicius in the Wilderness)’: Simplicius is wearing a mask and is crouched behind a large boulder; (12) ‘Gefallene Reiter (Fallen Rider)’: A dead horse and rider are laying on the shore near a stream. A wolf stands behind them howling. The rider’s sword is on the ground several feet from the dead man; (13) ‘Amor, Tod und Jenseits (Cupid, Death and the Beyond)’: A surreal scene of Cupid riding a unicycle which is attached to the front of a coffin. A skeleton, Death, is riding the coffin and being followed by an ethereal figure in flowing robes riding a bison.
+Ansicht der Koniglichen Haupt, und Residenz Stadt Stuttgart // Vue de la ville et Residence Royale de Stuttgart (View of the City and the Royal Residence of Stuttgart)
+A landscape showing aristocratic men and women in contemporary clothing standing along a path that overlooks the city of Stuttgart, Germany and the surrounding hilly countryside.
+Haupt Anficht der Refidenzftadt, und des groften Theils ihrer Vorftadte, von Belvedere anzufehen // Vûe de la Capitale de Vienne, et d'une grande partie de ses Fauxbourgs, prise du coté dû Belvedere (View of the Capital, Vienna, and of a Large Part of
+A view of Vienna, Austria as seen from the Belvedere palace gardens.
+Men Slaying Sheep
+Three men slaying sheep
+J.C change l'Eau en Vin aux Nopces de Cana en Galilée (Jesus Christ Turns Water into Wine at the Wedding Feast at Cana in Galilee)
+Scene of Jesus Christ’s first miracle of turning water to wine at a wedding at Cana, Galilee, Israel
+Untitled
+A landscape with a woman crouching next to a boy who is laying on the ground with a flute next to a river. There is another figure with a hiking stick in the background. Several goats are playing by the riverside on the left.
+Zwei Köpfe, V (Two Heads, V)
+A view of two figures, a man and a woman, from the shoulders up. The man is facing forward and is very close to the woman. His hand is resting on her bare shoulder. The woman is in profile and has short black hair.
+Madchenkopf (Girl’s Head)
+A profile view of a woman from the neck up.
+Man’s Head
+A three-quarters view of a man from the shoulders up.
+Frauenbildnis (Portrait of a Woman)
+A view of a woman with her blouse open, reclining.
+Mitleid (Compassion)
+A view of two figures, a man and a woman. The woman is on the right and she is in profile, facing the man. She is reaching out to him with her left hand. On the left, the man is facing forward and is holding the woman’s hand.
+Female Figure
+A view of a woman who is sitting down with her back towards the viewer and her legs crossed and knees at her chest. She is semi-nude. She is not wearing a shirt and her long dark hair is loose down her back.
+Madchen Halbakt (Half-Nude Girl)
+A left profile view of a nude woman from the waist up.
+Madchen (Girl)
+A frontal view of the upper torso of a woman with her left arm crossed in front of her.
+Liegendes...Madchen (Reclining Girl)
+A view of the upper torso of a woman in a coat reclining and looking at the viewer.
+Woman’s Head
+Frontal view of a woman from the shoulders up. The top of her head runs off the picture plane.
+Männerkopf (Man’s Head)
+Three-quarters view of the head of a man wearing a dark coloured hat
+Kopf (Head)
+A three-quarters view of a man’s head.
+Attischer Kopf (Head)
+A left profile view of the head of a man, wearing a hat, abstracted in red, black, and blue.
+Kreon
+Abstract imagery in black over a green, red, and white background
+<< < 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 > >>
+Gallery Hours
+- Tuesday 11am-5pm
+- Wednesday 11am-5pm
+- Thursday 11am-5pm
+- Friday 11am-9pm
+- Saturday 11am-5pm
+- Sunday 11am-5pm
+- Closed Monday
+Your blogger needed to spend most of the last two days crashing, for no apparent cause. Hopefully I will be more energetic going forward.
+Tiny primate ‘talks’ in ultrasound AFP
+How America made its children crazy Asia Times. Boy, does this ring true.
+Outlook bleak on Olympic cheats Aljazeera
+Mediterranean seagrass could be hundreds of thousands of years old Guardian (hat tip Lambert)
+The seed emergency: The threat to food and democracy Aljazeera (hat tip Lambert)
+Why the Energy-Industrial Elite Has It In for the Planet Bill McKibben, TomDispatch
+Privacy Death Stars Approved By Congress Gawker
+Dramatic drop in budget revenues Kathimerini (hat tip Marshall Auerback). Quelle surprise!
+Greece misses bail-out deadline Financial Times
+Capturing the ECB Joseph E. Stiglitz, Project Syndicate
+Has the Euro Broken Out? Credit Writedowns
+Temporary Employment: A New Ugly Rearing its Head in Europe? Angry Bear (hat tip Lambert)
+China Central Bank Vows Homebuyer Support Bloomberg
+Brazil privatises operations at three airports BBC (hat tip Lambert)
+Ronald Reagan: Welfare Queen of Montana (or: Tax Tips for Mitt Romney) Rolling Stone
+Some U.S. banks awash in ID theft tax-fraud proceeds as IRS cracks down Reuters (hat tip Lambert). I had doubts about the security of electronic filing. Wow, has the IRS botched it.
+Another Campaign for Sale New York Times
+Now the American right has even hijacked breast cancer’s pink ribbon Guardian (hat tip reader John L)
+CONTINETTI: COMBAT JOURNALISM Washington Free Beacon. Per Tom Ferguson: Swamp creatures appear.
+The 2012 Version of a Very Old Joke Angry Bear (hat tip reader Aquifer)
+Admit It: Countrywide Is Bankrupt Big Think (hat tip reader Scott via Barry Ritholtz). From last week but still germane. The problem is that Ken Lewis looks not to have taken the steps to insulate BofA from Countrywide risk.
+How Romney would tax us David Cay Johnson, Reuters
+Bernanke: 8.3% Unemployment Understates Weakness in U.S. Labor Market Bloomberg. Mr. Market celebrates since that means Uncle Ben will give him cheap money longer.
+Auto and Student Loans Drive Borrowing Surge Wall Street Journal
+Short sellers target social network stocks Financial Times (hat tip reader Lambert)
+The mantra of some financiers Carolyn Sissoko (hat tip Richard Smith)
+Banks Paying Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosures Bloomberg (hat tip Richard Smith). Sounds like PR. I just had someone say in Baltimore banks are not responding to any calls re short sales. Notice that the first para indicates that the short sales are being done only on bank-held mortgages, and then I’d bet only on ones where there was no second lien.
+Dichotomy Alert (hat tip Lambert)
+Money, like hat-wearing, depends on convention, not laws John Kay, Financial Times
+Antidote du jour (hat tip furzy mouse):
+Interesting McKibben article. He’s saying that burning just a fifth of the world’s known reserves of oil will tip us into irreversible climate change, and that most of them therefore need to stay in the ground. Oil companies don’t like that. Any climate scientists here that can confirm the math?
+” Any climate scientists here that can confirm the math?” If they were any good at maths they wouldn’t be “climate scientists”.
+You a Rocket Scientist? So, show us the math that they screwed up on.
+Right on, Dreamie!
+Catapult that propaganda! an interview with Jim Hansen (Climate scientist extraordinaire):
+Right now CO2 is about 393 ppm in the air. Pre-industrial level was 280. Right now we are higher than we’ve been for at least a million years or more iirc. Add 100 more, say, from the tar sands and you get an even more extreme & hard-to-deal-with number.
+We may be facing “irreversible climate change” right now, FWIW. “Flip” isn’t the right verb.
+US needs the tar sands secured before the big war starts over there…
+No, we need to secure renewable energy so we don’t have to defend our oil supply over there.
+Second that notion whoknu, it is the great race of these times to find the technical and economical level of application of renewables that can avoid THE war and the GW threat at the same time. I used think it was just conspiracy that advancements in renewables would be suppressed, in various ways, but I fear now that it is almost SOP for the .01′s. Tell me it isnt so, someone please?
+Nickola Tesla!
+Dear LBR;
+Anybody do a FOI request on Teslas papers which were siezed by the Feds when he died? He died in the way back. Even the fifty year rule is moot.
+Currently CO2 levels are 0.03% of our Atmosphere. Looking back into our past geological history, the Earth is at it’s lowest CO2 level ever! Please review this study, and think again about what you posted…
+ were no humans during the coniferous period. The current CO2 level is the highest ever for human history. Are you assuming that climate during the coniferous period was perfectly comfortable for modern human society?
+Dear Justin Y;
+The climate back then was just dandy for the dinosauria, and they evolved into the Greys. What’s not to like?
+There were no humans at that time.
+All of human civilization has occurred at CO2 levels lower than today.
+The last time CO2 levels were this high was 15 million years ago.
+To go to an earth 5-10° warmer within 100 years would be the end of everything that we know.
+Crazy children, seed emergency.
+Gates foundation mentioned in both these, pushing computers in schools and frankenseeds, on top of yesterday’s geoengineering. A pattern here of high-tech “solutions” that don’t work and enable rent collection.
+After foisting an inferior computer OS onto the world, causing untold productivity losses and stress issues, Gates moves over to destroy education and farming… great job Bill!
+That inferior operating system cost $65, putting a computer in most every home.
+Anyone could have come along with a better, more affordable OS, but none did.
+uhhh linux is free
+GNU/Linux is indeed free — free in the political sense , and also widely available at essentially zero cost. And it is also better than Windows under almost any metric, unless you’re interested exclusively in playing video games.
+It is not free with respect to the time ivnested to get anything done. I used, and worked with, Linux for over a decade, professionally, and created products and contributions for it. I despise Windows with a passion. But day one experience, learning curve, and productivity are shit under Linux. Free Software is driven by needs of programmers and engineers, and comprehensively fails to address the needs even of home users with different interests and backgrounds.
+Windows wins not because it is sound or good, but because of providing a minimum level of productivity – quite high with some of its products – out of the box. The daily attrition costs of its good-enough implementation of bloated feature accretion and abysmal usability for high frequency UI tasks (Fitts Law anyone) becomes obvious only after the sunk cost has taken users beyond the point of no return. Not that Windows products do not suffer from the same “best from programmers for programmers” dynamics – MSVC sucks less than MSWord. But Linux fails to provide any kind of scalable experience, and, for ideologically hampered distributions, does not come with “not free beer” applications many casual users couldn’t find or download even if they ignored atrocious package management systems.
+Or maybe all that has changed?
+There is a reason Linux desktop adoption has peaked. It is inherent to the Free Software approach, and the “bizaar”. Not that it cannot be fixed, but that hasn’t happened. Even with corporate support – original Mozilla, OpenOffice – parts of the ecology are fundamentally broken. Pity, too.
+K A, “no one did.” Certainly not Steve Jobs, although if his character had matched his PR, he might have done it.
+You’ve not presented – because you don’t have any? – NO evidence for your sweeping generalizations about the state of the educational systems and their effectiveness…anyhow, which particular State are you talking about?
+US, UK, Germany,Canada, Sweden, China…..?
+Educational systems differ markedly from place to place.
+You use computers, do you not?
+Why shouldn’t children be taught as early as is practicable, how to use them, and how they work?
+OH, maybe you want to “preserve the mystery of computers” – and how they function – to be the special knowledge of only big business/State operatives and technicians: for knowledge is power, isn’t it? And children who start early are the very best computer programmers of all, just look at Mr Gates’ or Mr Jobs’ biographies, if you don’t believe me and … well, that may be a problem for those who would use computers in, or as, social control mechanisms.
+IMHO, people ought to know how the systems they depend on function, and what they’re good for, and what they’re not good for. And at as young an age as is practicable, too.
+People ought to learn as much as they can, as quickly as they can. And one of the goals of education is to help people to do just that.
+Keeping kids from the computer as a general principle solves no problem, nor does it obviate any difficulties, in the education of people.
+It’s just another manifestation of the need to control others simply by exerting arbitrary control, and the need to make excuses for that exercise.
+Computers are not the problem.
+The link “How America made its children crazy” provides evidence that computers are part of the problem.
+did you read the article? if so, can you respond to any of the factual assertions therein with facts, not opinion?
+I grew up at a VAX terminal, my mom’s form of babysitting while she got her PhD. Computers were not a mystery to me, I learned how to type, write basic programs and was introduced to ubergeeks at an early age.
+Learning how to use Facebook at school is not a good use of time. They have plenty of access to computers at home, and many of them already have smart phones.
+What Einstein once said about radio is also true of the internet:
+Think gratefully of the big number of unknown engineers who simplified the instruments of communication via radio and adapted them to mass production in such a fashion that they have become ready to be used by everybody nowadays.
+And everybody should be ashamed who uses the wonders of science and engineering without thinking and having mentally realized not more of it than a cow realizes of the botany of the plants which it eats with pleasure.
+svah, the issue is not “computers”, but subordination to the .01% MONOPOLY.
+I think the days of learning “how computers work” in public schools are long gone. Before Gates and Jobs, et al, in order for students to learn *anything* about computers, schools had to offer programming courses because that’s all there was.
+Now, thanks to Gates and Jobs et al, there is this profusion of “productivity tools” and responding to those like a monkey– to the point of “dependence” as you say– combined with the ubiquitous “socialize them for work” mentality, has imposed a mindless habituation routine on young people who are barely even literate.
+The GPS is making people dumb, you can count on it. It doesn’t HAVE to be that way, it “just happens” that it IS that way.
+So, how does that happen?
+JTF, How? — — “The Tavistock Agenda”
+It happens by *planned obsolence*and the .01% need for MORE.
+The 0.01% control the 99.99% by indoctrinating them with the belief that they must always out-smart their fellow 99.99%ers, because, well, things are limited in this world.
+They start you before pre-school, all the way up to graduate school and even after that, as you transition into your internet blog commenting career. Beat up on each other or YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE!!!
+No room for cooperation.
+What about the 0.01%? Do they need education? Technical education? If you were a 0.01%er, do you need to be smart? That’s a silly question. You don’t have to be smart, in the sense we 99.99% know what that that word means. You need to be street smart – here we talking about 0.01%-streets, streets that are paved with fiat money. The knowledge, the dark art you need is knowing how to manipulate the 99.99%. You can’t get this knowledge from any known university in this world. Typically, it’s passed from father to son, or mother to daughter.
+So, yeah, sure. Continute to try to out-smart your fellow 99.99%ers with your technical education. Get it so you can stay ahead of them. And now out-smarting others has become just a reflex. Sometimes, some even do it just for the sadistic pleasure it give.
+There, maybe I am less, but I am smarter than you. Where is my cookie? I need some food in my stomach before I empty my brain of thoughts (balance is the key here), as I head to my zazen session.
+It gives, not it give.
+My less, your comprehension of reality is admirable.
+Actually, you CAN learn how to manipulate the 99.9% in universities.
+The Obama campaign did a great job manipulating the D-Party primary in the Oppression Olympics vs Hillary (and Billy Jeff–a real necessary adjunct there), in which Obama would necessarily come out on top by virtue of being on the bottom, ie., the most oppressed.
+Worked like a charm–you could see it coming from MILES away. WHO SAYS women’s and ethnic studies degrees are “useless”?
+That said, I’d rather be able to find my way around without needing some robot to tell me when to turn left.
+I get your point MLTPB, there is this unecessary struggle imposed on us through the artificial scarcities that people like Jaques Fresco talks of – which we see ultimately manifested through the operation of fiat fraud, corporate accounting fraud (things so brilliantly covered in this blog),the ‘dumbing down’ through blind overuse of IT ( it is a v.different thing to understanding the real tech. that makes it all work) and which all results in ones semi-conscious competitive fight with your collegue/neighbor
+for said artificial scarcities( that end up also causing real starvations!).
+A humble suggestion is the need to move in the direction suggested by people such as Steve McIntosh (strange coincidence of name) in his book “Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution”. I know there is a lot to read in one lifetime but this is well worth it; until we can move to a society which thoughtfully appreciates our different realities there can be,well, no presence or future. Time is agin us, but we can get there.
+Maybe it’s time for a global non-proliferaton of bad science/technology treaty.
+Ideally, we stop everything and try to sort what is good and what is bad, instead of compounding what is bad with something worse.
+The New World of Work by Bill Gates 2005 (Excerpt):.
+Full version:
+“Now the American right has even hijacked breast cancer’s pink ribbon Guardian (hat tip reader John L)”
+Screw the Komen org., Sandra Brinkler, Ari Fleischer, Karen Handler and their “pink ass cure”.
+I give directly to Planned Parenthood every month. They were there for me when I was a teenager and I will give to them until the day I die. And I don’t tell them how to spend the money I give them. Planned Parenthood is about medical services and education, they are not political at all.
+The Komen org is clearly about politics. Don’t give them anything, don’t participate in their activities. Put them on your SPAM list. Starve them of any donations and let them die.
+From now on, when Komen org. asks for money, I will use it as an opportunity to tell them what I really think of them, just like I do with Obama’s fundraising folks.
+I hope others will do the same.
+sorry, meant the above to be a stand-alone comment.
+Approx. 80% of donations to Komen are spent on the organization’s administration costs. You are better served by donating directly, at least you know that all of your funds are making it to PP.
+Oh the funhouse that Continetti fellow lives in… makes me dizzy just contemplating it… so the history of the past decade is that the right has been in retreat due to the liberal wolfpack media… fascinating stuff…
+…with one party in this country a warmongering, dictatorship and police-state worshiping, neoliberal supporting bunch of hypocrites and fascists, and the other being the Republicans… abandon all hope ye who enter the United States of 24%… er I mean, 8.3% unemployment!
+Syria Q&A – Pepe Escobar :
+Additionally, check out the “Moon of Alabama” blog today on more reporting on how “the West” is hellbent to push destabilisation of Syria into civil war/regime change, with the usual suspects already “on the ground”:
+Notice how quickly “free Libya” rather disappeared from most US media coverage (though not European)? Inasmuch as Libya now is an Afghanistan-style mish-mash of militias, tribal warlords, and meddling Gulf States “advisors”, nothing new here, folks, just the sound and fury of freedom on the march!
+Moon of alabama is a good one.
+One more on the links between Syria and Libya (via Angry Arab blog):
+. ”
+One reason why we won’t hear about Haytham al-Manna on the lame stream media is because he is anti-imperial and against NATO intervention.
+Don’t cha know? The “free” Libyans and those killed by NATO humanitarian bombs are now “unpeople” (the term used by Chomsky). Like those killed by O-bomb-a’s drones.
+Bernanke: 8.3% Unemployment Understates Weakness in U.S. Labor Market…
+by about 16%.
+Mining Corporations caught planning Climate Denial
+Australia exports a huge amount of the natural resources that we burn, this affects the lives of everyone on the planet. For instance they export more coal than any other country by far, 7x more than the USA.
+Caught on hidden camera is Climate denialist ‘Lord’ Monckton planning with a room full of mining executives to gain control of Australia’s media, preferably by “encouraging those we know who are super rich” to establish a +Fox News style network.
+Climate Denier Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp already owns 70% of the major press in Australia and 25% of the largest TV network. Abusing this power Australian scientists say he’s “Set humanity back twenty years in its fight against Global Warming”. In return they’ve received several death threats.
+This week mining billionaire Gina Rinehart became the largest shareholder in Fairfax media, having already bought a stake in Channel Ten. But this new video reveals this move is bigger than one woman’s ambition — it’s part of a coordinated and very deliberate strategy.
+Skippy… need Antidote…
+“Australia exports a huge amount of the natural resources that we burn, this affects the lives of everyone on the planet.”
+The main culprit is mercury. It is released when you burn coal. Mercury affects our brains and kidney’s, badly.
+Solar (thermal) energy is a real (partial) solution. It can deliver 100% of the Earth’s (electric) energy needs within a few decades if we (the 99%) decide to work on that collectively.
+“Within 6 hours deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes within a year.”
+- Dr. Gerhard Knies
+Prince El-Hassan bin Talaal of Jordan (which has no oil) sees only one difficulty and that is the competition it might create with the traditional monopoly of power… oil (coal / gas) and increasingly the emphasis on nuclear power.
+“I think the paradigm shift comes from the fact that we are talking about 10 billion people within a very few years and therefore time is tight to prepare for this 10 billion. Either the 10 billion will be killed to attrition of wars and regional calamities or affordable and sufficient water, food and energy as well as a stable economy and climate are used as indispensable precondition for civilised life on the planet. And that’s where I go back to the complementarities between human warming and global warming but whether it is politically acceptable is a question of egocentrism versus compassion. Do we want to live in a caring world or do we want to live in a world of vested interests?”
+Here come the Sun (Rob van Hattum, VPRO Backlight)
+RE: Tomgram: Bill McKibben, Why the Energy-Industrial Elite Has It In for the Planet
+“Telling the truth about climate change would require pulling away the biggest punchbowl in history, right when the party is in full swing. That’s why the fight is so pitched. That’s why those of us battling for the future need to raise our game.”
+Maybe the alternative media could watch and than write about the documentary, “Here comes the Sun.”
+As a starter.
+Great video, thanks for sharing
+Yves, I’m interested in the fact you spent the last two days crashing, since I did as well, including a totally sleepless Monday night/Tuesday morning, I’m almost willing to believe their something in the air. While yes, the plural of anecdote is not data, I can imagine a full moon plus extraordinary solar storms could have done a number on those of us extra sensitive to light, particularly as I am more or less in the same part of the world as you.
+On the west coast here. I’ve been crashing and have had a bunch of lung irritation…
+They have been spraying those chem trails Saturday and Sunday all day. first time I’ve noticed chemtrails out here(hadn’t looked before). Multiple large planes(3 or more) passing at the same time.
+It was the full moon, dammit. Exact at 4:54 pm EST on Tuesday, but effectively full from 8:24 am on Monday until 12:32 pm today, Wednesday. Some full moons are nastier than others, I confess I don’t know exactly why. The next full moon is the afternoon of March 8. In effect from late on March 6th until midnight on the 8th. You’re warned.
+I have to wade through dreck about children jacked up on computers and drugs, and science that gets phonier by the year. Makes me glad my kid is home schooled and takes dance lessons.
+Late Medieval culture was superior to this. It had to be: Only a superior culture can give birth to the self-serving, and, given enough time, every superior culture eventually will, to its shame.
+I thought about home schooling my kids, but I was afraid they’d end up with an idiot for a teacher.
+Very admirable, most parents lack such self-awareness.
+It has been unusually warm here (not Europe, of course).
+The new normal:
+Spring feels like summer
+Summer feels like, well, super summer (it’s got to be good with ‘super’ in it).
+Autumn feels like, well, summer again.
+Winter fees like spring.
+Friends;
+Reading the NYT op-ed piece about the Obama sell out to big money, (as usual they’re a bit late to the game,) I did some collateral site surfing and came up with a truly gag reflex inducing op-ed piece, “What Wikipaedia Isn’t Telling You,” that lays out the next phase of the elites ongoing war against truth and justice. (The American way is another matter entirely.)
+Now, the people are a bunch are a bunch of mindless sheep, according to the recording industry shill who ‘wrote’ the piece. They marched lockstep to kill the ‘virtuous’ SOPA and PIPA bills on the say so of ‘misguided’ or perhaps, the tone of the piece suggests, nefarious actors like Google and Wikipaedia. When reading ‘between the lines,’ (an activity I strongly recommend everyone make a habit of,) the aforementioned actors are conflated with “criminal gangs peddling counterfeit pharmaceuticals.” Oh my, what’s in my Xanax craazy? D—, it’s making me see non elite approved facts on my internet too! When will this tormenting freedom end!!!? It reminds me of the old, old, joke about LSD 25. (The Owlsley stuff, not the modern c—.) “LSD 25! It absorbs 25 times its’ own weight in excess reality! Try some today!” I am here to tell you; anyone who falls for this latest spiel about internet ‘piracy’ and the death of Western Civilization it’s guaranteed to cause has gotten hold of some of the new improved LSD 100!
+As for the NYT; how about a new fun term: Nytered, (pronounced – neetrd) – the state of being of captured news purveyors, laughably compromised, obviously partisan, out of touch with reality. Syn.-neutered, corrupt.
+I read that too, but all it said was fnord.
+Gasp! The Higher Order strikes again!
+Well played K.
+Sherman who is the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America got savaged in the comments.
+As per the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, copyrighted material created after 1978 has “copyright protection for a term ending 70 years after the death of the author. If the work was a work for hire (e.g., those created by a corporation) then copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.” (wiki)
+Yet even for works created before 1978 if the copyright was renewed, they are copyright protected for a maximum of 95 years, much like the material created after 1978. This means, if I understand things correctly, that a movie like Casablanca which came out in 1942 will be under copyright until 2037.
+Sound recordings are a little different in that copyrights can extend beyond the 1923 boundary. Most other works created before 1923 are in the public domain.
+In any case, we live in a world now where virtually all the material which has been copyrighted from our birth, and all of it if someone was born after 1978, will be under copyright the whole of our lives. What this amounts to is a massive seizure of the commons of our cultural heritage by corporations.
+The sad thing is that retroactive extension of copywright – for existing works – is unconstitutional on its face. Instead of focusing on a magical “too long” number of years the Supreme Court would have to conjecture out of thin air, Lessig should have focused on that.
+Copyright could be constrainted by “use it or loose it” provisions, or even mandatory licensing at prevailing rates – nobody objects to concepts to prevailing wage, so why should rent seekers be exempt. But that they were allowed to get away with retroactive extension for existing works indicates the system cannot be reformed.
+Hugh, well why not boycott Sonny Bono?
+Regarding the Brazilian airports, Guarulhos really needs a make over, one of the worst airports for a major city, probably worse than Miami. Also wondering about the status of the high speed train line that is supposed to connect Rio to SP through SJdCampos etc…never saw it really happening, wonder if that has been scrapped. Berlin is another capital city in dire need of a new airport, but Schönfeld should be opening soon.
+oops – Berlin – Brandenburg Airport, say its going to be the biggest in Europe, when it opens later this summer
+havent seen this level of borrowing since before the bubble:
+re: Banks Paying Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosures
+obviously, they cant prove they have the right to foreclose…
+Esteemed Blogatrix;
+Oh frabjous day! Thank you for the link to the “Washington Free Beacon!” I haven’t laughed so hard in a while. I had seriously considered it to be on a par with “The Onion” or Colbert. These people really believe what they’re saying! One quote says it all; “The striving and conniving moderate Republican Richard Nixon…” If Tricky Dick is now viewed as a moderate, then Overtons’ Window for these nutters is off the wall and sitting alone, upright on stilts in the middle of the side yard like some demented modernist, (dare I say dadaist,) sculpture. Again like the mentioned art piece, the field of view depends on ones vantage point. Those of us who step back and view from afar enjoy a 360 degree prospect. To those looking out from within that absurd window, the point of view is a big fat Zero. (And No, I’m not arguing a Zen interpretation of Reactionary world views.)
+While I sit here still chuckling, I wonder; what if that poor fellow stuck between the two tigers had been hanging onto the roots of a blueberry bush?
+Kaor fight fans!
+“Esteemed Blogatrix”
+Good one.
+The image of the Overton Window in splendid isolation on the lawn made me go try to read the Continetti piece. I say try, because I started reading the first few words of each graf about halfway through, then gave up and read only his conclusion, such as it was. I must not have the right brain chemistry for it, as I thought it was boring and stupid.
+Dear 2A;
+Your stylistic criticism is correct. Boring and stupid however, are no barriers to belief. As the scenario unfolds, belief gives strength to the will to act. A case in point being the Texas School Textbook Committee, infiltrated and then taken over by Fundamentalist activists. Now, as a result, a previously ‘extreme’ position concerning science is being pushed into non-extreme states educational systems simply due to the state of Texas’ size and undue influence in textbook publishing circles.
+So, after I stop laughing, sometimes I have to cry.
+ambrit, the Storm Troops for the .01% constitute the *Religious Militant* — you know, *God’s Army* to help the .99% do “God’s work.” That’s work for *God*: the .01% “Top out of sight” (see “CLASS” by Paul Fusell).
+ambrit, *Dada* did its bit to bring Holy Roman Reich III.
+I, like others including Yves, have been wiped out since Sunday night. And I mean wiped out. Thus, my empathy chip is low on power.
+Reading the Romney tax article makes my blood boil. Yet another redistribution of money towards the ultra rich. At least I’ll be one of the lucky few to get a massive tax break… too bad it comes at the expense of most Americans.
+But as I said, my empathy chip is low today, and I’m tired of fighting for people who don’t seem to want to be fought for. Today I feel like I should just sell out and push for a Romney win so I can cash in on the backs of the little people.
+One word to fix all that ailes you: coffee. Ummmmmmm coffeeeeee.
+Happily (if happiness can be defined by “winning” the lessor of two evils) Romney wont be Prez. Even less possible is Newt, Santorum, Paul, my neighbor’s dog, though the latter would be a vast improvement on all the others.
+We are left with the least horrible of the worst of the worst so what we will get is…more of the same as now! Woohoo!
+You have made a mistake in your political analysis.
+Ron Paul is doing an amazing job in waking up America.
+Yes, you can disagree with all or some of his policies but he can’t be worse than your neigbour’s dog.
+are you sure about that?
+“It’s morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money”
+Canada Bill Jones’ motto.
+Murphy’s Law and other… Arthur Bloch
+Supplement:A Smith and Wesson beats four aces.
+Purgatice Suppliment: A Colt beats Aces and Eights.
+Monsanto, Agent Orange Creator, Returns To Vietnam
+” Multinational agricultural biotech corporation Monsanto, known as the creator of chemical weapon Agent Orange, is attempting to infiltrate Vietnam once again — this time as GMO dealer.”
+JohnL, this is “adding insult to injury”–a beloved practice of the .01%.
+From “Dramatic drop in budget revenues” on the Greek crisis:
+“… value-added tax receipts posted an 18.7 percent decrease last month from January 2011 …”
+– and –
+“Finance Ministry officials attribute the slump in VAT receipt figures to the major cash flow problems that enterprises are facing. Some of the latter are choosing not to pay …”
+Talk about denialism. The Greek government is letting a bunch of foreigners savage their economy. They should all be hung … after proper trials are conducted, of course. We wouldn’t want chaos to break out there, would we.
+In a way, Greece is like Odeyssus who was lured first by Goldman Sachs into thinking there was fame and glory in the Euroland and now is trying to go home, but sirens like Sarkozay, Merkle and the IMF are making sure that home will never be reached again.
+Alternatively, Greece is like an illegal immigrant whom the known coyote Goldman Sachs smuggled into the Euroland and sold into slavery.
+Ben, history shows that there is *something funny* about accounting in Greece. Talk to someone at PIMCO. Talk to William K. Black.
+“Privacy Death Stars Approved By Congress Gawker”
+how much for a forcefield to block their site of my property? How much for a closet full of clothes that block their site of me?
+Dear mk;
+The traditional defensive gear is the well known “Tinfoil Hat.” Given that headgears’ suspicious similarity to the wizards hat of antiquity, a serious reexamination of the provenance of ‘modern’ science seems in order.
+hilarious! Agreed, “a serious reexamination of the provenance of ‘modern’ science seems in order”.
+Of course force fields and clothes that make us invisible to their spying drones/etc. may seem ridiculous, but on a serious level, the “arms race” is on and we have to find ways to protect ourselves.
+ambrit: the “Cloak of invisibility” is what’s required. But NOT being on Facebook is a start.
+From context I deduce that your intent is to block certain sites from their sight.
+(Citizen’s act of internet grammar and spelling policing.)
+Dear Citizen Rex;
+No! Not another ad grammerian arguement!
+I assume you also threw in that inverse square joke as an easter egg. Thank for playing in the fields of the Webster. (Despite my erratic spelling I have a warm appreciation for that worthy gentlemans efforts.)
+Is Stiglitz saying that the Bundesbank is OK with involuntary restructurings because as a democratic institution it can make the rules? And is he saying that the ECB has no such mandate and stands in jeopardy of being the bag holder of last resort and victim of the shrewd hedge funds holding all those CDS? Has it ever been implied that this was a set up?
+Susan, yes it has, among the *watchers*.
+Stiglitz appears deeply confused or maybe a little captured himself when he avers that banks that bought CDS to cover their positions acted prudently. It’s pretty bad when Stiglitz starts trying to tell us which gamblers were the “good” ones.
+If you were the CFO of the bank, and your competitors were eating your lunch by buying CDS, thus enabling them to free up more capital, what would you have done?
+(a) Not buy the CDS, thereby lowering your returns, and jeopardizing your job as well as that of the CEO…or…
+(b) Buy the CDS, allowing you to compete on a level playing field?
+Competitors, level playing field? What we are talking about here are a casino and gamblers placing bets. That is a far cry from bankers making responsible decisions about loans and investments.
+“How America made its children crazy”
+A few connected arguments from known facts would be nice. Anybody see any? Maybe I was distracted by the rage.
+“Truthy” is the best I can say about it.
+Mel, it’s true. Read Maria Montessori, M.D. to see why. *Total War* includes the destruction of children with DNA of the *Other*–i.e. of the non-.01%. The DNA of the .99% that serves the .01% will be spared until they also become “useless eaters” like the 99%. When that time comes, they will be able to utter:
+“Then they came for me.”
+See how it works? The truth is revealed in the *Press* after the damage is done.
+I think the article on making our kids crazy missed the cause. We really didn’t give kids computers in the 60s or 70s. True, we stuck them in front of the TV and it was pretty awful. We can’t blame ADD on water and food additives so much because China has fouled food and water too, but perhaps undetected alergies and too much sugar are good candidates. And no exercise. I don’t think computers are weapons of mass dimentia. I think our very mindless culture is the weapon of mass dimentia. And forcing kids to take Ritalin is a crime. I didn’t know kids could be forced to take it.
+There is probably a similar attitude in China as in Japan where they say “Never go against the child.” Instead of stuffing the kid in a closet, perhaps they actually interact with their children. Does Japan restrict computers for children? Does China?
+The article claimed that the objective of an education is to learn to learn. I think it is more fundamental. I think the objective of an education is to learn to be curious. Give all children solid fundamentals and you are at least half way there. They then have the tools necessary to find the answers to their questions. And I do not yet see how computers obstruct learning the fundamentals. I think computers are an effective medium if they are used properly.
+Dear Sto;
+Indeed, forcing children to take Ritalin is a crime, against them and the society which will have to deal with them in the near future. Check out Ritalin, it’s an amphetamine derivative that was not adequately tested on children when it was approved by the FDA. In fact, almost no drugs approved by the FDA are tested for developmental effects on children. (The very concept raises serious ethical issues.) Anecdotal evidence is now coming to light suggesting that early and prolonged use of these amphetamine analogues has serious permanent effects on brain development. Just another case of profit trumping humanity.
+Dogen, the guy who brought Soto Zen (I think, I always get it mixed up with Rinzai Zen) to Japan from China, he came across his satori while washing rice in the kitchen (Legend? Myth?).
+To this day, to become a sushi chef, you start by cleaning the kitchen for a few years and nothing else.
+With this kind of cultural support, it’s less dangerous to immerse your kids in computer and the associated abstract world. Kids got to be shown how the sausage is made (clarification: hands on, not by watching a youtube video on sausage making for dummies). Here, it’s more like, today, we will show you how to work the computer keyboard and tomorrwo, you can design CDO-squared (I am exaggerating a lot).
+Tell me and I will forget.
+Show me and I might remember.
+Involve me and I will learn.
+Old Chinese saying.
+Is is normal for children to be born curious. This means *trouble* for Authoritarian parents.
+YVES, re “Privacy Death Stars” — the linked piece does not mention that, not only *security* eyes will be in the sky, but also *media* eyes in the sky. So I guess this opens the door for the REAL payday for Google & Facebook Top Dogs.
+And now, the entire Global .01% is on board. It’s Total War of the Global .01% and their trickle-down Agents the .99% for the Total Grift 1% against The Rest.
+Yes, ma ballerine, the media could also have drones as it currently stands but that is always subject to change at a later date. The state may well decide to make it illegal for anyone to operate drones besides the government, not wanting visual confirmation of certain activities……….
+Did I ever mention to you my grandmere used to pal around Paris with Isadora Duncan?
+It must have been horrifying to know/see how Isadora died. But “those were the days” for independent women with talent, brains, and sass.
+RE: Campaign for Sale
+The defense of Barry comes in two flavors: one, he’s too weak to do what he promises, and two, he’s so stupid he thinks he is doing what he promises.
+The DOB #1 by the US Pravda has the virtue of being to the point. With the other supporters, all they have to do is keep smiling and pretend they don’t know lying when they hear it.
+I don’t want to beat that dead horse’s head of Stoller’s “Liberal Policy Needs Big Gov” I found, but this needs to be noted:
+“Fully 77 percent of liberal Democrats endorse the use of drones… Democrats approve of the drone strikes on American citizens by 58-33, and even liberals approve of them, 55-35.”
+Greenwald argues that thanks to Big O there is a bipartisan consensus, but also claims that partisan responses are mostly “Its OK If My President Does It” – somewhat contradictory. The latter does not seem to be true of conservatives – who do express agreement with Big O – but is true of “liberals”. Hence Greenwald’s original observation that
+“‘conservatism’ is now a term used to describe personal loyalty to the leader (just as ‘liberal’ is used to describe disloyalty to that leader), and no longer refers to a set of beliefs about government”
+cannot simply be inverted. It would appear that mindless “conservatives” are more principled than mindless “liberals”.
+I propose that, to avoid further cognitive dissonance between Stollerian “liberal” and principled liberals, members of the former group should be referred to as lie-berals. That would make the Democrats the Big Lie-beral party, and a lie-berability, both of which seems appropriate.
+I disagree that mindless conservatives are more principled. Just look at the voting records of Congress. The GOP consistently votes along party lines. The Democrats, not so much.
+YVES, with regard to Rick Santorum’s reception near Dallas, connect the dots between abortion, “Down Syndrome children, and enforcement of suffering.
+Note; Sarah Palin also played the “Down Syndrome Child” card. Why?
+It’s all about the Ultraconservative Religious subordination of women to men, and their will to impose the obligation to bear and raise Down Syndrome children, as a demonstration of “Christian virtue”–which is the MASK for the Master Class Male’s will to see HIS DNA dominate culture and resources. The MASK is kept in place through the vitality of *religious institutions*. The mantra is: “We Christians are Virtuous; therefore We suffer; therefore Everyone must suffer as we do.”
+The play, “Joe Egg” revealed the tragedy of the situation, and revealed the fact that a man in this situation likely will abandon his wife and child. Ultrasound and *pre-natal* testing made this tragedy OPTIONAL, through the timely abortion of the foetus. As a result, the legalization of abortion became an important right for Americans, and the result was the Supreme Court’s verdict on Roe v Wade. This right helped families to avoid that tragedy.
+Then came the *Culture Wars” centering on the manic Male’s “My DNA v Your DNA”–especiallly within the frames of White v Dark and Christian v Muslim. This Breeding War in which women are instruments for the reproduction male DNA (note universal preference for boys and abortion of girls), wore the MASK of *Religious Solidarity” and “Religious Virtue” anent the ISSUE of *abortion*. As Christian women were FORCED to bear Down Syndrome children, they began to position themselves as martyrs for God, which helped them to BEAR their grief over this tragedy, because they must deny that this situation is a tragedy. A Christian converts tragedy to martyrdom, a time-honored adaptation to tragedy.
+Now, if Christian women must suffer, then ALL women must suffer, hence the hostility of Christian women against abortion for any reason, and Planned Parenthood, which might facilitate abortion by other women.
+Sarah Palin then, and Rick Santorum now, play COMPLEX dog-whistle politics when they play the “Down Syndrome Child” card. And the Pope is smiling.
+…another animal pile-up ?
+Your choice of picture betrays you Yves !
+Now we know…you love cuddling…!
+…then again …who doesn’t ? …
+;-)
+Spengler? Please look more closely.
+Interesting video at Fukushima Diary showing what appears to be an explosion at a Russian Nuke Plant in St. Petersberg:
+apparently a basement fire at the nuke plant, possible explosion at nearby substation…
+What next?
+Mannerisms of Addiction
+You are born into addiction, surrounded by increasing opportunity for additional addiction. No one alive today is responsible for empire History. Each and every individual is responsible for what it looks like tomorrow. The empire is a fusion machine, a black hole of algebraic reduction, from which diversity/fission emerges, in quantum integrals. It’s a space time event horizon bomb. We are replacing it with a computer.
+The rough adjustment dial is Family Law, largely an implicit social function, which shorts all income event horizons back to the churn pool, to balance legacy asset conservation, and it is connected to the common law short, back through the history of empires, which had much more planetary surplus to exploit.
+Because we have reached geographic saturation of current human behavior, resulting in a decline in supporting diversity, empire finances are blowing up, as climate volatility increases, because agency is connected in a positive feedback loop.
+This breeding program feeds taxation addiction, implicit and explicit, in all its forms, to deliver final adjustments to the income event horizons. To hide its “sins,” agency increasingly expands credit beyond income, with negative relative interest rates, borrowing from future generations, based upon the empire assumption, to reward increasingly rigid horizon mannerisms, eliminating mobility/circulation in favor of control, as it loses control, becoming increasingly arbitrary, capricious and malicious as it gets farther behind the curve.
+So fed, private corporate maximizes population spending to drive scale, feeding the event horizons credit in return. EMPIRE PRICE IS NOT A FUNCTION OF COST. Price is a function of how much the resulting irrational market will bear. Cost is a function of agency, which will always exceed price, creating the necessary inflation to hide itself, maximizing profit on legacy assets and socializing the losses against income. Treasury maximizes the tax base; the Fed prints, right up until the point of revolt threshold. And Congress sets the lottery pool.
+From the perspective of intelligent parents, watching the curve calculus, the system crashed in the 70s, at which time they diverted all investment, which agency backfilled with financial leverage. Legacy behavior cannot stop itself, and you have what see and what you don’t see before you. With the new language comes new equations, new behavior, and a new empire, same as the old empire, with a new dress, more event horizons in the mix.
+It’s all about separation of charge and the root of recursion. You must play stupid when working for the empire, and act intelligently when working locally. That’s as plain as I can make it. At fusion/fission equilibrium, each horizon recognizes and willfully ignores the mannerisms of the meek, which are submissive in word and dominant in action, AT THE FULCRUM TIP.
+Bullying is self-adjusting. It says look at me; I am too stupid to think. Each click/horizon has its bully, which is bullied by another up the line of central control, which naturally attracts people pleasers, passive aggressive bullies themselves, all conforming to codes of conduct, part socially implicit, part codified in law, implicit and explicit. We all make choices from birth, to conform or not, lawfully or not. The longer the addiction, the more difficult the change. The law is a mountain to be climbed and surpassed.
+All muscles, especially the individual brain, expand memory and need exercise for circulation, to extend health, but it is the meek, the one that exercises all muscles in balance, that inherits the earth. The point of teaching children civil manners (please, thank you) is to extend each horizon conformance set, creating a path of mobility through all, to symbiotically increase horizon number and circulation. Intelligent children are the common flux that ensures continued adaptation.
+Legislative control naturally seeks equal outcomes; local parents seek equal opportunity. On the open side, premium rests upon individual collection, examination, and creation of data for symbiotic planetary adaptation. Agency may only approximate these integral with derivative equations, grouped into relatively arbitrary horizons. It not only fits the data to see itself, but it also requires YOU to give it the equations. IT CANNOT THINK; IT’S A LEAST-COMMON-DENOMINATOR FUNCTION.
+THERE IS NO PLAN. A plan is a starting point, entry into the wave. Conditions change, so the stack is reordered with a hash table function. Think of it like a to-do list, which you are learning to prioritize with experience riding waves. Ever notice the rich kid and his flock with billion dollar boards enthusiastically entering the surf at exactly the wrong spot, and reluctantly asking the locals for direction after wearing themselves out.
+So, the Feds can no longer pay the localities for allegiance, to control local property price discovery…and the community needs to attract intelligent young people…simple math beats the empire every time, because it is a stupid computer. Perform the swap, implicitly and then explicitly, to employ local resources more effectively. Tradable surplus, not agency, acts as the negative feedback loop to equilibrium.
+True price discovery is not possible with local dependence upon central control. Communities must be self-sustaining. Think in terms of the cost of nutrition, not the cost of food. Think in terms of providing a home, not the cost of housing. Think in terms of developing the necessary tools, not the cost of clothing. Those refusing to abandon the old big city model are largely FUBAR.
+If you need a break here and there, by all means, watch the sh**-show, but from a safe distance, and only as entertainment. Government can only see itself, and it only knows what you tell it. Never go down a one way street, unless you are the only one with an exit. Let the empire build its blind alley around your exit.
+Astonishing piece again K. Brilliant. I believe a great possibility is with transitionculture.org
+Brilliant, thank you. One point: you write: “local parents seek equal opportunity.” But is this so? I have seen that parents tend to seek advantage over others, for their children, and for themselves–often through their children.
+they are not parents; they are replicators.
+In his book, Assault on Reason, Gore made a very good case for computers having a positive affect upon brain development. Of course, he was comparing it to TV. But he had a great opinion of the way computers cause users to actively engage their brain as opposed to veggeing out with TV.
+Lambert reads reddit.
+Chad sees Dog (the non-French) Bounty Hunter:
+This Thanksgiving marks the 384th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving, held in 1621 by the surviving 50 colonists, who shared turkey and Libby’s canned cranberry sauce with Massasoit and a smattering of Wampanoag men. But have you heard the story of the lesser-recognized but equally celebrated anniversary of The Night Ken Craig Was Jailed and Freed From Jail? No? Well, grab a drumstick, loosen your belt, sit back, belch, and enjoy this Thanksgiving yarn seven years in the making.
+It all began on a cold, windy night in Tonopah, Nevada. It’s not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from there. This is one of those forsaken towns that live on highway 95, stretching from Las Vegas to Reno. (Highway 95 Motto: If you think the land is ugly, you should see our brothel employees!)
+Driving back to Las Vegas from a Thanksgiving weekend in Lake Tahoe, I was approaching Tonopah around midnight. I had driven this road before and was already quite familiar with the way this highway posted its speed limits. As you near any of the mini-mining towns along 95, it drops from 70 to 25 faster than the IQ points of an Arkansas native sucking helium out of a balloon. The speed limit in Tonopah is so low it actually requires you to turn your car off and push it through town. So when I was on the outskirts of Tonopah, and suddenly realized I would need to fill the gas tank in order to make it to the next town, I didn’t exactly accelerate after flipping a u-turn to head back to the Texaco.
+Apparently I was having Katie push the car too fast, because a cop pulled me over, directly.
+“You were going 60 miles per hour!”
+“That’s impossible! I just barely turned the car around – I wouldn’t have even had enough time to pick up speed!”
+The cop disappeared for about five minutes, then came back…
+“Well…how fast do you think you were going?” Translation: I have no idea if you were speeding or not, but I’m bored, there are no doughnut shops in Tonopah, and I resent you for it.
+I looked through the windshield and saw a 45 mph sign a few yards in front of us.
+“40 mph.”
+“I see.” He disappeared again. This time he sat in his car. And sat. And sat. And sat. And then a second patrol car pulled up. Now I was surrounded by both Tonopah patrol cars. Because I looked so dangerous, this officer had actually called for back up.
+Sgt. Backup walked up to the window and asked to see Katie’s license. I asked him why he needed her license, since she wasn’t the one driving.
+“Because your license is suspended – and if she can’t drive this car, we are going to impound it.”
+“My license is not suspended. There’s an error somewhere.” The kind public official didn’t bother to make eye contact with me, he just snatched Katie’s license out of her hand.
+Katie asked, “Are you sure it’s suspended, officer?” To which he wittily retorted, “Ma’am…I went to college!” Touché. I had my doubts about that, as well as if Tonopah Community College actually qualifies as any kind of center of higher learning.
+“You guys heading into Vegas for a hot weekend?!”
+“Uhm…we live there. We have a 15-month old, so our weekends aren’t that hot for the time being. And it’s Sunday night…the ‘weekend’ is over.”
+“Watch it, smart guy.”
+My mind was racing. I could not for the life of me figure out how they had such incorrect information as my license being suspended. One thing was for sure; I wasn’t going to be driving anywhere myself. I got out of the car to switch seats with Katie. This was evidently the wrong thing to do. The officers freaked out that I had stepped out of the car. I couldn’t see them well, so it would be unfair to say they had pulled their guns on me, but they did order me back into the car. Which is fine, since that is where I was going. I walked over to the passenger side and got back in the car. And I sat there trying to figure out how this could have happened.
+Finally, a light bulb came on. Oh, not immediately, but these guys were giving me all the time in the world while they huddled and tried to remember what you do when somebody has a suspended license and doesn’t bribe you to just let them go. I’m thinking that neither of them had The Book on them, so they called Pervis, back at the station, and were having him read it to them over the CB. But I digress.
+A light bulb had come on. I began to recall a speeding ticket I had received in Wendover last March or so. I remembered it so well because shortly after I had sent in the money for the ticket, I received notice in the mail that if the Wendover court didn’t receive my payment soon, my license would be suspended. And I remember how I promptly called the Wendover court to encourage them to stay on top of their paper work, because I had already sent in the money. “That’s right,” the clerk had said, “we have received it, and we’ve entered it into our computer. You can just throw that notice away.” And that’s exactly what I did. Because I was still under the misconception that Nevada law enforcement certainly cared about my well being. I mean, that is, after all, why they pull you over for J-walking or not signaling to turn – because they just couldn’t sleep that night thinking about how you just might have injured yourself if they hadn’t given you that $265 citation.
+I was missing a step, but somewhere between the Wendover court telling me they had received my money and processed the cancellation of the license suspension – and the actual cancellation of the suspension – their was a big, fat, hairy failure to communicate. Suddenly, I was Cool Hand Ken.
+Happy to have tracked down the cause, and equally furious that bureaucracy had stepped on my face, I was full of a certain unmentionable liquid, plus vinegar. It didn’t bode well for the officer who came up to my window.
+“Mr. Craig (they called me Mister, no doubt because of the great deal of respect they held for me)… Mr. Craig, we’re going to have to take you in and it’s going to be $400 for bail.”
+Something in my brain snapped. “Well…hmm…see, I don’t have $400. And I’m supporting a single-income family on an entry-level job – so I don’t happen to have that on me, nor is it in my budget right now. I don’t know what kind of show you’re running here – but I’m not going to leave my wife and baby out here in the cold while you book me and put me in jail because some chain-smoking alcoholic at the DMV couldn’t push buttons fast enough on her computer to clear my name from something that should have been taken care of over six months ago and is completely out of my hands.”
+Well, now that I had won him over with my charm, he disappeared back to his car again. I don’t know, maybe I made him cry. Then he came back with the second officer and asked me to step out of the car. They bullied me over to the patrol car, shoved my face down on the hood, searched me for weapons, actually handcuffed me, and pushed me into the back of the patrol car.
+I looked through the windshield and saw my sweet wife hanging out the window, mouth wide open. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I’m glad Abbie was too young to understand any of it. I don’t think she was singing, and I don’t think she was asking for a hug. She had her fist clenched and was bawling them out, demanding to talk to me so she could find out where to get $400 that we didn’t have. They told her that she seemed upset, and they’ve only seen situations like this escalate, so they weren’t going to let her talk to me. Maybe I could give her a call from jail. After Katie explained that we don’t own any car phones and don’t currently have a summer home in Tonopah where she could be reached, they told her to follow us to the station.
+Meanwhile, Officer I-Have-No-Idea-If-You-Were-Speeding is driving me to the station, and decides to put on his Good Guy Cop Hat. “I’m only doing my job, you know.” If I could have reached his crotch, I would have kicked it. When I finally decided to speak up, all I said was, “When the court realizes they’ve made a mistake…will I get my money back?” He said I would.
+We pulled into the station and I was marched into what I think is officially called The Booking Room. The handcuffs came off and some woman with a mustache took my mug shots and fingerprinted me. I think she may have tried to hold my hand. I didn’t want to take one of those unflattering mug shots, so I put on a goofy smile for mine. I wish I could get a copy of that.
+The station didn’t take personal checks or credit cards, so Katie had to venture out into the night to find cash. I asked the officer to tell Katie there was a credit cards check in my planner she could use, if she could find a place to cash it.
+I then emptied my pockets and was placed in a cell, where there were no bars, per se, but a big, blue steel door, with a tiny window in it. I couldn’t believe I was in jail. I tried to act like a real inmate. I carved my name in the bench with a piece of my watch wristband. I used the urinal. (Mental Note: I should never go to prison. I just don’t like going potty in front of other people.)
+I’d like to say that I used this time to ponder deep truths and maybe even think about Joseph Smith and how he was wrongfully imprisoned for much longer than me, and with much more responsibility…but mostly, I was annoyed that this entire thing was happening. And I sat there annoyed for almost two hours.
+Why so long? Well, because that’s what happens when your poor wife drives across town to the only casino in Tonopah, and by no coincidence, the only place that is a) open, and b) able to advance cash from credit cards. But then she gets there, and is told that they can’t cash a credit card check, only advance cash from an actual credit card. So Katie had to come back to the station and get my credit card, then go back to the casino to get the cash. Then, and this is a real treat, Katie came back to the station to pay the $400 and was told by the “cashier” that it was $435, not $400. Katie raised her voice one last time, and left to get another $35.
+I sat in that cell, marking minutes on the wall, not having any idea what was going on. I was worried about Katie and Abbie, I was furious at the DMV and the Eastline Justice Court for this entire mix-up, and I was angry with these policemen for the way they had treated us. And I felt frustrated at being locked in this tiny cell where I couldn’t do anything but fidget.
+I was released and walked out to find Katie near breakdown and Abbie as perky as a June bride. Katie drove us to the edge of the county, and I switched places with her to drive us the rest of the way home. We reached home around 5:30 a.m. and tried to nap. I got up for work, called the Eastline Justice Court in Wendover, Nevada around 8:00 a.m., and had my first conversation with Marla, the clerk.
+“Do I have any outstanding citations?”
+“No. We have record of only one citation, but it’s been paid for.”
+“Then I’d like to know why I spent the night in jail for something that I personally took care of months ago. I don’t know what kind of show you’re running (this was my favorite line to drop through this ordeal, as, to me, it says that whatever you’re doing is nothing but a show to me, and not just a show, but it’s not even a good show), but I better get some answers, my dear Marla.”
+Marla said that the best she could figure, the Nevada DMV is incredibly far behind in entering information sent to them by the courthouses. In other words, a notice was sent from the Eastline Justice Court last June, stating that I had paid my ticket and there should be no suspension on my license, but the DMV hadn’t cleared it. I was livid. I told Marla to fax me the document they had sent to the DMV – one to me at work, and one to the Las Vegas DMV on Flamingo.
+I had to get to work, so I had Katie drop me off and run over to the DMV to fix this mess. The fax was there, but so were some DMV folks that told Katie she would need to pay $40 to get my license reinstated. Katie told them “No I won’t – because it doesn’t need to be reinstated – because it was never supposed to be suspended.” They talked to their superiors, who agreed to see it our way. But they could go no further without me there in person. Katie picked me up from work and we went back over to the DMV. I signed some paperwork and picked up some more paperwork.
+In particular, I had the fax from the Eastline Justice Court that stated they had sent the proper paperwork to the DMV in a timely manner, so this was all a big mistake and everyone better prepare to kiss my toe. Only…it didn’t look like a letter. It was written in some kind of code, and some random asterisk was supposed to mean that the suspension was a “clerical error.” I ran with it.
+I faxed the “letter” to the Tonopah courthouse, and followed up with a phone call. This was my first conversation with Jennifer. I explained that the fax was coming, that this whole thing needed to be reversed, my money sent back to me, the misdemeanor taken off my record, and my date with the lady who fingerprinted me canceled.
+This was all on Monday.
+Tuesday morning I get a call from Jennifer at the Tonopah courthouse. She said the semi-honorable Judge Maslach had declared that whether or not the suspension was an error, the license had been suspended and I would have to pay the bail money. I could not fathom on any level how this was anything but completely ridiculous.
+I called Eastline Justice Court and said “I don’t want a coded letter, I want a handwritten letter to the Tonopah courthouse relaying the date they received my payment and the date it was sent to the DMV.” I then asked where it was they sent the notice, originally – to which DMV. She didn’t have the phone number, because that would have been too convenient for me – but said it was the state building in Carson City.
+I called Carson City and asked for the DMV department, where I had my first conversation with Debra. Debra took my social security number and suddenly had access to my entire life. She began looking over it and then began to express her own wonderment at how any of this could have happened. Debra said she would write a letter to Tonopah wherein she would point out that full blame fell on the Nevada DMV and that none of this should have ever happened. She pointed out that the date in which my license should have gone into suspension was July 23, and my check had been received and processed on June 1. So there was never, at any time, a reason that my license should have been suspended. And that everyone there could just kiss my toe.
+That was Tuesday.
+I let Wednesday and Thursday pass by so the Tonopah courthouse would have a chance to look over the material sent to them. Friday morning Jennifer calls from the Tonopah courthouse and tells me that I have a “very unique case.” Not that they were wrong. Not that somebody owed me an apology. Just that I have a “unique case.”
+So she announces to me, as if she is doing me some huge favor, “We’re going to send you the $300 back, but we are keeping the $135 for the speeding ticket.”
+“No,” I said. “I never got a ticket for speeding. I was shown nothing, I signed nothing, there is no citation.”
+“Well, let me talk to the judge.” And she covers up the phone, and starts talking to the guy, who can’t be sitting more than five feet away. She gets back on, “Okay, we’ll send you the full $435.”
+Triumph. But not really. The thing that frightens me is this entire abuse of power. I was a pawn in an incident where I was completely right. What if I didn’t push things? What if I didn’t speak English well? How often has something like that happened, and the person in my position didn’t do anything but pay the money? I still drive through Tonopah once or twice a year, on my way to Tahoe. I don’t buy gas there; I don’t drive over 15 mph there; however, I do think about my night in jail, and I smile as I look around this little town that the world has forgotten, and think about how that officer has to live there.
+Home / Modern-feminist / Article
+November 28 2017
+The Harvey Weinstein scandal provoked a kind of national catharsis. The floodgates opened and thousands of women stepped forward to publicly reveal that they have been victims of sexual abuse.
+Kimberly Corban, today a poised, media-savvy Colorado mother of two, knows the darkness these women have experienced. Corban survived a brutal rape in 2006, when a man crept into her student apartment and subjected her to a two-hour ordeal that left her a shattered 20 year old.
+Corban, who speaks on campuses and counsels rape victims after years of training as a victim's advocate, determined that she would be a survivor.
+How Corban eventually chose to feel safe again did not endear her to everyone. Years after her assault, Corban, you see, obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon. She emerged from the ordeal a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, even challenging then-President Barack Obama on gun control during a 2016 CNN town hall meeting. Corban also cut a spot for the National Rifle Association's "Freedom's Safest Place" ad campaign.
+A gun, she argues, can make women, who tend to be physically smaller than their attackers, or the elderly or disabled, safer. A gun is an equalizer for the weak against a stronger assailant..
+Corban's father and brother hunted when she was growing up in Greeley, Colo., but other than that, Kimberly had never given any thought to guns, was probably a bit afraid of them. Then her life changed forever.
+Her nightmare began around 5 a.m. on May 12, 2006 when Corban awoke in her off-campus student apartment to realize a man was on top of her. Her face was mostly covered, but she could see just enough to gauge time by watching the sun come up through a slit in the window blinds.
+Remarkably, throughout the ordeal, Corban, then a sophomore at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, had the presence of mind to concentrate on two things: staying alive and collecting evidence. Corban got the man talking. It was a way to get information. "I kept him talking and logged away everything he said," she recalls. "I lied my butt off, but I did what it took to survive."
+They spoke in whispers. The rape took place with one of Corban's roommates asleep down the hall--Corban lied and said it was a male roommate. When her assailant finally left, Corban's first thought was preserving evidence. "I told my roommate not to touch me, and I urinated into a cup," she says. "I tried not to talk about the facts until an officer was there to record what I was saying."
+Displaying incredible fortitude, Corban went to great lengths not to disturb her attacker's semen from her left leg. It was from that DNA evidence that proved crucial for law enforcement. A suspect was arrested for trespassing and taking surreptitious photos of college co-eds a mile from Corban's apartment. He matched the description Corban had given, and she identified him based on voice and shoes. They collected a DNA sample he volunteered. Corban's rapist, who was later convicted following a jury trial is now serving a 24-years-to-life prison term.
+"You don't get to chose whether to be a rape victim," she explains, "but you do get to decide whether you become a survivor afterwards."
+Corban has posted the 911 recording she made when her rapist finally left. "You can't always grasp the contrast between who I was that morning and who I am now when I speak about this," she says. Corban says that in the aftermath of the rape her "grades tanked" because of depression and the demands of the trial. She even suffered from stress-induced seizures. But she made the decision to release her name to the public, to put a face on the horrific crime, and later to become an advocate after completing her undergraduate degree and pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice to help other rape victims recover and reclaim their lives. She speaks on campuses and has a website devoted to victim advocacy. "You don't get to chose whether to be a rape victim," she explains, "but you do get to decide whether you become a survivor afterwards."
+Corban, who speaks on campuses and counsels rape victims after years of training as a victim's advocate, determined that she would be a survivor. “I chose to not let [the rape] define my life," she once told an interviewer. "I choose how the rest of my life will go. It does not choose me.” For Corban, a big part of surviving was feeling safe on campus. That is why she took extensive training in how to handle a firearm and obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and purchased her first firearm years after her assault.
+In 2016, CNN got in touch with Corban and asked her to attend a town hall gathering where then- President Barack Obama, who had just announced that he planned to issue an executive order to create more stringent gun controls, was to take questions. She accepted the invitation, not having an inkling that it would turn out to be such a big deal.
+"At that point," she recalls, "it was a very personal choice and never a political motivation." But as debate about gun control laws grew, Corban knew that this affected her, and she was willing to give voice to a perspective different from most. She got involved with the National Rifle Association and taped what became known as the NRA "Freedom's Safest Place" ad, Corban insisted upon writing every word of the text herself. She would not read someone else's words; she would speak from the heart. "If that predator or anyone else ever tries to harm my family or me, he'll have to come through my firearm," she said. "I will never be unarmed or utterly vulnerable ever again."
+She has urged Colorado senators, considering gun legislation, not to "take away the one thing that makes me feel safe." In 2016, CNN got in touch with her and asked her to attend a town hall gathering where President Barack Obama, who had just announced that he planned to issue an executive order to create more stringent gun controls, was to take questions.
+She accepted the invitation, not having an inkling that it would turn out to be such a big deal. When it was her turn, Corban was impassioned. "As a survivor of rape and now a mother to two small children, you know, it seems like being able to purchase a firearm of my choosing and being able to carry that wherever me and my family are, it seems like my basic responsibility as a parent at this point," she told President Obama. "I have been unspeakably victimized once already, and I refuse to let that happen again to myself or my kids. So why can’t they see these restrictions that you’re putting to make it harder for me to own a gun or harder for me to take that where I need to be is actually just making my kids and me less safe?"
+Obama said that he wasn't trying to make it harder for Corban to buy a gun but added that "there are always questions" as to whether having a gun made people safer in their homes. Without knowing that Corban regards gun ownership as a serious obligation or that she has undergone extensive training, the President said that "you have to be pretty well trained in order to fire a weapon against somebody who is assaulting you and catches you by surprise," as if Corban were advocating putting guns into the hands of people who don't know how to use them.
+"The great thing about our country," the Second Amendment advocate and rape survivor told IWF, "is that we get to make these choices for ourselves. We need to get government out of the way to allow us to make these choices ourselves because nobody knows [what we should do] better than we know ourselves.”
+What got Corban most was that the President didn't seem to realize that the decision as to whether to carry a gun should be one made by an individual. "The great thing about our country," she told IWF, "is that we get to make these choices for ourselves. We need to get government out of the way to allow us to make these choices ourselves because nobody knows [what we should do] better than we know ourselves." She made this case again when cutting another radio spot when former New York Michael Bloomberg was pulling out the stops to support more gun control nationally. "I know best how to defend myself, Mr. Bloomberg," she said into the camera. "You do not have the right to tell me how to defend myself."
+Corban acknowledges that being armed would not have prevented her 2006 attack, which began when she awoke with her assailant on top of her, but adds that, if carrying a firearm saves even one woman from being harmed, the backlash she receives is worth it. As a matter of fact, she met that woman at an NRA Women’s banquet, where Corban was publicly recognized by Susan LaPierre, a member of the NRA's Women's Leadership Forum. A young woman knelt by Corban at her table and said that she'd started carrying a gun the day after watching Kimberly's exchange with President Obama on CNN. She made it clear that she took gun safety seriously. Only a couple of weeks later, she used her firearm to protect herself from a violent assailant who attacked her at knifepoint as she left her office. For Corban, it was an example of a firearm's capacity to serve as an equalizer for a physically smaller woman--and a moving moment in her life not just as a victim's advocate, but as a Second Amendment advocate.
+IWF spoke to Corban in the wake of the revelations about former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. "It’s the same sexual-offender song and dance, even if they happen to walk red carpets with A-listers or perform for sold-out stadium crowds," she wrote in a blog post on Weinstein and other famous people. She says it is important to understand the nature of the crime. "Rape and assault are not about sex," she says. "We so often get caught up in thinking they are about sex. It's not. It's about power and control. That is where rapists and abusers find their self worth."
+That's not too far from what Kimberly wrote in an article for Townhall headlined "The Deplorable Elephant in the Locker Room," in which she grappled with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's assess Hollywood tape. "So when I say I was not shocked by Donald Trump’s use of the 'P' word, I mean it," she wrote. "I had actually come to expect that kind of language. What sickened me was the word 'grab.' He isn’t talking about 'sex' on that recording. He is talking about power—his power. The hallmark of assault is an exercise by the perpetrator of power and control, and that is what he was describing." As disgusted as she was, Corban did not tell anyone whether or not to vote for Trump but encouraged people to consider the issues carefully and make up their minds. She regarded the potential Supreme Court appointments that a President Clinton might make as worthy of consideration. When asked about her condemnation of our now-President, she says, "I am still in that boat," she says. "That kind of talk is never okay."
+When asked if she will be present in 2020 for the parole hearing of the man who raped her, Kimberly replies, ."
+On Weinstein, she adds, "Hollywood is an incestuous culture and unless people on the inside speak up, it's not going to change." Corban believes that it's possible to prevent some abuse by creating an environment in which victims are more likely to come forward. "We have to support survivors--it's as easy as saying 'I believe you,'" she says. Corban says that this problem can be best solved from the bottom up--by women standing up to the powerful people at the top, and that this will happen only if there is an environment that makes this possible.
+The man who raped Kimberly Corban comes up for parole in 2020. Will she attend his hearing?
+."
+Today, Kimberly is looking forward to remarrying next spring and adding her fiancé’s two sons to her growing family. "When people ask Michael and me how we met, we say 'How much time do you have?'" Their first meeting occurred in June 2006. Corban's now fiancé is the District Attorney who prosecuted her rape case. Though they lost touch for a few years afterwards, they became professional allies and good friends during the past decade before they began dating last year. "He knows the very worst things about what happened to me," she says, "probably better than anybody alive but for myself. As he says, I'll never have to explain those details again."
+Corban shouldn't have to re-live her trauma among her friends and family, but her willingness to publicly speak out about her experience—both her attack and her battle to becoming a survivor by feeling safe and strong again—is an example for all of us.
+If you or someone you know is in need of crisis resources, please visit for more information or to be instantly connected to their 24/7 online support services, or call 1-800-656-4673 for the National Sexual Assault Hotline.
+Criado em 2013, e apostando todas as fichas nos quesitos Mobilidade Urbana e Meio Ambiente, um novo sistema foi implantado em Petrolina. O petrobike. A empresa Serttel/Samba era ( ou pelos menos é), a responsável por monitorar o sistema. Quem queria utilizar as bicicletas, era só procurar uma das estações,segundo se vivenciou nos últimos anos.
+As pessoas podiam retirar uma bicicleta e devolvê-la no intervalo de 60 minutos, na mesma ou em outra estação. O sistema está parado! Cadê as bicicletas? Por que não está mais funcionando?
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+a foreign landscape if we were to go on vacation. This is one of the easiest ways to spot a tourist from a local. Children too have a natural curiosity and tend to look deeper into things than adults, that is unless they’ve been anesthetized with a cellphone. But still, this is why some of my favorite people to have out on tour with me are children and locals. While the good questions always come from the kids, I get to watch the faces of the locals as I peel back the urban veil and introduce them to a parallel dimension they have been unknowingly coexisting with their entire life.
+Today we are talking about the Saguaro cactus. Instantly recognizable it is undoubtedly one of my favorite plants to cover while on tour. While naturally commanding attention the Saguaro seems a product of something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Not only are people naturally curious about this desert giant, but the more I talk about its mysteries the more I discover as well. I can honestly say that I’ve spent entire tours standing around a single Saguaro and still did not have enough time to fully disclose all its wonderment.
+Is there a more iconic symbol of Arizona than our stately Saguaro? Please note that I use the word “our” with a specific intent as these treasures belong to all who live among them, not in the sense of ownership mind you, but stewardship. Dotting the hillsides, freeways, and neighborhoods of Phoenix, Saguaros define the boundaries of the Sonoran Desert. Phoenix sits on the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert, and the Sonoran Desert is the only habitat in the world for this species of cactus.
+The name “Saguaro” Pronounced (Sah-wor-O) not (Sah-gwar-O) was first given to this columnar cactus in 1856, from Spanish/Mexican origin. The name is an interpretation of an unknown Native American word for the cactus, perhaps Yaqui, Yavapai, or Piman; but no one seems to be sure.
+An impressive denizen of the Sonoran landscape, these cacti can span hundreds of years, withstand the worst of droughts, and tolerate with amusement 120-degree temperatures, all the while growing from the side of a rocky cliff. The waxy white blooms are Arizona’s state flower and mark the coming annual monsoon rains.
+In each Saguaro’s lifetime, it will bare millions of seeds in potential offspring, yield thousands of pounds of nutritious fruit, and provide shelter in a symbiotic relationship for hundreds of birds. Today these giants are seen as an icon of the American Southwest and locals are lucky to have one growing on their property. But it wasn’t long ago Saguaros were used by indigenous peoples for food, tools, and building material. The myths, legends, and stories surrounding these giant desert sentries are woven into the very fabric of the Sonoran desert and those who call this place home.
+Design
+Yes, design. Of all the plants built to withstand the extreme desert conditions of southern Arizona, the development and adaptations of the Saguaro are the most impressive. Ribs, pith, hide and root make up the four basic components of the Saguaro. This unique system allows the Saguaro the flexibility to quickly adapt to desert extremes.
+- Ribs – Think of this as re-bar within concrete. The ribs start off as a wooden trunk-ish structure at the base of the cactus but quickly separate out into spaced support “beams” and can become quite long and somewhat flexible without losing their strength. These ribs are the support system for the cactus.
+- Pith – The pith of the cactus is found both within and outside the ribs. It makes up the bulk of the body of the cactus and provides the ability to store water and transfer heat. Think of the pith as an extremely firm sponge working in conjunction with the ribs as a flexible support system, not unlike a high rise building. Only this support system transfers water, nutrients, and heat.
+- Hide – This is the outside of the cactus. It is called a hide because it is extremely thick for a plant. It offers the protection needed to deal with the harsh Sonoran desert sun. The hide is about 15% thicker on the south-facing side of the cactus than any other side. This is due to the Arizona sun dropping 28.6 degrees into the southern sky during the winter months. Because of the increased exposure, the Saguaro has developed a thicker hide on that side. This is one factor taken into account when transplanting them. If the Saguaro is re-planted with the previous south facing side facing any other direction, the Saguaro will soon burn its newly south facing skin and die.
+- Roots– The roots of the Saguaro cactus are without a doubt the most efficient root system known on the North American continent and are capable of transpiring over 1000 gallons of water annually. It is a two root system comprised of a taproot and radial roots. The taproot anchors the Saguaro somewhere between 3-5 feet deep while the radial roots, doing little in the way of stability, grow out as far as the cactus is tall and are only a couple of inches below the surface of the ground. This allows for more efficient water absorption during the rainy seasons.
+Structural Engineering
+The magic of our mighty Saguaro lies with its vertically running pleats. Those “V” shaped grooves running the length of the cactus are so awesome that I refer to them on tour as its “superpower.” They serve many uses and exemplify drought thriving perfection.
+- They allow the cactus to expand and contract with the rainy seasons and dry seasons. The corrugated pleats form a series of “V’s” which
+Note the shadowing on the backs of the pleats. Also, note the shade provided by the spines.
+have the ability to stretch with the absorption of water. In a single year, the Saguaro is capable of sucking up and transpiring a little over a thousand gallons of water and can absorb around two hundred gallons in a single week.
+- They provide needed shade. The pleats, with the spines on the edges of the “V” provide for a self-shading system. When the cactus is in full sun, it receives around 50% exposure at any given time. Next, take into account the shade provided along the curvature of the cactus shading the backsides of each pleat. This would bring the sun exposure down to around 45%. Next the spines on the outside of the “V’s” provide for further shading bringing it down another 5-10%. Lastly, each individual arm shades the main spike of the cactus at some point during the day providing even more shade. This being said, a Saguaro in full sun in only receiving at any given moment no more than roughly 40% direct sunlight.
+Vertical pleats shed oncoming wind.
+Stability. For years people couldn’t figure out how these giant cacti remained standing up and not blow over with the monsoon rains. Remember that they can store hundreds of gallons of water and their root system is extremely shallow. With weights reaching upwards of 8,000 pounds and winds often reaching 30-40 mph during the monsoon season, how do they remain standing? The secret is in the “V”. It has been discovered that as a gust of wind first makes contact with the cactus it is diffused as it passes through the spines on the outside edges of the “V’s.” Next, this diffused wind blows to the back of the “V” where it spirals back out forming an opposing circular vortex just a few inches off the cactus. This vortex pushes back against the oncoming wind redirecting it to the sides. What little wind that does get through gets diffused up the vertical pleats. IS THAT FRIGGING COOL OR WHAT? This means that the Saguaro sheds about 75% of oncoming wind and that up to a point, harder the wind blows the more stabilizes the Saguaro becomes within its self-generated vortex. Hence, “superpower”.
+Range
+This one is easy. The Saguaro cactus grows only in the Sonoran desert which is found only in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. This desert, unlike any other desert on earth, enjoys two rainy seasons, The winter rains which take place February through March, and the Monsoons which occur in the heat of the summer, July, and August. These rains are spaced exactly six months apart which allows the cactus to absorb enough water to sustain its self until the next rain. This unique rain pattern coupled with the extremely high temperatures of summer and the freezing temperatures of winter (yes, it does freeze in the desert) are necessary triggers to the Saguaro’s life cycle. Attempts have been made to transplant and establish Saguaros elsewhere, but all attempts have failed. It seems that Saguaros have already adapted and specialized to their home here in the Southwest.
+Something else I find quite interesting; If one overlays a map of the range of the Saguaro cactus with that of the ancient Hohokam (The culture who once inhabited southern Arizona) they will find an exact match. This illustrates how important these cacti were to the ancient Hohokam and their descendants who depended on them for survival.
+Common questions
+How long does it take for a Saguaro to get that big?
+There is an educated guesstimation formula for this. 1 inch the first five years. 6 inches by age ten. One foot by age 15. After this 2-3 inches a year, though not necessarily always. First arm between 50-70 years old, but not always. They live to around 200-250 but sometimes older. They grow to around 30-40 feet usually but not always, some have reached 70 plus feet. Scientists use the spines for dating and estimate dates based on the pollution levels trapped in the spine at the time the cactus produced it. Sorta like a hair sampling people. Scientists also use old photos. As simple as that sounds, cameras have been around for two hundred years now and there were plenty of photos taken during the days of the old west. Many Saguaros survived development and the photos are compared to the still living specimen.
+What are all those holes in the sides of them?
+Birds nests. The holes you see in the main spike and arms of the Saguaro are habitat which has been pecked by one of two birds. The Curved Bill Thrasher and the Gila Woodpecker. These two desert dwellers peck a hole into the side of a Saguaro, the cactus then secretes a sap which hardens and forms whats known as a boot, and it’s within this boot that they build their nest. Stationed safely above the coyotes,
+bobcats, badgers and other predators who would rather see them as dinner these nests maintain a 15 degree on average cooler temperature than the temperature outside the cactus. No doubt these nests are the higher end condos of the Sonoran Desert feathered community. These nests also play a larger role as we’ll discover later in this article. What’s cool is, the Gila Woodpecker will build 3-4 nests a year in order to attract a mate, each time he will abandon the old nest and leave it for other birds.
+One can observe almost any bird of the southwest in one of these boots that is capable of fitting into it, and this habitat is a primary reason southern Arizona realizes at least some of approximately 50% of all the bird species in North America during the winter months.
+I see Saguaros along the roads of Phoenix with 2×4’s holding them up. Whats that about?
+These are recently transplanted cacti. When a Saguaro cactus is transplanted it is supported for the first couple years by three or four 2×4’s which are placed at 45-degree angels to the ground. These supports allow the root system time to re-establish and stabilize the cactus. It is illegal to kill a Saguaro for any reason so they are often simply moved. Even if you happen to own a Saguaro you cannot destroy it, though I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to as a fully grown Saguaro cactus fetches upwards of $8,000. Owners who wish for their cactus to be removed are required to contact the county and give them up to three months to remove the cactus. I can recall landscapers and cactus movers knocking on my door at least once a month offering to buy my Saguaro from my front yard.
+Where are all the baby Saguaros?
+This is one of the lesser-known mysteries of the Saguaro and not as straightforward as one may imagine as a Saguaro has a few different stages of development. The first five years as a seedling, the Saguaro will grow only one inch. During this time it must remain under the protection of what is known as a “nursery plant”. In fact, a Saguaro requires a nursery plant to grow under if it survives the first few years. A nursery plant is any plant which protects the Saguaro seedling from the harsh sunlight and wintertime frost. Any plant can fulfill this role but it is usually one of the multitudes of smaller bushes (Sages, Brittlebush, Jojoba, snake broom, etc) which the Saguaro finds its self-nestled under. For under these little bushes one will find the soil a little moister for a little longer following a rain. These protracted moisture levels provide the water necessary to germinate. They also better fully conceal the Saguaro seedling preventing frost damage or frost death in this case. The second five years a Saguaro cactus will grow to about 6 inches. By this time he is becoming a bit tougher and able to withstand some of the harsh desert environment. Somewhere around year fifteen, he will have grown an entire foot tall, toughening its hide and will no longer require its nursery buddy.
+What determines how many arms a particular Saguaro has?
+The Saguaro will continue to grow at least 35 more years before it is able to grow its first arm. This will usually occur between 50 and 70 years of age. After which it can grow as many arms as it likes, as often as he likes. These arms start out as little round protrusions on the side of the cactus and at the end of a year will look like a spiky green tennis ball is stuck to its side. From this point, they will continue to grow at the same rate as the rest of the cactus. But what determines how many arms a particular cactus will grow? The short answer is, nobody knows. Over the years there have been many theories but a consensus has yet to emerge. Some of those theories include.
+- They grow arms to balance themselves out to keep from falling over. Much the same way a tree will correct its self if damaged and right its self again. Whereas this is a popular theory it has been both prove
+Balancing out?
+n and disproved. Strangely it seems that it may sometimes be the case, but not always.
+- Predetermined genetics. The theory that certain strains or lineages of cacti already possess the genetics which determines their general or potential appearance. Simply put, they are hardwired to look the way they do.
+- Environmental. It is believed by some botanists that a Saguaro may be “triggered” to spur out more arms during times of drought. Sort of a defense measure for dryer microclimates within the Sonoran Desert or even longer climate fluctuations. More arms mean an increased ability to store water and this equates to survival in times of drought.
+- Combination of all above theories.
+The Saguaro Forest
+This is a really cool phenomenon and occurs when growing conditions are perfect for the Saguaro and many examples of these can easily be seen north of Phoenix before hitting the 3000-foot elevation mark. The next time you are approaching the town of Black Canyon City pay attention to the Saguaros on the sides of the hills, there will be hundreds of them. There are also many beautiful stands on the Bee Line highway between Fountain Hills and Payson. Although these are far from the only ones in the desert, they are the most easily seen for most people who can’t access the backcountry of Arizona.
+But there is something deeper going on here as well. Remember the bird nests way up high in the Saguaros? Well when you have hundreds of Saguaros in close proximity, you have hundreds and hundreds of bird nests. A city of birds if you will, all living in a neighborhood of “cactus condos”. Now here is the cool part, these birds go out to forage and feed daily. This act, in turn, helps to reforest and re-vegetate the surrounding desert. This becomes a symbiotic win-win for the birds and surrounding area, the Sonoran Desert always seems to be a little healthier around a Saguaro forest.
+Ethnobotany of the Saguaro
+As you can imagine the Saguaro was used by all ancient peoples who lived in its vicinity for food, shelter, tools, alcohol, and even navigation.
+While the flesh or pith of the Saguaro is not eatable, the fruits are. In fact, they are the only cactus fruit which lacks spines, and if you’ve ever harvested cactus fruit you know this is an AWESOME thing. These fruits become ready just about the time the monsoon rains hit and are a welcome food source toward the end of summer when there has been nothing fresh for months. I won’t bother to list the tribes who collected this fruit as you can imagine included every one them. Different tribes had different customs and ceremony for this harvest but it was and still is the O’odham people who seem most connected to the Saguaro and its harvest. Huge parties would venture into the desert for this harvest, sometimes it was even a seasonal event, as the parties would harvest north of the now Phoenix area following the Saguaros up in elevation as the season progressed. This provided for a longer harvest as the cacti at higher elevations bloom later and therefore provide fruit at a later date than the cacti in valleys below. The seeds, pith, and juice of the bright scarlet red fruit were all used and nothing went to waste. As you can imagine there are legends and creation stories surrounding the Saguaro, as well as sacred songs which are still sung during this harvest to this day.
+The fruit is produced at the top of each arm and the main spike so getting to these fruits wasn’t the easiest of tasks. To accomplish this, harvesters would utilize the ribs of dead Saguaros, lashing them together and tying a cross piece to the tip. This pole was then traditionally used by the men to knock the fruits from the top of the cactus. The women would be waiting for the fruit to drop in teams of two with stretched blankets which were used like nets to catch the fruit before it hit the ground. The ripe fruit of the Saguaro fruit can be very delicate and become ruined if not treated gently. The fruits were then turned over the elders, who with the help of the children would cut them in half and scrape out the pulp, seeds, and juice for later processing. The seeds were ground into flour while the pulp was spread out and dried. The juice was usually put into clay pots and fermented into a wine which was consumed immediately at the soon to follow harvest celebration.
+No doubt this was a very special time of year for all peoples of southern Arizona and it is reflected in their stories and histories. The Saguaro was held in such reverence by the Pima people who occupied the Phoenix area that the cactus was often referred to as the “Saguaro People” when spoken of collectively. The Pima thought of the plants as a tribe and treated with a deserving level of respect. Just as it is illegal to destroy a Saguaro today, so it was a thousand years ago as well.
+The Pima believed that after death, men were reincarnated as Saguaros, while women were reincarnated as the arms of the Saguaros. Perfectly logical seeing they were a polygamist society and men often had many wives. It was believed that the good wives a man had in life were the arms that pointed up on the cactus, while any bad wives were the arms which pointed down.
+The ribs of the Saguaro were used for constructing shelter, sweat lodges, cot frames, back rests, racks for drying meat, looms for weaving clothing, spears, baby boards, etc. Having an extremely strong weight to strength ratio they are perfect for light construction, furniture, tools, and pretty much anything one could require in a camp.
+Weaknesses
+While researching this article one book I have. It seems that Saguaros have quite a few enemies in the natural world, but the one danger which presents the most harm to them is humans.
+Gunshots holes in the side of Saguaro.
+Pretty much any damage one may witness on a Saguaro from about 6 feet and below is man-caused. And not necessarily by anyone who is alive today either. Keep in mind that these cacti live for over two hundred years old. When leaving Phoenix by way of the I-17 north, keep a lookout for the Saguaros in the median and alongside the highway. Most of the larger ones all have significant amounts of damage, and most of that damage is gunfire. I-17 used to be a stagecoach road before it was paved and most of this damage occurred over a hundred years ago in a time when Man was not so environmentally conscious.
+It is worth noting that saguaros are not in danger of extinction, but at the same time live only within the conditions offered by the Sonoran desert. This means that while they are not immediately threatened this is the only habitat for them in the entire world. There is some concern however as the southwest continues to grow. This being said, the best protection these cacti have received has been the continuing education, especially to the young, and the enforcement and prosecution of those who would steal these cacti off the desert for profit. Being nearly impossible to police and monitor thousands of miles of backcountry, extremely severe punishments have been imposed for the theft, destruction, or injury of these cacti.
+Hug a cactus, show you care. We have to protect our state treasures.
+Whereas the rumored 25-year prison sentence is nowhere near the actual punishment imposed for molesting a Saguaro, it is classified as a class four felony and carries with it a mandatory 1 to 3.75-year prison sentence. Other crimes listed as class four felonies are- Negligent homicide, Kidnapping without physical injury, and structure arson. Wow, that’s still pretty heavy legislation for the protection of a plant species.
+Thoughts
+Please keep in mind that we only scratched the surface of this awesome Arizona legend, and there is much more we didn’t explore here that I save for my tours. It is my hope that this article has deepened your interest in our precious Saguaro or awakened your thirst to learn more about the Sonoran Desert and its 2000 species of plants, 200 species of animals, or 2 billion-year-old geology.
+Please don’t hesitate to contact me if happen to be in the Phoenix area and wish to see the desert in a whole new light, I am an independent certified interpretive guide, and rather affordable. In the meantime, if you happen to live in Arizona, the next time you see a Saguaro, please take a moment to walk up and introduce yourself. Note it’s particular age, shape, individual characteristics, and scars. Take notice of the stress rings and track the rainfall for the past 50 years. Note the position of the bird nests, are they on the north or south side of the cactus? Is this particular cactus a summer or winter home? Is this Saguaro at the edge of its habitat and struggling, or located in a prime spot? Look uphill, is it the offspring of another which shed it’s seeds 150 years ago? Perhaps just sit for a spell and see what you can see. As a native Arizonan, a practitioner of primitive skills, and lifelong Sonoran desert botanist I can tell you I learn something new every time I sit down long enough to become invisible again.
+And if you read all the way to the end, here you go. Two extremely rare Saguaros.
+I hope you’ve enjoyed this article on the Saguaro cactus as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for your time and readership.
+Ted
+Great Article!Reply
+Brujo2u
+Thank you Ted.Reply
+Cory Daniel
+Thank you Ted I appreciate you taking the time to visit my site.Reply
+Teri
+Love this article Cory. I do miss seing the “Sentinels of the Desert” up here in the Verde Valley!Reply
+Jason Foss
+Very informative. Well done sir.Reply
+Ra
+Absolutely amazing narration, very well-rounded and insightful, speaks of your knowledge and love of the desert!Reply
+Kj
+Great read! I am fascinated by the love birds 🙂Reply
+Sam
+Good Stuff!Reply
+Cindy
+Thanks for the great article. I’m a docent trained to give tours at the Desert Botanical Garden. I noticed that a LOT of saguaros, both old and young, are growing new arm buds this year. Do you think it’s because we had so little rain this winter? The idea that they grow arms to be able to store more water for drought makes sense, but I wonder if this is being specifically researched.Reply
+Cory Daniel
+Thank you for your comments Cindy, and thanks for the awesome work you do at the Desert Botanical Gardens. I know the DBG was one of my first loves in this world and that the “plants and people” trail opened up new horizons for me.
+I noticed the same thing with the arms. And I think probably yes, but that’s a very unscientific observational guess. Another thing I noticed is that the flowers bloomed quite early this year. I saw the first ones budding out mid-April along Via Linda, and within a week was noticing full blooms out in the four peaks area. What a strange is that Saguaros need the heat to bloom so they usually bloom at lower elevations first and in turn blooming at higher elevations as the season goes on up to approx 3000 ft where their habitat ends. I noticed that all of the Saguaros around 2400 feet were in full-bloom long before there were any blooms down in Phoenix.
+I also noticed something else. The flowers were blooming up to 3 feet below the arm tips along the sides of the arms. Maybe this has happened every year and it’s just that I’ve never noticed but I’m sure noticing at this year… Is this normal in your experience?
+Thank you for your readership and I appreciate any feedback you can share.Reply
+Barb Geist
+Loved your article! I think of saguaros as snowflakes of the desert as no two are alike…and I find I personify them! We are lucky enough to have one tall beauty in our backyard that is home to a Gila Woodpecker. They are majestic and I agree they need our protection–knowledge like yours is the key.Reply
+Cory Daniel
+Thank you for your comments. I’m lucky enough to get to talk to them every day at work and share them with people. It was an exceptionally beautiful year for blooms and I had the opportunity to get many wonderful photos. There most certainly is an energetic or spiritual side to them, much like the redwoods, and most people seem to sense this when they stand next to one. I never tire of their presence.Reply
+Myra Garcia
+What a wealth of fascinating information. Thank youReply
+Shenandoah Smith
+My heart was broken last week as my beloved saquaro broke and fell into my pool and negative edge. I was MIA in Sedona when this occurred. I was told that sky harbor had 71mph winds on the 9th. Hercules (his name) was my focal to my pool/backyard for the past 16 years, He was approx. 29-30 and had 4 large/long arms (9-13′) and 8 new baby arms that developed a few years ago. A small amount of my father & my daughter’s ashes were spread at his base in 2002 & 2013 (now you see why he was so special. My question to you is after he is removed (and cut up), is there anything I can do to memorialize him on my property (1 acre). I live by the Superstition Mtn. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.Reply
+PS I LOVED your Article.
+Dreadfully appealing – a place where Geiger counter goes mad
+“Guides, together with medical workers, have already prepared a safe itinerary for visitors,” says Oksana Nor, director of the state-run “ChernobylInterInform” news agency.
+The idea to open a new tourist attraction appeared alongside the keen interest that the abandoned town provoked in foreigners. According to Forbes magazine, Chernobyl is in the top ten most interesting places in the world.
+“We need to demonstrate that Ukraine no longer presents a radioactive threat to people. Visitors will hear the whole story of the Chernobyl disaster, of rectification of the consequences and much more,” Nor points out.
+The Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations stated, though not officially, that radiation pollution in the exclusion zone bears spot character, with some places being unsafe to stay at, while others constitute no significant danger to health. “The itineraries developed in Chernobyl are harmless,” the authorities declare.
+Radioactive tour
+Ukrainian authorities hope that the tour will become one of the main sightseeing hits in the country. The first excursion will take place during the New Year holidays, and visitors are promised a fireworks display near the atomic power station’s sarcophagus.
+Despite the fact that it is only now that such excursions have become legally permissible, small private travel bureaus have been offering tours to the radioactive zone for the past several years. Such tours include a four or five-hour walk and cost approximately US$100 per person. But the illegal tours could be quite dangerous – guides may forget to warn tourists there are spots marked by high radiation levels, and lingering there without taking precautions may lead to serious consequences and even to radiation sickness.
+Official tourist agencies also organize such tours; though they do not advertise them on their websites. If you decide to ignore the official excursions or just do not want to wait for another month, you may try your luck and give a tourist company a call.
+A livejournal [Russian blog site] user from St. Petersburg, Aleksandr Durnev, an enthusiastic blogger and traveler, was one of the first to go to Chernobyl on an illegal tour which he found difficult to forget. He described the excursion in the livejournal blog he keeps in Russian, illustrating his story with pictures many might find depressing and shocking.
+Officially it is forbidden to take pictures during excursions. The only place where photography is not banned is the observation point of the notorious sarcophagus. Still, the Internet is full of pictures taken from all over the ghost town at the photographers’ own risk.
+The first radioactive zone border lies some 180 kilometers away from Kiev. There, at a big checkpoint, men dressed in military uniform examine passports and let tourists in for a small additional fee. Ten kilometers further on, there is a second checkpoint with more-or-less the same security measures. When you pass this checkpoint, you find yourself in Chernobyl. “The sight was horrifying and shocking – dead silence, empty dark windows broken into tiny pieces of glass, trees growing through half destroyed roofs,” recalls Aleksandr.
+A village called Kopachi, a small hamlet nearest to Chernobyl, looks like a big graveyard. After the explosion, this place was considered extremely “dirty” – the level of radiation was appalling, so several dozen bulldozers buried all the houses, turning the village into a row of tombs.
+“The next so-called place of interest we were taken to was a big pond (a former reactor coolant) that is now inhabited by catfish. Huge four-meter long fish emerged to the surface when somebody threw a piece of bread to the water (note that normally these fish do not grow bigger than two meters!),” recounted the blogger.
+Another notorious ghost town where tourists are taken after Chernobyl is the town of Pripyat. Located just four kilometers away from the actual accident scene, it is the second famous tourist site. No one lives there. The houses, schools, hospitals and post offices are silent and deserted.
+The atmosphere is oppressing and ominous, something you would expect reading another Dean Koontz novel, shivering. Aleksandr wrote in his blog: “First we went to a hotel located on the central city square. The reception desk was covered in a thick layer of dust, and when we ascended to the terrace we saw a birch tree growing from the floor. Then we were taken to a former amusement park with lots of attractions that looked horrifying. There is no need to describe all the sites we saw in Pripyat – they differed solely in the degree of shock and terror they produced.”
+At the end of the excursion, tourists are allowed to wander for some time on their own under the supervision of the guides who clamp down on any attempt to march off the itinerary’s trail.
+After the tour, visitors are normally asked to return to the checkpoint where they pass radiation-measuring control. If anyone is believed to have got too “dirty”, he or she leaves their boots at the checkpoint and has to return home in socks.
+And this is where the tour comes to an end.
+There is a canteen some 25 kilometers away from the disaster site. All goods are “imported” from Kiev and are not contaminated. By the way, the canteen building is home to about a dozen cats, which proves the place is actually not a dead zone. A few kilometers away from the city there are dozens of locals who will be happy to feed the tourists. Authorities let them sell home-grown food, and lovers of extreme pursuits might enjoy tasting mushrooms and berries gathered in the nearby forest.
+Shoeless but secure
+The price for the government approved excursion does not differ greatly from its illegal predecessor – $100 per person. However, not all tourist companies will have the right to organize such tours: there is an array of papers that need to be collected before the permission is obtained.
+The extreme tour does not allow young people under 18 or pregnant women to visit Chernobyl, and everyone must wear clothes that cover the whole body – no minis or T-shirts are allowed.
+Authorities are positively sure the excursions pose no threat to the tourists’ health. All in all, the radiation dose tourists get during the excursion is slightly smaller than the one people get during a transatlantic flight and does not exceed 1,000 microroentgens per hour, while the lethal dose equals to 300-500 roentgens per hour.
+What tourists are seeing now above the destroyed fourth bloc of the Chernobyl NPP is in fact the old, or the original, sarcophagus built in 1986 – just months after the fallout.
+Today, the highest radiation level (about 1500 microroentgens per hour) is detected only close to the sarcophagus – a huge construction made of armored concrete that contains the smashed reactor. Only there, in the immediate proximity of the sarcophagus, can a person develop acute radiation syndrome. “The closest one can get to the sarcophagus – unless you have special permission (which is practically impossible to obtain for a tourist) – is around a 100 meters,” said Aleksandr.
+For the past ten years, efforts have been underway to make a new protective cover over the destroyed sarcophagus, which will not only block off the radiation materials, but also let professionals work in close proximity to the sarcophagus – currently a dangerous occupation. The Ukrainian government turned to the EU to build a new confinement shell. French company “Navarco” won the right to build a new structure to cover the reactor. “The protective shelter will present an arch barrel,” said the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations, “this will ensure that radioactive materials will on no account penetrate into the atmosphere.” And though there were rumors the old construction can no longer restrict radiation and might cause another disaster, the head of the Ukrainian EMERCOM deflated these rumors: “The sarcophagus is in good condition and will guarantee safety until it is replaced with the new one.”
+A number of medical workers are sure the safety precautions that are taken today are excessive. But too many people are still afraid to set their foot in one of the greatest quarantine areas in human history, and continue to repeat the stories of two-headed birds and gigantic six-legged calves spotted in the zone.
+The living monument
+For more pictures visit RT's Chernobyl gallery
+The Chernobyl that is so appealing for tourists today used to be a simple Ukrainian town with an Atomic Power Station built within its boundaries some 30 years ago. On April 26, 1986, the reactor exploded and a great mass of radioactive substances shot into the atmosphere, making the town a toxic travesty, and the catastrophe the greatest of its kind. Today there are several versions of the reason of the tragedy, one of the most popular being that the reactor failed to meet safety requirements. More than a hundred people died in the three months following the disaster. 134 more suffered from radiation sickness, and more than 4,000 are doomed to die of thyroid cancer. More than 600,000 people took part in remediation process; approximately 115,000 people were evacuated from all the towns and dwellings in the 30-kilometer zone.
+It took 25 years to turn the place from a toxic town into a dangerous tourist attraction. Huge vegetables and fruit continued to grow in the nearby areas for two-and-a-half decades, and thousands of new babies were born with various defects. Despite the fact that tours and excursions are being organized to Pripyat, the city is unlikely ever to be inhabited again. The fallout period of many radioactive particles in the area amounts to thousands of years. At some parts of the ghost town, the radiation meter goes frantic and shows levels of up to one roentgen per hour (just imagine: levels of around six roentgens per hour will most definitely give you radiation sickness instantly).
+“I heard that the future of Pripyat is causing some unrest among its former residents and scientists. The former stand for keeping the town as it is – something of a preserved theme park of post-apocalyptic sights. The latter say it has to be raised to the ground. I would join the former bunch, as I believe Pripyat must be seen by as many people as possible. It is a true depiction of how costly a human error can be,” says Aleksey Yaroshevsky, an RT correspondent who made a documentary film about Chernobyl disaster.
+The Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations is busy advertising the excursions. However, after the release of the computer game called “Stalker” where the action takes place in the destroyed Chernobyl, it seems there is no need to do so – young men and foreigners are lining up to see the ghost town with their own eyes.
+Internet blogs are full of eyewitness accounts who describe the tour, illustrating the story with pictures. Young people come to Chernobyl from all parts of Ukraine and Russia. Aleksandr had to travel from St. Petersburg to Kiev, spending a whole day on a train just to see the place where it all happened. Though a grown man, he too was shocked and distressed by what he saw at his destination: “We were passing a kindergarten located near the forest. And though it was cold and snowy, everyone went inside. Small kids’ lockers were left open, tiny slippers were scattered on the floor, rusty childrens’ beds in the corner – it all looked so oppressive.”
+Everyone willing can buy pocket Geiger counters on their way to Chernobyl in order to see that the radiation bogeyman stories are not just fiction. “Everyone who bought the counters started measuring the radiation levels at the approaches to the city. Even in the bus it was 70 to 80 microroentgens per hour, while in Moscow and St. Petersburg the radiation level is 10. Near the sarcophagus, the counters already showed 500 microroentgens per hour and our group started to get nervous,” wrote the blogger. “The guide told us he got used to tourists getting shocked on the bus seeing the radiation level nearing 100 microroentgens per hour, and by the end of the excursion these very men and women would ignore the radiation level of 1,000 microroentgens per hour!" adds Aleksandr.
+And though enthusiasts have already started booking extreme tours wishing to be the first “legitimate” tourists in the ghost city, there are thousands of people who disapprove greatly of the new amusement venture.
+Hundreds of blog entries have appeared on the Internet, labeling such excursions as immoral and saying that letting tourists gape at the demolished buildings and the evidence of a great tragedy is unethical at the very least.
+Less than a month remains before the launch of the radioactive tours that might bring Ukraine the money and popularity it wants. But does it want it at such a price?
+Anna Yudina, RT
+; prophyll single, adaxial; leaf base sheathing, sheath open, petiole 0, blade linear, main venation parallel, veins joining successively from the outside at the apex, endings not free, transverse veins +, unbranched, margins entire, Vorläuferspitze +, colleters [intravaginal squamules] +;).
+[ASPARAGALES + COMMELINIDS]: style long.
+COMMELINIDS
+Unlignified cell walls with UV-fluorescent ferulic and coumaric acids; ; T -> K + C [stamens adnate to corolla/inner whorl]; pollen starchy; embryo short, broad.
+Phylogeny. Relationships of the main groups within commelinids are unclear; for further information, see discussion preceding Dasypogonaceae, also Commelinales and Poales.
+[POALES [COMMELINALES + ZINGIBERALES]]: primary cell wall mostly with glucurono-arabinoxylans; stomata subsidiary cells with parallel cell divisions; endosperm reserves starchy.
+[COMMELINALES + ZINGIBERALES]: inflorescences with many-flowered cincinnal branches [helicoid cymes]; K + C -> T; A opposite T;; cuticular waxes as aggregated rodlets; leaves with distinct petiole, midrib, lateral veins S-shaped , more than a single order, fine transverse venation; inflorescence bracts large, persistent; flowers large [>2 cm long], monosymmetric; A 5, adaxial member of inner whorl 0/staminodial; anthers long [>5 mm long]; pollen inaperturate, exine at most thin, spinulose, to 0; outer intine thick, channeled; G inferior, (septal nectaries labyrinthine), style long, stigma large, wet; ovule with outer integument ³5 cells across, epidermal cells of nucellus apex radially elongated [nucellar pad], suprachalazal tissue well developed; fruit opening laterally, loculicidal; seeds arillate, (Collinson & van Bergen 2004; Benedict 2011).. is a reasonable bet (see also Barrett et al. 2013 below).). Both feeding on Zingiberales and specialisation of the larvae and particularly adults on the young, rolled leaves may each have evolved once; the association between the beetles and Zingiberales may date from the very late Cretaceous (Wilf et al. 2000; McKenna & Farrell 2006).. Understanding floral evolution in Zingiberales is difficult. Rudall and Bateman (2004) see, this topology has no strong support, and the flowers of Heliconiaceae are inverted compared with those of the [[Cannaceae + Marantaceae] [Costaceae + Zingiberaceae]] clade.. Mahanty (1970) and Song et al. (2004) suggest that the base chromosome number for the order (x) = 11.
+Chemistry, Morphology, etc. The phenol zingerone (C11H14O3) has apparently been isolated from Eocene fossils of the unplaced (other than to order) Spirematospermum; is its presence a synapomorphy for the order (van Bergen & Collinson 1999)? The roots tend to have V-shaped aggregations of xylem, with an especially large metaxylem element at the angle (von Guttenberg 1968). Arber (1925) suggests that the cauline vascular bundles are not amphivasal, but I have not checked this against recent anatomical literature. Zingiberales often lack vessels in the stem and especially the leaves.). When the tepals are differentiated into two whorls, both are more or less petal-like, although the inner is larger. However, in Strelitzia, Lowia, as well as Heliconiaceae and Musaceae, the perianth consists of largely undifferentiated tepals (see also Payer 1857) and stamens are opposite members of both whorls. Interestingly, the short, broad concave staminodes of Heliconia and inner adaxial tepal/petal of Musa and Strelitzia look quite similar.
+There are several vascular bundles in the massive stamens of Musaceae and Zingiberaceae, at least.).
+For an early but still interesting general discussion on evolutionary morphology of the order, see Tomlinson (1962a), for information on floral anatomy, see Rao et al. (1954), for that of vegetative anatomy, see Tomlinson (1969),); on sieve tube inclusions, etc., see Behnke (1994), and on tapetum, see Furness and Rudall (2001). For the atpA deletion, see Davis et al. (2004), for phenylphenalenones, see Otálvaro et al. (2002), for chromosome numbers, see Song et al. (2004), for phytoliths, see Piperno (2006), and for vessel and tracheid micromorphology, see Carlquist and Schneider (2010).
+Phylogeny. Phylogenetic relationships in the order have been much studied, but are still unclear - see especially Kress (1990b, 1995) and Andersson and Chase (2001: Costaceae and Zingiberaceae not obviously sister taxa). Musaceae are]] are not found in some analyses (e.g. Davis et al. 2004: support values very low; Soltis et al. 2007a), or the relationships in this group are scrambled (Wikström et al. (2001). Johansen (2005), looking at six DNA regions (plastid, nuclear), recently suggested that Lowiaceae and Strelitziaceae were successively sister to remaining Zingiberales, which would make reconstruction of character evolution of the flowers in particular ambiguous; however, support was not strong and sampling other than in Orchidantha, the focus of the paper, was poor. Bell et al. (2010) found the relationships [Musaceae [[Cannaceae + Heliconiacaeae] [Lowiaceae + Strelitziaceae] [Zingiberaceae [Costaceae + Marantaceae]]].]] [[Cannaceae + Marantaceae] [Costaceae + Zingiberaceae]]]] were obtained, although support for the clades with asterisks was slight. Hence the conservative and rather minimal resolution of relationships in the tree here, however, if this topology holds up in subsequent analyses, it will have important consequences when thinking about floral evolution (see Barrett et al. 2013 for discussion). However, polarization of characters still will not be easy, given this topology and the variation in important features like oblique monosymmetry and tepaloid perianth within Commelinales.
+Classification. For a detailed classification of the order, see Kress et al. (2001); pending stabilization of the phylogeny of the clade, I have been conservative. Jussieu, nom. cons. Back to Zingiberales
+Plant cormose; (phenylphenalenones +); SiO2 bodies decorated and trough-shaped; rhizome with endodermis; roots with scattered wide vessels and strands of phloem in the pith; vessels also in stem; sieve tube plastids also with peripheral protein fibres; laticifers +, articulated; mucilage cells +; petiole with 1 series of ± abaxial air canals; plant glabrous; prophylls lateral; leaves spiral, petiole short, axillary buds 0 or leaf-opposed; plant monoecious; inflorescence bracts deciduous, cincinni at right angles to the main axis, floral bracts and bracteoles 0; connate except adaxially, connation congenital, adaxial inner T free, reduced and ± cucullate; staminate flowers: (A 6), anther wall formation of the basic type [Musella], exothecium +, endothecium poorly developed, staminode 0; tapetum glandular; pistillode +; carpellate flowers: G with intra-ovarian trichomes and mucilage, while Paterson et al. (2004) thought that Musa might perhaps have diverged as much as 142 m.y. ago....
+Musaceae - Ensete oregonense - are known fossil in Eocene deposits some 43 m.y. old from west North America (Manchester & Kress 1993).
+Evolution.? The mitochondria, but not the chloroplasts, are paternally inherited in Musa (Fauré et al. 1994)...
+The Rest: ?
+Age. If there is a clade that includes the rest of the order, suggested ages for this node is (61-)52, 50(-43) m.y.a. (Bell et al. 2010), (61-)57, 53(-49), (37-)33(-29) m.y. (Wikström et al. 2001), and 75-30 m.y. (Mennes et al. 2013).
+HELICONIACEAE Vines Back to Zingiberales
+Rhizome with endodermoid layer; SiO2 bodies decorated and trough-shaped; stomata polycytic, neighbouring cells with oblique divisions; petiole long; inflorescence branches often 2-ranked; flowers obliquely monosymmetric; 5 T connate, connation postgenital, adaxial-lateral T ± free; A 5, basally adnate to T, staminode opposite free T (= abaxial member of outer whorl staminodial), ± hooded; tapetum amoeboid, non-syncytical; derived from funicle; aril 0, testa and tegmen thin, undifferentiated; n = (11) 12, chromosomes 1.4-4.5 µm long; coleoptile 0, but sheath lobed, collar at right angles to cotyledon.
+1[list]/100-200. Mostly tropical America, a few Celebes to the Pacific (map: Old World from Kress 1990a; New World, J. Kress, pers. comm.). [Photo - Flower, Flower.]
+Age. D.
+[Strelitziaceae + Lowiaceae]: petiole long, with adaxial and abaxial series of air canals; T whorls differentiated, but both petal-like, 2 abaxial members of inner whorl enclosing stamens, adaxial A of inner whorl staminodial; tapetum glandular [inc. Lowiaceae?];)).A individually opposite the P members,
+STRELITZIACEAE Hutchinson, nom. cons. Back to Zingiberales
+(Plant arborescent), (growth monopodial); phenylphenalenones +; SiO2 bodies ± spherical; roots with scattered wide vessels and strands of phloem in the pith, stems with vessels; petiole with several arcs of air canals; stomata polycytic, (neighbouring cell divisions oblique); inflorescence branches 2-ranked; (T whorls not differentiated), inner whorl basally connate (2 lateral connate), large, adaxial member ± cucullate; (A 6 - Ravenala), tapetum glandular,.
+LOWIACEAE Ridley, nom. cons. Back to Zingiberales
+SiO2 bodies ± conical; endodermoid layer in rhizome; guard cells aymmetrical [with inner and outer ledges unequal]; cross veins +, in abaxial part of blade; inflorescence of repeating 1-flowered units, branching from bracts below the flower, the flower axillary; flowers held upside down; K basally connate, adaxial C large [= labellum], abaxial pair small, A basally adnate to C, (staminode +); are often held in an inverted position, the adaxial median petal decorated [druse-shaped] and with troughs; raphides 0; petiole with one series of air canals; guard cells asymmetric in transverse section [inner and outer ledges unequal]; petiole short, poorly differentiated; inflorescence branches spiral; T -> K + C, differentiated, but both whorls ± petal-like, inner whorl connate; A 1, [median [adaxial] member of inner whorl], 2 A of both whorls staminodial, ± petal-like, abaxial member of outer,]: oblique cells of both are quite different in the two.
+Chemistry, Morphology, etc.; guard cells with inner and outer ledges ± equal; (leaves spiral); inflorescence branched; flower short-lived; staminodes 1-4(-5); tapetal cells 2-6-nucleate; microsporogenesis also successive; G muricate, style flattened, pollen deposited on abaxial surface,. prophyll is lateral and the plane of symmetry of the flower inverted.). [2-flowered cymules], of moderate size, median member of the outer whort adaxial;, pollen deposited on adaxial surface  indehiscent); mesotesta tanniniferous, operculum endotestal, (tegmen with thin elongated sclereids); embryo curved, long; n = (-13), chromosomes "very small";  57 or 72-60 m.y. (Kress & Specht 2005, 2006)). The).
+In the New World in particular, long-tongued, trap-lining euglossine bees are the main pollinating agents, ).
+Some information is taken from Andersson (1981, 1998: general), who questioned the chromosome numbers reported for the family because of the small size of the chromosomes, problems with the identity of the material counted, etc. For morpology and anatomy, see Tomlinson (1961a), for inflorescence structure, see Andersson (1976), species nopw being placed in Goeppertea (Borchsenius et al. 2012).
+[Costaceae + Zingiberaceae]: leaf ligulate; bracet; chalazal mass in seed ±, unbranched, (flowers single); floral bracts often with abaxial nectaries; pollen aperturate; (G [2]), stigma with adaxial projection, fimbriate; outer integument 5-6 cells across; endosperm without starch; n = 9 (14); cotyledon blade-like, photosynthetic, with apical backwardly-directed process; n = 9, chromosomes 2.3-3.7 µm long.
+6[list]/110:. (Wikström et al. 2001), ca 47 m.y. (Janssen & Bremer 2004), or 23 m.y. and 74 or 52-47 m.y. (Specht 2005, 2006).
+Evolution. Divergence & Distribution. Specht (2006) discussed the diversification and biogeography of the family in detail.. elements.]
+1. Siphonochiloideae W. J. Kress
+Rhizome fleshy, vertical; plane of distichy ?perpendicular to the ground; inflorescence a raceme, bracteoles 0; n = 14.
+1/15.); n = (11) 12, chromosomes 0.7-4.5 µm long.
+21/ Alpinia (200), Etlingera (110), Amomum (150), Renealmia (75), Riedelia (60), Aframomum (50), Hornstedia (50). Indo-Malesia, tropical Australia; Renealmia, American and African tropics.
+Synonymy: Alpiniaceae Link, Amomaceae Jaume Saint-Hilaire
+4. Zingiberoideae Hasskarl
+Rhizomes fibrous, plane of distichy at right angles to the ground; (steroidal saponins + - Hedychium); (lateral staminodes of outer whorl); (multilayered exotestal epidermis - Globbeae), endotesta parenchymatous; starch grains of perisperm compound (simple - Globbeae), the nectariniid spiderhunter) in some Bornean gingers, see Sakai et al. (2013 and references).. Relationships in the family are [Siphonochiloideae [Tamijioideae [Alpinioideae + Zingiberoideae]]] - all clades with strong support (Kress et al. 2002: two genes)..
+OK like Socrates "The Gadfly" that irritated the occupants of the city state of Athens, I hereby propose an irritating question to those I have observed on this site: Why do you all insist on installing your megabucks systems the wrong way to properly display a stereo image?
+Here's my point: I went on the overall site looking at the pictures of other's installations and was struck by one point over and over... Almost without exception everybody plunks their expensive chrome, shiny gear right in between their speakers...right where it is the object to generate a proper stereo image.
+If I was a movie projectionist and instead of throwing an image on a flat white screen without impediment I instead put a pile of huge rocks on the stage and projected the image there, what would you expect as an outcome? That's right. a jagged, pile of rocks would be trying to display your pristine image and faces would be all distorted as the rocks shone back the image.
+In this exact phenomenon the home "stereo image' afficiando has been informed that they must plunk the sum total of their investment "the crap" herein referred to...right in between the speakers. One assumes the point is to impress all those assembled with how expensive your "crap" is.
+However from the point of a projectionist what the hell is all that crap doing THERE?
+I suppose most stereophile afficiandos have fallen prey to the seductive idea that "short expensive leads" are in order so you all have python sized speaker cables hooked up to your amplifiers. Or you just don't yet realize that even box speakers project the stereo image to the sides and the rear of their location. As the sound comes out of a box speaker it pretty much spreads out in ALL directions. Beliveve it or not.
+And of course a lot of you couldn't possibly place the "junk" such as CD players,amps and the associated crapola anywhere else except "right between the speakers where the leads are short!".
+I would argue (and I AM arguing) that you would all be much better served if you moved all your junk out of the display area of the "stereo image" and instead put either some absorbent acoustic tiles there or a nice horn loaded fireplace or something, anything, other than a pile of your precious "stereo gear."
+Perhaps you could try longer speaker leads of sufficient quality to allow everything to be shoved over to the side of the room or even better, placed in a separate room completely isolated from turntable vibration and bass feedback loops. Or you could experiment using balanced plus six DB output leads and remote feed your amps and STILL keep your precious speaker leads short. At the very least you might accomplish moving your vibration prone turntables out of the line of fire. Or would that be too logical?
+Like in a professional recording studio where they purposely keep all the recording junk away from the performers. Hmmmm.
+Discuss. Get angry. Call me an ass.
+I'm just asking...
+The Doctor.
+Set-up is important, I agree.
+I once had the luxury to have a room setup where there were no objects between the two speakers, and electronics placed to the right side wall. It sounded good, and imaging was good too. Wall treatments behind the speakers and on the wall between them definitely helped. Moving the speakers in large steps help get to the imaging ballpark. Then moving them in inches gets them very close top the goal. Finally moving them fractions of an inch zeros the imaging in, between the gross hole-in-the-middle, too-wide-apart locations and the collapsed soundstage of too-close-together locations.
+I've recently moved my equipment off to the side and moved my speakers well out in to the room in accordance with the Golden Ratio placement theory as suggested on the Cardas website. It works very well. It's a good idea to mark your floor with some tape and only move your speaks out for listening, especially if you have a spouse.
+While it really does improve imaging, it really ensures better tonal balance and timbre.
+Don't be afraid to experiment.
+We are not talking about light on a screen. Imaging is purely happening in your mind via your ears. Stuff between speakers, assuming they have some breathing room is really not a real issue.
+But the obvious reason is to set up a stereo system not between your speakers requires roughly twice as long speaker wire (assuming it's of setup is off to the side). Since most high-end systems already pay pretty penny toward wire, I for one would think hard about doubling that cost.
+It also ends up taking up twice the space: speakers taking up most of one wall (if you are trying to keep the space between open), stereo gear taking up a side wall. It's hard enough with WAF, or just having the open space itself, to get a decent triangle setup and a dedicated listening room. Now you are claiming it's far better to be even less efficient with floor space? That's not the real world, even in the already fuzzy world of audiophiles.
+Plus- your theory is just that: a musing only, with no proof or evidence to back it up. The variable effecting room acoustics are a subject in itself for sure. But equipment in between speakers is no more or less a problem than any other factor in a given room.
+The stuff between the speakers interfers with sound radiation by creating a hindrance or obstacle; thus reducing overall imaging.
+Just my opinion.
+Again- having just blank space won't be better either. You'd need to have something there to absorb reflections too. My take is some randomness in the room is a good thing to break up larger refractions etc.
+If the speakers are very close to the equipment and you have a big boxy cabinet you may run into trouble- just like having speakers near side walls.. But often racks are quite open so that's not going to be a big deal. Remember again most of the imaging takes place where you are sitting: it's the left and right sound waves mixing and hitting your ears. The "imaging" as you perceive it isn't actually happening up the speaker/gear end of the room. That's just an illusion your brain is tricked into thinking.
+Real imaging at a live concert is of course happening at the point of each instrument. Stereos are merely trying to make you think that's happening in your room.
+I resently did this, everything but the poweramp is now hanging on a solid wall, sitting on welldamped shelwes. This includes ofcourse turntable, riaa, preamp and powersupply. Then driwing my poweramp balanced. the amp on damping podium sitting on the floor. The effect is rather dramatic. First i had to alter the oading of my cartridge to get more natural timbre, but then the magic happend, the soundstage is now truly 3-dimensional and som kind of "fidly-fudly-grumpy" "gray/brown" noise has left the builiding and now i have a much more transparent image, better dynamics and a better allower midrange.
+The problem i think is not what the treadstarter is trying to explain projection, but reflection from the items standing betwen loudspeakers and the sound itself producing vibration in the items, vibrations that manufacturers try to avoid.
+best regards Asger from Copenhagen.
+dbowker says:
+"We are not talking about light on a screen. Imaging is purely happening in your mind via your ears. Stuff between speakers, assuming they have some breathing room is really not a real issue."
+Actually I have argued that stuff between speakers has an unbelievable effect on imaging. Everything from your nose forward... And even that door you left open to the next room, haha.
+The problem is you have to move everything out of the line of fire FIRST (except as noted, perhaps a few wall mounted sound absorption/diffuser treatments) BEFORE you will be able to hear that even that small sub near the front speakers is messing with the TREBLE soundfield because it is a box reflecting stuff in the soundfield.
+In one room that had a fireplace, simply putting the mesh fire screen over the opening ruined the imaging. And believe it or not changing the toe in of the power amplifiers sitting on the floor changed the midrange and treble being reflected to the listening position. Because they were part of the soundfield.
+These effects were tracked by using ears---which even visiting non-audiophiles agreed it was obvious. Professional room tuners like Bob Katz, mastering engineer, do it by checking the room response using fast fourier analysis and other tools. Experience shows that improvements by paying attention to room reflection from everything in front of your nose---can pay off more than switching between different grades of power amplifiers, or different speaker wires. Way more than you get out of simply spending money, in other words.
+Bob Katz actually wrote the book on what mastering engineers do so that they can hear whether or not a record is "finished" properly. He is the go-to guy for audiophile recordings and has a world-wide reputation for being par excellent at room knowledge. His own room HAS to have equipment in it but he put it on rollers at the side and keeps a few things at foot level so that nothing is in front except the mid field speakers he uses.
+In addition to reading books seen in the pages of Stereophile like "Get Better Sound" by Jim Smith, I wonder why more attention is not paid to the mastering room designers. These guys are US but armed with making things work... Or they don't get PAID, haha.
+And what Bob Katz has to say all jibed with my own experience selling and installing high end equipment. Until I went to look at the systems pictured up here on Stereophile.
+So I just HAD to be a jerk and ask the question: Why do the guys on Stereophile set it up WRONG.
+Thank you for the comments. ALL of them. I can see some folks have actually experimented along these lines already, but not everybody is a believer in---the room comes first... And get that JUNK out of here, it is in the way, haha.
+"Thank you for the comments. ALL of them. I can see some folks have actually experimented along these lines already, but not everybody is a believer in---the room comes first... And get that JUNK out of here, it is in the way, haha."
+I think it's not that we don't "believe"that the room comes first, but very few people have the space, first and foremost, nor the means, or the desire to set up what would basically be a listening studio. But who wants to hang out in a studio? Not me!
+I want to live in my house, and live comfortably. When I listen, as often as not I'm reading, having a drink, or have some friends over. The last thing I want is to have to have this perfectly "open", acoustically treated lab space to hear my "perfect" sound. And I tend to like a kind of Zen look too!
+If a stereo can't sound pretty damn great after you spent $10-15k (or even a lot less) on it in any average room, then you have wasted your money. Sure, you can have an especially bad setup, and I've seen plenty. But if you know you have a certain space to deal with: build your system to work with it. If you can pull a few things out and re-arrange, by all means do so.
+But I don't buy that one has to go to extraordinary means to have a well thought out audio system sound great. Anything that takes that much effort and I think you may be in danger of having lost the point: to enjoy the music, not just marvel at the sound.
+OK dbowker WHY don't guys have the desire? You say it all would look like a recording studio and mess up the looks of the room. I say things might even look prettier in those rooms if they would take my suggestion and try moving out all the clutter of amps and stuff and go hide it.
+Everybody obviously already has the space. Go look at the pictures of everybodies rooms. They are setting things up and taking up space already. I just say it is the WRONG space. So I respect your opinion but I don't buy it.
+So it comes down to means and this is the part that drives me nuts. Guys will spend a half million on a Ferrari and NOT learn how to drive it. So it sits in the garage. Guys will spend twenty or thirty thousand (or MUCH more) on their prized stereo and NOT learn how to set it up. So the stereo sounds simply awful. Believe me I sold this stuff for forty five years and my rich customers were all the WORST about setting things up and their sets all sounded like do-do.
+And it drives me nuts because the stuff is amazing when a master set up guy gets through fixing all the obvious problems with how it is placed in the room. And if some guys are unable to find (or afford) a set up guy to pay for his skills they can all ways learn to do it themselves. For starters you could try the Sumiko Method of speaker placement (go look on audio asylum for details).
+Getting your speakers to achieve "room lock" takes a little sweat but probably won't be much different from where they already are if you at least have them in an equilateral triangle in the first place. And if you don't how on earth are you listening to stereo records.
+For illustration I also build and race motorcycles and the best investment I have made at age 64 is more driving lessons. I am so glad that the track racing pros will share their knowledge of high performance driving techniques as it makes me way more capable on the street, much less at high speeds on the track.
+So please forgive me for not agreeing with your reply. At least you were interested enough in the question to argue that it is not possible to actually fix your stereo. I can respect that.
+I just don't believe it.
+You're assumption, probably true in some cases, is that if the setup looks bad to you, it must sound bad to everyone else. Not always so my friend. Often not so actually!
+In any case, my setup sounds great, and the few issues I have with it are almost entirely due to the room being a few feet two small in each direction for full-range speakers. This is not even evident in most of what I listen too, just certain albums really. So for all intents and purposes: no problem, despite the fact I have verything set up between the speakers, etc.
+In the end, if the owner isn't complaining, there is no problem; not really. If the setup looks just plain bad, or boring, or ugly on an easthetic plane, then personally I'd say that is as bad or worse than a slightly less than optimal acoustic configuration. To me, why spend all that money to get great sound and have the room look pathetic? And there are plenty in the Galleries, sad to say. But if it looks nice, is comfortable and sounds good to the owner (and circle of friends and family) then I can't see the isssue here.
+You go in and help clean up and organize the room and slowly but surely the sound improves. It can be very satisfying, the effort involved notwithstanding. But sure as the sun sets in the West, come back a couple weeks later and the room is a mess again and the sound is back to the same old generic, unlistenable state. I learned my lesson, I don't do that anymore. :-)
+What is okay for one person in terms of listening enjoyment and ergonomics, may not be okay for another.
+Yes, I have always agreed that equipment between the speaker planes is not a good idea, but with treatments and/or some distance, some rooms there is not much of a detriment (with equipment between). A great way (for ME) to check is to assemble equipment on a short, wide low-boy to experiment. I've had friends drape cloth wall hangings over their tv when strictly listening to music, etc.
+It all depends on the room and the need of the owner. There are no hard, fast rules. Every environment is utterly different. Tools are there to tweak results in your favor (unless you believe its all bullshit- then NOTHING works best).
+Assalamualaikum.
+Surah At Tariq is the 86th chapter of the Quran and the meaning of this Surah is “The Piercing Star”, “The Nightcomer”, or literally “The Knocker”. It is a classified as Meccan Surah composed of 17 ayat (verses).
+This Surah teaches us on two important subjects, 1. Resurrection and 2. The Holy Qur’an and its importance/value.
+One of the goals of the My Islam site is to make it easy to read and understand the Qur’an. Below every ayat in Arabic we’ve provided transliteration to help those who are not the strongest readers. Also, included is the Sahih international English translation to understand the meaning. At the end of the Surah we’ve included four different tafseer to learn the details and nuances of this Surah.
+Read Surah Tariq Transliteration and Translation
+Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem
+In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful
+Wassama-i wattariq
+1. By the sky and the night comer –
+Wa maaa adraaka mattaariq
+2. And what can make you know what is the night comer?
+Annajmu aththaqib
+3. It is the piercing star –
+In kullu nafsil lammaa ‘alaihaa haafiz
+4. There is no soul but that it has over it a protector.
+Falyanthuri al-insanumimma khuliq
+5. So let man observe from what he was created.
+Khuliqa mim maaa’in daafiq
+6. He was created from a fluid, ejected,
+Yakhruju min bayni assulbi wattara-ib
+7. Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.
+Innahoo ‘alaa raj’ihee laqaadir
+8. Indeed, Allah, to return him [to life], is Able.
+Yawma tubla assara-ir
+9. The Day when secrets will be put on trial,
+Famaa lahoo min quwwatinw wa laa naasir
+10. Then man will have no power or any helper.
+Wassama-i thati arrajAA
+11. By the sky which returns [rain]
+Wal ardi zaatis sad’
+12. And [by] the earth which cracks open,
+Innahu laqawlun fasl
+13. Indeed, the Qur’an is a decisive statement,
+Wa maa huwa bil hazl
+14. And it is not amusement.
+Innahum yakeedoona kayda
+15. Indeed, they are planning a plan,
+Wa akeedu kaidaa
+16. But I am planning a plan.
+Famahhilil kaafireena amhilhum ruwaidaa
+17. So allow time for the disbelievers. Leave them awhile.
+Hadith Mentioning Surah Tariq Asr.
+Grade: Hasan (Darussalam)
+Reference: Sunan an-Nasa’i 979
+In-book reference : Book 11, Hadith 104
+Tafseer of Surah Tariq
+For those looking to make reading the Qur’an a study we’ve included four different sources to learn more about this Surah. This includes the tafsir by Ibn Kathir. We recommend reading from various scholars to see the different viewpoints and interpretations so that you may gain a more comprehensive understanding.
+Tafsir by Ibn Kathir
+***
+This is the end of the Tafsir Surat At-Tariq, and unto Allah is all praise and thanks.
+Commentary
+[86:1] I swear by the sky and the Night-Comer,After swearing an oath by the sky and stars, in this Surah, Allah asserts that He has assigned a guardian angel to every human being who watches over his deeds and actions, and accurate and immediate record is kept on the basis of which the reckoning will be made, and on the Day of Reckoning, all secrets will be revealed. The rational conclusion is that man must ponder over the consequences of the deeds he is doing in this life. Therefore, he should not, at any moment of his life, lose sight of what is to happen on the Day of Reckoning. Thereafter, the verse disposes of a doubt that the Satan perennially casts into the people’s hearts. When they are dead and have become dust and decomposed particles, how will they be recomposed and life be brought back? This seems to be an imaginary thought, rather, in the view of the general public, it is impossible. In answer to this doubt, man is invited to reflect on his origin. At the inception, he was created from various elements collected from throughout the world, and Allah’s Power transformed them into a human being who is able to listen and see. Allah Who has created him and looked after him is well able to bring him back to life after death. Then some events of the Day of Judgment are mentioned. Then, after swearing an oath by the earth and the sky, the negligent man is told that the Hereafter he is urged to care about is no joke or amusement, but it is a reality that has to come to pass. Towards the end of the Surah, the unbelievers pose the question: If Allah abhors disbelief, idolatry and sins, why then does He not punish us in this life? The Surah ends with a rebuttal to this question. Let us now explain some expressions used in the Surah:The first oath, in the beginning of the Surah, is by the sky and tariq. The word tariq means the ‘Night-Corner’. Stars normally disappear during the day and only appear at night, therefore they are called tariq. The Qur’an itself raises the question: وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الطَّارِقُ (and what may let you know what the Night-Comer is?…86:2) and then answers the question thus: النَّجْمُ الثَّاقِبُ (The star of piercing brightness!…86:3). The word najm means ‘star’. The Qur’an does not specify any particular ‘star’. Therefore, it may be applied to any star. Some of the commentators say that najm refers to the Pleiades or Saturn, and they quote specimens of Arabic speech to confirm their argument. The word thaqib means ‘piercing brightness’.
+[86:2] and what may let you know what the Night-Comer is? [86:3] The star of piercing brightness! [86:4] there is no human being, but there is a watcher over him. إِن كُلُّ نَفْسٍ لَّمَّا عَلَيْهَا حَافِظٌ (there is no human being, but there is a watcher over him….86:4). This is the subject of the oath. The particle in at the beginning of the statement is used in the sense of ‘no’, that is, a negative particle; and the particle lamma is used in the sense of ‘but/except’, that is, it is an exceptive particle in the dialect of Banu Hudhail. The verse purports to say that there is not a single person over whom there is not a watcher [hafiz]. The word hafiz may mean ‘guardian’ who may watch over someone’s actions and deeds, so that the reckoning is made on that basis. The word hafiz may also be used in the sense of ‘one who protects from calamities’. In the first sense, the word hafiz refers to the angels who record the deeds. Here the word hafiz , although appears in the singular form, it is used in the generic sense, because there is not just a single recording angel, but there is a host of them as another verse testifies to this fact: وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكُمْ لَحَافِظِينَ ﴿10﴾ كِرَامًا كَاتِبِينَ ‘While [appointed] over you there are watchers, who are noble, the writers [of the deeds],[82: 10-11] ‘ According to the second sense of the word, hafiz refers to the angels who have been appointed to protect man from all kinds of calamities that befall him day and night, except the calamities that Allah has decreed for him, as the following verse explicitly states: لَهُ مُعَقِّبَاتٌ مِّن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّـهِ ‘For him there are angels replacing each other, before him and behind him, who guard him under the command of Allah [13:11] A tradition has reported the Messenger of Allah saying that Allah has appointed three hundred and sixty angels for every believer. They protect every limb of his. Of the three hundred and sixty, seven angels alone protect man’s eye. These angels defend man from every calamity that is not decreed, like a fan chases away the flies coming to a vessel containing honey. If there are no security guards for man, the devils will snatch them away. [Qurtubi].
+[86:5] So, let man consider of which stuff he is created. [86:6] He is created of a spouting water خُلِقَ مِن مَّاءٍ دَافِقٍ ﴿6﴾ يَخْرُجُ مِن بَيْنِ الصُّلْبِ وَالتَّرَائِبِ (He is created of a spouting water that comes out from between the loins and the chest-bones…86:6, 7). The general body of commentators have explained that the spouting water (sperm) comes out from the loins of men and the chest-bones of women. However, the research of embryological science on the subject shows that the seminal fluid comes out from every part of human body, and every part of the foetus is made of the seminal fluid that has come out from that part of the man’s and woman’s body. The brain, of course, plays the greatest role in this matter. Thus experience shows that people who indulge in excessive cohabitation mostly suffer from weakness of mental weakness. The embryologists have at the same time discovered that the seminal fluid separates from all parts of the body, and through the spinal cord, collects in the testes and from there it spouts. If these findings have any value, it is not far-fetched to reconcile them with the explanation of some of the commentators. Embryologists agree that the brain plays the most important role in the preparation of seminal fluid. The representative of the brain is the spinal cord that has come into the backbone from the brain, up to the loins and the testes. Some of its branches have come into the chest-bones. It is likely that the seminal fluid coming from the chest-bones into the woman’s seminal fluid and the seminal fluid coming from the loins into a man’s seminal fluid have a greater role to play. (Baidawi) If we analyse the verse of the Qur’an carefully, we notice that it does not specify ‘man or woman’. It merely says ‘He is created of spouting water that comes out from between the loins and the chest-bones.’ This may simply signify that the seminal fluid comes out from the entire body of both men and women. The expression ‘the entire body’ is understood from the mention of the principal organs of front and back. The front part of the body is chest and the back part of the body is the loin. These are the principal parts of the body. The expression, ‘the spouting water that comes out from between the loins and the chest-bones’ may mean ‘comes out from the entire body’.
+[86:7] that comes out from between the loins and the chest-bones. [86:8] that comes out from between the loins and the chest-bones. إِنَّهُ عَلَىٰ رَجْعِهِ لَقَادِرٌ (Surely He is Powerful to bring him back…86:8) The word raj means ‘to bring back’. The verse signifies that Allah Who has created him from a drop of seminal fluid is well able to bring him back to life after death a fortiori. يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرَائِرُ (on a day when all the secrets will be searched out.. 86:9). The word tubla literally means ‘to test/examine’ and sara’ir means ‘secrets’. On the Day of Reckoning, the secrets will be tested and examined and laid bare. Man’s beliefs, his thoughts, and his motives and intentions that were hidden in this life, and no one knew about them, will be revealed in the Hereafter. Likewise, his deeds and actions that he had done secretly, and no one was aware of them in this world, all of them will be tested and scrutinised on the Plain of Gathering and will be laid bare. Said ‘Abdullah Ibn ` Umar ؓ has said that on the Day of Judgment Allah will disclose the secrets of all human beings. The sign of every good or bad belief and action will be displayed on man’s face, in the form of beauty or darkness or gloom [depending on each individual’s situation]. [Qurtubi]. [86:9] on a day when all the secrets will be searched out, [86:10] and he will have no strength (to defend), nor a supporter. [86:11] I swear by the sky that rains, وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجْعِ (I swear by the sky that rains…86:11) The word raj refers to ‘the rain that comes down repeatedly’. In other words, the rain that comes down and stops and then returns. [86:12] and the earth that cracks open (for plants), [86:13] this is a decisive word, إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلٌ فَصْلٌ (this is a decisive word..86:13) In other words, the Qur’an is truly a Decisive Word that decides between truth and falsehood, and there is no room for any doubt in it. Sayyidna ` Ali ؓ says that he heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ as saying about the Holy Qur’an: کتاب فیہ خبرما قبلکم و حکم مابعدکم وھو الفصل لیس بلھزل ‘[It is] a book which describes the stories of past communities and [it contains] injunctions for future generations. It is truly a Decisive Word. It is no joke.’
+[86:14] and it is not a joke. [86:15] They are devising plans, [86:61] and I Am devising plans. [86:17] So leave the disbelievers at the moment; give them respite for a while. Alhamdulillah The Commentary on Surah At-Tariq Ends here
+Overview
+It is stated in the introduction to the first surah in this volume, which forms the thirtieth part of the Qur’an, that its surahs are “like a persistent and strong knocking on a door, or a series of loud shouts seeking to awaken those who are fast asleep, or those who are drunk and have lost consciousness, or are in a night club, completely absorbed in their dancing or entertainment. The knocks and the shouts come one after the other: Wake up! Look around you! Think! Reflect! There is a God! There is planning, trial, liability, reckoning, reward, severe punishment and lasting bliss.”
+The present surah is a typical example of these qualities. Its tone is sharp. The scenes portrayed, the rhythm chosen, the sounds of the individual words and their meanings — all contribute to this sharpness of tone. The scenes include the night visitor, the star piercing with brightness, the gushing water, the returning rain, and the splitting earth. The meanings include watching over souls: “For every soul there is a guardian who watches over it”; the lack of strength and help: “On the day when consciences are tried, man shall be helpless, with no supporter”; the complete seriousness:
+“This is surely a decisive word; it is no idle talk.” The same characteristics apply to the warnings given in this surah: “They devise many an artful scheme, but I too have My schemes. So, give respite to the unbelievers; leave them alone for a while.”
+There is complete harmony between the scenes of the universe portrayed in the surah and the facts it states. This harmony becomes abundantly clear when the surah is carefully considered.
+A Special Type of Visitor
+“By the heaven and by the night visitor. Would that you knew what the night visitor is! It is the star that pierces through darkness. For every soul there is a guardian who watches over it.” (Verses 1-4) This oath includes a scene of the universe and a fact of faith. It opens by mentioning heaven and the night visitor and follows with a form of exclamation made familiar in the Qur’an; “Would that you knew what the night visitor is!’ (Verse 2) This exclamation gives the impression that it is mysterious, beyond explanation.
+The Qur’an then states its nature and form: “It is the star that pierces through darkness.” (Verse 3) Its powerful, penetrating rays travel at speed through the surrounding darkness. The description applies to all stars. There is no need to attach it to a particular one. Generality is more useful in this kind of context. Thus, the meaning sounds as follows: By heaven and its stars which pierce darkness and penetrate through that veil covering all things. Thus, this reference sheds its own light on the facts outlined in this surah and the scenes it portrays.
+God swears by heaven and its piercing stars that every soul has an observer appointed by Him to watch over it: “For every soul there is a guardian who watches over it.” (Verse 4) This implies a strong assertion that there is an agent appointed by God to watch over every soul and keep a record of its actions and thoughts..
+This awesome.
+Man’s Humble Origin: “Let man then reflect: of what he is created. He is created of gushing water; he issues from between the loins and the chest bones.” (Verses 5-7)
+Let man consider his origins and what has become of him. It is a very wide gulf which divides the origins from the final product, the gushing water from man the intelligent, rational being with his highly sophisticated organic, neurological, mental and psychological systems. The reference to this great gulf which the gushing water crosses in order to be made into a communicating being suggests that there is a power beyond the province of man which moves that shapeless and powerless fluid along its remarkable and impressive journey until it is shaped into its magnificent ultimate form. It implies that there is a guardian appointed by God to look after that moist germ, and to guide it through its remarkable journey.
+This one fertilizing cell, of which there are millions in every gush, is hardly visible under the microscope. It is a creature without support, reason or will. But as soon as it settles in the womb it proceeds to search for food. The guarding hand of God equips it with a quality which enables it to convert the lining of the womb around it into a pool of blood, thus supplying it with fresh nourishment. Once it is sure of the availability of food it starts another process of continuous division to produce new cells. This shapeless and powerless creature which has no reason or will, knows exactly what it is doing and what it wants. The guarding hand watching over it provides it with guidance, knowledge, power and will to enable it to know its way. It is charged with the task of making every group of newly produced cells specialize in building a part of the magnificent structure of the human body. One group proceeds to produce the skeleton; another group forms the muscles; a third the nervous system; a fourth the lymphatic system. The same applies to every major part of the human structure. But the matter is not as simple as that: it involves a higher degree of specialization; for every bone, every muscle and every nerve is unique and dissimilar to every other. The structure is accurately planned, and has a wide range of functions. Hence, as every group of cells proceeds to fulfil its appointed task in building this structure, it learns to break up into specialized subdivisions, each having its particular function in the general set up. Every little cell proceeds knowing its way, destination, and function. Those cells entrusted with the task of forming the eye know that the eye must be in the face, and that it cannot be situated in the abdomen or the foot or the arm, despite the fact that any of these localities is a suitable place for forming an eye. If the first cell charged with making the eye was taken off course and planted in any of these localities, it would have fulfilled its mission and made an eye there. But when it sets out on its mission it simply goes to the exact spot specified for the eye. Who then has told this cell that this structure needs its eye to be in that particular spot? It is God the watching Guardian who guides it, looks after it and shows it its way.
+All the cells work individually and collectively within a framework set for them by certain elements functioning inside the cells. These elements are known as the genes which preserve the general characteristics of the species and the distinctive traits of the parents and forefathers. When the eye cell divides and proliferates in order to form the eye, it endeavours at the same time to preserve its shape and particular features so that it turns out to be a human eye and not the eye of an animal. Furthermore, it endeavours to make it an eye of a human whose forefathers had certain features and characteristics distinguishing their eyes. The slightest error in designing that eye, whether in shape or qualities, forces the forming cell out of its set course. So, who has endowed power, ability and knowledge to this insignificant cell which has no reason, will or power of its own? It is God who taught it to design and produce what all mankind can never design or produce. For man cannot design an eye or a part of it, even if charged with this task, while an insignificant cell or group of cells in the body can accomplish this great mission.
+This is merely a quick glance at parts of the remarkable journey which transforms the gushing water into the communicative human being. But there is indeed a great multitude of wonders in the physiological functions of the various organs and systems. It is beyond the scope of this work to trace these wonders, but they all constitute evidence of elaborate planning and organization and bear the stamp of God’s guarding, helping and guiding hand. They emphasize the first fact in the surah sworn to by the heaven and the night visitor, and prepare for the next fact, namely, the resurrection, which was denied by the idolaters who were among the first to be addressed by the Qur’an.
+“God is well able to bring him back [to life]. On the day when consciences are tried, man shall be helpless, with no supporter.” (Verses 8-10) God, who has created him and looked after him, is well able to bring him back to life after death. The first creation is evidence of His ability as well as His elaborate planning and organization. Unless there is a return in order to accord everyone his or her fair reward then this highly sophisticated and wise creation would be in vain. “On the day when consciences are tried.” (Verse 9). The Arabic terms, tubla and sara’ir used by the Qur’an have much wider connotations than conscience and trial. They suggest that that part of the human soul where secrets are safely deposited will be thrown open, searched and exposed in the same way as the night visitor penetrates the covering darkness of the night. As the guarding watcher penetrates through the soul hidden under multiple covers, secrets are examined and man finds himself powerless and without support: “Man shall be helpless, with no supporter.” (Verse 10).
+A Powerful Discourse
+There may be some lingering doubts within some people’s minds that this could happen. Therefore, the surah gives an oath to its seriousness. It adds a link between this assertion and the universe at large, as we saw at the opening of the surah: “By the heaven with its returning rain, by the earth ever splitting with verdure, this is surely a decisive word; it is no idle talk.” (Verses 11-14)
+The rain which comes from the sky again and again and the vegetation which splits the earth and springs forth are two images describing one of the many manifestations of life, the life of plants and their origins. Water which pours down from heaven and verdure which springs out from the earth, are akin to the infant coming into the world, passing between the loins springing out from the darkness of the womb. It is the same life, the same scene, the same movement. It is one system pointing to the Maker who has no competitors.
+The image of rain and verdure is not dissimilar to that of the night visitor, the piercing star as it splits covers and curtains. It is also similar to the scene depicting consciences being searched and all that is concealed being thrown open. It is again the same sort of structure which tells of the Maker. God swears by these two creations and their two events, the heaven of returning rains and the earth splitting with verdure. The impact of the scene portrayed combines with the rhythm to strike a strong note of finality and decisiveness. The oath is that this word, or the Qur’an generally, which states that people will return to life so as to face a trial, is the decisive word which admits of no frivolity. It puts an end to all argument, doubts and uncertainties. It is a true and final word, to which both the heaven of the returning rain and the earth splitting with verdure are witnesses.
+When this final statement of return and trial is made, there follows an address to God’s Messenger. to encourage and reassure him, and to disparage what the schemers devise. It states that their scheming is only temporary; the battle is in God’s hands and under His command. So, let the Prophet persevere and be patient, and let him and the believers be reassured: “They devise many an artful scheme, but I too have My schemes. So, give respite to the unbelievers; leave them alone for a while.” (Verses 15-17)
+Those who were created from gushing water, then issued between the loins, brought forth without any strength, ability or will of their own, guided along their long journey by divine power and destined to that return when secrets are searched and tried and where they have no strength or support — are devising a scheme against the Prophet and the Muslims! I, the Creator who guides, preserves, directs, brings back to life and puts to trial; the Almighty; the Victor who has made the sky, the night visitor, the gushing water and man; the Maker of the heaven with its returning rain and the earth splitting with verdure; I, God, am devising a scheme of My own. So, there are the two schemes and the battle. It is, in truth, a one-sided battle but described as being between two sides for the sake of sarcasm.
+“So, give respite to the unbelievers; leave them alone for a while.” (Verse 17) Do not be impatient. Do not precipitate the end of the battle when you have seen its true nature. There is wisdom behind this respite and delay which is short even though it may take up the whole length of this first life; for how short this life appears when compared with a life of limitless duration.
+God’s benevolent and compassionate attitude to His Messenger is noticeable in the final verse: “So give respite to the unbelievers; leave them alone for a while.” He is addressed here as if he were the final authority, or as if he were the one who decides or approves that they may take a short respite. But the Prophet has no such authority; it is merely an expression of kind and benevolent tenderness which bestows compassion on his heart. It is divine kindness which suggests that God’s Messenger has a say in the whole matter as if he had a share or interest in it. It lifts all barriers between the Prophet and the divine domain, where all matters are judged and settled.
+Tafsir by Abul A’la Maududi86. Surah Al Tariq (The Morning Star)
+NameThe Surah taken its name from the word at-tariq in its first verse.
+Period of RevelationThe).
+Theme and Subject Matter.”
+(86:1) By the heaven, and the night-visitor, (86:2) what do you know what the night-visitor is? (86:3) It is the piercing star. (86:4) There is no living being but there is a protector over it.[1] (86:5) So let man consider of what he was created.[2] (86:6) He was created of a gushing fluid, (86:7) emanating from between the loins and the ribs.[3] (86:8) Surely He (the Creator) has the power to bring him back (to life).[4] (86:9) On the Day when man’s deepest secrets shall be put to the test [5] (86:10) he shall have no power, and no helper. (86:11) By the heaven with its recurring cycle of rain, [6] (86:12) and by the earth ever bursting with verdure, (86:13) this (Qur’an) is surely a decisive Word, (86:14) not a flippant jest. [7] (86:15) They are devising a guile, [8] (86:16) and I too am devising a guile. [9] (86:17) So leave the unbelievers to themselves; respite them awhile. [10]
+[1].. [2].? [3]. ). [4].). [5].? [6].. [7].. [8]. That is, just as the falling of rain from the sky and the splitting of the earth to put out shoots is no jest but a serious reality, so also the news which the Quran gives that man has to return to his God is no jest but a definite and decisive reality and an unchangeable truth which has to be fulfilled. [9]. That is, these disbelievers are devising every kind of plan to defeat the invitation of the Quran;. [10]. That is, I am planning that none of their devices should succeed so that they are utterly defeated in their designs, and the light which they are trying their utmost to put out, spreads far and wide.
+TEACHER TRAINING COURSES
+2020
+40hr FURTHER TRAINING COURSE (FTC) - Accredited by Yoga Alliance Professionals (YAP)
+YIN YOGA MODULE 2 (Spine, Torso & Upper Body)
+Dates 27th-29th of March 2020
+Yin Yoga Further Training Course Module 2
+40 hours certified by Yoga Alliance Professionals
+No prerequisites necessary.
+Teacher: Gabriela Maass (Senior Yoga Teacher and Teacher Trainer Yoga Alliance Professionals & 500 hrs Yin Yoga Teacher trained by Paul and Suzie Grilley).
+Name of course: Yin Yoga Further Training Module 2 (Spine, Torso & Upper Body).
+Number of Modules: 1 module of 40 hours intensive, of which 28 hours are in direct contact with Gabriela and 12 hours of study, assignments and essays.
+Meeting location: The Riverroom, Halton Mill, Mill Lane, Halton, Lancaster LA2 6ND
+Course Overview
+The course will include (but is not limited to) the following areas of study:
+• Asana for Yin yoga
+• Functional Yoga Anatomy of spine, torso and upper body
+• Teaching methodology
+This Further Training Course will provide you with a solid foundation and complement your yoga teaching skills so you can apply yin yoga principles to your current teaching confidently. You will also learn how to implement your own yin yoga practice into your daily life. The instruction is delivered largely through an experiential teaching methodology, with the addition of personal research and written assignments.
+Trainees will…
+• become knowledgeable in a functional approach for practicing Yin yoga.
+• develop an understanding of functional yoga anatomy, skeletal variation, and functional alignment for the spine, torso and upper body
+• learn the art of observation and adjustment and self adjustment in asana based on functional anatomical knowledge including the use of assisted yin yoga.
+• for those of you that are already teachers it will allow you to lead classes based on your understanding of Yin yoga principles and functional anatomy.
+About Yin Yoga
+Yin Yoga is healing and a very simple practice. We settle into an asana for 3-7 minutes and slowly relax our muscles to allow the deeper tissues–the connective tissues that wrap our muscles and make up our joint capsules–to be safely stretched and stimulated.
+The alignment rules of the postures are also simple, but more importantly they are functional and organic: we listen to our bodies and lead ourselves into surrendering to the shape of the natural contours of our pelvis, hips, spine and upper body..
+In this training, we will analyse, observe and practice all of these elements of Yin Yoga in depth. We will examine ourselves thoroughly, using meditation techniques or mindfulness that guide us into a steady awareness of the changing sensations in the postures. This is a very experiential course; we will use hands-on study and examine each other with anatomical range of motion tests. We develop in this way an understanding of the infinite variety of human body shapes, clarifying why every posture should be modified to the individual. We learn the basic techniques to help us develop a safe and effective personal practice and if you are a yoga teacher it will help you to lead each Yin Yoga student into a practice that respects their unique skeletal shape guiding them into taking the appropriate asana for each individual.
+Prerequisites
+There are not prerequisites for students applying for this 40 hours further training course. To attend Module 2 there is no need to have done Module 1. Each module is a standalone 40 hour course, but we highly recommend attending both!
+Course schedule
+The course consists of 2x 9 hours tuition days plus 1x10 hours tuition day.
+Course Dates:
+Dates 27th-29th of March 2020
+Contact hours – 28 hours
+Non-contact hours – 12 hours (includes reading, study, essays and any written work).
+This course consists of a total 40 hours with 28 contact hours as required.
+Certificates will be provided only after students have handled or sent their completed essays.
+Day 1- 4 Timetable:
+Start of course Friday 12 noon
+Daily training morning
+9:30am- 1:30pm (except Friday when we start at 12 noon)
+Lunch 1:30- 2:30pm
+Daily training afternoon
+2:30- 8:30pm
+Attendance
+This Further Training course requires full attendance to receive certification.
+Accreditation
+Our Further Training course meets the strict requirements set by Yoga Alliance Professionals
+Course fees
+The total course fee is £400. A minimum, non-returnable deposit of £100 is required upon acceptance of a place on the course. The remaining £300 should be paid by the 27th of February 2020.
+Fee includes
+Tuition
+Course manual
+Certificate
+Fee excludes
+Essential pre-course study and course reference books (titles will be given to you upon registration to the course)
+Essential yoga props (if necessary list will be given to you upon registration to the course)
+Travel costs and transfers
+Accommodation, food, and transport
+To book your place please email: gabrielamaass@hotmail.com
+Testimonials
+"I completed the 40 hr Pelvis and Spine with Gaby in the Lake District. This course is a fundamental game changer for all yoga teachers. It changes the way you see the human form and the way you teach yoga. The in-depth anatomy that we studied to understand the variety of each human form revolutionises the way you teach. Gaby embodies this yoga and is one of the best yoga teachers I’ve ever studied with. The setting is also a huge part of the training and the sense of community within the group was very special. Gaby brings both depth and lightness to her classes and again it’s a joy to spend long days with her. The course was beautifully structured to allow both self development, restoration and learning that goes deep. I immediately booked the 40 hrs Upper body and now teach yin to my students who adore this style of yoga." -Maudie Johnson, Chamonix
+200hr FOUNDATION TEACHER TRAINING (Currently running)
+We are now receiving bookings for our next 200hr Continuum Yoga Teacher Training programme taught by Senior Yoga Alliance Professionals UK Trainer Gabriela Maass. The course will start in October the 19th 2019. (Please scroll down to book online).
+2019 Course Dates:
+Nine weekends plus, Teacher Training Retreat. Weekend training is in the Lake District, Windermere, at the Footprint Building, LA23 1NH
+The retreat will be held in the fantastic Mediterranean coast of Turkey at Suleyman’s Garden Yoga Retreat centre.
+Contact hours – 184, Non-contact hours - 20 (Includes essays or any written work, including homework). This course consists of a total 204 hours with 90% contact hours.
+Module 1: 19th & 20th October
+Module 2: 16th & 17th November
+Module 3: 7th & 8th December
+Module 4: 4th & 5th of January 2020
+Module 5: 8th & 9th of February 2020
+Module 6: 7th & 8th March 2020
+Module 7: 11th & 12th of April 2020
+Module 8: 9th & 10th of May 2020
+Module 9: 6th & 7th of June 2020
+Final retreat date: 25th of July - 1st of August 2020
+Graduation Date: 31st of July 2020
+Certificates will be provided for successful students at the end of the course.
+Course fees:
+The total course fee is £2200 Per Student
+A minimum deposit of £600 is required upon acceptance of a place on the course, followed by 10 equal monthly payments of the remainder (£160 if paying the minimum deposit) starting at the start of the first weekend module, paid monthly by standing order.
+Plus, the additional costs of TT Retreat in Turkey:
+Shared accommodation: £525 (plus £50 if en-suite)
+Single accommodation: £585 (plus £100 if en-suite)
+Fight to Dalaman Airport
+This 200h teacher training certified course has met the strict requirements set by Yoga Alliance Professionals UK (please do not confuse with Yoga Alliance). Our graduates are trained to the highest standard and are eligible to register as a teacher with Yoga Alliance Professionals UK.
+This course presents a balanced foundation in yoga principles, from which trainees will emerge with the knowledge and skill required to teach across the full hatha yoga continuum; from Yin Yoga, through to creative vinyasa, and dynamic Yang flow sequences.
+The course will include the following areas of study:
+Asana for Yin and Yang practices
+Pranayama
+Meditation
+Anatomy
+Yoga Philosophy
+Teaching methodology
+The business of yoga
+This teacher training course, based largely in the Lake District, will prepare you to be a confident and competent Yoga Teacher. You will also learn how to implement yoga practice in your daily life. The teaching is delivered mainly through an experiential teaching methodology, with the addition of personal research and written assignments.
+You will learn to teach yoga sessions that accelerate the experiential learning process of your students, they will quickly understand how to access a fuller dimension of the physical, emotional and mental benefits of yoga.
+Trainees will:
+Become knowledgeable in the continuum of hatha yoga styles- Yin to Yang Flow
+Understand the pedagogy of yoga
+Develop an understanding of functional anatomy, skeletal variation, and functional alignment
+Learn the art of observation and adjustment in asana based on anatomical knowledge, including the use of assisted yin yoga.
+Be able to teach and lead classes based on their understanding of Yin yoga and Yang (dynamic flow) principles.
+Be able to teach and lead classes in meditation and pranayama techniques
+Develop an understanding of the links between the roots and philosophy of yoga, and western science
+Become knowledgeable in the basic skills of a Yoga business and marketing management
+Prerequisites:
+Students are required to have a minimum of 2 years of yoga practice before they can be accepted onto this 200hour Teacher Training course. They should also have a basic understanding of the philosophy of yoga in general. The course will be challenging, with a lot of information to get through, so having some fundamental understanding and a regular practice will ensure that the pace of the course is not held up by an individuals’ lack of knowledge and experience.
+Successful applicants should be in good health and have sufficiently stable personal circumstances to complete this course with the focus and dedication it requires.
+Course Schedule:
+The course consists of 9 weekend modules, plus 6 tuition days on a Teacher Training retreat. Each module consists of two full days, from Saturday starting at 9:30am and finishing on Sunday at 6pm.
+The spread of the course over a longer period ensures that students are able to incorporate and deepen their practical knowledge between modules. This means that you will feel fully competent and ready to teach by the end of the course. It also means that you can more easily weave the training into your normal life circumstances.
+Testimonials
+Gaby has all the qualities of a brilliant teacher; developing close relationships with her students, dedication to her subject, a passion for teaching, the ability to motivate her students and the ability to create a learning environment where everyone feels safe and engaged. Her yoga-teacher training gets ten-out-of-ten for me; unbelievably effective and exceeding all my expectations" - Ian Roberts, Ambleside, UK
+"The Continuum Yoga teacher training that I attended during 2018, which was carefully and expertly designed and delivered by Gaby Maass, was one of the most stimulating and fulfilling parts of my year.
+The course was a wonderful combination of anatomical and philosophical theory with lots and lots of practice, reflection and debate. I had never taught any subject before and wasn’t sure that I was cut out to be a teacher at all, but I went into the course keen to learn more about myself and about yoga in general.
+The environment that Gaby creates is both supportive and positively challenging. There was no pressure placed upon us, but I very quickly found the confidence to have a go at leading sessions and soon started teaching a regular class of my own, which I find extremely rewarding.
+Gaby is such a talented, skilful and dedicated yoga teacher herself and an inspirational human being. To have had the opportunity to practice with and learn about teaching yoga from someone so gifted, in my view of world class standard, was and continues to be a real honour." - Samantha Rostás, Windermere, UK
+"I highly recommend this Yoga Teacher Training. Gaby delivers the sessions in a very thorough, inspiring, innovative and fun way, drawing on her great depth of experience. The monthly structure of the course enabled me to embed the teaching in my own yoga practice. This has given me the confidence to teach people of all ability, in a way that is enjoyable and safe for them, taking into account their own unique anatomy. A Yoga Teacher Training of superb quality !" - Dr. Andrea Baqai , Rydal, UK
+"Since qualifying as a teacher through Gaby's course I have felt extremely grateful for the depth and quality of teaching that I received. In my classes I feel confident to deliver creative and effective teaching, and able to respond to student questions. Importantly I now know how to adapt postures to their unique physiology. Gaby empowered me to incorporate my own strengths and qualities into my teaching, within a clear framework, and her teaching continues to inspire me as a new yoga teacher and in my own life. I am really excited to share my new knowledge with yoga students in a growing weekly class, and also with my many outdoor athlete friends." - Matt France, Windermere, UK
+"I was introduced to Yin Yoga at one of Gaby’s workshops in 2016. I was blown away by both the quality of teaching and the content. Although I have practised yoga for around 35 years, I found that Yin Yoga really reached the parts nothing else could. I was delighted when a few months later Gaby announced that she was going to be running a teacher training course in monthly instalments over the next year. I found the course content was excellent, and the time between training weekends gave me plenty of time to practice and research material that formed the focus for that month. Gaby patiently and diligently went through the course material, taking great pride in the course content and its delivery. The yoga retreat in Turkey was an amazing working holiday to complete the training.
+Highly recommended teacher training course which, on completion, left me confident to teach Yin Yoga to both beginners and more experienced students" - Rachael Shreeve, Kendal, UK
+"I enrolled on Gaby's teacher training course with very little confidence but a big passion for yoga. As Gaby is such an experienced teacher I wanted to soak up as much knowledge from her as I could to incorporate this into my home practice. I never intended to teach yoga to others, this was not the reason I joined the course. I did it for myself. I would highly recommend Gaby's teacher training courses to anyone that wants to teach or just wants to expand their practice. The classes are run in a fun and experiential way with lots of theory added in" - Ashleigh Calvert, Ulverston, UK
+For full terms and conditions please click here.
+Links to this page kindly provided by
+动人照片背后：与韩国选手合影的朝鲜姑娘是谁
+North Korean Gymnast’s Selfie Goes Viral, but Her Bio Is Sparse
+“神秘的”朝鲜运动员
+SEOUL, South Korea — In a selfie that has gone viral, the North Korean gymnast Hong Un-jong smiles brightly as a South Korean competitor at the Rio Olympics, Lee Eun-ju, 17, holds up her smartphone and snaps a picture of them hugging.
+The selfie, which ricocheted across social media, was held up.
+但它之所以引人注目，还因为对于一个朝鲜运动员来说，不管是不是出于本意，让自己成为焦点是一件颇为不同寻常的事情；朝鲜人一贯倾向于自我封闭，即使在国际赛事上也是如此。
+And very little of Hong’s biography has been shared with the outside world, despite her winning a gold in vault at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and her hero status in a country that reveres its sports stars, particularly in the era of its leader, Kim Jong-un, who is known to be an avid basketball fan.
+外界对洪恩贞的身世经历所知不多，只知道她曾在2008年北京奥运会上获得一块跳马金牌，在她的祖国被视为英雄。朝鲜一贯尊崇体育明星，特别是在如今的领袖金正恩的时代，他是个出了名的篮球迷。.
+洪恩贞现年27岁，她本来有望在伦敦奥运会上收获第二枚金牌。但在2010年底，朝鲜女子体操队被禁止参加国际大赛两年，其中也包括伦敦奥运会，原因是在另一位老运动员洪淑贞(Su-jong)的年龄上一再作假，她是洪恩贞的姐姐。
+It turns out the North Korean delegation had submitted three.
+朝鲜代表团被发现在不同的国际大赛上为洪淑贞申报了三个不同的年龄。其中，至少根据1989年3月9日这个出生日期，在2004年的时候，她应该没有达到雅典奥运会规定的参赛年龄，而她在那届奥运会上参加了团体和全能比赛。而且如果根据这个日期，她就成了洪恩贞的孪生姊妹。.
+人们对洪恩贞在朝鲜的了解主要来自一本在西方罕为人知的书，《载誉归国的奥林匹克冠军》(Olympic Champions Who Bring Glory to the Motherland)，2014年由金城青年出版社(Kumsong Youth Publishing House)在平壤出版。书中介绍了13位奥运金牌获得者，其中就包括她。
+There does not seem to be a discrepancy about Hong’s age in the book, but it raises one about another competitor profiled, Om Yun-chol, who won a silver medal Sunday in Rio and gold in London in 2012. His official Rio profile lists him as 24, born Nov. 18, 1991. The book, however, cites his birth year as 1990.
+书中洪恩贞的年龄似乎没有和大赛资料中的年龄出现差异，但是又引出了另一个参赛运动员的年龄问题。（举重运动员）严润哲周日在里约热内卢获得了一块银牌，2012年在伦敦获得过一块金牌。在里约奥运会的官方资料里，他的生日是1991年11月18日，现年24岁。这本书则说他是1990年出生的。
+While it could be a mistake, that age would have made him one year too old to compete in the world junior championships in 2011. And without competing in that international event, he would not have qualified for the London Olympics. The age discrepancy appears to have gone unnoticed.
+这有可能是个错误，但是，如果他是1990年出生的，那就比2011年世界青年锦标赛所规定的年龄大一岁。如果不参加这项国际赛事，他可能就没有资格参加伦敦奥运会了。这项年龄差异似乎已经被人们忽略了。
+The information on Hong seems more straightforward, yet illuminating.
+关于洪恩贞的信息似乎更加简单清晰，但也颇为说明问题。.
+她出生在朝鲜北方咸镜南道的港口城市端川，在工业城市咸兴长大，书中说她是全家的宠儿，是三个孩子中最小的一个。她和姐姐因为在高低杠上身手敏捷，被一个教练相中，后者和她们的父亲接触���想让两个女孩都开始进行高强度训练。
+No, he said. We’re a musical family, not athletes. But the coach won him over, the book says. Hong was 6.
+不，她们的父亲说。我们是一个音乐之家，不培养运动员。但是这本书上说，这位教练最终说服了他。那年洪恩贞六岁。.
+几年后，姐妹俩被送到离家要坐火车走一天的首都，接受全天候训练。在平壤，洪家姐妹师从朝鲜最著名的体操教练之一金春弼(Kim Chun-pil)。
+Un-jong had “the right physique as well as passion and ability,” the unnamed author notes in the six-page profile. “But her willingness to do her best was lacking.”
+洪恩贞“体格优秀，充满热情，实力不凡”，这位不具名的作者在这篇长达六页的介绍中写道，“但是她缺乏拼搏的意志。”
+Initially homesick and missing her mother, the young Un-jong stayed up crying at night and was a mess at training the next day. Kim, the coach, stepped in as a surrogate mother, cooking her chicken, rabbit soup and medicine, and cooling her down with cold compresses, the story goes.
+书中说，一开始，年轻的洪恩贞想家，想念妈妈，夜里一直哭泣，第二天训练时表现得一团糟。
+She got over her homesickness and focused on training.
+她最终克服了思乡情绪，专心训练。
+The coach believed in tough love.
+教练相信严师出高徒。
+“Un-jong, aren’t you aware of why we train when everyone else is sleeping?” she demanded to know. “We have the burden of winning a gold medal for our nation.”
+“恩贞，你知道为什么别人都在睡觉的时候，我们还在训练吗？”她被问道。“因为我们肩负着为祖国赢得金牌的重任。”
+Hong made her way up the ranks in national and international competitions.
+洪恩贞终于在国内和国际大赛上脱颖而出。
+She was 19 when she was sent to Beijing. For two years, she had been practicing a vault made famous by the Chinese world champion Cheng Fei. That day in Beijing, Hong beat Cheng on her own home turf, with the vault that bears her name, bringing home North Korea’s first Olympic gold in gymnastics.
+参加北京奥运会那年，她19岁。两年来，她一直在练一个以中国世界冠军程菲命名的跳马动作。在北京的那天，洪恩贞在程菲的地盘上，用“程菲跳”战胜了对方，为朝鲜赢得了体操项目中的第一块奥运金牌。
+The North Koreans treated it as a political win. The book recounts how she was praised on state television as a patriot for defeating “a great rival,” though China is often assumed to be the country’s main ally.
+朝鲜人将之视为一次政治胜利。这本书详细描述了她如何被国家电视台赞美为打败了“劲敌”的爱国者，尽管中国往往被视为这个国家最主要的盟国。
+Hong went on to win a string of gold medals in vault, including the gold at a World Cup championship in 2010, before the team was barred from competition. The profile makes no mention of any frustrations she might have harbored about being barred at the peak of her career.
+洪恩贞后来又赢得了一系列跳马金牌，包括2010年的世锦赛冠军，直到后来朝鲜遭到禁赛。在事业巅峰期遭到禁赛，她心里会有挫折感吗？这篇文章中没有提及。
+Since the ban was lifted, Hong Un-jong has quietly reasserted herself as a top contender in vault, earning a bronze at worlds in 2013, gold in 2014 and silver last year. She goes into Sunday’s finals in second place, just behind Simone Biles, the heavily favored American.
+禁赛结束后，洪恩贞悄悄地回到了顶尖跳马选手的行列，在2013年世锦赛上获得铜牌，2014年夺冠，去年又获得一块银牌。她以第二名的成绩进入将在周日举行的决赛，位列备受喜爱的美国运动员西蒙·拜尔斯(Simone Biles)之后。
+The book does not say anything about the consequences athletes face if they come home empty-handed.
+这本书并没有提到，空手而归的运动员会面对什么样的后果。
+But the reaction earlier this week of Om, the weight lifter, suggests that second is not good enough. He won silver in Rio on Sunday, failing to successfully defend his title, and the high-ranking official who flew in from Pyongyang for the Olympics did not bother to attend his medal ceremony.
+但是本周早些时候，举重运动员严润哲的反应表明，第二名还不够好。星期日，他在里约奥运会上获得银牌，未能成功卫冕，坐飞机从平壤赶来参加奥运会的高官根本就没有出席他的颁奖仪式。
+“I don’t think I can be a hero to my people with a silver medal,” a dejected Om told reporters.
+“只拿一块银牌回去，人民是不会把我当做英雄的，”沮丧的严润哲告诉记者们说。
+In comments posted online in South Korea, there was speculation that if Hong failed to bring home a gold, her internationally lauded selfie would not suffice in keeping her safe.
+在韩国的网络评论中，有人猜测如果洪恩贞不能夺冠，这张在国际上备受赞美的自拍也不能保障她的安全。
+“Off to the coal mine,” one South Korean imagined North Korea’s leader telling his star athlete when she returned home.
+“挖煤去，”韩国人猜测朝鲜领袖可能会对空手而归的明星运动员这样说。
+BETTE ADDINGTON: Southwest Lanes to host GEUSBC youth tournament May 18-19
+BY BETTE ADDINGTON
+AMF Southwest Lanes will host this year’s Golden Empire United States Bowling Congress Youth City Tournament on the weekend of May 18-19.
+Local junior bowlers from Mount Mesa in Lake Isabella, Westside Recreation Park District/West Side Lanes in Taft and juniors from local Bakersfield bowling centers are all welcome to join in on this year’s Youth City Tournament.
+Saturday, May 18, will be the Team event starting at noon, and Sunday, May 19, will be the Doubles and Singles portion of the tournament also starting at noon. There are two divisions in the tournament — 12 and Under is the Bantam/Prep division and 13 and Up is the Junior/Major division. Both divisions will be handicapped based on the bowler’s January 1, 2013 average of 12 games or more. If they don’t have a January 1, 2013 average, then they will use their current average of 12 games or more. Teams are comprised of four bowlers in the same division any combination. Entry fee is $10 per event per bowler. There is also an award for All Events but bowler must compete in Team, Doubles and Singles to be eligible for this award. This is a USBC-sanctioned event so all youth bowlers must have a GEUSBC card in order to compete.
+For a list of rules and sign-up entry forms, stop by any of the mentioned bowling centers or download the form from the GEUSBC website (). You can also call Regency Lanes (661) 325-6428 and have them fax you a copy. Parents, Grandparents, Family and Friends—let’s get our junior bowlers out for some fun, competitive bowling.
+Summertime Fun at Regency -- 820 Real Road – (661) 325-6428
+Regency Lanes just announced a new league for this summer — All-American Power League — that will start on Friday, June 7, at 6:30pm.
+This new league is open to everyone and teams will be mixed trios, any combination. The league bowls on Friday nights for 12 weeks and cost is $18 per person per night, but wait, there’s more! This league also includes one (1) Power Ball ticket per bowler per week included with your weekly fee. This league will also generate a good-sized prize fund (for example, with just 14 teams, prize fund will generate $5,000!). But, in addition to all this, bowlers bowling in this league will also have an opportunity to win in the 2013 $30,000 Giveaway! For every visit at Regency Lanes, bowlers will be given a raffle ticket where every week starting June 11 through August 27. Their ticket will be in a drawing that takes place every Monday where they will draw 15 to 20 winning tickets each week for prizes including a 50” Big Screen TV, Las Vegas Vacations, Bicycles, Bowling Balls and Bags, DVD Players, Motorized Scooters, Disney and Knott’s Tickets, Golf Passes, Gift Certificates, $100 in Regency Bucks and Movie Tickets. So come in and join the fun on Friday nights starting June 7 and join the All-American Power league today. Sign up individually or find two friends to make a mixed trio team and sign up together. Contact Christina Morcos at Regency at (661) 325-6428 or (661) 348-5654 or email her at regencylanes@yahoo.com for further information. Also, check out Regency’s website at.
+- Youth Bowling Camp at Regency on Thursdays starting June 13 from 12 noon to 3 p.m. every Thursday and runs through August. This camp is open for youth bowlers aged 6 through 15. Cost is just $10 per week and includes some bowling instruction plus a hot dog and soda. Youth bowlers can attend whatever Thursday they can to enjoy this camp. Call Regency today to get signed up at (661) 325-6428.
+- Mega Ball 2013 starts on Tuesday night, May 21 at 6:30pm. This league is open to bowlers of every level and all bowlers will receive a ball of their choice at the end of the league. This is a mixed trios league so any combination of adult trios and it is a handicapped league. Cost is $22 per bowler per week and league has two 7-week rounds plus Sweeper. Contact Regency to sign-up today (661) 325-6428 or Bowler’s Edge Pro Shop at (661) 324-6303
+AMF Southwest Lanes Summer Bowling Leagues of Interest
+3610 Wible Road – (661) 834-2695
+- Robb’s Ball League starts on Thursday, May 16 at 7pm (there will be a league meeting that night starting at 6pm). Cost is $16 per week per bowler and all bowlers in this league will receive a ball of their choice. Teams are comprised of any adult mixed trios. Length of league is 16 weeks. Contact AMF Southwest Lanes to get signed up at (661) 834-2695 or contact Robb’s Pro Shop at (661) 833-2695.
+- Openings still for the popular Gambler’s Anonymous league which just started last week and bowls on Wednesday nights at 6:15pm. Teams for this league are mixed fours any combination and league bowls for 24 weeks here and the 25th week is bowled over in Las Vegas! Cost is $16 per bowler per week.
+- If Gambler’s Anonymous is too early for you, then check out the Las Vegas league that bowls also on Wednesday nights but at 9pm and there are still openings as this league just started on April 24. Teams for this league are any trio and cost is $17 per week and the league runs just 20 weeks.
+- And, for the Youth, how about 10 for 10? This Summer Saturday morning league starts on Saturday, June 15 at 10am and youth bowl for 10 weeks for $10 per week (pre-payment of $100 at initial sign-up).
+Carlie Medina III’s Special Team for USBC Open Nationals
+Bakersfield’s Carlie Medina III will honor the memory of the late Tony Reyes when he bowls in the USBC (United States Bowling Congress) Open Nationals this year on May 22 & 23 in Reno, NV, as he will be bowling on a team that was hand-picked by the late Reyes. Medina said that PBA great Robert Smith will be bowling in Reyes’ spot.
+GEUSBC Youth compete in Pepsi State Classic
+Three local youth bowlers who qualified in their District Final back in March, traveled to Classic Bowl in Daly City to compete in the Pepsi State Classic this past weekend, May 4-5. Tyler Samora placed 57th with a nice 236 game in the Under 20 Boys division and Paul St. Laurent placed 95th. Samora and St. Laurent are from the AMF Southwest Lanes youth bowling program. Noah Dunbach placed 92nd in the Under 15 Boys division and started out his six games with 179 and 183 games. Dunbach is from the Regency Lanes youth bowling program. This is a huge tournament and these bowlers should be thrilled they qualified at the District level to be able to compete in this event!
+Weekly Super Scores
+- Dan Plant, bowling in the position round for Marge’s Social Group league at Regency last Thursday, May 2, put together 11 strikes in a row for a nice 299 game which also was over 100 pins over his average of 195!
+- Also bowling last Thursday at Regency, in Marge’s Social Group league, Mike Yorba, really helped his team “Last Ones Bowling” win the second round first place spot by rolling a nice 289 game for his first game of the night..
+Bowling High Scores
+Regency Bowling Center for Weeks 30-31 of Winter leagues ending May 1, 2013.
+MEN’S 250+ GAMES
+299--Ron Andrews; 279 -- Mike Hardwick; 269 -- Ray Nearey; 267 -- Aris Anadilla; 266 -- Doug Heitman; 259 -- Chris Mormann; 258 -- Carlie Medina III, Tyson Holder, Casey Rosenblad; 257 -- Mike Mayo; 255 -- Bill Field, Ian Byers, Bill Bumacod; 253 -- Terry Bowe
+Junior Boys:
+234 -- Zack Long; 203 -- Noah Dunbach; 148 -- Ricky Gonzalez; 126 -- Seth Florez
+MEN’S 700+ SERIES
+773 -- Ron Andrews; 741 -- Carlie Medina III; 720 -- Chris Mormann; 715 -- Zack Newman; 712 -- Aris Anadilla
+WOMEN’S 220+ GAMES
+245 -- Stephanie Sanders; 237 -- Becky Hardwick; 228 -- Lenore Espinoza; 225 -- Cheryl Lamberson, Michelle Mormann; 220 -- Toni Draeger
+Junior Girls:
+135 -- Nicole Tweedy; 112 -- Allissa Sweet
+WOMEN’S 600+ SERIES
+659 -- Stephanie Sanders; 620 -- Lenore Espinoza; 606 -- Becky Hardwick
+TOURNAMENT RESULTS:
+--Marge’s Super Senior No-Tap Singles Tournament
+Thurs., April 25, 2013, 1 p. m., Regency Lanes
+Women:
+1st – Linda Perry (865)
+2nd – Caroline Elliott (839)
+3rd – Lorene Johnson (830)
+Men:
+1st – Elwood Elliott (940)
+2nd – Jerry Pettiford (832)
+3rd – Lynn Bender (811)
+Coffee Club, Regency Lanes
+Sunday mornings, 10:00 a.m.
+Sun., April 28th results:
+1st – Nancy Curran & Mike Curtis (1838)
+2nd – Bryan Reid & Chris Gregory (1811)
+3rd – Greg Barraza & Gary Cole (1730)
+*Norris Richards won 3-6-9 for $55
+Sun., May 5th results:
+1st – Jack Dunn & Gary Cole (1855)
+2nd – John Curtis & Chris Gregory (1816)
+3rd – Michelle Dunn & Ron Andrews (1752).
+The Request for an Examination
+The Process
+The Relevant Provisions of the 2006 Code
+The Facts
+Mr. Flaherty's Position
+Assessment
+Schedule: List of Witnesses Interviewed February 7, 2008 Thomas Mulcair, Member of Parliament for Outremont, sent me a letter requesting that I undertake an investigation into the conduct of the Honourable James Flaherty, Minister of Finance, in connection with an untendered contract awarded by Mr. Flaherty's Office to the firm MacPhie & Company Inc. Mr. Mulcair suggested that Hugh MacPhie, who controls the company, had worked with Mr. Flaherty and that they were well acquainted.
+In his letter, Mr. Mulcair cited a March 27, 2002 article from the National Post. It described Mr. MacPhie as a “Flaherty loyalist" and “senior campaign official" suggesting that he had worked quite closely with Mr. Flaherty when he was an Ontario cabinet minister and during Mr. Flaherty's bid to lead the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Mr. Mulcair also cited an article appearing in the Toronto Star on February 2, 2008 alleging that Mr. Flaherty had broken federal contracting rules in hiring Mr. MacPhie.
+On February 15, 2008 I wrote to Mr. Mulcair. I noted that the events he described appeared to have occurred prior to the coming into force of the Conflict of Interest Act (Act), when the 2006 Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders (2006 Code) was in effect. I pointed out that in order for me to proceed he would have to identify reasonable grounds to believe the 2006 Code had been contravened by Mr. Flaherty, as required by subsection 44(2) of the Act.
+I received Mr. Mulcair's response to my letter on April 3, 2008. In it, he cited sections of the Act rather than the 2006 Code. Notwithstanding this, I determined that the information he had provided me was sufficient to allow me to identify relevant provisions of the 2006 Code. On that basis, I proceeded with an examination under subsection 44(3) of the Act having regard to the relevant provisions of the 2006 Code.
+On April 22, 2008 I wrote to Mr. Flaherty to inform him that I was proceeding with an examination and provided him with copies of the letters from and responses to Mr. Mulcair. I advised Mr. Flaherty of the provisions of the 2006 Code that could be applicable.
+In the same letter, I asked Mr. Flaherty to provide me with a copy of the contract with MacPhie & Company and all documents relating to the contract, as well as a list of all officials in his department who would have been involved in putting the contract in place, including their positions at the time. I also invited him to provide me with any views he might have regarding his obligations under the 2006 Code and whether or not his alleged activities constituted a breach of that Code.
+On May 1, 2008 my Office was informed that Mr. Flaherty was in the process of retaining counsel. On June 4, 2008 Glenn A. Smith of Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP informed my Office that he would be acting as counsel for Mr. Flaherty. Mr. Smith was asked to provide my Office with the materials originally requested in my letter of April 22.
+On June 10, 2008 my Office received a package of documents from Mr. Smith. Information had been blacked out in several places, suggesting that the documents had been prepared in response to an access to information request. On June 18, 2008 my Office requested an unaltered copy of all documents related to the contract. A second set of documents was received on July 3, 2008. Although the black markings had been removed, those sections remained difficult to read. A third copy was provided on July 10, 2008. Although still difficult to read, they were legible. A list of officials involved in the contract process was also provided. On July 23, 2008 Mr. Smith indicated that Mr. Flaherty would not be submitting a written statement of his views but would respond at a later stage.
+My Office interviewed nine witnesses between July 25 and October 24, 2008.
+Mr. Flaherty, the final witness, was given an opportunity to present information and comments at an interview with me on November 17, 2008. A complete list of witnesses is attached as a schedule to this report. Additional documents were also obtained from the Department of Finance. Mr. Flaherty was given an opportunity to comment on a partial draft of this report, not including the assessment and conclusions.
+The relevant provisions of the 2006).
+The amount of detail provided by the witnesses varied and there appeared to be some differences in their recollections on certain matters of fact. However, these differences had no significant bearing on the issues involved. My findings of fact are set out below.
+Mr. MacPhie is President of MacPhie & Company, a strategic marketing and communications consulting firm that has worked with businesses, industry associations and government entities at both the provincial and federal levels. The firm was registered by Mr. MacPhie as a sole proprietorship in 2004 and incorporated in Ontario in 2005.
+The shares are owned by Mr. MacPhie and his wife. Mr. MacPhie had worked as a communications advisor in the Office of the Honourable Mike Harris, former Premier of Ontario, from 1996 to 2000. It was during this time that he met Mr. Flaherty, who held various cabinet positions in the Harris Government. In 2001 Mr. Flaherty was a candidate for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and Mr. MacPhie volunteered on his campaign.
+In an interview Mr. MacPhie told my Office that his dealings with Mr. Flaherty, during his time with the Ontario government and during the leadership campaign, had been minimal. He said that he had assisted with speech writing and other communications functions, but had had only limited interactions with Mr. Flaherty. He told my Office that he was not a senior campaign official, as he was described by the National Post on March 27, 2002. Mr. Flaherty told me that Mr. MacPhie was a senior member of the communications team but was not one of the lead campaign organizers.
+Mr. MacPhie and Mr. Flaherty both confirmed that they have never seen each other socially. Mr. MacPhie told my Office that he maintained contact with Mr. Flaherty after the leadership campaign only through occasional political functions. None of the staff from Mr. Flaherty's Office interviewed by my Office were aware of any social interaction between Mr. MacPhie and Mr. Flaherty. Both Mr. Flaherty and Mr. MacPhie stated that Mr. Flaherty has no financial interest in MacPhie & Company and that he has no friends or relatives who work for the company.
+MacPhie & Company completed two contracts for the Department of Finance before the 2007 budget contract. The first was awarded in September 2006 at the request of the Expert Panel for the Children's Fitness Tax Credit. The panel operated at arm's length from the Minister of Finance. Witnesses interviewed by my Office said that MacPhie & Company had been engaged independently by the Panel. Neither Mr. Flaherty nor his staff was involved in the process.
+The second contract was awarded in October 2006 and related to the Advantage Canada economic plan prepared by the Department of Finance. After reviewing a draft of the plan prepared by the Department, Mr. Flaherty and his staff consulted Mr. MacPhie and then engaged his firm to assist them in making revisions. Interviews with Mr. Flaherty and his staff indicate that Mr. MacPhie's name came from staff in Mr. Flaherty's office who had worked with Mr. MacPhie in the Ontario government, and not from Mr. Flaherty himself. The recommendation to engage MacPhie & Company came from Dan Miles who was Mr. Flaherty's Communications Director at that time and David McLaughlin who was Mr. Flaherty's Chief of Staff at that time.
+Preparations for the delivery of the 2007 federal budget began in the fall of 2006. Mr. Flaherty had decided to establish a special budget team. Bill Hourigan, who had served as Mr. Flaherty's Chief of Staff during his time with the Ontario government, was hired to lead the budget process and put together the team. Mr. McLaughlin, who had been delegated contracting authority from the Minister, was asked to facilitate the building of the team but he was not part of that team.
+Mr. Hourigan assumed his role as Budget Director in December 2006. He remembers, however, attending a meeting with Mr. MacPhie and Mr. Flaherty prior to assuming his position at which the budget was discussed. Mr. Hourigan and
+Mr. McLaughlin both told my Office that Mr. MacPhie's involvement on the budget team stemmed from his earlier work on the economic plan. Mr. Hourigan said the budget was expected to build on that plan. Mr. Flaherty agreed with his staff that it made sense for Mr. MacPhie to handle the communications aspects of the budget.
+Several follow-up meetings between Mr. Hourigan and Mr. MacPhie took place in December 2006 and January 2007. For his part, Mr. McLaughlin stated that he was only responsible for the administrative details of the contract. Mr. MacPhie told my Office that Mr. McLaughlin was not involved in key meetings during which details relating to the participation of MacPhie & Company in the 2007 budget team were settled.
+Mr. Flaherty confirmed that Mr. Hourigan engaged Mr. MacPhie, while Mr. McLaughlin was responsible for putting the written contract in place.
+It is unclear exactly when Mr. MacPhie was engaged verbally by Mr. Hourigan and when he actually began communications work related to the 2007 budget. Mr. MacPhie recalls a meeting with Mr. Hourigan on January 10, 2007. He left that meeting with the understanding that the services of his firm had been requested as part of the 2007 budget team and began preparing the statement of work and the overall communications architecture. Further details relating to his work were confirmed at a meeting on January 18, 2007.
+Although the contract was to be awarded under the authority and budget of the Minister's Office, Mr. McLaughlin approached contracting officials in the Department of Finance on January 19, 2007 to seek assistance with the preparation of the contract.
+According to those officials, they understood that the Minister's Office wished to award a communications contract worth between $25,000 and $100,000.
+A contracting official sent Mr. McLaughlin general information on contracts valued between $25,000 and $100,000 and advised on January 22, 2007 that, given the large number of communications providers, it would be difficult to justify a sole-source contract and that such a contract could receive significant scrutiny.
+On January 25, 2007 Mr. McLaughlin provided contracting officials with a draft sole-source justification for the decision to engage MacPhie & Company. Departmental officials advised on January 27, 2007 that the sole-source justification did not uniquely qualify MacPhie & Company and on February 6, 2007 they advised that the contract should be awarded following the traditional competitive process.
+For his part, Mr. McLaughlin told my Office that he did not understand why departmental contracting officials were recommending a competitive process for a contract that had, in effect, already been awarded. The departmental officials said that it wasn't until mid-February that they became aware that work had already begun, after which point a contract was prepared with MacPhie & Company.
+Deputy Minister of Finance Rob Wright told me that in his view, contracting officials provided the appropriate advice, based on the information they had at the time. Mr. Wright said that the decision to sole-source was ultimately within the authority of the Minister's Office and required that a judgment be made. He noted that the considerations relating to a communications contract in a minister's office would be different from those in a department. Mr. Wright also told me that he felt that the decision of the Minister's Office was within the rules, but noted that the contracting process could have been handled more transparently. He did not feel that it was necessary to raise the matter with the Minister.
+On March 2, 2007 the contract was signed by Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. MacPhie “to confirm the verbal agreement reached on the 25th day of January, 2007".
+Mr. MacPhie was to provide communications services. Tasks specified in the contract included assisting with the planning of budget communications, writing and editing communications products and liaising on and coordinating budget-related communications between the Minister's Office and the Department of Finance. The work was to be completed by March 20, 2007, and was for a maximum of $98,580 including GST. During the contract term, MacPhie & Company was asked to do additional work. On March 29, 2007, MacPhie & Company invoiced for $122,430 ($115,500 plus GST). No written contract amendment was made, but written justifications for the extra work were prepared. The invoice was approved by Mr. McLaughlin and departmental officials.
+In an interview Mr. Flaherty told me that Mr. Hourigan, as Budget Director, was in charge of putting together the special team for the 2007 budget. Mr. Hourigan had recommended that MacPhie & Company be engaged and Mr. Flaherty approved that recommendation. Mr. Flaherty noted that he had been given positive feedback on Mr. MacPhie's performance on the contracts for the Expert Panel for the Children's Fitness Tax Credit and for Advantage Canada. He said that Mr. MacPhie did very good work and that he had the necessary background and understanding of political communications. Mr. Flaherty said that once he had approved the recommendation to engage MacPhie & Company, he did not involve himself in the administrative details of the contract.
+Mr. Flaherty told me that he first became aware of the details of the contracting process in July 2007. He expressed concern with the manner in which the contract had been awarded. At that time, he undertook a review of contracting processes within his Office and several changes were made.
+The 2007 budget contract between MacPhie & Company and Mr. Flaherty's Office has been the subject of a great deal of public commentary, much of it focused on whether or not federal contracting procedures with respect to sole-source contracts were followed. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts held hearings on this issue on May 13, 2008 but did not issue a report.
+At the outset, I wish to make clear that it is not within my mandate to determine whether the procedures that make up the federal contracting regime were respected. While the objectives of the federal contracting regime and certain provisions of the 2006 Code may be related, the two regimes are separate and distinct. Close adherence to federal contracting procedures may help a public office holder avoid contravening the 2006 Code, but the contracting regime is not an absolute safeguard against this.
+Conversely, failure to meet the requirements of the federal contracting regime need not imply that there has been a contravention of the Code.
+The focus of the contracting regime is on government processes as a whole while the focus of the 2006 Code is on specific prohibitions directed at individual public office holders. Generally, contraventions of the 2006 Code will involve an element of intent that may not exist in the case of a failure to comply with the contracting procedures.
+My role is to determine whether the relevant provisions of the 2006 Code were contravened by Mr. Flaherty.
+In conducting this examination I am required to analyse whether Mr. Flaherty has contravened subsection 3(7), 22(3), 22(4) or 22(8) of the 2006 Code. I note that neither subsection 3(7) nor subsection 22(3) have been reproduced in the new Conflict of Interest Act. I am therefore mindful that my analysis in relation to these two subsections will not set a precedent for the future application of the Act.
+The examination of these allegations required that I look closely at the relationship between Mr. MacPhie and Mr. Flaherty as well as the process by which the 2007 budget contract was awarded to MacPhie & Company and the context within which it was awarded, including the circumstances of previous contracts between Mr. MacPhie and the Department of Finance.
+Mr. MacPhie had done previous work for the Department of Finance and was known to Mr. Flaherty's political staff through that work and through previous political work. Mr. Flaherty and his staff had confidence in Mr. MacPhie's skills and his understanding of the sensitive nature and complexity of high profile budget work.
+Mr. Flaherty's staff believed they would get good value for the money spent. These factors formed the basis for the sole-source justification for this contract. While the media reported that the rules had not been followed, the Deputy Minister advised me that in his view, the decision to sole-source required a judgment to be made based on all the relevant facts and that, in this particular case, the decision was within the rules.
+Mr. Flaherty stated that he was aware that this firm had been identified to provide the communications services for the 2007 Budget and that he concurred with his staff's recommendation and assessment. The firm was engaged with his consent. There was no evidence that Mr. Flaherty or his staff extended the contract to Mr. MacPhie to accord him a benefit. To the contrary, I am satisfied that the primary concern of Mr. Flaherty and his staff was the effective advancement of the 2007 budget.
+Mr. Hourigan and other staff interviewed from Mr. Flaherty's Office stated that they felt no pressure from Mr. Flaherty to engage MacPhie & Company and that they were not aware of anyone else feeling any pressure to do so. Departmental officials who were consulted on the contract were not aware of any involvement at all by Mr. Flaherty in the decision to engage MacPhie & Company or in the administration of this contract.
+Mr. Flaherty had delegated contracting authority to his Chief of Staff, David McLaughlin. However, it appears that Mr. Hourigan, who was new to the federal government, played a more significant part in decisions related to the 2007 budget process, including putting together the team for budget 2007 and deciding to bring Mr. MacPhie in as a member of the budget team. Mr. McLaughlin was left to handle the paperwork.
+It would seem that the lines of administrative accountability in Mr. Flaherty's Office had blurred at the time the 2007 budget was being prepared, leading to a lack of rigour in the process of contracting for Mr. MacPhie's services. The potential for errors was significant. The result was that Mr. MacPhie had started the work long before a written contract was in place, contrary to the contracting procedures.
+All ministerial staff interviewed told my Office that the administrative details of the contract, including its value and the sole-source basis on which it was awarded, were not discussed with Mr. Flaherty. Mr. MacPhie also confirmed that he did not discuss details of the contract with Mr. Flaherty. Departmental officials who were consulted on the drafting of the contract stated that they did not brief Mr. Flaherty in relation to the details of the contract or the contracting process and were not aware of anyone else having briefed him.
+Mr. Flaherty told me that he was not involved in the administrative aspects of the contract. He left those details to his staff. I found no evidence to the contrary during the course of my examination. Mr. Flaherty has since expressed concern about the manner in which the contract was awarded. He has advised me that contracting procedures in his Office have been reviewed and that processes have been put in place to avoid the potential for errors to occur.
+Subsection 3(7) of the 2006 Code reads as follows:
+3. (7) Public office holders shall not use their position of office to assist private entities or persons where this would result in preferential treatment to any person.
+With respect to subsection 3(7), there are two components to be addressed: whether Mr. Flaherty used his position of office to assist Mr. MacPhie or his company and, if so, whether this assistance would result in preferential treatment.
+As indicated above in my assessment of the facts, I found no evidence that Mr. Flaherty used his position to assist Mr. MacPhie or his company in awarding him the 2007 budget contract. To the contrary, I am satisfied, after having spoken to Mr. Flaherty, members of his staff and other witnesses, that Mr. MacPhie was hired for his experience, his skills and, in particular, his understanding of the complex and sensitive political issues. All of these were seen to be necessary to deal with the communications aspects of the 2007 budget.
+Mr. Flaherty agreed that this firm should be engaged, particularly given its recent work on the fall economic update. I am cognisant that communications related to budget work is highly political, particularly in a minority government, and it would therefore be reasonable to expect that the person engaged to perform this work be someone known to be able to reflect the political approach of Mr. Flaherty and in whom Mr. Flaherty had trust and confidence to assist him with budget communications. I am satisfied that the effective management of the 2007 budget was the reason why MacPhie & Company was hired and that there was no intention, in these circumstances, to assist Mr. MacPhie.
+Because I have concluded that Mr. Flaherty did not use his position to assist Mr. MacPhie or his company by awarding the contract to MacPhie & Company, it is not necessary to go further and determine whether preferential treatment might have resulted in this case.
+The question of what would constitute preferential treatment would not be an easy one to answer. A preference always underlies a choice as to who will be awarded a contract. A preference alone is not always suggestive of an irregularity. I note in this connection that the federal contracting regime itself contemplates the possibility of sole- source contracts in certain circumstances.
+Although I have not had to define the expression “preferential treatment" for the purposes of this Report, it may be useful to observe that the expression is not defined in the 2006 Code; nor does subsection 3(7) of the Code set out any specific circumstances that would constitute preferential treatment for the purposes of that subsection.
+Subsection 3(7) of the 2006 Code, in its generality, has not been reproduced in the current Conflict of Interest Act. A different approach is taken in the Act. Only the more specific prohibitions relating to preferential treatment found in section 22 of the Code have been carried forward into the Act. These include the following prohibitions: using insider information; using one's position to influence the decision of another to further a relative or friend's private interest; and entering into a contract with certain relatives.
+Section 7 of the Act, the only section of the Act that uses the expression “preferential treatment", like subsection 22(2) of the Code, directs itself to the specific situation of preference being accorded to a person on the basis of the identity of an individual representing that person.
+The expression “preferential treatment" is not used in most provincial or territorial regimes. Furthermore, most provincial and territorial conflict of interest regimes, like the federal Conflict of Interest Act, have set out specific rules rather than a broad prohibition like the one found in subsection 3(7) of the 2006 Code. On the other hand, the Ontario legislation, like the 2006 Code, does use the expression “preferential treatment" in the context of a broad general prohibition without providing a definition. To my knowledge, however, it has never been interpreted.
+In any event, as explained above, I am satisfied that Mr. Flaherty did not contravene subsection 3(7) of the 2006 Code in relation to engaging MacPhie & Company.
+Subsections 22(3) and 22(8) read as follows:
+22. (3) Public office holders shall not accord preferential treatment in relation to any official matter to relatives or friends or to organizations in which they, relatives or friends have an interest. 22. (8) A public office holder shall not attempt to engage in any of the activities prohibited under subsections (1) to (7).
+Subsection 22(3) prohibits public office holders from according preferential treatment in relation to an official matter to relatives, friends or organizations in which the public office holder, relatives or friends have an interest. Subsection 22(8) prohibits attempts to accord preferential treatment as described in subsection 22(3).
+Subsection 22(3), like subsection 3(7), has not been carried forward into the Act and uses the undefined expression “preferential treatment". Subsection 22(3) is limited to treatment accorded to relatives or friends or to organizations in which the public office holder, relatives or friends have an interest.
+Mr. Flaherty and Mr. MacPhie are not relatives and I am satisfied that they are not friends as contemplated by subsection 22(3) of the Code. The evidence showed that they have a political working relationship but they do not have a close personal relationship that would identify them as friends. There was no evidence that Mr. Flaherty or any of his friends or relatives had any interest in MacPhie & Company.
+For these reasons, I am satisfied that Mr. Flaherty did not contravene subsection 22(3). With regard to 22(8) of the 2006 Code I am also satisfied that he did not attempt to engage in the activities prohibited under 22(3).
+Subsections 22(4) and 22(8) of the Code provide as follows:).
+Subsection 22(4) prohibits public office holders from using their positions to influence, or attempt to influence, the decision of a third party in a way that is intended to further the public office holders' private interests or those of their relatives or friends, or to improperly further another person's private interests. Subsection 22(8) prohibits attempts to engage in the activities prohibited under subsection 22(4). As subsection 22(4) includes any “attempt to influence", subsection 22(8) effectively becomes redundant.
+I believe that Mr. Flaherty accepted his staff's recommendation that MacPhie & Company be awarded the 2007 budget contract. The witnesses interviewed, including both ministerial staff and departmental officials, all confirmed that Mr. Flaherty had not pressured them to engage this firm and had not, in fact, even specifically requested that the firm be engaged.
+I am satisfied that Mr. Flaherty did not engage in any of the activities prohibited under subsection 22(4), nor did he attempt to do so as prohibited under subsection 22(8) of the 2006 Code.
+This examination required that I review the process by which MacPhie & Company was awarded the 2007 budget contract, but not for the purposes of determining whether the contracting procedures had been followed. My mandate is to determine whether the 2006 Code has been contravened. I have found that Mr. Flaherty did not contravene the Code in this regard.
+Several witnesses, including Mr. Flaherty, expressed concern about the contracting process followed by his office. A lack of rigour in this regard left Mr. Flaherty vulnerable to concerns that preferential treatment had been improperly extended to Mr. MacPhie. Mr. Flaherty has assured me that steps have been taken to prevent this type of situation from recurring.
+With respect to the application of the 2006 Code, for the reasons stated above, I have determined that Mr. Flaherty has not contravened subsection 3(7), 22(3), 22(4) or 22(8) of the 2006 Code.
+The Honourable James Flaherty, Minister of Finance
+Mr. Mike Giles, Head of Materiel Management, Department of Finance
+Ms. Kelly Gillis, Executive Director of the Financial Management Directorate, Department of Finance
+Mr. Bill Hourigan, former Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Finance
+Dr. Kellie Leitch, Chair of the Expert Panel for the Children's Fitness Tax Credit Mr. Hugh MacPhie, President of MacPhie & Company Inc.
+Mr. David McLaughlin, former Chief of Staff to the Minister of Finance
+Mr. Dan Miles, former Director of Communications to the Minister of Finance
+Ms. Colleen Volk, former Assistant Deputy Minister of the Corporate Services Branch, Department of Finance
+Mr. Rob Wright, Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
+Last Modified: Not yet published.
+The spirits of past kings of Lucis..
+Kings of Lucis form the Lucis Caelum bloodline that wields the Crystal's powers by birthright in the Final Fantasy XV Universe. They are the monarchs of the kingdom of Lucis. According to legend, the Crystal is of divine origin and was bestowed to humanity alongside the Ring of the Lucii, which harnesses the Crystal's power for a chosen few.[1]
+Lunafreya Nox Fleuret refers to the kings' spirits as the Lucii (pronounced: lucy-eye) in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, saying "He who holds the Ring communes with the Lucii and commands great power." However, the kings are not called Lucii in Final Fantasy XV outside the lore tutorial "The Magic of the Lucii", being referred to simply as "the kings of Lucis".
+ProfileEdit
+The Crystal is the divine cornerstone of the Kingdom of Lucis. The Stone has a will of its own, and channels its sacred power through the Ring of the Lucii to the monarch who bears it. Monarchs in the line of Lucis have the innate ability to conjure magical weapons. A handful of close attendants are also afforded access to this selfsame power. The magical barrier known as the Wall has long kept the empire at bay, and thereby maintained the peace, yet not entirely without struggle. Sustaining the Wall imposes an immense physical burden upon the king, but to let it fall for even a moment would be to invite destruction.
+When a monarch of Lucis dies, their spirit is taken by the Ring of the Lucii. The one who wears the ring can communicate with the spirits of the past kings and queens, and the ring is what links the past monarchs spirits to the mortal realm. Although spirits that dwell in the "realm beyond" cannot usually influence the mortal realm, the past kings of Lucis are special in this regard, as the monarchs can combine their powers across generations in a phenomenon known as the bonding of the souls. The "bonding" can extend to those outside of the Lucian Elemancy. During Noctis's and his friends travels, potions and elixirs gain their healing power from Noctis[2]—without him, they would be just regular soda.
+Prince Noctis inherits a royal arm; the "soul fragments" symbolize the bonding of the Lucian kings' souls.
+The kings are entombed across Eos in hidden royal tombs, and leave behind weapons of their legacy known as royal arms to empower their descendants who seek them out. Only those of the Lucian lineage can brandish the royal arms, which glow when grasped by their rightful wielders. Using the royal arms drains the wielder's health, but they are especially good against beings of the dark, the antithesis to the Crystal and its light.
+The Lucian bloodline has a special power to brandish their inherited royal arms all at once, although this state can't usually be sustained for long. The weapons will materialize as crystalline silhouettes that circle the king who can rapidly attack their opponent with a new weapon each hit. Royal arms in their physical form bear illustrious designs on their own, with elaborate details, including light ray indentations and protruding angel wing motifs, and hued with the color and finish of precious metals, keeping true as weapons once wielded by royalty.
+The kings of Lucis combine their powers.
+The Crystal is a magical stone said to be of divine origin that is a source of immense power. Though its light is said to be for the benefit of all of mankind, only the kings of Lucis have been gifted the ability to wield its power. The Final Fantasy XV Scenario Ultimania posits that than being able to use the Crystal's true power, kings of Lucis have the responsibility of protecting it, and that the Crystal picks the "Chosen King" when disaster comes to the world.[2]
+For the last 150 years, the king who protects the Crystal has shielded it from outsiders by maintaining the Wall, a magical barrier that isolates Lucis from the rest of the world. Upholding the Wall drains the king's life-force, accelerating their aging. Having conquered all other lands, bar Lucis behind its magic barrier, Niflheim Empire reigns supreme, only repelled by those who derive their power from the Crystal.
+The Old Wall is a series of towering statues strewn throughout the crown city of Insomnia. Honoring the ancient kings of Lucis, who dwell within the Ring of the Lucii, it activates when the city is in danger at the behest of the current king if they are strong enough, or one deemed worthy by the kings of old. According to the Final Fantasy XV Scenario Ultimania, the statues were created 2000 years ago to serve as coffins to each hold the soul of a dead monarch. From these coffins, the monarchs would await the coming of the "Chosen King." The statues were also intended to serve as the Wall that protects the kingdom of Lucis.[3]
+LineageEdit
+The FounderEdit
+The king who lived 2,000 years ago who was served by Gilgamesh as his sworn shield.
+The WiseEdit
+The Wise.
+Believed to be the first king who raised the Wall of the Lucian Kingdom. Known to wield a simple sword. His spirit in the Ring of the Lucii appears with multiple dark wings.
+The ConquerorEdit
+A king said to have lived in times of chaos, who rose as a champion that united the Lucian continent and fought for his peoples, allowing them to usher in a great age of prosperity. Known to have wielded a halberd.
+The CleverEdit
+A king who was said to be well versed in the arts, be it the physical, the intellectual, martial, or that of skill. Known to have wielded a crossbow.
+The WandererEdit
+A king who found no boundary nor limit to the land and wandered the world, going where no man had gone to before. Known to have wielded daggers that could combine into an enormous besieging weapon.
+The MysticEdit
+The Mystic.
+The first king who rose to protect the Oracle. Known to have wielded a greatsword. Out of all the royal arms, Noctis displays a preference for the Blade of the Mystic, as he wields it the most out of all battle features in which he wields a royal arm.
+The Mystic is the most prominent king in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. He talks to Nyx Ulric and is the last king standing at the battle's end. The Mystic has holes on his helmet and two wings on top of it. The back of his armor has something similar to a bony tail, like the Crownsguard does. The winged/horned helmet and the "tail" could allude to Bahamut. The Mystic statue's greatsword breaks in the last moments of the battle the Old Wall wages against Diamond Weapon, so he tosses it aside and punches the Weapon. Nyx digs his kukri into the Mystic's armor to follow the king warping away.
+The OracleEdit
+The Oracle.
+Though the Oracles are known as the royalty of Tenebrae, one of the royal arms is the Trident of the Oracle, and one of the thirteen statues of the Old Wall in Insomnia is a seemingly female figure who wields a giant version of the trident in the battle against the Diamond Weapons. Whether she was a queen of Lucis is unknown. In Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV Nyx and Glauca end up fighting on her shoulder, but she tosses her trident and warps away and Nyx and Glauca fall. The horn at the front of her helmet resembles a bird. The statue has a busty chest, long cape and heavier body compared to the others.
+The RogueEdit
+The Rogue.
+Believed to be the first queen, who disliked the watch of the public eye and took to the shadows to enact her rule. Known to have wielded a shuriken.
+In Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV she jumps at the arriving Diamond Weapon and threatens it enough uses its main attack. She wears high heels and in her statue form, she holds up a collapsing cliff after Niflheim's first attack.
+The TallEdit
+A king known only by his girth and strength, alluded to like that of a mountain. Known to have wielded a chainsaw-like greatsword.
+The JustEdit
+A queen who devoted all efforts to uphold peace in her rule of the Lucian Kingdom, and was beloved in turn by her peoples for her serenity. Known to have wielded a tall shield.
+The FierceEdit
+The Fierce.
+A king famous for his personality; to his peoples, a kind, loving, and just king; to his enemies, a veritable demon of merciless brutality. Known to have wielded a great mace.
+In Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV the statue wielding a colossal mace wreaks perhaps the most damage, destroying buildings as he goes. Even after losing his arms the statue still continues, but is the only statue who is defeated. His most prominent feature is the disc on his head.
+The PiousEdit
+A king known for his eponymous piousness, leading the Lucian Kingdom with a rule guided by divine principles and worked closely with the Oracle of his era. Known to have wielded a scepter that smote with a blade of light.
+The WarriorEdit
+A king whose life was forever changed when his beloved queen was killed by assailants. Believed to have wandered the world and waged an era of global war fueled by a vendetta of bereavement, and is speculated to be the king whose worship inspired the Safety Bit accessory. Known to have wielded a katana, a weapon not of the lands of Lucis, and is the only king laid to rest outside of his home nation.
+The FatherEdit
+Regis Lucis Caelum, the 113th King of the Lucian Dynasty. Known for the love of his family, and for wielding a saber-like sword. Regis made a trip across the lands of Lucis before his coronation. Regis is the son of King Mors Lucis Caelum, who consolidated the power of the barrier over Insomnia.
+StoryEdit
+Kings of Lucis stand beside the Oracle in the painting of the prophecy.
+In the Old Calendar Era, the astral god Ifrit betrayed the rest of his kind and began the Great War of Old that killed millions. Ifrit sent forth the Starscourge, a plague upon the planet that lengthens the night and turns people into daemons. Ifrit is opposed by the other astrals who want to purge the darkness Ifrit brings forth by the powers of light. Bahamut handpicked two people who would become able to wield divine powers to counteract the Starscourge, and to one day save the world from it. This became the prophecy of the True King.
+According to legend, Bahamut picked the first Oracle from the land of Tenebrae. The Oracle's calling is to help the king of Lucis, and has the power to commune with the astrals and heal those afflicted with Starscourge. Bahamut also gifted the king of Lucis the Crystal alongside the Ring of the Lucii, so that one day the True King would be born of their lineage and banish Starscourge from the world. The Lucian kings are sworn to protect the Crystal until that day arrives, and gain the ability to use various magical abilities as facilitated by the Crystal. The Crystal exudes great magical power, and is said to hold the soul of the world.
+The Lucian royalty can combine their powers across generations, as the one who wears the Ring of the Lucii can wield the powers of the kings of old. Thus, the power of the Crystal gradually concentrates until the king who wields all of the Crystal's power will be crowned the True King. The True King is said to surpass even the gods and have the power to banish the darkness from the world at the cost of his own life.
+Ardyn being celebrated as a great healer.
+With the plan to cleanse the world of Starscourge in motion, Bahamut appears to have disappeared from Eos. Ardyn Lucis Caelum was a Lucian king chosen to save Eos who was revered for a time as he absorbed countless daemons to save thousands across the world. He was denounced by the astrals as unclean, denied entry to the Astral Realm, and demonized by a jealous future king (likely Ardyn's relative, as he also was of the Lucis Caelum royal bloodline) who later became chosen by the Crystal. As his transition rendered him immortal, Ardyn took the surname of "Izunia" and vowed to one day have his revenge on the Caelum dynasty and the Crystal.
+Millennia pass, and the 113th king of Lucis is Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII. Though the Wall he upholds only now covers the crown city, his health is failing him at 50, and he only has one heir: the 20-year-old Prince Noctis. Regis ponders for how much longer he can keep projecting the Wall, but is reluctant to pass the torch onto his beloved son, knowing it would in time do the same to him. Fifteen years ago the old kings of Lucis told Regis that Noctis will be the Chosen King spoken of in legend.[3] Regis eventually decides to accept a suspicious peace treaty with Niflheim, with whom Lucis has warred for hundreds of years, and sends Noctis away from the city before the signing is to take place to keep him safe and to give him the best chance of fulfilling the prophecy.
+Ravus wants to be judged by the Lucian kings and gain the Ring of the Lucii's power.
+During the treaty-signing Niflheim forces draw their weapons upon the Lucians and war breaks out amid the crown city. Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt and Ardyn—who has established himself as the chancellor of Niflheim—steal the Crystal and the Wall dissipates. The crown city is invaded by daemons and magitek troops. General Glauca is tasked with taking the Ring of the Lucii from the king, and it is also sought by Ravus Nox Fleuret, the former prince of Tenebrae who is of the Oracles' bloodline. Ravus begrudges Regis and his kingdom for having abandoned Tenebrae when Niflheim invaded it, and believes his heritage entitles him to the ring's powers and could make him the True King. When he acquires the ring and puts it on however, he is judged unworthy by the past kings and the ring burns him, although he survives with a lost limb.
+Regis is accompanied by Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, the Oracle and Ravus's sister who has never blamed Regis for Tenebrae's downfall. She is Prince Noctis's childhood friend and considers her calling to be helping him become the Chosen King. They are protected by a member of the Kingsglaive, an elite unit of soldiers for whom Regis has lent the ability to use his magic: Nyx Ulric. Regis passes on the Ring of the Lucii to Luna with instructions to take it to Noctis. He stays behind to fight Glauca to give Luna and Nyx time to escape, and is killed, his spirit entering the ring.
+Nyx puts on the ring and communicates with the past kings.
+Nyx is soon attacked by one of his fellow Glaives who has turned against the monarchy, Luche Lazarus. Luche is tricked into putting on the ring and is deemed unworthy by the past kings, then uses the Ring of the Lucii's power to engage Glauca. The resulting battle sees Glauca fatally stabbed by Nyx, with the empire's daemons destroyed by the Old Wall, summoned effigies of the past kings of Lucis. Nyx dies at dawn as part of the blood price of using the ring's powers.
+Luna escapes Insomnia with the Ring of the Lucii and. Although Ravus doesn't think Noctis is worthy of Luna's sacrifice, he has come to believe the prince is the only one who can become the True King.
+Noctis is on a journey to collect the royal arms of his forebears and forge covenants with the astrals with faraway help from Luna. He believes his mission is to reclaim his kingdom by toppling the empire, and is initially unaware of his role as the True King. He is being helped by Ardyn Izunia, although Noctis doesn't like or trust him. Though chancellor of Niflheim, Ardyn is actually Noctis's immortal ancestor and an embodiment of darkness and the Starscourge, as his soul has been corrupted by daemonic influence. Though also a Lucian king, Ardyn has fallen from the gods' and the Crystal's favor and his name has been scrubbed from history books. He seeks to extinguish the Lucian bloodline as revenge, and defeat the True King. Knowing that this is Noctis's fate, Ardyn helps the prince get the full powers of the Crystal so that he could then destroy him.
+Noctis wields the power of kings to fight Leviathan.
+Luna calls upon the souls of Lucian kings when Noctis fights the astral Leviathan to forge a covenant with her. The kings answer, the royal tombs across the land light up, and Noctis enters a sustained mode of Armiger, the power of kings that lets him wield all of his royal arms simultaneously. Noctis receives the Ring of the Lucii from a dying Luna, and eventually makes his way to the imperial capital where the Crystal now lies. His mission has shifted from just reclaiming Lucis to that of saving the world, as without Luna keeping the darkness of the Starscourge at bay, daylight is rapidly vanishing from the world. Noctis believes he can use the Crystal's power of light to fight the darkness, but when he finds the Crystal he is absorbed inside it. He meets Bahamut and learns he must sacrifice his life to bring light back to the world. Noctis sleeps inside the heart of the Crystal for ten years, during which Eos is plunged into an eternal night and daemons take over the world. People's only hope is that the fabled King of Light of the Lucian lineage will come as per the prophecy.
+The clash of kings.
+Noctis returns ten years later and confronts Ardyn in the ruins of Insomnia to where the former has taken the Crystal. Ardyn ushers Ifrit upon Noctis, but he prevails with the help of the other astrals. Noctis battles Ardyn both wielding the power of kings, but Noctis emerges victorious and ultimately kills Ardyn by drawing his royal arms and striking him with each one.
+He prophecy fulfilled, the Ring of the Lucii disintegrates as the Lucian bloodline ends with Noctis's death. His spirit appears upon the throne of Lucis marked Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV with Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, the last Oracle.
+GalleryEdit
+EtymologyEdit
+Lucis, meaning "of the light," is the genitive singular form of the Latin word lux, which means "light."
+Caelum means "sky" in Latin.
+TriviaEdit
+- There being thirteen past kings who aid Noctis in his final struggle, as well as thirteen royal arms, is an allusion to number thirteen, as per the game's origins as Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
+- The Lucian kings could also be compared to l'Cie from the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy series to which Final Fantasy Versus XIII was part of, as they have a mission to a Crystal. "Lucis", "Lucii" (as in the ring) and "l'Cie" sound similar, although this could be a coincidence. Both the Lucian kings from Final Fantasy XV and l'Cie from Fabula Nova Crystallis are also homage to Warriors of Light, the traditional Final Fantasy heroes who answer the calling of a crystal.
+- Lucis had a more overt relationship to the Grim Reaper in earlier drafts, but this was toned down due to ratings concerns.[4] Imagery relating to skulls still appears among the main cast's outfits and the insignia of Lucis. This may allude to the revering of the dead kings.
+- The spirits of the past kings allude to the Knights of the Round, a recurring summon in the Final Fantasy series. The thirteen Lucian kings of old appear during the final encounter, similar to how the Knights of the Round perform when summoned in Final Fantasy VII.
+- Despite being referred to as the Kings of Lucis, there have been queens reported to rule Lucis as depicted in their royal arms that survived and found their way to Noctis.
+- Gilgamesh can phase, similar to the power of the Kings of Lucis. When he phases, he leaves behind muted red holograms.
+- According to the research notes found in Zegnautus Keep, Niflheim is developing a Wallbreaker Wave that can neutralize all magical phenomena exhibited by Lucian royalty.
+ReferencesEdit
+- ↑ Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV Promotional Artbook, p 15-16. 2016.
+- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Final Fantasy XV Scenario Ultimania Translation Project — Kingdom of Lucis (Accessed: June 22, 2017) at Medium
+- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Final Fantasy XV Scenario Ultimania Translation Project — History of Eos (Accessed: June 22, 2017) at Medium
+- ↑ Why Noctis and his companions are dressed in black? Hajime Tabata's answer (Accessed: September 10, 2016) at Official Final Fantasy XV Forums
+ed sheeran can simultaneously take complex pain and pure joy, and beautifully pen his journey through it all with blissful, incredibly honest and hauntingly aching words, and that’s truly a gift
+ed sheeran can simultaneously take complex pain and pure joy, and beautifully pen his journey through it all with blissful, incredibly honest and hauntingly aching words, and that’s truly a gift
+It’s time to reveal the winners of the Everyday Hero contest we ran in North America earlier this year! The contest asked you to submit a picture and accompanying background information of your very own Everyday Hero, with the first place finalist securing a $10,000 scholarship fund provided by our Everyday Hero Scholarship Fund.
+We were absolutely blown away by the amount of amazing entries we received, and were incredibly touched by the many different everyday heroes that were nominated. Many heroes were highlighted for their efforts in their respective workplaces, often for going above and beyond the call of duty or perhaps simply for fulfilling vital but often overlooked roles in today’s society. We saw family members be nominated for their inspiring life stories in the face of, in some cases life threatening, adversities. It was also fantastic to see so many people be nominated for both the great and little things they do in everyday life, their contributions to making the world a better place each and every day. This contest truly demonstrated that there is no one single definition of an everyday hero and that such amazing individuals can come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life.
+Given the staggering amount of high quality entries, we decided to take a little more time than initially expected to thoroughly work through each and every entry and we really do appreciate your patience over the past few weeks. It was a difficult task picking out the finalists, but we ultimately settled on three submissions… so, without further ado, here are finalists of the Everyday Heroes Scholarship Fund 2016 contest!
+First Place and winner of the Everyday Heroes Scholarship Fund 2016 contest:
+Everyday Heroes! - Alex L. (Winner)
+It was pouring rain! The Austrian volunteers have saved the night by helping a soaked mother and child from freezing and gave them new dry clothes on, so they could again feel comfortable. You are safe now.
+“This picture combines perfectly both the core of the “Everyday Heroes” theme and artistic and technical qualities. The play on the looks and gestures of the people captures really tells the story of both the mother and child and the volunteers. We can see that they truly care for those people and commit themselves completely to this job. On the technical side the composition, exposure, sharpness, focus and vibrant colors are really great.”
+Second Place:
+Be Your Own Ice Cream Flavor - Chloe S.(Finalist)
+There is a common weight that all must share to qualify as human. I was not aware of this until recently. I thought the weight assigned to my character was a flaw. I thought I was not sufficient to be a human. This weight can also be known as definition. Some may find his or her own definition through adversity, others may have had a definition made out for him or her from the womb. How one deals with adversity is how he or she builds up a definition. A norm has been cast to ensure many people cope with difficulties in the same way. This creates a problem, boxes. Boxes are a level of definition that can be harmful. Fear is what builds the box and maintains its presence. Some individuals are too scared to tread away from norms, and become anxious or scared. Others have found a way around the obstacle and have truly become individual. The former keeps people very much alike. Those individuals create their own prisons, and some are unable to escape it and find his or her own definitions. Andrew Fine is an Advanced Placement English Language teacher and someone I believe everyone should meet. He is one of the most genuine and kind human beings the world has to offer. Never have I ever been able to trust an adult so wholeheartedly. He was the first person I was able to come out to. He gained the reputation of trust through this disposition; he emulates the type of feeling one would share with an old friend. It is through his class that I was able to realize that I was human. On the first day of my Junior year, I recall him talking about what is wrong with boxes. Men are shoved into the BE A MAN BOX, and women are placed with the GIRL POWER FLOWERS. Typically, there are people to contend with how fundamental boxes are. As a homosexual male he has pushed towards both sides of that spectrum. His gender forced him to comply to the be a man box the first years of his life. It never fit him to do everything traditionally. Mirroring that, there was a threat presented, the parts of the box that did qualify may be stripped from him by individuals who pride themselves on being traditional. From the experiences placed before him Mr. Fine has learned not to hate. This is the second lesson he places upon the class’s shoulders. It is easier to hate than love, but hate festers into more hate for the things one loves. As a man of many talents, Mr. Fine is outstanding. He can make anyone’s day better from simply being a part of it. Whether this is product of his musical talent, writing genius or ability to persevere is beyond me. He might as well be the most sung unsung hero. Somehow, even with having 120 students a year Mr.Fine has found a way to gain a personal connection with each one. It is hard to leave his class without regarding him fondly; beyond that not many people can say he or she knows who he is. I believe that he has helped changed the atmosphere at my school. The students that have participated in his classes have implantations of his ideals on love and equality. We carry these gems with us post-graduation and try to enlighten anyone facing a negative standpoint. This start of inspiration is not something just anyone can do without knowing his or her own definition. I stayed in the Girl Power Flower box for the better years of my life, I deeply hated myself and saw no potential in my being. The energy each individual is granted upon participating in his class is healing; it was enough to fuel my escape. With Mr.Fine’s wisdom I was able to come out with who I am. I know now that I do not have to feel inhuman for not being able to function as a heterosexual female comfortably; I am a human who may define as they wish to. I have Mr.Fine to thank for my life now. My full gratitude goes out to him, he was someone I needed to meet.
+“There is a true sense of “slice of life” in this picture, a genuine feeling of looking at a human being that is passionate about his job and his students. The moment is captured perfectly and the smile and expression on the teacher shows all his dedication. The composition is great, framing the teacher between his white board and the raised hands and books of those students captivated by his lesson illustrates in a great way the importance of his vocation.”
+Third Place:
+A Fighting Chance - Michael S. (Finalist)
+My everyday hero comes in the form of two brothers, Edwin and Carlos C., who constantly thrive to support their community through the art of boxing. Their non-profit gym nestled deep within the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts first opened its’ door back in 2008 as a means to keep the youth off the streets. Not just the youth though train here, people from all walks of life come to the gym and are welcomed. The C. brothers work tirelessly to take care of others before themselves ensuring that all those who train at the gym have a healthy and bright future ahead. Through boxing they want people to install themselves with life lessons, to bravely march forward with the knowledge that they can do anything. They both constantly sacrifice their free time to help others, but to them there is no greater satisfaction than giving back. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, for me Edwin and Carlos C. define what it means to be an everday hero. To inspire and give back without asking for nothing in return. #everydayheroes
+“The photographer managed to capture a picture that resonates with his words and captured what he saw in those two people. With the close-up framing we feel ourselves close to the two brothers through this picture. We can feel how important to them are the gym and the people who come here.”
+Honorable Mentions:
+The Game of Compassion - Anthony C. (Honorable Mention)
+In my travels, I met the homeless gentleman playing chess on the right, who’s named Francis. I was intrigued and asked to play a game with him and he happily accepted. I learned that he sets up his chess board there every single day. He teaches others how to play, and during the games he just listens to what they have to say. Everyday he plays countless games and listens to others’ problems. To just listen and spread the love of chess seems to simple, but it’s actually a very powerful thing. He may be homeless, but that’s not stopping him from lending his ears to others. Sometimes all we need is someone to listen to us. To just be able to listen and give others his time when he has nothing else, that makes him my everyday hero. He gives all that he can even with nothing.
+This entry is very moving and the story behind it really reached us. The picture is well thought and puts the viewer close to the two protagonists, creating a great “photojournalism” style photo. The only drawback that refrained us to put this entry in the top 3 is that the composition doesn’t isolate well enough the main protagonist, the viewer’s eye is drawn to the tarp to the right or to the noisy wire fencing.
+A Small Hand - Jillian D. (Honorable Mention)
+My mom is an amazing woman. She has the courage to leave an abusive relationship and become a single parent to four children. Since then, she has been unemployed, gone through a house fire, and struggled with the daily ridicule of her peers. Yet, despite all of this, she still remains the same strong, caring woman who raised me and continues to pass on her loving nature to others.
+There is a lot of subtle storytelling in this picture, the movement of the mother while the kid is still hesitating to move shows perfectly the role of the parents, to guide and bring their kids forward in life. It’s a minor issue but we think that the picture would have worked even better without the car in the background, which reduces a bit the readability and importance of the mother.
+Capturing Resonance
++ [23-6-14] - Blending in. // ph. by my sister, Sal. (((:
+Note: you can tell a lot about how deeply someone Loves you by how they capture you. Let that resonate.
+Capturing Resonance, Soo Sunny Park & Spencer Topal
+I’m not really into Halloween, but after the long Friday I wanted to write a piece of music. I was in a unique mindset/mood today, and the song captured it like sympathetic resonance. Love it when that happens.
+The melody is a slower rearrangement of a song I wrote last weekend for a Crea update trailer. I should go make a post of that before I forget.
+And the song art is a photo I took years ago on a hiking trip. It’s not strictly related.
+Information note to participants
+List of participants - 25 January
+List of participants - 26/27 January
+“Investing in inclusive rural transformation: Innovative approaches to financing,” has been a unique international conference co-organized by IFAD and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, with the Brookings Institution and the University of Warwick. The two-day conference brought together policy and decision-makers, representatives of government organizations, the private sector, research and academic institutions, multilateral and bilateral development organizations, civil society and others for two days of solutions-focused events and discussion.
+The conference began on 25 January with a high-level inaugural session at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. On 26 and 27 January the conference continued at IFAD’s Rome headquarters with lively panel discussions and technical sessions.
+Hina Rabbani Khar is the 26th Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Twice elected Member of Parliament. Khar’s term as Foreign Minister is best remembered for the ‘Regional Pivot’ to Pakistan’s foreign policy. As the 26th Foreign Minister of Pakistan, she concentrated on building ties with Pakistan’s immediate neighbours. A major policy shift was taken by starting the journey of normalization of trade relations with India. Similarly, with Afghanistan, Pakistan pursued a policy of reaching out to all political parties, and ethnicities. Pakistan also pursued an active role in an Afghan led and Afghan owned process of reconciliation. In a difficult time of increasing economic sanctions Pakistan pursued to cement ties with Iran.
+Khar has also served as Minister of State for Economic Affairs for 4 years and Minister of State for Finance & Economic Affairs for another 2 Years. During these years, she was the lead person in Pakistan’s economic diplomacy, both bilateral and multilateral.
+Estrella Penunia, or Esther, as called by colleagues, is Secretary General of the Asian Farmers’ Association or AFA, a regional alliance of national farmers organizations (FOs) in Asia. Established in 2002, AFA is currently composed of twenty national FOs in sixteen countries, representing around 12 million small-scale men and women farmers. AFA, in a consortium with La Via Campesina, is managing a five year capacity building programme for farmers organizations called MTCP2/AFOSP, supported by EU, IFAD and SDC. AFA carries out programs on policy advocacy, knowledge management, capacity development and cooperative and enterprise development. As a social development worker, Penunia spent more than three decades of professional years in the field of rural development, working with the famers, fishers and indigenous peoples’ sectors in various capacities as community organizer, participatory action researcher, trainer, gender advocate, consultant, campaigns coordinator, NGO executive/manager and networker. She and her husband are currently working in partnership with a farming family in developing a 2-hectare upland farm through sustainable, integrated, diversified, organic practices.
+Zeinab Badawi is a BBC presenter and journalist. She was born in the Sudan, but moved to London when she was two years old.
+She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and holds a Master's Degree (awarded with a distinction) in Middle East History and Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at London University. In 2011, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by SOAS for her services to international broadcasting. In 2015, she received a second honorary doctorate for journalism from the London College of Communications - University of the Arts London.
+Badawi has extensive experience in television and radio, working on a range of programmes.. In 2016, she received the May Chidiac Foundation lifetime achievement award.
+Badawi is the current Chair of the Royal African Society, a Queen’s appointment to the Board of the Historic Royal Palaces, a trustee of BBC Media Action, a Vice-President of the United Nations Association UK, and a board member of the African Union Foundation. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Africa.
+Badawi (ODI).
+James Mwangi is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Equity Bank Group and the Executive Chairman of Equity Group Foundation. He holds five honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of his contributions to the Kenyan society. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mwangi has been honored twice with Presidential national awards. He was vested the First Class Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear national decoration - the highest presidential award to a civilian - for outstanding contributions in economic development. He was also named the World Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2012, and the Forbes Africa Person of the Year in 2012.. Mwangi has extensive experience in the banking industry and inclusive finance.
+Carlo Petrini is a journalist, author and advocate for a sustainable food system. He is founder and president of Slow Food.
+In 2004 he created the University of Gastronomic Sciences and Terra Madre, a network of over 2,400 food communities from more than 160 countries.
+In 2004 Petrini was named a 'European Hero' by Time magazine, and in January 2008 he was the only Italian to appear in the list of ‘50 People Who Could Save the World’ drawn up by the British newspaper The Guardian. He has been named Co-Winner of the 2013 Champion of the Earth Award for “Inspiration and Action” by the United Nations Environment Programme and, in May 2016, he has be appointed from the President of FAO, Graziano De Silva, as a Special Ambassador to Zero Hunger for Europe.
+Petrini is also the author of various books and in 2015 he wrote the reading guide to Pope Francis' encyclical “Laudato Si”..
+Pillai, Pillai had notable investigations to her name. She was awarded the Royal Television Society’s Award for her investigation into the late Robert Maxwell, which was broadcast a month before his death. Pillai cut her teeth as a financial journalist at the Investors Chronicle and on the BBC’s Money Programme. She read economics at the London School of Economics and was a graduate trainee at Schroders.
+Shobhana K. Pattanayak is Secretary for the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare, Government of India. He holds a Masters in Science (Hons.) in Biological Sciences from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India; a Post Graduate Diploma in Environment Law from National Law School of India University, Bangalore; and a Diploma (CIAP) from Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) Paris, France with specialization in Public Finance.
+Prior to being appointed Secretary for the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare, he held the position of Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Government of Karnataka (July 2013 to February, 2016) and Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Government of Karnataka, (Jan 2013 – June 2013). During the period 2009-12, he was posted as Minister (Agriculture), Embassy of India, Rome and Alternate Permanent Representative of India to UN Agencies in Rome. During his tenure in Rome, he served on the Evaluation Committee and the Executive Board of IFAD; held the position of Chairperson of Committee on Agriculture, FAO (2010-2012) and President of Executive Board, WFP (2012).
+Enda Murniningtyas is former Deputy Minister of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS), Indonesia. Before that she was Deputy Minister for Maritime and National Resources at the Ministry of National Development.
+She worked at BAPPENAS for over 30 years in the area of natural resources, agriculture, economics, and poverty. She has been a frequent lecturer and served on the graduate thesis and dissertations committee for the Bogor Agricultural Institute.
+She is an active chair member of Perhimpunan Ekonomi Pertanian Indonesia (PERHEPI) and Chairperson for PERHEPI Jakarta. She was the Government of Indonesia’s representative at the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations.
+Murniningtyas is currently retired and maintains a professional role in the area of agriculture, climate change, environment and sustainable development. She has just been appointed by UN Secretary General as Co-Chairs of the 15-member Independent group of scientists to draft the quadrennial Global Sustainable Development Report.
+She graduated with a BSc in Agricultural Economics and Social from Bogor Agricultural Institute, an M.Sc in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Oregon State University, and Ph.D from Colorado State University for studies in Agricultural and Resource Economics.
+Dan Newman is a solution designer and facilitator as part of The Value Web, a global network of facilitators dedicated to improving the way the world takes important decisions. He works with institutions such as Oxfam, the World Economic Forum, BMGF, the Rockefeller Foundation, and IIED as well as international organisations such as IFAD, UNICEF, WHO, ICRC, and the Commonwealth. He is also CEO of Matter Group, which performs similar work in the private sector, working with leading companies such as Airbus, Shell, Reliance, SWIFT, Generali, Giorgio Armani, and UniCredit.
+Educated at Swarthmore College, NYU, and Colombia, Newman splits his time between London and Rome.
+Mario Cerutti was born in Torino (Italy) in 1958.
+He graduated in Business Administration at the University of Torino and holds an MBA from the University of Dallas.
+He has been working in Lavazza since 1986. Currently, he is Chief Institutional Relations and Sustainability Officer in Lavazza.
+From 2004 to 2007, Cerutti was the President of the European Coffee Federation (ECF).
+He is currently serving as President of the Italian Coffee Committee (Comitato Italiano del Caffè - an association of large Italian coffee companies), as Chairman of the Coffee & Climate Steering Committee and as member of the board of the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC). He is also a board member of the ICP (International Coffee Partners).
+Claude Torre, a national of France, has extensive experience in international cooperation, agriculture development and rural finance. He currently holds the position of Project manager in Agriculture, in the division of Rural Development and Biodiversity at the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
+Prior to his current position, he was in charge of the elaboration of the 2011-2016 Strategic Plan of AFD. For more than two decades, he has been in charge of several cooperation programmes in Western and Central Africa, Middle East and Latin America and Caribe, including field presence in Niger, Guinea and Morocco.
+Torre speaks French, English and Spanish.
+Jesús Antón has extensive experience on international cooperation, economic analysis, agricultural policies, risk management and development. He is currently Senior Programme Manager of the Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM) in the Policy and Technical Advisory Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). PARM is a G8/G20 initiative promoting rigorous agricultural risk assessment and management policies in nine African countries.
+Before taking office in IFAD in September 2014, Antón worked for fourteen years in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. As Senior Economist, he led the OECD work on Agricultural Risk Management and other policy projects. He has also been advisor in the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and lecturer in University. He holds a PhD in Economics (UAM, Madrid), a Master of Science (MSc) in the London School of Economics and a Master from the College of Europe (Belgium). He has several publications in OECD and academic journals.
+Antón speaks Spanish, English and French.
+Scott Overdyke is Director of Strategic Partnerships, Root Capital. He leads strategic initiatives at the cross-section of Root Capital’s lending, advisory, and field building activities - including fund design and management for mission-aligned investors. Prior to joining Root Capital in 2014, Overdyke was a consultant with FSG where he helped companies create shared value strategies to drive financial, social and environmental impact. He has also worked with the Peace Corps, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, TechnoServe, and the social enterprise Razoo.com. He is a graduate of Columbia Business School and Harvard Kennedy School and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
+Alessandro Marini is a development economist with more than twenty years of professional experience in rural economic development with Non-Governmental Organizations, public sector agencies in developing countries and international organizations (UN). He has considerable experience in the design, implementation and supervision of investment projects, as well as in policy formulation and policy dialogue processes. Since 2007 he has been working as Country Programme Manager with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, where he has been in charge of IFAD operations initially in Mozambique and currently, as Country Director, in Uganda, where he pioneered an innovative equity fund investing in agribusiness companies. He has worked in different geographic areas for both long term and short-term assignments, primarily, although not exclusively, in Sub-Saharan Africa. He holds a Master of Arts in Development Economics at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK and a ‘Diploma di Laurea’ in Economics at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
+Rosângela Ferreira Moura, a Brazilian national, comes from a family of smallholder farmers. Growing up in the rural community of Caatingueirinha in the State of Ceará, she worked on the family farm while pursuing her studies. She was actively engaged in her local community and supported various social initiatives through the church.
+In 1998, Moura joined the Potiretama Union and was elected Director of the Union in 2000. She served two terms as Secretary-General for the Union, from 2000-2007, and coordinated an Agrian Reform Camp with 120 families during her term. In 2008, Moura was elected the first female president of Potiretama Union.
+In 2009, Moura became the Secretary of Rural Women at the Federation of Rural Workers in Agriculture in the State of Ceará (FETRAECE).
+Moura was able to buy her first land of 2.1 hectares in 2013.
+Daniel Gustafson is the Deputy Director-General (Programmes) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Among other responsibilities, he oversees the work of the Organization to ensure that it contributes to its Members' Sustainable Development Goals. As a US citizen, he has worked for the past 40 years on agriculture and rural development issues and holds B.Sc and M.Sc degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. In April 2015, he was conferred a Ph.D. Honoris Causa by the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) in India.
+Gustafson started his career in 1977 at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), based in Brazil, where he worked on a range of programmes supporting the country's agricultural research and development programmes. He moved to the University of Maryland in 1988 as Programme Director, International Development Management Centre.
+He joined FAO in 1994, first working within the Ministry of Agriculture in Maputo, Mozambique, and subsequently as FAO Country Representative in Kenya, Somalia, India and Bhutan. In 2007, he was appointed Director of FAO's Liaison Office for the US and Canada, based in Washington D.C., and then moved to FAO headquarters in 2012 as Director of FAO's Office of Support to Decentralization. Prior to his current position, he was Deputy Director-General (Operations), overseeing the Organization's decentralized offices and other operations-related departments and units.
+Gaëlle Bonnieux is Head of Agriculture Debt Investments at responsAbility. She supervises a team of 16 Investment Officers based in Lima, Nairobi, Mumbai, Paris and Zurich, managing of portfolio of USD 280 million invested in 45 countries and 55 commodities. She joined responsAbility in November 2009, first as Investment Analyst in charge of Financial Institutions and then as Investment Officer in charge of Agriculture Investments. In this role, she conducted more than 50 due diligence in Africa, Latin America and Asia and covered a broad variety of commodities (coffee, cocoa, tea, cashew, spices, fruits & vegetables, soya, etc.). Prior to that, she used to lead a project supervised by Max Havelaar France/FLO aimed at facilitating access to finance for Fairtrade certified producer organizations. The project resulted in the creation of a rating methodology adapted to small agricultural businesses. She also has experience developing a microfinance network in Latin America and Africa for MicroCred Holding, a microfinance group based in Paris (Greenfield projects). Bonnieux holds a Master degree in Business & Administration and an Executive Master degree in Finance. She speaks French, English and Spanish.
+Kaspar Baumann is experienced in structuring private investments in emerging and frontier markets. He works at Clarmondial, a Zurich-based advisory firm focused on mobilising investments for sustainable natural resource management. He focuses on structuring investments to attract funding to agriculture companies in emerging markets and advises leading corporates on their sustainability-related investments.
+From 2008 to 2015, Baumann worked in the private equity team of responsAbility Investments, an asset manager specialized in impact investments. In this role, he executed minority participations in financial institutions servicing SMEs and agricultural clients in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
+Baumann is an independent member of the board of directors of an SME-focused bank in Macedonia (FYROM). He holds an MSc in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and an MBA from Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
+He speaks English and German, intermediate French and is learning Spanish.
+Jean-Michel Severino succeeded Patrice Hoppenot in May 2011 as CEO of "Investisseurs et Partenaires" (I&P), an impact investing and private equity firm, which focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions in Africa.
+Severino chairs the board of Ecobank International. He serves as chair of the audit committee for Danone’s board and is a member of its corporate social responsibility committee. He is also a member of the board of Orange (France Telecom).
+Prior to assuming the CEO role at Investisseur & Partenaire, Severino was chief executive officer of the Agence Française de Développement from 2001 to April 2010 and Vie President from Asia from 1996 to 2000.
+Severino graduated from ESCP (1978) and IEP (1980) before entering the Ecole Nationale Administration (1984). He holds a degree in Law (Paris II, 1978) and a Master of Sciences in Economics (Paris IX Dauphine, 1979).
+Otar Danelia is a Member of Parliament of Georgia and former Minister of Agriculture. He has been acting as Head of Agrarian Issues Committee since October 2016. He is also a member of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee.
+In 2014, Danelia was appointed as first Deputy Minister of Agriculture before being appointed Minister of Agriculture. Prior to that, he served as head of the Interior Ministry’s Service Agency and acted deputy head of logistics department at the Interior Ministry since 2013. Danelia has also worked in Georgian companies including SilkNet and Bank Republic, as well as in international organizations.
+Danelia studied law at the University of Tbilisi.
+Roberto Ridolfi is Director of the European Commission for Sustainable Growth and Development at Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development.
+Twice Ambassador/ Head of delegation to the European Union, Ridolfi was first Ambassador for the Pacific where he served from 2005 to 2007. In 2010 he was appointed in Uganda by the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU where he served until September 2013.
+In between, as Head of Unit of Europe Aid, he managed programmes dealing with environment and climate change, food security, human development and migration as well as the One-Billion-Euro Food Facility in 50 countries.
+Ridolfi joined the European Commission in 1994 and worked in several delegations and offices of the EU (Malawi, Namibia, and Kosovo). Between 2001-2004, he was the principal coordinator dealing with environment, transport and Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP).
+Ridolfi holds a MSc in Engineering, an MBA and a PhD in A. Technology and has an extensive private sector and academic experience (1985 – 1994).
+Rupinder Singh Sodhi, age 58 years, is Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, Ltd., (AMUL), which is India’s largest Food Products organization with turnover of US$ 3.4 Billion in 2015-16. Sodhi has 35 years of rich experience in leading and developing cooperative sector within Indian dairy industry which generates livelihood for 3.6 million of dairy farmers and serves one billion Indian consumers.
+During his six-year tenure as Managing Director of AMUL, he ensured a 90 per cent increase in milk procurement prices and 87 per cent increase in milk procurement. Under his leadership, AMUL has initiated strategic productivity enhancement programme, fertility improvement programme, calf rearing and total mixed ration project to improve milk productivity of animals. To support the Government of India’s cashless transaction after demonetization, AMUL has opened one million new bank accounts and started paying 100 per cent payment of milk producer members through banking channel.
+For more than three decades, Sodhi has worked under direct guidance and mentorship of the father of white revolution, Dr. Verghese Kurien, and has ensured that values cherished by him, such as integrity, dedication, courage, honesty, commitment to farmers and to consumers, remain deeply ingrained in the culture of AMUL.
+Sodhi has obtained his Bachelor (Agriculture) degree from CTAE, Udaipur, India and he is first-batch alumnus from IRMA, Anand, India.
+Tuga Alaskary has been working for the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Specialized Agency of the African Union since 2010. ARC is a sovereign weather-index insurance initiative providing governments with contingency financing in the event of extreme weather events. In her current role as a Country Engagement Manager for the ARC, Alaskary manages a portfolio of country programmes. Prior to this, she was a Liaison Officer at the Office of the Prime Minister of Iraq where she took a leading role in a national civil service reform initiative with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. She has also worked for various NGOs, the United Kingdom's civil service and in academic institutions in London and Baghdad. A British and Iraqi national, Alaskari has a B.A. honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Essex and an MSc in Development Studies from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
+L, Frigenti designed some of the Bank’s most innovative programs, and was deeply involved in organizational reforms.
+After leaving the World Bank in 2014, and the Caribbean in Chile and the Instituto di Studi Italo Africani.
+Frigenti holds a Master's degree in History and International Affairs from the University of Rome, la Sapienza.
+Frank Rubio is currently Oikocredit’s Global Head of Agriculture. Oikocredit is a Netherlands-based social investor that operates in 70 countries worldwide, working for the triple-bottom-line of people, planet and profit. Rubio has 25 years’ experience in microfinance and agricultural development through organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, CARE-USA and the Inter-American Development Bank. He currently supervises a team of 7 professionals responsible for the growth quality and impact of Oikocredit’s worldwide agricultural lending portfolio which currently values at €170 million. Oikocredit’s AgriUnit works closely with smallholder farmers to provide adequate and flexible financial services that meet the growing demands of our agricultural partners and increase our social impact worldwide.
+Rocco Macchiavello holds a PhD in Economics from London School of Economics (LSE), where he is currently an Associate Professor in Management. He is also a Research Associate of the University of Warwick’s Policy Lab that is based in London.
+Previously, Macchiavello was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Nuffield College (Oxford University), at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Professor of Economics at Warwick University. Macchiavello acts as Lead Academic for the IGC – Myanmar Country Programme and is a research affiliate with the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development and IPA. He is an Associate Editor for Economic Development and Cultural Change and for the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization and he is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Development Economics and Economica.
+Macchiavello's research interests lie at the intersection of development, organisational and industrial economics. His research covers several topics (relational contracts, vertical integration, supply chain, lending models, risk management, management and productivity), countries (Bangladesh, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan and Rwanda), and sectors (coffee, flowers, dairy and garments). For his research, he has collaborated with numerous government agencies, international organizations, social enterprises and large companies. His current research studies focus on industrial zones, industrial policy and agricultural value chains in emerging markets and, more broadly, markets and firms in weakly institutionalized environments. He is also interested in researching organized crime and international drug trafficking.
+Mark Cackler is Manager, Agriculture and Food Security, at the World Bank, working on agricultural transformation in Africa.
+Cackler joined the World Bank in 1981, after working for John Deere, an agricultural equipment manufacturer, in both the US and Thailand. Initial assignments in the World Bank included agriculture and natural resources units for East Africa, China, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, and in the World Bank's New Delhi Office, where he led the World Bank’s commercial agriculture portfolio in India. In 2000, he was appointed Manager of the Agriculture and Rural Development for Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2007 Cackler was appointed Manager of the central agriculture and rural development department, where he managed World Bank global programs and partnerships for agriculture and food security, including the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), the Global Food Safety Partnership, the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, AgriFin (on agricultural finance), AgResults (on private sector innovations), and other programs dealing with climate smart agriculture, agricultural technology, gender in agricultural livelihoods, livestock, and agricultural risk management. In May 2015, Cackler was appointed as Manager for the unit responsible for World Bank activities dealing with agricultural transformation in Africa.
+Cackler is from the United States and was raised in Moline, Illinois. He has economics degrees from Oberlin College, Ohio, and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
+Ousmane Ndiaye, a Senegalese national, has an extensive experience in supporting, counselling and backing up professional agricultural organizations in West and Central Africa. He is currently Director-General of the Senegalese Association for the Promotion of Grass-root Development, which is a National Federation of Organizations and Cooperatives of farmers, pastoralists, fishermen and rural women.
+Since the year 2000, he has been supporting the Network of Farmers' Organizations and Agricultural Producers of West Africa, which brings together the Professional Agricultural Organizations of 13 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (CEDEAO). For the past two decades, he has participated in several missions to formulate projects to strengthen the capacity of farmers' organizations and develop agricultural value chains.
+His work consisted in analysing the Farmers' Organizations strengths and weaknesses, their institutional arrangements, and proposing interventions in technical, organizational and financial and administrative management. He also assisted in the design and development of partnerships between Producers' Organizations and processing industries, commercial banks, traders and public services to support the development of the agricultural sector.
+Ndiaye speaks and writes French fluently.
+Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission for the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), coordinating policy research and advocacy programs aimed at making Africa a food and nutrition secure region. She is an authoritative leader in agriculture, climate change and nutrition with over 25 years of trans-disciplinary experience. Sibanda served as a trustee and adviser to the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research centres as Board Chair for the livestock centre (ILRI) and trustee for maize and wheat (CIMMYT), and advisor to programmes on water, land and ecosystems (WLE); climate change, agriculture and food systems (CCAFS); policy, markets and institutions (PIM). She serves as a Commissioner for the EAT-Lancet Commission and member of the UN Committee for Policy Development. She is currently leading a multi-country research and technical assistance project on Agriculture to Nutrition. She holds a BSc Degree (University of Alexandria, Egypt), MSc and PhD from the University of Reading, UK.
+Ambassador Pietro Sebastiani was born in Capannori (Lucca) in 1957, and entered the diplomatic corps in 1984. He has served in Moscow, New York, Paris and Brussels. He has served as Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations Organisation and was Italy's Ambassador to Spain between 2013 and 2016.
+Sebastiani was a member of the Cabinet of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs Andreatta, Elia, Martino, Agnelli and Dini from 1993 to 1996. He was Diplomatic Advisor to the Speaker of the House of Deputies in the 14th Parliament and from 2005 to 2008 he was the Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva.
+Sebastiani graduated in Political Sciences with a major in International Law from the "Cesare Alfieri" University of Florence and took courses in International Economics at Harvard University and in International Journalism at Columbia University, New York. He carried out research for two years at the European University Institute of Fiesole and in other British universities, archives and libraries. He is the author of books, papers and articles on historic and political issues.
+Sebastiani belongs to a number of associations, which include the Accademia degli Incamminati. He was member of the Board of Directors of Cotec-Italia. In 2015 he was awarded the Master de Oro in Economics by the Spanish Real Forum de Alta Direccion.
+He has received many awards in Italy and from countries including Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay. He is the founder and Honorary President of the Italian Association of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome "Seeds for SIDS".
+He speaks fluent English, French and Spanish and has studied German, Russian and Dutch.
+Siobhan Benita is the Chief Strategy Officer of Warwick in London and Co-Director of the Warwick Policy Lab at the University of Warwick. Before that, Benita was the Chief Policy and Strategy Officer for the University’s Department of Economics.
+Previously, Benita was a senior civil servant with over 15 years’ of government experience. She worked in many of the major departments, including Transport, Environment, Health and Local Government as well as spending several years at the heart of government with senior roles in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
+Benita left the Civil Service in January 2012 to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election, where she secured around 250,000 votes. She has broad experience of TV and radio commentary and speaks regularly on issues, including public policy and gender equality.
+Pedro Martel joined the Inter-American Development Bank in 1998 as a Research Assistant in the Natural Resources and Environment Division serving Central America, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. In 2001, he started working as a project economist for the Southern Cone Region of the Bank in the Natural Resources and Environment Division. From 2005 to 2013, Martel worked in the Bank’s country offices in Paraguay and Guatemala as an agriculture and rural development specialist, designing and supervising investment projects. In 2013, Martel was transferred to IDB Headquarters in Washington DC, where he worked as a lead agricultural economist. On March 1, 2016, he was appointed Chief for the Environment, Rural Development and Disaster Risk Management Division. Martel, a citizen of Honduras, holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University and a BS in Agriculture from the University of San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
+Sean de Cleene is Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Responsible for overseeing business and market development strategies, innovative financing and strategic partnerships. Former positions include: Senior Vice President, Global Initiatives, Strategy and Business Development, Yara International; Chair, World Economic Forum New Vision for Agriculture incorporating multi-stakeholder partnerships in 14 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America including partnering to form both Grow Africa and Grow Asia; Founding Co-Chair Grow Africa; Seconded as Special Adviser, UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Food Security and Nutrition.
+De Cleene previously also successfully jointly initiated a number of respected cross sector partnership platforms and initiatives including inter alia Grow Africa, African Green Revolution Forum, Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor, Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania, Malawi Agriculture Partnership, UNEP Finance Initiative Africa Taskforce, African Institute of Corporate Citizenship, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Sustainability Index.
+Eniola Mafe, a Nigerian national, currently serves as Programs Manager for the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI) Foundation, responsible for advocacy and business development activities of NPDI and also supporting the design, enhancement, monitoring and evaluation of NDPI and its Nigerian sister-organization, PIND Foundation. NDPI’s strategic objective is to reduce poverty and increase socio-economic benefits by implementing interventions that create stability, equitable increases in employment and incomes of individuals in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. At NDPI, Mafe works with a range of partners to tackle the myriad of complex and interrelated impediments to sustainable development, with a focus on the development of robust market systems. This includes the development and strengthening of value chains, specifically aquaculture, cassava, palm oil and sector agnostic business linkages..
+Silvia Paraguya is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO). NATCCO is a federation of 834 cooperatives with consolidated assets of US$2.36 Billion owned by 3.7M individual members. NATCCO’s services include the Central Fund, Information Technology, Education Training and Consultancy, Microfinance Innovation in Cooperatives and Member Relations and Networking.
+She is the Chairperson of CODE-NGO, the biggest coalition of NGO Networks in the Philippines, as well as the of the Network Consolidated Cooperative Bank and Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc. She has also been the Chair of the National Cooperative Development Council and Philippine Cooperative Centre.
+She is a member of the Coop Sector Council of the National Anti-Poverty Commission. She has once been appointed as the Co-Chair of the Regional Development Council X, and is a former member of the Government Panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
+A chemical engineer, she is a graduate of Master in Business Management of Asian Institute of Management, Makati City. She is a proud member of the Higaonon tribe of Bukidnon.
+Smallholder agriculture finance and investment network
+Smallholder Pathways Toward Inclusive and Sustainable Rural Transformation
+Welcome remarks by Michel Mordasini Vice President, IFAD
+Statement by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Pier Carlo Padoan
+Discorso del Vice Ministro dell’Economia e delle Finanze, Enrico Morando
+Closing statement by Ambassador Pietro Sebastiani
+Highlights of the conference
+The 10th and 11th House are usually where you want to find what you’re like on the Internet. Why? The 10th House is the house of the public and the world. Your public image is seen through your 10th House. The Internet is your online public image, so therefore, you can find insight to see how people view you online. The 11th House shows how you ideally want to be seen online. The 11th House is naturally ruled by Aquarius, which is a sign associated with technology. The 11th House also rules over friendships and community, and with that, you want to show the best parts of yourself.
+Be aware that any dominant elements in your natal chart (dominant planet, sun, moon, and/or dominant house) will also be seen online.
+If you have duplicated signs due to interceptions, meaning that you have the same sign ruling both Houses, then this post will not apply for you. Those with duplicated signs in the 10th and 11th House will tend to have an online image that is similar to their ideal image… Or can struggle to identify how they want to establish themselves online. There is a strong emphasis on the duplicated sign when it comes to online affairs.
+Aries in the 10th//Taurus in the 11th – You are seen to be assertive, direct, and straightforward online. It’s hard to misunderstand what you’re saying since you’re very straightforward, but you could also be very aggressive. With that in mind, you can participate in a lot of arguments and debates. However, you ideally want to be seen as someone who is calm, steady, and appealing. Sometimes, you can feel that your current online image is too harsh and brash. You ideally want to be seen as someone who is comforting. You try your best to remain calm and comfortable, but you can be easily affected by what you see on the Internet. It can be hard for you to accept that you’re wrong, for you can be very stubborn online.
+Taurus in the 10th//Gemini in the 11th – You generally tend to be well liked on the Internet. With Taurus being a sign ruled by Venus, your blog or social media can be very visually appealing. People tend to come to you for good vibes, and it’s hard to make you angry. However, you can be seen to be shallow, superficial, and maybe unintelligent. People can underestimate you due to this, which is why you want to be seen as someone who is educated online. You want to be seen as a fun, carefree, and talkative individual for you feel that you can be stuck in your comfort zone sometimes. Ultimately, you want to have a worry-free experience on the Internet because not everything should be taken seriously.
+Gemini in the 10th//Cancer in the 11th – People look up to you on an intellectual plane when it comes to online matters. You are fun, spontaneous, and hilarious. You may like to post a lot of memes and laugh at a lot of posts. You don’t take things too seriously on the Internet, since it’s all just a bunch of fun for you. However, you may feel that your emotions can be hidden and ideally, you want people to take you seriously when you express your emotions online. Usually, you contribute a logical and rational argument, but you may deeply seek for an emotional understanding. Ultimately, you want other people to see that you have the ability to be someone they can emotionally rely on, even though, you’re seen to be light-hearted person.
+Cancer in the 10th//Leo in the 11th – People find you to be a very sweet individual online. You may find that a lot of people come to you for advice. There is a vibe of safety and comfort when people approach you on social media. You may be very emotionally understanding to others, and can give good advice. Generally, you are seen to be sweet, but sometimes, you can find that people take advantage of your sweet nature. You can be passive-aggressive when you don’t get your own way, making you quite moody. There is a part of you that wants to shine above the rest. Due to this lack of respect, you may try to make yourself look respectable online by expressing your creativity and talents. Instead of having to praise and comfort others online, you’d like it if someone praised you.
+Leo in the 10th//Virgo in the 11th – When it comes to your online persona, you are seen to be very charismatic. It’s likely that you are very popular on social media, and you can quite a lot of attention. You are quite creative in your online expression. However, through all of this popularity, you may want others to just see you as a normal person. Sometimes people tend to forget that you are just a normal individual and can treat you unfairly due to your popularity. You can also feel impractical for you feel like you can’t apply your creativity to something productive sometimes. Ultimately, you want to have attention that’s genuine and true and to place your creativity into something productive for others.
+Virgo in the 10th//Libra in the 11th – With Virgo ruling your 10th House, you tend to have a quieter online image. You tend to be very organized in your online affairs, for you like to keep your blogs and social media to be clean. Any mess or lack of organization can bug you. You are very analytical and helpful to anyone who comes to you for help. However, you can feel very misunderstood because you are someone who tends to criticize others online for their own good. People can find you to be petty and you feel that you aren’t well-liked. You ultimately want others to see you to be someone social and charming. There is a craving for validation from others. You can feel unappealing online, so you also strive to be seen as someone aesthetically pleasing.
+Libra in the 10th//Scorpio in the 11th – People tend to see you to be charming, sweet, and social. You usually know the right things to say, and you have the ability to remain neutral and diplomatic with any conflicts. You strongly focus on beauty and you try to make your social media accounts look aesthetically pleasing. However, you tend to focus a lot on people’s interactions online, and people can find you to be a shallow, gossipy person. Due to this, you can feel like you are at a distance from others. The reason why you pay attention to such interactions is because you ultimately want to have intimate relationships online. You want to look good online is because you feel that people won’t tolerate the “ugly” side you don’t want to show yourself. Ultimately, you seek for intimacy and true acceptance online.
+Scorpio in the 10th//Sagittarius in the 11th – When you have Scorpio in the 10th House, you will cause extreme reactions from people online. People will either love you, or hate your guts. You tend to not reveal too much of yourself online, only revealing details that will lead to a dead end. You are very particular to who you talk to and who you will be close with. With a lack of information shown, people will usually find you to be either mysterious or intimidating. This lack of understanding hurts you, because there is a fun, dorky side of you, and this is ultimately the side of you that you want to show. You want to be seen has someone optimistic, fun, and exciting, but you feel that showing such a side shows your vulnerability. There is a part of you that wants to let go and just be carefree online.
+Sagittarius in the 10th//Capricorn in the 11th – With Sagittarius in the 10th House, you are generally seen to be a very fun and approachable person. While you can be seen to be very funny, you can also be very intelligent and participate in a lot of open-ended discussions. However, you tend to have exaggerating tendencies, which can make you unnecessarily blunt and reckless. Due to this, you can feel out of place online, and with that, you want to be seen as someone important. You ultimately want others to take you seriously. People tend to forget that you have a serious side, and there are times where you want to show it so that people can respect you. You may have many aspirations, but you feel like you can’t quite place them down in a practical way.
+Capricorn in the 10th//Aquarius in the 11th – When you have Capricorn ruling the 10th, it is hard for others to put you down. You are the one who tends to sound very serious and mature, and due to this, people respect you and tend to be cautious if they choose to argue with you. However, you ultimately feel like you are blocked in your expression. You are secretly scared of blowing your cover and saying stupid things out of the blue. There are so many things you want to do, but you don’t go out of your way to do it because you feel like it threatens your online image. There is a part of you that wants to stop caring about what’s right and wrong, and just have the freedom to do whatever you want. Instead of being a lone wolf, you want to be seen as someone cooperative, flexible, and well-rounded.
+Aquarius in the 10th//Pisces in the 11th – When you have Aquarius in the 10th, your social media accounts are popular in a strange sense. You like to set trends, and you are probably updated on the latest memes. Sometimes you post spontaneously or erratically out of the blue. You don’t have to work very hard to be unique in your online community. Although you have a lot of out-of-the-box ideas, you feel like your online self is lacking in something. You may feel that you lack an emotional, yet creative expression to others. There is a sense of detachment to your image that you want to eliminate, for you ultimately want to be seen as a person who is sweet and compassionate to others.
+Pisces in the 10th House//Aries in the 11th House – When you have Pisces in the 10th House, people can struggle to gather a coherent, correct image of you. Due to this, you may feel like you are misunderstood online. However, you are truly seen to be a sweet, compassionate individual. The confusion you feel, however, bothers you and you strive for clarity and to lead. You ideally want to be someone who is seen to be assertive, yet still inspiring to others. With your public image, you want to be understood and inspire others in a clear, straightforward fashion. You have so much creativity, but you feel like you just need a little push to make it come to life.
+The Annual Arctic Sea Ice Drama Begins
+The Annual Arctic Sea Ice Drama Begins
+>.
+Previous Comments
+ChrisM says: "But overall,
+ChrisM says: “But overall, you can bet Arctic ice extent will keep trending downward, breaking records regularly. ” Yup! And it will continue until it stops and begins to reverse. As it has many times in the past.
+Ice cycles
+We have so interfered with the natural cooling cycle the earth was in before man’s influence, that I’m sure it will be millions of years. CO2 is too long lived to think otherwise.
+Ice cycles
+We have so interfered with the natural cooling cycle the earth was in before man’s influence, that I’m sure it will be millions of years. CO2 is too long lived to think otherwise.
+References, please
+What sort of time scale is referenced here? - Regards, Tom Gray, Wind Energy Communications Consultant
+a2 - airs more simplistic thinking!
+‘Yup! And it will continue until it stops and begins to reverse. As it has many times in the past.’
+With atmospheric CO2 levels as they are now and forecasted to be in a business as usual?
+With continental and fluid system arrangements as they are at present?
+With an expanded resource hungry human civilisation and population as at the moment?
+Of course not, not even close.
+Yet another example of your blinkered thinking or trained mantra.
+You are nothing but a drone for the fossils of the planet, and droning on as you do is becoming tedious.
+Is this not telling you anything:
+or this
+this
+and to discover more this:
+Of course before long it will not be business as usual because no ice age is going to come to our rescue anytime soon. Draw down of CO2 to create a true ice age takes centuries at the very least. And unless we do something about it mother nature will do it for us, shrug most of us off.
+Do you have kids or grandchildren that you care about a2?
+LionelA believes in the
+LionelA believes in the tipping point with this: “Of course before long it will not be business as usual because no ice age is going to come to our rescue anytime soon.”
+So Ice Ages are over forever? Even if true, that’s bad? The most equable climate the planet has had was higher in temps and CO2. And, you find that scary?
+Continuing to make similar statements will convince me that believers are not high in logic…Oh wait. :-)
+a2 - cannot be specific if he/she tries.
+‘So Ice Ages are over forever? Even if true, that’s bad? The most equable climate the planet has had was higher in temps and CO2. And, you find that scary?’
+So the period you are indicating was…?
+Many centuries before humans took to agriculture, so what bearing does that have on our here and now, and the near future?
+Continuing to make such statements convinces me that you are either stupid or have an ideological agenda maybe one coupled to financial incentives.
+LionelA, asks: "So the period
+LionelA, asks: “So the period you are indicating was…?” if you actually knew your subject that question would be unnecessary.
+Since I’m the stupid one, look it up!
+The Short Hu-Man existance
+Just like the dinosaurs, Hu-Mans will evetually die out.
+Then the Planet will sigh, and say to itself, what was that all about ?
+Yet still the cliamte will continue to change, and sea ice melt and freeze, even when we are not here to observe those changes. Those arguments that now take place would seem imbicilic to any of the very few Homonid descendants who might one day return back here from the outer reaches of the Galaxy or beyond, or wherever our hybrid offspring might end up millions of years from today.
+Arguing about miniscule surface variations of a tiny part of an insignificant rock will seem like utter poppycock, to whatever our Hu-man race has become by then. It will be like how we consider the strange rituals, of stone age homonids, when we think of them today.
+a2 - avoiding answering
+‘LionelA, asks: “So the period you are indicating was…?” if you actually knew your subject that question would be unnecessary.’
+Not so slippery you. Oh but I do know my subject and maybe that is why you are now avoiding answering a straight question.
+Let me remind you, you wrote:
+‘The most equable climate the planet has had was higher in temps and CO2.’
+So again I ask, when was that exactly?
+LionelA, calling me stupid
+LionelA, calling me stupid went over the line. Since you obviously are not, then look it up. You might be better for it!
+a2 - dithers again
+‘LionelA, calling me stupid went over the line. Since you obviously are not, then look it up. You might be better for it!’
+Well I didn’t actually call you stupid, this is what I wrote:
+‘Continuing to make such statements convinces me that you are either stupid or have an ideological agenda maybe one coupled to financial incentives.’
+Clearly you have a lack of comprehension skills (common amongst those who seem to lack the ability to take in the bigger pictures of climate science and focus on one or two distortion memes) so maybe you have just called yourself stupid.
+Meanwhile I am still awaiting an answer to my question, I repeat:
+‘Let me remind you, you wrote:
+‘The most equable climate the planet has had was higher in temps and CO2.’
+So again I ask, when was that exactly?’
+Waiting——
+waiting—
+waiting
+sigh
+no box with brass for me just a simple weighted sack over the stern will do, but no last stitch through the nose please.
+NASA blames the wind not global warming
+Chris, would you care to comment on the fact that NASA has released peer reviewed papers clearly demonstrating that it was the winds and wind patterns that caused the drop in ice cover, and that it had little to nothing to do with global warming?
+Or will you ignore this fact as inconvenient to your eco-panic?
+But what about the
+But what about the “drama”?!
+These drama queens love them some drama.
+"Chris, would you care to
+“Chris, would you care to comment on the fact that NASA has released peer reviewed papers clearly demonstrating that it was the winds and wind patterns that caused the drop in ice cover”
+Anonymous, for starters that was a study of between 2005-2007. What is your explanation of the decrease in ice since then?
+Secondly.
+“and that it had little to nothing to do with global warming?”
+It never said that. You made it up. Nice red herring.
+NASA
+“Chris, would you care to comment on the fact that NASA has released peer reviewed papers clearly demonstrating that it was the winds and wind patterns that caused the drop in ice cover, and that it had little to nothing to do with global warming?”
+Well, you see, that’s the issue, isn’t it? Winds and wind patterns are largely determined by the rotation of the earth; positioning, size and topography of land masses; the temperature of the oceans; ambient surface temperatures; the collision of air masses of different temperatures, and; air pressure readings rising and falling. If temperatures are being affected by climate change, the winds and wind patterns will change. Winds are not independent of the system, they are absolutely a part of it. It’s a no-brainer
+Phil M, ole buddy, let's get
+Phil M, ole buddy, let’s get our facts together here. OK? Chris makes the point that the low was 2007, and you ask: “What is your explanation of the decrease in ice since then?” Didn’t it go up if there is a low? Just wondering.
+anon2 mate :) "Chris makes
+anon2 mate :)
+“Chris makes the point that the low was 2007,”
+He did……but then when onto say:
+“Which brings us to 2011: The National Snow and Ice Data Center, at the University of Colorado, is reporting that as of now, ice extent is even lower than where it was at this time of year in 2007, the record-breaker. ”
+2007 was the record breaker, but 2011 is now lower, indicating 2011 is now the record breaker.
+Phil, My Friend, 2011 may
+Phil, My Friend, 2011 may break the record 2007 low. It has not yet. The ice loss rate is slightly higher than the 2007 rate. If it does break the 2007 record it will be minimal.
+That still does not explain your claim of the ice being lower. It has actually recovered slightly up until this year. Moreover, the relatively minor recent fluctuations does not prove anything for the long term, unless, of course, the goal is fear mongering. Even if fear mongering, fear of what? Change? How do we stop change happening? Less ice? How do we stop that? Rising temperatures? But the extent/volume of Arctic ice is not necessarily directly related solely to temperatures. So how do we stop temperatures form rising? Stopping the Sun is not an option, and assuming that all temperature increases are related solely to GHGs is still unproved. (Note the solely)
+"Phil, My Friend, 2011 may
+“Phil, My Friend, 2011 may break the record 2007 low. It has not yet. ”
+“Yet” is the operative word isn’t it? The summer isn’t over yet & for the moment it is tracking below 2007.
+“That still does not explain your claim of the ice being lower. It has actually recovered slightly up until this year. ”
+I’m not seeing a whole lot of gain there anon2.The trend is down.
+“Moreover, the relatively minor recent fluctuations does not prove anything for the long term,”
+The incremental changes are not that noticeable. In a couple of decades it will be. Certainly for our children it will be blindingly obvious.
+“fear of what? Change? How do we stop change happening?”
+You’re right, change management is an issue & we will need to adapt. But we can do something about the rate of change & need for adaption….which will ultimately lead to mass migration. Refugees & immigrants is already a touchy subject worldwide.
+“So how do we stop temperatures form rising?”
+How did we stop the ozone hole growing? Surely it’s impossible that we can affect the planet…it’s huge. Surely it’s just an attack on profit.There was no other goal besides attacking profit….was there?
+It's taking an awfully long
+It’s taking an awfully long time to bring this frozen planet into the daylight.
+I see a spectacular mostly ice free future. High latitude crops and all that.
+When will this horrible dead winter finally end?
+"I see a spectacular mostly
+“I see a spectacular mostly ice free future. High latitude crops and all that.
+When will this horrible dead winter finally end?
+”
+It’s funny how deniers only see a small part of the whole picture. Deniers s love to talk about the benefits of warming on already cold climates, like say Alaska or Greenland. But they choose to ignore the effects of warming on already warm climates. More floods & droughts will hardly help people in these areas.
+“When will this horrible dead winter finally end?”
+Oh yes, the people of Africa, India, Bangladesh etc & those close to the equator say that all the time. Mmmmm, please make it hotter……….so we are forced to migrate to other countries.
+considering by as early as
+considering by as early as 2020, parts of the lower great plains and adjacent SW will begin reverting back to what it was in the Pliocene- a dust bowl, it is of no concern to deniers- who firstly have no understand of climate science, geography or hydrology- what they do is troll sights like this after receiving orders from the the Koch industries.
+closing in at 400ppm-ice?
+Hansen said that ice sheets begin to behave different at the current temperatures- now the highest in the Holocene by at least 0.15 degrees C.
+As C02 plows past 400ppm in 2015 or 2016 any hope that arctic ice will begin to recover is pure fantasy. Paleo climate records show that even at 380ppm C02- sustained over time- sea levels where 20 meters higher then today as in the Pliocene.
+Look for an ice free arctic in late September as early as 2020.
+by 2030 C02 will be approaching 450ppm- that’s the level Hansen worries that the western Antarctic ice sheet could begin to melt much quicker, as well as Greenland.
+6degrees, ice free Arctic?
+6degrees, ice free Arctic? Which month and for how long? You do know that your estimate was trumped by 7 Yrs, but of course it’s not likely to be ice free in 2013.
+what?
+It could be 2013, or after, some have said 2016- I would say anytime between 2013-2020.
+If we see a decline as much as 2007, or greater, then I would assume its fair to say by 2014- we could see a decline of 50% less then that reached in late September of 2007.
+6 degrees said: "then I would
+6 degrees said: “then I would assume its fair to say by 2014- we could see a decline of 50% less then that reached in late September of 2007.” We’ve seen these projections now several times and it just doesn’t happen.
+What do you think would be fair if 2011’s low is equal to 2007? The way the Arctic ice is progressing it will at most just barely exceed the 2007 low. Even then, there is a whole lot of ice left to melt to get to ice free.
+NO prediction can be 100%
+NO prediction can be 100% accurate- there are many variables.
+Your ‘We’ve seen these projections now several times and it just doesn’t happen.’ Did we expect the huge meltdown in 2007? That was 4 years ago only- how many predictions have been made since THEN? Ice will not decline every year, to a new minimum . Melting of ice takes time, there is something called ‘inertia’ The overall trend has been down over the last 4 years. While 2008 did not match 2007, it is still the second largest melt, and 2010 comes in third. I would say that there is a strong possibility that 2011, will come in with an extent as low as 2007, or as great as 2008, or 2010. It may surpass all those years- too early to know.
+Key ice melt graphic
+Can be found at the bottom of this page: . It is the graphic labeled “Average Monthly Sea Ice Extent: September 1979 to 2010”. The same graphic is reprinted here along with some additional graphs of Arctic sea ice volume: - Regards, Tom Gray, Wind Energy Communications Consultant
+NASA
+anonymous777
+Sea ice in the arctic from 1979-2000 was sustained at a stable minimum.
+Was the weather different over those three decades, compared to the last 5 years?
+Jim Hansen- over at NASA Goddard has a different perspective- as you read in my earlier posting. Nice cherry picking of information however.
+Sea ice in the arctic from
+Sea ice in the arctic from 1979-2000 was sustained at a stable minimum.
+Was the weather different over those three decades, compared to the last 5 years?
+There is no evidence that 1979-2000 was a stable minimum. There is no evidence from before that time period to compare too.
+In 1922, the Arctic had the same weather patterns, and those winds produced the same result as we’re seeing now. Just read this text from the 1922 article and tell me it doesn’t sound like textbook global warming alarmism of today.
+“Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt.” Here is the text of that.
+This sea ice loss is nothing unprecedented and nothing to worry about.
+there where no records of the
+there where no records of the ice minimum in late September from 1979-2000? 1979 was the first year NASA begin Satellite coverage and photographs of the north pole and high arctic region. I suggest you visit their site, but also the NSIDC- they have plenty of records there as well.
+Oh yes the link to the NSIDC
+1922? And quotes from fisherman from 90 years ago? With no photographic evidence? C’mon, you will have to do better then that- this is not my first trip to the Rodeo> Science is about collecting hard objective data from reliable sources. I had a prof in college who told be then when coming up with a hypothesis- if you put garbage in you get garbage out, with all do respect to the fisherman in 1922.
+This sea ice loss is nothing unprecedented and nothing to worry about?
+I have heard that standard denial line just about EVERYWHERE.
+It's funny, WUWT who usually
+It’s funny, WUWT who usually get really excited at the slightest rise in arctic sea ice are suspiciously quiet at present about the arctic. No story on it for weeks.
+As a bit of serendipity, WUWT actually has a story on massive antarctic ice loss.
+I’ts commenters can’t believe their eyes & try to punch holes in the story. R. Gates does a sterling job on the deniers & get’s high score for “whack a mole”. Pwning them with science.
+Deniers & liars for hire.
+Why your mind is like a wall
+Creating climate hysteria is kind of like a monkey throwing crap.
+The more excrement that is tossed the higher the probability that something will stick and cause hysteria. For example over the last three years one of Chris’s biggest piles of flying excrement has been the coming hurricane armageddon. What did we get? The longest period of time since the Civil War without a hurricane making US landfall. Well Chris didn’t earn his money there did he? Although you can bet that when a hurricane does finally make its way to US shores Chris will be claiming he was a climate seer and warn that this is just the beginning of the end.
+That brings us to today’s odds improving, heat seeking load of excrement headed our way, ice melt. Never mind that according to the latest research, scientists find that the Arctic was likely ice free on numerous occasions during the early Holocene. What’s important is that when you’re paid to frighten people, you must create the meme that unexceptional weather and events that have already been known to happen in the past, is somehow novel and attributable only to man. There is an unlimited supply of fecal climate matter should this “ice melt” load miss the mark.
+So by all means let the drama begin. Yawn….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
+It's Howdy Doobie time . . .
+Well, Howdy, during the early holocene, there weren’t 6 billion people and counting on the planet. They weren’t burning tonnes and tonnes of CO2 PER CAPITA annually into the atmosphere. They had lots of room to move inland from the coastal areas if the sea level was rising. They didn’t have hundreds of millions of people living in vulnerable river deltas. There weren’t great cities like New York, Venice, London, Rio de Janeiro and so forth living at the water’s edge. In short, there was a whole lot more land to go around.
+Now we are camped here, cheek-by-jowl, to the next vulnerable person, trying to grab a toe-hold. And we are running out of room. If the seas rise, consider for a moment how much less space there will be for the 7 billion they are predicting in only a few year’s time.
+If the ice melts, we are looking at significant land loss coinciding with significant population growth. Do the math. Or did you pass grade three?
+You cant burn CO2
+you said : “burning tonnes and tonnes of CO2 PER CAPITA annually into the atmosphere” - but of course CO2 is a PRODUCT of combustion and cannot be “burnt” further.
+you said : “camped here, cheek-by-jowl, to the next vulnerable person, trying to grab a toe-hold” - but the entire World population, if “camped cheek-by-jowl”, could easily fit onto the Island of Ireland. That is a fact. There are not so many Humans as it may appear to you, especially if you mostly live in a town or a city.
+Sadly it is YOU who need to “do the math”, but here is a suggestion.
+Stop un-necessarily worrying over things which you cannot change and learn to live with the ever changing climate, because like all Humans you will only live for a short while, and then you will be dead for a very long time.
+"Stop un-necessarily worrying
+“Stop un-necessarily worrying over things which you cannot change and learn to live with the ever changing climate”
+Why did we bother with the ozone hole then if we cannot change anything? Just because we are small in scale compared to the planet, does not mean we cannot change it. Does the same go for microbes living in your body? Is it impossible for you to get sick or die from something living inside you that is so small you need a high powered microscope to see it?
+“because like all Humans you will only live for a short while, and then you will be dead for a very long time.”
+The earth is a bit like a hire car. We all get a turn to use it, but ulimately, we have to leave it in good working condition for the next ones to use it. It’s simply thoughtless & unworkable to live for the moment, care about yourself & not leave anything behind.It’s resources & regenerative abilities are not limitless.
+" nearly 40 percent below its
+” nearly 40 percent below its long term average. ”
+And what is this “long term” time period, about 3.4 decades? Are you serious?
+Arctic Ice Mass / Volume loss is even more dramatic
+The chart you referred to is about Concentration, a 2 dimensional measurement.
+Arctic Ice Mass / Volume is declining even faster.
+Much of the ice which remains is a remnant of what was once permanent ice shelves or meters thick multi-year ice.
+When that is gone we will be left with a thin annual layer of ice which melts to liquid for 3 months each year.
+Stuff and Nonsense based on your tiny limited experience of life
+Sadly this is a fantasy of yours, based on the very few years that you have been alive, and your inability to contemplete time at geological and cosmic scales. Do you have some difficulty with the concept of the fact that you are on a big wet rock hurtling uncontrollably though space.
+You are not in control of its trajectory. There is zero possibility that feeble Hu-mans can alter this trajectory to any significant degree. Who are you to be making those niminy-piminy predictions about ice melts. You are like a flea on an elephants back trying to predict which way the elephant might go next.
+"You are not in control of
+“You are not in control of its trajectory”
+No one said we are trying to change the direction our planet moves through space.
+“There is zero possibility that feeble Hu-mans can alter this trajectory to any significant degree.”
+There is zero possibility that microscopic bacteria or viruses such as ebola or golden staph can change your trajectory, but there is a good chance they can affect your health.How is that possible? They are small.
+Wow, d'Smogblog has deleted a
+Wow, d’Smogblog has deleted a lot of comments here!
+I wonder what they’re frantically trying to hide?
+Earths tilt caused much of the ice variation
+In the real world, where cosmic forces play a much greater part than feeble carbon-based life-forms, a significan shift in the earths tilt due to cosmic forces, proximity of other planetary bodies & etc, has meant that whilst artic ice has on the whole moved to a slightly lesser July-August cover, the Antartic cover has increased over the same time, so that the combined total stayed about the same.
+That isnt hard to understand is it ? As the Earth tilts, it tilts awy from or nearer THE SUN. The Sun is very hot and powerful, and dwarfs anything that a few billion Hu-Mans might think that they do.
+The entire climate-change falderol is a product of the fleeting instant that is the Human lifespan. This is just an illusion in the Hu-Man brian caused by the inability of most Hu-Mans to understand long periods of time, and a brain which has a memory of “the climate when I was young”, and an expectation that the climate of our youth should stay the same.
+This failure to understand and recognise the power of cosmic forces, and the Hu-Man trait of arrogance an hubris, and an obsession with twee detail, is teh main reason for these panic scenarios. We are all stood or sat on A WET ROCK hurtling uncontrollably through space and time, at thousands of miles an hour. The climate changes, so get used to it.
+correction needed
+You should call your self “unreal world”.
+The tilt of of the earth’s axis is where it is expected to be at this point in the Precession cycle. There has been no unexpected devation that requires anyone to invoke “cosmic forces”, just centuries old Newtonian Physics.
+Your claim about a significant unexpected change in the polar tilt is another case of deniers getting things exactly backwards and making up or repeating lies.
+Thank you for your contribution to that archetype, but no tax receipt will be issued.
+Who Said the tilt was unexpected ?
+It was you who raised up that particular “Straw Man”
+and so I am happy to burn it down in flames. Nowhere
+in the “Real World” comment did they say that any
+such shift in the axis was “unexpected”.
+Still such a shift on axis has recently occurred,
+and it has resulted in a change of the ice balance,
+between the two poles, yet the overall icxe cover
+has been about the same or perhaps a very slight
+increase. This is what has been observed, empirically.
+Your emotional outburst fools nobody but yourself.
+"Still such a shift on axis
+“Still such a shift on axis has recently occurred,
+and it has resulted in a change of the ice balance,
+between the two poles,”
+Naturally, you can provide proof of this from a reputable source?
+“yet the overall icxe cover
+has been about the same or perhaps a very slight
+increase.”
+So over a period of say 30-40 years ( long term trend to remove the year to year noise) you can provide a graph from a reputable institution that shows a flat line trend or a slight increase for arctic ice?
+This will be good.
+truth in blogging at last
+“utterpoppycock” is about as clear as you can get in terms of a handle for being full of sound and fury signifying nothing
+Breaking news....
+This just in;
+Arctic scientist involved in polar bear scare is under investigation.
+Hank122 - Heck are there 121 more DKs like you?
+‘This just in;
+Arctic scientist involved in polar bear scare is under investigation.’
+OK and now for the real story:
+‘ARCTIC SCIENTIST PROTESTS WITCH HUNT ON POLAR BEAR PAPER — Key Studies Disrupted as Supervising Federal Scientist Suspended from Duties
+Washington, DC — One of the country’s top Arctic scientists is being hounded in a political attempt to impugn his observations on polar bears’ vulnerability to retreating sea ice, according to a scientific misconduct complaint filed today on his behalf by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) against Interior Department officials. The scientist is now on administrative leave and forbidden from communicating with co-workers, thus disrupting a large portfolio of ongoing scientific research.’
+…
+’ The probe is being conducted by criminal investigators with no scientific training or background, who, based upon their questions, have little grasp of the scientific issues they are investigating;
+They have rifled through all of Dr. Monnett’s e-mails and seized his papers and equipment, impeding his ability to work even before he was ordered to stay home; and
+The investigators are seeking a link to former Vice President Al Gore, who referenced the polar bear paper in his book and movie, An Inconvenient Truth.’
+…
+‘“Despite bold rhetoric about respecting science, this case illustrates that federal scientists working in controversial areas today are at greater risk than during the Bush administration,” added Ruch, pointing to heightened pressure on Alaska BOEM scientists to expedite offshore drilling approvals under President Obama. “If Interior’s scientific integrity policies offer no protection to scientists like Dr. Monnett, they are not worth the paper on which they are printed.” ’
+Meanwhile Dr. Monnett’s work is on hold which is the aim of this nonsense - to delay even more solid foundations for questioning our energy policies. But of course you are too dim or ideological warped to understand this.
+Hm! See this driven by fossil fuel interests (and we know who they are) hell bent on getting oil out of the Arctic ocean, of which the ice isn’t melting because there is no global warming - it having stopped over the last ten years - according to you lot who cannot seem to be consistent in your arguments.
+And these fossil fuel interests who from their own poor safety record when it comes to blow outs, pipeline ruptures or tanker accidents don’t give a damn about anything except fat profits. Profits at the same time as getting huge subsidies from the US tax payer as well as tax breaks. If these perks were stopped then all US citizens could get affordable health care. Of course a big problem with that latter is also due to fat profits - this time by the health and health insurance entities that act like leeches on society.
+And before you go on about lefties and commies, I am neither just a person who dislike injustice and those who exploit others, in other words humanitarian. The left - right way of looking at things is such a monochromatic and decadent a view point.
+Consider these recent postings:
+These fossil idiots shouldn’t be let loose with a Meccano set let alone oil exploration.
+And now.....
+And now for the true story, from the Anchorage daily news;
+These so-called ‘scientists’ will no longer be allowed to twist their reports to fit their political agendas. Rational people are demanding the unbiased science reporting.
+Pages
+This post may contain affiliate / compensated links. For full information, please see my disclaimer here.
+Last Updated on 23/12/2020
+* *Some restaurants may be temporarily closed due to COVID-19. Please see the latest travel restrictions and advice.
+Travel allows you to explore a whole host of new flavours and cuisines; it’s a real multisensory experience. The problem is we now have to consider what it’s doing to the planet. For many of us, environmental guilt is all too real on the road, which makes eating out a bit of a moral minefield. All too often we end up getting caught between worrying about whether the food on our plates has been sustainably sourced, and our appetites. Luckily, sustainable restaurants are here to turn this problem around.
+Restaurants across the globe are taking the environmental worry out of fine dining by building carefully sourced and transparent supply chains to serve the very best sustainable ingredients. Sustainability is at the heart of their business model from the menus they create to the community they help.
+Pin me for later!
+So, if you’re in need of some deliciously guilt-free food on your travels, here are the 7 most sustainable restaurants in Europe (you can also read about the best sustainable restaurants in South America here).
+1. Septime in Paris, France
+What: Winner of The Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2017, Septime is a celebrated restaurant in Paris. In fact, it’s so popular that you probably won’t get a table unless you book a month in advance.
+Why: Septime continues to be a chart-topper with its sustainable dining excellence. Led by chef and owner, Bertrand Grébaut, the restaurant sources 99% of its produce from France, investing in local farms and urban farms around Paris. 80% of Septime’s menu is veggie-based, meat is sourced from free-range farms and you won’t find beef on any of its menus due to its high environmental impact.
+You might argue that any meat is detrimental to the planet, but Septime works hard to turn its impact into a positive one. Chef Grébaut buys the whole animal and ensures no part of it goes to waste.
+Seafood is sourced from a supplier that only buys from small-scale fishermen using sustainable techniques to prevent overfishing. Septime takes pride in treating its staff, suppliers and community fairly. Passionate about conservation, Septime works on Conservatoire du Goût, a project which preserves 1,400 seed varieties.
+Address: 80 Rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, France
+Opening hours: Lunch hours are Tuesday to Friday from 12:15pm to 2.00pm and dinner hours are Monday to Friday from 7.30pm to10.00pm. The restaurant is closed Saturday and Sunday.
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Call +33 (0) 1 43 67 38 29
+Book: Reserve a table via lafourchette.com here.
+2. The Duke of Cambridge in London, UK
+What: The Duke of Cambridge is a classic British gastropub with an ethical business model. Hailed as one of the most sustainable pubs in the UK if not the world, it’s the perfect place to grab a bite.
+Why: The Duke of Cambridge is Britain’s first and only certified organic pub. Working in partnership with Riverford Organic Farms, all of its ingredients are 100% certified organic. The pub is a big believer in the phrase ‘waste not, want not’ for it collects its food waste to generate energy through an anaerobic digester. ‘Wonky’ or imperfect vegetables are also used in the kitchen. The reuse and recycle theme is translated onto the pub’s interior decor. All furniture is either second-hand, repurposed or recycled to give it a stylish homely feel.
+Developing strong links with the community, this sustainable restaurant regularly hosts dinners and events to raise money for charity. On a global scale, Riverford has also worked closely with the charity, Send a Cow to support families in war-torn Uganda.
+Address: 30 St Peter’s St, Islington, London N1 8JT
+Opening hours: Kitchen opening hours Monday to Wednesday from 12-3pm/5.30-9.30pm, Thursday to Friday 12-3pm/5.30-10pm, Saturday 12-10pm, Sunday 12-9.30pm (“Family Time” 12-7pm Thursday to Sunday).
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Call 020 7359 3066 or email duke@dukeorganic.co.uk
+Book: Reserve a table via the website here or call 020 7359 3066
+3. Good Bank in Berlin, Germany
+What: Good Bank is a slightly cheaper alternative to the other fine dining giants on the list. A cheerful Berlin establishment, it’s working to make its menu fully self-sufficient.
+Why: Good Bank is the very first vertical-farm-to-table restaurant in the world. It has transformed its urban setting into an indoor vertical salad farm. Rows of greens line the walls up to the ceiling protected behind glass doors. Guests can watch their own meal being harvested fresh before their eyes. No pesticides or genetically modified seeds are used in this farm, just an LED light to help the salads grow.
+Good Bank’s menu is a healthy selection of salad bowls, soups and sandwiches that incorporate fresh and sustainable ingredients. Although it currently only grows salad, the restaurant hopes to one day have a completely self-sufficient menu to help minimise its carbon footprint. Good Bank is a pioneer in urban farming, and this innovative technique could become the future of restaurants all over the world.
+Address: Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 5, 10178 Berlin, Germany
+Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 11.30am to 10pm.
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Email contact@good-bank.de
+Book: Reserve a table via OpenTable here.
+4. Azurmendi Restaurant in Larrabetzu, Spain
+What: Previously named the most sustainable restaurant in the world, Azurmendi is a three Michelin-star restaurant located in Spain’s Basque Country.
+Why: Sustainability is a fundamental pillar of Azurmendi’s foundations – quite literally. The restaurant building blends into the area’s natural surroundings with its seamlessly modern architecture built from recycled materials.
+Owner and head chef, Eneko Atxa, brings the outside indoors by using eco-friendly solar and geothermal energy production alongside a rainwater recycling system. The upper floors have been transformed into gardens growing fruit and vegetables, and you can even find a greenhouse and seed bank. Combining fine dining with environmental initiatives, Atxa only uses small-scale local producers to create exquisite seasonal menus for his guests.
+Address: Legina Auzoa, s/n, 48195 Larrabetzu, Vizcaya, Spain
+Opening hours: Tuesday, to Thursday and Sunday hours are 1pm to 3.15pm. Friday and Saturday hours are from 1pm to 3.15pm and in the evening from 8.30pm to 10.15pm. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Email info@azurmendi.restaurant or call +34 94 455 83 59.
+Book: Reserve a table online here or call +34 94 455 83 59 for reservations less than 48 hours in advance.
+5. Loam in Galway, Ireland
+What: Another Michelin-starred restaurant, Loam in Galway was recently voted Best Restaurant in Ireland at the Irish Restaurant Awards 2019.
+Why: Loam has a whole host of awards to its name. Awarded a three-star Food Made Good rating in 2016 by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, its sustainable practices are a powerful reminder that great tasting food can be made with an ethical conscience. In fact, it proves there’s no excuse. The restaurant is tasting-menu only with a whopping 7 to 9 courses and a wine pairing to match. For those seeking something a bit more low-key, there is a 2 or 3-course simplicity menu to opt for instead.
+The menu is kept small and changes regularly depending on the season. Food waste is kept to a minimum and every part of the animal and plant is used in imaginative ways to highlight its potential. Suitable food waste is composted at Leaf and Root Farm in Loughrea to help new crops grow.
+Address: Geata Na Cathrach, Fairgreen Rd, Galway, Ireland
+Opening hours: Open Tuesday to Saturday, wine bar 5pm – 10pm and restaurant 6pm – 10pm. Loam is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Email info@loamgalway.com or call 091 569 727.
+Book: For bookings of 4 or less visit the Loam booking page here. Contact the restaurant directly for parties of 5 or more by calling 091 569 727 or send them an email at info@loamgalway.com.
+6. Restaurant Rest in Oslo, Norway
+What: Norway is a world leader in sustainability (you can read more about that here) so it comes as no surprise that Oslo’s Restaurant Rest is establishing new and ethical ways to enjoy fine dining.
+Why: Oslo’s Restaurant Rest is here to tackle the problem of food waste in the culinary scene. The ‘Rest’ in its name is something of a pun meaning both a relaxing break and what is literally left. You get both at Rest, but it’s the latter that shapes the cornerstone of its philosophy. Turning modern consumerism on its head, Rest builds its menu out of misshapen vegetables and imperfect produce that would otherwise be rejected by supermarkets and restaurants.
+Rest proves that you don’t need good looking food to create great flavours. Its imaginative and delicious menu gives these ingredients potential and a purpose on our plates. Ingredients change daily depending on availability so you won’t find a traditional a la carte menu. Instead, Rest offers a comprehensive set menu that experiments with Asian, South American, Italian and Spanish flavours.
+Address: Kirkegata 1-3, 0153 Oslo, Norway
+Opening hours: Open Wednesday to Saturday 6pm to 12am. The restaurant is closed Sunday to Tuesday.
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Call +47 922 50 016 or email booking@restaurantrest.com.
+Book: Reserve a table via the website here.
+7. Urban Deli in Stockholm, Sweden
+Photo credit: Jessica Guzik
+What: Described as a restaurant, grocery shop and market hall all in one, Urban Deli’s mission is “to make food easier, tastier and healthier.”
+Why: Urban Deli can be found in multiple locations across Stockholm. This food spot is a popular haunt for city people on a lunch stop. Sustainability is a central part of the company’s ethos and they prove that it can exist just as easily outside of fine dining. The shop, market hall and restaurant work together to minimise food waste. In 2018, the company removed plastic bags from the shop and stopped selling air-transported fresh produce. Where possible, all packaging is recyclable.
+Urban Deli also likes to get innovative with their food production. If you happen to visit one, see if you can spot Bread Beer made out of leftover bread. Their Juicy Vegan Burger actually bleeds – albeit the plant-based way!
+Address: 44 Sveavägen, Norrmalm Stockholm, Stockholms län, 111 34, Sweden (as well as multiple locations across Stockholm)
+Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 7am – 8pm.
+Website: Visit the website here.
+Contact: Call 08-425 500 20 or email infosveavagen@urbandeli.org.
+Book: Reserve a table via the website here.
+READ NEXT
+Drink Here: Europe’s Most Sustainable Cocktail Bars
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+Abstract
+The rapid increase in the
+demand for electricity necessitates the power quality improvement for achieving
+better reliability in smart grids. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is the proven
+technology for reliable monitoring. This paper proposes a system model for the
+development and implementation of WSN based communication system for the
+monitoring of distributed generation, loads and transmission lines in the
+electrical grid and a controller system for automated control on the electrical
+grid. This work also aims to reduce the carbon footprints by reducing the
+dependency of electrical grid through the enhancement of distributed generation
+and grid sharing for avoiding voltage rise problem. To achieve this, a smarter
+electrical grid has been developed for the validation of smart grid considering
+a generation substation, a transmission substation and a distributed generation
+with loads. The occurrence of power quality issue and voltage rise has been
+controlled by active power control strategy. The communication network and
+controller has been modeled and tested for the performance of monitoring system
+and data communication capability on smart grid.
+Keywords
+WSN, Communication System, Active Power Control, Electrical Grid, Smart Grid
+Share and Cite:
+Received 24 March 2016; accepted 20 April 2016; published 25 July 2016
+1. Introduction
+In the recent decades, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has seen a tremendous growth. With this growth the demand for electricity has increased and forced the grid for modernization to achieve more reliability by reducing transmission losses and power quality issues. The electrical grid was installed in very olden times and hasn’t been constructed to meet out the present days challenges that were faced now [1] . The infrastructure that acts as the backbone of a nation and being a most complex to maintain is its electrical network. The growth of a nation has been measured by the raise of its GDP, and the failure of electrical grid will in turn result in the economical losses that thwart the growth of GDP. Hence proper electrical grid is therefore needed. If the above mentioned factors like ageing have been kept apart, the concern on environment has reached to greater extinct for reducing the emission of carbon footprints and other green house gases into the atmosphere [2] . Added to that, the rise in fuel prices and rapid depletion of fossil fuels forced the interest of researchers in the field of renewable and green energy. Due to the geographical dependencies and scalability renewable energy resources got a greater impact in distributed generation. Ancient electrical grid was not designed to meet out the present day’s capacity and bidirectional power flow support [3] . To address these issues smart grids emerged. When the present electrical grid becomes smarter by becoming more reliable, consistent, and affordable and encourages more distributed generation will be termed as smart grid. The traditional way of supplying energy from grid has been modified to utilize the power that has been generated in excess than the demand of that particular consumer through distributed generation by the use of renewable energy resources in some remote areas [4] . This makes the system more complex by the introduction of heterogeneity in the transmission and distribution. Hence a monitoring system and a control system were therefore needed for demand side energy management [5] [6] . If the monitoring system requires a new architecture, then the system will be less affordable due to the complexity in installation thorough out the network and economical factor is still an issue. Wireless communication will be an optimal candidate for these requirements.
+Wireless Sensor Networks that play a vital role in various monitoring applications even in the most robust scenarios will be an ideal candidate [7] . Emerging of such a smarter grid will increase the reliability of the system by taking proactive measures in case of power failure and also in the occurrence of natural calamities. The increased capacity of distribution generation will facilitate the consumers through reducing their dependency on grid added to that emission of green house gases through the burning of fossil fuels will thereby reduces. These advantages were nothing when there is the occurrence of varying faults like voltage rise, reverse power flow, etc., fortunately the distributed generations uses electronic converters and inverters thus can enable islanding mode incase of grid failure or power shutdown to overcome the issues of distributed generation. Sensing and control system has three main phases namely: Sensing phase, data communication phase and control phase. The sensing part can be done effectively by the use of Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSN). WSN is a promising technology with infrastructure less nature, tiny sized and adaptability for various topologies made it possible for being an effective monitoring and enhancement of electric power systems. Data communication can be implemented with ultra low power RF signals used by WSN transceiver module. The control system can be implemented in the power electronic converters that are being used as an intermediary for the transmission of generated power into the grid.
+This rest of this paper is organized as follows: the first section gives the clear state of art followed by the need for solving the identified problem by explaining the traditional methods, the third section will be the proposed methodology followed by results and discussion and the final section concludes the work and proposes the possible future research directions.
+2. Related Works
+Among the literatures available, the papers for proposing more methodologies for reliability [8] - [10] , the acceptable range of T&D losses is 6% but in some countries the ageing factor of the distribution lines lead to increase in the losses of about 40% - 50% [11] . Proposed a monitoring system with WSN based data acquisition for effective monitoring of power data and also indicates the theft of power is also detected in this regard [12] . States the complete state of art in utilizing the WSN based monitoring systems for smart grid applications. The reliability of WSN in terms of energy efficiency, performance has been explained in [13] - [15] . This paper proposes a novel architecture for control and monitoring system for smart grids. There are a number of works in the monitoring of smart grids [16] - [18] and WSN based monitoring applications were explained in [19] [20] . The need for integrated communication, high speed bidirectional flow of data and power for the exchange of information in mega infrastructure has been better projected in [16] . The issues related to reliability, manageability, adaptability and integrity for the deployment of heterogeneous communication system have been briefed in [21] [22] . The flexibility of the system for the scalability related issues and adaptability for integration of products from various vendors also plays a vital role in such types of heterogeneous networks. The use of WSN in such a complex and harsh environment has been better explained by incorporating its performance.
+3. System Model and Communication Controller
+In this section the proposed work has been briefed by explain the origin and need for the proposed work followed by the overall system architecture with the simulation parameters assumed and the scenarios considered for the same.
+3.1. Motivation
+The geographical dependencies of the renewable energy facilitated for a greater increase in the distributed generation. The generated power when exceeds the demand will result in either waste of generated power or may incur voltage snag. The demand for power has seen a tremendous level and the same can be managed by the use of distributed generation through proper balancing of system through demand management with the locally generated power.
+3.2. Proposed System
+The overall system architecture has been given in Figure 1. The system has been designed with two generation plants, a consumer and a consumer with distributed generation. The complete system has been modeled with wireless sensor networks for the acquisition of data from these units. In case of solar power plant the Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) will facilitate the islanding mode by enabling the feedback data from the grid for the synchronization. The islanding mode for consumer with distributed generation is same as the solar power unit as
+Figure 1. Monitoring and controlling system architecture for smart grids.
+the converters uses feedback data to send the excess power generated into the grid. When there is no feedback data from the sensing module it refers to the failure or shutdown of the grid. In such cases the produced power will be cutoff within the generation unit and the connection with the grid will be terminated till the reception of feedback. The islanding mode alone is not an ultimate aim but also to provide proper synchronization the generated power values like voltage and frequency. The consumer is a unidirectional user where the sensor will play a role of communication alone and the controller is therefore not needed till the occurrence of harmonics. The power quality when affected by the loads of the consumer the information will be recorded and sent to the communication controller in the interest of increasing reliable transmission by maintain the power quality. When there is exceed of rated level of harmonics to be injected then the connection will be terminated so that the power quality of the overall grid will be maintained. The wind power plant has a controller for the grid synchronization at the converter level and the data will be gathered by the communicating devices. The wireless sensor nodes with voltage and power sensors were incorporated with the transceiver module of crossbow motes mentioned as sensor in the architecture shown in Figure 1. These nodes are capable of forming a network by a group nodes connecting together without any other communication requirement like base station. The neighboring nodes will be acting as the relay and supports multi hop communication in the network.
+3.3. Performance Analysis
+The parameters that have to be monitored are voltage, power harmonics, current at the consumer side, and atmospheric data for the generation stations that were utilizing the renewable resources for the sake of the substation monitoring. The performance metrics that has to be considered for the validation are the time delay and power analysis. Data transfer rate depends on each system based on the standards followed by the system and the frequency of operation [23] . The operating frequency for WSN has been chosen at ISM band of 2.45 GHz and the bit for the same is 4 µs. the total processing time for the system will depend on the data payload and data frame.
+(1)
+TdataPr is the time taken for processing of the data mentioned in Equation (1) [23] , which is equal to the sum of time taken data payload and the data processing time for the header and trailer bits such as preamble, frame details and also the addressing field. The power consumed for the same application can be given as follows:
+(2)
+Ptot represents the total power involved in the communication and is equal to the sum of [24] power transmitted (), power received (), and processing power () involved in the processing substation of WSN and the power lost at any three phases like sensing, transmission and processing. The transmission model has been considered as two ray ground reflection model and the path loss has been calculated accordingly. The transmitted power will be the sum of processed power and transmitted power through the antenna and is represented in Equation (3) [25] and the power within braces were the power utilized at exponential back off, channel sensing, packet transmission, buffering, power for system idle and the power for waking the device from sleep state. The received power has been mentioned in Equation (4)
+(3)
+(4)
+3.4. Simulation Parameters
+The system capacity designed for simulation of smart grid were solar power plant of 10 kW, wind power plant of 10 kW, consumer with a variable load of about 25 kW and the distributed generation of capacity 2 kW and the load for 3 kW has been designed. The WSN system has been tested with seven nodes for the effective communication at hardware level and 30 nodes have been created at simulation level for the validation of multi hop communication delay and the packet delivery ratio determination to ensure the performance of the system.
+3.5. Simulation Scenario
+The system has been modeled with a certain scenarios like the grid overflow, demand exceeds the production, demand meets the production, demand is less/cutoff and the production increases rapidly and the power quality affects the grid. For these cases an algorithm has been evolved to solve such cases and the algorithm is as follows:
+4. Results and Discussion
+The various scenarios have been deployed in the above presented algorithm and the same has been validated through simulation analysis. The controller module performs the above mentioned functionalities like active power control strategy for maintaining the voltage rise problem. The first condition on the controller denotes the normal functionality of the grid where the demand and the grid power and generated power were maintained within the threshold and the system is at safe operating area and working fine. When this condition fails the grid power when is lower than the demand and the demand has been met by the generation capacity or maybe in deficit then the grid is said to be in the peak time the tariff has to be calculated accordingly. The vice versa case is said to non peak time and the demand will be lesser than the actual production and the grid were in safe operating with the power levels maintained within the threshold. The next case is when the demand is reduced and the production when exceeds the system will suffer from the voltage snag. This refers to the rise in voltage to a greater extinct in order to maintain the power factor along with which the frequency also increases causing instability of the grid and the loads connected to it. In that case the controller terminates the connection with the generation to the grid to lower the power of grid. The strategy for control the active increase in power flow is termed as active voltage control strategy and done by the controller. The next part being the communication phase, the network has been simulated by considering the two ray ground reception model and by considering the path loss the delay in packet transmission and the packet delivery ratio has been plotted in the following figures.
+Figure 2 represents the number of packets contributed by each nodes in the WSN from the graph it is evident that there are 91 packets out of 30 nodes in the network. The network size has been varied from 10 to 30 and the numbers of packets were 29 to 91 respectively. The comparison given shows the proposed methodology is under performing than the existing system because of the harsh nature of deployed area and the path loss induced by the EMI/EMC effect. Figure 3 represents the packet delivery ratio for the number of nodes shown from the above Figure 2 has been plotted and the ranges were 82.2 for 70 packets from 93 for 29 packets. The energy consumption profile for the varying network size shown in Figure 4 has been plotted with the number of nodes versus consumed energy (in J). The initial energy has been assumed from 100 J and the average energy consumption per node will be of 6.75 J. The remaining energy of around 80 J is available after the successive transmission of 30 nodes in the network. Thus the packet delivery ratio and the delay have been analyzed and a better performance has been noted in the network with minimum energy consumption of about 19.8 J evident in the graphs shown.
+Figure 2. Number of packets versus the number of nodes.
+Figure 3. Packet delivery ratio versus number of packets.
+Figure 4. Energy consumption profile for varying network size.
+5. Conclusion and Future Scope
+In this paper, a communication module and a control strategy for controlling the smart grid substation for islanding of distributed generation, active power control strategy for avoiding voltage rise and voltage control strategy along with the power quality analysis has been designed implemented and validated. Through this system, better reliability has been achieved and the various scenarios for the need for control strategies like active power control, islanding power quality control have been briefed.
+The future work will consider the implementation of the simulated system in a large scale by incorporating adaptive filters designed for arresting the harmonics from being injected into the grid. This can be extended for automation systems and for the monitoring of various components involved in the transmission and Distribution like transformer’s oil level, etc. The cost effective and reliable monitoring system is mandatory for large scale deployment which motivates WSN design.
+Conflicts of Interest
+The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
+References
+This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
+1. (from Nightfly) Do you find that it’s harder to post rather than simply commenting at all your regular stops—coming up with ideas and such? Or, do you find that posting keeps you from “IRL” writing (essays, fiction, etc.)?
+That’s a very thoughtful question. As a new blogger, I’m not finding posting hard, I think part of the reason for that is the intent behind my blogging is not one of duress. I’m not pressuring myself to come up with a killer post, day after day. I mean, if stuff’s going on IRL or I just don’t feel I have anything substantive to communicate to my (tiny but wonderful) readership, I will refrain from posting. The real intent behind my blog is to talk about myself a little and express my ideas (in the hopes of being heard, and possibly understood). Rather than risk dominating or going off topic in someone else’s combox, I have my own space to use my voice.
+Interestingly enough, and I may be an exception for bloggers, having a space for my voice has reawakened the more creative writing side of me—or at least given it a place to work while I’ve been drawing too heavily on the academic side for research papers and the like for grad school. I’m seeing an increase in writing ideas and a more writer-ly frame of mind, more frequently. So instead of sapping my inspiration, blogging has been fueling it. Also, as I go along and keep discussing my writing on my blog, there might be an opportunity to garner a little encouragement and support for my writing by others who enjoy writing and/or reading.
+2. (from Ashley) How did you decide to go back to school?
+Some days I’m still asking myself that question! Well, the short version comes down to the circumstances in my life at the time, my state of mind, and the grace of God. The long version: The circumstances were that in April 2005 I suffered my first and only really bad breakup of a long term relationship (post college), and it was extremely protracted and difficult to get over, especially because we had a ton of friends in common (not to mention he continued to behave like a jerk even though he chose to end things). My roommate didn’t like that I was grieving and staying home more often, and she claimed my cat bit her and tried to evict me—so I moved. Then the ex started dating someone I’d thought was my friend, not even six months later. So a majority of my friends who were better friends with the new girlfriend (and did not seem to comprehend how she had basically let me cry on her shoulder and had helped me move—yup, saw everything I owned!--to justify and help her go after him), left me for her.
+On top of that, the workload at my job had become absolutely unmanageable and they wouldn’t hire anybody to help. I was barely allowed to take off for Christmas in 2005, and I didn’t see any way to get promoted and be treated better. So no friends, no love, and a difficult job all made me miserable. By January or February 2006, I thought, well, I have an English degree, and people always asked me about being a teacher or told me I’d make a good teacher—why not see what the requirements are to get certified? I asked my mom to ask her next-door-neighbors, a couple who I knew were teachers, about it. The wife asked, “Why not be a school librarian?” She herself had tried teaching English for a year, decided it wasn’t for her, and went back to school for master’s degree in Library Science.
+When I spent a day with her, in her library at school, I felt comfortable and I thought, “This isn’t like standing up in front of a classroom”—which had not appealed to me all—“I could do this.” So I applied to school. And I prayed. One of my intentions in a novena for St. Rita’s intercession was that if was meant to go to school, that there would be a way to pay for it.
+Not only was I accepted (without having to take the GRE), I was offered a fellowship that took care of about 25% of my tuition. Mom found a laptop on sale, and I said to myself, “I guess I’m going to school.” Maybe if I hadn’t lost just about everything, and felt I had so little to lose, I might not have taken the plunge. But now that I’ve done it, and done really well in it (we’ll see how much I’ve learned!), I think I am closer to where my talents lie, and hopefully happier times in my life.
+3. (also from Ashley) How does your faith affect your life?
+It may sound weird, but faith informs my life. It’s like an undercurrent going behind what I do, how I act, how I feel, how I respond to things. I pray several times a day, but not really as a routine (except the Morning Offering and prayers before sleep)—sometimes I pray behind the wheel (that commute is good for something), but it’s more like a conversation from the heart.
+I wasn’t always strong in my faith all my life, and in fact I had a hard time as a teenager believing that God loved me. Today, I don’t doubt that—my struggles these days are refraining from telling God what to do for me and when, and trusting that God wants to give me good things.
+My faith probably has cost me some friendships, and definitely some dates. I’ll never forget the time I hit it off with the friend of a good friend while a bunch of us were at dinner together, and the next day my friend said she’d check things out for me. When the report came back, it was not good. Why? “Because you want to raise your kids Catholic.” Meaning I go to church, I’m not going to do what’s expected on the third date, I won’t move in with someone, etc. I know, his loss. I can’t compromise. I’m not perfect, but I don’t think I could live with myself if I compromised what I believe.
+4. (from WordGirl) How about something/someone totally out of character that you secretly like?
+This was a toughie. It seems to me that I have pretty eclectic and off-the-beaten-path tastes, so one “popular” thing was surprised to find that I like is the TV show Ugly Betty. My parents like to watch it, so one night I decided to see what it’s about. Granted I think some of the storylines are downright silly, but the characters are interesting. I also can’t wait to see what dreadful costume Betty has on!
+I still can’t watch more than thirty seconds of Gray’s Anatomy without getting hives, though. It was up against The O.C. (the fourth season never existed!!!) for a while anyway. (Uh. . . is being a fan of The O.C. out of character too?)
+5. (also from WordGirl) [How about] if you would ever get a tattoo (if you don’t have one. . .)?
+Like you, WG, I am “uninked.” Although it’s funny you should mention it, because I noticed in Pilates class on Wednesday night that my instructor has one on her back behind her shoulder, and for a brief moment I confess I did fantasize about getting one. But the desire passed. It’s not so much the pain but rather the permanence (in spite of what lasers promise) and the change in color (and possibly shape, ha ha) over time. I don’t think tattoos indicate a bad reputation or anything—although excessive ones seem counterintuitive to me in terms of enhancing someone’s appearance. One of the nicest people in my college dorm (at my second undergrad college) was a young woman who dyed her hair jet black and sported several tattoos. I always knew that when a convention was going on downtown she’d come back with a new one, usually small. My older brother has a larger one—comic book related—in a really dumb place that's hard to cover. I suspect he did it just to get a reaction out of our mom. (Too bad that wasn’t the worst thing he ever did!)
+Thank you all for some very thought-provoking questions, and I hope the answers were at least half as interesting! That was fun to do, so maybe this Special Edition will make another appearance in the future.
+On a more serious note, I got some bad news this morning about my great-uncle. Granted, he's 90, but he had been managing amazingly well (with the help of my cousins) in spite of the loss of my great-aunt (my late grandmother's sister) a few years back and not being able to see or hear very well. But he wasn't feeling well lately, and my cousin said the doctor thinks it's a recurrence of cancer and looking really bad. As in "maybe a month" bad. Cancer sucks. I am so bummed out--he's an awesome person. He often would bring us bread from his half-brother's Italian bakery. Such a personality--and he's seen a lot in his lifetime, too. Until about a year or two ago, he would travel annually to Holland to visit the families in the town his squadron helped liberate in WWII. Right now he's staying with my cousin and her family, and I guess we just keep enjoying our time with him for now (I bought him fancy chocolates--he's a chocoholic). And praying.
+7 comments:
+Well, I'm glad the "five" were good ones! Actually I had a dream one night this week about the list of questions I would send you. Weird, right? But then the sun came out and my head went up my rear end, evidently! Ah well. I'll get you next time.
+Sorry about your great-uncle. Cancer does certainly suck. He's in our prayers.
+Man, pregnant women have the craziest dreams. It was far better that you played in the sunshine, Lizzie! Next time for sure.
+Thanks for the prayers.
+What great, thoughtful answers. Thanks!
+Well, thank *you* for playing along! :)
+Faith = undercurrent. Yep. I think that's the best explanation I've heard, actually.
+And anything you give up, you get back a hundred fold. Or so says dude Jesus.
+Kat Von D from "LA Ink" is the only person I've seen who can pull off the whole full-body tattoo thing. I confess, I'm jealous. But she's only going to be able to pull it off if somehow she stays exactly the same body-type with no wrinkles or gravity affecting her for the rest of her life. Not likely.
+Kate- I have crazy dreams, but am reasonably sure that I am neither prgenant nor a woman. =)
+Thanks for answering! I'm always interested in the process for a fellow writer/blogger.
+WG--best explanation? Flattery will get you everywhere with me. :) And it must be tattoo month or something b/c on the way home today one radio show was interviewing a tattoo artist. . . hmmm.
+'Fly--I'd take a crazy dream over the missed-the-bus-can't-find-my-class dreams. And the hockey rink is no place for a pregnant woman, anyway! ;) "Writing process" is a dignified term in my case for slapdash note-scribbling, obsession, and avoidance of the cruel world, apparently.
+Forum Replies Created
+- AuthorPosts
+- March 2, 2015 at 6:32 pm in reply to: Blue, The Author, and the Sorcerer #297343
+RG I love your idea with blue and the begin with the DarkOne. I am still a fan of SNEAKY fairy – who need a dark fairy? at all? (why was chernabog not searching for blue?). Just the idea with the author is not mine. I am convinced that blue was lying a lot or leaving the truth out. (After so many years of living, she knows that she is not good in it) Her eyes seemed haunted for me, so I guess she is the author herself. Blue even suggested that it could be a woman. So my guess for the author is Blue fairy. After what happened to her love that got so twisted because of her. She tried to rewrite their story to safe him but failed miserable. (I mean first she disliked Regina that much to not even could say a proper thank you, but when Regina told her about her wish she was so compassion to her – this is my reason why I think she tried it herself to rewrite destiny)
+Of course she can’t tell them about her big, big secret so she just say the author is not seen by anyone, which is partial true, cause she is know the blue fairy or nun and nothing more and the books are at the sorcerer house cause where could she do this kind of magic anyhow. When she was trying to save him with the books she could not do it by the fairys so she did it by his old home. Something gone terrible wrong by this writing and she stopped to not let it go any worse. At some point she was belle and rumple. Love wasn’t enough and she had to let it go and now she is terrified to see him again.
+Another reason why I think blue is the author was a scene in season one. I think she told August about Henrys book, before the curse was even started, so she knew that it was their and that this chapter would be not in it. How could she if she was not the writer herself.
+So the author was not a passive god like creature but someone who tried to trick fate, destiny or whatever you want to call it, but our story can hold many possibilities and ways that are made in the moment of the choices we made every second of our days… Just let me explain it with a song of Cat Stevens:
+I think in the end the author was trying to trick destiny and was kicked in the …[adrotate group="5"]
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!December 8, 2014 at 10:06 pm in reply to: Is Anyone Else Confused & Bothered With Rumple's Storyline? #292555
+then E & A will hate me cause I want Rumple to find his humanity that much, that I really want that he loose his magic complete after season 4 and have to struggle with his life that much so that he send belle away, so that only Henry will talk into him and get him the right direction with dealing it. In the end of season 5 he is mentally strong enough, but then find a new problem after saving Henry or belle, cause he can use a new kind of magic himself and that least to the 6th season were he found out about his mummy who is a fairy named blue and get into the story of the beginnings of the darkones.
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!December 8, 2014 at 9:35 pm in reply to: Is Anyone Else Confused & Bothered With Rumple's Storyline? #292552
+RG maybe you are right after all what happened since seaason 3. I guess you want to protect me going to much in a character and story that may not exist and thank you for protecting me. But I stay with my theory for a too much hurt person that change the little good thing he has into a twisted mental image that never gonna work even when played out.
+I just can’t picture Rumple as a dictater. He is not the typ of being a king, more like somebody who is controlling the king. He is the puppetmaster, who is not seen but make in reality the story.
+This theory maybe one like Mama Blue, but I never giving up on that too. 🙂
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!December 8, 2014 at 8:55 pm in reply to: Is Anyone Else Confused & Bothered With Rumple's Storyline? #292548
+RG it may be wierd but it makes sense to me, it even make sense to me with Jafar. He loved his father and trusted him and as his father that should protected and loved him, killed his unwanted son. The hate was as strong as the love Jafar had for his father This kill and how Jafar did was understandable for me. Jafar told him that he wanted his father killed by one he love as much as he did once, but why did he then not just trick somebody his father already loved into murdering him, because Jafar couldn’t kill his father without be loved by him once. I know … I should visit Archy or maybe one who get the degree not of a curse.
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!December 8, 2014 at 8:27 pm in reply to: Is Anyone Else Confused & Bothered With Rumple's Storyline? #292541
+RG I hope you are wrong, cause if he just wants power over a world than my Rumple I fell in love would be dead.
+I really hope that he is trying to get a fresh start with a new son and wife and need power to feel secure enough to protect them. I think that he is not mention bae at all is more proof that he can’t face his loss and want to erase his failure with a replicate. I know it sounds silly and of course it can’t work even when he succeed, but what else should he do? He is too much of a coward to accept that some things can’t be undone.
+When he found the hat he was surprised and after he talked with henry on this deleted scene he begun to see what he could do for himslf, for belle and for henry. He said sweet words to henry, about a cloak of regret you have to wear to be strong. Maybe he even meant it back then but we know that rumple isn’t that kind of strong person. He will try the way that heny showed him. He will start new, cause he is a coward, he is shattered, it is his only way for a happy ending in his twisted mind.
+He never cared for the world at all and I don’t think that he will start now with this crap.
+This time I stick on Jafars words:” It wasn’t the power. It’s always the same story with us sorcerer at the end of the day. It all come back around – the family.”
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!December 8, 2014 at 4:19 pm in reply to: Is Anyone Else Confused & Bothered With Rumple's Storyline? #292509
+Until the last episode I was confused too. I didn’t get into my favorite character at all in season 4, but know I think I understand what is driving him mad and the reason is simple, cause we all know his drive. He just want his son. He wanted him in the first minute when the seer told him about Bae and he still wants his son after he is gone.
+I think resurecting his son would be his favorite option, but he knows that it would be never his Bae. It would a marionette ( a Zombie like David, or the ones Cora and Jafar were using) and not the brave boy he loved so dearly.
+My guessing is that he will destroy Storybrook and kill all person in it, to wipe out his past so it can’t haunt him for the future he wants to build. He will have his wife Belle, his grandson Henry and his power to protect his little world that are not more then his family. Rumplestiltskin never cared for the world he just needed all informations and power to find his family, to protect it at all costs. This is the spinners core and will it ever be. The rest of the world even if he like a few in them can go to the purgatory if needed.
+I think that Rumple will even go further than that. We (not) know about the deleted Grandpastiltskins moment in season 4 that even Henry wants his cursed memory from NY back, cause their he was happy. I believe that Rumple will give it Henry back with one minor change, so that Henry can be his son. He will try to create his perfect fresh start that he ever wanted.
+You know guys that sometimes he is just too weird like asking his son to change 14 again after seeing him not a couple of hundred of years.
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!November 17, 2014 at 5:44 pm in reply to: Does Henry have magic? #290597
+For me it was always clear that Henry has magic. How can he be not. When magic is calling for him since the day he was born.
+1.) The creation of the light magic and dark magic of a powerful curse.
+2.) The birth. All the light things that happend.
+3.) The book that found him to give him hope and let him safe the town. Rescue both of his mothers and helping to get the memory back and finding his father. For me always Henry was the real saviour, not Emma, cause he believed in her and only his kisses broke BOTH curses:
+4.) His greatgrandfathr who had a piture of him 200 years before he was born and needed his heart only to live longer. The heart of the truest believer. I can’t beleve that the heart is so powerful as just a item for a spell, but then the owner of this very heart has none magic at all. This is not logical for me.
+5.) Rumple teached Cora that Magic comes from Emotions. I think after all what he been through. He lived 10 years in a town that was not aging with one exception, himself. His mother is evil, his other mother has give him away. He didn’t know his father very long time before he died. Family members try to kill each other or him and his best friends are books and comics.
+6.) His lineage is quite powerful too.
+So I think he has everything he needs to do magic. I think it can even go deeper. I think he can be a balance of magic, where it will not be good or bad magic anymore, because evil or good, it is never that simple. He will be the greatest of all, the pure Magician.
+If sou say nope to all that. It is totally OK, cause until now nothing is sure. It is just my opinion for Henry and Magic.
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!
+Was the hat created by the wizard? Does Jefferson know it and if he does, could it be the Knight know him too, so the wizard is from Wonderland… I mean we have to many strings to follow.
+Heros don't get their Happy Ending!
+I think the rabbit hole we can not use for going to a land without magic, cause the dear rabbit came after storybook was full with magic and Alice london is not our london, but I mean the rabbit hole could be just not yet for sure, bu instead of the rabbit hole you can use shadow. Shadow is working very good. I mean you don’t need magic at all cost, just a good zipper and a coconut ( that!
+I think the rabbit hole we can not use for going to a land without magic, cause the dear rabbit came after storybook was full with magic and Alice lodon is not our london, but I mean the rabbit hole could be just not yet, bu instead of the rabbit hole you can use shadow. Shadow is working very good. I mean you don’t need magic at all cost, just a good zipper and a coconut ( that!
+- AuthorPosts
+Katatonia – The Heart BeneathThursday, 16th March 2017
+After a three-year absence, Katatonia is returning to North American shores this March in support of their new The Fall of Hearts album. For a band who has been quite active on the live front since 2006’s The Great Cold Distance, such absenteeism on these shores is long-overdue and also emblematic of the stark economic realities facing both Scandinavian and European bands. This is a terribly difficult market to break, one that requires years of extensive and exhaustive touring. Thankfully, Katatonia has already put in the work, making this upcoming trek highly anticipated.
+As espoused on these pages, The Fall of Hearts is Katatonia at its most varied and progressive. If anything, it’s their first “something for everyone” album, stocked with the band’s trademark melody-within-melancholy, along with numerous forward-thinking elements. Main cogs Anders Nyström (guitars) and Jonas Renkse (vocals) have maintained their long-running thread of pushing the band ahead while staying true to their identity, prolonging the notion that Katatonia are one of metal’s most identifiable bands.
+This and more was discussed with super-relaxed bass player Niklas “Nille” Sandin, who because of recent lineup changes, is the third-longest tenured member of Katatonia after joining the band in late 2009. Sandin was cooking up a batch of “some Tex-Mex” prior to getting on the horn with DR, but he was kind enough to put the ladle down to chat it up…
+Dead Rhetoric: With the addition of Roger (Öjersson, guitar) and Daniel (Moilanen, drums), you’re no longer the new guy in the band. How does that feel?
+Niklas “Nille” Sandin: Well, it’s a little bit weird because time has flown by so quickly. I haven’t really reflected on it too much, but of course, it’s been almost pushing eight years, so it’s been some time in the band already. Things have happened and some lineup changes as well with the new Daniel and Roger coming into the band. It certainly doesn’t feel that long. [Laughs] It feels more like a couple of years.
+Dead Rhetoric: What was the atmosphere in the band like when you joined in late 2009? Katatonia had gone so long without a lineup change, but then the Norrman brothers (Fred and Mattias) leave.
+Sandin: I think it was like an “upper-cut” attitude in the band. Very much I was the only “new guy” because Sodomizer [Per Eriksson, guitar] had been the guitar tech for the band for a couple of years, so he was well-incorporated in the group already. I think it was more like instead of mourning two members lost, it was more like trying to get out and show that the band is still alive and kicking and ready to break new ground and play more than ever. With that touring cycle is when the band started to tour more, if I’m not mistaken. I think back in 2006 or 2007 when they were promoting The Great Cold Distance, the European tour was like a meager two-and-a-half or three weeks. But with Night is the New Day, it was booked for seven weeks. It was double or triple the effort in coming out to play for fans. It was more the attitude of “Okay, let’s just take this up a notch and do something more out of it.” I think it was more a case of disappointment the Norrman brothers wouldn’t commit to the heavy touring schedule for the Night is the New Day album, but no one was pissed or anything. It was more like an upper-cut kind of feeling, but they saw me and Sodomizer were more like a vitamin injection. That was a good platform to start on.
+Dead Rhetoric: A “vitamin injection” in Katatonia. Well stated. [Laughs] Prior to joining Katatonia, you were in a lot of bands. How did you get to know Anders and Jonas?
+Sandin: I’d only met them a couple of times before. I was a friend and also co-musician with Ronnie [Backlund] who was the tour manager for the band back in the day. It was through him that I got to know the others in Katatonia. Me and Ronnie were playing in this band called Amaran, even though I was with them briefly. I think I was with the band for less than a year and we were about to release an album and record some new songs, then [vocalist] Johanna DePierre was stepping down. We couldn’t find a suitable vocalist to replace her, so that put an end to that, but then I was already good friends with Ronnie and Robin Bergh, the drummer in Amaran, he was hanging around a lot with the Katatonia boys. I guess it was that way that I met the band.
+Dead Rhetoric: Were you always a fan of the band?
+Sandin: I wasn’t actually a “fan fan,” but I really appreciated The Great Cold Distance record. It was that together with Opeth’s Ghost Reveries that was spinning the most around 2006, 2007, 2008. They were at the top of the rotation for those years. That was pretty much the only CD I had been listening to as well in terms of Katatonia, so I wasn’t too familiar with their back catalog. There was lots of getting to know and getting familiar and practicing those 25 songs before my first tour with them.
+Dead Rhetoric: The Fall of Hearts came out about nine months ago. Has your perspective on it changed after you recorded it?
+Sandin: I think it’s, for us in the band, this album is less straightforward when it comes to songs that have been in the past. It’s more of a grower than something that hits you straight away. I think it’s the same for us in the band, at least for me. Both when listening to it on off-day occasions and when rehearsing and playing it live, the songs just grow. Of course, sometimes some songs fall out of fashion and come back into fashion, but as a whole and as a record, it just grows more and more. That shows when playing the songs as well. I’ve yet to grow tired of any songs from the new album. For the U.S., we’re picking out some more songs from the new album, which is great and fun. It keeps things fresh as well.
+Dead Rhetoric: It’s a “something for everyone” album. It has elements that every Katatonia fan could enjoy to the heavy stuff to the melodic stuff, even to the progressive stuff.
+Sandin: I would probably pretty much lay it out like that. I usually say in interviews that I think this is the biggest album that Katatonia has released in terms of having the soundscape sounding exactly like Katatonia, but it incorporates lots of elements. It has something new but also takes from the back catalog. You can find some stuff in the new album that you could relate to back in, for example, Discouraged Ones. I think it’s the whole span of the discography, almost, except those heavier and dark days. [Laughs]
+Dead Rhetoric: Some of the riffs on the new album are somewhat technical, like on “Takeover.” As the bass player, is it fun to play material like that?
+Sandin: It keeps it refreshing as well. I remember some stuff when I needed to learn them, it wasn’t anything like thinking or counting in your head, like the opener [“Takeover”] they needed to play it so many times that it got stuck in your hands, the muscle memory, instead of trying your best to count or disconnect yourself with the thinking part and just play, then everything goes fast. Of course, that’s refreshing. I think that this was a little bit of a learning experience for me as well. This was the time when I felt I could actually take the bass down a notch in playing and think more what I could do to let other things come across more and be the foundation and maybe not try to get in as much playing notes as possible on the record. I tried to keep myself out of the “ego room” [Laughs] and be more of a “humble” bass player which is much more nice and rewarding. The song benefits from it, rather than sitting there and going “I got this thing through, but it doesn’t fit or relate to the song.” When you listen to it later, you go, “Why did I put this there?”
+Dead Rhetoric: When Anders and Jonas are putting songs together, where do you come in? Are you the tiebreaker when they can’t decide on something?
+Sandin: I’m not incorporated that much, but I think that’s where they help each other and they make input on the other one’s song if they don’t come further with it. I’m really happy that it’s not like with other bands where what’s on their demo version and the pre-production has to stick on the end result. I have my input on my own playing and I can come forward with ideas. This time, as it was with Dead End Kings, we can sit in the studio and I could present some ideas that I’ve been working on and try those out and see how it works. Of course, the guitars don’t go exactly like they do on the pre-production version; same with the drums. It’s a little bit of tweaking and fixing in the studio. It’s really nice that they’re open-minded and let me try my own stuff. Sometimes it flies and others it has to be burned in the waste bin. [Laughs] It’s nice because I think the general perception of Jonas and Anders is that they’re some kind of fascists when writing music and we’re meager tools to make it alive on the record, but we have far more input than that.
+Dead Rhetoric: Given the current state of the music industry, has it gotten any easier to keep Katatonia running full-time? Do you do anything outside of the band to maintain a living?
+Sandin: It is difficult to make a living out of music nowadays. It doesn’t look like it’s getting any easier. I don’t know if it’s the market that needs to adjust and the industry needs to provide listeners with music in some way that makes people more willing to pay for it. Nowadays, everybody’s realized that doesn’t really work and you need to tour to make some kind of living, the roads get a little bit saturated and drenched with bands trying to reach people. It’s difficult there as well. But for me, I work in Stockholm, doing a little bit of this and that, mostly mixing sound and setting up PA’s whenever I find time. It’s a little bit of extra cash flow, but the ideal situation would be to get enough money to sustain it totally without focusing on anything else. I think it has to be some game-changer in the industry, like some kind of streaming medium that would provide some money for the musicians.
+Dead Rhetoric: You recently did some shows playing The Great Cold Distance in full. Did you learn anything new about the album? As in, did you discover any songs that are a new favorite?
+Sandin: I think the song “The Itch.”
+Dead Rhetoric: What a great song.
+Sandin: Yeah, that was really interesting. It was one of those difficult numbers that was rewarding when we rehearsed it then played it live. When we got it tight like on the album, that was really cool. I think it was that and “Journey Through Pressure.” It was really cool to play especially with the [Plovdiv Philharmonic] Orchestra [in Bulgaria] which lifted it even further. Playing with the orchestra was fun and cool, as well as lots of anticipation and a little bit nerve-wracking as well. When we flew down to Bulgaria, we had never heard the arrangements and we went down there knowing that we had two days to rehearse before playing. [Laughs] We didn’t know what to expect, but everything went well and the conductor Levon [Manukyan] was nice and flexible and really keen on the project. There wasn’t hard times trying to adjust these arrangements to our playing and liking. Everything combined nicely. That was a really nice experience and it turned out even greater than we could have expected.
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